sparrow1988

That's Jeff Hendrick. You should see him getting substituted when Ireland are a goal up (doesn't happen often). It takes him a good minute and a half to get off the pitch.

Easier said than done. He's been quite outspoken on his mental health hasn't he? Bit more to it than someone sorting his head out. Maybe in this day and age he would have gotten the help he needed.

Can't remember him playing for us. Maybe you're thinking of his brother Marvelous?

Me: I'm just going on VillaTalk to see what they're saying about Watkins scoring Missus: What did they say? Me: Ah, the usual. Fair play Ollie, well done, good on ya, that can only be good for us etc. etc. A couple just keep going on about Leeds fans and how obsessed they are with Villa. Missus: They say that quite often that Leeds fans are obsessed with Villa, don't they? Bit strange that. No? It's almost like some of them are obsessed with Leeds...

Was he upstairs in your gaff?

He flicked down his visor. Simples. I stopped reading for about 30 seconds and just sat there in disbelief after that bit.

I read that yesterday. I'll admit. I choked up a little, if not a little then a lot.

Only now that he doesn't play for us anymore.

UEFA need to keep the big clubs onside to try and prevent a breakaway super league. I imagine that any replacement for FFP will highly benefit them.

Neither are really an implosion though are they?

IMO it's a combination of factors; Losing the best player at holding on to the ball in the league naturally leads to giving the ball away more often. A change in style from using Mings to build up from the back to more direct balls forward. It doesn't matter who you are, this is a ball you are less likely to win than using short accurate passing with quick movement. This started before Grealish got injured. The enforced two week break in training leading to reduced fitness and less time to work on tactics (ignoring potential covid infections because each player will have reacted differently). This was then compounded by lots of matches in a short space of time. Again less time to work on tactics and time in between matches essentially just being used for recovery. A small pool of talent resulting in the same players playing over and over, again leading to an increase in fatigue. We have a squad which is very much in the building process. A few injuries to our main players and there is a very big drop in quality (some bigger than others) to the replacements. A team mentally switching off after they have more or less securing their status in the league. This is a combination of the players needing to be more self-motivated and the coaching staff sending a rocket up their backsides if they're slacking off. General dips in form. We seem to have had a lot of players out of form at the same time, especially in midfield. Might be related to "being safe" point above. Might be related to covid. No one really knows. All of the above points combined will lead to poor performances. We have a two week break now where there is a lot of time to work on things and I hope and expect to see a big improvement after the break.

Liverpool's owners must be shitting themselves. Especially if they don't make the CL. They bought a club on it's knees and through a combination of the inertia of Liverpool FC, Moneyball to an extent, and a brilliant manager they have achieved success. Fans will expect this to continue but they have always been very frugal with spending money and haven gotten lucky with some transfers e.g. Coutinho for 8 million and selling for 100 odd million. If City and Chelsea decide to splash the cash then Fenway will not keep pace with that spending and could very likely be off.

I imagine that it would go a little like this...

Losing Grealish has been the biggest loss but I think the change of style has also contributed. We are playing with in tighter spaces without our best player at playing in tight spaces. Mings carrying the ball out from the back created extra space for the players further up the field and now that is gone. We also looked pretty limited going forward with Jack since we've gone more safety first from the back.

He has made a list of the 25 best defensive midfielders in the world compiled by 90min.com. I know these lists should be taken with a pinch of salt but it shows that he is doing something right if he is regarded as one of the best even if it is by 90min. Granted he is out of form at the moment but the whole team is. IMO though, he is the least of our worries. https://www.90min.com/posts/the-25-best-defensive-midfielders-in-world-football-ranked

It's time for a bit of debt restructuring me thinks.

I don't think we should ever appoint him as manager. People wouldn't be able to assess his performance objectively as he is just so damn handsome.

I hope that with mentioning Alli you mean a player in his position and not actually him. I wouldn't be averse to a loan for him but I think that his situation would be very similar to Barkley's.

I assume that it is a negotiation between the buying and the selling club in much the same way that the actual transfer fee is, no?

Yeah there is that but they are also getting more and more accurate with their algorithms so to an extent they can be right, but you also have the Richie Partridges of the games as well.

A little bit but it's way more than that I think. It's the instant nature of everything nowadays and the always on economy which has been exacerbated by lockdowns etc. You can't go for a few pints, you can't kick a lad at training or in a sunday league game to let out your frustrations. You can't go to a stadium at the weekend and shout abuse at players for 90 minutes. People just let loose on their keyboards. Computer games have always been computer games and as @JAMAICAN-VILLAN said they are actually becoming more and more realistic. I blame social media more so. You have everyone trying to break the news first, which quite often turns out to be wrong but people run with it in any case because it was first. The truth comes then maybe an hour later and is then lost in the shitshow that has gone before. Anyway that's enough from me on this subject.

You mean Smith doesn't just have to click on "offer to clubs" or "list for transfer" for the offers to come rolling in? My life has been a lie.