Monsieur Hazdazler

The the King story has been put out by Percy so you'd fancy there's something in it, he's usually the most reliable media source out there!

I think we were clearly interested but quite a few potential things that scuppered the deal: 1) He wanted to go to Newcastle with Fraser 2) We didn't want to offer the length of contract he's been given there 3) We didn't want to offer the wages he's been given there 4) He simply preferred the move there Either way, he's only going to say now what appeals to Newcastle fans to build bridges - so that means he will talk about all the reasons he chose Newcastle over us. It doesn't reflect anything in regards to what we actually did on the deal. Personally I'm not that disappointed to miss out on him - also if he doesn't want to join us then we are better off with someone else!

Yeah just edited my post there as I had them the wrong way round in my head, I knew the younger of the two was the higher rated but had the names confused

I think Jacob is the higher rated of the two isn’t he? edit: scrap that I had it in my head Jacob was the younger of the two but that’s Aaron!

No one has seen the game though so they are just making salty accusations. May be true may not be, just a bit weird

I saw that it’s so bizarre. Accusing us of parking the bus and stuff like that. Lads it’s preseason chill out

Let's not forget David Unsworth, or more recently Joe Bryan

I mean in fairness I wouldn’t blame him at that point.

Our situation will be quite difficult to Copenhagen due to the strength of their league, so the goals and approach may be a touch different...however I have no issue with us buying players and selling for a profit provided they do a great service to the club during their time with us, and we replace adequately. Ultimately if we lost Douglas Luiz this summer to Man City for lets say 25million due to a clause (I know there's a clause here but making up the numbers for argument sake), I think we'd almost be a touch dissapointment despite making a profit because he's only recently started to make an obvious positive contribution on the pitch. However if we sold him next summer after an excellent premier league campaign for 50 million we'd consider that great business (provided we replaced him well). Ultimately we should always be looking to make profits on players as it shows a successful recruitment strategy where players are improving with their time here and we've found value in the market...it doesn't mean we are selling the whole team every summer.

A few stats from whoscored.com for the Premier League only....yes he's made a few mistakes and hasn't been perfect, but we hold him to different standards. I've heard people say he can't cut it in the prem and we should drop him...we don't have anyone else who can do what we does: 84% pass completion 2 tackles per 90 - 4th 1.2 dribbled past per game (better than McGinn and Nakamba making him 3rd worst in the side) 1.3 blocks per game - 2nd 1.2 shots per game - 5th 2.3 key passes per game - 1st (by a long way) 1.5 dribbles per game - tied 2nd 3.8 fouls (on him) per game - 1st 0.7 bad touches per game - 7th (not bad) 2 assists - 1st 41.3ppg - 3rd behind the two centre backs 84.7% passes completed - 6th. Excellent given his key passes etc He has a 0.8 roughly xG for the season as well so is due a goal soon He is comfortably our best passer of the ball and chance creation, to the point if you took him out the side it would be a massive problem. He also holds his own for defensive stats with excellent blocks per game stats and is pretty resilient against someone dribbling against him. He also has good tackle stats too compared to others in the side.

I’ve seen a lot of people blaming Smith for this one and I’ll admit that the slow substitutions in the last two games have been disappointing. I’ve just finished watching the game (repeat on delay as I live in NZ so watching it after waking up here), I knew the score before watching it as I get too stressed knowing the score is out there while watching it. Immediately after our second we look pretty good for a few minutes, then we started to get put under a lot of pressure and Arsenal’s subs made a difference. Our lack of control of the game 11v10 was very concerning again. However for me the biggest issue in the last 25mins was the defensive line dropping really deep rather than the lack of subs. Mings and Engels really need to get the defensive line higher up the pitch and multiple times they were just walking the line out. The gap between them and midfield was too big and it left the midfield open - the defenders have to realise that, it’s basic game sense not Smith’s management. If we had brought on two subs in midfield earlier I honestly think it would have made no difference.

I think Grealish's success or failure in any game comes from what's happening around him more often than not. He's a link guy, it's no surprise he's looked amazing when in a team where there are always options around him and runners. At the moment he gets on the ball in the final third and nothing is there for him, so he ends up holding it for too long. He created our best openings today, but his final pass went away in the second half. The answer isn't dropping Jack for a game, it's sorting out the front 3/other attacking players so Jack has options.

We're not a bad side but our front 3 and ability/inability to score is a major concern for the season

Great game for wesley and it resulted in me getting blocked on twitter by Stan Collymore. A win for everyone

Although I'm hoping we get a good result here let's not hang our hat on this. For perspective let's look at Bournemouth last season, they finished 14th which is the general consensus could be our rough spot in the table come the end of the season. Bournemouth last season amassed 45 points to finish 14th, they won 13, drew 6 and lost 19. Their home record was considerably better than their away record but they still only won 8 home games. While I agree this is the kind of game we need to have high aspirations for if we want to stay up, we're still learning as a team and if we lose it wouldn't be a total disaster.

This is a bit of a dorky conversation about labels, but for me parking the bus is more a case of sticking the whole team behind the ball and not trying to really attack or be ambitious. In the first half we played a deep line and a press that initiated on the half way line, followed by a swift counter. it worked perfectly for the first half, we had the goal and a couple of other really good chances. You guys had a few chances as well and Kane probably could/should have scored that header, but we made it a remarkably even game given the difference in quality between the sides. Second half we tried to do the same thing, except our ability to break out or hold the ball for any length of time disappeared through a combination of tiredness, your excellent tactical changes, poor individual play and some slightly questionable subs (although in reality I'm not sure Smith had many good options, unless he changed the tactical structure, but then if we'd have lost anyway he would have coped the blame for that).

He looked great in preseason when playing in tandem with Guilbert, as the latter always provided an option for him. Yesterday in his cameo he was perhaps overwhelmed by the pace but also no one looked good in that period late in the game

Bit late here but the second presenter who argues in favour of Villa is Matt Law, obviously works for the Telegraph but is from Sutton Coldfield and a big Villa fan, hence he was ideally placed to discuss Villa. The first presenter I think was almost prompted to suggest the Fulham link so Matt could shoot it down. I don't mind the Telegraph pod but I find it a bit beige to be honest generally speaking

This might be a wild opinion but in those kinds of games Davis’ hold up play would be invaluable. I think there’s an argument for him to be given opportunities in games where we need that kind of outlet. The lad lacks in some areas but if you need someone that the ball just sticks to up there he is ideal

Interesting game, eventually disappointing. The second half was tough watching. We played well in the first half but Spurs changed things up in the second half and we didn’t deal well with it at all. That being said, we gave a very good side a scare at their place, that’s a good effort. We will improve off the back of this game. player thoughts: Shame not to see Guilbert and surprising, but I thought elmo did well, as did Taylor at LB Mings and Engels looked great, could make a motm argument for either! Grealish had a solid game, shame he made the error at the end. I’ve seen some saying he was poor but I thought he was good personally. Wesley looked isolated, could have been tee’d up for an easy chance by Trezeguet but the latter took the shot on. His hold up play was so so at times, I couldn’t help but think we needed Davis to help hold the ball up and relieve pressure at the end. McGinn, usual from him and a very well taken goal. Good to see Douglas come on, more to come from him I’m sure. Trezeguet lacked the finishing today but thought he did well overall. Jota was a poor choice to bring on at the end, looked nothing like what we saw in preseason. Overall plenty of positive signs and look forward to the back to back home games coming up

Kalinic still likely to go in my opinion, will have suitors in Europe who’s windows haven’t closed yet

I thought Norwich were naive today, but losing away at Liverpool is no major concern and won’t define their season. What did concern me though and should concern Norwich fans, is that they got spanked and Liverpool didn’t really look at their best. Norwich conceded a lot of goals last season and based on today’s showing they are going to need to score a lot of goals this season to even come close to staying up. I know they are missing one or two in the back line but they didn’t look defensively sound. Created a few decent enough chances mind you but can’t help but think teams will tear through them. They didn’t look good enough without the ball

I don't think there's anything wrong with Norwich's approach in the same way there's nothing wrong with ours, it's more a result of circumstance.

14th isn't bad really, he obviously rates Smith and some others e.g. Grealish and McGinn. Can't help but feel a few Blades fans are shitting on our summer business though for no particular reason than out of spite, we've finished below them and then come up and spent an absolute packet. Meanwhile they've signed Ravel Morrison who is a massive risk, Lys Mousset who by all accounts was a total flop, McBurnie who in fairness looks a good goalscorer but is unproven at the top level, Callum Robinson who also needs to make the step up (n.b. the latter two are unproven in the Premier League but could do well, no more or less of a risk than some of our signings) and a couple of Championship players in Luke Freeman and Ben Osborn. I know who's business I am more excited about personally, I like Callum Robinson and McBurnie but not sure I would be selecting them above the equivalent Villa players

https://www.hudl.com/profile/7798328/Jamie-Searle Some video clips from what looks like his final year in school football, he finished school in 2018 so my guess is he's probably 18 or 19 now? I don't know him so I'm not going to say it's definitely him, but looks like him and he's a goalkeeper, right age range and the right part of NZ, so fairly safe to say it is I think. @Pembers who do you play for up there? I play down south in the Southern Prem for Wanaka (I've been injured all season though boo hoo).