badgerx16

I agree about the French mentality, one division at Sedan during the Ardennes offensive in 1940 abandoned it's position in panic when the men heard tanks approaching - the tanks were their own reinforcements. The success of the BlitzKreig was based on the divisional generals in the German army, such as Rommel and Guderian, taking some extreme chances ( often in direct contravention of Army orders ), and in doing so beating their opposition psychologically by spreading fear and panic in the rear of opposing formations whilst avoiding direct head to head conbat.

The nearest point to the centre of Moscow that the Germans reached was to the NorthWest, at Khimki. There is a memorial to mark the spot at just over 20Km from the Kremlin.

That's what happens when the Italians are your allies.

They would have needed 51 to finish above Colchester, they finished with 32. Before the Oldham game they were 10 points from Oldham in 20th place, ( Skates 23 Oldham 33 ).

I suspect that the German plan was always to invade Russia in 1941; the Heer ( Army ) was not happy with commencing hostilities in 1939 because they weren't ready. The German armour, in terms of numbers, as well as quality of armament and protection ( apart from the Czech tanks they adopted after 1938 ) was inferior to what the French and Russians had, and despite the mythos of the BlitzKrieg, most of the divisional artillery was horse drawn, and the vast bulk of the infantry went on foot. What the western allies should have done was to commence an attack against German territory as soon as they could after war was declared, but the mentality of the French was strictly defensive, ( although they did make a token advance of about 7 miles on part of the frontier ), and they sat, cosy, in the 'impregnable' Maginot Line. which the Germans, of course, simply drove around.

Careful, Barry will be calling you a clapper !

Also, has the yodeller been seen yet ?

By keeping possession we also prevent the other team scoring - we have conceded less than 1 per game so far this season, which when combined with our 1.3 per game scored means we win more than we lose. Simples.

If we win our next home game 6-0, what will be the 'negative aspect' post match thread ?

Until Milner went off.

So does that mean a foul in the 89th minute would result in a 1 minute binning, or are 9 minutes carried forward to the next game ?

Excellent point - 15 games in and above Man Utd.

Who ???

I present for the consideration of TMS a truly BAD joke: The England cricket team.

Trousers - fair enough, my quote is from this Independent article, ( http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/from-terrorist-to-tea-with-the-queen-1327902.html ). You would think they would have checked their facts.

I wonder what state SA would be in now if Mandela had been executed.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cameron-we-were-wrong-to-call-mandela-a-terrorist-413684.html "Cameron: We were wrong to call Mandela a terrorist" ........................................... 'The ANC is a typical terrorist organisation ... Anyone who thinks it is going to run the government in South Africa is living in cloud-cuckoo land' - Margaret Thatcher, 1987 This from the woman who declared Pinochet a 'great democratic'.

"A man's best friend is his duck. A duck will bring you good luck." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQpX4SLsG0w

And on the bench ? Something like this.... Cropper, Fox, Chambers, Lambert, Ramirez, JWP ( if fit ), Yoshi. ( Is Jos injured ? )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOGJegd3dmQ High tide with a backing wind - a bit wet at work today.

It may be 3 defeats in a row, but TBH only the Villa result is unfortunate. How many other teams playing away in successive matches at The Emirates and Stamford Bridge would have gained even 1 point ?

Strengths - (1) he's 21 and developing, he was probably the youngest keeper playing in the Prem this weekend. (2) he's a Southampton player, and the current and previous managers, ( the latter was a GK himself ), and coaching staff obviously see potential. Weakness - (1) he's 21, and GK's don't generally develop until at least 26. (2) He doesn't command the area as well as more experienced keepers - lack of physical presence or confidence ? ( Plus last night the defence let him down ).

Sometimes it seems that there are a group on here who will only be satisfied if we get relegated because they they can all start chanting "we told you so".

I don't think he has ever been a serious part of Woy's planning.

Could part of that, especially tonight, be that with our 'high pressing game' teams are playing deeper and more compact defences ? Maybe we need to drop back a bit occasionally to open them up.