The Three Dads' Football Season Wonderland

Project Restart has achieved it's aim. Liverpool have been granted the title on merit and what a job they have done. To sweep aside a  Man City side like they have is simply incredible, and no matter how much I detest the media fawning any time they have looked threatening over the past 3 decades, I have to say I'm pleased for them.  Klopp is immensely likeable, and he has assembled a squad that is so tight, energetic, creative and effective and so much more than a sum of it's parts. They have been streets ahead of good, good teams and won this title at a canter. Obviously I'm now hoping the entire squad goes on a massive drink and Class A binge before they face Villa next weekend. But before then we've got a mah-ha-hasive game against Wolves. Having failed to beat Newcastle, (despite a decent performance),l Villa are now in a place where they surely have to find at least one win out of games vs Wolves, Liverpool and Man Utd, to stay in with a shout of survival. I d...

So it has gotten to that stage. Not the stage where you look with eagerness at other results, but the stage where you very passionately and actively support other teams for one night only. My one night stand tonight is with Spurs. I love them and they must beat West Ham, else surely Villa are doomed. I say this because Villa offer no signs whatsoever of staging a miraculous escape. There's no 3 game win streak coming, if we are getting out of this mess it's going to be down to other teams being awful.  Since I last wrote, I think we've completed a full round of games and we now know who's looking hot and who's not. Sheffield United, against whom Villa got a point, have confirmed themselves as spent, getting walloped by a vibrant looking Newcastle (Villas opponents tomorrow, sigh). Wolves look decent, Southampton also, and Chelsea who enjoyed 99.9% possession against my Villa also looked very slick (although a slightly sterner test awaits them vs Man City on Thursday...

I'm getting into this now. The quality has been good over the weekend so far. We've had the dominating performance of Southampton over Norwich, late double drama in the Watford v Leicester game and a good mix of relegation despair (Brighton pulling clear thanks to hapless Arsenal's failings) and joy (Wolves and Palace dispatching the Hammers and Bournemouth respectively.) I've had my first, enforced, dose of fake crowds. This initially came about as listened to TalkSport on the radio, whilst running, at the start of Watford's match. I got to listen to Stuart Pearce commenting about how quiet it was, how he could hear all the players calling to each other, and how everyone listening must be finding it odd too - yet the station was pumping constant crowd noise through over the top of it all. Bizarre production choices, as ever, from the TS team.  And my exposure to it has continued. I've ramped up the use of my tablet to achieve a  portable, always-on footballing ...

And so we are back. How was it for you? I personally thought it was ok, if somewhat underwhelming. The Villa game was ok, we played alright, created a few chances, but of course the relatively low intensity of the encounter, coupled with the absence of fans probably made it pretty unbearable for the neutral. I couldn't bring myself to even try out the fake-crowd noise option as it just seems utterly wrong. Where does it end - augment the Villa front line so that we can watch them score some fake goals as well as just create a few chances? I'd said that the result would likely shape the season for Villa - and from the moment I'd written what that likely means in win or lose scenarios; I knew this game would be a draw. Villa do this; rarely ever settling their future one way or another, but leaving the fans in a state of perpetual discomfort. The draw tells me that we are neither so bad that we'll bomb, nor good enough to take advantage of our superiority in the game and ...

I'm on beer 3 as the nerves are clearly manifesting hard. I wanted to get some predictions down before it all kicks off. here's my top tips for what's about to unfold: Villa's fate will largely be determined by this match. A win will signal a transformation in form and we'll pull clear. A defeat and expect a run of more defeats to follow and a limp relegation.  The rich, technical, lower tempo teams will thrive. I expect Man City in particular to breeze through these games, with deep benches and the ability to pick teams apart at lower tempo. Liverpool will win the title! We will hear a load of swearing from players and managers and it will be amazing. Sky and the other broadcasters will be constantly apologising.  We'll surely see some sort of fan break-in at some point. A random punter will suddenly be seen in the middle of a stand and no-one will know how they got there. New socially distanced gesticulations as players try to influence and argue with referees...

It is at this time of year that I'm normally unboxing a new [bigger] telly, dragging the sofa to within a metre of it and pulling the ring on a can of lager, ready to settle down for a month of the Euros or World Cup. This realisation struck me this morning, just as I kick off another day of home nursery, on the dawn of Project Restart. My beloved Villa have bookended the footballing lockdown. We were the last game played before it [getting panned horibly by Leicester] and will be the first game played after it - against Sheffield United tonight. They (Sheffield) are, according to some accounts, the most fit, hungry and prepared team in the league. Typical.  I am a muddle of emotions about this whole return. I think it is too soon. I think it sends the wrong message about social distancing and the virus. I wish the season had been scrapped entirely, voided, and thus Villa saved from relagation. I dislike the advantage the 5-sub rule will inevitably offer to the ultra rich clubs wit...