The Left Back

It’s got to be Australia’s v the Argies yesterday. Deflection caused a Roberto Carlos shaped curl

You may have answered your own point there. It was something I raised before (probably unclearly), citing Chris Nicholl. It is the very reason that our defence is weak that we shouldn’t be cautious. I think our best chance is high risk, high press, attacked based football. We don’t have the personnel to grind out 1-0s against better quality opposition. Nicholl freely admitted he’d rather we controlled a game and won 1-0 than a wild 4-3, but our attackers were better than our defenders so he went against his instincts. My view is it’s a similar scenario now. i agree with your broader points about the tournament. Someone has to go and win the thing and no-one looks more likely than us.

Watched Cameroon beat Brazil with my 22 year old son (born one month before they last won at the WC). Trying to explain to him how, when I was growing up, African teams used to be, well let's say, eccentric. Don't think I landed the point very well. Then up popped the Cameroon captain, Aboubakar, with an extraordinary moment. Scores the winner, get's sent of for taking his shirt off, leaving his team to defend their lead for the last five minutes, knowing he'd miss the next round should they go through. Smiles and shares a joke with the referee as he leaves the pitch. My son now understands the point I was making. Can't quite get my head round it. Imagine that was Harry Kane. There'd be Daily Mail headlines and effigies hanging from lamp posts.

7-1 now.

It’s a diversion to avoid having to explain why his half time punditry was so wank

This is proper World Cup fun. One more Costa Rica goal and it’s the perfect night. and as for Souness lecturing everyone on how much better Spain are than everyone and he fears for England playing them, what a twat

That would be my worry too. We look much better playing higher risk football than trying to grind out results (and of course it's much more fun to watch). It's hard to knock Southgate's record in tournaments but I'm really hoping he doesn't revert to type. If we beat Senegal the big one is probably 1/4s and France or Argentina (probably). After that the potential semi opponents should hold no fears. The thing I like is we have so many attacking options, and no-one looks knackered as is often the case in summer tournaments. We haven't been tested defensively yet, so that's still a worry, but a philosophy of "we'll score more than you" would help mitigate that. Chris Nicholl at Saints was forced to go down this right, despite all his instincts, because the best players were attacking ones. That's the case now too, let's see...

Got my tickets for Lincoln yesterday. Having another go at the leather ones in block 31. Can't wait to get back inside the stadium and see what a Jones team is all about. It's a great way to build up for the real fun and games the other side of Xmas

Not often I find myself agreeing with you but the post-match interviews and analysis seemed to consist solely of variations of how proud Wales should feel. Fuck me, no wonder they failed miserably with that attitude. No point qualifying for tournaments if they're just going to turn up and not have a go. Even at half time, with the heat map showing no Welsh touches in our area, Williams was banging on about how fine he was with that - I though they needed a win?

That's a very Trumpian response. Guess I need to add paranoid to obsessed. Define 'an awful lot'. I've posted 370 times in 15 months, so about 25 per month. I got into one spat with you about a year ago on racism, which took up a few posts. And I've pointed out your trolling, hypocrisy and obsession about half a dozen times. Does that constitute an 'awful lot' in your book? In which case some thickening of the skin might be in order. PS. While you are in definition mode, define 'hilarious'.

He may look silly but you look obsessed. I came to the lounge for a leisurely browse of the wit and wisdom of our forum’s finest and what do I find? Surprise surprise it’s you on your own. Surprise surprise it’s the LGBT thread. Surprise surprise you’re trying to pick a fight with a post that’s 19 hours old.

Good job Alan Turing didn’t follow your logic

What a noddy, “noddy”!!!!

Country A oppresses some it's people Country A invites the world round for a footie tournament Footie players and supporters from countries B, C and D decide to offer gestures of solidarity with the oppressed of country A Country A clamps down on gestures of solidarity Footie players and supporters from countries B, C and D either give up, try different gestures or kick the shit out of each other on a web forum about whether gestures are a good idea or not. Seems simple enough to me. What's the fuss about?

RIP Wilko Loved it when he joined the Blockheads, he added something different to an already eclectic band. I managed to see him solo twice either side of his 2013 (?) diagnosis. Before it he was performing in the Railway Tavern Winchester with Norman Watt-Roy. After it I saw him in the Royal Albert Hall. I challenge anyone to name an artist who has appeared in two more different venues in the space of a year. something about his Lazarus story really captured imagination.

I know I shouldn’t but for some reason I’m getting an inordinate amount of pleasure on the impact this is all having on you, Turkish and Alex. Apologies for the schadenfreude.

The Bale love-in is vomit inducing hype. I have a question, sorry if it’s been covered before. Is there a new policy on injury time? 9 minutes this half, 4 in the first. Seems like a lot It would be a very welcome change if so.

I’m no expert on governmental policy, I simply yearn for a political leadership with vision, conviction and an ability to make big things happen. Thatcher had it, Blair/Brown had it. I’ve not seen it since. (Don’t get me wrong, I hated what Thatcher stood for, but at least I knew what it was). We’ve been stuck in a fog of pathetic, rudderless Tory leadership for 12 years now. I realise this is bigger than the cost of living title of this thread. On the specifics I’d have a more aggressive approach to windfall, far more targeted energy cost support so that those in need get most, above inflation pay rises to key public sector workers and a task force to look at food distribution to reduce waste and ensure the 1 in 4 children living below the poverty get enough warm healthy food this winter.

Surely one of the two main objectives of a post mortem is to learn lessons that might lead to reduction of future deaths? Tragic example this week being the toddler whose death was caused by mould. Otherwise why bother doing one? (unless there is suspicion a crime has been committed - the other objective). As for the job Hunt did yesterday being all he could do; I agree it was a politically well played hand with the cards he was dealt. But the country needs radical solutions and conviction-based leadership. Not this flip-flopping, rudderless nonsense we have spent the whole of 2022 being subjected to.

One of my closest friends is a hardened brexiteer. I am/was a fervent remainer and we've had plenty of rabid disagreements, particularly after a few sherbets. His mantra is taking back control and a feeling of autonomy. He's had to accept recently that the economic benefits are non existent (at least not yet) and that there is an economic price to be paid for his vision of our country.

I agree with your point about learning from the past to help us move forward and agree with the Covid stuff. I don't fully understand your energy costs policy suggestion. My view about that is the support should be much more targeted. It's bonkers that I got £60 of my last fuel bill. We should have the wherewithal to target government support for those who need it. Re Brexit, it's not about hatred and blame (at least not for me). As I understand it the two Brexit causes for the current crises are: 1. We can't maximise our growth potential without more people around to fill vacancies, start earning, paying tax and spending. Turning off the supply of labour is going to flatten any growth curve 2. We voluntarily made it harder to trade with our biggest partners. It's the first time in history a country has voluntary imposed sanctions on itself and is no doubt contributing to our situation. So to your point of learning from the past, we need to find a way of fixing both these issues.

You're laughing but actually I think you are right and it's actually a rational response to my challenge. The good news is I think you can stop worrying about his mental health. The bad news I think you might be one of the WUMs/Trolls he's referring to. I'll stick my neck and guess you're one too. Apology accepted. I actually like your answer; it makes sense. I go back to my earlier feedback that I think you will be more effective if you focus more on specifics and avoid sweeping generalisations. And also be more concise.

Picking up on the highlighted parts of your post You misunderstand me completely if you think I am suggesting looking at puppies. As to what we do about it, I'm up for a conversation about action. But coming to a football forum repeatedly with the same message would not be part of my action plan. In fact you could argue that your action is having a paradoxical effect. This need you have to admit the country is broken - it's just such binary language and doesn't help. The problems you raise you say rightly are bigger than just this current government. They are also bigger than this country. The world system we are part of is finally waking up to the consequences of 200 years of industrialisation. I come across people working really hard in service of a sustainable future for all of us. Those people are not well served by being told their country is broken. You might think it helps and they need to admit it but I don't agree. They are acting out of hope and wholehearted commitment, not fear and resignation. It's clear it is depressing to you, and I have compassion for that. It is your reality. So please show yourself some compassion and try and find a way to get 'above the line'. I find Viktor Frankl helps. “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.” I've got no time for those that troll and pick on you. At the same time they are not the problem and their refusal to agree with your point of view makes no difference in the grand scheme of things.

My problem with what you are doing on this thread @sadoldgitis taking two interesting but specific topics (protest policing and housing), welding them together and then using them to paint a very bleak, and in my view inaccurate, picture of our country. You've got a meta view, that I agree with, that the tories are fucking things up and have been for 12 years, but it's sort have been done across multiple threads constantly. So the general vibe you are sending is pretty depressing. There are plenty of positive stories around, you need to want to find them and then look hard.

For those of you pining for an experienced manager to steer us clear of relegation I have two words...Harry Redknapp