Aston Villa boss Robert de Pauw said he knows clubs “cut off the head of the manager” if results do not meet expectations.

De Pauw, who was appointed in June after Carla Ward stepped down at the end of last season, is still searching for his first win in the Women’s Super League (WSL).

Villa sit 10th in the table with two points after six games – their worst start to a WSL campaign.

“It’s also football and a performance-driven company. So yeah, they cut off the head of the manager,” De Pauw said.

The Dutchman has overseen just one competitive win – a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace the Women’s League Cup – during his seven games in charge at Villa.

However, his side have pushed reigning champions Chelsea and leaders Manchester City close in the league, losing both games by just one goal.

“If the performance drops and the results don’t come, then you know what happens,” De Pauw added.

“I try to stay unattached to that because I know I can look myself in the mirror and the staff can look themselves in the mirror, that we do everything about it.

“We know we work hard and we leave no stone unturned before every game.”

De Pauw, who is new to the league after leaving Bayer Leverkusen at the end of last season, said he has spoken to experienced players like Jordan Nobbs about the difficulties of the WSL.

“I speak a lot with them because they know this league better than than most.

“Jordan knows it better than everybody, and she says it will come. So I trust also that it will come, but it has to come soon.”

Villa will hope to end their winless run on Sunday when they travel to Manchester United, who are unbeaten in the league this season.

“That’s the next step we have got to take, to take something from the game and not only rattle the cage, but bring the cage home and bring the points home,” De Pauw said.

The New Orleans Saints may be one of the worst teams in the NFL this season, but at least they can count on continued prayers from Pope Francis.

The pope – or at least someone in the Vatican communications office – has been inadvertently rooting for the Saints since Nov. 1 – All Saints Day – even as the team lost yet another game and fired their coach.

Thanks to an automatic function on X, formerly Twitter, the team’s fleur-de-lis emoji is automatically added to the hashtag #Saints. That has given the impression that the @Pontifex account on X, which has 18.4 million followers and happens to be tweeting a lot about saints lately, was talking about the team when in fact the pope was extolling how actual saints “are precious pearls and are always living and relevant.”

The comments sections on the handful of papal #Saint tweets in recent days have blown up, with more than twice as many comments as normal @Pontifex tweets.

“They need more than what you can do Pope Francis. They need to consult the big guy,” wrote @DaBears_26 on Nov. 2.

In the past week, Saints fans have lamented yet another loss at last-place Carolina, which extended the Saints’ losing streak to seven games — their longest since 1999 — and brought their record to 2-7. And they have welcomed the firing of Coach Dennis Allen on Monday.

“Even the Pope is excited we fired Dennis Allen,” wrote @JonoBarnes.

Some referred to the unwanted distinction earned last week by Derek Carr: He became the first NFL quarterback to lose to 31 teams. While others, non-Saints fans, asked the pope for some equal time.

“Any chance the @HoustonTexans can catch a blessing too?” asked @DustyLeeCook.

The Rev. Matthew Schneider, a prominent voice on Catholic Twitter, has been trying for five years to get the Vatican communications office to fix the #Saints fleur-de-lis emoji issue, apparently in vain.

Back in 2019, he posted a comment on another @Pontifex saintly tweet that automatically referenced the team, urging the Vatican communications office to check the hashtags before posting. He did so again this past week, this time directing his request to X.

“It was cute the first time but it’s becoming tiresome,” he wrote.

The @Pontifex account, which opened in 2012, is the official English-language Twitter handle of the pope. The pope tweets in other languages in variations of the handle.

The Vatican spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment late Thursday. For the record, Francis is a lifelong fan of the San Lorenzo soccer club of his native Buenos Aires.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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Three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw is “planning to crush some rehab” in his recovery from two surgeries.

Kershaw posted on Instagram that he had foot and knee procedures on Wednesday. He thanked Drs. Kenneth Jung and Neal ElAttrache for performing the operations.

“Planning to crush some rehab and be as good as can be come next year,” Kershaw posted on Thursday.

The 36-year-old Kershaw is 212-94 with a 2.50 ERA in 429 starts and three relief appearances over 17 seasons — all with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He declined a $10 million player option in favor of free agency, but he is expected to return to L.A. after vowing to do so at multiple points during and after the Dodgers’ run to a 2024 World Series championship.

Kershaw was hurt for much of last season, finishing with a 2-2 record and a 4.50 ERA over seven starts. He was sidelined throughout the postseason.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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Liverpool manager Arne Slot has challenged midfielder Curtis Jones to add consistency to his game because “the best players in the world show up every three days”.

Jones has been in impressive form recently, scoring in a league win against Chelsea and providing a brilliant pass in setting up Luis Diaz for a goal in Tuesday’s 4-0 win against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.

He has again been called up to the England squad for games in November. The uncapped 23-year-old was drafted in as an injury replacement at the last England camp but withdrew because of the birth of his daughter.

“With Curtis maybe it’s not me who did it because he became a father and I had nothing to do with that,” said Slot.

“You never know if that plays a part or not but, since the moment he became a father, he started putting great performances in.

“He did it in pre-season but then his performances dropped a little bit. Since he became a father, he’s outstanding again. It might have to do a bit with that but, in general, I think it has to do with how the team plays.”

In the summer, Jones spoke about how Slot’s style of play suited him “because I can get on the ball more and be free” after the Dutchman replaced Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool manager.

“He has a lot of quality on the ball,” added Slot. “He’s never afraid to do something special with it. Sometimes that leads to situations when, in my opinion, he touched that ball a bit too much because sometimes he’s a bit too over-confident.

“He combines this with an incredibly hard work-rate and we can trust him in defence. He’s quite complete but for him now it’s all about consistency. The best players in the world show up every three days.”

Liverpool are top of the Premier League table, with a two-point lead over champions Manchester City going into Saturday’s game against Aston Villa and, after four wins in four, are also top of the Champions League group in its new format this season.

Slot has guided the Reds to 14 wins in his first 16 games since replacing Slot but insists no-one at the club is getting carried away.

“We are there to do our work and become better players on a daily basis or keep having the same level,” he said.

“It’s not the first time that this club is where it is at the moment. I think for most of these players it is a normal situation and I don’t think they get carried away at all by us being top of the league at the moment.

“They know how small the margins are when it comes to our results and the amount of points we are ahead of the other teams.”

He added: “I’m not trying to manage expectations with the squad because we don’t talk about expectations.

“The only expectations I have is that they put the same effort in on a daily basis. That’s the only thing we focus on.”

Heading into the 2024 season, the Ravens were the favorites to win the AFC North at +110, with the Bengals just behind them at +180. The Browns were tabbed at +600 followed by the Steelers at +1100.

Ten weeks into the season, a lot has changed.

Entering this week, Baltimore was a -185 favorite to win the division after a strong 6-3 start, followed by the Steelers at +200 after a surprising 6-2 start. The Bengals sat in third at +900 with a 4-5 record, followed by the Browns who are all but guaranteed to not have a chance at the division crown at 2-7. 

But in this week’s Thursday night football matchup, it was a clash between Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow— and it did not disappoint. 

The two quarterbacks combined for eight touchdown passes and over 700 yards passing, with Ja’Marr Chase hauling in 264 receiving yards and three touchdown catches for the Bengals.

Cincinnati scored with 38 seconds left in the game with a chance to tie it up with an extra point, but Zac Taylor decided to go for two to try and end the game in regulation. 

The Bengals would fail to convert, giving the Ravens a one-point win.

Let’s take a look at how the odds have changed after Baltimore’s 35-34 win, according to DraftKings Sportsbook as of Nov. 8.

ODDS TO WIN AFC NORTH:

Baltimore Ravens: -300 (bet $10 to win $13.33 total)

Pittsburgh Steelers: +225 (bet $10 to win $32.50 total)

Cincinnati Bengals: +3500 (bet $10 to win $360 total)

Cleveland Browns: +70000 (bet $10 to win $7,010 total)

In summary, Baltimore’s odds to win the division shortened from -185 to -300 after Thursday’s result, while Cincinnati’s lengthened immensely— going from +900 to +3500. While the division title might be out of reach, the playoffs aren’t totally out of the question. Three teams did make the playoffs last year after a 4-6 start (Rams, Packers, Buccaneers).  

Cincinnati is currently +135 to make the playoffs and -160 to miss.

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Rogers joined Middlesbrough in a £1.5m deal in July 2023 and had a mixed start to the season. Eyebrows were raised when Aston Villa paid £8m plus add-ons for him just seven months later.

“It was pretty easy when I found out the team who wanted me,” says Rogers.

“It was tough leaving Middlesbrough because it was a fresh start. I felt close to the team and coaches, but when a team like Villa comes in it is impossible to say no. Being a lad from Birmingham it was the perfect reality. I couldn’t say no.”

After taking a few months to find his feet, this season Rogers has started all 12 of Villa’s games in the league and Champions League, including the Bayern match.

“I have always had that belief and wanted to get to the highest level of football,” he says.

“[Playing in the] Champions League – it is crazy. The feeling doesn’t wear off. To be a part of that is something I didn’t expect to happen so quickly.

“It is mad and surreal to feel I am playing against that level and calibre of player. It’s cool and exciting. I love football so much, so stuff like that still excites me.

“The Bayern game – stars from one to 11, all of them are superstars and it was a surreal moment to think I am on the pitch with them.”