Delphouneso

Thought Digne and Chambers both had really good games. Chambers probably suits that RB/RCB role better than Konsa too.

Unai is going to have a hard time picking two from Dougie, Kamara and Tielemans.

He's probably just joking about signing for Barca. Avianca flights from Bogota to BHX change at Barcelona.

Gino Mader dead after a crash in the Tour de Suisse yesterday.

Begs the question of why we're still getting these stupid descents into finishes. They're dangerous, the riders don't like them, and I can't speak for everyone but I'd much sooner watch a summit finish anyway. Ayuso was clocked at 103km/h on the descent yeterday. There's a whole bunch of these finishes in this year's TdF route as well.

So who fights our corner in PL meetings and such now? Heck? Unai? Nas?

Platinum done.

Brilliant game. The setting, the story, the characters, the exploration, all brilliant. I also like that they tried something different with the combat and it definitely makes the game feel more cinematic but I just wish it was a little less one dimensional. The bosses especially often end up becoming a case of just repeating the same sequences over and over and punishing their one punishable attack. If anything it does the opposite of what they set out to achieve and the bosses end up feeling less alive when they're boiled down to a series of inputs you have to remember. I can certainly see why it gets compared to rhythm games.

Also enfeebling might be the most annoying status effect in any game ever.

Ginny playing like a captain today.

1 minute ago, richp999 said:

Commentator 'hope the ref has an escape tunnel out of anfield, because he hasnt done any favours for Liverpool' 

Excuse me? Your not supposed to get any 'favours'. 

Shows you what they expect, and they can't quite believe they aren't getting it. 

Came here to post this. Guy is doing my **** nut in.

13 minutes ago, a-k said:

Was there VAR? Surely could not give that as a pen

Doubt there's VAR at an U17 game, it was given and (karmically) missed.

2 hours ago, Delphouneso said:

Probably not the relevant thread but the England player doing their best Harry Kane to win that penalty is a somewhat damning indictment for the future of the game.

If anything it's a foul on the Croatia player.

Probably not the relevant thread but the England player doing their best Harry Kane to win that penalty is a somewhat damning indictment for the future of the game.

5 minutes ago, MachoFantastico said:

Luton or Coventry making it to the Premiership is all kinds of crazy. 

Long old trip from Luton to Ibrox.

Ref did his best to get Spurs back in that game. **** bent the lot of 'em.

Semi final of an FA cup you're 3-0 up and it's like a **** library in Wembley. **** Man City.

11 minutes ago, av1 said:

What I don’t understand about being overlooked for England is that there seems no logical reason. 
 

Abilty - he’s shown imo that he’s better than those guys hat get picked ahead of him. 
 

Consistency - it’s often said that Southgate sticks with guys that haven’t let him down for England even if their club form is off - well Mings record in an England top is great. 
 

Attitude - After the “clicky” nature of Englands teams of the past I can absolutely understand why any England manager would want guys with the right attitude, but Mings is a born leader and seems like a great human being. 
 

Its bizarre. 

Mings is really switched on tactically, I'd imagine most managers love him because he's great at understanding what they want from the team and is able to relay that to the rest of the team during a game - I think Smith commented on this a couple of times. That's a problem for Southgate because he doesn't have any tactics.

Really tough to call the end of the season. I think Spurs are the team to catch right now, they've got a tough run in and they look awful. Liverpool are a danger, two games in hand, favourable fixtures and a team that could quite easily find some form. With injuries to Rashford, Varane and Martinez Manure could well get dragged into it but I think they might just have enough points on the board and enough winnable games to be out of reach for us.

We really need to take some points from Spurs, Liverpool and Brighton.

Whatever happens though it's been an incredible turnaround and if we end up falling short it needs to be remembered that it's the fault of a certain gobby scouser and not the players or the current manager.

Demon of Hatred is like they learned nothing from previous games.

Finally picked this up. I was expecting a bit of a learning curve but man is it a difficult transition trying to undo years of Soulsborne muscle memory. I think half of my deaths are from just sprinting off cliffs because I've pressed the wrong button to jump. Combat feels kinda awful right now but I'm sure I'll get used to it. I can't get out of the habit of trying to dodge everything, I keep pressing R2 to 'heavy attack', and when I see the red kanji I can never remember the jump button in time before I get hit. I keep forgetting that I can block because blocking with a sword feels weird - and I've ever been a shield guy in the Souls games anyway so blocking in general just feels weird - and I'm having a hard time retraining my brain to recognise that basically everything is parryable because so many attacks look like they wouldn't be in a Souls game.

I'm also kinda just struggling with the flow of the combat, I'm having a hard time figuring out when it's 'my turn' to attack with a lot of enemies. That being said both bosses I've beaten so far (Lady Butterfly and the horse guy) have been pretty easy, it's mostly the mini-bosses I've struggled with (I gave up on that purple ninja guy in the Hirata Estate and just grabbed the item behind him and ran).

Everything else about the game I kinda love. Although one thing that caught me by surprise is the verticality. Fromsoft games have taught me to explore every nook and cranny of the map and with the addition of the grappling hook and the jump I find myself spending half my time peering over cliff edges looking for secret paths or trying to parkour up walls and over buildings, it's kind of exhausting honestly. Which makes me a tad concerned for when I finally get round to playing Elden Ring and there's an entire open world to explore.

Written off already seemingly.

1 hour ago, bobzy said:

No it wouldn't - games would be 60 minutes rather than 90.  The impact would be about 15 minutes which broadcasters can easily work around.

The laws on stoppage time are vague.  Some refs will add on loads of time, some won't.  If you have a clock that stops when the ball is dead, it solves the issue.

That's not addressing the problem though is it? Fans complaints are they're paying for 90 mins of football and getting (on average) 55 mins, the solution to that isn't to just make the game 60 mins long and say there you go. That's like going into McDonalds and ordering and paying £4 for a double cheeseburger and getting a single cheeseburger, and upon complaining you get told that rather than getting the double cheeseburger you ordered they're just going to change the price of a single to £4. (FWIW I haven't been in a Maccies in 20 years so I have no idea how much one costs).

2 hours ago, KentVillan said:

Tbh I’ve never understood why you can’t have a separate timekeeper besides the ref, who just pauses the clock every time the ball goes dead. Would completely get rid of time wasting on goal kicks, throw ins, free kicks, etc and would get rid of all the Fergie time bullshit as well.

It’s the time outs, team changes, quarters, half time shows, etc that make US sport so stop-start. Just getting the clock right wouldn’t change football, besides making it fairer.

It would also make every game 30-45 minutes longer as well which creates it's own problem for broadcasters, fans in the stadium etc. Like @villa4europe said surely it's easier to just get refs to enforce the rules we already have.

It's like the whole surrounding the ref thing, I've never understood why refs don't just start dishing cards out. A few weeks of players getting sent off for it and they'd soon stop doing it, and the refs then no longer have to deal with it. Surely it's in their own interest?

Kalvin Phillips has played 56 mins of PL football all season, he could be the best player in the world there's still no **** way he's match fit.

Reading between the lines Ginny seems to be suggesting the players struggle in front of our home crowd. He doesn't say it explicitly but does mention the players always want to score early to take the pressure off - presumably before fans start getting restless - and also that our play is less measured and controlled at home. I think this is especially noticeable when we're playing out, our fans very quickly get impatient when the players are clearly under instruction from Emery to play out from the back which must be pretty difficult to block out and is only likely to lead to more mistakes.

Full interview here: https://video.avfc.co.uk/video/dm9kJTdDMF9odTN4ZnNvMCU3QyUyRnNlY3Rpb24lM0ZzbHVnJTNEaG9tZSU3Q2hvbWUlMkZoZXJvX2Nhcm91c2Vs?lang=en