Makis

Some of them are absolutely out of out league, though.

If you believe the rumours he could be looking at about ten players. We've been at some point linked with at least N'Dombele, Toussart, Mendy, Terrier and Fekir from Lyon and Soumaoro, Menes, Soumare, Leao and Pepe from Lille.

Scored a whopping six goals this season from 34 games. Probably one of the most overrated players around. A good season in Ligue 1 and the Belgian league and a short stint at Bundesliga (10m/7g). Apart from that his stats are poor. That six goals in that many games is pretty much on course of how he does. Even all leagues considered just over one goal every three matches, and almost half of these goals were scored in the Jupiler league.

Main problem is finding someone willing to take those players. Some will leave but someone like Sandro could be hard to sell. Has been poor for two seasons and has a big wage. So another loan might be on the cards. Williams's contract runs out and Cuco and Bolasie look like they have found their level. Whether they are willing to accept a smaller wage is another matter. McCarthy is someone who still might have some value so might move to a bottom-of-the-table team or one of the better teams in the Championship. Tosun and Walcott are probably high on Brands's "must get rid" list, but could prove a hard sell, too, unless they take a big wage cut.

Yes, managers make mistake. Every one of them. They still know way more than us.

Pete, do you actually watch the matches? Or are you just incapable of understanding what you see?

No-one has figured out a tactic that wins every time. One obvious reason is players are human. Palace closed shop so it was harder to create chances plus we were a tad unfortunate with them (hit the woodwork twice, great save from their keeper from Tosun's backheel).

Well, I'm bothered who the team does beyond next season.

Yes, at least Baines but that would mean someone younger with a resale value.

They would still get something like 4-5 million in wages combined. That's plenty of reason if the management deems them not good enough.

Probably needs to be loaned to the Championship next season. There's a world of difference between the first team and U23s.

Henry as in Onyekuru? So you want to replace DCL with him? Even assuming he could get a work permit why? WHY???? How many games have you seen him play? How good is high link-up play? Can he hold the ball? Is he a good finisher? How about headers, does he win a lot of them? He's scored 12 in a shit league where Tosun managed 20 in his last full season.

Virginia 19, Gibson 18, Adeniran 20, Bowler 20, Feeney 20, Markelo 20, Astley 17. I'm guessing most will make their career in the Championship and League One, especially the ones still playing at this level at 21-22.

There doesn't seem to be any outstanding talents in that team. Hopefully some make the first team and surely most if not all make a decent career but not in the PL. Outstanding under 23 players are already in the first team.

He couldn't build a squad or a team. This is first priority. You also left out Martina. Sigurdsson was way too expensive for what he produces and we'll make a loss on him when he moves on. Using Transfermarkt values he spent 289 million euros on 16 players. So far we have recouped 13.5m (from Klaassen). Brands will do an extremely good job if he gets 100 million for Gana, Lookman, Vlasic, Walcott, Tosun and Schneiderlin. 30, 20, 15, 10, 10 and 10 = 95m maybe? 190 million for DCL, Pickford, Keane and Gylfi is an awful lot of money. You can optimistically increase the price of the outgoing players but you'd still not get anywhere near a sum that would make that quartet worth the outlay. I don't think I'm that far off. Gana is 30, Lookman has promise but not much more (even in Germany he was mostly a sub) and Vlasic has interest from Russia, they are not going to pay much more than that. And we should really also count the wages. And I'm not even sure if Walsh bought DCL. Was he bought by the first team or reserves?

100% should try to qualify for Europe. There are many reasons: extra income (a good run could net 15+ million), prestige, experience (if we qualify to CL one day it would be useful to have experience with European games before that)...

Well, you already hinted what your job might be but I'll say nowt. *taps nose*

So would he play instead of Digne at LB or instead of Bernard/Richarlison as LW?

Ok, I was a bit off with my names. Lo Celso has been on loan to Betis and big teams are circling around him. Rabiot seems to be heading to Real Madrid. Tollisso tore his ACL at the beginning of the season. Paredes only recently joined PSG. So never mind...

D'oh. Suarez is on loan at Arsenal and can't get into the team there either. Forgot about that loan move.

Doesn't have to be from the PL, like Digne. So here's a few more: PSG: Paredes (24), Lo Celso (22), Rabiot (24). Barcelona: Denis Suarez (25), Munir (23). Real Madrid: Marcos Llorente (24), Javi Sanchez and Jesus Vallejo (both 22). Bayern Munich: Tollisso (24). No idea about why they didn't play much, just checked the stats.

I'm sure he would because he would be out of our budget, costing probably around 100 million.

Problem with that 27 year old is that he's in his prime so unless he's been underperforming you pay what he's worth and there's a good chance his value will decrease. And this is exactly the model Brands does not want.

I've hold that we should take stock at the end of the season and I still do.

His torrid time at Barca last season could well play to our advantage. He is clearly a confidence player who needs to feel comfortable and I'm sure he knows this as well.