fruitvilla

21 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

Fair point, just can’t see it. Can’t picture a world where we finish above City, Arsenal or Liverpool tbh 

This time last year could you picture us third? What about two years ago?

I'm just savouring the moment.

5 minutes ago, vreitti said:

Please go look up 'causality' in a dictionary. 

Well, It was during Gerrard's tenure that we hired Kamara, so we can blame Stevie?

But I take your point. People are talking about responsibility and I am not sure they get all the philosophical implications behind that word.

7 minutes ago, RicRic said:

2 hours ago, osmark86 said:

Damn that was fast

He probably lives in croatia 

Back to the camper van.

The correct interpretation of the game ...

Marschall ... I thought he did really well, the goal was not his fault. One or two nervy 'incidents' but nothing too serious.
Cash ... did OK, nothing terrible, nothing spectacular
Konsa and Torres ... rock solid
Dendoncker ... Not as bad as some make out
Luiz ... did ok, but didn't have his normal impact on the game. Thought his corner goal was a little bit unlucky
Zaniola ... controlled McGinn's cross really and put it away. Seemed to have half Villa's attempts on goal. Too many dead runs for my taste. Is where Bailey was a while ago.

To the Monkey's chorus

Oh! Emi is believer
Then I saw his save
Now I'm a believer
Oh so brave
No doubt in my mind
Emi is a believer

3 minutes ago, Genie said:

I’m not sure how a league winning squad can be described as being in disrepair, if so then it’s even more miraculous. Not something to beat him with a stick about.

Was the team in poor shape compared to previous years? I would answer yes.
Did they scrape home the title that year? I would say yes.
Did Man United bounce back after after SAF's retirement? Not really.

Where am I beating SAF with a stick?

44 minutes ago, Genie said:

I do agree, but it must have been really difficult for him to watch coach after coach gradually chip away at what he built and now they look every bit a mid-table side, but with a wage bill of an elite one.

Hmmn? My reading was that the team was in sad repair when SAF retired. They scraped home the Premier in that year. Since then the rot has set in.

11 hours ago, Genie said:

I looks like it was the punch 

I bet that guy could still pass the fit and proper owners test here.

In the video, there was a guy that got a kick in when the ref was on the floor.

26 minutes ago, Marka Ragnos said:

Do you think Villa fans need to grow, too?

I think people in general (including fans of all stripes) would benefit from being more sensible.

4 hours ago, MotoMkali said:

I disagree we as a team were immediately better as soon as we hired emery.

In the two games after Gerrard we averaged 1.5 ppg compared to the 0.8 to 0.9 with Gerrard.*

* Not statistically significant

15 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

16 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

We aren't playing at their ground though. Or are you talking about getting to the stadium that they're borrowing for the match?

The stadium the games at.

Didnt realise it wasnt their ground. Why are we not playing at their stadium?

I think they do play in their "own" ground ...  Wikipedia"
 

Zrinjski plays its games on Stadion pod Bijelim Brijegom (English: Under the White Hill Stadium). The stadium was built in 1971 and was used by city rivals Velež until 1991. The stadium capacity today is 9,000 seats (formerly 25,000 standings), but in the 1970s and 1980s, some games attracted over 35,000 spectators. It was the second largest stadium in Bosnia and Herzegovina (before plastic seats were added) after Asim Ferhatović Hase Stadium in Sarajevo.

1 hour ago, mjmooney said:

Yes. My 40th birthday. 

Action replay toward the end of next month?

One observation ... we need McPhee to have a few set pieces to keep the ball during throw-ins.

9 hours ago, Pinebro said:

Interesting to watch this 5 years later.

Gary Neville is spot on here whereas Carragher is wrong.

Reason why it didn't work out at Arsenal is because of egos and players not buying into his philosophy.

Just as an aside ... I was not completely on-side with Neville's analogy of letting one's kids get the upper hand when getting things done the way you want them to be done. Footballers we can exchange for a price, whereas kids, I find are a completely different thing. Now the Mrs ... ?

13 hours ago, Seat68 said:

Instead of using "woke", can we start using "basic empathy", its the same thing.

When people who are described as woke are empathetic to the people who they disagree with, why not?

I just re-watched the game without the jitters; here are a few observations:

I agree with all the positives.
Man City could do with a 100 million pound striker ... oh wait.
I thought our press, when we turned it on was a joy to behold.
Man City, their press was by and large a pretend press, especially Haaland jogging up to the defender.
Too many of our passes went astray, not that every pass has to hit its mark, but many that did were not 'incisive'.

A coincidence, came across this today ... link

Conclusion

The study findings indicate that intercessory prayer had no significant effect on the primary outcome of mortality or the secondary outcomes, including the length of hospitalization, ICU stay, and the need for and duration of mechanical ventilation.

Well, there's a surprise.

On 02/12/2023 at 11:14, blandy said:

I think it's called the placebo effect. But whatever, good for them. It's fine.

They had a big study on the efficacy of prayer in the States, regarding people recovering from a particular heart op.  They divided the patients into three groups:
1) People who were not prayed for
2) People who were prayed for, but were not told.
3) People who were prayed for and were told they were being prayed for.

The first two groups had similar outcomes, but the third group had statistically significantly worse outcomes. More of a Nocebo effect in this case.

I don't understand Carlos's offside ruling.

Digne was in an offside position when Watkins headed the ball. Digne's defender moved to the goal line and Digne moved to a non-offside position and then moved in front of the defender to intercept the ball. How is this offside?

5 hours ago, blandy said:

A sorry state of affairs, then.

Depends on how one interprets the consequences of not having free will?

5 hours ago, bickster said:

Being as there is zero evidence that Jesus existed, how can there be evidence that he was a member of a particular sub-cult of Judaism?

This does seem to be a minority view amongst historians. But it does fit my tribe's narrative.

1 hour ago, chrisp65 said:

The kingdom of heaven is within.

And all around us if one bothers with Bible stuff.

7 minutes ago, blandy said:

You mentioned god giving people free will to not buy the Torygraph

The interesting thing is the Bible is silent on free will. Lot's about being able to choose, but nada of free will. Apologists have to assert that god gives us free will, otherwise, the current interpretation of the New Testament makes absolutely no sense.

Also, there is some evidence that Jesus (should he have existed) was an Essene, which is a Jewish sect that interpreted the Bible deterministically.

Looking for the perfect version ... but this will do.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer - I Believe In Father Christmas (1993) - YouTube

This is the quintessential Christmas song of the last fifty years

39 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

Comfortably winning MOTM poll. Lots of comments before HT awful, rusty, rubbish, get him off at HT, must be subbed.

I guess the goal erased those

Your first mistake is going to the match thread.

Almost got an assist!