HalfTimePost

Aaron Hunt has had a decent return this season stat-wise in a Werder Bremen team who can still be relegated:

 

 

R   Name                  Pos       Apps  Goals Assists Shots p/game Key Passes p/game Drb   F    Off   Rt

1   Kevin De Bruyne AM(CL)  31         7         9               2.5                2.5                        3.2  1.2  0.1   7.53

2   Aaron Hunt         AM(CL)  25(2)    11         3               2.9                2.1                       1.9   2.7  0.2   7.34

 

 

Maybe not as many assists as you'd like but with 2.1 key passes per game it's not as though he has been creating a lack of chances.

                 Guzan

Lowton  Vlaar  Dragovic  Cavanda

       Westwood Delph

                 Hughes

Weimann                  Agbonlahor

                 Benteke

 

Siegrist, Bennett, Baker, Sylla, Murphy, Finnbogason and a Winger would do me.

 

Edit: Just seen the link with Hughes to Barca, City, Arsenal and Chelsea.. If they get Hughes and Schurrle maybe we COULD try a cheeky attempt for Marin? That would make my summer, very under rated player at Chelsea.

Luke Murphy is a good, realistic shout. Would like him at Villa.

 

I think getting rid of Ireland and replacing with either (or both) of Luke Murphy and Will Hughes (maybe? if we get in there early?) could be good for the squad

Stop talking about De Bruyne. There is absolutely zero chance of it.

Someone at the Awards dinner has been tweeting that Dunne, Given and Bent are all off in the summer, Ireland not even there tonight so probably him too. Mostly expected but interesting nonetheless 

 

@SpaghettiCr8ive

key:

ACM

DCM

BCM

 

 

Ireland  -  Shit ACM

El Ahmadi - Shit BCM

NZogbia - Shit ACM

Holman - Shit ACM

Westwood - DCM

Delph - BCM

Makoun - BCM

Sylla - BCM

Petrov - DCM

Bannan - Shit Deep-Lying Playmaker

Herd - DCM

Gardner - BCM

Carruthers - ACM

 

Problem with our midfield is there are too many players without a very clear job role and aren't really great at any one aspect of the midfield roles. Ahmadi, Sylla, Makoun, Delph, Bannan and Herd dont really have like an 'Oh well atleast we have them in the team to....' type attribute.

 

Westwood and Petrov will keep the ball and keep the game ticking,

Nzogbia will run at players and try to take them on

Gardner has a big engine and will make those late runs in to the box.

 

A lot of the others dont really have something like that. I've liked what I've seen from Delph and Sylla a lot this season but other than the inevitable leg breaker from Delph theres no one great praise I can lump on him and say 'He does this brilliantly a lot'

 

Wouldnt mind losing all those in Bold from the squad before the start of next season. (Obviously I'd love to keep Stan but I can only assume he will announce his retirement this summer)

Out:

 

Given

Dunne

Warnock

Hutton

Stephens

Lichaj

Petrov

Makoun

Herd

Ireland

NZogbia

Bent

Delfouneso

 

In:

GK

CB

LB

DM

AM

WNG

STR

 

Just not sure we'll have that many coming in. Thats what I'd like though

Didn't think Cavanda was a left back.

 

Think he can pretty much play where he wants in defence? Pretty sure thats what Transfermarkt says anyway, naturally a rightback but can go where he needs to be put.

 

But I think that would be fine. Some actual competition for both Lowton and Bennett because Lichaj, Stephens, Warnock and Hutton just havent provided real competition this season despite Bennett's woeful form.

Randy wouldnt.

 

Shaw is a very good player. Liked him for 2 or 3 years now before he broke into the Southampton first team, he'll go to a team higher up the league than us I imagine. United could be a good shout for him. I think he has the potential to be that good.

 

I would love him at Villa if it was feasible mind.

No thanks to Rose.

 

 

Bang average player who is having a good season in a team firstly managed by MON, who we know can make shite players look half decent, and now PDC who I think will show to be very similar to MON in that sense, huge motivation and Sunderland will sink like a ship next season, and Rose's form (whoever he is at) will be the same imo.

 

Would like to be proven wrong, but Levy will ask for a huge sum and I dont think Rose will be worth it in the long run.

 

I'd prefer Cavanda or a left-sided version of Lowton (but one that is cheaper than Baines )

Need to shift a few players this summer, a lot of that can be done without affecting our first team too much and freeing up a lot of wages. Players I would be letting go and selling would be:

 

Given 60k

Warnock 45k

Hutton 30k

Lichaj & Stephens (combined 25k?)

Dunne 55k

Herd 15k

Petrov (Retirement) 55k

Makoun 30k

Ireland 70k

Bent 90k

Fonz 15k?

 

Freeing up around £26,000,000 a year in wages and I dont think any of that really affects our Matchday Squad, just a keeper and FB needed to replace Given and Lichaj on the bench. Herd made a few appearances but I thought he was mostly awful before his injury anyway.

 

Then I'd like to see us bring in:

 

1 GK to backup Guzan

1 FB to rival Lowton

1 FB to rival Bennett

1 CB who is not injury prone

1 DM

1 CM

1 AM

1 Winger

1 Striker

 

I also think Bannan, KEA, Albrighton, NZogbia (been better lately, but due to his wages:impact ratio) and  Holman could go but expect them to be given another year as our squad is so thin.

We arent going to be signing anyone

I just want SOMETHING.

**** Di Matteo. And it's nothing to do with the Baggies connection.

how would the 'buying club' know who the agent is for a certain player?

I assume they know this long in advance, networking, maybe the scout finds out for the club. In some cases the agent will be the agent to other people at the club. (Pretty sure Bent, Houllier, GMac, Given, Ireland all share an agent).

Failing that Transfermarkt usually knows the agents for well known players... Sissoko Transfermarkt and even tells you who else has that Agent.

According to that Sissoko shares and agent with: Hatem Ben Arfa, Mathieu Debuchy, M'Baye Niang, Coutinho.. reads like a list of players recently touted to move to the PL. (They have loads more players and some v. high quality ones, but picked those out as interesting that they share an agent)

And considering Coutinho's agent has been very vocal in playing up any link with us, it's not too surprising to see Sissoko being linked to pretty much everybody considering he's almost out of contract, agent is probably creating a lot of links to the press.

M'Vila has a bad attitude. Lambert won't go for him. End of.

I know I know..

Tancredi Palmeri @tancredipalmeri

Aston Villa bid for Coutinho rejected by Inter, as revealed by the player's agent

Tancredi Palermi according to his Twitter profile: "CNN italian correspondent. Gazzetta dello Sport contributor. @SportsTonightTV european correspondent." Has 24k followers, so that much seems legit.

Not sure on the link itself though, even the reporter admitting it comes from the agent, and we've already publicly said we arent interested... Smoke and Mirrors? lol

Lambert prefers us to play four in midfield, we desperately need a proper DM and whilst Sissoko can play there. My point is

---------Sissoko----------

----Westwood--New----

------------New----------

In midfield is not playing to Sissoko's strengths.

-------------New-------------

---Westwood-Sissoko------

-------------New-------------

Is.

But honestly, I really cannot see this transfer happening. And I'm beginning to think we aren't signing anyone.

I'd definitely take Michael Johnson on a free, it's a no brainer to me

are you mental?

I think

----------------Benteke---------------

Agbonlahor------------------NZogbia

----------Sissoko--Westwood--------

------------------Kvist-----------------

Cavanda---Forren---Vlaar---Lowton

-----------------Guzan-----------------

Keeps us up. Just not sure I see four players coming in. Especially not ones with the quality of Forren, Kvist and Sissoko.

I honestly think we could finish bottom.

Sissoko isn't really a DM though, yes he can play it but it's not where his strengths lie.

For Toulouse I'm sure he plays as more of a box-to-box midfielder. Usually it is Etienne Capoue who is played as the Defensive Midfielder for them. Sissoko is a relatively strong player but as far as im aware he prefers making runs forward and likes a few chances on goal.

He is more similar to (a poorer) Yaya Toure than (a poorer) Claude Makelele for instance.

That said I'm not saying I dont want Sissoko, he would be a superb signing for us and definitely has the qualities we need to add to our midfield. But we would also need an out and out DM in my opinion, especially with the 4-1-2-1-2 formation that Lambert prefers to play. Westwood-Sissoko would make a very good '2'. But if Lambert is going to insist on playing an out and out DM behind the two then that shouldn't be Sissoko as it would restrict what he is best at.

William Kvist has been mentioned a bit recently. He would be more of a real DM. But I think it would be a total dreamland for us to ask for Kvist and Sissoko.

Makoun was being used as a DM but M'Vila actually has strength to him.

Just realised that (presuming we get a replacement for Henke) we will have had 5 Chief Scouts in the past 2 and a half years

what other scouts have left us?

Ian Storey-Moore - Head Scout - Quit at same time as Martin O'Neill

Jeff Vetere - Head Scout - Joined under Houllier. Quit for a DOF job at Charlton within a few months.

Lil Fuccillo - Head Scout (originally joined as part of Vetere's scouting team until he left) - Binned by McLeish when he took over from Houllier

Glenn Roeder - 'Match Preparation Scout' - Taken on by Houllier to produce analysis on our upcoming opponents from about January to help us beat relegation. Left end of that season I think

Arthur Numan - International Scout - Let go when Lambert took over from McLeish, now at AZ Alkmaar (where he scouted Holman from for us.

Michael Henke - Head Scout - Off to a 2nd Division German club as Assistant manager within 4 months of joining.

Not great reading. Newcastle have given Graham Carr an 8 year contract, he will likely be there longer than the manager and any of the players which he has scouted. Why can't we have some stability?

Why cant we just have a scouting system laid out by the club and not just a general 'BYOS' (Bring Your Own Scouts) with our managerial merry-go-round. If Lambert walks at some point in the future (which is likely given his record) we'll be left without scouts again.