Keener window-cleaner

Too bad, I think he would have been a great signing, quality player and just what we need at the moment. I hope it wasn't the 2-3 weeks out injury but that we have someone even better lined up that made us walk away (if we were ever in, or if it only was agent bs)

I feel sorry for him, but after that performance there are no more excuses. He is simply too weak and has problems coping with the intensity and tempo. The only time when he contributes is when he has the ball with much space in an attacking position, and even then it's 50/50 if he will do something productive. He showed some promising bursts in one of his first games (against Everton?) and was good in the first game after Gerrard got sacked. Apart from that I can't remember much he has done. He has been here for two seasons, had the whole spring and a pre season, and sorry to say, but I have now stopped hoping that he will come good. It ac be said that injuries and niggles has hampered him, but unfortunately that is ofthen the case with players who do not cope with the intensity and physicality of the Premier League.

We really missed his eager to always wanting the ball, his movement that creates spaces for others and his through-balls. It's going to be tough if we don't replace him with a creative player. We can't replace him with just some speedy winger.

I think he got it wrong playing Baily and Cash on the right. I guess the idea was to use their speed together with Diaby to cause problems for Burn, but it was a gamble and didn't work. Cash is a liability defensively and would have needed McGinn in his normal position in front of him. In the second I understand that he wanted to change things but I hope we don't play with three at the back again, it just doesn't work. I'm also not convinced by Cash. I think he is the weakest link in the team bar Bailey. The third thing I think was wrong was to play Kamara instead of Tielemans. We very much missed Buendia and his creativity, movement and always wanting the ball and most of all his through passes. Tielemans has an eye for those through passes and would compensate a bit for not having Buendia on the pitch. Tielemans is not as good defensively than Kamara, but I think he is the better player allround. What was good was that he spotted the different things early, replaced baily at half time, brought Tielemans on and I'm sure he will think twice about going 5-3-2 again.

I understand what you mean, there is a speculation source blacklist of a reason, originally for unreliable media outlets. Yet now any random social media muppet-link gets posted.

You mean Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain?

Yes indeed, and I would have thought that our priority now is a striker or a no 10, though I obviously want us to sign him and take the gamble :- )

The comparision I made was the feeling when I saw a player for the first time, and the few players you instantly think wow what is this. Ronaldinho, the first time I saw him did these amazing tricks, Adama Traore when I saw him against CP made some incredible bursts. Doku, the first time I saw him did both the Ronaldinho tricks and the Traore bursts. Can’t remember many other players that have had that instant wow-factor on me. Saint-Maximan perhaps, but he instantly also looked a bit of a clown. If you think I compared Doku, Ronaldinho and Traore as players in general you have misunderstood.

Yes! For us in Sweden and for ppl who can watch Viaplay they show the game tonight! Happy times! Same with the Fulham game later in the week. edit: sorry now I saw there was another thread for this.

Defensively I would say he is. We are playing with a very high line which requires our back four to be very careful in holding the line, you could see Cash not coping so well with this at several times last season. I think it was the game against Arsenal at home where they ran through several times and often it was Cash who didn't hold the line. Also in other games I have noticed that. Also defensively he is not 100%, a bit clumsy and rash in his tackles and sometimes gives away cheap free kicks. His passing is allthough not bad, not top class either. I think all this contributed to Emery preferring Young as RB last season. Cash has got a really good engine, running up and down the pitch and gets himself into dangerous positions, creating space for our attacking players. A good lad and a good buy, but not good enough to be our first choice for where we are now imo.

Please say this link is credible! For me this is one of the most exciting links in many years. i remember him breaking through coming on as a substitute in the 2020 Euros, and he is one of those players where you just think wow! A bit like the first time I saw Ronaldinho or Adama Traoré. They way Doku bursts past defenders and his dribbling and trickery is among the most eye catching I've seen. And in contrast to Adama Traoré, Doku seems to be a fairly good passer and a team player. Then of course the flip-side is his injuries, as often is with these extremely explosive players. Seemes like he missed a third of last season or something like that. Regardless of that, if we could get him for around 20M I wouldn't hesitate one second, even if he only is available for half a season every year he would contribute and give us that x-factor we love to see. Him, Diaby, Watkins and Bailey would give us quite some speed up front!

I'm pretty sure Saudi wont kill football, it will be the same as with China, the first year or two some players will be turned by the money and move there. But quite soon most of them will find out what shithole of a country it is and will want to leave. If they have wife and kids they will be out of there even quicker. No need to worry.

I was so happy when we signed Unsworth, thought he would be perfect for us! Equally gutted and confused when he left (if he even arrived). Really keeping my fingers crossed for Pau Torres, feels like a super signing.

I think we have made one of the best signing so far of the PL clubs, getting Tielemans for free being a club not playing in the CL is a real coup!

Fully agree! I has the same bad feeling when we signed Olsen as when we signed Allbäck Mellberg was good though!

I think we are talking about different things here. Slow when crawling on the ground as in the Brentford mistake yes. Fumbling with the ball yes. Moving slowly across the line, perhaps yes. But - one of his best features is that he goes to ground quickly, especially with his foot-parades, and that he is quite agile in that sense, not at least for being so tall, also means he has good range with his long legs and arms. Many on here judge him on the few games for villa (and yes he has been woeful and shouldnt have been signed in the first place). But for ppl who have followed his career in the Swedish National team the picture is a bit more nuanced. Just as an example the Swedish manager (whom I’d like to be dismissed btw) said there is no GK in the world he’d rather have than Robin Olsen, or something like that. I hugely disagree, but it says quite much about Olsen nevertheless compared to some of the adolecent comments about him on here (not aimed at you or MaVilla)

I think Olsen is too dodgy with his feet tbh, as much faith as I have in Emery I dont think he can improve on that to a sufficient level.

Seems like something you have made up in your head there, I could list many things Olsen is not good at and not suited to the PL for, but if it is one thing he is good at it’s getting to the ground quickly, especially for such a tall GK. Lovre Kalinic on the other hand was slow getting to the ground.

Not really, more of a good allround team, dont know their players that well. They have Arnautovic, and the one famous in the Grealish thread - the Grillitsch guy

He played really well for Sweden yesterday, Austria would have been 3-4 goals up if it wasn't for him in the first half. And continued to make some top class saves in the second. Could have done a bit better on the first goal. Austria is not a bad team either, leading the group. PL still seems to physical for him and too high tempo, and he is not at all suited to Emery's tactics where the GK need to be comfortable on the ball. But it's no question that he is a good international class GK.

Not at all, and I'm not saying that he is the required shape, good enough or suggesting he should play for us, only saying that I'd like Emery to have a look at him during pre season as he has a profile that we are lacking, someone who is good at hold up play in the no 10 position. Regarding if Wes is shit or had potential, or how he performed during his 5 months in the premier league I think most is said repeatedly in this thread with a variety of opinions. I of the opinion that he showed enough potential not to rule out that he could become a good premier league player if played to his strengths. His stats were not that bad with 6 goals in half a season. His performances against Everton and Manchester United I thought were really good. Then of course there is no question that he looked a bit awkward, running with a bit of a limp, sometimes his touch and passing looked like he wasn't a footballer by trade and didn't really seem to strike the ball clearly, was quite bad at heading the ball as well. At the same time, he now and then showed some sublime skills with some through balls and nice weighted passes and read the game quite well, as some of the highlight reels show. I don't know if he would have adapted to the PL, but going by the Everton and Man U game I'd be willing to give him a chance. As of now I have no idea at all what shape he is in, but would do no harm to let Emery have a closer look. It would be fun to see Duran and Wes come on for the last 15 mins and bully the defenders! (Perhaps we could throw in grant Holt in that mix as well )

Rumours gone a bit quiet on this one. I'm not sure what I hope for at the moment. A couple of months ago I suggested us going for him. But after more consideration I'm a bit afraid that he is a little bit of a one trick pony. The fact that he doesn't seem to fully fit to our tactics is an interesting one. If he mainly hugs the touchline and lurks around the shoulder of the full back, then runs at goal, well then that is not the way we play with our inverted wingers and Moreno bombing forward. But as Emery has said that he is looking for different porfiles on players, Barnes would give us the option to play with traditional wingers or wide forwards. With Digne as LB and Barnes LW or wide forward there we have a classic left side and would give us options to play that way in some games. Now if it is sound to fork out £30-40M for a player who would excpect to play regularly, just to have in case of a back up tactic, I'm not sure.

I hope he is with us for pre season so that Emery can take a look at him, perhaps he will never come back in the same shape as before his injury, sad if so. But if he can get back to that shape, I do think he fills a profile that we currently dont have. Emery spoke about having players with different profiles to play in different ways. Wesley was in the beginning of his career playing as a no 10, I think a big strong target player as a no 10 is something we are missing. Wesley was acutally quite good in the hold up play and bringing others in to play with one or two touch passes. With the ball at his feet running towards defences he got exposed. But hold up play and then coming in the second wave I think he could do a job, if he gets back in the same shape as before. Wesley occupying a couple of defenders and creating space for Watkins to run could be a tactic in some games.

I watched the game as well as I was interested in taking a closer look at Tielemans. I thought he would play as a holding midfielder, but was a bit surprised that he played to the right in a 3 man midfield, playing quite high up the pitch. I saw it as their tactics was to create space on the wings for their super fast wide forwards and instead of playing through the midfield try to play it directly from the back to the space on the wings. Allthough that was Tielemans main position in the build up play, he quite often drifted centrally and helped out and especially in the second half he quite often was in the holding midfielder role, at times he also was the one pressing high up the pitch. I thought he would be more on the ball in the build up play, dictating play, but as said, I think it had to do with their tactics, not playing through the middle. I think this is why some regard him having a quiet game as he didn't have the ball in the build up as much as expected. The main thing I take away from watching him though is how mobile and quick he is. Reading on here I expected to see someone who had lost his legs and was slow, a Tom Huddlestone type. It was nothing like that, I thought he looked quick, and was at times in the second half the one tracking back and helping out in defence despite playing in a more forward role. Now don't misunderstand me, he is probably not fast on longer distances and as a winger or full back he would perhaps be exposed, but operating in the middle of the pitch there is no problem what so ever as I see it. As said he looks quick in his first steps and in the first yards of running. He looked athletic and put himself about. As a comparison I dont think De Breune is very fast on long distances either, neither is Luiz and he is excellent. Allthough he didn't have the ball that much you can see that he is really good on the ball, yes he misplaces a couple of through balls, but he also picked out some sublime passes that directly created good chances. The shot at the end also shows what he is capable of. Another thing that struck me was that he reads the game really good, he helps out and is in good positions defensively and in the build up play and often gives instructions, looks a really intelligent player. A top top signing this.

I think he looks absolutely fantastic, sublimed control and good passing, and that x-factor with speed and dribbling, scores some real wonder goals as well. He played quite much for Spain in the WC which says a lot for a 20 year old not playing at Barca or Real. I think it would be an absolute steal if we could get him.