Reluctant Striker

Any ideas why I can not see the 'like' button? I can see others have clicked like on posts. But not there for me to click on anyones post if I did want to?

Bizarre. Any footballing or finance person would surely look at the situation of the manager choosing left backs ahead of him & take any money asap.

Wesley to Stoke City from Aston Villa on a permanent transfer. He was never the same player after being horrifically hacked down Vs Burnley. Scored 1 memorable hat trick vs Norwich. And has 1 full cap for Brazil.

Fabrizio Romano & Sky Sports Germany seem confident Moussa Diaby is choosing Villa over Al Nassr.

Have not seen him waste possession once for Villa. But does not offer much at all going forward. Think that was what ultimately kept him behind direct corner scoring Douglas Luiz, McGinn & then other more recent players like Kamara & Ramsey. Add Tielemans & he was jostling for 6th choice with Sanson, who has returned from his loan back to France. I remember predicting he'd seem like Kante in the Championship. Not sure how close that was to what happened, but Luton very happy to get him. And I hope he does well & gets regular playing time.

The target has to be another title challenge. It is a lot of money for England's CM. And Havertz does not seem quite the player he was supposed to be, but he is certainly not a striker. I that has been obvious for a long time to everyone outside Chelsea. I would be very surprised if Arsenal play him there, except in any emergency. But for me, I do see them staying ahead of Man United & Liverpool. I think Chelsea & Spurs have a journey ahead to get to where they may want to be. Newcastle still have not really made a crazy game changing signing.

League Positions: Man City Arsenal Liverpool Man United Aston Villa Newcastle Chelsea Brighton Spurs West Ham Crystal Palace Fulham Wolves Nottingham Forest Brentford (because Toney seems very significant) Sheffield United Burnley Bournemouth Everton Luton Town Top Scorer - Haaland Golden Glove - Martinez Most Goals From Outside the Box - Son Most Assists - Gabriel Jesus Most Red Cards (Player) - Dunk Most Red Cards (Club) - Everton Most Penalties Conceded (Club) - Bournemouth Most Own Goals (Club) - West Ham

I suppose Villa & Leicester would have been laughed at if predicted correctly last season.

I was not especially impressed to see Ashley Young back at Villa while he was there. But, he did put in a number of more than adequate performances, as RB, LB, CM & on the wing. Its almost a player Everton may aswell have in the squad, rather than see what he does at Luton. Who were reported to also be interested. And he's not too much older than Milner.. who has somehow got a job at Brighton.

In the years leading to relegation, Villa had an ongoing story with full back Alan Hutton. He was actually released at one point, at the end of one contract. Did not quickly find a new club. Before the new Villa manager re-signed him, as there was nobody any better possible.

I have watched most of the 2 tests so far. Feels to me like the end of the unusual era of England being quite reasonable at cricket. Certainly no chance of England winning the series from 0-2. The top 6 would be weak without Root & Stokes. And Anderson & Broad are not at all the match winning bowl attack they used to be. Which is to be expected at around 36 ? and 40?

The new badge, that won the vote, is my current avatar pic. I had always felt the previous 1 was too strongly yellow. I never really adapted to it. I think there were 4 choices in vote & was 2 shields, 2 round ones, with mostly claret & blue, opposing ways round. The round one is a bit 80's retro, and does kind of make us a bit samey with a large number of the clubs. Not just Chelsea.

I'm sure there are design ideas going on. The way it's often in some basic outline form on training & coaching tops. Usually available just slightly cheaper than the ever more expensive replica kit shirts. I guess intricate & detailed, impressive looking badge designs are just not the way people are generally going.

I was a bit disappointed on the sponsor, before suggestions they were dodgy. I had enjoyed Cazoo, just feeling like a change from betting companies. But, apparently signed up until a main front of shirt gambling sponsor ban comes in. The round badge won a fan vote. I would have preferred a new take on the 90's striped crest. But was not an offered choice.

I get the feeling the club would like to bring in a headline signing or 2 over the summer. But those who would qualify as a headline signing will have many interested clubs to choose from. Ashley Young is being released, so a new 2nd right back needed. Of the names in the rumour & gossip stories, the most plausible so far has seemed like Harvey Barnes.

I see there has finally been a UK-EU agreement on Northern Ireland. That seems like it may just be accepted by all the political parties of Ireland. Supposedly involving a green lane for Britain to supply into Northern Ireland, for Northern Ireland use only. Anything to continue on into the rest of Ireland / EU, still subject to checks. When it all kicked off several years ago I expected country of origin & decision on EU/UK at business level to be part of the answer. Why it's taken quite so long is utter insanity.

Whatever it is, good to see the Japanese trying to find out for sure, before blowing it up.

Yeah, something seems off about the whole thing. That comment on her life & tendancies just did not seem relevant. They would have asked the family all those type of questions. They would need to decide what type of disappearance they were dealing with. But to everyone else, the public, the media, etc, a missing person is a missing person. It was very easy for many to assume their comments were meant to imply meaning to the case. And where she was found, had been searched earlier. Feels like there could still be more that is discovered.

I imagine Qatar will mean Man United will be in for Emi Martinez, Declan Rice, James Maddison & Neymar. In one summer. And the players will all be much better thought of. Even Neymar. Who will help Rashford of course.

I think the Scottish parliament self identifying trans rights thing hit her confidence harder than she would admit. A dodgy front of neck tatoo'ed shaven headed rapist was a very high profile case soon after her rules were being put in place. He put on a blonde wig & some make up. JK had a bit to say about it all. I have seen a Twitter captioned post of her kneeling to a young girl in a playground asking her in speech bubble what the young girls views are on male rapists. Does she support them self identifying into women prisons, or is the girl a nasty right winger. And Sturgeon had to issue a statement about teething problems, or something to that effect, while that rapist & a few others got moved to men's prisons. Plus, a while before all the above, the UK court had ruled a 2nd Scottish referendum was illegal without UK parliament approval. Which she had already proclaimed would happen. On a 50%+ coalition. Pressure from the zealots to do a 2nd vote anyway. Or to treat the next UK General Election as a referendum vote. etc. Basically the 1 party pressure group point of the SNP just got a whole lot more complex even among the like minded. And regardless what Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi & Ursula von der Leyen may or may not be rooting for. And I imagine most the SNP do realise, even if they edge over the winning line, in their own country, they would have to make Britain like Ireland, which isn't especially a political success story. An England-Scotland border? Or best Scottish return to EU a weird sea bridge thing? Perhaps even ideas that England will just become Northern Ireland? Everyone knows that is the choice, much more clearly than English voters realised they would have such an effect on Ireland. The SNP want Scots to vote for it. With the best will in the World, it can only be a mess the longer it's my-way-or-no-way types leading politics. Basically I think she knows all this & it's finally become too much, even for her brass neck.

You would think there would have to be at least a few planets with at least animal level life. I stumbled on a new theory, that the observable universe could actually be the inside of a black hole. Which seems crazy, but some respectable enough scientists are not dismissing the idea. It would be a different twist on the big bang theory. It crosses my mind that there could be many, many more stars so far away that their light hasn't yet reached us. Or never will. By the time they see & look closely at our star light, we could be long gone. And what really fries my brain is that if we do figure out faster than light warp speed.. the universe would change around the astronauts. Get to a star 1 million light years away. It would be 1 million light years, plus travel time, more recent when we arrive. Look back at our sun. And that light from our sun would have taken 1 million light years to get there. And the navigation would have to be equally mind blowing to avoid doing what Han Solo suggests could happen.

Will probably record it & watch through it Monday evening here. I think I like the neutral entertainment I can get from American sports. Consciously decided never to pick a team in it. When I have played Madden games, I've gone with Dolphins, Steelers, Giants, Jets, Packers, Rams & Cowboys.

If I played for Kansas City Chiefs I think I'd genuinely struggle every match not in Kansas, to not be pointing out that we're not in Kansas anymore. And it would be funny every time.

I do keep an eye on the Villa women's team. Really happy to see them in the top half of the WSL. Signed up England Euro winner Rachel Daly, to play as a striker, at start of the season. Brought in Jordan Nobbs & Lucy Staniforth, I think both early 30's former (& unretired) England midfielders. And they have Alisha Lehmann, the Swiss winger, who now has more social media followers than Roger Federer.. Apparently she is always disappointed by her 'fans' who don't watch her play football..

Emi Martinez has made his first comments about having desires to win a Champions League. How he'd like to win a title with Villa, but the club is on a journey toward better things. Will be disappointing if he goes, but any side in European competition wanting a top class goalkeeper & prepared to pay big (he's only recently signed a long term contract) it's really feeling like he'll be on the move sooner than later. You would think he would only move somewhere as a number 1.