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Uninventivename

Listed below are comments made by Uninventivename between Monday, 20th October 2008 and Tuesday, 28th July 2009.

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Battle for 2015 3:49pm on 28 Jul 2009 "The only reason why this is bad is that the tickets will be more expensive."

For who? Personally I'll find it a lot cheaper going to a match here than one over in South Africa. Besides, the whole point of this seemed to be so that the IRB get some cash so I suppose high ticket prices aren't a massive shock. I'm glad Japan got it for 2019, but I suppose that wasn't really in that much doubt.

When are Italy going to get it?
Lions ratings 2:34pm on 21 Jun 2009 What really makes me laugh is that when the Lions were winning all the previous games the ref was fine but now they loose and its all the ref's fault!!!!! hahahahaha
The Lions were destroyed in the first 50min and thats what won it for the Boks end of!
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Actually if you read over match reports/commentaries/interviews with Geech/analysis from almost all of the warm-up matches you will find comments about the referees and interpretation of the law, especially at the scrum and breakdown. I'm not neccessarily saying the ref lost the Lions the match yesterday, I just think it's untrue to say that the ref has only become a problem now that we've lost when actually there have been many comments about the refereeing in matches we've won comfortably.
Lions ratings 2:29pm on 21 Jun 2009 Some depressing comments on here from people who are obviously keen to put forwards their own country's players (or just to bash players from opposing countries). I didn't think yesterday was too bad, in the end we were probably a bit unfortunate not to win it but it was our own fault I guess. There are very few players that I think DEFINITELY need to be out of the team next week but sadly for him I think Vickery has to be one. Whether it was the ref or not he had a 'mare and can't have much of a chance of starting again next weekend. Mears I'm less sure about, if Jones comes in then he'll have a front-row that's nearer his height but it was his lineouts that were most disappointing, whether that was just jitters or not who knows. I don't think Rees is that much better so it's bit up in the air.

I also think one of Wallace or Heaslip needs to make way for Williams as it seemed to be like it was our players' techniques that was letting us down at the breakdown rather than their power. While I'm on this I don't know why some people are criticizing Croft for his work at the breakdown, he surpassed my expectations and I thought he was clearing players out very well. To help the clearout we need some beef in second row, I guess Jones has to make way as we can't drop O'Connell and Jones' lineout ability wasn't really used in the first test.

I thought the backline were, by and large, fine. Obviously Bowe wasn't anywhere near his best, Phillip's service was a bit dodgey and Monye's inexperience was shown up but with Phillips and Monye these were risks that were known before the game and Geech still picked them. Bowe should obviously keep his place, one average game doesn't mean he's average. I thought Jones looked a lot better when we were running the ball more, his distribution was much better than his kicking.

Team for next week:
15: Byrne (Kearny if injured)
14: Bowe
13: O'Driscoll
12: Roberts
11: Monye (Although I'm sure many will disagree)
10: Jones
9: Phillips

1: Jenkins
2: Mears?/Rees?
3: Jones
4: Shaw/Hines
5: O'Connell
6: Croft
7: Williams
8: Heaslip/Wallace

I know Monye and even possibly Heaslip may be a bit controversial but I think it's really up to the midweek players to force themselves into the team. Only Vickery was bad enough to be a definite non-starter for next week and Wallace and Jones are neccessary casualties to the breakdown battle. If anyone plays amazingly in midweek they could step up but apart from that I think the team should remain predominantly the same.
It's now or never 3:58pm on 11 May 2009 In an ideal world for me West Brom would stage a late comeback and stay in the Premier League at the expense of Hull, who get relegated along with Newcastle and Boro. As that's unlikely I suppose the next best solution would be Boro staying up at the expense of Hull, I'll basically be happy so long as Newcastle and Hull are relegated.

This is pure schadenfreude, I make no excuses for it, it's a great British pastime. I'd love to see Newcastle go down as I'm fed up of hearing about what a big club they are, fed up of them thinking they have some unique understanding with their club and fed up of hearing how the next ex-player manager is going to be a hero. They also add nothing to the League with their squad and style of play as it is. Hull I'd like to go down because Brown is too cocky for his own good and because they've done absolutely eff all since November or whenever it was. I'd love West Brom to make an epic comeback as I feel they've found their feet now and I appreciate their style but it's unlikely and if Boro stay up I'll be happy enough as I like their squad and their manager.

Those are my views, feel free to care as little as you like.
Multi-skilling's the name of the game 6:38pm on 27 Mar 2009 Do some people really have nothing better to do then read a blog they don't like so they can moan about it? Actually, silly question, this is Britain, any time spent moaning is time well-spent. People always seem to be under the impression that if a part of the BBC's output doesn't meet their demands then it's a waste of their license fee. In actual fact the license fees are used to cater to the ENTIRE population, so there are bound to be parts of the BBC that other people like and you don't.

Anyway, cracking blog this week, probably the best Robbo's come out with for the past few weeks, most amusing.
Six Nations Team of the Tournament 2:18pm on 23 Mar 2009
It?s down to performances in the 6 nations for TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT.
Although was player below par and finished 4th over all it came down to the last game of the tournament WALES VS IRELAND.
England where out of the running after the 3rd game.
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That's a very misleading comment as it's really just down to the way the schedule was rather than any fault of England's or triumph of Wales'. If England had Ireland as their last match then I'm confident it would have been them who were playing for the tournament on the last day - plus, to be fair, Wales had an easier schedule than England, who had to play both Wales and Ireland away.

That said, I can't really think of any English players who should have made this Tournament XV and haven't. I think a lot, such as Armitage, Croft, Worsley and Cueto, wouldn't be far behind those who did get in. But I don't think either Stephen Jones or Mike Phillips should be in a Tournament XV, they weren't that good, although I would have both of them in my Lions team (but not beacuse of how they played in this Six Nations).
Mallett's mad experiment backfires 11:49am on 08 Feb 2009 I thought England were terrible yesterday, but then Italy, even when they're playing badly themselves, have the tendancy to make their opposition look bad. With their forward pack they are a team of spoilers and very good at it as well.

Having said that, I'm not optimistic about England's chances. I was absolutely stunned at how rarely the ball was passed along the line, I think the ball went through the centres from Goode less than five times in the entire match, which is simply unacceptable. How can any team play rugby like that? Even Italy passed it to their backs way more than England did. I can't even remember Sackey touching the ball except for when Italy kicked it to him.
Big four toil as Celtic show spirit 1:18pm on 06 Nov 2008 Well nothing really happened last night that surprised me greatly, this is a good article but slightly pointless. I guess none of the English teams winning is something to write about but it's hardly a complete shocker, it can happen. All four should still qualify, and probably top of their groups as well (although Chelsea have been surprisingly out-of-sorts in the CL).

As expected all the standard platitudes kept in store for SPL teams facing English opposition are being wheeled out, lots of talk about "bravery" and "grit" and "bodies on the line" as per usual. I suppose these are all laudable qualities but I do get a bit tired of it happening seemingly whenever Celtic play an English team in the CL. In fairness though I guess you're only ever going to dig in and defend if your opposition cost about £150 million more than you.

Amusing to see Ince's chat brought up again, don't really know why he felt the need to comment on the first game but, dodgy goals or not, his comments were pretty accurate. It's often men against boys at Old Trafford whether the opposition are English or Scottish.
Kissing in the wind 7:01pm on 30 Oct 2008 Modern footballers have no honour, cash is their only incentive, how dare they make vacuous gestures of loyalty when we all know they don't mean it, blah blah blah.

Heard it all before but whatever, am I the only football fan in the country who doesn't expect any loyalty from players and managers? I don't really mind it when a player moves on, even if it's unexpected, likewise with a manager although I obviously respect and appreciate loyalty to a club.

I wasn't that bothered when Berbatov left (although we all knew that was coming), I was surprised, but not angry, about Keane leaving, I thought Ramos getting fired was a shame but expected and if I was a Pompey fan I would not care about Redknapp leaving. Yes, Tottenham are my club but I don't expect players and managers to be as committed to them as myself, playing or managing Tottenham is their job. Unless they have a special loyalty to the club they will treat it as a job, doing their best while they are there in the hopes of better opportunities coming along. In football, as with Redknapp, these opportunities can be more sudden and fleeting than in other work environments and so occasionally unexpected and sudden departures of players and coaches does happen, I don't take it as a personal snub when it occurs.

The one-or-two-second long act of kissing the badge signifies nothing except that at the moment the player does it they want to express their pride, at that time, for playing for the club, it doesn't neccessarily indicate a life-long commitment to the cause. I feel too much is made of the lack of the loyalty in the modern game, our clubs are special to the fans but it is not unreasonable of players and coaches at them to treat it like a regular job.
Blame is the Spur 4:00pm on 20 Oct 2008 Good article, Spurs have let me down big time so far this season and, as an above poster said, it's kind of difficult to pinpoint why. I know we apparently sold all of our goals but you would think that Bent and Pav would be capable of something wouldn't you? Or the midfield chipping in? That's a point actually - have any of the midfield scored yet this season (in the League)?

One problem, as has been pointed out, is that our squad is far too light-weight. I think too much has been made of this - if they were all tracking back and marking their men properly it doesn't matter how big you are (so long as you're not Lennon or Modric) - it's just about getting in the way. I think Modric could come good but we need an anchoring midfielder, Diarra would have been great if it had ever happened, as otherwise Modric doesn't have the freedom to get forwards.

I think the players have been poor so far - what's happened to Bentley? - but this is in part due to our ever-changing first XI and Ramos really needs to pick a team and stick with it. The past few matches have been a missed opportunity in this sense as it was our easiest run of the fixture list and yet we still changed every week and have come out of it with nothing when it was a good time to get some continuity going, regardless of results. Instead we have emerged without either continuity in the team or points.

We may as well stick with Ramos, I wanted Jol to stay but thought Ramos would be a great manager when he arrived. We've made our bed and may as well lie in it as Ramos can surely turn it around given time. More changes is definitely not what is needed right now.

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