Kingsland Codger

The sooner the football authorities adopt the rugby system of allowing play to continue if a player is injured, the better.

Yes, play does continue. I am a former player and rugby referee (though only at amateur club level) and should a player be injured a physio comes on and play continues. Should play come close to the injured player then the referee may stop the play. Feigning an injury is (or at least *was* in my day) frowned upon by the players themselves. There was an element of the macho in that players would see themselves as physically able to take the hits. Therefore if a player required treatment it was very likely to be painful. I believe this is still the same mentality currently, although I have seen the occasional dive. As for arguing with the referee … almost unheard of. The referee can march play 10 metres upfield if a player so much as frowns. Should a player concede the 10 metres, he is seen as letting-the-side-down is this disapproval from his team-mates is by far the worst punishment a player can receive.

Brunswick stew? https://www.bigoven.com/recipe/brunswick-stew-with-squirrel/186704

Whilst what you say is quite correct, this is a topic for Monday. Right now let’s rejoice in the win - goodness knows we’ve seen few of those.

Is this the plaice for fish-related stories?

Just entering one’s prime.

And that cold midweek night we also has Jason Puncheon’s bowel movements to provide some light relief from the tension.

Although Perraud was the obvious candidate for MoM, I was surprised (but delighted) by the professional and almost faultless performance from Lysnco.

But did Bazunu foul Ramsey? Bazunu got to the ball first, Ramsey arrived a split-second later and kicked Bazunu. Free kick to Saints and a possible yellow card for Ramsey.

My tickets for both matches, purchased on Monday, came fluttering through my letter-box this morning.

One year ago today (15 January) - JWP's free-kick v Wolves https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQdEplTv0_0

Back in 1994 I returned to live in the UK after a lengthy time working in the Far East and I recall a match at WHL when Le Tiss scored 2 in the second half to win the match. The answer to your question can't be as long ago as that ... can it?

Flowers in the rain. The Move.

Why isn’t the stud-poke in the second half from Alvarez counted as a shot on target? Bazunu had to dive on the ball smartly as it was slowly making its way towards (and over) the line.

Maybe we had some luck with some of the referring decisions, with poor finishing from Palace and with bad judgement from their goalkeeper for the first goal but AA's goal was due to hard work. Throughout the season all of our strikers have chased down the opposing keepers in order to make them miss-pass under pressure and this time AA was quick enough to get a tackle/block in, keep control and score. Huge effort rather than luck.

Trolling? Far from it. I am merely considering a way to avoid the curse of knock-out football tournaments - the drawn game and subsequent penalty shoot-out. Too many sides play for the shoot-out rather than risk a counter-attack should their own attempt at positive play backfire. I take your point about disciplinary cards encouraging yet more fake fouls but this cuts both ways - I was also thinking of the effect such a move might have on the cynical foul - Chiellini grabbing Saka's shirt collar at the Euro final is but one recent example. Other alternative suggestions to abolish the shoot-out are welcome. Most corners?

As an added extra, I would abolish the penalty shoot-out. If the scores are still level after extra-time, the team with the fewer yellow/red cards go through to the next round. This puts pressure not just on the teams but also on the officials.

There is a time and place for drink every now-and-then as the original poster suggests. Cold beer on a hot summer’s day, a whisky-mac in the winter, a glass of red with a ripe Camembert. I am reminded of a comment from Ambrose Bierce “An abstainer is a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure”.

Like this … And it goes down in the book as one of Messi’s missed penalties

Including one he skied high-and-handsome at St Mary's. Oh how we laughed! Spookily, earlier this autumn Kane scored a penalty against Frankfurt but failed to score a second in the same match.

But who would take the free-kicks?

The pigeon will be able to play on both wings.

In the mid-Seventies I arrended university in Scotland - a kid from the Isle of Wight who had never before travelled much north of the Thames. I was mildly surprised to discover there wasn’t much in the way of Guy Fawkes and Firework Night but plenty of Hallowe’en, which I had barely heard of.

Robert Jones

No need to short-change the lad. He’s scored three! (against Leicester, Spurs and last night).