NeilS

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.

I think he should stay at Stockport for the season and aim for 20-25 goals in the season as a reasonable target. He has only just turned 20 years old, so he still has time on his side. He needs to play and score regularly and build his confidence and strength this season, then maybe look at a Championship loan next season if all goes well.

The exceptional circumstances in this case were that the decision favoured Man Utd.

There was the Spurs game last season where they had a few go against them in one match.

I don’t think there is biased decision making in that decision. That is pure ineptitude, and the person who made that decision should not be allowed in the Var room ever again after that. That is horrific decision making.

Wow, I did not see this result coming! Very pleased for Ollie to bag another hat trick to follow up on last weeks winner. Hopefully he is up and running now for the season. Just think, we are not at full strength yet, the team is gelling and getting better. UTV

He is back training with the squad. Confirmed by Unai on the OS. Albeit only a very small mention in the article. I reckon a few more weeks of training and he will be squad ready, assuming no more setbacks. Squad Update pre Brighton Álex Moreno and Tim Iroegbunam are making progress with their respective recoveries, but Emi Buendía and Tyrone Mings are long-term absentees. Unai Emery provided a fitness update at Friday’s pre-match media conference. “Of course, we’ve had injuries to Tyrone and Emiliano Buendía, then we’re having some more injuries and progressively they are coming back,” he said. “Tim is coming back and training with us.

Haha, a little off topic but this thread reminds me of a rare away trip that I went to back in my younger days. I will alway remember how bad the seat I had in the away end at the old White Hart Lane back in the early 90's, it might have been the year we ended runner up under Big Ron. I arrived for the match just in time for kick off thanks to my Spurs supporting mate and his Dad and Brother forgetting their tickets and having to turn around. When I sat down the first thing I saw was that a pillar blocked out the entirety of the goal at the other end of the pitch. No mention of restricted view when I bought the ticket, I can only think they weren't obliged to mention it back in those days. My memory of the game was Nigel Kennedy was sat a few rows in front of me, and the game itself was a drab 0-0 so I didn't miss anything, which in hindsight was probably for the best as I needed a lift home afterwards with my mate and his family. I can't imagine any of the restricted views at VP are as bad as that. Modern Stadia are far better now with the pillars all gone.

I knew we were screwed when I saw an article about 5 or 6 years ago about Man Utd's official tractor partner, and before that there was their official Noodle partner.

I wonder if the only reason we didn't move Olsen on this summer is because we see Viljami Sinisalo coming back from his loan next summer and taking the back up keeper role next season. Hopefully we don't pay for that decision too much this season, and manage to qualify again for Europe next season so we have the same volume of matches to play so we can give Sinisalo more minutes on the pitch next season.