wilko154

Just watched his interview at Everton and I forgot how much I love the bloke! Hope he smashes it, be great to see him start off with a goal on Saturday and change a few of the Everton fans minds.

I love VT and the way people make random suggestions of players that I've never heard of as though Gerrard and Lange login once a day on a scouting mission.

Yes it's usually a similar setup to us, 1 DM and 2 8's. Although this changes in some games, Cheltenham were only promoted last season and so it's a challenging season for them. I think it will be well suited for Ramsey.

The disrespect for El Ghazi in our fanbase is shameful. He's not good enough to be a first team player for us now, not at the level we are aiming for, but he's been a very good player for us in the past few seasons. 26 goals in 4 seasons. 10 of our 55 goals last season, 18% of our PL goals in one of our best seasons for years.

This is either going to be like Barkley last season, or on a completely different level never experienced at Villa Park before. I'm praying it's the latter.

Cheltenham play five at the back, wing backs being the width. Three in the middle and two up front. Ramsey will play in the midfield. Crowley has just departed and so he will slot into his place quite nicely alongside Callum Wright on loan from Leicester. Jake Doyle-Hayes went there on loan a few seasons ago and was very good for them, although didn't make it at Villa.

Started Stardew Valley over Christmas and I'm now addicted.

Nice to see the Forest fans were impressed with him. Find it surprising that this thread is full of people slating him after his first appearance on loan.

I'm not convinced that Digne is a huge upgrade on Targett. He posts some good numbers from an assist perspective, but so does Targett over the course of a season generally. Just feel that we need something a bit more for the price being touted.

I wonder if we could loan him for the remainder of the season with a mandatory purchase price of higher than Brighton's asking price if his court case dissapears. The problem we have at the end of the season is that a lot more clubs will be interested.

The Swindon forum is interesting. It sounds as though the decision to bring him back to Villa had been made last week, we just allowed him to stay for the Man City game. They also don't think he's ready for the Championship or PL yet; but all note that he's a quality player who isn't far away. Currently inconsistent, but very good on his day.

I've just looked at this, I didn't quite realise that Swindon are 5th in the league. I would feel sorry for them if he comes back and doesn't play now. It could hinder their promotion push massively. Hoping we send Barry to them to help them in another way.

Good move, whether or not he stays at the club for the remainder of the season. It was quite clear on Friday that he's now above L2 standard, he could fit in to a Championship team comfortably which would aid his development if required. I think we will keep him at the club for the remainder of the season though, hopefully getting some minutes to show what he's about. Last game we had a 16 year old centre back as our only defensive cover on the bench, we had to address that in some way. The exciting part about this is that Gerrard see's him as the future right back, something we have called for since last season.

Yet you've taken the time out of your day to write about them...

My favourite part on the Blues forum is where they compare getting the best out of Coutinho to when they had Hleb and Bentley. Brilliant.

Phwoar, ITK right there...

At this point I genuinely think we could sign Mbappe and some of our fanbase would still find a reason to be against it...

The Newcastle links look quite lazy... Barcelona need Coutinho off their books for the season in order to register Ferran Torres. If they try to hold out for a higher percentage of his wage to be paid, they risk Coutinho saying no and remaining at the club. This results in Torres not being able to be registered. For Coutinho, with money being no object (he get's paid regardless). Would you rather link up with a manager you know, in a team pushing for a top half finish; or join a team battling relegation?

Fairly certain they will stay up. The signings they will make will be drastic improvements on the players they already have. However it may come down to if the players they bring in have PL experience to gel a bit quicker, something we have been caught out with in the past. Trippier is a huge improvement over Manquillo or Krafth, and I would imagine he wouldn't have gone there without assurances there will be further signings. Botman would be another huge improvement, but may take time to adapt. Tarkowski would be a better short term option in my opinion.

Couldn't ask for a better game to prove himself today. The chance is there for him to come off the bench and change the game.

Coutinho would have been a good signing a few years ago for a club to resurrect his career. Now, at 29 years old, it would be a huge gamble and an expensive one at that. If it takes him a year to get back up and running he's the latter side of 30. There are better, safer options out there for less money. Although there is no doubting it would be a statement signing at the least.

Tyrone Mings has made one error leading to goals this season, 33 players have also made an error leading to a goal (Seamus Coleman has made two). Last season Tyrone Mings made one error leading to a goal. 13 players made more than one mistake, and a total of 80 players made mistakes leading to goals. The fact is centre backs make mistakes leading to goals, it's how football works. If they were 100% fool-proof they would be the perfect centre back. VVD almost is, yet has made an error leading to goals in both of the two previous seasons. Mings has improved his defending in recent seasons, he's a player always improving due to the low amount of games he's played in his career. He now takes much less risks with the ball, he clears his lines when required and is overall a better player for it. There's a reason why he's the captain of a PL club, and a recurring member of the England squad. Unfortunately he's become a scape goat in our fanbase. Why aren't we talking about Mings having the 2nd most clearances in the league with 86? He clears the ball in vital areas week in week out for us. Why aren't we talking about Mings playing the most passes in our team this season with 738, 150 more than any other player. That combined with the fact he has the 2nd most touches in our side shows how much we rely on him at the back, with everything going through him. Which player on the pitch is going to be most liable to a mistake? Probably the guy that everything is going through.

I think some people actually forget about the aspects of Tyrone's game that greatly benefit the team; his organisation and leadership on the pitch are vital to the performance of the team. We've seen in games previously when he's missing just how big an impact his presence has on the team. No doubt he will be a massive miss for us on Sunday. Just watch the shape of the back four, compared to the last few weeks.

Brought in Son and De Gea, gone without Salah. Bricking it.

Absolute shocker of a week after planning it down to the last second. Took a -4 taking out Salah and King for Ronaldo and Martinelli. Ended the week with 34 points, my worst of the season. I'm now in no mans land, I desperately need Salah back but do I take another -4 to do it or Free Hit? The Free Hit seems like a complete waste as the majority of my team would be the players I would select. I think it will be beneficial to keep hold of it for a DGW. Decision...