El-Reacho

Benrahma, Rodrigo, Willock, Morgan Gibbs-White all similar money too. Sinisterra, Dwight McNeil, and Bowen a bit cheaper at £20-25m Bailey is there or there abouts with all of them with the exception of Bowen who I'd definitely rather have.

This is absolutely correct. Most of our squad perform as per what we paid for them. It'd be great if we signed a few more players that performed well above what we paid for them like Brighton or Brentford are able to do. But other teams are probably looking at us signing McGinn, Emi, Luiz, Kamara etc., and wondering why they can't make signings like that.

They'll probably get rid of Lampard - just depends who takes over. Given they've zero strategy in terms of how the club and football matters are run anyone could be in the running to replace him. Allardyce again maybe?

Not sure if you've done this on purpose??

I've always just considered Cash to be a RB as he has been first name on the team-sheet there for both Smith and SG. He obviously offers much more than that given how versatile he was for Forest. He could be a much better option for the wide midfield role than McGinn is.

I think Ings in for Bailey is a good call. This will be a reverse of the game on Sunday where Wolves will sit deep and be well organised and we'll have to break them down. Bailey won't be able to use his pace to beat a high line. Ings as a clinical finisher in the box will be more valuable to us. Ings was outstanding against Brighton - still think he has a big part to play for us.

If Ings was available half the league would be in for him: West Ham, Brighton, Southampton, Wolves, Leeds, Everton, Forest would all have him walk into their sides. Even Newcastle and ManUre would have a look. £12-15m is pretty small change these days for a proven goal scorer. It'd be a shame if he left to go to one of our rivals because the chances are he'll score goals.

Next 4 games will be a totally different proposition to the last 4. We haven’t faced a team with a well coached low block with Emery, so he’ll be changing his approach to something similar to the Liverpool game where we came unstuck. Martin O’Neill’s villa sides came unstuck against ‘inferior’ teams who sat deep so we couldn’t use our pace down the wings. O’Neill had no plan B other than set pieces which was never enough. I reckon Countinho/Buendia/Luiz and maybe Ings will be vital over next few games as they can unlock defences rather than beating them by pace. Really looking forward to these fixtures - hopefully Emery can work his tactical magic.

He definitely would with a few more performances like that. The Gerrard debacle potentially cost Mings, Buendia, Watkins, Kamara and Digne WC places too.

As bad as Olsen was in the main, the pass to start off the attack for the Dalot OG was superb.

Jeez I'm gonna start feeling bad if we manage to screw up this guy's career too....

That would be WWF levels of theatricality. Tyler and Neville absolutely losing it on commentary…

I remember following the Liverpool game when we were 1-0 up with Trez’s goal until we lost in injury time on twitter (which was a mistake). The abuse the Liverpool fans were giving their own players during was horrific. Milner and Henderson in particular were targeted with ‘just get cancer and die’ sort of stuff from accounts covered in red YNWA branding etc. I know it’s kids hiding behind user names, but that was far more toxic than anything I ever seen from Villa fans.

I think the fan base will be much more patient with any of the names being mentioned than they were with Gerrard. A huge proportion of fans (and VT posters) could see and warned that SG would end up just like Sherwood before he was confirmed. It was clear there was no interview process and that Purslow had just gone and got his old mate. The fans have been far more patient with every other manager I can remember including McLeish, so I would hope that patience will return again for this guy.

We paid that for Ings or Digne, or even Wesley. The manager is way more important than any one player - it makes sense that clubs should pay as much for managers as they do players.

I think that Lange should insist that all of the club’s players are brought back into the fold - the bombsquad is Gerrard’s doing. These players are assets of the club so they should be maximising their value.

Suspect there’ll be some sort of deal done that waives any compensation. If we want him then it’s potentially in everyone’s interest to just let it happen. There’s still a very good chance that Leicester will want rid of him this season or next so us asking for him saves them having to pay him off.

It says on Amorim’s wiki bio that when he became a coach he did a course in psychomotor education, which is (according to wiki): Psychomotor therapy is a pedagogic and therapeuticapproach, the aim of which is to support and aid an individual’s personal development. It is based on a holisticview of human beings that considers each individual as a unity of physical, emotional and cognitive actualities, which interact with each other and the surrounding social environment. It suggests his communication skills and player development skills are slightly more advanced than Stevie’s ‘everyone must look me in the eye’ approach. Communication and unlocking players’ potential is such a key part of being a modern manager I thought this was quite an interesting side note on him.

Fair comment - but he wasn’t exactly jostling with Petit and Vieira at the front of the queue to pick up his medal was he??

Don’t really agree with this. Garde got the Villa job on how well he’d done with a big European club including Champions Laegue performances against big European clubs. He was being linked with the Arsenal job (for obvious reasons), and was the hipster flavour of the month when we got him. Gerrard’s managerial reputation was propped up by his profile as a player. Garde’s reputation was only built on what he’d achieved as a manager. There’s far more parallels between the Garde appointment and the potential Amorim appointment.

Natalie Sawyer said on the radio yesterday that Lange and Franks were pretty tight buddies. She’s a Brentford fan and seemed to be pretty concerned as she was convinced Franks would be one of the candidates we’d look at.

Hadn’t heard of this manager until about an hour ago, and have never heard of any of those players. I know it’s probably ignorance on my part but it seems a bit like an appointment Watford would make before sacking him 3 months later. it would be pretty exciting if it turned out he was absolutely amazing but it’s pretty high risk….

The Mixer by Michael Cox is a pretty good account of how Ferguson evolved United from playing route 1 ‘English’ brand of football and being hammered in Europe in the early to mid 1990s, and turned them into European Champions. Ferguson definitely knew what he was at in terms of tactics and style.

So it is Mancini then??

Hard pass for me on AVB. Bit of ‘Abramovich’s New Clothes’ about him getting the Chelsea job when he did. Not unlike Gerrard getting the Villa job. Mancini would work for me. Would definitely signal that assurances have been made regarding transfer funds.