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The Importance of Sport (NEW CONCEPTS)
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Wile E. Coyote


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In days of olde you get away with any tackle, even two footed or foot up, on the grounds of "going for the ball" (the opposite of defenders now arguing they are not trying to block the ball), the argument raged for years until the foreigners outlawed these tackles on the grounds of danger, irrespective of intention. Eventually the English game adapted but only after giving away numerous free kicks in Euro and World Cup games.....for foot up.

The English approach to the handball rule, unlike on the continent, is always why should we adapt, therefore you will continue to get these arguments. The continentals are just getting on with it. In a few years and after much whingeing so will we.......
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Mick Harper
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I don't know what you're arguing. There is no question of 'adapting'. Adapting to what? They have tried their best to conform to the new regime as with the example of putting their arms behind their back when blocking shots. Or, as you have itemised, not raising their studs or following through or tackling from behind etc etc But all these are overt acts.

The hapless defenders I'm talking about have no control over their situation, they are just doing their job. When someone goes up for the ball with arms outstretched (in this case) or is trying to clear a loose ball (in previous cases I've highlighted) they can do no other.

I am confident these foreign footballers you mention have the same number of arms and legs as our lads. If not, that would be a job for Rees-Mogg, minister for post-Brexit opportunities. A fine two-footed stopper for Somerset Juniors in his time though not, I'm told, a great thinker about the game. He can whinge for England though.
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Mick Harper
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Newcastle 2 Arsenal 0

Arsenal are a passing team so we have pass it out methodically from the back. When we do this we play the other team off the park (though we may still lose)

What have every team done to stifle this? Stuck two men on the edge of the penalty area, putting the screaming abdabs up our goalie who hoofs it up the park (though we sometimes win). What have I been saying for two seasons?

Please, Señor Arteta, work out on the training ground how to get past two players parked on the edge of the penalty area without having to hoof it up the park.

Now his contract has been extended he'll have another two seasons to work on it. It was particularly heartbreaking to find Newcastle (Newcastle!) playing it out from the back, us off the park, and Arsenal out of the Champions League for another season.
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Wile E. Coyote


In: Arizona
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Mick Harper wrote:
I don't know what you're arguing. There is no question of 'adapting'. Adapting to what? They have tried their best to conform to the new regime as with the example of putting their arms behind their back when blocking shots. Or, as you have itemised, not raising their studs or following through or tackling from behind etc etc But all these are overt acts.


To Wiley if you were looking at something major that players could not adapt to, then you will get a rise in penalties. I only have figures for all penalties not just handball.

During the 90s you used to get 50-70 penalties a season, this has risen, but the rise is really since 2006 as you now normally get 80-110 penalties. Last season was really high 124, but it's back down to 94 this year so far, 22 of which have been conceded by Norwich and Wolves. Liverpool haven't conceded a penalty all season, Man City only one. It's simply not an issue for clubs, unless you are of the mindset (as many are) that one key decision can make or break a season.
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Mick Harper
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Most interesting. Liverpool and Man City are the only teams that never have to resort to a siege mentality, even against one another, because of their brand of swift counter-attack when defences are not set with a ball flying in somewhat haphazardly. You have to be great to be this good.

On your own figures, Premiership teams typically give away five penalties a season which, since games are normally decided by a single goal margin, could be the difference between the various levels -- relegation-haunted, comfortable, bucking for Europe, top four etc. This must be added to the one other single-factor game-decider, having a man sent off, since these penalty decisions often involve that as well.

Definitely, I would have thought, an issue for clubs, rather than a mindset that one key decision can make or break a season.
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Wile E. Coyote


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I suspect the penalty rise from 2006 was to do with the design of the new Adidas balls, difficult to prove though...certainly when Wiley was left back for the Wildern Wanderers, you wouldn't want to get in the way of a sodden leather football and your hands were protecting your manhood.
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Mick Harper
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You raise an important point.

First: is lining up in a wall 'a natural position'?
It used not to be, now it is.
Second: is having your hands cupped round your dangly bits 'a natural position'.
Not 'alf it ain't.
Third: is the free kick clanging into your hands a pen?
All day long.
Fourth: what about the bloke lying down so others may jump up? Is that a natural position if the ball clangs into his hands?
The jury's still out. He could, after all, face the other way without loss of function.
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Mick Harper
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Wimbledon stripped of ranking points over ban on Russian players
Wimbledon effectively reduced to exhibition event
Men’s ATP tour said it saw ‘no option’ but to act over ban

This is incredibly brave of the ATP. Stoopid but brave.
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Mick Harper
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"And Ross Barkley scores his first goal of the season" commentator, Match of the Day

What sad words on the last day of the season. For Ross Barkley. What possesses him to spend years of his short footballing life not playing football? The only thing he has ever wanted to do his whole life. Does he think he will get so much better or Chelsea will get so much worse that he will be allowed to play football?

I don't know how much more he gets for not playing football at Chelsea rather than being the ever-present midfield dynamo and darling of the terraces at, say, Crystal Palace. Or, I'm not ruling it out because I dunno what long-term effect not playing football has had on his football, QPR. But however much it is, Ross, take it from an old pro like me, it ain't worth it.

I could have been JK Rowling if I'd wanted to be. Though I agree anyone can be a first team regular in Scotland.
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Mick Harper
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Thibaut Courtois 0 Real Madrid 1

Yes, Liverpool should have won but why is nobody surprised that Real Madrid did instead? There is something grown-up about these foreigners we haven't cracked yet. I'm only mentioning it now 'cos it'll be the same come the World Cup. Being better is never enough.
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Mick Harper
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With the Giro over (we came ninth) this sporting life is over. First Test against New Zealand on Thursday -- they've appointed a New Zealand coach for it -- but otherwise it's a bleak prospect. And to think, if it weren't for those brown envelopes we'd be gearing up for a long hot World Cup. The Liverpool lads and les flics were in training and everything.
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Grant



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Harry Kane hits the half-century. Sad that it was a penalty and even sadder that he went down when the German defender was three feet away. But to hear the commentators it was up there with one of Messi’s finest
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Wile E. Coyote


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Mick Harper wrote:
Thibaut Courtois 0 Real Madrid 1

Yes, Liverpool should have won but why is nobody surprised that Real Madrid did instead? There is something grown-up about these foreigners we haven't cracked yet. I'm only mentioning it now 'cos it'll be the same come the World Cup. Being better is never enough.


Yes their players are more intelligent than ours.

Which of these will you never hear in the the stands?

1) He has put in a shift.
2) They are defending too deep.
3) They need to play at a higher tempo.
4) We need to hold onto the ball a bit.
5) We need to press higher up the field.
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Mick Harper
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Yes-and-no. It is true I was shouting (4) at England as I have been doing with Arsenal all season but the problem is that both have discovered the 'lofted flank pass' and play it almost to the exclusion of everything else. Note the stages:

1. Back four (or three or five) play it out from the back in the approved manner
2. Midfield do not come back in the approved manner
3. Back four are under instructions not to hoof it upfield so are obliged to 'hang on to the ball'
4. Opposition start to press
5. Back four panic but know they are not allowed to hoof it so they 'pass' it thirty yards in the air to the furthest forward flank player on the opposite side of the pitch from where they are panicking.

More from Deep Thought later.
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Mick Harper
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Second Test

New Zealand 318 for four. Good-oh, a test match from the Golden Age. The Kiwis will declare at 501 for 8, England will be all out for 445, New Zealand will be 205 for 2 and the match will be declared drawn.

The only difference between this and the tests-of-yore was that England put New Zealand in to bat. In those days, the watchword when winning the toss was, "Think abahrt puttin t'buggers in, then don't." Actually it was good we did. A Trent Bridge green-top would have had Modern England all out by tea.
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