Polaroid Saint

Nope. You are not imagining anything in with a mirage. Your eyes receive refracted light. Looks like water. Your brain then misinterprets that sense data. You need to brush up on your Descartes. 😉

Cup of tea, anyone?

England 3-1 Norway Despite the four goals, I'm predicting a tight and dullish game, but with a goal for each team in the first half. After 78mins or so England's forwards finally break through to make it 2-1. England score a third in injury time as Norway looks to feed Haaland. Look, obviously, I have no idea... ...but this is the best scenario for the scorer of England's third goal to celebrate by doing the Viking Row. THAT is all is ask.

Checking and then, wrongly IMO, ignoring the foul by Doué on the edge of his own box in the build up. Not shown again, of course, as it would have been obvious it should have been a foul.

I'm going for at least 7 pens per side. This is woeful. Bring back Curaçao, New Zealand all is forgiven, where are you Senegal? Etc.

(I don't think this has any relevance to the dullness of this game...) ...but I find my self ranking the World Cup Managers on their assumed relationship to The Fall. Murat Yakin looks like he might have played percussion for The Fall during their early nineties toura of Southern Europe/Near Asia in the early nineties. Néstor Lorenzo absolutely, I am sure, did the booking and ticketing for Mark E Smith + others during The Falls difficult late nineties period. Looks like a man who knows his way around the whiskey options of a 7-11 or Spar.

Did okay, I thought. 😆 What! A! Game! Has to be the most exciting and satisfying England game in decades.

Anyone that's been watching the previous four England games can clearly see Tuchel has conditioned his team EXACTLY for Mexico in the Azteca. Start slow, stay slow for the fast half. Don't bust your lungs trying to beat the full backs, challenge in midfield or keep up with strikers. Pass it ponderously around. Don't do much = Conserve energy and keep oxygen levels stable. Then bring on fresher, better players and up the tempo. It's all been masterplan.

Tuchel should finally see his best team. Never been a huge fan of Gordon, but in the absence of Palmer, that's what we need. On the other side, anyone other than Madueke is fine. I guess Spence continues in his golden ticket position. There are four or five (or a dozen or more) better full backs left at home. But he will do. Honestly? Forget the Mexican record at Azteca; we could and probably should beat them. Phew. And urgh . I really hate/love football.

It's classic Shakespeare innit? Bawdy word play hidden in an otherwise serious speech. I bet he guffawed to himself when he wrote that. Bill loved his fart jokes, (and willy, fanny, bum and even 'Yo Mamma' jokes), but Hamlet really does mean, in the context of the play 'small bomb' (as he plots revenge on Claudius) and he means 'hoisted' in the sense of to get blown UP... ...See, Shakespeare also understood the physics of explosive devices and they blow you up and away ('hoist'). Hence my questioning the phrase as written by Egg; by falling on our own petard, I wondered if he was suggesting some act of self sacrifice, where we purposely jump on the bomb we laid. Perhaps not, but, as a wannabe cunning linguist myself, I immediately wondered if it was a purposeful bit of idiom blending - or, as they are otherwise known, an "eggcorn". *Thanks for your consideration and time in this matter.*

We fell on our own what now?

Larin will come on at some point.

If Scotland are still hanging on by Saturday night, (and if Croatia get any result against Ghana), then England could always throw the Panama game, lose by 3, and finish third in the third place table. Thus indirectly knocking Scotland out.

Classic case of only seeing him for thirty minutes at the world cup, but... ...that Kevin Rodriguez CDAJFU. Just the profile striker we've been talking about. 1 in 6 in the Belgian pro league is hardly pulling up trees, but right age to be coached into a dangerous target man for a team like Saints in the Championship.

I used to be very confused about Djed Spence. Slightly annoyed, even, as I felt he was 'stealing a living' playing professional footballer. Didn't begrudge him personally for that, fair play. He is no better an attacking left back as I was at his age and if I had been able to get away with it, I sure would have. But it seemed to make a mockery of what it supposedly took to 'succeed' in football. The fact he is now starting for England in the World Cup has made me reappraise him entirely: Just shows the kids; it's not about pure natural talent, or working hard every day, or even being very lucky. Life is just random as fuck. It really can happen to anyone! And for that life lesson he is currently my favourite England player. Marvelous really.

Larin starts. Half Canadian household, and therefore, apparently, we are all staying up for this. (The boy had to go to bed last night before England. Tonight, because it's later, he is allowed to nap and get up to watch this. Hmmmmm.) Anyway, I'm only here for the dog pic.

I suspect it's less about what he said, but how he said it. 🤏

I can't remember actually scoring from a JWP dead ball delivery, either free kicks or corners. I am sure it must of happened, but I can't recall it. We were useless at set pieces when he was here for the last few years at least. Unless it was a direct shot of course. I know that's partly down to having something to attack the ball, and this league is different but we have been much more threatening from set pieces without JWP.

Appears to me that it would make sense, career wise, for THB to stay. There's no panic about making the England set up next year. Show consistency and maturity (which THB needs to developed). Be the best in your division in the Championship, lead your team to promotion and then establish yourself in the Premier League. THAT way you might just end up in the conversation for a place in an England team for the following Euros.

Anyone at Werder we would want in a swap deal?

BBC just trolling now. Lol. 'inside the mind of Bielsa' The 70-year-old is one of the most respected and influential coaches in the game, and that reputation has been earned from his borderline obsessive dedication to preparation for every single match he oversees. No mention of Leeds' own, original, Spygate, but instead: "It's all about setting high standards that will stay with the club long after he has gone." https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c5ye2m00y5ro

How can that be the first rule? Surely "Do not make stupid mistakes" would proceed this? 😉

Oh, I dunno, there's every chance that we go this season without. I mean, what self-respecting Far East Asian Betting Syndicate 'Website' would want to be associated with us?

I'm on the North East all next week. Although Middlesbrough is not a destination, Sunderland and Newcastle, Stockton and Yarm will all be visited. I shall try to wear a saints shirt as often as possible and I expect I will be welcomed by most football fans from the region with a chuckle and a smile.

This season of "The Spygate Saga" has ended quite well. The plot twists, the nastiness, the cunning, the idiocy, the drama, and the fact that, despite the hype and Hollywood special effects, the dragons were eventually irrelevant: Better than the Game of Thrones finale, at least.