It'll be very interesting to see Paul Mitchells first fully fledged window and how he improves the squad this summer. He's had a bit of a free pass up until now due to PSR but his holiness Howe is immune from any criticism for the next 12 months or so - so any vitriol if we do not improve will be heading Mitchells way this summer.
. The same recruitment team is involved so I don't forsee any issues. I think you're right because if it goes well Howe will get all the credit, but if it goes badly Mitchell will be the target. It's a collective effort when it suits and not when it doesn't.
I'm kind of excited for summer (if you hadn't guessed) as Mitchell has been in and around some good deals for his clubs previously so I'd be excited to see what he brings to the table - good connections in France and Germany from his Leipzig and Monaco days to, so he'll have some contacts around Europe who can find a good deal for him. If we can get 2 TOP players in at CB and RW and some prospects at GK and CF then clear out some of the dead wood I'll be really happy.
Absolutely, it's the start of the next phase and it'll follow training ground and stadium news. Exciting times.
After Isak he’s been easily our most creative player. Hes coming to the age where his decision making is getting better with experience. Hes English. Not demanding and has a heart of good. We would be foolish to sell him. Sell Longstaff.
As I've said, 90% of the game he's a non league footballer. Can he do it as an impact sub? I doubt it very much
He’s got the second most goal contributions since 5 December in the premier league. That’s amazing and impressive. He is creating and scoring and that’s what you want from a winger.
Although it doesn't immediately inspire confidence I think if the new ring winger hadn't created anything then Isak would be running over to the bench and dragging Murphy on himself.
Either way I doubt Murphy will be impactful. A few posters were complaining about our bench on Monday yet adding Murphy to that bench, to me anyway, makes it appear worse
My biggest concern is that we do what we’ve done before and buy subs, so someone as a Murphy understudy like we did with Barnes. Murphy has had an incredible season but so did Almiron when we finished 4th. Now is the time to properly upgrade RW, RCB and GK.
We certainly should be upgrading right wing however having Murphy on the bench is pointless. He won't be impactful at all. So we sell him when his stock is high. We've had posters on here for the last just two seasons saying we should have sold Trips, Wilson, Miggy when we had the chance yet here they are saying, nah, he's done **** all in his career, plays **** 90% of the time but yeah let's keep him on the bench, oh but the bench on Monday we'll complain about but yeah Murphy would improve it.
Not quite, Dibling can actually play football...... But in all seriousness, yes, I think this is exactly what we'll end up doing. Rather than bringing in someone to start, we'll bring in someone with potential to compete with Murphy, then still end up starting Murphy for far too long (think Longstaff/Tonali - it boggles the mind as to how Eddie persevered with that for so long).
You would literally be the only person in the world who thinks Howe - who wouldn't even let the useless Wilson leave - would get rid of Murphy! Howe LOVES his smiley squad people. More chance of selling Tonali. For me, I think we need Murphy, Mbuemo and Dibling. Not specifically, just we need a first choice, backup and line of succession. That should be the case in every position, it's what all the top clubs have, something Villa have done very well to establish. But Howe needs to realise that Murphy has spent 80% of his career being crap, like Almiron, and make sure we have a top end RW when next season comes. For our squad, we have nobody I'd class as a top end first choice at RCB, GK, RW. However - and this is where it gets complicated - does Howe agree? GIven how loyal Howe stays, I'd genuinely be surprised is our first XI next season has any changes in it. If Trafford comes, he'll start on the bench. Same with Dibling. And we have a propensity to buy subs rather than upgrade the first XI and demote someone. We had Burn at LB over Hall, we had Longstaff over Tonali in midfield, Trips over Tino. The exceptions were early on in the takeover so this Summer is going to be, I think, interesting but also frustrating. Eddie has his methods and the bloke won the LC, so whilst it might make for a boring/frustrating summer, who are we to argue?
