skarroki

Maybe Forest will take him on a cut price deal, otherwise I have no idea who would sign him and he's also too unreliable with his injuries to be a 2nd/3rd choice in my opinion. I can only see him going on a free eventually or maybe someone takes a punt in the championship again. If Watkins is out there's no use keeping Davis around with the high chance he'd be out injured too anyway when we need him.

Be a shame to lose Hampton as she seemed to have a good relationship with the male teams goalkeeping department, which is something I was hoping we would continue to strengthen. I'm sure it's not all down to her though. She seems a good character so ideally she'll decide to stay but if not I hope she goes to Chelsea and start games instead of disappearing. I'd also be disappointed if she goes for the money. There's little money in the game anyway so I hope we're not losing our good players after a good season to the teams above us to sit on their bench. I guess it's similar in the men's game but it's rubbish the idea they'll get more to be a bench player for teams 1st to 4th than if they're a key player for a team in 5th

Think the Roma thing for me is forgiven by him having to deal with Allison, Strootman and Nianggolan leaving the season after Salah, Rudiger and Paredes left and Totti retired in this time too. Any club is going to struggle with that, it's not a club looking to push on and challenge Juve it's a club struggling to hold onto players wanted by the Premier League and not spending more than they earn from sales on paper. I still would say the deals for Zaniolo, Pellegrini and Schick were good with the benefit of hindsight and if any players of that quality come in this summer they immediately improve our side. Edit: I'd say the above is similar to asking him to push us into the top 6 after selling Luiz, Kamara and Martinez

Can someone explain to me why his 18/19 window is highlighted but his 17/18 window isn't? Is he just not given credit for any of that as he'd only come in April? If so will he get no plaudits for our window?

He'll either be a success or he'll be thanked and moved on. I no longer worry about appointments because even bad ones will be sent on after a short time to prove themselves. Whilst we keep marching on upwards I won't question those in charge of making appointments, especially ones like this that look amazing on paper.

I clearly haven't got my point across very well and it's not really important anyway so I'll just leave it

Yeah it is. Pick two people at the club and just say which one you would like to leave most? I don't know the point you're making other than Lange is your go to scapegoat? Are you on the board and we had to fire someone this morning and it was specifically down to Lange or Purslow for which one would go?

For replacements, I personally wasn't talking of a direct new hire replacement for him. I was thinking more that someone will now have to step up within the club, if we're not hiring, and that person has big shoes to fill in terms of facing the media and addressing fans.

I would rather Jed Steer left than Jack Grealish.

Agree with a lot of what's been said so to add something I haven't seen yet, I think he had excellent media handling skills and was never shy of a camera, if anything I didn't warm to him initially as I thought he liked the sound of his own voice a bit too much, but recently I've been happy to see him interviewed and see what he has to say. Very good and direct, clear speaker. I think that's a very important quality that the replacement could do with having.

That's kind of Nakamba though isn't it and he was deemed not good enough for us or top flight football.

I think we'll be spending big in a couple of positions, frankly with where we are in our growth as a club I wouldn't want to be signing a player to a similar level as Kamara as a backup, that's going to cost a fortune and potentially upset the dressing room when we have a bench of lads who would expect to be starting games. Think people being brought in, it will be made crystal clear by Emery that there's always room for change in the hierarchy but you are in as back-up or you're in for these certain type of games to fit tactics, or we want you for early stages of the cups and off the bench etc etc etc.

I hate Lescott and still winds me up every time I see him on TV. Have no idea if he's a good pundit or not cos my mind mentally shuts off. Completely over-reactionary hatred towards him. I also dislike Adama Traore a lot still, gave him his chance and then got relegated and he was looking for a move as soon as we were going down, but then sticks with Middlesbrough when they go down? Maybe I don't know the situation but it annoyed me. Maybe also a shout-out to the plank on commentary sometimes who ruins my viewing experience of matches by talking with confidence about stuff he's got no idea about or just getting wrong.

Complete ignorance from my side on this, I had no idea this many referees had taken charge of our games and it seems a relatively even split across the season.

I can't see Levante signing him so I reckon he'll be coached by Emery until September at least

So why did you say he was Christian? That implies it's better to be Christian than any other religion? Why lead with that implication? The people upholding these awful laws in some middle Eastern states / countries are backwards people, the way they interpret their religion isn't the fault of that belief system and shouldn't be used to tarnish all other people of the same faith as lesser.

Oh boy, nobody tell him about the history of Christianity. Not sure how/why religion got into that insult?

Think if Laporte comes in then that means at least 2 of Digne, Konsa, Chambers and Dendonker are on there way out. He can cover the left side and we pivot to attacking with Cash when he plays ahead of Moreno, otherwise he's in at CB and he'll play ahead of Mings. I don't think either of them require an upgrade and there's no way Laportec doesn't start 90% of matches at least when fit

Sorry to pick on you for this and I'm sure you and others will disagree, but this thing about City having a squad of players good enough to name 2 different sides just feels like a myth to me that doesn't stand up when looking at their declared squad. It is tiny and mainly gets through seasons due to good rotation by Pep. They regularly name 2 GKs as well or just 7/8 subs. They always seem to have one or two injured which essentially means the team picks itself for bigger matches. If you pick: Ederson Walker Dias Laporte Stones Rodri Mahrez De Bruyne Grealish Haaland Then your 2nd team is: Ortega Lewis Akanji Ake Gomes Phillips Gundogan Silva Palmer Alvarez Foden They have some brilliant players in there but the whole back line is injury prone or untested, Palmer not shown too much yet and Phillips seems to be struggling with fitness and Gundogan out of contract, Ortega good back up option but a big step down from Ederson. To keep it on Villa, I feel the step down in quality would be similar for us but obviously on a different level to Man City, when naming a starting side and then a 2nd team. For me the obvious holes in the side currently is a right back, a solid backup keeper unless we trust Sinisalo and up front there's questions over who can support alongside Watkins and what Duran and Archer will be up to next season, sold loaned or given a chance. Midfield looks very good to me especially with Tielemans potentially coming in. I would expect one or both of Bailey / Traore to be leaving if we can get Barnes in which would be no bad thing in the long run. I like both of them and would prefer they are kept on and Emery finds a way to make them flourish, but I also think Barnes seems an obvious upgrade in that position right now, so if it's doable, get it done. We can't wait around forever for the Bundesliga Bailey to finally hit form in the Prem.

If he went to Man Utd / Arsenal / Newcastle it wouldn't completely shock me, I'd say it was sensible transfer for them, so on that basis I think it would be great to be able to sign him. On the other hand, this has a feeling of the Ings transfer to me. Great player, technically gifted and intelligent but right from the off I'm thinking 1. Where does he fit in our systems and 2. Who is he better than to replace as he's too good (will ask too much in wages) to sit on the bench all season waiting for an injury.

I'd take top 10 and a genuine attempt at winning a trophy

I get the sentiment but I doubt this is ever the case. Managers can regularly save their jobs with a good run and there was obviously no reason to wait till the Fulham game to sack him. I think Doug signed a new deal because it was improved terms and he knew he can just kick up a real fuss whenever a huge club comes in with a good offer to make sure he leaves, otherwise he's getting paid well to play in the Prem.

If I'm not a Villa fan and the option is big wage, Champo league football, live in Paris, guaranteed winners medal to add to the collection of winners medals or Europa Conference, Birmingham and less money I know what I'm taking. And if I'm an advisor / agent I know what I'm advising. I'd like him to join us but there are clubs that offer more and that's where we are in the current pecking order. We need to box smart and sometimes we'll miss out on reported targets.

That's what I've just done when logging on now haha

Think leaders in the squad are important and especially long standing ones at the club who as you say, can reflect the ethos and attitude of a club. But I don't think it matters who's got the armband on. I'd consider Mings, Young, Martinez and McGinn all equally important in our squad in terms of having the right mindset and character that can spread across a squad. I think you can see it in the likes of Ramsey too, not that he's not a good lad with a good family and a strong mindset of his own, but I think characters in the squad won't be doing any harm to that at all which is key. I don't think there was any suggestion that anyone had an issue with Mings as captain internally and so when you pick McGinn instead, to me that sent the message "this guy is above you in the dressing room" whereas I imagine Emery has more of a modern approach like you see at a lot of top clubs, a captain's group, there's always one of them in the team and whoever it is will get the armband that day. If you're out of form or you don't suit the game tactically you're not kept in just because of your status.