NeilS

Our away form as it stands is not good enough to threaten a top four spot this season. We need to cut out conceding early gifts, it makes our job away from home so much harder. So frustrating sometimes, just as you think we have cracked it.

I think with the bottom 4 picking up so few points this season, that we will see pretty large points hauls for the teams in the top half of the table. I think it will be one of those seasons where you will need near on 80+ points for Champions League qualification. One annoying advantage Spurs have on us this season is they have no European competition and they have bailed early in the league cup too. They will have no excuses for being tired in the run in, and I have a horrible feeling they will be the team to keep us out of the CL spots. Let's hope we can keep up with the race and they bottle it.

Congratulations Emi, well deserved! What a few years he has had since joining us.

Haha, yes I remember his debut. 2-0 loss at home to Norwich if I remember it correctly, he was hopeless that match pretty much passed the ball to Norwich players every time. Turned out to be a giant for us in the end, what a player! I am still fairly hopeful that Zaniolo will turn out to be a top player for us (assuming there is nothing in the betting scandal). He tries things that nobody else would try, which is why it doesn’t always come off. I hope by the second half of the season he will have settled into the pace of the PL and we start see the true levels he can produce. I recall Bergkamp not being overly great in his first season at Arsenal, and he went on to be a great player for them.

Yeah hopefully we just keep winning, then there won’t be an issue.

Yeah, I have checked the tables on the bbc and @rjw63 is correct. We are currently in second place. edit. Also on UEFA.Com so must be the case.

Yeah I agree. The head to head scores should come after goal difference. I am not sure why this rule has changed. Hopefully it won’t come to that.

It must go to head to head results before goal difference. We may well have to beat them at home to make certain of finishing above them.

Spurs do have the advantage over the other teams at the top of no European distractions this year, so they should be able to maintain a fairly fresh squad this season. Hopefully they will still mess it up though.

Sad news for Andre Green, it looks like he has suffered a bad one and will be out for a long while. Andre Green ruled out for the season ROTHERHAM United attacker Andre Green has suffered an injury that will rule him out for the rest of the club's Championship campaign. The summer signing ruptured his achilles tendon in training during the recent international break and is looking at nearly a year on the sidelines.

It sounds like the Saudi Pro League is not that popular in Saudi, even with bringing in some big name players from around the world. It must be hard to motivate yourself in front of such a small crowd, when you are used to playing in front of thousands. I am sure that the wages will help cushion the blow a little bit. The younger ones like Neves who went out may well be regretting it more than the likes of Henderson and Ronaldo who is in the twilight of their careers, and won their medals etc. Gerrard team watched by less than 700 It proved to be a humiliating weekend for Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson's Al-Ettifaq after they suffered a 1-0 defeat against Al-Riyadh in front of fewer than 700 supporters. Khalid Al-Shuwayyi scored the winner in the 16th minute for Odair Hellmann's side as Al-Ettifaq slumped to back-to-back losses for the first time this season. The result leaves Gerrard's men in seventh and already nine points behind first-place Al-Hilal, who are still unbeaten from their opening 10 matches. To make matters worse, Al-Ettifaq's defeat was played with just 696 people in attendance. This is staggeringly low for a top-flight match, though Al-Riyadh aren't one of the most well-backed sides in the Saudi Pro League. It isn't the first time Al-Ettifaq have seen a crowd this low, as just 976 fans turned up for their 3-1 win at Abha in September. In comparison, there were more supporters (702) at Clitheroe's 2-1 victory over Newcastle Town in the eighth tier of English football on Saturday. Almost double (1124) were at Marine's win against Lancaster in the division above, while 2122 fans were in attendance for National League North clash between Hereford and Curzon Ashton.

Ah yes, I had forgotten about the heart part of the post. I have no idea what that means, though I think your theory could probably be on the right lines.

This post was on his Insta story yesterday afternoon, but the rest of his profile had disappeared and is still not visisble. I don't know if has just been temporarily hidden or deleted his account though? He may well be taking a break from social media, he is a young lad living a long way from home. It must be tough for him, and we all hear about the bad side of social media and the abuse sent across the internet by the idiots and trolls. Hopefully he is ok, and the club and his close friends and family are taking care of him if he is subjected to any bad thoughts.

Did I hear that right, 21 penalties for Kane? So a third of his goals are from the spot?

Rice messed up, should have cut that out on the edge of the box.

Oh dear.

Yes I think so, I am sure I saw him sitting on the bench against the Aussies.

I do wonder sometimes whether Southgate is trying to get the sack. Wtf is that line up.

Yeah I think there is a long way to go on this one yet. His name came up from the initial investigation into Fagoli, so it all depends on what they have found in those conversations and from searches of the phones. Is Zaniolo telling the truth? I hope so for his sake, but he wouldn't be the first person in the world to deny wrongdoing until they eventually get found guilty.

Some more media speculation this morning, although it may have already done the rounds. It is hard to keep up with what is the latest rumour at this moment in time. Apparently Tonali is about to make a plea bargain which will see him banned for a while but at a reduced level, while Zaniolo is denying gambling on football matches and only playing casino games, which if true will see him free to carry on his career. The scouring of the phones etc over the next few weeks will tell whether he is telling the truth or not. Hopefully he is, but you never know. I guess this will rumble on for a while yet for Zaniolo and ourselves unless something drastic happens. From a Villa POV, at least we are only exposed to losing a loan player and the fee/wages paid to date. The Geordies will lose someone from their squad who they have spent £60m+ on. Zaniolo case different Il Corriere dello Sport and Gazzetta claim Tonali is ready to follow Fagioli’s example, collaborating with FIGC and the Turin Prosecutor and seeking a plea bargain. This, however, would lead to a ban of at least 18 months, meaning the Newcastle midfielder would miss Euro 2024, provided Italy qualify. Fagioli’s ban could be shorter, probably in the region of 10 months, but this would still prevent the Juventus midfielder from being eligible for the international tournament hosted by Germany next summer. According to Monday’s printed edition of Il Corriere dello Sport (page 2), Tonali will be heard by the FIGC Prosecutor this week. The Rome-based paper claims Zaniolo is in a different situation as the Aston Villa attacker has denied betting on football games. His agents have said that the ex-Roma star only played poker and blackjack. If confirmed, Zaniolo would escape a ban, but if found guilty of gambling on football matches, the 24-year-old would also face a lengthy ban missing the upcoming European Championships.

This would not be surprising to me, and this is how I think the Julian Alvarez link went as well.

Agreed, he was in a terrible position at Derby so won't judge him based on what he did there. He did a pretty good job under the circumstances of the club capitulating. Ok, that is fair enough. I had no idea about DC United and that they were terrible before he joined them. It still remains to be seen how he does when there is a bit more expectation around, and he isn't putting out fires.

I have not followed Rooney's managerial career, but always had in mind that he did a decent job at Derby under testing circumstances. Now he has been heavily linked with sha, I thought I would have a look and see what he has done at DC United to see if he was a gem in the making. So I checked Transfermarkt Wayne Rooney Managerial Statistics. to see if he was doing well in his current role at DC United. From his 137 matches including Derby and DC United he has a total win percentage of 28.5% and a PPG average of 1.1 which like you say is hardly amazing. Maybe there is something we are not seeing.

For me it is because Gabby was a waste of space for the second half of his time here, he downed tools a couple of times. I would rather have Ollie representing as our top PL goal scorer than Gabby who tainted his career here in my opinion with his behaviour. Ollie is a top professional in my book, you know he will keep himself fit, and not slack off.

Good news for both parties, hopefully Ollie can now go on and claim Gabby's record of Villa's all time top Premier League goalscorer, maybe even joining the 100 PL goal club if he can keep improving.