IT is that time of year again.
Presents are wrapped, people are scrambling home for the big day and in dressing rooms a few players are thinking about one more booking.
Going into this final weekend before Christmas, there are 23 Premier League players just one booking away from having a Christmas Day off with their families.
I am not going to suggest that if any of them do pick up a fifth caution this weekend that they have done it intentionally — but it will have been discussed within each and every squad.
Some players would get into December, notice they are on four bookings and start laughing and joking about taking it off.
Then you would get closer to the final game before Boxing Day and some would start to think, “F*** it, why not have Christmas off?’
After all that joking around, the odd one would then go and get booked in the 89th minute of the final game before Christmas for mouthing off at a ref.
That’s when, as a team-mate, you would realise that they actually meant it.
I was never suspended for a Boxing Day game. It would have been gutting as I loved playing matches at this time of year.
Not everyone is the same, though. We would always have to train on Christmas Day before playing Boxing Day.
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If people started talking about how busy they were going to be, mentioning all the family they had coming round and the cooking they were going to do, you would start to get suspicious.
My first thought was always that it sounded like a lot to be doing considering we’re supposed to be playing the next day!
Most players don’t go out to get suspended on purpose, of course, but there are some who used to take it to the absolute extreme.
When I was at Watford, one of our more senior pros stretched it to the absolute limit. Not only did he want to get a couple of days off but he had actually booked to spend his Christmas in New York!
The only thing that went wrong was that, instead of getting a fifth booking, he was shown a straight red card and suspended for three games.
After picking up his suspension, there was a quick chat with the manager about maybe having a few days off over Christmas now he wasn’t available, needing to clear his head after a sending off, and away he went.
He was sent off on the 22nd, in New York on the 23rd and back in training around the 27th.
It was one of those old-school tricks that I’m sure wouldn’t fly now — and he paid a price for it as well. Everyone knew the score and that he was taking the p***, but come that summer that was him done, gone.
Didn’t have time for that
He had hardly played since coming back from that Christmas break anyway.
Most of you will assume that, as team-mates, you would be really p***** off with players pulling stunts like that.
While it was incredible to hear about, you would much rather go into a Boxing Day game with players who wanted to be there and compete.
As a player and a captain I didn’t have time for anyone who wasn’t really up for those games.
I wasn’t interested in hearing people who were more worried about sorting tickets, or what they might be doing after, over actually winning on Boxing Day.
Unai gets Mor out of Villans
AS painful as it might be to watch as a Birmingham fan, I have been so impressed with Aston Villa.
Everyone has been piling the praise on Arsenal, assuming they’ve got the title tied up. But right now, Unai Emery is my manager of the season so far.
After a sticky start, where they were imbalanced and struggled to score, they are flying now.
Emery has found the solution — and that is to play everything through Morgan Rogers.
He has inspired the incredible run Villa are on and is in contention to start for England at the World Cup next summer.
Rogers is a wonderful player but, if I were Thomas Tuchel, I would still have concerns over the pressure we would put on him if he started in a big knockout game with Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham and Cole Palmer watching from the bench.
Stealing the show
But that is a debate for later, for now he is stealing the show at Villa Park — with a different trio watching from the bench.
Villa were hamstrung by PSR rules in the summer and added Harvey Elliott, Jadon Sancho and Victor Lindelof on the cheap — none of whom have featured in this stellar run.
That Emery is getting a squad he’s had for some time to compete with the top teams is incredible.
Arsenal and Manchester City spent a fortune in the summer and Chelsea have splashed over £1billion — and look at the Villans go.
The one concern I have around them going the distance is their depth but, for now, their fans should just enjoy the ride.
Dom’s fit… or bust
DANIEL FARKE said that Dominic Calvert-Lewin is one of the best English strikers around.
What a damning indictment on English strikers.
When I first heard it, I thought what a load of rubbish. But look at it and he doesn’t have much heavyweight competition.
We all know Calvert-Lewin can be a very effective striker who’s had a terrible time with injuries.
I don’t mean to be cruel but it feels like he is simply being praised for being fit at the moment.
Only once in the past five seasons has he got beyond 30 games.
So let’s focus on doing that again before we decide how good he is.
