Premier League, Rodgers, 2018, Europe

Last night it was Tottenham who emerged as the current (and I say current because every week it seems to be a different team) team to stick their hat in the ring for that elusive 4th Champions League place. It has to be said that Arsenal have an air of vulnerability as always so it's not inconceivable that both Spurs and Villa could make it, but thinking about that for too long would make me cry. Spurs played great and have some of the best British talent in the league and some of the most talented non-British talent in the league - take a bow Nico Krancjar who continues to make the Spurs fans forget they're missing Modric. Man City continue to look very shaky defensively, and even if 3-0 was a little harsh on Hughes there was no question that they deserved to get beat, and now hopefully people will start to look at that elusive points column on the table, and forget about the losses. It makes you wonder though why Hughes was so keen to get rid of Richard Dunne in the summer, who is excelling at Aston Villa. Even if you buy Toure (who for me is a good player but probably past his best now) and Lescott (waaaaay overpriced) every big club needs 4 good centre backs, and Onouha didn't cover himself in glory last night. Why sell Dunne? He was the captain of the team and I'm sure that at his age and suspect lack of pace he couldn't have grumbled too much at being 'rotated,' but now with Lescott out for 2 months City are vulnerable. Arsenal drew 1-1 at Burnley and were probably lucky to get away with a point in all honesty. We took the lead but then proceeded to chuck it away which isn't an unfamiliar story, but I'm going to focus on the positives today; Utd got beat there we didn't, a game like this last year we would have probably lost, we've played up north twice in 3 days and taken 4 points, and we've played pretty badly doing it. The worst news was seeing Cesc limp off injured with a hamstring problem, no news yet on how bad it is but the boss says he won't play Saturday. Next two games are a week apart at home to Hull and Villa, and it would put things back on track if we could win them - put those demons from last season to rest, and quieten the Villa a bit. Chelsea struggled to a win over Pompey and Liverpool just about beat Wigan in the other games.

Reading 'mutually parted company' with Brendan Rodgers yesterday, in other words he was pushed before he jumped. You won't see any managers ringing their chairman and saying, 'Hi Sir John, fancy a chat about my position because things are going pretty shit right now,' therefore giving up their entitlement to compensation. No-one likes to see a manager get sacked but I can't help thinking this is the right call. Rodgers was an inexperienced manager whose apparently most redeeming qualities were that he 'still lived in the town' because he was here as a youth player and as a youth team coach. He tried to play his continental Chelsea style 4-3-3 with players who quite frankly aren't capable of doing so - the Championship is about grinding out wins and trying to make yourself difficult to beat, neither of which Reading have done very successfully this term. It was always going to be a tough season, Coppell left, Doyle, Lita, Kitson, Bikey, Rosenior, Harper and more have all gone, but I don't think anyone expected a relegation scrap. Apparently Alan Curbishley is an early favourite, a move I'd like to see, and others like Pardew, Boothroyd, Sanchez, Adams, Dowie and the even more recently dismissed Jim Magilton have all been named as potential successors.

The list of potential venues for our 2018 World Cup bid were announced yesterday, and the main winners were Milton Keynes, Plymouth, Nottingham and Bristol, with Leicester, Hull and Derby missing out. All the other usual suspects are there, and from the smaller grounds, the south and south-east midlands-ish areas have got the nod ahead of the northern places. I know it'll be here before we know it but 2018 seems so far away it's almost impossible for me to care really, surely we'll be in flying cars and eating meals in a single pill by then anyway.

Finally, congratulations are in order to Fulham who successfully navigated that tough trip to Basel to qualify for the last 32 of the Europa League. They join Everton and Liverpool in the draw which takes place tomorrow, preceded by the main event the Champions League draw. The English boys will be keen to avoid the Milans and Bayern, and as I said last week I have this feeling in the pit of my stomach that the Arsenal will come out with Inter. Take her easy.