Best or popular and Aston Villa round-up

I hope that one day, there will be an algorithm or artificial intelligence that picks the most popular or best players to represent the home nations and that we can all see why a player was picked.

I write this, because a natural progression from that could also be that players could be given an attribute of importance to the Club they play for and maybe we could then play the England matches at the same time as the proper football.

Yes, you know I don't like these international breaks. I think if you're a team with a small squad, they are handy and welcome and even though I know they're coming and I could plan for them, it still annoys me that we have this break. Everything that is connected with the England team also winds me up.

But as I was just explaining to a friend over lunch, I'm in my 40's now with two delightful children and officially a grumpy old man, even though I'm not really that old and generally not that grumpy. Although no doubt John Doyle will disagree.

But that's not really the point of the post, although it does raise a question. Should players be picked on form or popularity? More to the point, should managers be appointed on popularity? I ask because David Moyes came in for a bit of stick this week from West Ham fans and I think it's fair to say he's not the popular choice.

But doesn't Moyes have something to prove and wasn't he successful at a similar sized Club? Everton fans will think they're bigger than West Ham and maybe they are, but if I'm not mistaken didn't Moyes get Everton into Europe and doesn't he now have an owner or couple of owners that will likely give him time and money?

For me, he's a great appointment and I don't see West Ham anytime soon winning the League and as a disclaimer, I don't see that happening for us either, although the possibility of the Championship is far greater for us than the Premier League ever will be. But isn't he the right choice for them and shouldn't they be happy with him?

Aston Villa round-up

So, with that out of the way, there are some points to make.

    John Terry is out until the New Year. This really isn't good news based on what we've seen so far. But you have to hope that Chester can lift whoever plays next to him and we can continue our form.
  • Tish has had his loan at MK Dons cancelled. He's now back with us. I'm not sure we'll see him on the pitch again for us and it is starting to look like £5mn not well spent.
  • Remi Garde is joining the Montreal Impact as manager. Can he be relegated there? No joking, serious question. I ask because if he's joined a team where there are no fears of relegation, I think he might be able to do a good job.
  • Rumours, I don't know where from, suggest that Jack Grealish could be on a secret list of players that the manager wants to move on in January. I'm sure there is a mental list of players that the manager will have no problem letting go, but I'm also fairly sure that Jack Grealish isn't on it.

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