RedRock

Another decent game - Iceland vs Italy. Got to say the technique of striking of the ball in front of goal has improved enormously in the Woman’s game. Absolutely belter for Holland’s third, and great one this evening too. The foot to ball contact so clean and precise, hit perfectly. Other observation is that the Woman presenter at half-time and the blonde pundit were excellent. No need for positive discrimination, appoint solely on talent and the cream inevitably rises to the top be that male, female or purple-coloured with green spots.

Yep… that full kit looks very smart indeedy. Always think that if you feel good in a kit it gives you an extra 0.1% performance. As LJ would say, every little % matters. Ticks the ‘visibility’ and ‘physical presence’ boxes too.

Just reading about the chap who blagged his way into the Open Qualifiers on the BBC Sport website. Hilarious. Reminds me of my only golfing ‘honour’. I played the Brabazon at The Belfry while working in Tamworth. We had a group of lads some of whom were proper golfers with single handicaps, others like me played the municipal course for fun. Anyhow, The Belfry in their wisdom released an offer, I think it was around £20 to play the Brabazon, Derby with a meal thrown in! The day arrived, I turned up with my antique set of clubs in a skeleton golf bag dating from the 20’s that had more metal frame showing than leather. First hole I think was sub -double figures, but excelled on the second going for 23! Bastards had designed a hole surrounded entirely by railway sleepers and bunkers. As it was a pure fluke if I managed to get the ball in flight, let alone 6’ in the air to clear the sleepers, then to stop it on a fast green before it fell off the edge, well, that hole exceeded my abilities x10! Wouldn’t give up - despite the pleadings of my group - as it was the second hole and I wanted to register a score! Can remember after I finally putted out, looking back at the tee where about a dozen golfers had collected waiting to play. Nightmare. Did, however, manage to recover and do recall a par on the back 9. My honour was… within two weeks the Belfry banned non-handicap golfers. Belated apologies to all those behind me. We did sprint around the rest of the Course though and managed to finish around the average time taken for 18 holes. Fortunately news of my golfing antics didn’t reach Cornwall, and at another work golf day down here I did manage a minor honour being second closest to the hole at St Merryn (if that’s the name of the Championship course outside of Plymuff).

Yes, it was strange. Even with sub-5,000 attendances the place didn’t feel that deserted and the atmosphere was generally ok (thanks mainly to Mr Harling). Those were the times (with others) when our ‘deflated’ attendance figures were a standing joke. Cue general mutterings from those in attendance about the tax man.

I like Bents. Not outstanding, but solid. Most of the time, comfortably a top six keeper. Needs to improve on dominating his area and distribution. Think he has the mental and physical abilities to do that. My one worry is his confidence. When it takes a knock it invariably triggers a dip in form - not just for one game, but a series. That’s more difficult to address and probably why we’ve decided we need quality back-up.

Why? The LDV Trophy is worth twice the value of any naff European Comp. So we’ll need 6 stars.

Twins congratulations! Give her a curry, that normally does the trick.

I used to park near the Cherry Tree PH. Have changed my parking habits when going to Plymouth more recently though!

No, given all those site attributes… I hope it happens. Just need to add a big dog track within the stadium and a massive, smelly gasometer dominating the skyline outside and it all sounds ideal to me. Fitting for their new place to replicate Eastville as a celebration of fifty years with no progress.

Pity they don’t give Members access too (having bought mine this morning). Think the Club are missing a trick with Membership. Sure there are loads who buy/are tempted to buy Memberships who rarely go The Gate and are located in distant locations around the Country who’d appreciate some discount on televised matches.

I thought they were a really good team, with some talented players when we played them at Coventry. Some time back now, so maybe those players have moved on.

I reckon that SL has bribed the camera operators to feature Alex every time there is no action. Happened throughout the tournament. Also constant reference to ‘Bristol City’s Alex Scott’ so suitors know where to come knocking. Bravo SL, nothing less than £25 mill though.

Well done Alex, decent tournament. Excellent passing, decent tackling, nice goal. Learning points; less diving in making tackles, less diving when tackled. Overall 8.5 and one of the better England players.

HT summary. Israel playing like a team. England not.

Ref’s positioning didn’t help either tbh.

Wish he would stay on his feet more in the tackle. Always vulnerable to a booking and with the Israel players equally ‘tigerish’ in the tackle a gashed shin - at best - waiting to happen. That said, still one of the best on the pitch at the moment. England look like a side expecting to win by just turning up. Fluency of previous games gone awol.

Just proves the point to me. You’re Headlining at Glasto on a Saturday night, top spot of the entire festival, should be the crescendo. We want sing-along festival anthems, how many of those songs had full-on audience participation that brought the house down? Possibly 15-20% or so. Should be more like 40-60% for me in that spot. Maybe I’m getting old and want to release energy and have a good time when listening to the top slot at a festival. Maybe the era of festival anthem bands have past - certainly seems so from the headliners this year - more’s the pity in my view.

I only lasted one song with Billie, she then went on some audience engagement ‘trip’ rambling away about nothing in particular. So moved on quick. I think I’m getting old and need some traditional festival anthem specialists to take the stage. It’s been a bit like the feeling I got of the City vs Cardiff 0-0 match of the Pulis era. Great expectation, f-all delivery.

Well Macca surprised me. Had big reservations about him headlining. Far better voice and energy than anticipated, then delivered an absolutely shite set. Headlining is about entertaining people, not trying to promote your new music or unheard of back catalogue. Would have thought by now he would have grasped that - it’s not if he needs the money! When Lennon graphics came up, was sure ‘Give Peace a Chance’ was coming on…nope. Even the Glasto audience missed a ‘there’s only one Taylor Hawkins’ moment when Big Dave came on. Not a Glasto festival to remember for me. 3/10 at best.

Another decent game for our Alex. Pity that off-side assist. Great tackle and pass. If he’s still with us, will be interesting to see where Nige plays him.

Doing multi-tasking, took about 10 minutes to cheer for the right side. Thought it odd listening to the crowd that the Dutch had appeared to have travelled in numbers for a friendly match! Some of our play, particularly ball control and movement has been excellent in the second half. The fourth goal was something special; some anticipation, power, balance and precision from that player. Entertainment far exceeds that of the men’s national side. Bravo.

Think the problem with Lee was he focused too much on the marginal gains and overlooked the fundamentals unfortunately!

Going to sound a bit like Lee ‘Mr 1%’ Johnson here, but I do hope we undertake some scientific research into kit colours and ability of players to pick out colleagues on the pitch. Micro-seconds count at Championship level. I get it works both ways and our players maybe harder to pick out by opponents, plus we’ve a splash of orange, but wouldn’t want to sacrifice points for ‘fashion’. Maybe it’s just memories of Fergie and that Man U kit change at half-time away at Soton!

Well played Scott. Not far off Man of the Match. Aside from a couple of sloppy moments really impressive, can’t provide a higher accolade than Gerry Gow’ish type of performance,

I think this will be it. I don’t think they look a particular worry at the moment. Think the teams this coming season are pretty closely matched. More so than in previous seasons. No outstanding Clubs, no relegation certs. Very much a lottery. Strong start to the Season with that momentum and the auto places could be anyones imo.