sadoldgit

They are all Premiership sides though and there are no easy games. We are where we are on merit and I for one cant wait until we play some of the so called top sides. We have nothing to fear. I think we will beat City today and I cant wait for Manure.

Looks like he will be joining the "plebs" once he has paid off his legal fees!!!

I am with you on this Whitey and have never liked bouncers. The ball arrives so fast that it is difficult for the batsman to adjust and it doesn't seem sportsmanlike to me but hey, it is part of the game. Awful news.

We were talking about the age of consent last night and someone mentioned it is currently 14 in Germany and 11 in a middle east country. I am 60 and don't recall the PIE stuff either Halo.

No Bearsy, I borrowed it from Charlie Brooker. I'd love to be able to churn that stuff out and get paid for it though!

It made me smile.

Hey, remember when Christmas used to last 12 days? Now it’s so bloated it’s virtually an epoch, lasting twice as long as the year it falls in. The early-warning signs keep changing: not so long ago the start of the holiday season was signified by the release of the Christmas edition of the Radio Times. Now it’s the annual unveiling of the John Lewis ad, which this year features a boy arranging for a trafficked overseas bird to be smuggled into the country inside a small container and presented like a gift-wrapped object to the laddish penguin mate who exists only in his troubled mind. They say psychopathic murderers often start their “careers” by doing ghastly things to animals: hopefully they’ll keep the storyline going year after year, as his illusory brain-penguin commands him to carry out increasingly hideous yuletide ceremonies, until eventually the advert consists of nothing but him appeasing the Penguin King by dancing in the moonlight wearing a necklace of ears and eyeballs, all of it seen through the sights of a police marksman positioned on the roof of a neighbour’s evacuated home. But this year, the John Lewis ad has been overshadowed by gargantuan supermarket and noted humanitarian anti-war campaigner J Sainsbury PLC, and its tear-jerking period piece in which a perfectly good war is ruined by a tragic outbreak of football. Shivering in a frosty trench – or “the frozen aisle”, in Sainsbury’s parlance – they pause to sing Silent Night, have a kickaround with their German counterparts, and bond over a chocolate bar. It’s all very poignant, if you mentally delete the bit where a supermarket logo hovers over the killing fields, which you can’t. Boringly, the advert stops short of showing us the events of the following day, when war was resumed and they reverted to bayoneting one another in the face. Nectar points for each headshot, lads! Kill two Jerries, get one free! Millions of young men were slaughtered during the first world war – “body-bagged for life”, in Sainsbury’s parlance – and doubtless as they lay dying in foreign fields, gazing down at what remained of their mud-caked, punctured, broken bodies, gasping their final agonised breaths, it would have been a great source of comfort for them to know their noble sacrifice would still be honoured a century later, in an advert for a shop. Next year they’re doing the Sharpeville Massacre. Advertising aside, another new Yuletide signifier is “Black Friday”, a shopping tradition that began in the US and is now apparently “a thing” over here, at least according to press releases masquerading as news items. Every year, on the first Friday after Thanksgiving, hordes of deranged shoppers bite, kick and mutilate each other in a bid to get their hands on discounted consumer products. It’s like watching piranhas strip a cow down to its skeleton, but marginally less civilised. I used to think it would take a lot to make civil society break down completely – airborne Ebola, say, or a limited nuclear exchange. But no. In reality, the promise of 15% off a Transformers Stomp & Chomp dinosaur is enough to turn neighbour on neighbour in a bare-knuckle fight to the death. Of course, it’s possible the footage of brawling customers has been faked by online retailers, to encourage us to stay at home and click our way to bankruptcy instead. Wouldn’t be surprised. This year, the top Christmas products include My Friend Cayla, billed as “the world’s first internet-connected doll”, something humankind has been crying out for since the earliest days of the abacus. My Friend Cayla is several furlongs beyond nightmarish. Technology has taken a familiar horror movie staple – the self-aware talking doll that suddenly addresses you by name, even when you haven’t pulled its string – and made it a chilling reality. Yes, Cayla is no ordinary talking doll. She “knows almost everything”, according to the jingle. That’s because she can Google things with her Bluetooth-enabled, computerised mind. She’s essentially Siri in the form of a plastic child, or, as the website puts it, “the doll you can talk to like a real friend!” – which is true, assuming your conversations with your real friends consist of you issuing basic commands and demanding answers to factual questions. The promotional material shows children asking Cayla nothing more taxing than “How do I bake a cake?” or “What is the tallest animal?” No one uses her to Google medical symptoms or ask for the latest on Isis, although presumably you could, and the news would be all the more disturbing for being recounted by a cold, expressionless plastic child whose eyes and lips don’t even move. Come to think of it, put like that, I’ve just realised she’s the ideal newsreader. She’s the ideal spy, too. The moment I saw her, I realised there was a chilling near-future horror script to be written about an internet-enabled talking doll that reports back on everything you and your family get up to, to the government, to retailers, and to random hackers in Belarus. So at least I’ve got a future Black Mirror episode out of it. Fingers crossed I can finish the fictional version before the 3D documentary adaptation is launched in our waking reality. Charlie Brooker The Guardian

My comments were tongue in cheek but I thought the viewing figures for women's football were growing?

We need to get a grip. Some would have had us believe in the summer that the club was finished. To be 2nd at this stage is a brilliant achievement and we are not there by luck. We are a decent team who will drop points at some point. Villa sat back because we are much better than them. Breaking down packed defences is never easy. Not so long ago people were saying how good it was that we have strength in depth, now apparently we don't? Enjoy the ride, we are having a really good season so far.

The club made a decision about a goalkeeper and we are currently sitting 2nd in the league. I for one am happy with that.

We have conceded 6 this season. How many have Villa conceded? Football is a team game. It is unfair to single one person out. If others had done their job well last night we would have won comfortably.

They are giving prizes for anorexia now?

His speed wouldn't have mattered if Toby and FF had communicated better. We had plenty of time to clear the ball.

This is sickening and no stone should be left unturned to get to the truth. Whether it will on not determines the type of leaders we have currently in our society but the public should demand a full and proper investigation.

Koeman out!!!

Perhaps we should ban all women's sports on TV - especially the lazy tarts in tennis who only play 3 sets?

After reading the match thread last night you would think we were bottom rather than 2nd. We are not going to brilliant in every match, nor have we been. No team is. But the secret to success is to pick up points when you are poor - not something we did very often last season. Disappointing last night but it is never easy when teams put so many men behind the ball. I would prefer to play the Mancs and Arsenal any day. Bring them on!

Hang on. I thought we are sh*t and the world was coming to an end?

Why will the media be loving this?

Some of them were very odd indeed!

Quality finish against Palace.

So through the "luck" of not killing anyone by drink driving someone would only get a 5 match ban?

Remove Ched’s faithful girlfriend Natasha from the pose and this ‘personal and profound’ statement to camera looks suspiciously like a job interview. Ched plays it straight to camera, sitting static and passport-photo straight with an unswerving and virtually unblinking eye gaze as he rattles off what sounds like a script. His voice is a light monotone and apart from some breathlessness to suggest pressure, there are no obvious symptoms of stress or emotion as he speaks. If he’s been strung out emotionally he chooses not to show it here. Tony Spencer Rapist Fooballer Ched Evans In Wilmslow With Girlfriend Natasha Massey Out and about: Ched Evans and girlfriend Natasha Massey in Wilmslow Even phrases like ‘I have hurt the woman I love with all my heart' lack any sign of visual or tonal endorsement, and overall the delivery is a bit of a recitation. Ched goes for it cold, using emotional terms and words but unemotional body language. The only gestural change comes when he uses the phrase ‘consensual in nature not rape’ and this is in the form of a micro-gesture as one eyebrow flicks up and then down again in emphasis. He says he made an ‘incredibly foolish decision’ and that low-key definition of what happened pretty much fits his unemotional delivery. It’s the last part of the speech that he finally slows on, as a sliver of emotion enters his tone, and that’s the bit where he makes his bid to play football again, making this look emphatically like a plea to get back on the pitch. The way Ched and his girlfriend sit as a couple is fascinating and is important for their relationship. Donald Hale Ched Evans Happier times: Natasha Massey and Ched Evans While he slumps staring blankly straight to camera she is partly turned with one hand on his arm. This one touch gives her the look of a protective mum who is supporting her boy as he makes an apology to the headmaster. Her actively protective touch puts her in charge in this pose as well as re-booting some lost power in the relationship. It is also quite 'leading' in terms of hinting how we should now be judging Ched. The subliminal message is that if she has forgiven him then so should we. His slumped, more passive posture and robotic delivery adds to this effect. However, her inability to make any eye contact, either with Ched or the camera, suggests she might still be struggling with mixed emotions, or even in some form of denial. Natasha looks down for most of Ched’s recitation although you can almost feel her holding her breath when he talks about ‘cheating on my partner Natasha’. We show our thoughts via our eyes more than any other part of the body and by using a cut-off, ie keeping her eyes hidden, Natasha shows an apparent desire to hide her true feelings. She nearly looks at Ched when he uses the word ‘infidelity’ and the phrase ‘I hurt the woman I love with all my heart’ suggests an ego-stroke and apology for her benefit alone.

Went to see a Pink Floyd tribute band last night - Off The Wall. Excellent, catch them if you can.

I would play Shearer and Lineker up front before Rooney in an all time great England X1. Probably Greaves too although I never saw him play for England but he was a quality finisher. Rooney has done well to get where he is but has failed to live up to his early promise at International level IMO.