Marka Ragnos

 

Not all Vlaaar's fault -- at all. We should have been further ahead. We're still not getting balls in the back of the net. So don't pin this disaster totally on Vlaar! He had a moment of madness. At least he was trying.

Vlaar single handedly cost us a point. No two ways about it.

 

Except ... there are two ways.

Why in the hell does Tekkers keep being allowed into our squads? Why? WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So sick of the stupid arguments. He clearly is not performing. Off. Off. Off.

Not all Vlaaar's fault -- at all. We should have been further ahead. We're still not getting balls in the back of the net. So don't pin this disaster totally on Vlaar! He had a moment of madness. At least he was trying.

 

 

Its interesting the people who reply with their ”bantz” are the people I respect least with regards to their football knowledge.

(OT: What's "bantz"? Yet another one I've never heard.)

Banter - term used to describe activities or chat that is playful, intelligent and original. Banter is something you either posses or lack, there is no middle ground. It is also something inherently English, stemming as it does from traditional hi-jinks and tomfoolery of British yesteryear.

 

Its interesting the people who reply with their ”bantz” are the people I respect least with regards to their football knowledge.

 

(OT: What's "bantz"? Yet another one I've never heard.)

The fact that Guided By Voices got mentioned in an episode, pushes the IT Crowd up my list of favourite comedy shows from the past few years.

Yeah, the one bloke had a GBV poster on the wall, too.

 

 

Have you watched the IT crowd? Its a given but you may have missed it. Loving Catastrophe at the moment, people always talk highly of Nathan Barley.

 

Yeah, nice tip       -- indeed, we watched and re-watched, but that's a few years back at this point. Can't believe it was cancelled.

Unfortunately, I tried to find "Green Wing" and "The Detectorists" and neither is available for (legal) commercial streaming through Apple, Netflix, etc. in the USA. Yet!

 

 

Its not only the fans.Remember when the Chelski players said that Mark Clattenberg called them monkeys ?!

 

I do. I also remember that it didn't happen. 

 

 

I have called people monkeys before, probably a few black guys as well when I was playing football myself. Didn't mean it in a racist way, Clattenburg didn't either I would expect. Behaving like a monkey is pretty self-explanatory. Now..... making monkey chants and throwing bananas at black players however, cannot be misinterpreted. Happens in Spain, Italy and Russia doesn't it? 

 

It's all about context. In the USA, it's become quite acceptable for black men to use the "N" word to describe male peer in an affectionate way. If I were to use the term where I work to describe a black colleague, I would be fired -- and deservedly so -- faster than I can finish typing the word I-D-I-O-T.

Two big points:

1. Let's hear it for the dignity and quiet courage of the man who keeps trying to get onto the train. I admire him enormously. That's the kind of man the future belongs to. The men on the train belong to the past.
2. This isn't a Chelsea thing; it's is a European and UK football thing.

You could try "The Detectorists"... it's not "HAHA" funny, but it's very British and quirky. 

 

 

 

Obviously I don't know what you have or haven't seen before, have you watched Spaced? 

 

 

 

 

Give Green Wing a go.

 

Suggestions noted carefully! Will trawl the stream-o-verse and intercontienental web-tunnels for these shows. 

Any decent English comedies lately? Everything they're sending to the States for online streaming is crap. I feel like ever since Peep Show vanished, it's been slim pickings. I don't understand how you witty English folk can cope with Community -- can't STAND it, but I am in huge minority, I know.

For drama, you guys have probably already discussed, but The Americans is really good. 

All he has to do is lose to Stoke, and the whole tenor of this thread will shift profoundly, right?

I want to believe in the magic of his Half-Time FA Cup team talk, I really do, but a sober part of me knows that Sherwood's success or failure will be built on a more complicated set of actions.

If a few well-chosen words were all that were necessary, they could be carved on stone and mounted on the locker room doors, but such talks are always context-specfic, too. Sherwood pressed the right buttons at the right time and place. This weekend, the buttons will all be in different places! His ability to find them, week after week -- and install some new ones -- will be the true measure of his talent.

If we lose, does the Sherwood Half-time Talk Magic narrative collapse? 

Lerner looks like he sleeps in a skip

When someone of his vintage adopts that unshaven, anorak-wearing hipster look, one thing is certain: it's hip no more.

... That Sherwood might help him find his mojo again is pretty much our only hope in my mind.

A lot of what you write makes great persuasive sense to me, but not this line. That paints us into a real box! Do you think we're that limited in our choices? Doesn't the new bride get to ask for some new furniture?

Yeah we will probably not see the real Benteke till next season.

That's an interesting idea, and again, as with Villamarv, what you say is persuasive to me. It's not like I wouldn't LOVE To see Tekkers brought back, and somehow I'd forgotten how young he was. Maybe he'll be a bit like Ramsey at Arsenal after last year, after the injury?

Has Benteke peaked?

There's a lot of focus on him again and the idea that Sherwood needs to give him a kick "up the backside" to get him functioning again. First of all, that all sounds pretty simplistic to me, and I don't think it will work, frankly. Was he somehow already under too LITTLE pressure under Lambert? Hard to imagine. Shouldn't we be trying to envision a post-Beneteke Villa?

But I also wonder whether -- and I hate to say this -- he's a bit of a lost cause, and he'll absorb energy and time better spent elsewhere. I feel that Sherwood needs to push back on the idea that he has to work with what he's been left.  The fact is, Sherwood or not, we still need a top-class, reliable striker, do we not, and we're sunk if Lerner stays in denial about that. So many people love the narrative of the prodigal son who is reformed and brought back into he fold to assume his role, but I'm finding it hard to think of other successful models of this sort rejuvenation. On the other hand, a whole lot of counter-examples spring to my mind -- Torres, Michael Owen, etc etc.

I hope Sherwood will early on use his positive rep to push back on Lerner. Sherwood may be Mr. Tough Guy with confidence-lacking strikers, but can he stand up to his boss and speak some home truths, which I KNOW PL never did?

 

... At least he won't be muttering some incomprehensible Glaswegian drivel..

 

 

Harsh! I didn't like PL's management, but that seems a little brutal! And why the swipe at Glasgow?

Personally last week the idea of bringing in Sherwood as manager was a little horrifying for reasons most have mentioned. Lack of experience being the most evident of the reasoning for most that he shouldn't get the job. Something happened though on Sunday that made me rethink my stance...

For you and me -- and thousands of others. That "something" that "happened" is the most hugely simple and elegant and yet most desperately difficult thing in the world -- getting a ball to go into a net on a top-level English football pitch. Millions of pounds are spent and lost in pursuing this, and we'd pretty much been unable to make it happen this year. Funny how thorough and unpredictably predictable that all is. I would guess that about 25% of the posts on this thread since the Leicester match are pretty much variations on this same theme. The truth is, nothing succeeds like success. 

(You know, I haven't smoked pot for 25 years, but I feel like my comment above is the sort of thing I would think when I was really, really, really stoned -- when "everything" suddenly became "very clear" lol)

The game is not rocket science is it. 

No, football is far more complicated, to my mind.

 

 

I'm going to be honest, I actually enjoyed the start of the season and watching Roy Keane lose the plot when weren't doing the right things, yes sometimes he went over the top but I much prefer that than being slumped over in the dugout for the whole game. Sherwood will bring that and then some and If I don't see at least one jacket or gillet get flung across the dugout this season i'll be well miffed.

I had to write to a VTer to learn what a "gillet" is -- it's not used in America -- but what is the significance of this action of throwing the jacket or gillet?

 

 

 

Hahah. I get it. thank you!!!!

I'm going to be honest, I actually enjoyed the start of the season and watching Roy Keane lose the plot when weren't doing the right things, yes sometimes he went over the top but I much prefer that than being slumped over in the dugout for the whole game. Sherwood will bring that and then some and If I don't see at least one jacket or gillet get flung across the dugout this season i'll be well miffed.

I had to write to a VTer to learn what a "gillet" is -- it's not used in America -- but what is the significance of this action of throwing the jacket or gillet?

yes!!!

He lacks confidence. It's almost like he loses his cool every time he gets close. Honestly, I think Sherwood should have him talking to a club sports psychologist -- I really do.

Did anyone not think it was going to be a goal the second he dropped inside?

It was really stylish, that's for sure. It was ecstasy to see that ball in the air.

If we must go down, I just want to go down fighting. I want to see our players defend the badge. There's a lot of tradition. There are a lot of proud ghosts of the past haunting Villa park. There are a lot of children who love Villa without a drop of cynicism. 

I just hope that no matter what happens, our players fight to the end and that we honor who we are to the last kick.

If they do all that, we can't lose!

Think this guy will surprise the doubters. Seems exactly the type of manager we need in terms of motivation for the lazy bastards out there.

 

How many people were calling for Cleverley to be dropped after each pathetic performance? Pretty sure Sherwood will have the cajones to actually do it.

If mere cojones were enough, we could have appointed Mr. T.

A blunderbuss who roars in ready to "sort these blokes" isn't going to work. Villa needs someone who can effectively cultivate a team-wide sense of motivation.