van Hanegem

Not bad for an own goal!

Missed him at Feyenoord when he left for Saints and now miss him at Saints. His handling skills and speed are way beyond Gabbidiani and Austin.

Thanks for sharing, as the rumours about the EU wanting to set up a uniform pensionplan for it's citizens (which will need the financial reserves of the pension funds in the countries who do not have too many problems) are denied, this will help to wake up my co-workers...

Hence the distrust of the European citizens in their own government and in the EU, it doesn't make any difference what the majority of the voters want, politicians of the traditional parties will do as they believe is best. As long as they feel that populist parties are no threat of course...

That would be fun! The Catalonians who believe things will get better when they are independent are fooled by their Catalonian government which claims they will have 16 billion euros more to spend when they are no longer part of Spain. They will never be part of the EU and the companies in Catalonia will face a customs wall when they want to "export" to Spain which is their main market. Their economy will crumble before their eyes... They also believe they won't have to pay anything to Spain when they leave while their pensions are in the hands of the Spanish government, it's all very silly.

The EU constitution needed to be ratified by each member state. Some countries (like the Netherlands) decided to have a referendum and as a Dutchman I voted against this constitution as did 61,5% of the voters. Then it was up to the Dutch government to tell the EU they wouldn't accept the constitution but instead they decided to go along with the lame trick you mentioned and said no to the appeals to have another referendum about this so called Treaty of Lisbon, afraid that their citizens would also object to this. This wasn't a big surprise as the government said "the lights would go out" when the outcome of the referendum was negative for them, they had even prepared commercials about the holocaust which could be prevented by saying yes to the constitution... Despite the pressure from the EU to acknowledge the Treaty of Lisbon, the Dutch government could and should have said "no" and there would not have been a "Treaty".

Much as I dislike the apparatchiks in the EU and where they are heading, it was the Dutch and French government who are to blame for ignoring the result of the referendum you're referring to. The coming Dutch government is even looking for a way to abolish any kind of referendum as they don't want citizens to block their policies. It's getting worse and worse...

"Macron's vision doesn't fit Europe". No, it doesn't but I don't think that the Merkels, Macrons or Verhofstads do give a damn, they just march on and I guess it won't be before long that citizens of northern Europe will have to pay European taxes in order to save the "economy" of France, Spain, Italy and so on. Brexit will harm the UK but to stay in the EU could be worse... https://euobserver.com/opinion/139216

Many Americans are way too serious about their flag and anthem, it's not healthy. That doesn't mean I'm not thankful to those men that gave their lives on the beaches of Normandy...

It's an old cliche but "a manager is as good as his team performs." It's far too early to finish MP off, imo a new manager needs at least half a season to make progress. However, I too get bored at the moment, especially the lack of creativity is worrying. Tadic doesn't deliver for too long now and it seems Boufal has difficulties to adept. Gabbidiani, Redmond, Austin, Long etc. are not the players who are likely to create their own chances and to be honest: I don't really rate them as great finishers also. So there's a challenge for MP... Hopefully Les Reed will help him in the next transferwindow.

Voting for a political party like AfD doesn't come across as 'coming to their senses' to me. 'Despair' is a better description.

LOL Surely there must be some EU-official who can fine Apple for 250bn for some reason, payable in obsolete iPhones...

Not a bad idea at all... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/north-korea-crisis-us-navy-seal-tweets-solution-kim-jong-un-nuclear-missile-testing-a7942756.html

Hiring a manager like Frank de Boer for three years in order to change the style of play with players who are used to play hoof ball and then sack him after just four games to hire a nitwit like Hodgson. That doesn't make much sense to say the least... But Frank de Boer should have been more careful after he chose wrongly for Inter where he also tried to change the style which was impossible because of the many older players who didn't give a damn about his tactics. Careerwise, his choice for Chrystal Palace was really dumb. He's got plenty money but I guess he won't be sad to ad another 5 million in his pockets for a two month job. Maybe he could spent some of it on this nice indian lady...

I misunderstood: the total amount of people who have to leave is 11 million, amongst them are 800K children ("dreamers") who came along with their parents. I do wonder though if the parents of thise dreamers also have to leave. I know that Trump promised during his campaign to reverse the decision made by Obama. Still, it must be devastating for those concerned and Trump should have been more lenient.

I saw an item on the Dutch news last night which stated that Trump will turn away "11 million illegal aliens, mostly children who came with their parents to the USA." Is this correct OS? The parents can stay but the children have to leave?

Tonny Vilhena is making progress at Feyenoord but I don't believe he'll ever be ready for the PL. He's got more stamina than Clasie and eventually he could be the kind of player Edgar Davids once was but just like Clasie he's too small and lightweight to win duels week in week out in the PL.

True, in the beginning Hitler achieved more for Germany than the Kim family will ever do for North Korea. But in the end Hitler's Germany was completely ruined and still teenagers were willing to give their life for him. I'm not sure wether North Koreans do get much information about living outside NK as the media are controlled by the government (I assume they get some when the government occasionally permits contact with relatives from South Korea and also from doing business with the Chinese) but it wouldn't surprise me when many of them believe it's "fake news" that there's "freedom of speech" etc. outside NK. Imagine that you get to hear your whole life that you're living in paradise and that there are dangerous enemies who are threatening you and there is no way you can find out for yourself wether it's true... Anyway, would you like Trump or someone else to wage war against NK in order to remove the Kim dynasty with the risk of nuclear strikes?

It's not difficult to look solid when you're not really tested. In the first half he didn't do much to start any attacking move while the Bulgarians stayed near their own goal. It was a little better in the second half, maybe someone woke him up during the break.

Yup, rumours about Martins Indi taking over were false. Hoedt wasn't really tested but didn't make much of an impression, it was a rather unremarkable game for him.

It must be awesome being you!

Luckily I have no experience with brainwashing but I can imagine what will happen to a child's brain when it's treated the way it is in North Korea. Remember the Hitler-Youth or the kids in China who betrayed their parents back in the days of "the great leap forward", they were living in horrific circumstances but still they believed in their so called leaders and their teachings. Of course there are a lot of North Korean people who're still sane and keep trying to escape (even when they know it will harm their family members who stay behind) but over 50 years of indoctrination will have srewed up more than a few... You might believe that the people in this clip are all faking because they know they will be sent to some camp when they don't cry loud enough but you could be wrong...

I hope this is a stalemate in which NK realises it will be blown to pieces when they would actually attack another country and the West will leave NK to it's own as there's nothing to gain from messing around with them. It must be horrific to live in NK when you don't agree with your government but I reckon that most of their citizens are brainwashed and would be devastated when "liberated" from Kim c.s. Imagine millions of deluded North Koreans looking for revenge while we can't even control 50.000 or so radical muslims...

Dutch football is a mess at this moment because there are no successors to Sneijder, van Persie and Robben and there's still pressure from outside to play "The Dutch way" (A silly name for playing 4-3-3 with an attacking midfielder right behind the central forward). As there will be no Bergkamp, van Basten, Gullit or even a van Nistelrooy in the near future the Dutch should play in a more realistic way when playing opponents like France or Germany. There are defenders and midfielders who do have more talent than Clasie, Wijnaldum, Strootman, van Dijk and Hoedt for example but they need a couple of years and enough play time (which they will get as they are good enough). The trouble is upfront with an idiot like Memphis Depay, the hard working but not very talented Vincent Janssen and someone like Quincy Promes who only scores in the Russian competition (he even got player of the year over there!) so it would be better when the Dutch adept to a 4-4-2 system to gain more control in midfield. Apparently Dickie Advocaat is not convinced that Hoedt is ready for the Dutch team as there is rumour he will be replaced for tomorrow's game against Bulgaria by Martins Indi who shouldn't even be selected in my opinion. Let's hope Hoedt will do better with the Saints!

I saw Hoedt playing for the Netherlands against France last night and it was terrible. Luckily the whole team was rubbish so I won't single him out. Also, VvD didn't make a good impression in the games he played for the Dutch and yet he was very valuable for the Saints. Hopefully it will turn out the same with Hoedt...