KB1862

I'm the same, it's nice to see a team like Luton mixing it up with some of the big hitters of the Premier League. They aren't a team to be taken as pushovers and they've shown it. At the start of the season, it was looking like it was too much of a big step for them to take but as the games have gone on they've certainly held their own. 8 goals and 4 points in 2 games against both Brighton and Newcastle, it's a great achievement for a newly promoted side. I hope they don't become the new version of Blackpool where they become that team that almost everyone roots for to stay in the league only for them to ultimately get relegated. They are a breath of fresh air for the Premier League. Plus, they've got a togetherness about them and their players are relishing every opportunity. Ross Barkley has been in terrific form for them and I'm glad to see that he's finding the ability that he's not been able to utilise in recent seasons. A credible option for the Euros.

I enjoy watching the AFCON but this year I haven't been able to catch much of it due to most of it being played on Sky Sports. I don't have either Sky Sports or TNT/BT Sports as I refuse to pay such prices. But the games that have been on BBC, I have caught parts of. Ivory Coast can count themselves lucky to be in the final. It's been a strange tournament for the hosts. They finished 3rd in their group and sacked their manager before entering the knockout phase. I don't like this whole "best 3rd place team qualifies" for me tournaments should be 2 teams from each group only. I think Nigeria will go and do it but Ivory Coast, with home advantage, aren't to be taken lightly.

IFAB are at it again. Personally, I don't think this rule introduction will benefit the game at all. I understand what they're trying to implement but I don't think it's going to work and I can see there being a lot of controversy when it comes into effect. They've already changed and introduced rules that has made the beautiful game we all love confusing hence why there's a lot of talk in punditry regarding "the letter of the law" like handball and offsides.

Makes me laugh that they're announcing this like it's breaking news. It's been clear and obvious (bit of VAR talk there) for a long time now that VAR has been ruining some of the enjoyment in the game. Especially those who go to the fans in attendance at games. Not to mention the fact that on ref watch they have on Sky Sports they highlight so many failings from previous weekends action. But, 20 wrong decision calls seems very low. They've got to have missed many decisions off the list to make the number seem better. There's always talk about improving VAR but the only thing they've done is "VAR will not re-ref the game". How about they follow the Women's World Cup and have footage of incidents and allow the ref to be mic'd up so that the whole stadium can see and hear what is going on and for the referee to explain their decisions. That would be an improvement. VAR can be good for the game but it has to be correctly used and it needs to be speedier.

Euro 2020 (in 2021) Patrik Schick scored for this audacious effort for Czech Republic (now Czechia) against Scotland. Caught the keeper off his line, hit it first time from just inside the opposition half and the way it bends outwards in to lob David Marshall. A goal made sweeter at the fact it was scored against Scotland who were in the same group as England ????

Whenever this question crops up, I have a go to that I always use. John Stones scored more World Cup goals in 1 game (2 v Panama in 2018) than Wayne Rooney did in 3 World Cups. Over to you guys!

Because that would be re-reffing the game, which is what VAR doesn't want to do because fans, players, managers and pundits thought it was disrupting the game which it would do if that was the case. The game played on, Nigeria scored, if there was no incident than Nigeria would have been 2-0 up. But, if he had stopped it there and then with no incident, what happens then? Drop ball, resume play placing everyone back in to their exact positions of when the ref stopped it? It's essentially what you're taught as a youngster, play to the whistle. Referees should make their own decisions and if they make the wrong call VAR will highlight the mistake and see it as an error by the official. Unfortunately VAR is too heavily relied on and it's a get out of jail free card for all referees now.

I strongly believe that out of all 4 divisions (Premier League, Championships, Leagues 1 & 2) the Championship is by far the most competitive. It's unpredictable and there are quite a few games that have outright favourites losing to clubs lower down the league. The parachute payments make it easier for the clubs relegated from the Premier League to bounce back and we get those Yo-Yo clubs but outside of that it's never a foregone conclusion as to who will be promoted. I think, as Notts found out, the National League is possibly the hardest to get out of due to the fact that there is only 1 automatic promotion place with 6 teams entering play offs and when it comes to the play offs all the hard work done during the season is thrown out the window and it becomes a sprint rather than a marathon so to speak. The Premier League is still the best league in the world, in my opinion, but it's losing its edge slightly in terms of competitiveness. There's still a few results that go against form and league positions but those kind of results are dying out the more seasons go on and it's getting to the point of the team with the most money gets the job done in the end. It's getting to the sort of Bundesliga/Ligue 1 sort of competitiveness where the bigger clubs buy out the best players from lower clubs and the gap widens.

It's been on my list to watch since it came out months ago but I finally got round to watching the David Beckham documentary on Netflix and last night I finished the final episode. If you haven't already watched it, I urge you to watch it. It's definitely one of the best documentaries I have ever watched. There's a reason why they split it in to 4 episodes. Thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. I already had the utmost respect for Beckham but after watching this documentary my respect for him just grew and grew with each episode. People forget just how good David Beckham was back in the day. People, mostly the younger generation, see him as a player that was just a great set piece taker. He was far more than that, he was a key to both England and Manchester United and this documentary fully highlights just how important of a player he was and why he was/is still so highly rated. Most of you might remember the 98 World Cup but after hearing some of the things Glenn Hoddle said about Beckham before, during and after that World Cup you'll have a slight dislike to Hoddle and the way he "handled" the situation. As for Simeone, well lets just say you'll really hate him with his comments on the incident.

@Robbie Love hearing Micah Richards version of events whenever this goal is mentioned on a podcast, he gets so defensive about him not being the one at fault ????

@Robbie I started watching this game when there was 15 minutes left of normal time and I was gonna come to this point. It showed how useful VAR can be when used correctly. I do agree with your point about the referee not blowing for a penalty in the first place. When watching the replays, it was clear to see that the referee could not have been in a better position to see the incident than he already was. He was a few yards behind, looking directly at the incident. I mean from a neutral fans perspective, it made for a dramatic entertaining end to the game. Nigeria going 2-0 up and looking set to secure their place in the final only for them to have that lead snatched away and then have to go for another half an hour. I do feel the play went on for too long for it to be pulled back though. However, as I mentioned it was VAR being useful. The referee missed an incident and VAR intervened which is what it is there for "a clear and obvious error". It was the right call but without VAR it would have been totally different. Unless the referee would have given it without VAR being involved and having to make the call in real time himself knowing that VAR won't come to the conclusion. On to the other incident, it's understandable why VAR was used for that because of where the foul took place. It was always going to be a red card, rightly so, but they needed to determine whether or not it was inside or outside the box that the actual contact was made. Both decisions still took too long to come to any conclusion and it needs to be quicker but the main thing is both decisions were 100% correct and that's what is needed from VAR.

As the saying goes @super_ram "You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time". There's never been a truer saying than that, especially when it comes to football fans. If things are going right everyone is happy. When things start going wrong that's when nothing is good. Players could be stand out for 45 out of 46 games but that one game you'll find some fans absolutely slaughtering them with criticism. It's a fickle fan sport some of the time.

I think a cap is a more appropriate solution than the current rules or this new proposed rule. It would still benefit the bigger clubs to a certain extent but would also make it more competitive. Capping wages and transfers sort of levels out the playing field while also allowing clubs to sustain themselves because of the cap. As long as the cap isn't massively above what teams can actually spend.

At the start of the season, fans were just happy to be back in the EFL. Most would have accepted finishing mid-table and then progressing. Most would have only dreamt at the idea of pushing for back to back promotions, it was a possibility but not something that anyone had thought to hardly about. But the moment we lost 5-1 on the opening day, all that praise fans gave the players and Luke Williams, at the time, went out the window and it was all moans at everything. Fast forward a few games, we start getting some form. We are title challenges, we have a good run, everything is joyful amongst fans again. Then, we start a downward spiral and have an inconsistent run. Despite still being in a play off place, fans still aren't happy with it. There are sometimes a need for criticism course there is, it's football everyone has an opinion but whenever you look on socials it's more time than not unwarranted criticism. It's all about progression, it might not happen this year. It might not happen the season after but if we continue to stay up pushing for that promotion it'll eventually happen, surely? It worked well for us in the National League. Play off defeat after play off defeat but in the end, we managed to secure a way back in to the EFL. There's 2 ways of looking at it. If we miss out on play offs, we've underachieved given the positions we've found ourselves in during the season but on the flip side, if we finish outside the play offs, we've made a slight progression because of my point earlier about recently coming up.

Even if they do change the rules, they still shouldn't let Man City off. They'll probably try spin it saying that the new rules means no offence has been committed but the offence was committed before the rule change so irrelevant of the new rule change, when they implement it, they still should be punished. So, if they do change the narrative on Man City then they should also do the same with Everton. Be interesting to see how it plays out. The whole thing plays in to the hands of clubs that have the most money. Chelsea and Man United aren't the big hitters they used to be. Newcastle and Aston Villa are mixing it up there. I wonder if that's why they're changing it? Making it easier for teams of the "big 6" to keep up there and the rest struggle to keep pace. Anything to keep them clubs happy no matter how negatively it effects others. They're also probably doing this because clubs have had a quiet transfer window due to the fear of being punished for FFP spending. Premier League clubs have for a long while not been the biggest spenders in the transfer window. That is also a factor for this change I believe.

In 2002, Dennis Bergkamp scored this incredible goal against Newcastle. To this day, there's still debate on whether or not he meant it. From the podcasts I've listened to when Bergkamps ex-team mates mention it, they say it was 100% intentional and he did this regularly in training. Given the ability Bergkamp possessed, I wouldn't put it past him for this to be intentional. The way he swivels the defender, manages to shrug him off and then calmly slot it in to the corner.

@Fozzy That's some good company you've selected but the weekend will probably end up a blur and you'll be recovering for days ????

Flashback to 1995, I was just 2 years old when Tony Yeboah scored this absolute cracker against Liverpool for Leeds United.

He's a character in his interviews. Hope he does well tbf, it's a different venture for him but I genuinely don't think the man will ever retire.????

Since I missed yesterday, I'll post a double for today. Both goals Notts related. Firstly, 3 years ago, Elisha Sam scored this worldie against Oxford City in the FA Trophy Quarter Final. Secondly, sticking with the FA Trophy, 4 years ago Michael Doyle scored this sensational stoppage time winner. The commentary speaks for itself.

@Fozzy Wasn't that Sunderland? Because I remember seeing a few posts of him posting about Sunderland and then Sunderland fans tweeting about him deleting the comments and being confident they were going to sign him. Maybe it was both clubs but I do agree that someone has obviously come in for him but Notts declined the offer. There was a speculative rumour floating around that Notts had rejected a £3m offer from an unnamed Championship club early in January. So it could be either of those I guess. There was certainly a lot of interest. Bolton, Birmingham, Middlesbrough, Sunderland amongst the main names.

I listened to the game on the radio and from what I can gather, it didn't sound like the greatest game of football but Notts can feel very hard done to not to have got at least a point from the game. The referee didn't seem to have a good game either. Stal was gesturing for a card on one of the Mansfield players for a cynical foul, which is a bookable offence anyway, but also because it was apparently the 3rd time he had committed a foul. There was also claims for a penalty for a potential foul on Langstaff. 13 shots and just the 1 on target. That's a poor stat to have in a game. It sounded like we were getting there but no urgency to properly attack or make any sort of great chance to find an equaliser. The best of the bunch that I heard of on the radio was Jodi Jones hitting it over after capitalising on a mistake by a Mansfield player. Baldwin sounded like he had a very good game at the back. Stone also sounded like he did well between the sticks and made some good saves. It's not great losing to a rival like Mansfield but it's not as bad as the 4-1 defeat we suffered at Meadow Lane earlier on in the season I suppose.

@DangerousSausage Depends on whether Leonardo Di Caprio or Billy Zane support a Football team to tag along too ???? @Robbie That would make for some very interesting conversations over dinner and a few drinks. Great Choices!

@DangerousSausage Totally agree, to a point. Shearer in 1996 hadn't scored for something like 2 years for England but Terry Venables stuck by him and told him that he'll still continue selecting him despite a lack of goals on the International stage. Shearer did start scoring granted but same could have been for Andy Cole given more of a chance. It's all maybes, maybe he would have scored more or maybe not had he been selected more. But, again to your point, the emergence of Owen definitely put a halt to Cole getting in.

@Fozzy Happy Gilmore is great film. Adam Sandler films are brilliantly funny. Chubbs was a great character. @Fan of Big Tone Really? I'm surprised, not even a single Rocky film or Predator?