Cronky

I think we’re in for a good run-in. It’s probably been mentioned before but this Gordon-Isak-Barnes attack has parallels with the Salah-Firmino-Mane trio that did so well for Liverpool. Plenty of pace and trickery.

Both are immature, but there’s a difference between taking the piss out of fans who were booing you and mocking defeated opponents in their time of misery.

I was talking about his general quality and contribution to Villa's season.

Didn't see the game, but yes, good player. Gets goals from very unpromising situations.

Forest were unlucky, but I don't think any of them were stonewall. The ref didn't give any of them, and then it's down to the 'clear and obvious' test, which of course has a subjective element to it. On another day, a ref would probably have given at least one of them, but it's not about just substituting one opinion for another. Either way, Forest should not have accused the system of corruption, and made some veiled threat of legal action. I don't like agreeing with Gary Neville, but he's got it spot on. It's a very slippery slope when clubs join in with the sort of conspiracy theories that supporters like to nurture.

Only saw the last hour of the game, but during that period Coventry did not look like a Championship side. They got back into it through Premiership standard football. That's the story here, surely.

Yes, the players end up playing too many games, but Pep is the last person who should be complaining. In fact, City have been able to take advantage of the situation. They effectively have two first teams and can easily rotate the squad whilst their opponents are forced to field the same players.

Villa looked good against Arsenal, and as long as Watkins stays fit, they should be fine, I'd have thought. He gets them goals from all sorts of unpromising situations.

No, you're not. The FFP evidence against them is overwhelming and that gives the whole enterprise an unreal flavour. They also stifle teams and are boring to watch.

He reminded me of that Harry Enfield character - 'You don't wanna do this, you wanna do that'.

It was interesting what they picked up on - eg the way a player approached the penalty spot and put the ball down.

It sounds like Postecoglou is concentrating on instilling his basic strategy, which is to play an all-action aggressive style, with a big effort to squeeze the space and recover any lost possession far up the pitch. It worked very well at first, but a team is liable to pick up more than its fair share of injuries and cards, and may run out of steam later on in the season. And when the pressure comes on in the final stages of the season, you may need more strings to your bow. The thought is that Postecoglou will later develop his team's capacity for other strategies, as situations change in a match, and to suit different opponents. At the moment, it's the cavalry charge, but are his players starting to want something more?

Eric Dier was asked about the difference between Conte and Postecoglou, and this is what he came up with - https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/football/tottenham-eric-dier-explains-how-ange-postecoglou-differs-from-antonio-conte-and-jose-mourinho/ar-BB1ljFA3 Make of it what you will.

I seem to remember that 2% was the chance of us avoiding relegation when Eddie took over. It'll be interesting to see how Spurs react now that they're coming under a bit of pressure. They've started really well and have been favourites for the top four for a long while, and it's started to slip away. Their supporters are starting to grumble. Postecoglou is new to the very top level, and won't have experienced this sort of pressure before. He has to keep his players believing in what he's asking them to do, and two defeats in his next two games will make that difficult. His methods are said to be a bit unusual (ie no work on tactics) and it'll be easy for the players to start blaming him rather than themselves if things start to go wrong.

Spurs' next three games are with Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. Ours are with Palace, Sheffield United and Burnley. That 10 point gap could get slashed to 3 or even 1, and then it'll get very interesting. Spurs started the season very well, but seem to have run out of steam. That high-tempo, aggressive game may have taken its toll. And maybe other clubs have sussed Ange out a bit - there were signs of that on Saturday.