JoetheRam

Could have been 8 - 0.

Struggling to think of a worse side to ever visit Pride Park in honesty.

At least since 22nd March 2014 anyway.

Knives Out. 

Utter s****. Just Daniel Craig talking in an annoying voice for two hours explaining away non-existant plot points about who killed an old guy who you don't care a jot about.

Fell asleep three times.

Conor Doyle, Connor Sammon and James O'Connor rolled into one.

1 minute ago, jimtastic56 said:

3,000 in the away end. Does anybody know why the Lower Guthrie is always empty?

Slightly restricted view of the pitch when the ball is in the South East corner.

The Man Who Would Be King (1975)

Is it even Christmas if you don't watch this or Zulu?

Georgi Kinkladze.

Without sounding all Larry David, the premature "Merry Christmas".

Been hit with it three times already this morning.

Knocked me right out of my stride. If it ain't Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, just say hello/goodbye.

Presenter: Mark Chapman - easily the best the BBC/ITV have got. Sky one's are all too stilted and scared of Graeme Souness.

Pundit 1: Roy Keane - could go off at any moment, straddles the line of playing up to his character and actually believing the b******* he talks very well.

Pundit 2: Chris Waddle - mostly on the radio but has done TV I'm sure. Good knowledge, wouldn't back down when Keane challenges him for daring to praise a will o' the wisp winger.

Pundit 3: Need a bit of light relief, so Micah Richards just edges out Ian Wright for me. 

Commentator: Think there's a dearth compared to 15 years ago so will have to go with Jon Champion. Has good rapport with my Co-Comm and has rarity value with only doing World Cups and Amazon Prime. Mowbray too dull, Drury too bombastic, Pearce too Robot Wars.

Co-Comm: Ally McCoist. No competition when it comes to the TV alternatives. Some good Radio ones around but none that are good enough to knock Ally out the chair.

1 hour ago, Alpha said:

There was a dive that got booked too wasn't there? 

You've got live video referees and still the harshest punishment for blatant diving is a rare yellow. Football says cheating is less criminal than taking your shirt off after you score. 

Diving should be a red card. Just like time wasting should be a yellow instantly and not 20 minutes of warnings. And actually follow the yellow with a red. 

Last night Martinez should have been booked for throwing the ball and/or not returning to his line. Then he'd have not messed around afterwards. If he did then send him off. 

Truth is that football left gentleman's conduct behind many decades ago. It is waaaay to late to talk about fair play and respect. 

Lie, cheat and push the limits. That's what players do. Because it's now called gamesmanship and the worst you'll get is told off for being naughty. 

As @TigerTeddsaid, don't hate the player. Martinez might be a troll but the referees allow this nonsense to go on. 

I was always taught that sport mirrors society. 

When society is violent, sport is violent (see Ancient Rome). When society demands order, so to does sport (Victorian England).

It's somehow poetic that Football nowadays chooses to punish exuberant celebration and freedom of expression and let's 'gamesmanship' as you describe above escape almost unpunished. And that's without mentioning the corruption that is essentially accepted as part of the game and part of life and the cult of personality that surrounds the games key figures.

We get the sport we deserve I guess.

Customary team of the tournament to indulge the inner 12 year old...

4-3-3

Bounou (MAR)

Hakimi (MAR)

Souttar (AUS)

Gvardiol (HRV)

Hernandez (FRA)

Modric (HRV)

Amrabat (MAR)

Bellingham (ENG)

Messi (ARG)

Alvarez (ARG)

Mbappe (FRA)

None of this shoehorning players in out of position and it's not necessarily the best players overall, more players who were memorable AND good.

What the heck is that cloak he's got on?

Gary Lineker... we know you know Maradona's middle name, but it's fine just to say his surname and first name. We know who you mean. Pretentious.

Right team won I think.  The French were crap for 75 minutes.

Extra time was nuts.

Martinez wins player of the tournament for shithousing.  Ref's should be able to send players off for that kind of crap. Hope they introduce something where the player doesn't come from the halfway line until the ref has the ball in the hand and the keeper is on his line. 

Overall, great group stage, average knock outs, great final, poor atmosphere/tournament feeling, stupid timing, below par coverage from BBC and ITV 6.5/10 for me on the World Cup scale.

Best rope-a-dope since Muhammad Ali.

That virus done it's job on France big time. Walk in the park for the Argies this.

Definite trip for the penalty though.

Nice team goal for the second.

BBC tossing Messi off at his every touch. 

He's been decent this tournament, 7/10, but the over praising not only diminishes him as a player but is incredibly disrespectful to the players who have actually played above themselves. 

If you're doing DIY, arts and crafts, have just moved out and need glasses/cutlery etc, plants, old video games or want to get rid of something big that the tip will charge you for, Freecycle is your friend.

Obviously there's a few Internet weirdo's out there who will advertise used mattresses (only a few stains) and the like but it's amazing what some people will give away for free.

Paving slabs, tools, tins of paint, furniture.

Worth a quick browse before spending any money for sure.

Get around paywalls on The Bellylaugh, The Times (Rupert and Financial) and Independent websites by quickly switching your device to airplane mode whilst the page is loading. Get the timing right and that article is yours to read for free.

NB. Stealing content on the Internet is wrong.

8 minutes ago, Unlucky Alf said:

Tips, Don't watch TV at night with the lights on, Stagger the use of your Central Heating, Walk instead of using your car, Wrap up with more clothing, And take a sheep to bed to keep warm.

Very bad for your eyes though watching a bright screen in darkness. Should at least have a lamp (or a Christmas tree) as an alternative source of light.

Shut internal doors when you've got the heating on and yell at anyone who leaves them open is my tip on heating. Dogs and cats also make good alternatives to blankets and you're already paying for them.

33 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

Deleted my original reply because I think we should get back on theme and talk about tips and ideas to help people cope with the cost of living crisis.
 

 

If you're about two thirds - three quarters of the way through a car PCP deal and you intend to keep the car after your contract ends, look to see if you would be able to reduce your monthly payments by taking out a loan to pay off the remaining finance over two or three more years.

End result; you have a 5 or 6 year old car fully paid for, which should still have higher residuals than any deposit you put down and you've saved a bit of interest.

Non-rubbish/non overplayed Christmas songs.

Interest is a massive, complex subject that spans pretty much the length of human history.

From Aristotle to Keynes they've all had a go at arguing what it means, whether it should exist, when it should be charged, how it should be charged, how it should be calculated...

And interest is just one of many instruments of the global financial markets, so no, I don't think your average man in The Street will ever know how how the financial system works in its entirety.

The effects on individuals/businesses/government of rates rising and falling should be better reported though. 

The economy is a balancing act and everything has it's advantages and disadvantages to different parties, educating the public beyond "low interest good, high interest bad" would be a start.

Personally enjoying inflation reducing the real terms value of my mortgage by 15% a year not so much the effect it's having on the weekly shop.

They should get rid of penalties and just give free kicks instead.

Would improve things no end.

Amazing from Messi.

2 minutes ago, Bris Vegas said:

Is that the official line? I’ve seen fouls given all the time when the defender just stands there and gets bulldozed by an attacker.

Should be surely, but refs fall for it all the time when strikers just run into defenders who are standing their ground.

Probably a case of them never playing the game.

5 minutes ago, Gritstone Ram said:

I think you can say if the keeper doesn’t get the ball he will commit a foul and give away a penalty just like if any player on the field doesn’t win the challenge and prevents the player running through.

He didn't challenge the player.

4 minutes ago, Carl Sagan said:

Watching the Argentina Croatia semifinal. As soon as the penalty was given I said that's not a foul. The keeper plants his feet, and draws the foul basketball style as the forward jumps into him. To my surprise Gary Neville and Roy Keane were in 100% agreement with me at HT. But the studio referee expert couldn't see it and said it's a penalty. The ref pundit kept saying "the goalkeeper's forward motion towards the striker" but manifestly there was none. Referees are idiots.

The incident was remarkably similar to when Frank Fielding was sent off at the start of the 10-man game. For me, a foul on the keeper who made no motion towards the striker and couldn't get out of the way.

Completely agree. The ref seemed to basically say if the keeper doesn't save it, he needs to get out of the way otherwise it's a penalty.

Dixon chatting some crap about the keeper challenging for the ball - which he patently didn't do. He stood there with his hands out and the player ran into him.

Oh well. There's always next time.

Balls.