HalfTimePost

I completely agree with you, but this popped into my timeline this morning and as it's relevant decided to post. , certainly the bigger clubs see England camp as an opportunity to turn players heads, younger or older players. I knew chats and discussions would go on, we all do, but I believe the first time a former player has admitted a manager would send them there with the goal of attracting a certain player

Nice pass from O'Reilly. Brad Young showing he's Jamie Vardy reincarnate again too.

Not sure this will end up being us but a Premier League team have had a bid accepted for 16 year old CB Will Armitage. He's made 2appearances in the Papa Johns Trophy. The youngest Cheltenham player to ever make a first team appearance. Obviously we've been hoovering up young talent and we've only just done business with Cheltenham after sending Aaron Ramsey there on loan last week. Being around their first team (sort of) and in the PJ Trophy, he'd likely want to be in and around the U23s. We already have Bogarde, Swinkels, Feeney and now Kerr in those positions but at 16 he could really develop there with Feeney over the next couple years if Bogarde/Swinkels go on loan or if Kerr (or any of the others) are fast tracked to the first team squad. Paging @cheltenham_villa to share an opinion

The forum is for speculating on all these things though tbf

This is what I think. I don't think Gerrard seemed particularly happy when Axel left even if he was playing badly. I think we wanted to keep him and allow us to change in the summer. I'm also not convinced a new contract for Hause was on the table either until we lost Axel and then West Ham came in for him (allegedly), I won't be surprised if we find out in the summer there's a release clause in Hauses contract and he moves on. But anyway, as a result I think we had planned a number of targets - Digne/Hickey, Coutinho and whoever we get at DM, but now scrambling to backfill at CB which would've been in the books for big money this summer. Maybe there is a Sanson-like deal where we take a top player sooner than we expected to but I think we'll have a stop-gap and spend in the summer

One of the very few people to call Ings before the surprise announcement

It was just us lot. We are the scouts now

I think the debate around him is for debates sake and the fact he was linked in the exact same tweet that this forums favourite mythical signing in Kamara makes the debate. I'd like to think that nobody is turning their nose up at him and saying he's not good enough. He's a good player at a good age and for £16m would be a risk free and smart bit of business. The debate is more about which of these 3 good signings would be best and thats pretty justified, we'd have to close the site if we couldn't do that. Not to mention it's unlikely anybody has seen a huge amount of either of them or even Bissouma really. And even more unlikely that there is somebody has an educated opinion on all 3 of Brighton, Marseille and Juventus' players. Thats a few leagues to keep up on regularly.

Is it a fact that we've bid for Bissouma?

I had a few drinks last night and when I opened up VT and saw I had a load of notifications I thought I must've posted something outrageous in my drunken stupor, thankfully it was just this comment reposted a bunch of times

There's an argument that maybe they never would've played well together for 90 minutes - and I'd agree there - but for 20-30mins when under pressures to find a winner, I really thought we'd found a winning combination. They've been complete trash though whenever they've been on a pitch together. Both of them. And it's ruined both of their individual form too

On paper Ings was a much smarter signing that Tammy. Ings had the ability to run channels and hold the ball up, he was able to press players in a slightly different way to how Watkins did last season, but still could press effectively. He can also play wide rather than just being the Darren-Bent-Regen he can sometimes be made out to be. Where as Tammy can hold the ball up and maybe he can drift wide, but he can't play wide and he basically is the Darren-Bent-Regen that some people think Ings is. Ings had so much more to his game than Tammy did. Plus his injury record meant he'd be OK being understudy or being on the bench when needed, whilst his style meant he should've been fantastic to lump on both with, or instead of, Watkins. It made so much more sense than Tammy did. It's such a shame that by being in the same team as each other both Ings and Watkins have lost their confidence and their form. They made more sense together than other options and it's been a disaster. One of the finest examples that players that 'make sense ' together don't necessarily play well together. Stats and attributes can be deceiving.

England midfield is too congested, but I'd say there is a gap for Jacob. Rice, Philips and Henderson have the defensive positions locked down which is why JWP has next to no chance of pushing his way in, save for injuries. His form may allow him to get close in friendlies but end of the day he isn't getting in unless somebody else is injured. In a more attacking sense we have Bellingham, Mount... and maybe Foden or Jack, but realistically it's going to be the former two with Jack&Foden wide. There is a gap for either Jacob Ramsey or Conor Gallagher to become the JWP of the more attacking CM position in Southgates lineup*. Jacob wants a call up and I think if between now and the end of the season he performs better than Gallagher then he'll be good value for a friendly call up ahead of the World Cup. He'll be OK with that too. He won't be expecting to be in the tournament squad just yet, but a call up in a friendly will tide him over. * In big games, Southgate will always play Rice and Phillips together, but against minnows, in friendlies, he'll happily pretend he can play more adventurously and play a more attacking CM too alongside one of Rice or Philips. Mount is the favoured son but there's a gap in the squad that Jacob could fill.

Has to though at some point to not push him to look for a move elsewhere. The sweet sport we don't seem to manage is for our players to get called up early enough they are satisfied but not so soon that they immediately go looking for their next big move of their career to one of the super clubs

Must be a middle name thing , as Jacob is JJ, Aaron is AJ and I would assume that Cole is CJ

Translation: #Bentancur to Aston Villa for 20 million plus bonuses: #Juventus accelerates and tries to raise cash to present the offer to immediately snatch #Vlahovic from #Fiorentina and the competition of the Premier League ( #Tuttosport )

Not sure where this idea we can sign Kamara and Bentancur came from even if in theory they are cheaper than Bissouma. It'll be one of those 3 (hopefully, all are challenging targets in their own way). Whilst one could play CB, we aren't buying a DM to play as a first choice CB and we aren't buying either Bentancur or Kamara to stick them on the bench. Unless we sell Luiz or McGinn and play Bentancur as an 8 but that would be a waste as well. It's one or none

@cheltenham_villa @grayslickuk I know yesterday was an away game but don't suppose you saw or heard much about his cameo vs Rotherham?

I'd suggest the bottom third is most important for the DM position we want followed by the second third. I don't necessarily think we should make it like FM and all on stats (particularly when arbitrarily comparing the weakest of the 5 leagues Vs the other 4 as fbref does). But I'd be looking at Pressures, Interceptions, Tackles, Aerials won*, Blocks, Pass completion, Progressive Passes and Progressive Carries and maybe then Clearances as the priority list of key attributes from the list there. Being good at passes and pass completion but mediocre at progressive passes does paint a picture of Ashley Westwood but from the (admittedly limited) bits I've seen of Kamara he is more than that, which is why Fbref is not always a fool proof barometer to use (even if it can be insightful) *Bet TRO has Aerials won much higher up the priority list though

That's the one

Kamara over Bentancur for me

He means that Mings' leadership is a huge quality of his. So replacing him isn't as simple as buying a more consistently strong centre back, we'd also need to buy a leader to replace those qualities he has.

Thought subs took too long coming today but got a good result. Chukwuemeka was the wrong choice for me with what was needed on the pitch, should've been Sanson, but we are missing Bailey, Traore and Nakamba so maybe one of those would've come on had we had them available. Ings for Watkins and Hause for Buendia were good choices though and a better read of the game. Could do with them 5-10 minutes sooner though or I'm going to be put into an early grave by one of these Villa Managers that hate substitutions.

Everton wouodve made that tough for nearly any club today. Tough game, not great performance but grinding out wins in difficult circumstances and when not at your best is what we need to be able to do more of. Not great but good result.

Oh **** off