Winter transfer, gossip, speculation and usual butter ollocks thread

[SoccerHQ]

He’ll do well in MLS. Plenty of goals to be had. It’s where once good players go for one more very good pay day.

Yeah think this has been agreed for a while and obviously big Hispanic community there, Carlos Vela been playing in MLS for a few years and is probably the best striker now Zlatan has left.

I was just saying not every reasonably decent striker has to cost a ridiculous amount if the circumstances are right. While I'd be excited getting someone like Batsuyhai in I can see spending 45m on him would be stupid, can't believe anyone will pay Chelsea that.

Anyway apparently Monaco have 8m option to sign Slimani full time so I reckon we might've gone to Leicester and offered them 10m and they're considering recalling him from Monaco.

That's one to watch but he hasn't scored many goals at either Leicester or Newcastle.

[ChicagoLion]

He’ll do well in MLS. Plenty of goals to be had. It’s where once good players go for one more very good pay day.

He will sell a few shirts in LA.

[Holy Trinity]

Rumour mill has us bidding for 2 players today aparently.
Slimani 🙄 might work on loan but cant loan both
Nketiah 😐 he wont want to join on a permanent deal in a million years and if that means we buy Slimani I'm not down with that at all!

[Ads]

A young lad with a 1 in 6 record at one of the better 2nd division sides and a bloke who hasn't got to grips with English football. Hmmm. I want better rumours.

[Holy Trinity]

A young lad with a 1 in 6 record at one of the better 2nd division sides and a bloke who hasn't got to grips with English football. Hmmm. I want better rumours.

SNAP!

I'm starting to resign myself to the fact we are in serious trouble and the points reduction the football league will try and give us next season will make coming straight back very difficult

[Ads]

Why would we get a points deduction if we are relegated?

[Holy Trinity]

The

Why would we get a points deduction if we are relegated?

The EFL are adamant we breached ffp and are chomping at the bit to give us a points deduction for it(sale of villa park).

They would love nothing better than to make an example of us if we drop

[cdbearsfan]

Based on what?

[Villan82]

In 2013, Yacouba Sylla rather bizarrely improved our team. Sometimes, a particular kind of player can just add a bit of muscle that can give others a platform.

I don't think it applies to forwards though, we do need somebody of quality up front. Even just a good target man to hold it up.

[LeeB]

Based on what?

That doughnut bluenose kid I think.

[Small Rodent]

The positive side of me says at least Kodjia is still here. Forget the goal-scoring, but as a hold-up player up front in the "Burnley formation" to bring Jack etc. into play.

I'm clinging to any lifebuoy at the moment to not drown in gloominess.

[JJ-AV]

Smith's had it with Kodjia. He's had plenty of opportunities since he returned from injury (visibly overweight) to get a run.

I think he was happy to go with Kodj as back-up to Wesley in the Summer rather than spend big on someone he didn't really want. Something clearly transpired in the first few weeks of the season and now Smith has no confidence in him. He has been so reluctant to use him, and I don't buy him being 'ill' at all, they're letting him go.

[Ads]

The

Why would we get a points deduction if we are relegated?

The EFL are adamant we breached ffp and are chomping at the bit to give us a points deduction for it(sale of villa park).

They would love nothing better than to make an example of us if we drop

We didn't fail FFP.

If we're relegated, we start again with permitted losses.

[Clampy]

I think a bit of calming down needs to be done. As atroucious as we were yesterday, we were also beaten by a very good side who ripped Man Utd's defence open inside 30 minutes a few days before. As for hanging Smith out to day, that's just nonsense I think. The owners are hardly going to plough  in as much money as they have (on and off the field) just not let a striker come in. We're not half way through the month yet, let's see what happens.

[JJ-AV]

Absolutely. It's not over and we can improve. It does look unlikely at the moment as the trajectory has been downard for a while now, but it's not impossible.

We do need to win some games soon though. And really soon. The record against the top half is atrocious (1 point from 11 played v the top 10). We've played a disproportionate amount against the lower half and have 3 six-pointers in a row now. If we don't get 2 wins from those (ideally against Bounremouth and Watford) we will be leaving ourselves short for the final games.

Hopefully Reina can bring some belief back and we can defend well. I do genuinely think any CF who can hold the ball up will make a massive difference, just getting us 5 yards further up the pitch would make big difference to a midfield that is constantly squeezed back.