Kingsland Codger

Wasn’t it Bertie who was flagged offside?

Very useful link. Many thanks.

I read many comments on here about 10 years of cuts to the NHS - post number 1045 on page 21 and similar elsewhere. The fullfact.org website shows a steady (inflation adjusted) increase in spending on the NHS during that time. I can understand the rate-of-growth may well have slowed but but it doesn't look like there has been any reduction. What am I reading incorrectly? https://fullfact.org/health/spending-english-nhs/ https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/nhs-in-a-nutshell/nhs-budget

If the war on the Eastern Front is your thing, YouTube has some excellent dramas from Russia and Belarus with English subtitles. The Dawns Here Are Quiet, Night Swallows and Hunting The Gauleiter all from Star Media are a good starting point.

I am in my mid-60s but had some heart problems a few years ago. I am therefore in the ‘underlying health issue’ group. It looks like I have 12 weeks of self-isolation ahead of me. For several decades I have skilfully avoided doing any gardening. Some of my excuses have been thin, some rock-solid but with months of free-time to look forward to I fear this Coronavirus leaves me well-and-truly scuppered. Further, all those DIY jobs around the house that have been long-delayed (barely-started) are now winking at me saucily for attention. Ah well ... best make a start and get down to the weeding and the painting - there are only so many box-sets one can view and jigsaw puzzles one can complete.

T Newcastle certainly had the lion share of possession second half ... and what did they do with it? Passed along their back line from left to right, from right to left, forward to Shelvey .... who passed it to the right, then back to Shelvey who passed it to the left ... and repeat. They achieved very little but managed to create the one thing that truly mattered - a defensive error. Football can be a cruel game.

Although I agree Reina is a wonderful shot stopper, his kicking and throwing to his team mates was often the cause of Villa’s many problems. This is in part due to Villa insistence on passing out from the back, which was meat-and-drink to Long, Ings and Djenepo. These guys have been trained to hunt down defenders who are in possession and when the defenders aren’t very good (and Villa’s aren’t, hence their league position) Saints were always going to cause Villa problems. Yes, Reina was responsible for keeping the score down but he was also partly the cause of the 28 shots we had.

Armstrong's goal was a real treat to send us all home happy. It was in the 94th minute and he was inside our six yard box as their corner came over. He sprinted up the pitch (where did he get the energy from?) and the inch-perfect pass from Adams gave him several options. He could have hoofed it any-old where out-of-play, he could have taken it to the corner-flag and played around with it but instead he kept his composure and slotted it into the goal. Superb. As a result us fans came away not feeling relieved that we had hung on desperately to a narrow victory but with a sense of joyous exuberance.

I’m sure it will improve as soon as the first tranche of the £350m a week that was promised to the NHS gets paid. Presumably this will be from 1st February?

Friend has been the referee for 3 matches with us previously this season. We won away at Brighton. We won away in the EFL Cup to you-know-who and we won against Norwich at home. Last season he referred us twice. We drew at home to Manchester United and won at home against Spurs. In the 17/18 season, 2 draws and 1 win. http://www.soccerbase.com

You missed a good old-fashioned, end-to-end, blood-and-guts cup tie.

Francis Lee and Norman “bits-your-legs” Hunter

And maybe players, managers, pundits and us fans should consider a change of culture whereby we no longer moan about decisions we don’t like. If a tight call has been checked by a qualified official with several different angles of view taken into account we should all simply accept the decisions made. Other sports seem to manage fairly well.

Two things. I had a birthday recently. I told some of the younger members of staff that I was now of an age where every summer I could rent a cottage on the Isle of Wight, if it’s not too dear. I was met with looks of utter bewilderment. Yesterday I visited my local library and on the counter were takeaway copies of a freebie newspaper called “Mature Times, the voice of our generation”. I picked up a copy without hesitation.

Mixed feelings. A win, a clean sheet, academy players scoring ... what’s not to like? BUT ... in addition to seeing Saints win, I go to the foootie to be entertained and this was a truly turgid, dull, dull, dull performance. The endless triangle of sideways, forwards, backwards, repeat passing between Yoshida, Vestergaard and Romeu was painful to watch. Further the passing was often sloppy and better sides than Huddersfield would have punished us. If we were boring, then Huddersfield were even worse. They had utterly no ambition and I am puzzled as to what they were trying to achieve. To those regulars who weren’t there, this was a good game to have missed. Thank heavens for the Vokins goal; a glimmer of light amongst the darkness. But we did what we had to do and the first eleven can be fresh for the revenge match against Leicester.

Random observations There was a very loud rendition of OWTSGMI after the final whistle which the lads thoroughly deserved after such an heroic performance. So very different from the immediate post-match reaction earlier in the season. Kane’s disallowed goal - I’m sure there was a cheer from some in the crowd about a second before the VAR result appeared on the big screen. Obafemi has received some adverse comments - I thought he performed the thankless task of putting pressure on the defenders very doggedly and played his part in the victory. The height Shane Long can jump is quite amazing and Djenapo jumped very high for a corner in the first half; shame it went way over the bar.

This. For decades the culture of football has been to moan about decisions made by the match officials. Now pundits, fans, managers whinge about decisions made by VAR ... VAR brings about correct decisions we sometimes don’t like and find hard to accept. The problem lies not with the technology, nor with the interpretation of the laws ....the problem lies with us.

But didn’t something that close give Manchester City the title last season? Aguero’s goal at Burnley was 29.15 millimetres over the line. Are you saying it was so close it shouldn’t have been awarded? I ask again, what is it about football fans that they cannot accept a close decision? In reply to Saint Benali who asks how can ‘close’ be defined? I ask back if a decision made by experienced, qualified officials isn’t good enough, then what will satisfy you?

Thank you for pointing this out. Isn’t that an even more compelling reason to accept the decision? The decision hasn’t been taken hastily but after considered thought. The phrase ‘but VAR breaks up the game’ is often heard but what do fans want? A correct decision (however long it may take) or a incorrect call made an official often several yards behind play?

What I find odd is the way football pundits and us fans still can’t (won’t) accept the decision by the match officials. A close decision goes to VAR where it is examined by qualified officials who take a bit of time (30 seconds or so; maybe a minute) to come to a decision. Yet despite this, The MOTD team and others still persist in moaning about the outcome. Why? Accept the decision, take it on the chin and move on. It seems the default setting for football fans and pundits is to moan about the match officials.

A superb performance; very well done lads. So good to see everyone not just putting in a heck of a shift but showing plenty of good old fashioned team spirit.

And I've heard James Ward Prowse is the best taker of a set piece in the Premier League. Tells me more about the pundits than anout the players.

In an unexpected development I have been linguistically enriched. During an interview yesterday evening, Jess Phillips referred to “a listicle”. I have never heard this word before and although I suspect I shall not use it myself, I am pleased to have stumbled across it.

This is my sixteenth General Election and over the decades I have seen both main parties take it in turns to run the country. There has even been a coalition for a few years. The end result? Britain has prospered. True, like watching the Saints, there has been some tough times but overall there has been a massive improvement in just about everything (maybe not in education but that is more due to teaching methods than politics). Therefore I’m not too worried about who wins or losses today. Whoever comes in will mess some things up but will get a few things right and in a few years time we will do it all again. Hopefully I shall still be around for my seventeenth.

A clear shove in the back and it was in the penalty area. All those around me were vociferous in their appeals - and this is in the Kingsland stand which gives an idea of the depth of feeling. To be fair to Kevin Friend, his view would have been front-on and he would more likely have seen Long fall to the ground. The lino, however, was bang in line and for him not to have flagged was a an abrogation.