KentVillan

Asking Hoddle what Kane did in a previous life

His whole we’ve replaced Grealish with Bailey, Buendia and Ings thing doesn’t look quite so desperate anymore

If the leaks are real then I think it’s a bit worse than it looks at first glance. There’s references to phone sex in there and nowadays it’s pretty hard to defend that if it’s a senior guy with a junior employee, given the power imbalance. Seems most likely it was a mutual thing that went sour and she has turned on him. (All above assuming this isn’t a total fabrication, which it could be.)

Surprised by the low % for superstitions. I’m agnostic or “weak atheist” I suppose according to the above, but I touch wood and stuff like that. Kenneth

Yeah he’s an all rounder, more in the Pirlo, Redondo, etc mould than the Makelele mould. Still very good at sitting in front of a defence. Just a great player.

Enjoyed this because it’ll wind up everyone who says he isn’t a defensive mid. But he is really, he’s just one who’s also really good in the final third and can play a few different roles.

The answer to this is blindingly obvious. It's a physical sport with very high speed and stamina requirements, and it's played over a long, gruelling season where recovery between matches is very important.

It's actually shocking how top-flight footballers only test positive for drugs when their club wants rid of them. We're in NFL type territory here where it's just an accepted part of the game. My guess is that injury recovery is the main weak spot for doping in football, although EPO / blood doping would also be highly effective.

Can we all agree this is a great thread and you love seeing a new reply here? It’s the VillaTalk Ulysses

Think everyone knows this. He’s an interesting character. Pretending he doesn’t exist anymore is weirder than just talking about him

Yep, direct quote from Ederson on this, posted a few pages back, plus he even got benched mid season by Pep for doing so, also posted a few pages back. Like I’m not saying he’s a heroin addict or doing a Gazza, but the idea that he’s a model professional is so laughably contradicted by the evidence that you wonder why people are doubling down on it

There's a **** load of evidence that he loves getting hammered on a regular basis and the people who say there's no evidence are as stubbornly delusional as they think everyone else is Also barely anyone has said he doesn't care or just wants the cash. He obviously loves playing football.

Players can look outwardly fit and not be fit. Danny Drinkwater never looked fat to me, but he drank his career down the toilet. Grealish obviously a much better player to begin with, but I do worry he's too used to playing himself into match fitness instead of just looking after himself properly. We all know some players turn up from the summer break ready to go, and some always need a few games to get going. Whether they have a six pack or not is not always the key predictor.

Yes but that hasn't made it onto the reverse bucket list

I will never try to get a cool haircut again. Just stick to what I know best. Made some horrible mistakes on that front. Stevie G / Michael Owen haircut philosophy now. I hope to never go on another stag do, at least not one that involves flying somewhere or being away from home for more than one night. I will never wank using salad cream as lube again, a failed experiment in my younger years, absolute agony, I think it was the vinegar that did the damage. I’ve been working remote for the last 5 years and I think while I might end up back in some kind of office of sorts, I plan to never again work in an open plan office, involving any kind of commute. I’m sure there are plenty of others but these come to mind immediately. Edit: just to be clear the salad cream and open plan office items are not connected in any way

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/68408092.amp Sounds like Jack has asked for more minutes and Pep is airing the laundry. Honestly, part of me loves to see it. Fascinated to see if he gets another decent PL / CL side or goes down the West Ham / Galatasaray to Podcast pipeline.

Really nice post, but I think it’s most likely a language thing. If you watch some more of his TV interviews in Spanish (eg at Villarreal) he often speaks in a much more confident, relaxed way, a lot of the tics disappear. Speaking a foreign language is stressful, especially if you aren’t very fluent and are constantly translating everything in your head… he’s probably self conscious of making mistakes or being misquoted, so he puts a lot of effort into it, and I think that’s where all the things you’re talking about suddenly show up. The obsessive thing makes more sense, though, he’s definitely one of those coaches who is thinking about his job 24/7. I think because he’s a perfectionist it’s particularly overwhelming for him to give interviews in English, because he likes to give good interviews and knows he isn’t always doing his ideas justice. Thankfully the results do most of the talking for him.

I worry about him against pace, would much rather have Konsa in there, but generally has been a superb signing and has made our injury crisis a lot more bearable. We need to make more signings like this.

I am tending towards this view too, which usually means he’ll now score 5 in 5.

No the bit about Liverpool finishing below us without Salah, but I think you knew that.

This is literally nonsense

Think bookies still have us and Spurs ahead of Utd to finish in CL spots. Utd are in good form points-wise, but their performances have been relatively poor. Be surprised if they don’t start dropping points again soon. I think it’s a three-way fight for 4th, with Spurs our main threat.

Torres is a ridiculous upgrade on Diego Carlos. Would prefer him next to Konsa or Mings, but looked decent with Lenglet. I think we’re very fortunate with our build up play that he’s come back just as Kamara has got injured.

I think the team with Rooney / Ronaldo / Tevez that won PL & CL in 2008 probably beats them, though.