JB

France are very, very, very good. At the same time, England are dire. Just seem utterly clueless.

There was a passage of play just then that really highlights the difference between the teams. Their central striker (Lacazette) won the ball off McGinn in our midfield and there were immediately Arsenal players running beyond him to receive the ball. Not blaming Watkins but he’s always right up the pitch and seems completely isolated, with nobody in a hurry to support him.

I can’t imagine somebody who can afford a second home on the coast struggling too much with the occasional week’s rental. Personally, I’ve never considered money I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to afford to spend on a holiday to be ‘lost’. That’s a weird mindset IMO. **** all those young locals who want to live near their families eh. **** the local economy in winter. **** the local kids who need a school to go to. As long as the wealthy save a few quid and don’t ‘lose’ money having to pay for a week at the beach with their family, contributing to a local business. Nice little investment, too as you watch it soar in value, making you richer and keeping the little guy down. Quite often, even if I don’t share an opinion with someone, I can empathise. I can understand the mindset but in this case, I can’t. I won’t say much more as I’m pretty sure someone else will come along with a far better and more concise response to this, IMO, pretty **** opinion.

Played them through a couple of times this evening. Not sure if it’s just us (played 3 player) but the graphics are significantly worse than on the main game. A lot of scenery has no texture and some of colours are so garish that it was hurting our eyes (mine still feel a bit weird). Almost looked like a TV when the colour setting is turned up too high. There were also a couple of courses where we noticed that barriers/corners weren’t appearing until really late. Never noticed that in the original. It’s a shame as most of the courses themselves were great. Shroom Ridge in particular was awesome.

Eh? I don’t think anybody did moan at England’s performance? Quite the opposite in fact. Certainly nobody in here is being ‘one-eyed’.

Haha I’d have thought that goes without saying? Nobody has posted anything to the contrary and I posted earlier that Ireland are a better side. A group of (mainly) England rugby fans are obviously going to focus on England, especially given the circumstances of the game. I don’t often feel the need to credit the opposition when Villa lose tbh.

Couple of replays and I’m yet to see a clear offside on that intercept. Not much being made of it, though so may have missed something. EDIT: Ah was playing advantage, apparently.

Fair play, some immense performances in the forwards. Genge didn’t have a hope against Furlong, apparently! Adversity has fired us up and we’ve made this into a real contest. Enjoying this.

I don’t think we’ve played within ourselves. I think we’ve got some good players who’ll put in a shift but we’re poorly coached and have been a grim watch this 6N. Even if we had, that’s pretty damning, isn’t it? Of course we can compete - that goes without saying (I was being slightly hyperbolic when I said we were never going to win) - but Ireland are a much better team and we were already distant second favourites. Wales should’ve beaten us last game. You can tell that we’ve got union-novice rugby league coaches. Our attack in particular looks like a poor rugby league team and not suited to a Tuilagi-less side. Giving it a decent go today, though so I’m glad I didn’t switch it off .

England were never going to win. They look so, so poor but it’s a bit gutting to settle down anticipating an 80 minute contest and it be over after 80 seconds.

Watching us take the absolute piss out of Leeds is the most enjoyable watch of the season.

CASHBACK

50-something year-old blokes screaming abuse and directing genuine hate at Mings non-stop. Pathetic losers.

Some great touches by Ings so far. Such a good, intelligent footballer.

Probably the best I’ve seen us play in over a year. An absolute joy to watch. The only negative is Coutinho’s sitters. Should already have a hat trick!

The man who thought Maro Itoje was Marcus Rashford. Two men who couldn't look much more different. You just know that his thought process was that there couldn’t possibly be more than one black sportsman with a social conscience. Although which lying, incompetent Tory scumbag are we talking about again? They all look the same to me.

Just an absolutely shit game of rugby qualify-wise. Two crap teams. Wales looking much better with the ball in hand (and in general) than England and probably deserve to win. Watching it in a bar in Cardiff with the most subdued atmosphere I can remember in 15 years.

It’s not like we’ve even been unlucky. We’ve been utter, utter shite. I don’t get how a team with Coutinho and Buendia in its front three can muster one speculative shot on target in five halves of football against teams in the bottom six.

In the last two and a half games.

A much more enjoyable performance but, unless I missed it, we still haven’t had a shot on target. That’s four halves of football, now.

Worst game he’s had for us.

Yep. Worked really hard today but was isolated by his team mates time and time and time again. Couldn’t blame him when he had a shot from 40ish yards. Nobody else was doing anything.

I think we’ve possibly had some worse performances (Arsenal) but I don’t think I’ve watched a Villa game with quite such a level of disgust. Just an absolute disgrace. Either the coaching is appalling or the players don’t give a shit. Or both. The lack of movement was hideous, forcing players into passes that weren’t on. Not a single shot on target in three halves of football, playing Leeds and Newcastle. Coutinho busted a gut IMO but ended up isolated constantly because nobody was moving for him. Mings was pretty good, too. Could’ve been a lot worse without him. Definitely time for a break. No enjoyment to be had from watching us lately. Football in general is a bit shit, to be fair. Largely because of the incompetence of officials.

Might be time for a break, I think. Football’s ultimately meant to be entertainment and we’re becoming an increasingly torturous watch. Haven’t remotely troubled their keeper and we’re playing against 10.5 men.

That was 100% on Martinez. He was never winning that and Mings couldn’t take any chances. Had to get something on it.