Awol

For the Love of Paul McGrath has done a pod today on OW with the guy who runs @VillaAnalytics on Twitter. I’ve got no concerns anymore, even if Watkins is coming as our new number one striker. Worth a listen if you’re on the fence.

New cases in New Zealand after 102 days virus free.

Yes, absolutely, it’s just a deeply complex scenario domestically. At the end of the civil war the peace deal baked in a certain amount of political representation from each sectarian group (Sunni, Shia, Christian and Druze) which was necessary to stop the fighting, but also perpetuated sectarian identity as a primary driver of politics. On top of that you have Hezbollah, created and funded by Iran and operating as a participant in the political institutions, but also as a shadow state and military force. The legitimate Lebanese military receives aid from the US and France but is actually weaker than Hezbollah. Political corruption is endemic, the economy is buggered and 1/4 of the total population is Syrian refugees which puts even more stress on the system. All of the major powers in the region compete for political influence and encourage corruption to enable that, destabilising the country by design. That’s a grossly simplified summary but gives a flavour of the complexity.

Obviously didn’t watch the game tonight!

Yeah.. this one doesn’t make much sense, even as a squad filler.

Entire government has resigned. Lots of players outside the country will be working full tilt to shape what replaces them.

AEG is plenty big enough, but he needs to start taking iron supplements for his spine.

Buendia would fit the profile of a ‘type’ we are looking for very well. Not sure why you’re so definitive we wouldn’t get him, unless you think he’s too good for Villa?

Sure but so has Keinan, what neither does is score lots of goals.

I don’t think we should either, was only responding to the Shaqiri suggestion. We do need a DCM this summer, wouldn’t be surprised if that involves another go at getting Santamaria in -believe he was second choice behind Phillips last year - or a new first choice target.

If the Purslow buying model of young with resale value is getting chinned off, I’d like Idrissa back, please. A midfield three of Luiz - IG - SJM looks very solid.

Not sure Wilson fits the mould of where the current leadership wants to take the club. Not saying he couldn’t do a job, but I don’t think he’ll be in the top tier of targets for new strikers.

No chance, sadly. I think we’ll get Watkins and a No. 1 striker from Europe, news broken a few hours before signing by random foreign media.

Think there’s another striker coming, but otherwise yes.

They might.

Hope you get el Ghazi from us, he’ll do a good job for you in the championship.

Hopefully they won’t want too much then. SJM giving him a quick atomic-wedgie at BMH will bring Tammy back down to earth again. Too much time in ‘that London‘ is bad for anyone, he’ll get over it.

Interesting cameo from Macron today, doing a walkabout in Beirut and telling locals he has a new plan for doing politics in their country. Man’s got no shortage of self-belief, I’ll give him that!

Exactly. With good wingers finding space - and a CF that doesn’t mark opposition defenders - Jack could pull the strings from there. Most stuff will probably still go through him but would be far less predictable with quality either side and in front. Management said they wanted to ‘build a side’ around him if we stayed up, now’s their chance.

Seems like he had a quiet season in the Bundesliga, injured?

More importantly, who is right about Origi? Those who think he’s good or those who are wrong?

Acceptable, but suspect Deano has his heart set on Benrahma.

Dreamland. 50 points plus next season with that I reckon - if we keep Grealish. Also a young side with plenty of growth potential too.

Say £25M for proven at this level (and higher) versus £40M for a younger kid at Celtic playing lower end of the Championship standard teams. I reckon Origi Is much less of a gamble, and the difference in price + 3M gives you Ollie Watkins as a spare striker or right forward. Makes lots of sense to me.

Liverpool fans on twitter seem to rate him highly, most think he’s too good for us but would do excellently at Villa. They also seem to think it would take 25-30M to land him.