Panto_Villan

I was under the impression we very much tried to sign him but he wasn't interested.

The game has to be up for him now, surely? I'm still expecting him to be gone before we play Leicester but having a caretaker in for City might lift the performances a bit.

He's not though, is he? He was born in England to two Norweigan parents and moved back to Norway at age 3, and he's declared internationally for Norway. He'd be entitled to British citizenship if he wanted it but as far as I'm aware he's not claimed it? Seems a lot like he's Norweigan to me.

Lad's alright at football, isn't he? I sure hope he has an off-day at the weekend because otherwise we're in for an absolute tonking. I don't particularly like Man City and the bloke isn't even English but I like him a lot. Feels like we're going to be watching something pretty special unfold this season!

I’m very interested to see how the counter-offensive in Kherson goes. The ability to retake large amounts of territory from entrenched Russian forces is basically the only competency the Ukrainians haven’t yet demonstrated, so if they’re able to push the Russians back significantly it’ll be a major turning point in the war imo. Not only will it be a catastrophic blow to Russian morale, it’ll prove to Western backers that the war won’t just degenerate into an endless stalemate. That would all but guarantee a decisive Ukrainian victory in the long term, because if the Western arms keep flowing and Ukrainian counterattacks are feasible then the Russians will eventually be pushed all the way back to Russia on every front.

I think the other reason it’s not surprising is that the Ukrainians that wanted to return already would have done so. Most of the country is fairly safe so there’s no reason to stay abroad if you’re not from an area near the frontlines - I think literally millions went back once it was clear the Russians weren’t going to overrun the whole country.

Yeah, well I am making the assumption the next manager is reasonably competent there. The overall point is that all the problems would be resolved by appointing a better manager, which I fully expect us to do by the time the Man City game is done. If not then I’d agree Purslow would have made a big mistake.

Also we took a 2-0 lead against Man City about five games ago and we also lost after half time, but that was used as a stick to beat the team with on here rather than a measure of our progress. Some things are definitely a matter for perspective.

We should hire more ex-Liverpool staff.

Maybe the positivity thread isn’t for you then?

People do love to pre-emptively bash players or managers for doing things that they haven’t done yet. Like that time last week that Stevie G was going to freeze Mings out of the team and sell him to West Ham. Or when Southgate did literally anything ever. I’ll be quite annoyed if Stevie doesn’t start Buendia next game. I think I’ll wait to see if it happens before I get too wound up about it though, no matter how he’s handling his press conferences.

I think Martinez is also in that category. Players we would struggle to replace properly even if we threw mega bucks at the problem.

My own interpretation is that Stevie shouldn’t be airing any of this in public, but I’d be very surprised if Tyrone has been blameless in this whole affair. Tyrone has been a big part of this club in recent times, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was resentful that the current manager doesn’t seem to fancy him and his status in the club has gone down as a result. It’s not a big step from being vocal about your opinions to challenging and / or undermining authority figures. This is all speculation based on nothing more than my own experience of being a very opinionated person, and then having to manage several other very opinionated people. Stevie might not be treating Tyrone well as a player but there’s several other players he clearly wants out of the club and there’s not been this public sniping at any of them, so I’m guessing Tyrone is causing him trouble behind the scenes.

I do enjoy how many posters on here apparently know for certain how arrogant or humble Tyrone is. Fact is we have no idea whether it’s Stevie or Tyrone being a knob here - or both, or neither. Obviously we can speculate but in reality I think that just involves each of us choosing whatever interpretation best suits the pre-existing narrative in our heads.

I’m not actually sold on Mings as a player but I don’t think the comments to the media make Stevie look good. If he’d said “I think Calum played better in pre-season but I’m sure Tyrone has the mettle to win back his shirt” then that would have been fine. But picking Konsa rather than Chambers and the “look me in the eye” line just seems a bit weird imo.

Ah, the classic West Ham approach. ”If he’s that handy kicking a cat, he must be brilliant on the football pitch.”

Does it? Because when I’ve looked into it the intuitive conclusion appears to be supported by the evidence - that even in sports where height and larger skeletal size doesn’t count for anything, hormone suppressants get nowhere near cancelling out the strength and endurance advantages gained during puberty. Google throws up this result, for example (quote at bottom): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-020-01389-3 There’s a number of sports where this might not matter much (archery, diving), a number of sports where it’s likely to be unfair (e.g. weightlifting or cycling) and there’s also quite a few sports where it’s likely to be downright dangerous (contact sports like rugby). The principle that trans athletes should just be treated exactly like women on the sporting pitch until enough people get seriously injured or it becomes undeniably farcical is a pretty irresponsible one imo, and the people trying to smear anyone that thinks otherwise as transphobic don’t do the cause any favours (that’s a general comment, not aimed at anyone specific on here). “We report that the performance gap between males and females becomes significant at puberty and often amounts to 10–50% depending on sport. The performance gap is more pronounced in sporting activities relying on muscle mass and explosive strength, particularly in the upper body. Longitudinal studies examining the effects of testosterone suppression on muscle mass and strength in transgender women consistently show very modest changes, where the loss of lean body mass, muscle area and strength typically amounts to approximately 5% after 12 months of treatment. Thus, the muscular advantage enjoyed by transgender women is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed.”

I’ve not written Stevie off yet. If he starts getting results and / or we start playing well then he’d get more time - the earliest I’d consider changing him would be after six games. I just think alarm bells should be ringing. It all feels a bit Roy Keane right now. Setting high standards and being stern only gets you so far.

What makes you say that? I feel like he just has a very fixed view of the way he wants his team to play, and he’s unprepared to change it no matter how badly it (or his chosen players) appears to be faring on the pitch.

I think quite a few people have unfairly had the knives out for Gerrard since the moment he joined, but after a transfer window and a pre-season he doesn’t have any excuses to hide behind. If we’re not rapidly back on top-half form I suspect Stevie will be out of a job shortly, and rightly so.

Do we know that for certain? Genuine question.

Great news, hope he smashes it!

It’s a shame he left but £20m is astoundingly good money given the circumstances. And it’s not like any of our other promising youngsters seen intent on forcing a move either, so I don’t think any of it reflects badly on Villa. I’m generally not someone that begrudges players moving onto bigger and better things, but this saga has irritated me. It’s one thing moving on if you’re too good for us, but he’s not - he’s done nothing to suggest he should currently be playing in the Villa first eleven imo. I’m sure he’ll develop further but right now he’s not good enough for us. That said I do understand why a player would prefer to be integrated into the Chelsea squad rather than the Villa one (more games, possible CL minutes). And Chelsea clearly rate him given they’re willing to pay so much for him - so I’m not too bitter. If he’d refused to sign and forced a move on a free next summer in hope someone bigger would snap him up, the situation would have a very different complexion. I’d probably be genuinely angry rather than a bit irritated. Given he hasn’t done anything to earn the affection I still have for Barry / Milner / Benteke / Grealish, I hope he fades into obscurity. It’d be nice to think Villa got the best of the deal rather than Chelsea.

I think the club has got the handling of the situation right so far, and I hope that unless he signs the contract he doesn't get to play for the senior team or our youth teams. I'm sure we're contractually obliged to continue to provide him training on a daily basis so that should continue, but no competitive football unless he signs. I'm not at all worried it'll put off other youth prospects. There's plenty of examples of players making it into the first team here, and Grealish is a great example of how you can still get your big money move if you stick around. I don't think it would hurt to also have an example of how badly things could go for you if you dick the club around with your contract though. I think Carney is going to be left looking quite silly if the club plays hardball and one of the clubs that admires him doesn't come in with a big bid. Are people going to want to pay him big wages after 6-12 months of no football? If not, he'd have been better staying here and just taking the big pay rise we're no doubt offering him. I can't imagine JJ or even Archer / KKH / Ireogbunam are short of a few quid even now, even if they're not yet on the same money a full pro would be.

Basically if he's doing well enough that we look stupid for selling him, we spend a few million buying back one of his legs or his torso and that's his career done.