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Left on 90 minutes when two down at home against Brentford a few years back. Was walking ain’t Blomfontein when I heard Pigbag strike up and a couple walked passed me saying ‘well that’s one at least!’ I looked at my phone to see who scored and couldn’t believe that was in fact the equaliser! I can only imagine that the guy in charge of pressing the Pigbag button couldn’t be arsèd after the first goal.
Best thing though is that Liverpool are starting to implode. After spending nigh on half a billion obscene pounds on a few players and unsettling Isak to the extent that he all but went on strike it is a pleasure to watch them lose or struggle to beat promoted teams.
Just had a look on the BBC website for top scorers in the Championship. Currently Burrell is tied fourth but what really is impressive is his shot conversion rate at 32% (2nd) and his shot accuracy at 64% (1st).
We were sold Bazball on the basis that we would win back the Ashes. First 18 months it was fun but then other teams started to suss us out. No plan B. Batsmen looking foolish getting out with awful shots (Brook the master of stupidity there). Bowlers encouraged to continually bowl short which I suspect adds to their injury woes. We have a master bowling in this test pitching the ball up and although aided by more awful shot choices is hoovering up wickets for fun. And yet we still bang the ball in short. In the last couple of years we have lost series away to Pakistan and India, it looks like we will be hammered here. We failed to win our home series against Oz and India and even lost a home test against Sri Lanka who themselves were undercooked in the first test. McCullum has failed miserably and should fall on his sword at the end of this series. And whoever is responsible for the preparation for this series should go as well. I get that the England team didn’t fancy playing second XI state sides but to be fair, any amount of cricket in their legs is better than none. Alternatively they could have organised a short provincial tour of South Africa where pitches are similar to Australia. Instead they just rock up after a short one day tour of NZ where some of that team weren’t even part of the Ashes squad. Sheer arrogance.
Wonder if such a stat existed whether it includes second balls, such as our second goal on Saturday. This is an issue that boils my pîss. Keep two fast players on the half way line, defo the shorter players like Saito or Dembele, the opposition would invariable then keep three back instead of one. And in all likeliness will be defenders who tend to be taller than other players. That’s four players less for a keeper to contend with which means he has more chance of either catching or punching the ball clear, and with the players left upfield less chance of the ball being recycled.
Another factor that needs to be taken into account is the amount of miles between each away game in a three game week. It does seem to me that we consistently get the short straw, Swansea away then Derby, now Blackburn away and then Norwich. Although the EFL did miss a trick last season when they could have scheduled Plymouth away on a Wednesday night followed by a midday kick off at Sunderland!
The issue with the non-dom tax system was a political football kicked at Sunak by the then opposition Labour Party, Sunak himself, born and educated in the UK, a son of a chemist married the daughter of the owner of the Infosys. Mrs Sunak, chose to adopt a non-dom status meaning that she wasn’t liable to UK tax on overseas earnings. Fine by me. But not for the Labour Party. This has seen an exodus of very wealthy people leave the UK, increasing since the election due to the changes in the non-dom tax rules. Now you can certainly say, good riddance etc to them, but the UK economy now loses their tax payments to the UK. The top 10% of income earners in the UK paid 60% of l income tax in 23-24 whilst the top 1% contributed 29% of all income tax. So making tax unattractive to them means eventually a greater tax burden on the rest of us great unwashed. So the choice becomes, a smaller state, slashing welfare spending or much higher taxes for all of us. Trouble with a Labour is that they want none of this. With all the u-turns Starmer has made in the last 18 months, well worth remembering what he said before the election. He would always put the country first before the party. Yeah right.
I’ll usually try and ignore the inane rubbish you put out but on this occasion I won’t. To remember those brave men and women of all creeds and colour throughout the empire/commonwealth with the dignity of being silent for just one minute is not too much to ask. After all without their bravery and for many their ultimate sacrifice to allow generations after to enjoy the simplicity of free speech and free opinions I’m sure that YOU should be thankful. They are the generations that were proud to serve and protect their country and their fellow countrymen which I suspect would not be so much the case today with the current generation. So maybe you should show your respect rather than turning this thread into a mouthpiece for your own agenda.
It may look like he is slowing the game down but if the players around him aren’t showing or making some movement then what options does he have? I suspect that in a better and more mobile side he would be an even better player.
One positive was that it was good to see the ref penalise their keeper with a corner kick. The more this happens the less we will see. But the injury feigning is boiling my pîss. Why is it that there now seems to be so much cramp entering the game and why does the onset of cramp only happen to players on the team that are defending the lead? Maybe the refs need to wise up a bit more and ignore this happening and only blow for assistance for players who are going down for cramp on the losing side? The cheats charter has been going on for years now ably assisted by the officials and the worst of the lot is the ‘head injury’. To avoid any doubt, anyone going down with a head injury there should be a statutory substitution and that player must not play for the next 7 days. Those with genuine head injuries will go down anyway.
And finally with throw ins. Eight second rule as there is now with keepers otherwise the other side gets the throw in. It’s all so simple to do.
Chair remains our most consistent and creative player in the side. I’d love to see his heat map for last night because he was popping up everywhere. We are lucky to have him and also lucky that he is the type of individual that will sign another contract with the club with the knowledge he could do a Bosman and sign on for probably any of the other championship clubs with a hefty signing on fee. He loves QPR.
Now compare him against dodgy goalkeeping, poor Centre halves (Cook and Morrison), a central midfield player that will have at least one brain fart each game and get caught in possession (happened again last night), and frankly isn’t worth £50k let alone the £5million quoted in the summer.
The reality is that the manager switches too much. Players can play 3 games a week. They thrive on it. We always start too passively and then like last night and against Millwall when we need to get back in the game we totally overrun the opposition. The last 20 minutes last night I thought was the best football we have played all season. If Dembele had half a brain to go with his trickery then he would have got two assists rather than going for glory.
We have a pretty decent team now but they will only be as good as their worst player(s). And Chair is nowhere near that mark. He’s our Barry Bannan and for me I’d love to see him see out his career at Rangers.
What I meant by that statement is that he should not have even been facing a free kick had it not been for Cook’s inexcusable ‘defending’. The ball was an aimless punt which Cool by his idiocy kept in play and led to the free kick.
Nardi was not at fault for the first free kick, that was all down to the absolute shît defending by Cook. He should have let that long ball from the kick off drop behind him for the keeper, he had plenty of time to assess the situation but chose to head the ball for what was a pathetic clearance that led to the free kick. Cook is a total liability. Too slow and his distribution is also very poor. Mbengue must be a starter ahead of him every time. Cook is costing us another defender as a result of activating his additional one year.
But Nardi, although not the greatest keeper, his ability or lack of is not his fault. If we have a goalkeeping coach then where is he with regards to coaching catching the ball in challenging situations? Why do we bring everyone back for corners and crowd our own goal mouth as a consequence. Makes it even more difficult for him. Stick two players on the halfway line and then you have two extra opposition players back with them, that’s four people out of the penalty area. Leave the likes of Chair, Smyth, Demebele or Saito on the half way line, we won’t miss their height but they have speed and the likelihood is that defenders will have to drop back who will be taller. It also means that there is less likely a recycle of the ball for a second cross into the congested goalmouth.
If that idiot Cook had left the ball from the long clearance and let it go through to Nardi there would not have been a free kick in the first place and to add to that the header was so weak. He is becoming a bigger liability as each week goes by.
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