HalfTimePost

Using that list I think a very successful window would consist of: Smithies, Dragovic, Cresswell, Hunt, Lestienne, Finnbogason Guzan Lowton Vlaar Dragovic Cresswell Westwood Delph Lestienne Hunt Agbonlahor Benteke Bench: Smithies, Bennett, Clark/Baker, Sylla, Gardner, Weimann, Finnbogason would be lovely. With Finnbogason ready to take the reigns for when Benteke inevitably leaves. More realistic may be: Smithies, Dunk/Chester, Cavanda, Murphy, Gale, Deeney/Clayton.

Think there are a few reasons for it: He's been quoted as saying that he feels he is ready to play at a higher level, He's very good friends with Westwood, they've played together since they were 9. It's clear to see how highly he thinks of him. We've been linked He was in the Football League Team of The Year Right age, and plays a position we need players for Lambert has definitely been to see Crewe play, likely to watch Murphy (I'd also take Max Clayton!) I dont think its 100% nailed on. But it just has a lot to back it up. From reading that interview with him on our OS it's clear to see he has the mentality that Lambert would want, he isnt going to cost the earth. Probably £2-3m if Crewe hold out on us. We'll see but I'd like it to happen.

I'd be pretty confident of Murphy signing for us this summer, right age, right price, right position. Aspas would be nice but absolutely no chance of that happening. I also cant see Stocker or Dragovic happening. Would absolutely love both to happen. Cresswell would be nice and I wanted us to sign him over Bennett last summer, considering Bennett was injured when we signed him and his form ever since, I'd say going for him over Cresswell would be a mistake on Lamberts part in an otherwise stellar transfer window last summer. (although I assume would be based around monetary constraints). I cant see us spending enough on another left back to get Cresswell though. Imagine it would take £5m and think we'd be more likely to try and pull in a £2m-£3m leftback to compete with Joe. All the players mentioned in that post would improve us though and be very good signings. Good post.

Just tweeted he is sat in the away end tomorrow so he's definitely not playing haha.

He's Belgian, but agree he could be a good player for us and our system. Probably not too expensive either. £3m? Another Belgian in the team could be good for keeping Benteke too. Not to mention how well Belgian players seem to be taking to the Premiership.. Him and Cavanda could come in very cheapily, perform well in areas we need depth in the squad and befriend Christian and get him to stay haha.

With our Category 1 academy status though we should be poaching the best youngsters anyway, like what Arsenal have done to us with Crowley. It's harsh and not a nice part of the football business but it could be incredibly effective for us. But hiring some scouts to basically scout the youth teams of clubs like Crystal Palace, Southampton, Crewe and Sheffield United and poach the best of what comes through as they can sign professional contracts would be hugely beneficial. Of those clubs, only Southampton also have a Category 1 Academy, the other 3 all have Category 2. Meaning if we sign one of their players aged 12-16 we would only have to pay £25k* per year they have been there from the age of 12. (+£3k for every year they were there between ages 9-11). Meaning it is very possible the likes of the next Wilfried Zaha, Victor Moses, Nathaniel Clyne, Matt Lowton, Kyle Walker, Kyle Naughton, Ash Westwood, Nick Powell, Max Clayton etc etc for a *maximum* of £109k. Potentially an absolute steal. Then give these players time in the NextGen series and loan them out to some feeder clubs would be lovely. *And only 40k a year if we were to sign some Southampton youngsters. A maximum of £169k for the next Shaw, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Bale or Walcott also an absolute steal, although with the huge success those players have had (plus their club doing similarly to our own) I imagine it would be harder to poach theirs.

I'd be quite the fan of having Crewe, they give youth a chance in a huge way, play the game in the right way too, so would be great to get the likes of Grealish and Graham a season there to really spur their careers forwards. Plus it should help Crewe out. Then, when they look at selling their talent, we can go in for them plus send a potential replacement back on loan if need be. i.e. Sign Luke Murphy, send Grealish, Carruthers or Johnson to them in return Sign Max Clayton, send Drennan or Burke the other way for a season.

Seen him once or twice, think he can play either CAM or Left Wing but think he is more than technically gifted enough to be a permanent CAM behind a lone striker in a 4-2-3-1 eventually. Really think him centrally with Graham on the wing will be the future for us.

I always thought we paid £3m for him. (Which is still a massive bargain for the player that we got). If that is true that we paid £900k for him. Then that is an absolutely huge bargain.

That must have took you ages to write, and you know what I pretty much disagree with all of it. Such a pointless comment, would you care to elaborate? All the opinions he wrote in that post I basically have the opposite view. I don't think his was a pointless post, you said you disagree with everything, I think I originally gave a pretty balanced view of him. I really like Andi, as I said multiple times, but he isn't a future world star and I suggested as to why. You just said you think the exact opposite of me. So, to be clear. You: Dont love Weimann and don't think it would be a shame if we lost him You think he is good technically But finishing and positioning aren't his best attributes He has been better infront of goal recently than earlier in the season You dont think he works harder than everybody else on the pitch You dont think a Darren Bent that loves Villa and works hard would be good for us. You dont think Benteke and Weimann had a good partnership when playing 2 up front earlier in the season You think Weimann has been as good (or better, if you think the exact opposite of me) on the Right wing/forward than as an actual striker You dont agree that Weimann is naturally a poacher that works hard He IS a speedy, complete forward And/Or he IS a tricky, direct winger fits perfectly as a right-forward in a 4-3-3 You wouldn't love Weimann to sign a new contract Weimann will have the most successful career from Benteke, Lowton, Westwood and himself

Well we're due to break it again then. £100m bid for Messi?

Love Weimann and it would be a huge shame if we lost him. However, technically he is poor. Generally his positioning and finishing (a la Bent) is his best attributes, but they too have been off of late. A lot of pretty easy goals he has missed in recent weeks. He works hard, probably harder than anybody else on the pitch and if he can find his finishing form from the Cup/earlier in the season more consistently then having a Darren Bent that [seemingly] loves Villa and works hard for the team could be huge for us. If, as I suspect we will, move back to two strikers, then Weimann and Benteke created a potent partnership earlier in the season. But with 3 forwards (Weimann and Gabby wide of Benteke), Weimann has trailed off a bit, i still like him but I dont think he fits well enough in that front 3. It's not his fault. He's a poacher that works hard. He isn't a speedy, complete forward or able to play as a tricky winger so the formation just doesn't suit him (and to be fair to him, he's been better on that Right side lately than earlier in the season). So long story short. I'd love Weimann to sign a new contract, thrilled if we keep him. But if I had to choose out of our best players this season (Guzan, Lowton, Westwood, Weimann, Benteke) which one had to leave this summer. It would be Andi. He's technically limited and not a lot of his praise from fans is due to his unrelenting workrate (which is great), I think, in the long run, Weimann will have the least successful career of those younger players I mentioned (excluding Guzan)

Absolutely no chance of signing Shaw, wish we would stop talking about him. If we wanted to sign him we should have made a move before he made an appearance for Southampton. I know a couple of posters on here had mentioned him before he broke through, was always destined for the top and we've missed the bus on him now

I've always been under the impression that the youth and reserve teams play better football than our first team, in terms of philosophy atleast.

With the attacking fullbacks Lambert like to use the centre backs have to have a strong partnership and a DM breaking up play infront of them. Even with a better left back they will still be attack-minded and worse defensively than going forward. Its just what Lambert wants. If he finds another Lowton then hes a **** hero. With that in mind. I dont think any mixture of Vlaar, Clark and Baker have looked like building a solid partnership. Although I agree it would be a shame to drop both Baker and Clark. Maybe a new DM will help out. As much as I love Westy hes not really the brute we need infront of the cbs

I think we will move back to Lamberts favoured 4-1-2-1-2 formation at the start of next season. Guzan Lowton Vlaar New New Ash Sylla Delph New AM Weimann Benteke Would be the minimum for me, Ideally, I'd like to see Westwood moved to Sylla's position with a strong more traditional DM in there. Hopefully the 'New' AM will be in the German-mould i.e. able to play wide too and then it could quite easily move to the 4-3-3 we have used lately, which I think is better balanced for us with a quick sub. Guzan Lowton Vlaar New New Sylla Ash Delph New AM Gabby Benteke (I don't like Weimann on the wing) Edit: Im not exactly a huge fan of either of these formations, but prefer the 4-3-3 as it gives us more width and balance. If we can find a good partner for Westwood i'd prefer us to go 4-2-3-1. Give it a couple of years and maybe that could be Gardner. Westwood Gardner Carruthers Grealish Graham Benteke Could be quite nice in the future eh?

I think the quality of the macron home shirt has been fine, mine looks brand new and its been worn a lot this year. I'd like a tight-fitting one a la the Napoli/Lazio shirts theyve made but other than that I've been happy so far. Italian-esque tight fitting remake of the '82 shirt for next season and I will be very happy.

Next seasons home kit is rumoured to be like it isnt it?

Stan, Warnock, Dunne and Makoun are already confirmed gone or contracts expire. That is £170k a week of wages off the bill. Lichaj's contract is running out and there is no noise about him being offered a new one. Bent has already said to people at the awards night there is no chance he will be here this season and has already been in the papers talking about potentially leaving within about 5 minutes of us being confirmed as safe. In Given we have one of the few players willing to take a step down in wages in order to be getting first team football as he's already proved by coming to us. Hutton, I think just wants to play, theres no way he could have enjoyed his time here. We will absolutely struggle to get rid of him but I think for £1m Mallorca, a championship team or a scottish team will take a punt on him. Will he really want to train with the reserves all season? Possibly a loan I guess. Im 100% confident Given, Dunne, Warnock, Makoun, Lichaj, Hutton and Bent won't be here next season. Ireland will be tougher. Hopefully we can get him to the MLS or maybe even QPR. So, in their place we'll sign: GK (backup), CB, LB, RB (backup), CM/DM, Striker and then I think we'll also sign: 1 CM/AM 1 Wide Forward / Winger 8 signings. However assuming those players mentioned above all leave (a difficult task in itself), a very quick look at players who will be 21 and over and possibly named in our squad next season: Is 23 players, leaving us with 2 slots for other players to fill. I think it is absolutely vital we sign 1 CB and 1 LB. Those are priorities 1 and 2. Then we have to start looking at the rest and who can go. Siegrist hasn't done a lot this season from what I've seen, it mostly appears to be Brad Watkins (is Benj injured?) loan him out to the lower Championship and sign a young backup keeper. Delfouneso has start 22 games for Blackpool, with 18 appearances from the bench and scored 6 goals. He can go too. Maybe another loan, he's still only 22 but I think thats it for him now to be honest. We can then sign a striker, my choice being Alfred Finnbogason to rival Benteke (or replace him if he leaves). In Attacking Mid/Wingers I really wouldn't mind who left, none of them have done enough/aren't good enough. I expect Bowery will stay as he's Lamberts signing and brand new. Atleast one of the other 3 will go. First to be replaced by a Wide Forward a la Gabby. If we offload a second from this group then a new CAM please. In midfielders Herd, Bannan and KEA can go, again I expect KEA to be kept as he's Lamberts signing, friend to Vlaar (I assume). The other 2 can go, both to be replaced with some form of Midfielder, 1 DM and 1 AM ideally to slot around Westwood. Stevens can also go to be replaced by a backup RB. Players to Loan Players that need to go for out on loan as they are nearing 21 and would take up a place in the squad list next season or in 14/15. Johnson, Siegrist, Williams, Carruthers (rumours a while back he's leaving?), Burke. I would also like to see Graham loaned out. (Disclaimer: Im going to say now that I probably shouldnt have made a post like this before I've eaten breakfast, I apologise if I've made some glaring error)

Been a lot of talk about Poyet leaving Brighton since they lost their Play Off Semi. I'd take Liam Bridcutt and Lewis Dunk from them as I'd imagine they would be looking to make the step up to the prem anyway, even more so if their manager leaves.

Gunna push the boat out and guess: United City Chelsea Arsenal Spurs Liverpool Swansea Villa Newcastle Fulham West Brom West Ham Norwich Southampton Everton Stoke Sunderland Cardiff Hull Watford

Out: Given, Hutton, Stephens, Lichaj, Warnock, Dunne, Makoun, Ireland, Herd, Bannan, KEA, NZogbia, Bent, Delfouneso The ones in bold can be given another year as it would be a heck of a squad change to lose and replace all of those, but I really wouldn't mind if we lost all of those. Estimate about £15-20m in fee's and £390k a week in wages from the non-bold players And around about £25-30m in fee's & £520k a week including the bold players?

Strengthen the squad (all over. Defence and midfield key, aswell as good replacements for Bent and Given), Keep Benteke, Lowton and Westwood: If we do this I think we'll finish 7th, and establish ourselves as the new Everton (who I expect to be bottom half with a late push towards relegation next season, unfortunately, i like them). Strengthen squad generally but lose Benteke: Lower Midtable. Just. Dont strengthen well enough + lose Benteke: Relegated. Dont strengthen well enough + keep Benteke: Won't happen. He'll be off no matter what if he see's us doing nothing.

No.

What are they? Do they really have to have a Football Manager assigned role? If so, I guess I would go with Advanced Playmaker with their job role set to 'Support'. However I wouldn't argue if somebody suggested a Box-to-Box Midfielder with job role set to 'Attack'.