Holmes_and_Watson

Meanie. 🙂

Clarity

Can't wait for tomorrow's new thread: Benji's psychic hotline, as all of that seems plausible. Of course, you knew I was looking forward to your new thread because of your powers.

'course we learned. Honestly, you'd think SR are incompetent if they hadn't learned from the Delgado incident. They went straight out and signed the yoghurt in Strachan's fridge as a Stewart replacement.

I didn't have time to finish "well, that was one of the worst free kicks I've seen in ages" before Sissoku, who'd just come off the bench, was walking down the tunnel. He'd taken down the Concarneau player. Not far into the VA half. But with everyone still up for the free kick, it gave the ref a decision to make. Whoever, on the training ground, thought that pushing your players up for a set piece, then instead pass it into risk, should hang their head in shame. Or join Russell Martin at his next club. At least Martin had a plan of sorts when racing back. The decision drew a couple of other cards. Most notably captain Courtet. He received a second yellow 4 minutes later. It was a relatively soft contact. But it was from behind, stopping an attack. Down to 9, it was all USC until around 85 minutes. VA rallied a bit, having only faced one excellent chance, stopped by the leg of Louchet. Our Rento created space for a shot. The visitor's keeper received a kick trying to retrieve the ball. Another move was wasted when the VA player didn't take a chance on, and a late free kick went frustratingly well over. Before it fell apart, Moulin had made a positive change. Courtet had been his usual lonely figure up front. Bringing Rento on, gave some support and another outlet. Rento got a quick couple of attacking touches. Unfortunately, attacking isn't something VA seem to focus on. VA's goal was a scuffed effort from Courtet, from a move that started when USC hit their own player from a throw in, and then conceded a soft free kick. Concarneau's first goal was a quick, deliberate move down the flank to get it over for their tall, and very unmarked, centre forward to head in. The second a nice, powerful shot having been granted too much space. Although they had one ruled out before the break, VA offered little. It's cautious, and deep lying. When they get a chance forward they are strangers, with only Courtet's experience hopefully putting him in the right place. It was the same when VA had 11, and Rento was on. Passes going to no one, and forwards trapped in their own bubbles. The midfield, bolstered by players who could be supporting their forwards, offer more of a barrier to opposing teams, than doing anything at speed or with control. USC always looked the most likely team to win. Simply because they looked cohesive enough to put a move together. 10th place, 6 points off third, and down to earth with a thump after picking up 2 recent wins.

Promising youngster Neil McCann, 51, possibly stepping into a caretaker role as Rangers manager. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/crl28r7kwlko

Besides, the mods hired Ms Yahlom to look into supernatural incidents on SaintsWeb. It turns out the endless moaning and dire self pitying warnings of a bleak world was just SOG.

Her tutor would like a word about the validity of the course... You'll have a different view when you wake up tomorrow and your furniture has been stacked by poltergeists. 🙂

If by "job" you mean "robbery"...

Bad reviews on my toilet seat temperature testing company.

Nile Ranger has left Kettering. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cp3d5q7wvd7o

100th ranked Belarus got 20 shots on Scotland's goal. Belarus much more attacking, having heard that Scotland had players who had turned out for Southampton and Norwich in it. 2-1 and both had efforts in the net ruled out.

Che McAdams puts Scotland 1 up against Belarus. Angus Gunn in goal.

Nice change of pace to fool the defender, before getting the shot away for the fifth. McAlonie and Ferguson looking good from Hibs and Peplow supported well. Little shout out for Mott, who came on late and looked to pick out attackers with every ball, pushing Pompey back.

The term is "mortally challenged", not "zombie" you lifeist!

The world is your oyster, with quality gags like that.

His work in eradicating musicals should be rewarded.

Beast

Both. They saw him coming a mile off. Nothing burst the new regime bubble quicker than "We're funding a Russell Martin side." It's never universal. Some were giving him a chance. But most of them lasted about a half of watching it, if that. With reference to the chart above, it's a goldfish bowl, and anything not winning the league (regardless of circumstances) is a disaster to be howled at. So, they've plenty of practice that we don't think about. As a bonus, he was widely disliked as a player there. And that was personality, if also mainly playing ability. There's every chance he brought in Rothwell, to move himself down "most disliked players" lists.

Daily sports news on the Beeb revealing Rooney's views on anything. By the way, Rooney has a been podcast which is in no way being mined for cross pollinating clicks.

"I'd rather lose a game, than give up the principles I've always held. Those of front footed, aggressive football, making us pound for pound the best team in Europe." -Martin's message to Luton fans.

That's what the board meant by results not meeting expectations, even in a time of transition. Greig and Wallace were managers when Aberdeen and Dundee United were also strong. Greig was a club legend in exactly the way Martin wasn't, and still came under lots of pressure. The Wallace stat is a bit of a red herring. That only covers his second spell. He had 65% in his first, when he broke Celtic's hold on the league. Both Wallace and Greig were managing in a very different era. Wallace was followed by Souness who transformed them, along with heightening already high expectations. Caixinga had the previous shortest tenure record, had fans up in arms, and has nearly twice the win %. Le Guen was also a shortest tenure record holder. His side was doing well in Europe, but meh in the league along with player fallouts. He also brought in a load of players, practically none of whom made an impact. Rangers replaced him with Walter Smith, a non left field manager, who promptly sorted things out. None of them were playing football as disliked as Martin's. The board's lack of understanding of how fans expected domination, not possession, says a lot about their understanding.

Lots of good points, and some of the reasons I find it interesting to see him at otherIn his Championship season with us, he got promoted. So, he didn't underachieve with the main deliverable. We also had games where his system made us look very impressive. The argument is that we went into that season with a squad good enough for autos. Despite a record unbeaten run (another achievement for him) we were well off the top 2. The resetting of the system after every move, is designed for clinical possession based superiority. It's not there to increase risks, despite potentially routing lower quality teams. The benefit is that we're supposed to do better against the more expansive, better quality sides. In fact, it was a small number of teams that played into that, at Championship level. One of them was Leeds, which turned out well for us. But he did mix it up for WBA. By never going after teams, he's always a target for underachieving in games. I think this is where his perceived ego comes from. He plays his way, and has thousands of people questioning it. At the same time, we still shipped goals. Had he taken risks, it would possibly turned draws into defeats. His expectations of players made the system vulnerable, and it's something he's never found a solution for. If you're going to be focused on a single system, I get why you'd want to endlessly focus on communicating it. If you don't believe, the players won't. But he did switch when the pressure mounted. He did try and get us winners with unplanned changes, making us look lost. So, he knew the evidence didn't fit his expectations. But wasn't prepared, or didn't know how to, compensate. He's not been in a position with us in the PL or Rangers where he can point to successes to quieten critics. The flaws are there to see.

Except us. I guess Hoddle will pop up, telling us we deserve it for things we did in a previous life.🙂