Omar has always impressed me over the years. Now back at Bromley

So this is the crunch time for England. They are Scheduled to play Slovakia in the last 16 of Euro 24 at 5 pm BST on Sunday evening.

Can England get through to the quarter finals? England may have won their group, but they have stuttered through the games they played & flattered to deceive as they really struggled to show any cohesion in those three games.

England will need to up the ante against Slovakia if they are to progress to the next round.

England will be hoping they can.

If England do get through they will meet Switzerland, who impressed against a below par Italy side in their last sixteen match today.

A good insight to what they see as an England tactical issue by Peter Petrov & Hancock Analysis.

It's alright having the best players but should they be placed in the same positions as they are for their clubs just for the sake of it for instance?

Problem is, these players might be playing in similar positions for England but the other players are different, as is the overall balance of the England side, compared to their club side.

So therefore those players may not perform as well as they do for their club side. 

Do PON members see any tactical issues with the England team that could jeopardise England's chances of going far in Euro 24? 

Sad to see him go but probably for the best.

Nottingham RFC play in the Championship, English Rugby's  2nd tier. .

This is the up to date Championship table.

Welcome to the Pride of Nottingham, @BiggestPieInGlasgow. ????????

Thought it was unusual...so had to share ????

If someone phones trying to get you to say “yes” by asking if you can hear them be aware it could be a scam. They are trying to get a copy of your voice.

I thought this might not be true but research suggests it is and Experian - who I trust as an information website - have an article about it

What is the “Say Yes” Scam? - Experian

https://www.experian.com/blogs/ask-experian/what-is-say-yes-scam/

Learn what a say yes scam is, how fraudsters can record you saying yes and commit fraud and how to protect yourself from this scam.

I'm Oblivious To It? No Not Me, the words of England Head Coach Gareth Southgate, when asked about the Criticism of his England Team. Is that because You walk around with Your Head Stuck Up Your Arse then Gareth? How can he Not be Aware of the Disgruntled feelings of England Fans and Football Pundits? 

It's Not Important To Me. Then you're aware of the Criticism? But You Just said you were oblivious to it? It's make Your Mind Up  Time Gareth.

I'm My Own Biggest Critic. Well You Ain't Listening To Yourself Then, Are You Gareth?

And this Person is Who the F.A Pin Their Hopes on to Lead England To Euro's Glory.  He wouldn't know which way a Lift Went, Even If He Had Two Guesses.

A thread to discuss Nottingamshire Cricket and everything Cricket.

Trent Rockets.

The 2024 fixtures have been released for the Men's and Women's 100 matches. 

https://www.trentbridge.co.uk/news/2024/january/trent-rockets-2024-fixtures-confirmed.html?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Organic%20%2B%20Social&utm_campaign=Rockets%20Fixtures&s=09

More fixtures here for other teams.

I thought I'd write this Topic before it became Out of Date, due to England being Knocked out of the Euro's. But the badge on the ENGLAND Shirt is Wrong. Now before People start saying you're Barmy or Go and put your Tin foil Hat On, Let Me Explain.

I'm a Bit of an History Buff and one of my Main Interests is Heraldry, and being an Artist (who has Sold Art, but It wasn't my full time Job) the Designs that have been Drawn and Painted over the Centuries has been an Interesting Hobby of Mine.

Now I'm Not Going To Bore You To Tears by giving you along Drawn out History of Heraldry. Just to say that Heraldry was used for the Identification of Knights in Battle and who was on who's side. Each Knight had a Particular Design on his Shield  and Coat of Arms which showed his Loyalty to His King or Lord. And the Animals emblazoned on their Shields looked a lot Different to the real thing.

So the Real England Badge is what you see on his Majesty's Coat of Arms in the First and Fourth Quarters of the Royal Shield  the Colouring is as Follows. I'll write the Colours in Non Heraldic Wording.

A Shield with a Red Background with Three Golden Lions  Walking Looking Outwards. However the Three Lions were called Leopards. Which looked nothing like the Real Animal, and resembled the Lion much More. They were renamed as Lions by Richard I (the Lion Heart) and these  Golden Lions on a Red Background have been used by all Sovereigns since that time. Which means the Current England Badge of Blue Lions on a White Background is Wrong. The Flowers on the Present Badge are the Red and White Tudor Roses which were brought together by Henry VII from the Red Rose of Lancashire and the White Rose of Yorkshire, after the War of The Roses. 

Now if You're still Awake, it's a good Job the Lion Heart Changed the name. Frank Skinner Sing Three Leopards On His Shirt, Doesn't Quite Have the Same Ring To It.

https://www.nottscountyfc.co.uk/news/2024/june/27/welcome--new-website/

It appears that clubs are now opting for unique websites. Personally, I had a preference for the old design. The new one seems a bit sophisticated, almost as if it’s meant for a restaurant or hotel.

I’m confident that it will grow on me in time. You can spot the difference by visiting the websites of other league teams, such as Hartlepool United. The website of Grimsby Town looks rather appealing.

I’m uncertain about the extent of Notts’ involvement in the new design.

https://www.hartlepoolunited.co.uk/

For those who hate stats, and are only concerned by the wins & losses look away now!

You can look at them and see how we rank compared to other teams here: https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/teams/9819/stats/notts-county/teams

I’ve picked out a few eye-catching ones, it starts off really bad and gets slowly better, so…

We rank as the worst team in the league when it comes to:

Penalties conceded: 17!
That’s 8 more penalties than the next worse who were Walsall with 9! The average is about 6 so we’ve basically given away 11 goals!

Possession won in the final third: 2.8 (times per match).
Now this really surprised me, because this is supposed to be a big part of our style of play but statistically we were the worst at it! I guess when the board referenced defending from the front this is the type of thing they were referring too. Mansfield were the best with an average of 5.1.

We made the least number of successful tackles, 6.3 per match. The next worse side were Sutton and there’s a bit of a jump as they scored 7.8. The average is about 9.5 here.

Also, we only ranked 15th when it came to touches in the oppositions box. Interestingly Mansfield, Wrexham and Stockport were the top 3 here, so this is something that would seemingly need to improve next season.

We were 1st for accurate passes 526.4 per game, in fact we were considerably higher than anyone else and made over 100 more accurate passes per game than MK who were 2nd. Interestingly, Wrexham, Mansfield, Stockport and Crawley were all in the top 7.

We all know that attacking wise the stats were very good, but clearly there's lots to improve on that will help push up the table next season; the possession won in the final third, our tackling and not giving away almost 20 penalties will help massively!

International football teams don't play regularly like club football teams do. 

When Clubs try to sign the best players they usually sign just one or two at a time, so the balance of the side is not really affected.

New players attend training and are moulded into the side over a period of time, not always, some are selected straight away, but a side can easily absorb that new player.

With the vast majority of international sides, the Manager selects the best players from that Country and tries to mould them into a successful team

So can the squad of an international side numbering 25 of the best players be coached & moulded into a great team, with the majority of the work done on the training ground?

Or should the manager pick players, that may not be technically as good, but have a great attitude, have great commitment, energy for & are better team players?

I believe the latter because at the end of the day, football is a team game & yes, its ok to have a few of the best players to form a focal part of the team, ie, build the team around them, but as I said, superior team players with good attitude, that are of good quality, but not necessarily the best, could be the best option, to mould into a good side to win tournaments.

Scotland are out of Euro 24 after losing to Hungary with virtually the last kick of the match.

Scotland were denied a clear penalty with just three minutes to go. The referee said no to a penalty and the incident didn't even go to VAR, which is inexplicable.

The BBC pundits all agreed that it should have been a penalty. If VAR is supposed to be there to check if a Ref makes a mistake in penalty decisions, why are there inconsistencies with VAR? 

Overall, Scotland just didn't do enough in the game from the possession they had. They lacked quality up front and didn't really threaten the Hungary goal till the last ten minutes of the game.

Did anyone see the game and if you did what  are your views on Scotland?

Is returning home for family reasons, he’ll be a big miss, I hope it’s only temporarily.