duke313

That’s reasonable

6 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

which full back is the attacking one?!?

None, they’re all centre backs.

Back four of Hermoso Pau Araujo Konsa, what is Emery cooking?

11 minutes ago, Aston_Villan4 said:

Does he? Only has 2 red cards on the season. More concerned with all the muscle injuries he collects.

Was sent off in their champions league game against PSG which pretty much caused them to get knocked out.

1 minute ago, useless said:

He will never ever play as a DM for us, I find it almost comical that people think that that would be the case, watch games rather than go by Fbref, he wasn't anything like a DM for Luton, he might have not been playing as No.10 or whatever like he did earllier in his career, but that doesn't mean he's suddenly a DM in the vein of Chambers or Dendoncker lol. I'd be surprised if he ever played in a two man midfield for us, never mind as the DM in a two man midfield

If he signs he will most likely be back-up / competition to Tielemans, whenever I watched Luton he was more like Tielemans than any of our other midfielders, he wasn't and isn't a DM, and wasn't even playing that deep, he might have dropped deep to pick the ball up and help Luton start attacks because perhaps they had no other players good enough on the ball to do that, but that was it, if anything in general play he was more attack minded that defensive minded

I think you’re getting two hung up on the term “DM”. Luiz and Kamara are both DMs for example, but completely different. You rightly compare Barley to Youri, who has played quite a bit for us in the pivot, so no reason why RB can’t play deeper in certain games.

2 minutes ago, VictoriabcVillan said:

A regista, or deep-lying playmaker, is regarded as a creative 6 sitting between defense and controlling the game’s tempo as well as recycling possession, exactly the type of midfield player that Barkley has morphed into under Edwards. Perhaps an early indication of his role change was when he was given the #6 shirt at his unveiling.

 

He was a creative 6. So he played similar to the role Luiz does for us now. He wouldn't be a Kamara replacement but he is bigger & more physical than Luiz & Tielemans are. Which I think would help massively. Having Kamara & Barkley together would really help us control midfield better in some games. 

 

He would be a very good squad player for us. Experienced & can play multiple positions. 

Barkley under Emery

1 minute ago, Indigo said:

I agree re: him definitely not being an outright DM/Kamara cover, but there were games this season where he literally was Luton's deepest midfielder. 

Obviously systems played by each team differs, but Luton played with a back three and had him in front as part of a midfield two. Villa on paper don't play with a back three but with one full back being advanced and the other tucking in, the end result is similar. Whether he was the more advanced of the pair or not tended to depend on who his partner was, but nonetheless that was the general role he played.

I would imagine the logic here is that he ticks boxes in terms of being cheap, home-grown and having the versatility to cover a couple of different roles in the set-up, even if some suit him more than others.

We don’t necessarily need a Kamara type DM for every game.  We need players that can receive the ball in midfield, turn and either run into or pass into space. RB can definitely do that, as he’s shown this season.

4 minutes ago, Aston_Villan4 said:

Think Baena will still happen but Williams was never a realistic option with his wage demands being so outwageous, right?

They’re not even the same position. It’s like signing a centre back and saying “looks like we’re not signing a striker now”

Barkley under Emery

I'm surprised Everton aren't in for him given their financial issues.

We're going to have the cheapest midfield in the PL 

This is just laying the foundations for Grealish returning. 

Could thing he won't be playing in the Castore kit 

Do we need two Ross Barkley threads?

On 11/04/2022 at 00:56, Zatman said:

Was it Ronaldo that said he was his greatest teammate

Just stumbled across it.

3 minutes ago, beachboys1 said:

so we can forget gallagher then pity

 

Apparently there have been discussions between us and Chelsea, no idea for who though.  To be honest, the less we help Chelsea financially the better IMO.

34 minutes ago, Genie said:

You might be right, but I think Pep is keeping an eye on it. Does he want to be dragged into court or have all his “books” opened for the general public to see his finances? 

Transfer ban and fine sounds realistic to me. Maybe a European ban if they can make it stick also. Plus maybe 20 or 30 point deduction. Something that won’t relegate them.

 

Yeah it'll be something like that, a point deduction that puts them mid table at worst and a season out of Europe.

58 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

Like with the Saudis and Newcastle, the government will try to stop sanctions I imagine, don’t want to damage relations. It’s bad enough they’ve discussed the 115 charges already. 

This is the reason why City will get a slap on the wrist at worse, the Abu Dhabi links to the UK government go above the PL. 

28 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

Lille is the sort of quality we'll face in CL. That was a very tough test over two legs.

Main aim is to be strong at VP and see what we can get away.

I think the bigger issue will be the knock on effect for the following prem games. Big problem is we're playing a high level opponent on the Wednesday evening and then get put in the half 12 slot on the following Saturday. Going to need a decent squad for that schedule.

That KO slot is reserved for Liverpool 

26 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

Yeah but he’ll want more to move and expect it from a top club like ours…

He's out of contract so won't be getting anything on 1st July.  Unless he has loads of offers, I can't see him demanding a huge lot more than that as he would essentially be coming in as a backup option.  Even if we doubled his wage to £60,000, that's not a lot for a PL team in the CL.

5 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

It depends what you judge him on. Last season or a few seasons ago? 

Watkins for example is a different player now to 3 years ago. Bailey is a good example of a player who last season is a much better player than before.

I think Barkley changing position has lead to him improving form

This is a good point, if we were linked to 2022-23 Leon Bailey, pretty much nobody here would want us to sign him.  

Emery seems to be able to get players to perform to their absolute peak, no reason why he couldn't do that with Barkley.

Sounds like there is interest in bringing him back.  in fairness, Emery has tuned some of our players into top 4 quality, be interesting to see what he could do with Barkley.

4 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

How good has he been defensively? Because defensive nous and steel is what we most need in midfield…

Not a big fan of his but happy for us to add depth in an area where we are light, as long as it’s a free transfer and low wages - not a player that deserves to be anywhere near our highest paid ones. Or anywhere near a guaranteed starter.

Maybe just a backup option to our higher priorities…

 

He was only on £30k per week at Luton.

1 hour ago, Genie said:

I reckon he’s keeping a close eye on the shit storm of the 115 charges on the horizon. 

I don't think they are going to get a severe penalty as some on here think.  A hefty fine and at worst a transfer ban for a couple of windows.  

17 minutes ago, Leeroy said:

I'm not sure, it's speculation if they lose those players at this point (other than Savio). There's lots of speculation we will sell Ramsey and Luiz too but we might not. Bologna losing their manager could derail them, I agree on that, and they're probably the weakest of the teams along with us based on league performances. 

Even if those teams keep their players, we'll still be competitive in the CL.  If we can beat City and Arsenal (twice), we can beat Girona and Stuttgart.

10 hours ago, Leeroy said:

All the "new" teams that qualified for CL this season like us look better equipped to do well than we do:

• Stuttgart - 2nd in Bundesliga on 73 points from 34 games, GD of +39, lost only one of their last 16 league games
• Girona - will finish 3rd in La Liga only behind Barca and Real and ahead of Atletico, 78 points from 37 games, GD of +32
• Bologna - probably a bit more like us, 67 points from 36 games (2 to go), but only lost 5 games and GD of +24
• Leverkusen - goes without saying, unbeaten in all competitions, GD of +65 in their league, insane

There is a lot of work to do just to beat these teams let alone the really top ones like Real, PSG and Bayern. We need a really good transfer window and in particular to target players with elite mentalities because the players who played today don't have that at all. 

It would be a real disappointment if we qualified for Europe's top tournament for the first time in 41 years to just get embarrassed. Especially given we're one of the few teams to have actually won the damn thing.

Most of those teams with exception of probably Leverkusen are going to be picked apart.  Guirassy, Stuttgart's top scorer will almost certainly get a big move and Undav their next highest scorer is on loan from Brighton so i'd imagine he'll return.  Girona might not even be allowed to play in CL with their links to City, and are already losing one of their main players, Savio who's signed for City.  Bologna will get decimated, Thiago Motta is Juve bound and they'll lose their top players like Zirkzee.  Leverkusen will get a stay of execution only to the fact Alonso is staying, if he had left they'd have been torn apart too.