Muriel

With JJ and Buendia (eventually) coming back I think it makes sense only to go for a loan. But will mean we have JJ, Emi, Coutinho, JPB and Harrison who prefers to play on the left + Tielemans and McGinn who played there yesterday. Feels like there won't be much game time for JPB.

Our most important player. We can win this 10-2 and will still be a terrible game for our season..

Are there rumours of an asking price in the article? I would think his price would be way higher than the 12-15m some here are guessing. Would be very disappointed if he did not bring in at least 25m, and I even think that is low when you think about his age and how good he has proven to be in the Championship. Goals are worth so much money.

I have seen a lot of these types of comments, and to me it always seem like people expect it to be easy to find talents in those regions. Every top club in the world has scouts placed in those leagues every single week. And the scandinavian clubs are not stupid either - they know if they have a player with high potential, and would want to be compensated accordingly. The standard rate for top young players in the Danish league have moved to 10-15m now for example. Furthermore, I do not know where the idea that Johan Lange is some kind of data expert has come from. That has never been his reputation in Denmark.

I think that is very unlikely that Emery even had 1% influence on Purslow leaving. In the end he is only the head coach (not even manager - clubs own words). I do think that when it comes to sporting decisions like signings, his words will hold a lot of value - although he probably is not making the final decision. However, I do not believe that Emery has the power of getting Lange fired or hiring Monchi for example. He will of course be heard in the Monchi recruitment process, but in the end Monchi will be the boss of Emery, so it does not make sense to say, that Monchi is hired as part of Emery's team. I also hope that it is this way. No matter how positive everything is right now, we are coming out of a season where half of the clubs in PL sacked their manager. If we by January are sitting in 13th and out of the cups, it is not unthinkable that we would do the same. Relying heavily on a single manager and the lack of stability that gives you is how not to run a football club. However, from everything I have read, I am also very comfortable, that NSWE sees things the same way.

The fact that it is all over Spanish press feels like an attempt to attract interest from higher profile clubs. I am not getting my hopes up again

Start the next game with Duran and Coutinho

Do you think it is on purpose that Cash defends so narrow? There is so much space out wide in that side, but maybe it is on purpose, since we should be able to deal with crosses. I hope he gets instructed to go wider in the second half.

I think that is completely fair. All of his time in the Danish league has been hugely succesful, so if the points are not impressing you I think that is due to the fact, that he did not manage the top teams like Copenhagen and Midtjylland who will always be the favorite for the title. He managed to win the league and play Champions League with Nordsjælland, which was just ridiculously well done. I do agree that you can put a question mark over his time in Germany, but it is more than 7 years ago, so I would not hold that too much against him. I completely understand the scepticism if you base it on a quick Wikipedia scan (nothing wrong with that - you can of course not be expected to watch Danish football). But I think when you watch his teams play (and lets not forget we are talking about a Euros semi finalist and top of Nations League), you can just see how brilliantly coached that team is. A team that player for player is probably on the same level as Villa, so it is not like he is not used to working with great players. To me it seems obvious that he gets a move after the World Cup, and with the Lange link I think it will be Villa if Gerrards gets sacked around that time, which seems likely.

Obvious may be a wrong word Likely is probably better - I really think there is something in the Hjulmand-Lange link though. He was linked when Gerrard got hired as well, but just came too soon for him before the world cup. Has way more experience as a coach compared to Gerrard for example.

I think that the most obvious replacement for Gerrard would be Kasper Hjulmand. He probably will not be Denmark manager after the World Cup, and will be looking to take a job at a club instead. He has worked together with Lange for many years, and I think Lange respects him very much. In my opinion (as a Dane) he has every attribute to become a top coach. He is modern leader who speaks incredibly well, and a person that everyone likes. Furthermore, he has shown himself to be tactically great, and getting very much out of the current Denmark squad. He is a man with very clear ideas of how he wants to play (something we are missing). However, he has also shown that he can change games though being very tactically flexible (changing from back 5 to back 4 and the other way around multiple times a game for example.) However, it will also be Lange putting himself on the line, since if it does not work out he might be going with him. That, at least, would be my pick.

If you are under 18 your maximum contract length is 3 years. I think that the way this was handled was perfect. 1 year left of your contract you either sign a new one or get sold.

I would have respected a move to Dortmund or somewhere else, where he might have had a better development path than here (first team football, history of bringing through youngsters etc) Chelsea just seems like a money move.

Why would we do a buy back clause. He does not want to play for Aston Villa

The fact that Carney is 18 years old and will lose a very important development year. It is worth quite a lot of money to both Carney and his future club, that he does not spend next year only training at youth team level.

Don't think there is a chance of him leaving on a free. It is either sign a new contract or get sold this summer. He should easily bring in 10M, and we would be stupid not to take that money, if he is not going to sign a new contract.

At least his price goes up...

Save of the season. Incredible reaction

If we can get 20m we should let him leave. Young is fine for the rest of the season, and then bringing in a younger back up seems smarter. If we don't sell him now he will just decrease massively in value whilst being rooted to our bench. I feel like these are deals we should make in order to upgrade the squad - sell the fringe players and use the money to upgrade the starting 11.

Stats always have to be looked at in context. There are two problems with those stats on the previous page: Sanson has played around 200 minutes of PL football this season. Simply a much to low sample size to conclude anything Interceptions. and tackles will obviously be affected by your position. It does not make any sense to compare wide midfielders like McGinn with a CDM like Luiz. His position alone will give him a huge advantage. Furthermore, I am not sure how valid those two metrics are solely to explain how good a DM is.

I don't think he is dynamic enough to be a number 8. I would be very surprised if Gerrard prefers him ahead of Ramsey/McGinn. His best position is probably in double pivot, which we do not use

He has had some great performances for us, but I think his (lack of) development over the last 18 months makes it very attractive to accept that bid. For me he is already the weakest link in our starting 11 and he probably will only lose value from here.

Not really a few injuries. It's Mings, Mcginn, Bailey, Watkins, JJ, Traore, Sanson. 7 players who probably would have started today. Still think we have a chance, but Brentford favourites

I think we will be playing 3-5-2 a lot more this season. Not necessarily for most games, but perhaps against more difficult opponents. It also allows us to change formation during a game.

Thanks for everything, Jack. Personally my favorite ever footballer and I don't think that will ever change. Seeing him running with the ball has just always been special. It was a blessing seeing him playing for my club - I just wished for longer. We are in good hands and will push on without him.