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Mr T

Listed below are comments made by Mr T between Friday, 20th March 2009 and Monday, 7th December 2009.

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Efficiency trap 9:32pm on 07 Dec 2009 So what Gordon Brown is saying is that HIS Government has been paying HIS staff too much of OUR money?

This bloke is a genius, someone make him prime minister.
Ferguson's kids are all right 1:48pm on 02 Dec 2009 "illustrated perfectly when he literally brushed David Bentley aside to end one moment of danger."

What with a brush? Is such a thing allowed? I imagine David Bentley was literally gutted. Or perhaps not eh?
Progress of sorts but England remain in flux 00:02am on 22 Nov 2009 Blind leading the blind I'm afraid. I was hoping Mr Fordyce might contribute so I could collect my earlier laughs as Mr Well's expense.

"Sometimes you've got to win ugly," forwards coach John Wells said on Wednesday, unapologetically. "No-one wants to do that - we'd all like to put on a good performance, but the weekend's about getting the win.""

What was that then? I'll tell you that was, losing ugly. England looked about as threatening as my mum and she's 62 and has an arthritic knee. On the other hand the all Blacks looked very very dangerous each and every time they had the ball. Damage limitation is a tactic has an obvious limitation. It's about losing by less. England put their bodies on the line for this reason. the system they played never considered that they may win. Now I commend the bravery and spirit of those that played but the coaches had conceded defeat before they set foot on the pitch. England should aspire to better.

What is better? To lose having tried or to lose not having tried at all?
Moody seeks to banish England's blues 10:24pm on 18 Nov 2009 "Sometimes you've got to win ugly," forwards coach John Wells said on Wednesday, unapologetically. "No-one wants to do that - we'd all like to put on a good performance, but the weekend's about getting the win."

Ha ha ...ah ha ha ha.. ha ha ,aaaah ha ha ha

ha ha hha hah

ah haha ha ha ha

ha ha

sniff

ha

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha hah aha hah ah ah ah ha ha ha ha

I've finished.
Weighing up Button's McLaren move 6:38pm on 18 Nov 2009 I don't see what the issue is here. Raikkonen has been judged by those with money in the sport not to be worth the investment. There is a reason why the top teams don't want him. There are better people available for the money both in terms of skill and professionalism. Personally I like Kimi he's a bit of a lad in a sport that's becoming a bit sterile. But he should have been working his nuts off this past season to try and secure a drive. He looked like he couldn't be bothered.
Purple England left with red faces 9:10pm on 14 Nov 2009 Right Tom me again,

Now what did I saw last week? I seem to remember a fair amount of pooh poohing?

People are focusing on the superficial flaws and ignoring the fundamental ones. Yes Wilkinson kicked poorly and Monye had a tough game but again most of these problems were caused by England's lack of ability to pressurise their opposition. You cannot set breakdown after breakdown and expect the opposition to let you somehow run through them. Speed is the key and in and around the breakdown we treat speed as an enemy. The best example in the whole game came when england were on the front foot with momentum and Steve Borthwick tried to pinch the ball from Hodgson, then only to let him play it after wasting the seconds that are important at this level. Why?

The failings were so obvious it was painful. Monye isn't a full back and Wilkinson is not a great kicker out of hand. Why wait 50 minutes before sorting just one of the problems?

The telling shots for me were of the England coaching staff looking puzzled as the same tactics they have applied for the past 5 years failed yet again to produce the desires results. I believe doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results qualifies as insanity.

That performance was terrible. That Argentina team aren't even that good. Johnson is a personal hero of mine but that isn't good enough not by a long shot. The coaches have to think again about how England are playing the game. That or leave and let someone else have a go. I'll say it again England are playing as less than the sum of their parts. That's the fault of the coaches.
Streetwise Aussies douse England spirits 3:28pm on 08 Nov 2009 Tom, I fear that my appearance in one of those skin tight outfits would be slightly worse than that of Steve not the slimmest Thompson (who by the way it's good to see back). I would love to play for England and I have no doubt that the players out there feel the same. This isn't just a flag waving patriotism competition is it? There are serious shortcomings in that performance and they are worrying similar to those discussed a year ago and the year before that and ... well you get the idea. That wasn't a great Australian team and they beat this England outfit reasonably comfortably.

I watched the game again this morning and England are exhibiting the same systemic failures that have hamstrung them for the past few seasons. Ball is not quickly recycled and then the backs do not have the guile to create space. Ford and Wells have questions to answer. If it didn't work last year why is it going to work this year? We seem stuck in about 2003 which whilst it was a good year for Engish rugby the rest of the world have moved on.

Positive points were the return of Messrs Wilkinson, Moody and to a lesser degree Thompson.However what else genuinely positive was there? The lineout was competitive and credit goes to Borthwick for that. However, the other side of Borthwick's play is the same stale pick up, get driven backwards for further slow low quality ball that we keep trying and it doesn't produce results. If teams maintain their discipline this tactic will rarely if ever result in points. Defences simply wait for England to cough it up... and they do. Borthwick's captaincy also puzzles me. Is Johnson sure that he's the best lock we have?

The difference between the sets of backs was also rather obvious. The Australians ran decisively and on good angles. The English backs approached the line, slowed down, went lateral and were for the most part easily policed by an organised Aussie defence. The kicking out of hand was far better than England's. It has to be said that in world terms Wilkinson's touch kicking is a little short of the required standard.

Defensively we weren't great either. It's all very well commending the tackling of Mr Wilkinson but plenty of other tackles were either missed of completed behind the gain line allowing the Aussies momentum and space.

I believe that there's a good team in there somewhere but England are managing the difficult task of making the team less that the sum of the individual parts. Johnson looks stern and says the right things and due to his accomplishments is to be respected. However, if we're looking for improvement where is it coming from? putting better players in a flawed system will simply get slightly better results. England need to consider all aspects of their game from a fresh perspective. Ford and Wells have been great servants of the English game but surely it is time for a change?
Streetwise Aussies douse England spirits 10:31pm on 07 Nov 2009 For all the trumpeting this was the same turgid fare that England served up last year. Yet again they were lacking any ambition and have not grasped that slow ball = death. What was Danny Care waiting for? The Aussie line to get sorted? That's what it looked like.

Jonny is a superb player. But he's not God. If we continue to play a slow ball forward oriented game we'll continue to lose.
Lions ratings 9:19pm on 20 Jun 2009 It has to be said. What the hell was the referee doing? Three times in the match he signaled for Lions penalties only to change his mind. How can a knock on during an advantage constitute such? Its nonsense. The Boks were penalised numerous time in their own red zone with no mention of a yellow card. Phil Vickery was penalised for collapsing the scrum without any warning or explanation.

Croft was penalised after the crowd booed a replay on the big screen! "The Beast" should be renamed "the bore". The ref refused to explain his decision to Vickery as he plainly didn't know why he was penalising him.

The Lions were beaten but the officiating played a part in that. Unless the Lions can cope with the Boks and the refs we're stuffed.

Finally fair play to BOD and Roberts. Absolutely top class, Every time they got the ball they looked a threat.

It leaves a sour taste in the mouth moaning about the ref. But sometimes there's no getting away from it. The officiating today was an absolute disgrace.
Rock blew whistle on economic flop 12:20pm on 20 Mar 2009 So we don't need a novice at these times we need someone with a proven record of not being able to see the writing on the wall?

Don't dare let them get away with saying no one could see this coming. Plenty of people did including the IMF. Gordon Brown simply could not admit that the whole sorry charade was a credit fueled speculative bubble in housing. They are still in denial. Like alcoholics the first step is recognition that there's a problem. Any evidence of this?

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