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General Football & Sports / Re: The big sports thread

« on: March 10, 2024, 09:20:56 PM »

I guess I'd better comment on the rugby 
I enjoyed yesterday's two games. England just have that ability to raise their power game when underdogs against the bigger guns. It'll be interesting to see if they can finally maintain a reasonably consistent selection and maintain the performance levels.
Italy are slowly but steadily improving with some younger players breaking through and more strength in depth....they will be scenting blood again in Cardiff next Saturday.

Today's game - Good first half with Wales looking threatening but then totally over powered once the French had brought on their reinforcement power players in the 2nd half. With Italy having the extra days rest and Wales a bit battered from today I fear a 2nd successive home defeat to Italy.

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General Football & Sports / Re: Seals watch - Anything Villa

« on: February 26, 2024, 09:41:24 AM »

Former Villa defender Chris Nicholl has died aged 77, diagnosed with dementia 8 years ago

RIP

Another sad loss. I saw an interview with him where he described how he and Dave Watson when they were at Southampton, used to play head tennis by heading the ball the full length of the gym they used. Both gone to dementia and I suppose another sad example of players in those days being totally unaware of the long term effects of repeated heading.

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General Football & Sports / Re: Ex Players Thread

« on: February 22, 2024, 05:31:18 PM »

I saw Paul Bradshaw play several games for Newport County which was between his 2 spells with Albion. He was very good for County, frequently rescuing one on one situations. RIP

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General Football & Sports / Re: The big sports thread

« on: February 02, 2024, 07:44:14 PM »

Given the changes in the Welsh line-up and a lot of unproven players at this level, this is Scotland's big chance to win in Cardiff for the first time in 22 years....and I expect them to.
It's close but despite the absence of Sexton I take Ireland to edge France tonight and edge the 6 nations title. England - who knows ? The battle they gave South Africa in the World Cup semi shows they have the potential to make things difficult for France/Ireland in a one off game.
So 3 away wins for Ireland, Scotland and England this weekend.

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Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate

« on: January 30, 2024, 12:56:38 PM »

You cannot put any blame down to The Liquidator, this is a song that has been played for years against all types of opponent without any trouble at all.

One isolated incident albeit a serious one is just that, an isolated incident and hopefully those who allowed the seats to be taken by away fans will be dealt with and anyone involved will be dealt with appropriately but trying to put any blame to a song is desperate nanny state clutching at straws.

I hate to delve into other things but are we going to request the banning on any songs that glorify knife crime or mention it as there were more stabbings over the weekend where people died.

Have to say, I don't think anyone, including myself, has suggested that the liquidator was to blame for Sunday in any way.

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Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate

« on: January 30, 2024, 12:50:30 PM »

Let's not forget the bottle throwers who should be easily identifiable in most cases ....and should  be banned.

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Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate

« on: January 30, 2024, 09:13:01 AM »

I can see I'm going to need to go back to adding smilies and winks to posts, oh well  .

I do know which bits of your reply were tongue in cheek and which weren't...we move on.

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Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate

« on: January 30, 2024, 08:58:46 AM »

It doesn't need modifying it just needs singing with the correct word. Villa. In all seriousness football has become far too sanitised as it is and the song had no impact whatsoever on what happened. Unless of course there was a delayed reaction which covered the halftime period as well.

I obviously wasn't suggesting there was a direct link between the liquidator and what unfolded on Sunday. I'm talking about our look going forward with reputation tarnished and prospective buyers looking on.

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Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate

« on: January 29, 2024, 10:38:11 PM »

Just a thought but if our reputation is damaged and prospective owners are looking on, is it time to ditch the liquidator for a good while or at least modify it ? It's perfectly possible to change the 'lyrics' to a pro Albion chant rather than telling the opposition (or Wolves whichever it is) to f*** off.
Starting every home game with that chant after yesterday's events just doesn't sit right. Does anyone else's pre match public address song involve anything similar ?

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General Football & Sports / Re: The big sports thread

« on: January 16, 2024, 05:23:28 PM »

Bombshell for Welsh rugby in particular with Louis Rees-Zammit leaving rugby union with immediate effect to pursue an opportunity in NFL.
It's a pretty grim scene generally in Welsh rugby with the regions unable to compete financially to retain the services of other players.

LRZ is undoubtedly the high profile star of the current international team as far as ability, interest and bums on seats goes.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Under 23's / Academy Thread

« on: January 05, 2024, 09:44:34 PM »

Fenton Heard is an attacking midfielder who has been scoring quite a few goals in the past 12 months.

Cleary unfortunately having been out for 5 or 6 months with the worst type of hamstring injury has now done the same thing in the other leg so his season is looking a write off.

The young lad from Celtic is Eseosa Sule. He is meant to be handy but I haven't heard much about him lately.

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General Football & Sports / Re: Jeremy Sarmiento signs on loan - official.

« on: January 02, 2024, 11:19:26 AM »

I think it's just their number of injuries driving this.  Occam's Razor- sometimes the simplest explanation is the correct one.

but as mentioned above De Zerbi quoted as saying: "I think he goes to play on loan to another team." I heard the de Zerbi clip where he said that. It's also sounding pretty nailed on that he's going to Ipswich.

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General Football & Sports / Re: Jeremy Sarmiento signs on loan - official.

« on: January 02, 2024, 11:06:50 AM »

There was a spell where Sarmiento was coming on from the bench with Phillips and Diangana being preferred (correctly as Phillips especially was playing well and so was the team). I can only think that Brighton have looked at a black and white stats of games where Sarmiento has started for us and decided that he wasn't used enough.
It should have been clearly obvious to anyone at Brighton aware of our situation that, given injury to Phillips and the AFCON, he would be likely to play a lot of football for us between now and May.....but yes as the above poster has just said, cost cutting for us may well come into it also.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Matty Phillips

« on: December 05, 2023, 10:11:49 AM »

i think this is where sports science needs to be looked at.

player x has same type of injury around same time of year most years. why ?

is it the training they do, is it a reaction to the climate/temperatures

or certain players have a physical make-up which makes them more prone to certain types of injury.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Matty Phillips

« on: December 05, 2023, 09:33:06 AM »

The comments may or may not be tongue in cheek but...

Is Matt or anyone else likely to feign injury, hoodwinking his team mates, manager and training staff including medics and physios as well as undergoing scans ? There are plenty of players around the leagues who suffer more with injuries than other luckier ones. It happens in other sports as well, some are luckier than others.

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General Football & Sports / Re: OFFICIAL CHAMPIONSHIP THREAD

« on: December 04, 2023, 10:43:03 PM »

Swansea sacking Michael Duff

Yes Duff was known for pretty direct football in previous jobs which made it a surprising appointment in the first place given the Swansea blueprint of passing football. Mowbray to Swansea maybe ?

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Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate

« on: December 04, 2023, 10:09:27 AM »

I'm still waiting for an answer as to why Swift tried a circus act rather than having a crack on the volley ! If it goes in we win if it goes over the bakery we regroup and draw, prats about trying to be clever we end up losing . Others getting pelters over the winner but for me Swift was the one most at fault !

I need to see it again. It looked to me that it was one of those that don't fall quite right to be smashed with a first time volley. It's a split second decision and he obviously thought he had a better chance trying to manouevre the ball. It's one of those things but personally I don't think he deserves any pelters.

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Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate

« on: November 26, 2023, 10:18:40 AM »

Tractors manager Kieran McKenna said our team were technically very advanced with many of our players having Premiership experience. 
Got me wondering exactly how many of our players on the pitch yesterday actually have experienced the Premier League?

He also then added 'or top experienced Championship players' which Wallace and Swift would come under.

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General Football & Sports / Re: OFFICIAL CHAMPIONSHIP THREAD

« on: November 18, 2023, 09:48:18 AM »

I'm prepared to stand corrected but there was no such thing as an International break-even as recent as 20yrs ago.  Just add it to the list of things that have deteriorated with time.

You are correct that there wasn't one in the UK. It was introduced because of lack of preparation time before international  games and late drop-outs due to injuries picked up in league games played 3 or 4 days before the international. We fell into line with other nations  by introducing the international break. Whether it's better or not depends on individual view and the club/country priority.

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West Bromwich Albion FC / Re: Tom Fellows

« on: November 14, 2023, 05:26:14 PM »

I'd be disappointed to see him go. He is a better prospect than TGH in my opinion as he has genuine pace and not afraid to use it, and he's one of our few local lads.  If he were to be sold, you'd hope we'd get a top price for him. By the way, Bundesliga clubs generally pay much less for transfer fees than here.

It sounds as though he's out of contract at the end of the season so doubt we'd get much for him in January unless he renews before then. He sounds and seems an intelligent player from his comments and awareness. Would be nice to keep him here and in the picture.

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General Football & Sports / Re: The Cricket Thread

« on: November 08, 2023, 05:11:56 PM »

Yes it's been an abject display by England in this tournament...it's not just the losing but the failure to compete in a lot of the games. There must have been something going on in the camp. There was also the very strangely timed announcement of the next player contracts during this tournament with David Willey the only player not to get any contract.
Players have massively underperformed. It's as though they've forgotten how to think the game through and just rely on the full guns blazing approach at all times.
As for the call for major changes, maybe but they've just given contracts to the vast majority of these players so there's unlikely to be a major cull in the near future.

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Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate

« on: October 31, 2023, 07:54:22 AM »

Just watched the replay, yep, marginally off I’d say and would have been called by VAR. But hard for the official to call that offside on the run.

The VAR offside line would be the only way to be sure (or sort of sure) on this one. From the closest thing to a side on view available, BTA's body looked marginally off but the outstretched leg of the Coventry defender was obscured and might well have been playing him on from the other angle. There was nothing clear and obvious about it for sure.

As a team, we really look like we know what we're doing - which is a huge thing considering our injuries and spending constraints.
It would be nice to see Fellows get a bit longer on the pitch at some stage. He's obviously now spending his time around the 1st team set-up and seems to know what he's doing when he comes on.

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Albion Matchday Forum / Re: After Match Debate

« on: October 30, 2023, 11:13:14 PM »

Not at all sure BTA was off side actually. They didn't seem to have an ideal angle. In the side on view BTA was obstructing the view of the Coventry defender's foot. From the other camera angle it looked as though they were level or even BTA marginally onside. It was extremely tight one way or the other anyway.

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General Football & Sports / Re: Rugby World Cup 2023

« on: October 30, 2023, 07:41:18 AM »

South Africa complete their 4th world cup win. They are certainly masters of making themselves hard to beat and won this competition the hard way with a tough group and tough games against France, England and NZ in the knock-out stages.
France and NZ are better sides to watch but the South African team does cover all bases and gets the job done.

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General Football & Sports / Re: Rugby World Cup 2023

« on: October 24, 2023, 07:38:25 PM »

It sounds as though the new competition in effect replaces the summer tours and autumn internationals. What they said on Wales Today was that each side would play 3 games in the autumn, so for 6 nations teams they would play 3 games against the Southern Hemisphere teams, then they would play another 3 games on a summer tour of the Southern regions. It may well be, but not sure, that the 6 nations games will count towards the new competition also....as would the rugby championship games.