johnh

The EU are in exactly the same position with the US over 'tech tax'.  It's not just a UK issue.

5 hours ago, MikeO said:

Mike, I'm really surprised that you find other peoples misfortunes funny.

On 26/03/2021 at 14:39, Palfy said:

I bet you could still enjoy a beer or two with your mates to celebrate , you couldn’t do that now John so not all bad mate  

You're right there Palfy. One further story about that voyage was that my mates arranged for a record to be played over the ship's tannoy to celebrate my birthday. The next day, there was another birthday record played and it turned out to be the guy I had sat next to at school. I remembered that his birthday was the day after mine. There were over a thousand troops on board and he took some finding, but I did find him and we had a good chat.  That was the last time I ever saw him. I schooled in Liverpool and we moved to Leeds in 1951.

Reading an article about the Suez Canal blockage.  It said that ships may have to go round the Cape of Good Hope.  I thought 'what's new'.  In early 1957 the Suez Canal was still closed due to the Suez crisis.  My troopship, returning from Singapore, had to go round the Cape.  Took 42 days to get to Southampton and I had my 21st birthday in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

FIFA - License to print money.  Scandal and fraud has been following them for decades.

Several Sheffield United players are in trouble over the Census form.  Apparently, they declared themselves as 'footballers'.

The last two England rugby matches have involved French referees.  I think they have to attend a meeting with Macron in the week before the game to get their 'orders'.  

Just booked my first trip, in May, to Iceland.   If all goes well, then will follow up with Asda in June and Tesco in July.

16 hours ago, Elston Gunnn said:

Sorry to repeat a halftime comment, but too many Everton players look as if they think they should not have to outwork smaller clubs in order to win.  Lost 9 points at home to clubs with “inferior talent.”  Either they (and maybe we, including me) have significantly overrated the talent in our squad, or they lack the intangibles that constitute “fight.”

We know our team doesn’t have enough pace.  Combine that with a lack of passion against smaller clubs, and the result is that time and again opponents beat our players to the ball.  Again today we were a step behind physically and mentally.

I suspect teams throughout the league think: “Everton are soft.”

Agree with this and would also add that when we play the top teams in the division we  seem to have the mental attitude that 'we can't win this one'.  When we play our best, it seems to be against those sides who are a similar level to us. We know it's going to be hard but we have a chance of a win, so we work hard.  It's a psychological problem which is down to the manager to sort out.

The other (and major) problem is that we only have the bare bones of decent Premiership players.  The bench is mostly Championship level players and we can't afford many injuries.

On 01/03/2021 at 17:25, MikeO said:

Have to say I've not seen anyone inside anywhere without a mask for months, maybe we're just more law-abiding in the South West I almost always wear one now (even though it serves absolutely no purpose) just to stop people challenging me, exception being in the village chemist where they obviously know my circumstances and ditto at the doctor's surgery. Worst part, for me, is not being able to thank people like check-out staff, which I could do by just mouthing it if I didn't have a mask on. Hard not to come across as rude.

I give a 'thumb's up' and keep it up until I know they've seen it.

Thought Liverpool did well to hold Fulham to 0 - 1.   Be fair, with all the injuries they have and no crowd on the Kop, everything is against them. You can't help laughing though.

Leeds hammered them tonight. 3 - 0  should have been five or six.

We are closing in on that time of the year when Her Indoors agrees with everything I suggest, I can do no wrong and am truly Lord of my Manor.  29th, 30th, 31st February,

On 20/02/2021 at 11:32, MikeO said:

When I told my girls I could eat again one of them said she'd send me a food parcel but I didn't think she really would, this arrived this morning

I note that there is nothing from the Co-op?

8 hours ago, Zoo 2.0 said:

People that compare professional football to playing in the park are bringing up one of the most deluded and laughable arguments I've ever seen. Unfortunately, I've seen it mentioned a few times on this very forum.

It's nearly as bad as people who believe that "they could do what Guardiola did with that Barcelona team" despite working in an office/factory and never setting foot in football as an occupation.

So you don't think that anyone who has watched football all his life is capable of seeing when a player/s are playing crap and not putting a shift in.  You appear to think that they are playing brilliant all the time even when they lose, at home, to a team who are likely to be relegated.  That's delusional.

13 hours ago, RuffRob said:

Well done, . No doubt you just got stronger and quick as the weekend progressed. Those games played at a similar tempo as a classic 5th Rd FA cup tie between Premier league teams where they? 

Do you really think Doucourue turning from a 'Beast' or 'not human' to a 'lazy cu*t' in four days period has nothing to do with the monumental shift he put in during the Spurs game (how soon we forget).  He prime role is putting the energy in midfield and that was very much lacking against Fulham.  Read the comments in the Spurs MotM post about him. 

Why do you think he put in such a below par performance last night? - do you really think it was because he just couldn't be arse yesterday? and thus similar for the rest of the team. 

Fair do's Fulham took full advantage of a tired team, with near constant pressing. I am sure Scott Parker was grinning from ear to ear when he saw Wednesday's nights game go to extra time - and why wouldn't take full advantage.

Every game has to be looked at in perspective. 

Don't accept your excuses for a diabolical performance.  Four days for highly trained athletes is plenty of time to recover. (They did, after all, only play an extra 30 minutes).  It was too many players not being arsed.

23 hours ago, RuffRob said:

I am as pissed off as anybody about the result, but have to put it in perspective. Bar Man City, pretty much every single teams results are topsy turvy this season, and I think much of it is down to which team is the tiredest on the day, how tough where you last couple of games? Who got the extra day or two's rest? The Spurs game was probabley as energy samping game as has been player this season. 

We looked goosed as a team and  just couldnt get going, pushed off the ball, slack passing. I don't buy it that the players aren't bother or have no desire, I have seen plenty of heart from this team, so I know it there. 

 

No excuses, they are full-time professional sportsmen.  I once played a (semi-pro) Yorkshire League game on Saturday. A Leeds Sunday League game on Sunday morning and a West Riding County trial game on Sunday afternoon and put more effort in on Sunday afternoon than several of our lot and I wasn't getting paid!

Well, playing without a centre-forward went well.  According to BBC live text an Everton player only touched the ball once in Fulham's penalty area in 45 minutes.

I had the Pfizer jab too and for a couple of days got a sharp pain if I touched where they injected. Then found I had a sore finger. (The oldies are the best!).

9 hours ago, Cornish Steve said:

'How to fire a gun and take apart bullets' is taught in kindergarten class here.

Steve, probably AK47's too?

Our weakness against a hard working team is our midfield, where there is no pace or work ethic.  Leeds weakness is 'set pieces'.  They have no height in their back four and the goalkeeper is slightly prone to mistakes from high crosses.  Kean and Mina, particularly, should have a field day as long as we  get good crosses into the box from set pieces.

1 hour ago, Matt said:

To be honest, that’s been my record since I was 16 so no idea 

Matt, the secret is, to learn how to limp so that you walk a bit easier and don't attract sympathetic looks.

31 minutes ago, Bailey said:

This last year I have gone from injury to injury, knee and ankle ligaments in one leg, just ankle ligaments in the other. I accept that playing football against young lads that this is going to happen every now and then but now I have shredded my hamstring going for a run!

I have never had hamstring problems throughout my sporting career () and now this happens out of the blue and when the only thing I can actually do to try and keep some level of fitness is to go out for a run.

At least I now have plenty of kit to help my recovery.

Is this what happens when you start getting on a bit?

Sadly, it will get worse!

One for CornishSteve

Cornwall has been put into lockdown tier 5 as a load of pirates have returned to Cornwall and the Arr factor has gone through the roof.