david-avfc

Still not entirely sure whether Bissouma is the right player for us anyway, he plays as a defensive midfielder for Brighton, and his passing stats suggest he offers very little creativity, As a "6" he made a lot of sense, as he's comfortable on the ball but excellent defensively so he's like the perfect combination of Nakamba (good defensively but poor on the ball) and Luiz (good on the ball but poor defensively), but as we've already signed Kamara to fill that spot I'm not sure where that leaves our interest in Bissouma. There must be more proven number 8's around than Brighton's most defensive midfielder? Personally I don't see Luiz as a number 8 either, to play in that role you have to be able to some of the midfield graft but also be dynamic and have a bit of technical ability and creativity to link the play between the defensive units and the attacking units. Looking at our current players I think Ramsey is the perfect player for that role, whereas Luiz is a bit too slow and although he's a decent passer of the ball doesn't really have enough creativity in the final third - someone more defensive than Luiz doesn't seem like they'd be the right fit to be honest, and at a cost of £30m+ I feel like there would possibly be better players to suit the system.

I don't think we are short of a few bob to be honest, however it is important to balance the books as we don't want to end up like Everton having to tighten their belts due to FFP after a period of overspending and underperforming. Or like us in the later Lerner years when he decided to stop funding the deficits. Obviously Grealish has given us a bit of a clean slate, for now, but we've still been spending like crazy since we were promoted and now appear to be willing to hand out some very big contracts too, I think the club has a strategy in all this so not a huge concern but we should still be sensible nonetheless

Targett is more than good enough as back up (and indeed probably as first choice for most bottom half / mid table PL clubs), but he's already nailed his colours to the mast saying he wants to play regularly. He's had a bit of stick for it but I think it's fair enough if he wants to play, many other players get slated for being content picking up a wage not playing so in a sense it's refreshing to see the opposite. Personally I don't think we really need to push the boat out too much for a back up left back, realistically they aren't going to play often so it's probably best to go with the cheapest option who could do the job.

An outcome of transfer fees becoming sillier and sillier; if you were a player and you wanted to move someone has to stump up tens or even hundreds of millions to sign you, a Bosman signing might be your best hope

Yeah Traore and Bailey both injured constantly throughout the season, fully fit they could still find a place in the squad. Not convinced either has the consistency to start 30+ games for us but could still slot in on occasion either tactically or as cover, and would be useful options off the bench. El Ghazi and Trezeguet I think we’ve seen enough to know they’re just below the level required, not bad players at all just don’t have that extra something special to be PL attackers

He’d be an interesting option if the price is right, his versatility would be helpful to the squad as he could provide cover for left back whilst also competing for a midfield place too. I guess the question is whether he’s actually good enough to be a PL midfielder, as he’s not really been tested much there in the league, international football is a bit different and it’s common for players to be shifted into different positions for their national sides (Alaba in attacking midfield for Switzerland is an example which comes to mind)

I think we’ll be aiming for 7th but will probably miss it and finish 8th-10th. We’ve spent money already and hopefully there is more in the tank, but converting a highly inconsistent 14th place side into a solid top 6/7 side is a very difficult challenge, especially as there are a number of similar sides pushing for that same position, which is why I can’t see it happening unless we have a particularly great run of form throughout the season. Another bottom half finish now would be viewed as a failure, unless of course there is some unexpected chain of events which sets us back further (e.g. some injuries etc), as we’ve spent enough money and seem to have the right structures behind the scenes now to help us push on.

I remember watching his debut in the annual Walsall friendly - His first touch was from a typical long ball smash up the field and from his attempt to chest it down the ball bounced about 5 or 10 yards back in the direction it came from. I had my doubts from literally that first second. Feels like he was scouted off a database because he never looked natural and surely that would have been picked up on if we’d properly looked at him

Was wondering if he was the same Gomez who was a hot prospect at Barca and Dortmund a few years ago. Seems like a strange one to go from attacking midfield to left back. I’d have some concerns to be honest especially if he was only recently sold by Dortmund who have a good record of promoting youth players. Sometimes these la masia graduates just shuffle round the various European leagues living off the Barcelona name on their CV. There was one guy Halilovic who was apparently one of the best prospects around at one point.. he ended up at Small Heath!!

We don’t exactly know what the dynamic is on the training field or behind closed doors in the offices at Bodymoor Heath. But I would say it would be highly unusual that the assistant calls the shots and the manager is secondary to his own assistant, that would by a highly dysfunctional set up in any organisation. I would say more realistically Gerrard simply delegates out the training sessions to the assistant and the players pick up on this as they spend more time on the training pitch with the staff than anywhere else. I don’t see that as an issue or anything unusual, some managers are more hands on on the training pitch than others. In that scenario we simply bring in another high quality coach and Gerrard just delegates out exactly the same responsibilities on the training field, not an issue. In terms of tactical planning etc of course his assistant will likely feed in to the ideas but as the main manager the final responsibility lies with Gerrard - whether Beale is providing supporting input or if it’s someone else’s voice, the decisions are still ultimately Gerrard’s. If we do have a backwards set up where the manager isn’t really the manager, which sounds completely bizarre to me, then really the sooner that set up gets cleansed out the better.

Glad to see him do well. I expect his value will double now, albeit from a low base, as presumably Forest will want to keep hold of their play-off heroes, much like we did with Mings, Hause, El Ghazi and it seems like Davis is well liked up there and plays every game when fit. He's proven he can be a useful player if given proper game time, he's never going to be a 20 goal a season man but could hit double figures and has a lot of great attributes with his strength, pace, hold up play etc so would be a decent for a lower PL side like Forest will now be, or certainly good enough for the championship. £8-10m + sell on % in case he turns into an Michail Antonio type would be decent for all parties

I think it’s about right, we should be looking for around £20m for Targett IMO, although rumours of closer to £15m. £5-10m for the rest, Sanson and Traore at the upper end, Trezeguet, El Ghazi, Hause at the lower end. Also get the sense Luiz will be off, around £20-25m I’d expect with Roma reportedly interested. Of course as others have said, some might have to be loaned out which would put a dent in the money received.

How would Bissouma fit into the side? From what we’ve seen from Gerrard he likes to have 1 deep midfielder with the other 2 midfielders slightly more advanced and pushing a little wider to cover the full backs, not really seen many examples of a “double pivot” being used. Can Bissouma play in a slightly more advanced position? I’d be interested in someone view who’s watched him more closely than I have, I’ve always thought of him as a defensive specialist

1500 minutes, which from the 62 games Liverpool played across all competitions is around 27%, fairly rubbish. Just 787 league minutes out of a possible 3,420 as well (less than 25%) typically most of which were against lower PL teams. In fact across all competitions, around a fifth of his minutes came against Norwich alone. He's clearly not favoured by the Liverpool set up, just because players play for certain clubs it doesn't mean they are automatically better than us, especially if they've been stagnating on the bench or in the treatment room for years on end

Please god no.

I have my suspicions that some of those Burnley thugs look decent playing anti-football but could be exposed under “normal” tactics. It’s interesting that he was called up to the England squad once or twice, but hasn’t been asked back - the England set up to me seems like a bit of a clique, if you’re in, you’re in, but this guy was in at one point but then not considered good enough to stay in compared to the likes of Coady and Mings

Tarkowski is a decent player but not convinced he is a class above Mings, or indeed if he’s actually better than Mings at all. There must be a quality centre half in Europe who wants to try their hand in the PL, we need to find our next Laursen, Melberg… someone who has potential to turn out to be a top PL defender who can elevate us into the top half. Tarkowski would be OK but would just cement the current quality we have rather than kicking on higher

This is true but even if we are paying higher wages and crazy signing fees, if we're saving £50m on not buying Phillips or Bissouma then it's surely good business and gives us extra firepower to secure other targets

Yeah he didn't save much and Martinez could have stopped one or two, at least given more of a presence for the opposition to think about anyway. But Martinez is first choice and Olsen second choice for a reason though, it's hard to judge back up keepers because if they were any good, they wouldn't be back ups.

Exciting news based on all of the hype on here, but I haven't seen him play (and I assume most on here haven't either apart from maybe in once or twice). If he is genuinely a solid defensive midfielder who is comfortable on the ball then maybe he is the missing piece of the jigsaw

I get tiredness, mental fatigue etc after playing so long against a side like City, but for that third goal he was just standing still whilst the ball dropped a couple of yards away from him - it's just poor for an elite professional footballer regardless of circumstances. Won't be surprised if he leaves in the summer so a great final contribution to his time here - although I will admit he did well for our first goal

This has always been the main problem with him in my eyes, even more than his clear lack of PL quality with the ball. When he came on today he did not help stiffen up our midfield at all which is the most basic minimum expectation when you bring on a defensive midfielder into a game. Not the only player who failed to turn up in the final 15 minutes to be fair but after months of ridiculous hype I think it's questionable whether he's actually good enough to even be a squad player for us.

Such good management he was sacked a week later

If Gerrard can get Buendia and Coutinho to build up a proper partnership then that has the potential to be a game changer for us. I know there are challenges due to their similarities, but they are both creative players and at this level of the game that is gold dust. Most centre forwards have similar conversion rates, Goals vs xG etc in the long run so the main variable is the quality and quantity of the chances created for them - and that's why these two players have to viewed as the answer. We've given plenty of opportunities for an Ings/Watkins partnership to develop so there should be no excuses why that same luxury cannot be applied to Buendia - the ceiling of a Buendia / Coutinho creative partnership surely has a far higher ceiling if it clicks than an Ings/Watkins strike partnership.

The “official league table” since Gerrard took over might have us in X position, but to me we’ve been just as inconsistent as we were under Smith. Win a couple and then go 3, 4 or 5 without winning. The 5 game run in March / April was very telling as we lost 4 in a row and drew one which included a few mediocre teams and some very poor performances- much like Smith’s final 5 games. Again, both streaks were preceded by some good results - 3 wins for Gerrard (including 2 high scoring games) and thrashing Everton and then beating Man U away for Smith. In terms of points per game, if Smith had one just one more win the PPG of both managers would be virtually the same which is indicative of just how inconsistent we have been under both managers and that the sample size of just 11 games under Smith is probably too small to extrapolate out to a comparison of a full season