NeilS

1 minute ago, rjw63 said:

That’s bullshiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!

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.

1 minute ago, rjw63 said:

Anyone know why Warsaw are above us in the table with a worse goal difference?

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.

On 11/10/2023 at 13:57, sne said:

Absolutely no clue if any of this is remotely true (it's the Sun after all) but wouldn't surprise me one bit. Hope it's true and that the league holds them to their contracts.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/24357986/saudi-arabia-hating-transfers-home/

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.

38 minutes ago, Deano & Dalian's Umbrella said:

Thanks.

And I see 2 hands pointing to a heart underneath.

So he is going to act with his heart over his head (if 2 hands beats one) or his head over his heart (if a photo beats an emoji) or none of the above.

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.

4 minutes ago, Deano & Dalian's Umbrella said:

I feel like there are posts missing on this thread - has Duran posted this image of Rodman?

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.

7 minutes ago, sheepyvillian said:

Did I just see Jimmy Floyd Hassalbank as part of the English coaching staff?

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.

31 minutes ago, lexicon said:

He's rolling the dice then - surely he must think he's either not guilty or there isn't sufficient evidence because the risk is massive. But then, wouldn't a compulsive gambler do that anyway? 

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.

3 minutes ago, villa89 said:

Safe enough barca had already tapped him up and told him not to sign any contracts.

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

36 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

I don't think anyone is claiming he's a brilliant manager, his time at DC United was maybe not what they hoped for, and it's certainly looking like a really stupid decision for small heath. But he was on a hiding to nothing at Derby, and did a respectable job.

Not only did they have the confidence shattering effect of having 21 points deducted and starting the season many points from safety, I'm sure at one point they had something like 7 players on the books. They had to let over 20 players go in 2 days because they had no money. So they signed a whole squad of freebies, then half of them left before the end of the season.

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.

35 minutes ago, Zatman said:

He took DC United from dead last and moved up 8 positions in the table

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.

54 minutes ago, Mark Albrighton said:

Had a look at Rooney’s record at Derby.

81 leagues games amassing 93 points

24 wins, 21 draws, 36 defeats

That’s 1.148 PPG.

Drilling down a bit further, 32 of those points were from his first 21 games.

So from the remaining 60 games, Derby secured 61 points. Frustratingly close to exactly 1 PPG average there.

That screams to me “let’s make 19th place our own”. But I sense that’s not what they’re aiming for.

I know Derby had/have their problems, so that’s a consideration. But still, I’m not quite seeing it. Other than he’s a name and it’s small heath going mental again.

Which I suppose is all it really is. 

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.

9 minutes ago, rodders129 said:

Why’s everyone hating on Gabby? Just curious

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.

37 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

However, the United penalty after full time whistle was blown seems to contradict this rule , so maybe there is precedent for exceptional circumstances?

 

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

22 minutes ago, delboy54 said:

Wasn't it Brighton who had a string of dodgy VAR's go against them last season? 

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

On 28/09/2023 at 11:21, AV82 said:

Any word on Tim? With his ball carrying ability and Tielemans/Donk not up to scratch there's a real opportunity here!

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.