Caddy

how in the **** did giaccherini miss that

Too many aimless hoofs from midfield to the front 3, it's painfully obvious we don't have the creative force to unlock a defense as poor as even Sunderland's there's not much else Lambert can do with the personnel, but he bought himself into this corner because he certainly had enough funds this summer to buy a 7-8m rated AM

This spell is exactly why it was good for Benteke that he stayed at Villa Park. Look at all the slack that Soldado is getting right now and he's dangerously close to being dropped for the likes of Adebayor and Defoe. Benteke knows he's always gonna have a spot in the XI here. Of course, that runs the risk of him becoming complacent, but if there's one quality Benteke has always shown in droves, it's ambition, for better or worse. He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to mail it in.

Figures that I made a point of watching all the other stinkers over the last month but slept through this game, the first one I've missed in over a year. Luckily NBC Sports will show a replay eventually, but watching shoddy videos of goals on youtube will last me until then. God bless Leandro Bacuna

Agreed about Weimann, Cizzler. He has been absolutely horrid this season and given that Lambo has no problems benching a player in poor form (e.g. Matt Lowton) I cannot fathom why he hasn't been replaced in the starting XI yet. He's playing in the hole today, so why not give Helenius a try there at 60 minutes if Weimann keeps this up?

I've got the biggest s***-eating grin on my face right now

BACUNA!!!!

back to being unable to defend set pieces, wonderful

Very impressed with Okore so far

CHRISTIAN F'ING BENTEKE

thinking we'll lose 1-3 but it'll be an acceptable performance that will put the nightmare of last season to rest

Is this a joke? The impact counter-attacking style from the end of last season looks better than ever.

Bennett is on for Luna at LB. ohh.... lol, I thought he replaced Tonev. must've missed Luna's name

Ohh, Bennett at winger. I like that. I haven't caught much of the preseason at all, unfortunately. Has this been a thing?

just got home from work. who's scored thus far?

If Spurs think they'll get Benteke for less than City paid for Negredo (inflated sugar daddy fee or no) they've got another thing coming.

Would really prefer 30m but I would begrudgingly accept 25m. Possibly even 20m + Sigurðsson (given that roughly 8-9m was paid for him, you could do worse than that) Anything less than that is a f'ing travesty.

Reports are Shad Khan, the owner of my Jacksonville Jaguars, is the man looking to buy Fulham. Not sure how to feel about this. Obviously my allegiance to Villa isn't in doubt but this has certain implications regarding my NFL team. On the flip side, though, we're supposed to be getting an NASL team soon; maybe this will be the start of a yearly friendly between the two played at Everbank Field with a view of increasing interest in footy in the city and eventually an MLS expansion.

Now tell me what you gonna do, when there ain't nowhere to run, when Lambert comes for you, when Lambert comes for you... and what you gonna do, when there ain't nowhere to hide, when Lambert comes for you, cause he's gonna come for you...

I can see it. minus the mullet, of course

Because Sissoko was out of contract in 6 months and therefore the bidding war was based around his wage, and not his valuation/transfer fee. I imagine that agents bargain for the fact that a club should be willing to pay a higher wage on a player, if they didn't have to spend any money on a transfer fee (or a pittance to bring him on 6 months early after the contract is already signed, a la Lewis Holtby and Spurs). That's not in play with Belhanda, because he has not only a full year, but 2 years left on his current deal. That removes a lot of leverage when it comes to bargaining for the highest possible wage. Don't get me wrong, IMO we're not signing him, but I don't think that Belhanda wrecking the wage structure is the issue.

How can't you agree with the last line? If this were a year ago and we were talking about the man who owns both a Premiership club AND an NFL franchise, that's one thing. But he just sold Cleveland Browns for upwards for $1 billion dollars within the last year. After that, he's lost the benefit of a doubt with me as far as finances are concerned. Especially with the cutting of the wage bill... you can't have your cake and eat it, too.

They were at PSG, I'm sure the tactics were modified accordingly and seems to have resulted in a deep, bunkered style of play with limited creative opportunities. If nothing else, I love watching this video because it shows he can get stuck in and gain/retain possession in a crowded midfield, something Ireland and N'Zog are completely ineffective at. That's not even talking about the marauding runs and impressive passing under pressure.

How soon? I put on the stream and they're talking about the policies of the Bank of England and something about Amazon.com. Not exactly what I was expecting from Talksport