Steven Gerrard and a worrying pointer from the Rule of Rhule

The Fiver is of course your natural one-stop shop for all things gridiron, and so we report that Matt Rhule of the Carolina Panthers has become the first NFL coach to lose his job this season. To be honest, the news didn’t come as too much of a surprise: the Panthers had lost 27 of 38 games played under Rhule’s yoke, ending last season on a seven-game losing streak, then starting this one with four defeats out of five. After Sunday’s latest pounding, at the merciless hands of the 49ers, the few fans who still bother to travel from miles around the Carolinas booed and called for Rhule to bhugger off – and when catcalls echoing around half-populated stadiums start to get louder than the ringing of tills in concession stands, billionaire owners tend to sit up and take notice. So Rhule was sent bouncing down Interstate 85 on the well-upholstered seat of his pants (and that’s not a sizeist quip, he’s got a guaranteed $62m contract stuffed in his back pocket).

Aston Villa, then, and The Fiver couldn’t help thinking of Rhule while watching them limply prod at Nottingham Forest on Monday night. The primary reason for Rhule’s struggles with the Panthers was an offence impotent beyond Viagra, statistically one of the worst in the NFL since his arrival, not least because his quarterback of choice kept giving the ball to the other team. As we watched John McGinn launch himself at a diving header in a manner which reminded us of the time we surreptitiously flytipped a roll of carpet out of the back of a van trundling as quietly as possible down a dark country lane, and witnessed playmaker supreme Philippe Coutinho sling the ball around in a style that would make Baker Mayfield look like Tom Brady, our mind began to wander. Oh Stevie!