Naysonymous

Fucking get in Aston Villa! We are definitely having to work hard just to hang in this division which feels odd after spending large parts of the last two seasons just outclassing teams but it's so much more satisfying to get a win up here. The lads were great tonight, Mings and Engels look like they've been playing together for years and Wesley looks a different player altogether when the confidence is flowing. I think Everton have to look at starting with Kean and Iwobi if they want to score goals this season but we did well to beat a very solid side. Palace away and West Ham at home coming up, I'd like to see at least one win from those two before we get spanked by Arsenal.

I've just finished The Colour of Bee Larkham's Murder by Sara J Harris and I really enjoyed it. It follows the life of Jasper, a 13 year boy with autism. he's got synaesthesia and face blindness and is struggling to cope in mainstream education but he makes friends with a new neighbour who moves in directly opposite him. Essentially it's a murder mystery and he's the ultimate unreliable narrator but it doesn't really feel cheap at any time as his struggles with autism are really interesting to experience. There are two or three entertaining sub plots and a couple of passages where I was genuinely excited. I get the impression that the author or the publisher wasn't completely happy with the ending so there is a fairly clumsy epilogue where all the clues spread throughout the book are explained for anyone who didn't get it but that's a minor quibble if I'm being honest. I'd totally recommend it to anybody who wants something a little bit different.

Can't find anything which beats Fulham last night. Manchester City got 83% when they beat Swansea 5-0 a couple of seasons back but that's the highest Opta tracked stat I could find.

52% of the audience agree with him. Also I see Coutinho has ended up at Bayern. He must have a hell of an agent because I just don’t see him as this Galactico figure that his recent moves and fees seem to indicate. He was a good player for Liverpool but I think he was struggling to hold down a place in their best XI at the time of the sale and I’m not at all sure he’d be anything other than a bench warmer at Anfield now. The (£140m?) fee Barca offered must still get laughed about in the Liverpool boardroom. He’ll probably win stuff at Bayern this season but I can’t see him becoming the player they build their team around nor will he be someone who dominates games like a Galactico should. Seems fitting that he’s probably going to get James Rodriguez’s old parking spot at the training ground.

I know we don't talk about Wolves here any more but pointless gossip time; half the Pyunik Yerevan (tomorrow night's opposition) are hanging around in the Bullring in Birmingham right now in their team gear. Looks like they've got the afternoon off or something and are just hitting the shops. We can go back to coverage of the top six now.

No talking about Wolves in the main thread!

That's not really true any more, certainly not at any scale which actually matters. Overseas fans are a huge factor, they all pick who they want to support. Even in the 90s growing up in the West Midlands there were a lot of Newcastle and Blackburn fans around for two or three years while they had good teams, Manchester United and Liverpool have drawn support from all over the country and that will creep in with Man City and Chelsea if they keep winning trophies at their current rate. I chose Villa because they were the team all the kids on my street supported, my dad was a Rugby player and my Grandad was obsessed by snooker (my other granddad died ten years before I was born) so I never really had a club pushed on me at home. Kids these days are starting to support clubs like Barcelona because it's an easy thing to do because of the internet. European football will probably look like the NFL in 20 years time. My son is still Villa though. That was decided when David Platt scored against Belgium in 1990 and even though I was only 11 at the time I realised I'd probably have kids one day and I'd get to pick who they supported.

There’s a lot of pressure on Wesley to perform. I’m not sure he’ll be prolific but it seems the team will be set up for either Grealish or McGinn to run ahead of him and score like John did today. Spurs away won’t define our season though, they are pretty much locked into the top four as far as I’m concerned. We made them sweat. Big game against Bournemouth coming up though, I think we definitely need to win that.

Gave Spurs a run for their money but just couldn't hold on. I think we'll take confidence from this even if we didn't take any points.

Can’t see us holding out.

Spurs really turning the screw now. Eep.

Takes years. Most people in this county have picked their team by the time they are ten so most of the glory hunting City fans either haven’t got pubes yet or live overseas and aren’t really rllmuks demographic. Also: woo Villa! Having to make do with Talksport on the train but even if we end up losing today the first half will fill us with confidence.

Suddenly I'm nervous. Can't see Villa getting much today at Spurs, we could have six or seven guys making their debut away at a settled, balanced and extremely talented team. I just hope we don't get smashed.

Kemar Roofe off to Anderlecht took me by surprise. I’d have thought of him as a key player for Leeds and he’s gone to Belgium?

Quite a lot of Villa fans wanted him to have another year in the Premier League, I don't think he has the legs for it myself but he is a classy player. I'm not sure what Hearts issues are but Whelan will keep the ball ticking over nicely, he's an accurate passer and he seems very good at cutting off passing lanes and intercepting the ball. If you've got young midfielders coming though he'd be valuable on the pitch and at the training ground. Dunno if you can offer the wages he'd be able to get in England, but just the prospect of living in Edinburgh for a year or two must be a big factor.