By the arse of McGinn

I don’t know. How old was Tony Montana in Scarface?

Surely the £100K stories can’t be true? Can they?? If they are then I suggest Carney should quit football and take up stand up comedy.

Right, let’s get something straight. My comments on £20M were tongue in cheek to emphasise my personal opinions about his talent or lack of. I also stated that by todays market we would get more. Personally, I don’t think he can take us any further.

Maybe so, I’d still rather have him in the team.

Jesus played fewer games and got more assists tbf. I know which one I’d rather have in the team

You’re probably right. Personally, I just don’t think he’s worth it. With Gabriel Jesus going to Arsenal for £45M, I would feel completely ripped off paying £40M for Watkins

Well this is the thing, I don’t think he’s worth what we paid for him. I’m sure by todays over inflated prices he could well go for more. But personally I’d be amazed if we got £20M for him.

As someone that played as a striker any one on one with the keeper has to be in the strikers favour. I don’t know how many times he’s missed in these situations, but I’d be happy to bet it’s more than he’s scored. Watkins doesn’t have the natural instinct to do the role in this league. He is massively inconsistent in his all round game to the point of frustration. There’s times when I watch him I think he couldn’t hit a cows arse with a banjo. I’ve said it on numerous occasions but Archer is a natural finisher, he is instinctive. It doesn’t matter which foot it’s on he will just go with it. Watkins can not do this and nor will he, he is too old now to change his natural ability. Hey, I’ve been wrong before but I don’t see how we can get to where we want to be with him. I’d be more inclined to sell him, and bring in a new one.

The whole saga with this lad has been nothing short of ridiculous. Currently, he has proved nothing other than the fact that he has big ideas in his head, be those his own or the view of his agent. To me, he hasn’t shown anything that proves he is the next big thing. He has potential but nothing more than that; so did plenty before him and look where some of those ended up. From the outside he appears to have more ego than anything else. The most disturbing thing to me is the apparent lack of desire to work harder and prove his manager wrong. If you think you should just be guaranteed first team action, especially at his age, that will make make you about as popular as fart in a spacesuit with players and management alike. Cameron Archer is 20 now and has just got his head down and worked hard, and it shows. Personally, I won’t miss him in the slightest.

Absolutely. He won’t get used to that if he doesn’t get a chance to play though. He didn’t look out of place when he played and scored against Chelsea, so I’m hoping the 5 subs rule works in his favour this season.

Size means nothing unless you keep banging in high ball after high ball. Of course, it depends on the intelligence and composure of players around you to keep supplying you the correct way. Messi and Aguero are the first names that come to mind that weren’t affected by being vertically challenged! Even going back to what is now the commentating genius that is Michael Owen. Awareness, positional sense and just a general footballing intelligence on the pitch will have as much, if not more of an impact than size.

I think the benefit of being in and around the first team is huge, provided he get minutes in the pitch. What I saw of the England U21s match, I thought Jacob Ramsey looked head and shoulders above the rest. His sharpness, decision making, spaces he found around the box, we’re way ahead of those around him. You could just see he had played more games in the Prem than probably all of them. If Archer could get that same benefit, because there are no doubts about his finishing, he will be first choice in 2 seasons no questions asked. Of course these are my personal opinions and could be absolute bollocks, but I’ve seen a few decent strikers in my time!

Maybe a bit extreme but I never want to see him in a Villa shirt again. To be honest, I never want to see that same starting 11 again. Konsa would’ve been pumped by a League 1 striker today, he was embarrassing. I know Mings gets some pelters but what must he be thinking watching this lad?! Chambers has to get the nod for the rest of the season.

I like JM. You can never fault his effort and commitment, but that isn’t enough in this league. Make no mistake, he can produce moments of brilliance just not on a consistent basis. To me, he should be a squad player. Like Douglas Luiz, he doesn’t excel enough as an attacking midfielder or holding midfielder to be the long term option to take us forward.

The thing that is worrying for me is after the last game is he said, “there will be changes”. There was one change. I was fuming as soon as I saw the line up as to me, there needed to be a lot more. Too many of these players are getting a free pass into the starting IX, I can’t help thinking what that does to the squad players that have to sit there and accept it. Gerrard said that Tim Iroegbenum was close to starting, so start him! Is Sanson really that woeful that he doesn’t deserve a chance? Sending Archer and Kesler out on loan was a massive error for me. Youth players are usually pretty fearless when they play, we need some of that right now. The tried, tested and supposedly experienced ones are proving to be holding us back right now. As for Gerrard, I couldn’t believe he even put Ings and Watkins in a 442 when it’s been nothing short of pathetic every time prior. Something needs to change drastically, I’m not saying it needs to be the manager, but he needs to make some big decisions.

His control again today was horrible. The amount of times his first touch drops behind him is staggering. He played one season in the Championship as a RB before he came to us and it shows. I’d rather Guilbert or Kesler over him.

That was dire. Watkins, Cash, McGinn and Luiz need some time on the bench. I’ve never known a group of players with so little footballing intelligence or composure, it beggars belief. We will see what Gerrard is made of now because if that display happened at Villa Park, some would be losing patience already

Watkins first touch has been that bad that if his mrs was waiting for him on the bed when he gets home, he would manage to set her on fire by pulling her pants down.

Absolutely. We need a proper hard tackler and all round nasty mother humper in the middle of the park.

His first touch is usually on a par with Jimmy Saville

Agreed. There’s only one way to learn if they’re good enough.

I think this lad is the real deal and I’ve felt that way for some time. He is an instinctive finisher and that can’t be taught. No messing about trying to get it on his right foot, he sees the opportunity and takes it. But it’s his all round game and nous in and around the box that really impresses me. I think if he carries on like this (and there’s no reason why not), I think one out of Ings and Watkins gets sold in the summer and Archer takes their place.

My personal opinion, this deal says more about Targett than Villa. He has no chance in hell of shifting Digne out of the starting IX, and I think Young will be fine as cover if needed. Young has a much nastier and determined streak to him along with some top drawer shit-housery. All the time Targett has been here he’s had 1 good season in my eyes. He did nothing but pull splinters out of his arse at Southampton. If Newcastle think Targett is the answer, then what the feck was the question?

I’ve never been convinced about Ollie. When he’s on his game, his work rate is second to none. Recently though even this seems to have dropped off. I always felt he was past the age where he would develop into a top striker. He isn’t a natural finisher, his first touch can be extremely poor, he’s one footed and he lacks a trick to beat a defender, which means more often than not he’ll just knock it inside on his right foot and then try to get the shot. That’s too easy for Prem defenders. I still believe that Archer is a better, natural striker. When you see him play, if the opportunity to have a pop at goal arises there’s no hesitation regardless of which foot it’s on. You can’t teach that.

I’m pretty sure Archer is still our top scorer this season too!