Hulver's site || England to qualify?

England to qualify?

No	0 votes - 0 %
Errr ... maybe.	2 votes - 100 %

2 Total Votes

On the Ineptitude of Albion | 19 comments (19 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

Whoa, I'm confused by georgeha (4.00 / 2) #1 Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 12:15:54 PM EST

I thought you were talking about the rural town to my west that has some of my inlaws and doesn't like to pay for the library.

And the answer is Ronaldo plays for himself. by Christopher Robin was Murdered (4.00 / 4) #2 Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 12:52:29 PM EST

When you are Ronaldo, the only challenge left to face is the never-silent, seductive, and fatal voice of the little sexy demon-Ronaldo within. It hisses again and again: "You, Ronaldo, can slow down. You, Ronaldo, have done it. The world is yours, Ronaldo's."

But you, Ronaldo, know, because you are Ronaldo!, that there is no "done." You play to best yourself, Ronaldo, to quiet the raging devils within, and because, when you kick, you hear angels weeping, for they are just crappy angels and can never be you, Ronaldo.

So you play on, alone, triumphant, tragic. Ronaldo.

At least, that's what I tell people when they ask who Ronaldo plays for. To tell you the truth, it doesn't come up that often.

: Genius. [nt] by yicky yacky (4.00 / 1) #4 Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 12:55:57 PM EST

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Excellent ... parallel universe ... by BlueOregon (4.00 / 3) #3 Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 12:53:50 PM EST

Reading this made me feel as if it came from a parallel universe.

Off in the world of Marvel Comics the "New Excalibur" title, which features Captain Britain, has been dealing with Albion for several issues. There's also the Alan Moore -- or rather, I think Moore's daughter -- comic of that name.

But with Albion, the Tsarists, and Astro-Swissenland I'm envisioning this football world of yours as one created by Philip Pullman -- The Golden Goal, The Subtle Kick, The Amber Ale.

_
"The german quoting guy is a little bit out there." (fleece)

: Touche, sir. by yicky yacky (4.00 / 1) #5 Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 01:11:41 PM EST

The possibilities in Astro-Swissenland boggle the mind.

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Sounds reasonable... by Metatone (4.00 / 3) #6 Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 01:55:32 PM EST

It would be nice if the "Must be English" faction got suppressed until an English manager who can, well, manage turns up.

Certainly it's a lot easier to enjoy the football when England aren't involved.

I'd like to hope we'd see some changes at youth training level. There's this foreign concept those Ruskies were toying with.. it's called "possession football" I understand and involved passing to a player in the same shirt as you. I'd like to hope we can pick up on this innovation and see where it leads us.

Not to pick on Gerrard specifically, by yicky yacky (4.00 / 2) #7 Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 02:56:35 PM EST

(they're all at it), but had you seen this? (courtesy of GU).

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: I hadn't seen it! by Metatone (4.00 / 2) #8 Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 05:06:08 PM EST

Ouch.
Perhaps we can offer Riquelme a British passport?

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: no-one is as vicious as fans of your own team -nt- by clover kicker (4.00 / 2) #11 Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 07:54:34 PM EST

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: He's been having a bad patch by nebbish (4.00 / 2) #17 Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 07:15:01 AM EST

All it proves I think is how fucked we are without him.
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It's political correctness gone mad!
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Not a good thing at all. by ambrosen (4.00 / 3) #9 Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 05:13:47 PM EST

They want Martin O'Neill and we're actually in the top half of the table.

No doubt with Mr Lerner's by Metatone (4.00 / 2) #10 Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 05:38:46 PM EST

millions you'll get Fabio Capello or someone in, so it'll be ok...

[ Parent ]

The problem is by leviramsey (4.00 / 2) #14 Mon Oct 22, 2007 at 03:16:17 AM EST

Villa are already over a year into the five-year plan with O'Neill. The odds are that no other manager will have the same plans as O'Neill, effectively wasting the past year.

Admittedly, the new board have made dramatic progress with regard to other aspects of the club (cf. Bodymoor Heath, the Holte Pub, Nike, more extensive marketing, and improved relations with the supporters (how many other club directors are willing to post in an official capacity on fan message boards)), but the team on the pitch is O'Neill's part of the plan (by all accounts, Lerner, Krulak, Fitzgerald, and company have basically no involvement in the transfers). Still, transitioning to a new manager will entail adding at least one year to the plan as he gets a sense of his surroundings (O'Neill didn't really get that sense until at least January of last year).

I, for one, hope that the Must Be English syndrome strikes again and results in Fat Sam being hired... the Geordies'll have to find another manager who will underachieve at a Massive Club. They'll have to act fast, though... word is that David O'Leary will be the next Ireland manager.

--
Could I be the next Lee Abrams?
[ Parent ]

: Hmmm by yicky yacky (4.00 / 2) #15 Mon Oct 22, 2007 at 09:13:32 AM EST

Villa are already over a year into the five-year plan with O'Neill. The odds are that no other manager will have the same plans as O'Neill, effectively wasting the past year.

That's true, but then again it's Villa, so I'm not sure anyone will really mind.

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Fear your wishes. by Tonatiuh (4.00 / 2) #12 Fri Oct 19, 2007 at 11:01:11 PM EST

If England does not qualify then they may be seeded in the 3rd tier of European football, that could mean to be in a similar group to the one in which Scotland was seeded this time.

Italy (or Germany and France (or Holland) in the same group are frankly not a desirable outcome....

Yes please by komet (4.00 / 2) #13 Sat Oct 20, 2007 at 03:21:17 AM EST

send over the hooligans - I'm counting on them for a number of fraudulent insurance claims.

--
<ni> komet: You are functionally illiterate as regards trashy erotica.

We're still going to qualify by nebbish (4.00 / 2) #16 Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 07:10:05 AM EST

IMHO. Russia won't beat Israel on their home turf. Croatia will be tricky but eminently doable. We'll see - all speculation of course.

I'm torn on the management question. Half of me thinks we need to stop knocking managers and let them get on with it - there is so much luck in football it seems stupid to sack them at the first disappointment. McClaren has made some very good decisions along with the bad ones, and it seems that he's finding his feet after a bad start.

On the other hand he quite patently isn't the best for the job. I'd rather see Scolari, O'Neil or Mourinho in his shoes. But how much better would they actually be? I think the difference would be marginal - and that we'd probably only see the difference if we let them get on with the job for a few years.

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It's political correctness gone mad!

I hope you're right. by yicky yacky (4.00 / 2) #18 Tue Oct 23, 2007 at 11:40:51 AM EST

I can't really see Russia not winning in Israel, though.

At this point, the Israelis are out. They've still got a mathematical chance, but it relies on a.) England losing to Croatia, b.) them beating Russia, c.) them beating Macedonia, d.) Russia losing to Andorra and e.) them scoring 12 or more goals without reply in two games. Not happening.

The one upside is that Israel would probably quite like to beat Russia anyway, given their respective histories, but I'm not sure of the extent to which this applies to the team members themselves.

You're right that McClaren has made some good off-field decisions, but the problem is as much his tactical awareness as his results. Russia didn't just beat England; Hiddink out-witted McClaren by exploiting a left-side hole which should never have existed and could have been fixed in real-time. We're far too eager to sack managers in this country but, in a number of cases (including McClaren's), we've been far too eager to hire them, too.

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: You're probably right by nebbish (4.00 / 2) #19 Wed Oct 24, 2007 at 07:43:15 AM EST

I just can't help thinking that when we lose a game, which is inevitable for any side, it's easy with hindsight to find tactical failings. But yes, our defense left a lot to be desired.
Like you say, I'll be enjoying the European cup whether we're in it or not. I'm almost as worried about Italy getting through as I am about England...
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It's political correctness gone mad!
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On the Ineptitude of Albion | 19 comments (19 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback


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