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Englandman

Listed below are comments made by Englandman between Friday, 15th August 2008 and Thursday, 8th October 2009.

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No shortage of drama in Japan 12:21pm on 08 Oct 2009 Jenson is in a great position, and I can't see him losing it. The pressure is on Vettel as if he doesn't finish at least second in Brazil, he's gone, and that's assuming Button gets no points at all. He's trying to put pressure on Button because he knows he doesn't have much chance. Meanwhile, Barrichello has to get two heavy points finishes and hope Button doesn't get any points. This is very difficult when you are in the same car as your team mate and it's less competitive than it was.
Alonso to Ferrari could herald golden age 10:12pm on 30 Sep 2009 Very good blog. Think you've got it spot on. Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen are definitely the best three drivers. I'd still put Alonso slightly ahead of Hamilton because of his greater experience and knowledge of setting a car up, although Hamilton's natural talent is off the scale and he's by far the most exciting driver. He's been competitive and agressive in a poor car, and has made the McLaren look better than it is. Raikonnen can be unbelievable when he's interested and a move back to McLaren would be good for him. Vettel is a huge talent, but he's still making too many mistakes and has far less pressure than Hamilton did in his second season. Overall, formula 1 is looking good in terms of drivers for the future. It certainly looks better than in most of Schumacher's era, where he didn't have enough competition. Barrichello was his best ever team mate, and he's not as good as Button, who in turn is behind Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen. Would love to have seen any of the latter three as Schumacher's team mates.
Button deserves credit for rearguard fight 11:27pm on 28 Sep 2009 Some hilarious comments on this page, not sure that the negative minority know too much about formula 1. There was a very good blog last week about how the car suited Button more at the beginning of the season, and now it's a little more suited to Barrichello's driving style as various upgrades were added during the season. This makes sense and Jenson has also had huge pressure defending his lead as his car has become generally less competitive versus the others. Jenson should win the title as even if the Brawn is the best car in the last 3 races, which is unlikely, he should always finish near Barrichello. If the Red Bulls, McLarens or Ferraris are ahead on any of the last 3 races, then Barrichello can only pick up minor points, which simply isn't enough, even if Jenson fails to score in a race. Agree with points that Button is brilliant if the car's right, but not so good in a bad car. This is in complete contrast to Hamilton, who's great whether the car is good or bad. Make no mistake, the "real" performance of that McLaren is far closer to Kovalinen's results than Hamilton's. It's hilarious that Lewis has won the same number of races as Barrichello and Vettel and won more than Webber in a vastly inferior machine. Ouch! How he even got close to the Brawn's at Monza beggers belief. So what if he stuck it in the wall at the end. He was having to drive qualifying laps just to stay in touch.

Anyway, here's hoping for back to back British World Championships from two different British drivers in two different British cars. Awesome.
The downer Down Under 5:54pm on 30 Dec 2008 Sure it's not been a great year for Australia, but it's hardly a worry for them considering how they normally do.
What would be better is for the British media to actually report the achievments of our own sports stars outside of football cricket, rugby and tennis more effectively. Then it wouldn't come as such a surprise to the general public when they do really well. Most of our successful athletes in the Olympics were previous Olympic and/or World champions so I expected them to do well.
I don't really like articles like this, since you are getting close to lowering yourself to the level of the Australian tabloid media. I also don't agree with the generalisation that Brits capitulate. Losses come from not being good or prepared enough.
Country for country we are strong at most sports and in sports that are properly organised we are very strong. This points to an Australian-style setup where if you put the money in and get the structure and attitude right, you will be successful. Nationality becomes irrelevant.
IOC steps up war on dopers 12:26pm on 09 Oct 2008 Glad to see that samples are being retested. What is also critical is the reliability of the new EPO drug tests, over which there can't be many stats. We can do without the notorious nandrolone false positive scandals of the past. The drug testing system has previously been self-righteous without being professional or using common sense. Hopefully in the future it will protect innocent atheletes, while catching those that cheat, rather than disqualifying those that have used the wrong cough medicine!
Keegan exit turns heat on Ashley 5:24pm on 02 Sep 2008 What a nightmare for the Newcastle fans. Does nobody ever learn up there that only expereinced, settled sides win things in ANY sport? This is a far greater issue than the lack of funds compared to the big four.
Dramatic athletics - but Britain beware 4:18pm on 24 Aug 2008 I agree that the British performance was a bit disappointing, particularly both 4x100m relay teams throwing away medal chances and Dobriskey's atrocious grasp of tactics in the 1500m. She should have got the Silver. However, UK athletics has to decide what it wants from it's athletes. Do we stay as we are where were're reasonable across most events, but only outstanding in a few or do we just concentrate on a few events like Jamaica in sprinting, Kenya/Ethiopia in long distance, Eastern Europe in field events? GBs men did win the European Cup this season, which apart from the USA, contains every decent athletics nation across every event. However at Olympic level it's only top three that really counts.
The other difficultly is that we have a great history and legacy in athletics, so we expect to do well. What we need to do is focus on the World, European and Commonwealth championships and use those as a stepping stone to 2012. Guys like Martyn Rooney should be aiming for a medal at the Worlds and he should win the European and Commonwealths if he's fit. No excuses now for these guys with the money put in. As others have mentioned, they need to follow the professionalism of cycling.
Are the Olympics the new football? 6:13pm on 21 Aug 2008 The Olympics certainly won't be the new football, but it's great that our athletes are getting the coverage they deserve. Most of these people earn little and have worked exceptionally hard for what they have achieved. However, England's poor performance in the football was still covered on the sport front pages, with the Olympics second. This is disgraceful, and one reason why the media have been instrumental in spreading ignornace about British sport and allowing the average bloke in the street to think that Britain or England are poor at most things. The reality is that many of our Olympic athletes have won medals at World and/or Olympic level previously and it is not a surprise that they are doing well. Outside of the Olympics many of these sports are not covered much and only receive a small column in the news, even when a World title has been won. Team GB has now done well across the board from Sydney onwards.
What worries me most about English football is the talent simply isn't coming through compared to the rest of the World. The people running it are arrogant and incompetent and would do well to learn from other sports, but they probably won't as they look down on them. Cricket and rugby have made a mess of things in recent times, but they have been to the summit within the last five years and particularly in rugby, there's plenty of talent available. Until the media convey a more positive image and cover more sports that Britain is consistently good at, we'll have to put up with the negative images of our overpaid, underachieving footballers.
British cyclists lay down marker 3:57pm on 15 Aug 2008 Great start for them, let's hope that team GB can do just as well as in the World champs in the other events!!!
Why is it so hard for Sotherton to throw the javelin? 2:30pm on 15 Aug 2008 Kelly has to realise that every minor gain made by setting pbs in other events is wiped out by her javelin, since it isn't average, it's poor. I hope she's done so much work on this because if she threw 40m and got close to her best in the other events, she'd be in with a chance of a strong medal. She'll never be able to use the javelin to gain places on other competitors, but if she can limit the damage it would be great. Sorry not to see Ennis there!!!

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