Mr.Bojangles

I've watched him a few times this season and he looks a lot more like the guy Sheffield United bought off Swansea. Back then he was scoring all kinds of goals and was linking up the play well, even if he looked ungainly while doing so. He's still not trying the long range shooting, as far as I've seen so his confidence isn't completely restored, but I'd be happy with him making a comeback.

Taking it that high when it's coming at speed and finishing it like that was seriously impressive. What a goal!

He started very few games, though. Even when Arteta couldn't find a right back to squeeze in ahead of him if Zinchenko wasn't available, he'd put a midfielder in instead of him. He'd be on the bench and come on for the last fifteen minutes to see a result out. It's something he's capable of, but a massive waste of his best features as the team would only be willing to do a fast counterattack where he'd be expected to be part of the rest defence.

I watched a bit of him last night. It looked very frustrating for him. His left back kept making bizarre decisions. Doak would be in acres of space and making a run in behind. The LB would just keep running with the ball until he ran into trouble and lost it. Doak wasn't great either. From what I saw, it seemed like there were too many young guys thinking "this is my chance to shine" and wanted to do something eye catching. Then again, Gakpo tried to dribble through the entire defence as well a few times.

I watched about half an hour of their match. He was only okay. He misplaced a couple of passes and Brighton were counterattacking at pace (not his strong suit). It's almost as if the ratings are actually reflective of what people are watching.

Go on the Villa forum. The consensus was that it was possibly the greatest game he has played for them. He was apparently everywhere, winning the ball back and giving their defence nightmares.

They were looking pretty bad in central midfield. It's just easier to take off the 17 year old Scottish kid than than the guy with the Scottish sounding name they signed in the summer. Doak was one of the only players that was creating panic in the Toulouse defence.

I wonder if the French worry that La Marseillaise is too anti-Austrian.

Kenny Miller played for Vancouver before he went back to Rangers for the third time. And the fans hated him.

It might even be that the pressure is off him. Everyone is looking at the shiny new toy.

Eh, surely any geographical description would just be Ireland? Also, there are some counties in Eire that are further north than some counties in NI. More likely a term borne out of naivety, as I don't think you are bigot. I think we need to start calling them the "Irish Free State" again. I guess that would make the other bit "Union Dividend Ireland".

McGillivray is Portsmouth's keeper (27). Liam Kelly played for Livingston last year and is now QPR's first choice keeper (24) Not sure about Rose.

Well, glad to see he's resigning. I met him once when he came to give a talk at my university not that long after he came out as gay. I don't know if it's because I try to be an attentive listener during speeches, but speakers usually look directly at me when they're talking. I did find that he was unusually fixated on me and rarely looked elsewhere. When he was done I started to leave and he came over and he asked me a few questions about myself. I don't remember what they were about, but I do remember being weirded out and thinking "You're being an idiot. Don't be homophobic." I didn't really think more of it. In saying that, it annoys me that newspapers wait until they can do the most damage before releasing stuff like this. Once they'd verified it, they should release. For all they know he could have been actually abusing someone else while they sat on the story.

I'd rather kids be practicing to play with their feet in any case.

I'm amazed that Hamburg haven't cut short his loan. He played often for them last year in their promotion push and it faltered when he came out the team. Sheffield Wednesday are completely wasting this season for him. I can't imagine he's learning much. Apparently, according to 'Sheffield Wednesday News' he scored a double yesterday for their u23 team in a 3-2 loss.