Leeroy

Most of them have been regular starters for a side that finished 4th so yes I expect we will find buyers. Saudi were interested in Digne last summer and Carlos has been on the radar of Milan. Cash is at his peak and I’d expect quite a few teams to have interest. If you don’t agree then fair enough explain why but I don’t really expect much of a reasoned response from you to be honest.

And the polls are never wrong are they. The Economist isn’t particularly fond of this government, this isn’t the Telegraph or the Mail or even the Times. I think they’ll get very well beaten but to end up fewer than 100 seats I think is nonsensical, I may be wrong. Truth is we won’t really know how bad their defeat will be until the Exit Polls come out on the night of 4th July. Any polls before then are to be taken with a large pinch of salt. As is the Economist’s modelled prediction but it’s still worth considering an alternative view.

These are just examples (I thought you would have understood that), feel free to add in similar types of players you think we can sign rather than just saying X player won’t sign for us. Geertruida may end up at Liverpool with Slot, maybe we should rule him out too. But these are all hypotheticals as you well know. And Maatsen hasn’t signed for anyone yet and is clearly available which is why I listed him. It wouldn’t be the first time someone went out on loan and ended up somewhere else. Especially as Dortmund will also likely try to sign Sancho and we have no idea if they can afford both.

I’d have a clear out in defence. Sell Cash, Carlos, Digne AND Moreno. Buy Dumfries and Maatsen as new attacking full backs, Hermoso on a free for the experienced hybrid left/centre back role, and a young centre back/right back hybrid (Geertruida). Three of them Dutch too so their English is likely to be very good. Could rotate between Geertruida, Konsa and Dumfries for right back and centre back and Hermoso and Maatsen for left back. All those players have experience in the Champions League too.

The Economist’s latest poll tracker has Labour with 381 seats and the Conservatives with 192. But then Electoral Calculus has Labour with 472 seats and the Conservatives with only 85 which is astounding. I don’t think it will be that bad considering the doubts around Starmer and inflation coming down to 2.3%, the Toroes also tend to do better than Labour during campaigns because they have much of the press behind them. Let’s see how it plays out.

Man City’s charges will be heard soon enough, fear not. Chelsea’s problems haven’t gone away either and Poch leaving has them back to square 1 again.

A great day for the country. Only another 6 weeks to put up with this joke of a government. I’m sceptical of Starmer but we need a change. No one wanted another winter election. Only disappointment is it clashes with the Euros, should have just done it in May alongside the local elections. It is certainly not going to be 1992 again, although Sunak probably thinks with a slightly better economy he won’t get as annihilated as he might have done.

Then presumably you were happy with Southgate always taking Phillips, Henderson, Mount, Maguire etc to major tournaments even if they were playing average at club level or in some cases not even playing. If we're just picking on what they've done before for England then maybe we should bring Sterling back? Gordon and Palmer are both experienced from winning the U21s last year, Eze can bring something different off the bench. Watkins and Bowen both got pace if the game is being stretched. These players are playing at the top of their game and coming into the tournament in form, that's what we need. International football is different but other than a few rockets I don't remember Rashford doing anything in big games at major tournaments. He scored a few in the group stages of the last World Cup against weak opposition but that's it, he isn't going to come on and help us beat someone like France especially after a season as poor as the one he's just had. We took him to the last Euros after a poor end to the season with Man Utd and he ended up having a bad tournament and missing a penalty in the final. I like that Southgate has been bold today, the only thing I don't agree with is taking Toney over Solanke and leaving us woefully short at left back. I also think Dier as much as I don't rate him should have been in over Dunk.

Just no. I know we like to bash Southgate on here but he's made some good calls today and discarding Henderson was one of them. Whether we win it or not I can categorically tell you that it will have nothing to do with leaving Henderson at home.

He's got a good goal return for England but he simply doesn't deserve to be there and there are better options. Why would we need Rashford when we could bring on Eze, Watkins, Palmer, Gordon, Bowen. There is no room for him. Grealish and Maddison are also quite lucky to be in but I'd rather bring them than Rashford because of their ability to keep the ball.

I saw 1pm but must have been wrong, my bad.

It's 1pm the announcement.

Watkins will surely be in, Southgate has lost the plot if he isn't. How Ivan Toney has made the squad I don't know, the guy's a fraud. Konsa's form has been iffy the last couple of months but he performed in March, I'd expect him to make the training squad. At least Henderson has been dropped and I am glad to see players like Wharton and Eze in. Jones and Quansah seem to only be in because they play for Plop.

Short term deal (i.e. 2 year contract at most) it's fine to add depth. Barkley has had a good season with Luton and technically can play in our team, but isn't a long term answer. If it means we can spend big on a defensive midfielder and right back then I'm ok with these smart deals. Just don't put him on a long contract.

I'm not sure, it's speculation if they lose those players at this point (other than Savio). There's lots of speculation we will sell Ramsey and Luiz too but we might not. Bologna losing their manager could derail them, I agree on that, and they're probably the weakest of the teams along with us based on league performances.

I don't agree, we need to find a holding midfielder at a similar level to Kamara because he's out for probably half of next season, we need an upgrade at right back, so at least 2 need additions to the first 11. Arguably another centre back/left back hybrid to add to the team too depending on what right back we go for. So at least three new starting players I'd say + 1 or 2 squad players to improve our depth. I do agree about injuries and you would hope that next season would be more generous on that front, but no one knows for sure. We will still be in Europe and may go far in the League Cup or FA Cup (or both) and injuries will pile up if that happens. It happened to Newcastle, Brighton, Man Utd, Chelsea and other teams this season as well.

Yawn, you're boring.

Best season in 28 years yes. Ok so all the work is done now and we can just return to mediocrity. That's now how it works if you want to be a big club. I'm happy but there have been some bumps this season that I want addressed. It's negative but it's constructive, I'm always looking for ways we can improve and get better, if everything was rosy this season I wouldn't be saying anything negative. I was actually probably more positive at the end of last season and if you look at my posts there was very little negative, because last season we ended on a real high and went into this season with real optimism. The relegation season is a bit of a blur to be honest, I blanked it out, I don't think any Villa fan enjoyed it. Attendances were at an all time low if you want reminding. We are a completely different team now though. Anyway, we'll agree to disagree.

I’m excited I just want us to rectify the very clear issues we have before the start of next season, precisely because we will be facing Europe’s elite while still trying to maintain a top 4 push.

Lol, why so bitchy. My post was perfectly reasonable, if you don’t agree with me you can say so in an intelligent and purposeful way rather than just trying to put me down. We’ve been hammered just as many times as West Ham this season and looked shaky for months, if you don’t think that’s cause for concern fine but I do.

Think we should lower the expectations. Race for top 4 fine, race for title I say no chance. Spurs finished top 4 for four years in a row under Poch without spending much in comparison to the teams around them, so if we aim to do something similar I think we can. Don't see us getting near the title unless we plough in £200m+ on new signings.

All the "new" teams that qualified for CL this season like us look better equipped to do well than we do: Stuttgart - 2nd in Bundesliga on 73 points from 34 games, GD of +39, lost only one of their last 16 league games Girona - will finish 3rd in La Liga only behind Barca and Real and ahead of Atletico, 78 points from 37 games, GD of +32 Bologna - probably a bit more like us, 67 points from 36 games (2 to go), but only lost 5 games and GD of +24 Leverkusen - goes without saying, unbeaten in all competitions, GD of +65 in their league, insane There is a lot of work to do just to beat these teams let alone the really top ones like Real, PSG and Bayern. We need a really good transfer window and in particular to target players with elite mentalities because the players who played today don't have that at all. It would be a real disappointment if we qualified for Europe's top tournament for the first time in 41 years to just get embarrassed. Especially given we're one of the few teams to have actually won the damn thing.

I think both him and Moreno shouldn't be first choice. Neither can defend, Moreno has a bit more athelticism but his final ball has been poor all season. Both are 31 next season too so getting on. We should go for a first choice left back to start next season, with either Moreno or Digne as backup. As Digne is on far more money I guess he makes way. Earlier on in the season I'd have been all for keeping Digne, he was brilliant up until January, but he looks like he's aged 5 years these last few months so time to move on.

Having reflected a bit, my thoughts: 1. Firstly, great season. Hats off to the management and the players, they deserve to celebrate tonight. 2. The injuries/players missing haven't helped. No Zaniolo, Moreno or Rogers today to add to Buendia, Mings, Ramsey and Kamara. Then Martinez, Cash and Pau Torres given the game off because they're probably still too hungover and Tielemans rested for the Euros. That's 11 players out. Palace had Hughes, Johnstone, Franca and Doucoure out but that clearly is far kinder that our absentees. 3. Palace are a good side with a brilliant manager. I said Palace will finish above us next season, it was tongue in cheek, but if we don't massively up our game from the last 2-3 months of this season and continue playing like this into next season we will go backwards. Palace I think are a dark horse for top 6 if they keep their best players. Wharton should go to the Euros over Mainoo for me and Eze over Maddison. Even so, there was enough out there on the pitch for us to at least compete and keep the scoreline respectable, but sadly we didn't even do that. 4. We have a lot of work to do. There have been too many hidings this season considering we finished 4th and that's why our GD is way below that of the top 3 and there is a soft underbelly that needs fixing, and we can only do that by bringing in new players. Defensively we have so much work to do, only 8 clean sheets, 61 goals conceded, and our only decent defensive midfielder is crocked. One positive is we should have a lot more players fit come August, but we need a really good transfer window. 5. I don't know how many of our players will go to the Euros, but I don't think it will be that many considering we finished 4th. Watkins for England, McGinn for Scotland, Tielemans for Belgium, Cash for Poland should all go. Maybe Pau Torres for Spain and Konsa gets in the England squad. Either way I hope whoever does go plays well and those who don't rest up well.

How we ever spent £30m on this guy I have no idea, thanks Gerrard. He seemed to do well at Sevilla, but whenever he has played for us we have shipped goal after goal after goal. We need to move him on this summer, he's 31 so isn't going to suddenly come good for us. Emery bought Saliba in 2019 for a similar price to what we paid for Carlos, he needs to find someone similar for us because we literally have no one who can defend other than a player coming back from long term injury.