CWC1983

My pet hate at the minute.

Goalkeepers catching a simple ball and falling to the ground. 

Pickford seemed to start it and constantly does it. Almost every keeper in the UK has followed suit. 

The ref did give it. VAR cant award penalties. 

6 hours ago, Rammy03 said:

The referee didn't actually give the second one. The bloke sitting in an office did

Lack of a decent striker to link the play killed Croatia. 

Love Kovacic as a player. Don't know why he's not a regular starter for Chelsea. 

5 finals for Argentina since 78. Impressive. 

Work hard, bit of skill, plenty of niggle, an awareness of how to kill a game and an incredible affinity with their own fans. ?

Watched The Swimmers on Netflix last night. 

2 Syrian girls trying to get to Germany as refugees with the dream of competing at the Rio Olympics. 

It certainly opened my eyes to what these people had to go through. 

Johnny Russell 8/10

Out of the teams left in the tournament I'd prefer Argentina to win. 

Fans look brilliant, there's the Messi factor and are a team of characters who don't back down. 

Dyche, Hasenhutl, Beale, Muscat all meant to be in the running. 

Efe Ambrose (did he ever get a start?) currently on BBC Scotland playing for Morton v Inverness. 

1st game, and he looks like he's had a good summer ????

Been watching the Sky card and women's boxing has come on leaps and bounds. 

One observation, there's a lot less appreciation between boxers after the fights than I'm accustomed to. Very little eye contact and a quick tap on each others shoulders. 

1 hour ago, Stive Pesley said:

I have to admit that I've been struggling a little bit off the back of my operation and the year I've had, so a friend suggested that I request some help from the Derby NHS Mental Health counselling services. I referred myself 2 weeks ago via the website and got a letter today offering me a telephone appointment in the second week of December. Ironic really that a lot of my problems are rooted in how bloody awful the responsiveness from the NHS has been. This is just the icing on the cake

I'm in similar situation regarding waiting times re the NHS. Just as you think you are getting there you get the reality that help maybe a couple of months away. It doesn't half knock you for 6. 

December will be here before you know it, and the experts will help you. ?

Mentally, I'm writing off this year and physically hoping 2023 is a better one. New chapter and all that. 

Take care ?

Premier league football at its worst. Boring side to side and backwards passing. 

That Forest team are stacked with athletes rather than football players. Absolutely no creativity in that defence or midfield. 

As for Villa, they used to be a decent watch but they don't seem to be able to work out what type of team they are. Coutinho is a shadow of the player he was at Liverpool. 

20 hours ago, Rev said:

Mansfield are trialling a similar thing in an upcoming game. 

The cost saving isn't as much as you'd think though, probably not enough to cover lower ticket sales. 

Inverness chairman was on radio last Saturday and said the cost was 4 times as much compared to last year. 

Logistically it doesn't work for them to bring games forward to say midday, and he is seeing a lot less away fans coming through the gate due to unrealiable train services and cost of fuel. 

36 minutes ago, TimRam said:

Fantasy Football League on Sky Showcase. No Baddiel or Skinner but still good to watch. Darren Bent is in the first episodes 'Phoenix from the Flames'.

I saw it advertised and didn't realise it was going to be based on the original.

I thought it was a show about fantasy football, player stats, who to drop who to make captain etc, which I find boring as hell. 

I was pleasantly surprised and loved phoenix from the flames. Bent in a Charlton top ?.

6 minutes ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

Wrong thread, no? ?

Yeah apologies, should be on the "league A" thread......?

I won't post on the Qatar WC one, ?

8 hours ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

So, Soctland will be in tier A of the next Nations League getting pumped by competent international teams in each fixture, so, the question is:

is that fun?

Shame they won't get a nailed on away point v England, but, hey, you can't have everything.

All about the feel good momentum that Clarke seems to be channelling at the moment. 

It's been decades since we've had a decent team to get behind, so kudos to the management and players for the last 7 days. 

The important thing about yesterday's result was moving into pot 2 for the 2024 Euro qualifiers and the play off quarentee if we fail via the qualifiers.

The nations league group A is good for the fans, and the SFA coffers, even though it might last 1 season before relegation again ?

Squad depth is getting so much better, and there are some real talents emerging. Full backs are unbelievably strong. There's definitely benefits of our young players playing club football on the continent. 

Most important however is the team spirit Clarke has fostered and the way every player responds to him positively. 

One last thing player that deserves a mention, Calumn McGregor. He's now showing his Celtic form on the international stage. He's in the Modric / Jorginho mould where he links everything together, always looking for the ball and doing the simple stuff. 

First time I've watched England since the Euro's. 

Can't belive how much the style of play has changed. 

Im really surprised that you are sitting back and letting the opposition control the ball. 

I think Im watching a differant game to the channel 4 experts. Actually, I'm not impressed with the C4 coverage. 

https://images.app.goo.gl/cTwzs6GkXnAfWe416

Is he designing football shirts?

Good effort ? 

Here's my attempt with some rationale. 

Rangers - Chelsea.  Both sets of fans have similar values. Union Flags galore, a political way of thinking. 

Celtic - Liverpool. Tend to play attacking football and both fans like a political sing song. 

Hearts - Villa. Both like a season in a lower division every so often. 

Hibs - Spurs. For all their attacking "philosophy" they don't win anything. 

Aberdeen - Arsenal. Never been relegated

Livingston - Bournemouth. Get back to a lower division with your rubbish crowds and stadiums 

Dundee utd  - Forest. European pedigree. Clough and McLean, 2 peas in a pod.

Killie - Newcastle. Stripes obviously, and both managers seem to like their reflection in a mirror

Ross County - Brighton. Extreme North  & South of the country. An away trip between these 2 would take ages....

Motherwell - Leeds. Both hammer throwers. Risdale and Boyle went to the same business school in the 90's. 

St Johnstone - Leicester. 1 City teams, Collecting trophies against the odds and becoming very thrifty in recent times. 

St Mirren - Palace. South London, South Glasgow. You require trainers to run round the athletics stadium and require trainers to run away from the locals in Paisley. 

 Derby's equivalent? Must be Falkirk. Languishing 2 leagues below where they want to be, good supporter base, full of potential but have flattered to deceive for 2 decades. 

Half time scores on a board. 

Game A 2 - 0

Game B 1 - 1

You had to buy a programme to know who was Game A, Game B etc. 

People selling food, crisps, macaroon bars, those orange juice triangle drinks, chewing gum etc on the trackside of the pitch. Similar to usherettes at the cinema. 

Fans changing ends at half time. 

Football specials. Think of the worst trains BR had in service and they ran discounted tickets to take you there and back, no stopping.

As a few others have said, I'd imagine it's the change of scenery and a chance to live in the US that will appeal to him. 

Simple stuff like nice weather and relative anonymity might make a difference in deciding where to continue a career. 

So what if the perceived level of football isn't at Prem or championship standard, not all players are bothered about that. 

The last 4 years at Wigan and Derby may have taken its toll and he fancies a brand new start. Haven't we all at one point? 

Good luck to him. 

Brilliant run by Eilish McColgan in the 10k. 

That last lap was sport at its best. 

Good to see KJT enjoying the heptathlon again. 

7 hours ago, BaaLocks said:

A rising tide lifts all boats - in my lifetime this was the standard of African football, not so now.

It will take time, my question around it though would be whether the 'average' football fan has the headspace for even more football. Which means the women's game may have to create it's own fanbase (which it does seem to be doing) rather than expect too much in the way of cross over.

 

There's a bit of a backstory to that Zaire team. 

Their military dictator was so proud of them reaching the finals that he promised them a house each on their triumphant return and gave them a big kitty to spend in Germany.

However, after getting beat by Scotland and hammered by Yugoslavia (the team downed tools because their kitty and wages had been dipped by the official hangers on) he was embarrassed enough to threaten them with "don't return home" if they lost by 4 goals v Brazil. 

There's a theory that the defender deliberately kicked the ball away to waste time and knock the ball as far away from the goal as possible. 

As far as the team was concerned, they were playing that game to save their life.

He had plenty to do and made some decent saves. 

Unfortunately he's got a brand new back 4 in front of him and it will take a bit of time to get to know each other. 

Overall he handled the occasion and atmosphere pretty well. 

On 15/07/2022 at 08:42, JoetheRam said:

Elvis (2022)

I hate Baz Luhrman films, and I only know a few Elvis hits, but this was bloody fantastic.

I think it probably plays fast and loose with the truth but who cares when it's this entertaining?

Amazing performance by Austin Butler as Elvis and even Tom Hanks is watchable in his creepy Tom Parker/narrator role. Absolutely electric from start to finish.

Expected it to be an Andy King, ended up being a "King" 

Just back from seeing it. Superb, definitely one to see on the big screen. 

Sound and camera action was brilliant. 

56 minutes ago, OUTSIDER said:

What's stopping you buying an away ticket and not go , sell ticket to some one else so to keep on the top phase?

 

Ticket harvesting got so bad with Scotland that the SFA made fans pick up your ticket at a set place in the away city  / town and you had to show photographic proof. 

They still do this periodically to deter harvesting. 

1 no show and your away points were set to zero. 

Brilliant player, would be a real coup for the club. 

Too good for the Scotish Premiership. 

£1m should do it ?