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Reply | How long before Juric gets p*ssed off
at 17:01 16 Jan 2025
I see us getting relegated this season (what? surely not 901?)
Next season I think we are a mid table Champ team.
Recruit well and use the parachute payments and we can push for promotion in May 2027. |
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Thread | Lies, damned lies, statistics and now football data
at 14:57 16 Jan 2025
Shortly before I terminated my subscription the The Times (because I'm bored with every story they carry being twisted into an anti Labour rant) I was following a series of articles about football and in particular the PL.
These stories are fed by endless statistics about which teams play more long balls, more passes in the final third, use a low/mid block, choose to put cream on their scones before jam etc.
I have also been speaking with a coach of an under 15 side who I am considering helping out. He shocked me a little by having something similar on his team and said that it helps him and the boys understand whet they do well and not so well.
I understand that the fashion in the USA for a long time has been to reduce their sports to numbers but to be honest something like baseball is well suited to it. Games like football which are perhaps more dynamic and less predictable are not (in my view).
I fear that the focus on data and percentages is going to see 95% of professional players become all the same shade of grey and the teams all play the same way and frankly it'll become boring (like baseball).
Are we in danger of having the game reduced to data points - in which case why bother playing, just have the managers play Top Trumps |
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Reply | How long before Juric gets p*ssed off
at 12:01 16 Jan 2025
Juric has no real idea about whether the "better" players he knows about will be suitable for the PL or the team he is managing.
I suspect therefore that this si some essential orifice retaliation being got in first so that he is not solely to blame for the inevitable relegation.
Further, who of the available players who still see themselves as having a PL career, would actually join us? Nobody is coming in on a three year deal, two and half of which we are a Champ side.
Better might be to raid a few academies for players who will be good enough to win promotion in 26/27 season which (in my view) is the earliest realistic time we might be able to do that. |
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Reply | offside but played onside
at 10:58 16 Jan 2025
Football has a number of rules which are the subjective opinion of the ref at the time. This adds to the spontaneity of the game and fuels passion and debate.
Games like rugby in which more or less every player interaction with ball or other players is regulated to the nth degree and as consequence the whistle seems to go every 30 seconds.
So do we want a game that has subjective decision making or one in which the uncertainty is removed by the laws? |
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Thread | Personal freedom v obligation to your country
at 10:52 16 Jan 2025
I was discussing with a group of young (under 30) people yesterday, the situation in the US regarding Tik Tok.
In a nutshell, the US authorities were about to impose a ruling which would have prevented Tik Tok from updating its app and from selling the app to new users via the usual routes. The app would therefore degrade over time and become unusable. And why?
Theory 1 - the owners of Tik Tok are Chinese and may be forced to hand over data to the Chinese Gov't.
Theory 2 - the owners of Meta, Amazon etc want to crawl up the backside of the orange buffoon who will return the favour by stopping Tik Tok, to drive business to Meta/Amazon et al.
For this post I think it's not really critical which theory is more correct than the other.
The group I was speaking with - some used Tik Tok and some not - were in general outraged that a Gov't might do something to curtail their absolute right to do as they please. The concept that the action might be something that was "better" for the country was thought to be irrelevant if it impinged in their freedoms.
My own children (not Tik Tok users) do seem to have no regard for our history (in fact are often ashamed by it) and consequently linking what might be good for the country with a minor inconvenience for them is not a price they consider worth it.
I was if not shocked, at least quite disappointed at what I saw as a selfish attitude.
You? |
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Thread | Chelsea applying the magic dissolving powder
at 09:41 16 Jan 2025
I see that Chelsea have admitted that during the sale of the company out of the hands of the Putin loving Abramovich (2021 to 2022), the discovered a series of illegal payments in relation to the transfers of Willian and Eto'o.
Such breaches would have resulted in a points deduction if investigated and found to be real.
Now though, they claim that they can instead pay a fine of several million and have no points deduction. Is that fair and in the spirit of the rules? No.
Will it happen and no points be deducted? yes.
Football authorities and governance is in the gutter and I for one hope that the Gov't goes ahead with a Regulator and gives it some teeth, |
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Reply | offside but played onside
at 14:20 15 Jan 2025
Keepers can kick a ball anywhere on the pitch.
The assumption is that the ball leaves the keeper's hand inside the area but is kicked outside the area then it's not handball. |
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Reply | offside but played onside
at 14:14 15 Jan 2025
I think the obstruction rule exists but there has been a shift in how refs are interpreting physical contact.
It seems that if the ball is not within playing distance, then pretty much any form of wrestling is allowed to go (including at corners) and I suspect that this is why obstruction is rarely given these days.
Blatantly blocking off a run is often pulled up and results in a booking. |
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Reply | offside but played onside
at 17:01 14 Jan 2025
It's one of those subjective things.
If Maguire had missed the ball completely = offside
If he tried to reach the ball but failed to control it = offside
If the ball was played "slowly" from a distance and he scuffed it into the feet of the forward = onside. |
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Thread | Is it ever acceptable to abuse players on social media
at 10:25 14 Jan 2025
I see that the Arsenal striker Havertz has been relentlessly trolled online following the match at the weekend.
I don't like what I see of his character on the pitch - he is a wind up merchant who in my opinion goes beyond the rules with his tackles, diving and generally winding up the opposition.
I think he is a limited player in the role that Arsenal play him in. He is not suited to be a lone striker or even the point of the forward line.
He did miss a couple of sitters against Man U and in the Newcastle game.
Is that however reason to post vile abuse about him and his family?
Here I suspect that I have run into a generational issue.
My generation (60+) finds it difficult or impossible to comprehend the hold that social media seems to have on younger generations and the weight that they attach to whatever process the platforms use to supply instant feedback. I use social media as a tool but frankly I regard it as little more than a convenient platform and attach no importance to "likes" or "dislikes". (I do often disagree with what a poster may say but that is the poster, not the platform).
I would certainly never see a social media platform as a conduit to express frustration about a player that shades into personal abuse or threats of violence.
I would go further and say that those who think that they are entitled to use a platform to seek to intimidate, scare or abuse another person, football player or not, are weak, pathetic and small people, lacking moral courage and seeking to bully others from the anonymity of the internet. To direct such abuse against a player from "your" team who you wish to perform well in the next match is cutting off your nose to spite your face.
I suspect however that younger fans will see social media as perfectly acceptable as a vehicle to display their own frustrations and that personal and threatening abuse is just "banter". |
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Reply | Tomorrow - deductions for some (?)
at 09:02 14 Jan 2025
Except those owned by sovereign nations who might be upset to be accused of such behavior and stop buying bombs and bullets and missiles from us? |
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Reply | Are the days of "woke" ending?
at 16:33 13 Jan 2025
Some interesting stuff here and none of it too close to calling out the "fact" that this is all the creation of shape changing lizards who are working for the elite, which is refreshing.
One theme that comes over is that many of the countries moving toward right wing politics are doing so out of a fear if losing their identity. France, Germany, Italy, Hungary and many others, including perhaps the USA and Canada have welcomed immigrants - legal or otherwise - and it seems the citizens think that this challenges their way of life. Their ethos and perhaps their character.
Add in a few desperate power mad politicians prepared to lie about the issue (does Trump really think a US town is now run by gangs from Venezuela? or does he say that just to get a reaction from the morons who do think it?).
Many politiicians should be careful what they wish for. Here in the UK, we see market gardeners struggling to harvest their produce as its now harder to get non UK workers and UK citizens are not interested in doing the job. Similar stories are found in the US and Canada and eslewhere. |
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Reply | Sulemana
at 16:19 13 Jan 2025
He strikes me as a confidence player who can play well when he's on a high. The sort who needs an arm around him rather than a kick up the backside.
And the problem is that we need players who play when they manager wants them to, not when they want to. |
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Reply | For those who think Sport Republic want a Championship club
at 16:55 9 Jan 2025
One of the problems with the PL is that membership (joining and annual) is fearsomely expensive.
Investment in players in the season of promotion and the next three or four is crucial and we have seen some clubs risk points deductions under the PSR rules in order to acquire and play expensive players.
SR now have three clubs. Whilst I cannot imagine that a Turkish or French club needs the sort of investment that a PL does, they still need to be supported. That detracts from what they might commit to Saints.
Add in a poor two seasons of recruitment (players and managers) and the investment now required is too huge for SR. Whether they like it or not we are a Champ team next season and this will test their resolve (and balance sheet). |
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Thread | Are the days of "woke" ending?
at 09:12 9 Jan 2025
In the UK, it seems that the Tories have suddenly discovered that much of what they did when in power for 14/15 years, was somehow "wrong" and perhaps - perish the thought - "woke" so that they are now justified in calling our Labour for being PC. I get that KB needs to reinvent the party and defend against Reform stealing all its members, but how far will she go?
In the US we have an orange bully about to take over and his Gov't has a collection of controversial figures many of whom might be accused of having right wing opinions.
In Europe we see Italy, Hungary, Germany, France etc all with growing right wing power bases.
There does seem to be a potential backlash against what many would call "woke" (and some would call left wing) policies and attitudes growing.
Is that good or bad?
(Keep it polite please). |
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Reply | Stuart Attwell showing yet again how inconsistent referees have become.
at 09:00 9 Jan 2025
There was a piece in the Times yesterday about how common sense appears to have deserted refereeing which references a couple of recent decisions. One was a "ball to hand" in the Spurs Newcastle match which resulted in advantage to Newcastle. Not called as the hand was not in an unnatural position. The other was the clash of heads in the Arsenal/Brighton game, called as a penalty.
In my view both the non decision and the decision were wrong. It's only my view though.
My view is also that refs are scared to make any decision that is borderline for fear that VAR will show them it was wrong. Further they perhaps are relying on VAR to call certain decisions rather than ref the game themselves.
The article goes on to say that because of the absence of common sense in refereeing, all supporters of all clubs feel that the ref is against them, even Arsenal who are described as having "every advantage".
So it's not just Atwell, it's all of them.
We just have to accept that good, consistent, fair refs are few and far between. |
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Reply | Elon Musk
at 13:46 8 Jan 2025
I'm afraid that I cannot contribute to this thread further. Or indeed any thread in which Mr Jellybaby has seen fit to bless with his wisdom.
Before Christmas I asked Mr Jellybaby whether he thought that the Manchester bombing had taken place in which a number of people were killed and injured.
The context was a court case against a self declared "journalist" who had written a book which claimed it was all a hoax. The Court decided that said "journalist" was guilty of poor research, biased evidence gathering, stalking and various other issues.
Mr Jellybaby claimed that
a. he could not say whether an event of mass killing had taken place because "he was not there", and
b. the work of journalist was - in his view - at least as valid as the TV and MSM being full of pictures of dead and maimed people.
I interpreted that as a denial of the bombing and its motives and implications and for me points to his/her/their ability to cherry pick information and facts to suit a chosen narrative in defiance of the pictures we saw on TV and the testimony of the hundreds of emergency workers who attended.
You cannot reason with anybody who has that mindset and therefore I will not.
A free pass, Mr Jellybaby. If you wish me to stop contributing to any thread, just post some of your usual nonsense. |
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Reply | What has happened to the fans?
at 17:48 7 Jan 2025
I still have my season ticket for the last season at The Dell.
No shortage of passion and fire there. |
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Reply | Elon Musk
at 17:30 7 Jan 2025
I've always struggled with groups of people (nations, tribes, etc) who consider it right to kill others for the sake of a bunch of ideas about a supreme being and/or messengers of said being.
If there is such a being then presumably he/she/it would hold all its creations in equal regard and not wish for one group to kill another?
If there is no such being, then the philosophies and concepts we call religion are all nonsense.
To kill people in pursuit of a set of ideas that will never be proven or otherwise speaks more to the intolerance of people who cannot abide having their egos bruised when somebody has the temerity to think other than as they do.
Unfortunately I think that there is a part of man's emotional and mental make up that considers killing - from single murders to genocide - acceptable and that the religious or national or (heaven help us) "patriotic" reasoning given before is just them trying to justify their actions.
It is this flaw that convinces me that there is no supreme being because why would he/she/it have made such an obvious mistake?
And please don't lecture me about the ways of said being needing to be mysterious.
Priests, rabis, vicars, all of them cannot know the mind of a supreme being and cannot interpret them other than in their own interests.
The Bible and most other religious books are not the "word of whomever" but political texts designed to create or hold on to temporal power.
Killing for the sake of an idea is insanity. |
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