Marka Ragnos

Arsenal are sometimes playing better than the sum of their parts.

But knuckle-dragging is forever.

SHO should be in mid-80s.

+1 Can't stand the cheater.

OK, I won't say it. Absolutely not.

Can we just please note that if Bale DOES finally go to Spain, Real Madrid will possess the two greatest actors, erm, I mean Diving Team, erm, I mean forward footballers in Europe? I have read nothing about the delicious perfection of this diving combo. Think of the possibilities. They could invent a new game -- synchronised land-based diving.

Perspective: Liverpool scored one goal. Very hard to make sweeping statements about Villa when, any way you slice it, it all comes down to Sturridge's deserved but exceptionally skillful and rather amazing goal. yeah, liverpool "earned" it, but they got nothing else except a lot of very dainty possession. With Villa, there was too much of a generalised strategy on display ("aggressively get the ball forward" or something like that), not enough tactical nous or complexity up front. Liverpool looked really very impressive, too. They are definitely a cut above a mid-table team. I am envious! Credit to B Rodgers there. We were sitting back dazed a lot early on, too, making wild, kicking stabs at possession and play development but not really getting anywhere or sustaining an idea. Even Benteke wasn't much of a pest at all, and Liverpool's defenders seem to have all the time in the world to set up plays. How this would NOT strike someone as team mental fatigue is beyond me! I would like to see more variety and occasional subtlety in our midfield and front. Same old Villa? Ridiculous.

As I see it, our first half showed against Liverpool a kind of dazed lack of mental acuity. It was as if the boys were shaking off a hangover and psychological fog. This leads to a certain willingness to make overly risky passes that don't quite connect, unsettled shots, and a general frenzied but weary approach. In boxing they call it "punch drunk." I think they needed a break. They are not mentally prepared or deep enough as a squad for Champions League-style packed schedule -- not yet -- but it's nothing to worry about. They are exactly where they should be. Against Chelsea, they were sloppy but, for the most part, the picture of aggression and alertness and hunger. Can mental alertness and sloppiness happen at the same time? Absolutely. It's typical of young, energetic teams. I think they'll have some needed time to reflect and rest. This is a good place to be in. I don't care what anyone says, this team is playing in a completely different universe to last year's. I have nothing but admiration and pride for this young team. Doesn't mean I don't see areas for improvement, but I remain astounded by the fruition of a long-nursed plan.

Absolutely not worried even a whisker by today's performance. The boys you saw against Arsenal and Chelsea will be back. I don't think the problem was physical exhaustion as much as mental. Our squad has had to endure a walk through Hades in its first two matches, and it was inevitable with the tight schedule that an emotional re-grouping would need to take place. We never had that, and to me it showed. There was a certain lackadaisical quality on display in the first half. I think Liverpool played a very, very intelligent game -- far, far more complex, actually, than Chelsea's on Weds. We failed to match their wits. Not concerned.

When exposing a crime is treated as committing a crime, you are ruled by criminals And if you're treating a crime as a crime, you are ruled by ... laws?

Does Arvo Part have ... songs? Well, whatever it is, I'm listening to "Summa" 'cause it helps me concentrate ...

it's about time we totally dismantled a deserving club, and I can think of few better clubs to take apart. I think it's going to be a very hard day for the Scousers. I imagine they will have two different defensive strategies going into the match (plan A and plan . But I think we'll be working from an entirely differently set of rules, forcing them into a mental and physical mush. They'll slough away like a pile of melting jellybabies. 5-1.

Perhaps, although I'd say I have no faith in the system. Understandable. I am a fairly newly active supporter obviously, and I don't know what it's like to go through year in and year out seeing bad decisions hurt your club. I have the optimism (and perhaps foolishness) of someone just out of diapers in terms of fandom. Still, from my perspective, it seems fairly clear that the FA has not done a good enough job. If fans and superfans have no faith in the system, the FA is failing at something, perhaps a lot.

Lamely, must admit (click to play, NSFW!) ...

They did this last season in Swedens second highest hockey league and I think that worked very well. It was always interesting to hear what the ref had to say, and even led to some instances of the ref in question admitting getting calls wrong. I for one would welcome that. Nope. Wouldn't work. Simply put, it would be "bad optics" for the FA. I would make rules seem overly attached to personalities rather than principles. Again, would lead to some pretty ugly optics. Imagine if judges gave in-depth personal interviews about their feelings and failings immediately after court rulings. The integrity of the whole justice system would seem to rest on subjective flailings in the dark rather than hard, formidable principles. You underestimate yourself!

Note that I have never once used the term corruption and I am not implying criminality. All we have presently is a growing body of work attributed to him favouring our opposition. Even if it is a subconscious thing on his part the net result is the same. He does not give Aston Villa Football Club a fair crack of the whip when he is the referee. That is enough for us to request he not referee our games. I'm not suggesting payments or that he has a season ticket with the bluenoses. I'll use the more umbrella term of bias which is inclusive of all manner of innocent aswell as not-so-innocent motivations. But if AVFC are getting f**ked over by him on a consistent basis then he needs to stop reffing our games. Simple as that. It's up to the powers-that-be to figure out the reasons why. Point taken. Didn't mean to put words into your mouth. You never said "corruption." I really like what you're saying there, and I can go along with it. Here's my big question: how many Villa fans (or lovers of the game, ie, neutrals) will actually bother to complain to the FA? I really believe they will listen if enough fans make a fuss, but I sometimes wonder whether the anger gets misplaced or vented -- then forgotten. As I said, the FA makes it pretty simple to complain. There's also the IFO, of course. Again, pretty handy email form available, but useless if no one uses!

Her supporters will pay for it in a nanosecond. If she's only going "chemically female," it's not even that expensive.

Good point. I figure it's kind of like how you rarely see judges as legal analysts. They're supposed to be above-it-all somehow? I see exactly what you're saying, and you're right. But "corruption" to me implies a very deliberate, cunning effort, and it's hard for me to see the motivation in Friend's case. Wouldn't such corruption be possibly a criminal offence, too? What's in it for him? To me, it seems more like a kind of reckless cowardice than deliberate, cunning effort to damage certain sides. In any case, he sucks. He's not up to PL standards. Totally agree. Human, all too human, to echo Nietzsche.

Not sure I understand you here because the complaint process isn't instantaneous at all, as far as I know. Anyone is capable of contacting the FA and "pressuring" the organization, and I think they take all complaints-in-good-faith very seriously. Are you alleging that they're not impartial about complaints? The unit in the FA that deals with complaints seems like a fairly pragmatic, sensitive group of people, from what I've seen and heard. They watch the videos, field dozens of inquiries and complaints (though far fewer, in general, than one might imagine!), and do their best to keep the game healthy and upright. It's a pretty miserable and thankless job, I gather, trying to balance all the interest groups. I'm not here to trumpet the fairness of the FA's fines/sanctions unit, but it's run by people in good faith, from what I've seen. They don't claim to be perfect, either. Seems to me that Kevin Friend just doesn't fit the PL. I think he can't cope with the in-game pressure and takes the easy way out too often. I don't think there's some big conspiracy. Just a ref who's in over his head.

Respectfully ... Corruption? I don't think so. Cowardice? I believe so. I don't know. I can't bring myself to pile on Kevin Friend quite so enthusiastically, esp. with the elbowing with the idea of corruption. That's a heinous allegation if true, and I just don't buy it. I've watched it again and again (although admittedly only from one angle), and it struck me as a red card. HOWEVER ... I also can see how the elbowing might be somewhat reasonably "read" as a balancing sort of jostle. I do not think there's corruption, but understandable (and totally craven) fear of outraging the crowd. In general, I tend to think there are too many red cards in the game. I love Benteke, but he didn't help the cause by grabbing his face rather than his neck, where the impact was. If he'd grabbed his neck, it would have given Kevin Friend more "cover" to issue the red. Again, I think it deserved a red card, but I can see how a cowardly ref might go with yellow. I have for a long time felt that Ivanovic is a nasty, cunning piece of work. I actually have always thought and said that Luis Suarez was repeatedly provoked to bite him, "played like a piano," as they say. Not defending Suarez, but impugning Ivan the Terrible. He's a violent jerk. On the Terry volleyball moves, clear penalty. Pure shitty reffing and more cowardice. Still don't see it as corruption.

Hey, it's women, children, and the AGED first off all sinking ships ... (All, your gifs are cracking me up. )

Indeed. And seeing how our boys were able mostly to nullify his impact showed me how much our D has improved.

I agree. Excellent. In the 'spurious' bin it goes for the present then. Or "fractional" folder? Prefer that to spurious bin. :-) In related news, I was surprised to hear about Manning's transgender status. Had no idea. Makes me think his sentence should be shortened. Weird that defense didn't actively use to argue for confused state of mind. My guess is that Manning wouldn't allow on principle.

CP-USA? Is that the organisation that was kept afloat financially by a combination of money from old, unreformed USSR, and membership subs from the 15% of its members who were FBI agents? Yes, I'd be delighted to see your membership card. Lol. Hey, my clever and very original "lol" after my comment was intended to mark the line as ironic. As you note, it was indeed a joke of an organization, I agree. Have many funny stories I could tell you. Of course, that was a quarter century ago. Burned my card in 1989. My point, once again, is that people of very strong convictions across the political spectrum in the USA deplore Manning's actions. Similarly, he enjoys misguided support from many strange bedfellows here -- and even more, abroad.

Edit: The onus is on you to substantiate your claim if you want others to give it credibility. I agree. But I'm going to "give" you the opportunity to explore those possibilities on your own as you're clearly capable. I gave one idea; other obvious ones exist. No time to delineate, so I guess you win?