dockers_strike

Fuck me, the lad bought the old girl some flowers for Mother's Day. There were some Lily's in there. They stink like cat piss!

Had to stick the fuckers in the conservatory and hope the temperature change kills them off!

20 minutes ago, Scott_M said:

I 

I see Guardiola was very vague on his answers in his presser earlier.

 

Neither De Bruyne or Walker trained today. 
 

De Bruyne has stitches in a calf wound.

 

Walker’s ankle is swollen but felt he could have played on, on Weds. 

 

He hasn’t decided on the American keeper. 
 

I’ll stick with my original theory, Walker out and De Bruyne plays some part.

Guardiola is mad if he plays that American lad in goal instead of Ederson for this but, just the overthinking he does from time to time. The lad looked an absolute bag of nerves last time I saw him play a league game. Or maybe he was just shit?

I think both De Bruyne and Walker will be available and on the bench at the very least.

1 hour ago, SasaS said:

In case anyone was wondering, Tom Cooper isn't convinced Moskva was hit by rockets. He still maintains Berdyansk explosions were probably an accident. And the UKR helicopter attack on Russian soil a couple of weeks ago was a RUS false flag.

The man has less faith in UKR forces capabilities than Section.

What are "Berdyansk explosions" bud or is that a separate incident?

The ship was 60 miles or thereabouts offshore, outside the range of artillery bombardment but within anti ship missile range.

I cant see them mining that far offshore and then forgetting where they dropped them causing the damage but it's an outside possibility.

I still think the anti ship missiles is the best, most plausible  explanation until evidence to the contrary is provided.

10 minutes ago, Section_31 said:

 

It's possible a large proportion of its crew were bladdered.

A possible scenario I missed! I did say they maybe were not paying attention though!

7 minutes ago, DalyanPete said:

Is that your opinion? I wouldn't know any of that.

Yes, own view based on recent naval history, engagements and other stuff in the public domain.

4 hours ago, Chairman Meow said:

Not my work, but I am in a few rally car model groups, shocker I know, and some of them do really good dioramas and stuff.

 

One of Colin McRae on the 92 1000 Lakes Rally when he was still competing in the remnants of the Subaru Legacy which had previously had large portions of it's bodywork spread around the Finnish countryside. 

 

 

Superb, mid leap as well!

4 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

I think it could be another draining game. Extra time and penalties are a real possibility.

My fear as well.

41 minutes ago, Captain Howdy said:

I don’t know anything about war and battle tactics etc but wouldn’t these huge battleships be easy to knock over by air attack? 

Single ship on it's own, yes. But usually you'd have a battle group that would consist of surface units each with it's own particular job such as anti submarine, anti air and picket duty protecting the more important ships such as a carrier or cruiser command unit.

This vessel appears to have been on its own and no escorts. It reportedly also sailed a regular predictable course which is a mega no, no but that was probably down to arrogance on the part of the commanding officers.

Even so, a heavily armed ship such as this cruiser should stand a fighting chance of protecting itself. It's when individual ships get attacked by multiple systems even heavily armed ships can be overwhelmed.

6 minutes ago, Scott_M said:

On Ten Hag, stories today the players don’t want him and want Pochettino and that Ten Hag has told the board Ronaldo won’t fit in with his style of play. 

And the 'other' players dont think Pogba should be given an even bigger contract to make him stay! Fucking brilliant discord in the club now!

1 hour ago, Bot said:

 

What do you do for the 360 days a year were it's not pissing it down? 

Buy the 'Easy wear' shirts that dont need ironing!

Used to iron 5 shirts every Sunday evening for when I was working away in and around Newcastle. Fucking hated ironing so bought some of these easy wear creaseless shirts. Fold them up and pack in a 'pizza box' like shirt carrier and job's a good un.

Apparently we've made an official request to move the Newcastle game from its scheduled 12:30 kick off. Expect Newcastle to object never mind the PL and tv company due to transmit it going deaf to the request.

Kenilworth Road, fucking hell, what a shit heap of a ground!

1 hour ago, TheDrowningMan said:

Longest serving manager in the Premier League now that Dyche is no more.

I thought Guardiola, apparently not!

RIP to the 97. I still cannot get that awful sight of seeing bodies being laid out in the penalty area on that day. That and others will stay with me forever.

To the 97 forever looking down from the sky whenever the boys play, YNWA.

31 minutes ago, Captain Willard said:

Saw this in Tesco’s.
 

Mrs Willard used to work on the delicatessen in Tesco’s in Dunmow, Essex and local celebrity Keith from the Prodigy would come in and be very specific about the thinness of his breaded ham. He subsequently hung himself and Mrs Willard moved away. 

They dont look very tasty!

9 minutes ago, CapeRed said:

At least you got a rise in your pension. Pensioners in Canada , Oz , S.Africa and N.Z.  do not get one only expats in certain countries get it (I am guessing its the ones with small expat groups). Those twats blocking terminals need fucking with the rough end of a pineapple. Just stop using oil they say and switch over to green energy like its just turning on a tap.

Yes, that ex pats dont get an increase is a disgrace. They've paid their NI and met the conditions, why the fuck shouldnt they get the increase like everyone in the UK?

After the sinking, my view on it.

This is a significant loss for Russia despite their propoganda of what may have caused this.

This is a capital ship. The Moscow wasnt just heavily armed, it was the control of air attack for that region. Not many navies now operate 'cruisers,' I think only Russia and the US continue to do so. Their operations have largely been taken over by destroyers or frigates.

That in itself is interesting since now, the Royal Navy's Type 45 Destroyers are, by weight, virtually 'light cruisers.' In the USN where their frigates tend to be larger than their destroyers, they fulfill that role.

The Moscow displaced about 11,600 long tons making this the biggest naval vessel sunk since WW2. The General Belgrano, sunk by 2 torpedoes from HMS Conquerer in 1982, was some 10,000 long tons.

By all accounts, the weather was choppy when news of this incident broke. That in itself shouldnt make it impossible for radar to detect sea skimming objects on a heaving ship. That's one reason why radars are generally mounted on the highest point of the vessel.

However, 'old' radar and firing systems can be overwhelmed by multiple targets where the radar and firing system isnt designed for the task.

The Artesian radar fitted to many RN ship can allegedly monitor over 100 separate objects. But, the Moscow's radar systems are likely old from its last refit early 2000s and not a match for anything the USN and RN has.

Russia claims a fire broke out and set off many internal explosions. This is probably true if the ship was hit by one or two exocet type anti ship missiles. These missiles are designed to hit ships just above the waterline and not the superstructure.

As mentioned before, one exocet took out Sheffield even though the missile's warhead didnt explode. The resultant fire from the missile's fuel caused immense damage and loss of life. It didnt sink her but like the Moscow under tow in heavy seas with a massive hole midships, she sunk.

So why didnt Moscow's radar detect the alleged missiles and open fire? A possible reason is the radar and firing systems became overloaded with other targets ie drones. Or, the radar prioritised closer targets such as drones rather than the further out missiles. Or, the officer of the watch simply wasnt paying attention and not attentive.

One of the procedures to try and avoid these sea skimming missiles if detected was to turn the ship either bow or stern on to minimise the radar profile lock the missile can achieve. That's a brave old tactic especially as many ships now have Close in Weapons Systems mounted midships and they need line of sight to engage.

RN ships are now fitted with Phalanx CIWS something they didnt have in 1982. These are basically heavy calibre gatlin type guns that spit out hundreds of rounds a minute, throwing a wall of lead into the path of any incoming missile. The objective being to hit and explode the warhead before it gets to the ship.

It's possible the Moscow was trying to get its CIWS to bear on the targets but in doing so, presented a 'beam on' target for the missiles own radar to acquire?

Once hit, was the ship doomed? The seriousness of the damage should not be underestimated since the Russians themselves say most of the ship's company was taken off well in advance of them admitting the ship had sunk.

Ships have watertight compartments to try and prevent flooding in such incidents but, add in further explosions and fire, it seems hard to think the ship would make it back to its home port in heavy seas.

It's unlikely a heavily armed ship such as this would just have a fire break out and the fire cause extensive explosions such as to require ship's company to be taken off.

The Russians say the ship 'lost her balance.' Whether that's lost in translation or not, I dont know. But heavy seas, at least one hole maybe two on the waterline and she'll be taking on water faster than you could pump it out. Basically, she heeled over and sank to the bottom of the Black Sea.

Either way, this is a major blow to Russia and her navy and a major coup for Ukraine. I dont think any Russian ship will get too close to the Ukrainian coast any time soon.

37 minutes ago, dave u said:

When was the last game where we actually really turned it on? Feels like we've mostly just been churning out results without ever hitting our top form.

 

Leeds maybe?

Mancs away even though we took our foot off the gas for the last 30 minutes?

Great podcast. Have to say Im concerned at the goals we've shipped recently after being so water tight.

Fingers crossed for Saturday!

Very dangerous to write off Real. Yes, chelsea should have held out but there were shades of Real's game against Juve in 2018 was it? Juve should have gone through but Real spawned the result.

I know exactly where Dave's coming from. If we get to the final and it's against city, tripple dread especially if we dont get past them on Saturday! Please god, do NOT let them win a treble!

I tried a pair of Asics, Decent shoes but I always felt they were a little too heavy as my ankles ached after a run. Tend to buy 'last year's' Saucony's now as they drop a hell of a lot in price

3 minutes ago, Gnasher said:

This is the problem now, Putins a vengeful cunt,

 

 

Yes, he's going to go batshit crazy over this sinking, isnt he? One wonders if his (remaining) Generals will get tired of being the sacrificial lambs and decide he's going to be the one taken out not them.

Hopefully, most if not all the crew of the Moscow managed to get off before the ship went down.

Kinell, this hen comes under attack by a hawk and it's mates, including a goat, come to its rescue!

We have to play better than we did in the league game. Im concerned Fabinho is going to be found wanting for pace again.

Id imagine barring injuries, Jurgen will go with the same team as in the league but maybe have Diaz starting instead of Jota. Bobby on the bench for me.

9 minutes ago, Gnasher said:

"Sunk in a storm" aye pull the other one,

 

 

I should imagine 2 exocet type sea skimming missiles would make a fucking big explosion and damage the ship extensively, even one as big as this one.

One exocet did for Sheffield, a ship half the size of this cruiser. She stayed afloat but sank under tow in heavy seas.

Confirmed sunk! That's an impressive hit by the Ukrainians, over 11,000 tons sent to the bottom of the Black Sea.