VillaFaninLondon

I foresee more excuses if we’re struggling in 11th or 12th again next season. Had enough of it. If Gerrard can’t step up without Beale he’ll be out. He didn’t exactly do a great job even with Beale there for 6 months last season.

Yeah it’s a weird move for him. QPR are dog sh*t. We’ve an exciting squad full of quality players, just because he’s an assistant it’s still a much better job than managing a mediocre Champiobship outfit.

It seems every summer we seem to have coaching changes. Last summer Terry and O’Kelly, the year before we sacked Pitarch (though that was of benefit to us), and now Beale. I hope we don’t use it as an excuse to accept a mediocre season in 22/23. Need to replace Beale with someone equally good because by all accounts he was the brains behind Gerrard’s management team. Then again we finished 14th last season so maybe his genius is a myth.

Luiz is likely to go, I think we'll look to sell Sanson too. That means we will only have four CM/DMs going into the new season which is not enough, especially as Nakamba isn't great. Buy Bissouma and sell Luiz and Sanson and we're left with McGinn, Ramsey, Bissouma, Kamara and Nakamba which is fine. I'd like Luiz to stay but don't think he will.

Not sure how you come to that conclusion.

Don't know much about him but we ain't messing around. Getting deals done early and in time for preseason, the way I like it. He should bring a winning mentality, highly rated by Sevilla fans by the looks of it, played in the CL and been part of a strong defence the past 3-4 seasons. Downsides are he's getting on a bit and never been picked by national team, though it's not an easy thing given they have Thiago Silva, Marquinhos and Miltao playing for top European clubs. I am more happy with this one than Tarkowski as going on reports he should improve us a fair bit more than Tarkowski would. If we can get Bissouma through the door next then next season is starting to look very exciting for us.

There's a reason Howe, Vieira and Frank were all nominated for Manager of the Year - it's because where they finished was far higher than what was expected by most pundits and with the players at their resources. So the bit about tactics, ideas and style is relevant - they all nailed theirs whereas we failed in ours for the most part because we finished 14th with a set of players that should have finished above those teams. I don't actually agree about any team outside top 6 could finish 7th to 20th - Arsenal for example I don't think are that great and I actually think we aren't too far off them quality wise, the fact they finished so many points ahead of us is scandalous. I think we should be in that set of teams just outside the top 6, where West Ham, Leicester and Wolves are. Brighton are exceptionally coached by a very good manager but we should certainly be on a par with them because I'm certainly not envious of the players they are putting out on the pitch compared to ours.

Are you being serious oh you are. West Ham and Leicester I'd agree with, everyone else on that list we have a better squad than and in most cases (other than Wolves) by far. We underachieved by 4-5 places this season, just accept it.

Nope. Just like you thought Coutinho would end up at Newcastle.

The next one through the door please.

Well we have so far spent 17m of our summer transfer budget, there would be significant funds you would think given we were rumoured to be looking to spend 150m+ after sales this summer. I don't think it's stupid to target a younger CB and pay a bigger fee and the wages, because that player would have resale value. If we were to offer Tarkowski a 5-year contract on those wages we would not be able to shift him if he declines to the extent that he's an expensive benchwarmer. If the club can afford to do it without getting into financial difficulties then fine, it's not my money, but I'd be very sceptical it wouldn't hurt us somewhere down the line. I remember under O'Neill we made similar transfers like these, and we massively suffered the consequences afterwards (e.g. Richard Dunne who was on ridiculous wages and who had one good first season with us then turned into an absolute liability). I don't think these owners are likely to lose interest like Lerner, but you don't know what can happen in future and the extent of our decline 12 years ago still gives me nightmares. I might be wrong and Tarkowski could turn out to be a masterstroke of a signing, but I was hoping we'd go for a CB that significantly improves us and I don't think he does that. Therefore, I hope Everton or Newcastle throw silly wages at him instead of us.

It's insane. So many people on here seem delighted by this, I'm not sure if some people have lost their marbles. If reports are true, even Everton, who have been run appallingly over the years, are only willing to pay him 90K a week which should tell us everything. I really worry for this club if we're willing to pay James effing Tarkowski 120K a week in wages, he's simply not worth anywhere near that.

I wouldn't mind the de Vrij link cropping up again, I could understand us going for an older player like that because he's a world class CB and undoubtedly far better than anyone we've got at CB so would bring tangible benefits for the next 2-3 years. I'm just not that sold on Tarkowski and don't think he'd improve us enough to be where we want to be.

Don't think that will happen and if it does that won't be the right move because Buendia will be warming the bench again and we can pretty much write off our investment in Bailey too.

We're not going to sign 2 strikers when we already have Ings and Watkins on the books, unless one of them gets moved on and even then we'd be somewhat overloaded in the striker department.

I think Tarkowski would improve us a bit but not enough and to move up 6-7 positions in the league next season to the positions we want to be in I think we need a significant improvement. Tarkowski would only be marginally better than what we have IMO and he's just been relegated with Burnley. I'm also not a fan of signing players that are getting on and have only ever played in a low block team. Whether we could get Botman or Saliba (or someone of that quality) I don't know, but I'm not sure Tarkowski would be worth the extortionate wages to only bring incremental improvement to a side that needs to improve drastically next season. But I may be wrong on that.

I'd prefer someone younger, plenty of early 20s strikers out there who could potentially be 15-20 goal a season PL strikers. Yes they'd be going for 40m+ but we've already brought in one free transfer, I'm sure we have plenty of transfer funds to spend on a ST, another CM and a CB, particularly if we move some players on. It just stinks a bit of lazy scouting (as he's played with Gerrard before) and too much short-term thinking. I was on board with Coutinho because we were desperately lacking creativity and Coutinho was still only 29 but I don't want us overloading our squad with former superstar players in their 30s looking for their last pay cheque, Everton did a similar thing and look where they are now. Kamara was a great start to the window, we need to continue looking at those types of players who are already at a high level and will continue to improve. Not ageing superstars.

Another one who'd be on high wages and on the way down rather than up. He scored 11 in 35 this season which is exactly the same as Watkins who we want to improve on. Another no from me. If we could entice David, Schick or Nunez here then absolutely buy a striker as they are all upgrades on what we have.

It feels a bit like a MON signing back in 2007/08/09, bring in player in late 20s, put him on high wages, then when the decline hits you're stuck with said player on wages higher than his capability deserves. The Botman link is far better.

I think he's a decent defender and will give us more physicality but he's on the way down (30 this year) and won't improve any further. In addition to that, it seems passing out from the back won't be his forte and he's also looking for stupidly high wages (100K per week for 5 years is far too excessive). It's a no from me. I think we really need to push the boat out on a CB that will drastically improve us and I don't think Tarkowski will.

Excellent piece of business on a free. One of the brightest young talents in European football by all accounts and can cover DM and CB. Next I hope we see another midfielder through the door (Bissouma, Phillips, Sangare), a CB (Caleta Car maybe), a LB (Hickey) and maybe a ST if the right one is available. Whilst I'm still super sceptical of Gerrard's managerial capabilities, his signings are absolute different gravy. Really excited to see who else we bring in.

I'm as frustrated with this club as the next person but this is just ridiculous.

Yeah, just glad the season is over but to end it like that is one of another long list of disappointments to go with this season. I'm sure we'll strengthen in the summer and early signs are encouraging but you just get a sense that you're going round in circles with this club. We'll still continue to suffer following them though.

Taking Coutinho off for Nakamba lost us that match. I hate Pep but he's a much wilier bastard than Gerrard and changed the game with his subs.

I'm pretty sure we'll be looking to buy another midfielder on top of Kamara. We certainly should be anyhow. McGinn/Ramsey need to be rotated more next season.