I'd suggest we have a better side and will offer more going forward than Sheff Utd did last season. All my opinion mind.
I hope so. I can’t say I paid too much attention to them. I know they sold their two best players after promotion which seemed wacky
Seems like Archer started off quite well with Sheff Utd, lots of early excitable comments about him having a lot of box movement, getting shots off quickly and being quick to accelerate away from defenders, then as they just got anchored to the bottom of the table he struggled. Lack of chances, lack of confidence and he didn't look quite the same after an injury. Jacob Tanswell (remember him?) now covers Villa for The Athletic and reckons he's looked sharp and back to full fitness in preseason. Looks a very natural and 'twitchy' finisher, which is good Played through the middle at Boro in a nice passing side, but also looked very handy up top in a 3-5-2 for Preston North End when he played alongside Emil Riis (a big 6ft3 striker) - so there could be something to work with here. I definitely back Russ to give him some confidence and think our style of play will suit him far better than whatever Chris Wilder was trying to do last season If he doesn't have to return in the event of relegation, he's also a nice safeguard for trying to come straight back up in the 25/26 season, alongside having Brereton Diaz and Armstrong contracted until 2028 and 2027 respectively
Having thought about it, gotta wonder if Archer is the right profile of Striker we need? From what I can gather and read he seems a much more younger AA.. Will he be more effective playing off the RW, cutting in like Adam does. I'll back him if he signs but I'm currently on the fence with this deal.
If we are selling Mara, and obviously will sell Tall Paul should Turkey realise they need to actually put in a fair offer, I would guess that we might still use the other loan spot for a striker. So long as that striker fits more the Che mold of striker (but hopefully slightly more composed in front of goal) then I think we'll be about as good in the stiker department as we can be considering our starting point, the cost of strikers and our very limited funds. Fair to be concerned if our only striker incoming is Archer as Armstrong through the middle didn't work last season and we played best as an attacking unit with Che on the pitch and it's fair to say Archer is more in the mold of Armstrong than Che.
