OxfordVillan

I’d agree to have a £30m option to buy inserted into his current loan deal. And then I’d evaluate in the summer.

Sorry, can’t get my head around how ppl think this is so unfair to Fulham. They played Saturday (local game at QPR), and they’re being asked to play Wednesday evening (local game at Spurs). They’ve had Sunday to rest. They can now prepare for the Spurs game this afternoon, tomorrow, and Wednesday morning. It’s not like they’re being asked to field 16 & 17yr olds in a hastily put together team who haven’t played in 4wks, is it?

With our recruitment system set up as it now is, I don’t mind who we sign. I feel that we’ll now get more signings right than we will wrong. So I’m not concerned who the player is or where he comes from, I just know that if Dean Smith wants him then that’s good enough for me.

They’re all jumping on my idea now, aren’t they

So push the Leicester v Chelsea fixture back 24hrs to Wednesday! It’s very simple. There are no major issues with travel arrangements etc, so any fixture is relatively flexible when there are no fans or stewards or police to have to worry about.

There’s a relatively simple solution in front of the authorities if they wish to explore it. Fulham can play their earlier postponed fixture against Spurs this coming Wednesday instead of Villa, as long as the Fulham v Chelsea fixture (scheduled for Friday evening) is pushed back to Saturday or Sunday. Villa can then play the Spurs fixture in the slot that Fulham would have played Spurs in their rearranged fixture.

I don’t really want to see Henri anywhere near the match squad for tonight. He chose to sideline himself from football when he turned down the offer on the remainder of his contract and any loans. Well within his right, of course. But we don’t need that type of player around our future players. Henri chose finance over football, let him stay where he is.

It’s very straightforward to me. If there’s a selling club and a willing buyer then business continues as normal. The costs involved are irrelevant to anyone other than the buying and selling club.

Rashica?

Games will have to be cancelled.

Any news on the Rashica deal?

He has no space to drive into in his more central position. I’d move him onto WanBissaka

I’d hook him at halftime to be brutally honest. I appreciate the opposition in this game and the last is of the best out there, but we can’t afford to be carrying players, we’re just not good enough to do that. Push Grealish onto AWB, AEG onto Shaw, and bring Ramsey in centrally.

Unfortunately we’re getting very little quality from any of our front 3 thus far. Traore well off it for the 2nd game in a row, AEG getting bossed by AWB. I’d be very tempted to put Grealish left, AEG on the right. I think Traore could be replaced by JJ who could go central

100% agree. 3-4 £30m+ players short of a top 8 squad, unless we unearth a gem or two to save a bit of money. It gets tougher to close the gap from this point onwards. A few clubs have hit a glass ceiling trying to take that next step from top 6ish to top 4, so many things have to be done well. Leicester are making better strides than most in recent times, their next hurdle is replacing Vardy in the not too distant future. Other than that they have a good squad on paper, with some good younger players that’ll serve them well for a number of seasons if they retain them. I think Villa are doing things well, though. There’s quite obviously a focus on getting in highly rated youngsters, and we’re bolstering that with good levels of spending on 1st team players that should buy the time required for the younger talents to work through into a relatively successful 1st team squad in a couple of seasons or so. For the first time in as long as I can remember (I’m 47) we look like we might be beginning to match up to other clubs in off the field professionalism, as well as closing the gap on the field. Long may it continue. UTV

I’ve said previously that the last 3 or 4 seasons have been the peak, that we’ve seen the very best and it’s impossible to sustain the levels seen. Liverpool and Man City are inevitably falling back from their highs, other teams have improved, and so the gap is closing. It makes for a much better spectacle

FRESH LEGS REQUIRED

It’s not that it’s any worse, it’s that Chelsea have spotted how we like to get out and have closed it down. It’s a clever tactical tweak

I think it’s Jim Beglin on commentary, and he was desperate disallow the equaliser. It is embarrassing

Someone also has to start going with Giroud when he keeps dropping into midfield to outnumber us. Giroud & Chilwell the main threats to close down.

We must cut down the space for Chilwell, he’s a major outlet for them

Never easy to say but we’re being tactically done at the moment.

They’re playing against a higher calibre opposition this evening, far superior to Palace or West Brom. I think we perhaps need to get Grealish out on the left up against Azpilicueta, try and draw some Chelsea players away from the middle. Bring Traore infield and try ElGhazi on the right against Chilwell.

Not surprisingly Chelsea look that little bit fresher, a bit sharper. I wonder if our management can eek out one more half of football from the lads before a day or two off? Traore also needs to be made aware of his responsibilities in tracking back to help Matty Cash, though to be fair both sides are offering Chelsea a lot of open space. We certainly need to tweak it a bit, we’ve let Chelsea get their confidence up. A big ask now to take anything from this game.

It’s MON, innit?!