Search the Community

Perhaps the postponement of the weekend fixture against Wolves is actually a blessing in disguise for a squad that has looks so out of sorts so far this season. Yes we have been badly hampered by having so few available options in midfield, but that does not entirely explain why so many players have fallen off a cliff form-wise, or why everyone just looks so sluggish. Apart from Bournemouth chasing shadows, we have been outrun by every team we have faced this season, and there has been a notable lack of hunger from all but a few individuals. I get the feeling the Queen wanted to see out her jubilee and be able to mark her 70th year on the throne (I live with people who seem to spend that long on the throne themselves so I don’t consider it to be a special feat!), and she perhaps wanted to fulfil her obligation to formally usher in the new prime minister following the Tory party members’ vote this past week. The Royal Family’s PR machine has long been leaking stories about her distaste towards Boris the Biff for lying to her regarding the proroguing of parliament, and no doubt they pushed to keep his illegal Downing Street gatherings in the spotlight especially as one of them took place at the very time The Queen was forced to observe Covid social distancing protocol and sit alone in the church at her husband’s funeral. Anyway, I digress. The timing gives our squad, our coaching staff, the owners and hopefully the fans a chance to reflect and recalibrate. What’s needed to help that along? Wisdom. Intelligence. Nerve. Never-say-die attitude. Intensity. Nous. Grit. I don’t ask for much. The two sides met in the group stage 2 years ago, with Ajax then led by Erik Ten Hag. This was at a time when lockdowns were still in place across much of Europe, and matches had to be played in empty stadiums. The two Manchester clubs in particular seemed to benefit the most from that environment. City could actually treat matches like training exercises where no fans are present, and United players (especially Fernandes) squealing for everything meant that the Professional Game Manchester-based Officials Limited sided even more ridiculously in their favour. The game against Ajax took place at the beginning of December 2020, and we came away from Anfield with a 1-0 win thanks to a nice bit of athleticism from Curtis to steer Neco’s deep cross from the right into an unguarded net from an acute angle after Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana lost the flight of the ball and made a right hash(ish, see what I did there?) of trying to claim it. We had other chances but Ajax had a few themselves, with Queef having to be bright and alert to keep out 80 year old Klaas-Jan Huntelaar’s headed effort late in the game. I’m not sure if the likes of Johan Neeskens, Johnny Rep and John van’t Schip are still in their squad. The 1-0 win meant we claimed maximum points against the Dutch side, having won 1-0 at the Johan Cruyff Arena a few weeks earlier in the opening game of the group. The win secured our safe passage to the knockouts in top spot. Here’s a short vid of the action from the Anfield game. On 1st December 2020, cinema-goers were flocking to see Paul W.S. Anderson’s video game adaptation Monster Hunter. He’s the guy behind the likes of the Resident Evil film franchise (also headlined by Milla Jovovich), and his filmography is basic all stuff of this sort (Mortal Kombat being another example). The similarly-named Paul Thomas Anderson is the one behind more acclaimed fare like Boogie Nights, Magnolia and There Will Be Blood. So W.S. is loud video gamey shit, and Thomas is watchable character-driven work. Monster Hunter is one I have seen though I’ve never played the game, and it is quite similar to the far superior Aliens in terms of plot. A team of Earth-based security personnel (in Aliens it was colonial Marines) are dispatched to another realm to investigate the disappearance of a group of soldiers (in Aliens it was scientists). Of course they get picked off one by one. And Jovovich's character is no Ellen Ripley. It’s flashy but far too busy and with a clunky script. Has there ever been a film based on a video game that doesn’t have clunky dialogue? People pay good money for stupid so there will always be a market for this type of film, and Paul W.S. Anderson will always have a career. Am I being harsh? I wonder what sort of review Empire would give this one. It used to be a quality magazine with a really interesting mix of genres and topics covered, by I jibbed off my subscription to them years ago when they started filling whole issues with Star Wars or Tolkien or Harry Potter. And they fawned over Tarantino a bit too much too. Donald Trump and Georgia Republicans were getting pelters on 1st December 2020 from state officials over their claims that Georgia’s electoral ballot had been rigged and that Trump had won the state. Gabriel Sterling, the COO to the Georgia Secretary of State (and also a Republican, as was Secretary of State for Georgia Brad Raffensperger, and state Governor Brian Kemp), told the press that officials were receiving death threats over their position to not force a recount or declare the state results null and void. He was at pains to stress that this barrage of unfounded claims needed to stop before someone did something stupid that resulted in bloodshed. It’s incredible that the Republicans were so vocal about voter fraud and election rigging when they were doing everything they can to rig the system and make it difficult for people especially in densely populated areas where minorities live (the thinking being that minorities are more likely to vote Democrat if given the chance) to vote. Gerrymandering in the state. Filibusters in the House and Senate. The same individual casting a vote in multiple states. Getting the dead to vote. Then of course followed the events of 6th January 2021 when Trump and his followers incited an insurrection and storming of The Capitol to prevent a transition of power and the inauguration of presidential election winner Joe Biden. A bunch of people did something stupid that resulted in bloodshed. Ajax are a club in transition after their coach and several key players from the last few years left the club over the summer. They have a 100% record in the Eredivisie but they are still bedding in a number of new players. The new coach is Alfred Schreuder, who won the Belgian league with Club Brugge last year and had previously been assistant to Ten Hag at Ajax, as well as at Barcelona under Ronald Koeman. I don’t know what his general coaching ethos is, but Ajax have, since the days of Rinus Michels, generally followed a 3-4-3 system based on passing and movement rather than sitting and countering. Us on the other hand, who knows now? The set-up that has brought us so much success in recent years no longer seems suited to the players at our disposal. We are undergoing a bit of a transition of our own, but that has less to do with players leaving and more to do with unavailability and key components aging. That’s not to say they are over the hill, but they aren’t the same people as the hungry 25 and 26 year old mentality monsters. For a few weeks now I’ve said things like if we show the right attitude, hunger and application, we are good enough to get results. Thing is, these have been noticeably absent over that time. We want to go again, but can we? Did the events of the last 2 games of last season take an insurmountable toll on the squad? After the number of near misses in the league in recent years, and disappointment in 2 Champions League finals against Real Madrid, can we re-find our mojo? Against Ajax, at the very least I would like us to score the first goal! The recovery has to start somewhere, and as I pointed out earlier in this piece, the impromptu break between games gives us all a chance to take stock, refocus and recalibrate. Let's use it.

He'd probably be the best manager in the world. Carl S. Berg.

Mate is on about going to Oslow in a couple of weeks, thing is my passport runs out in September. Have looked online and it says you should get it renewed with six months to spare, but that this is less of an issue inside the EU. Do I bite the bullet and queue like a tit down the passport office and pay over the odds, or take a chance?

Genuine question as I am hearing a few whispers. If Purslow and NESV were to come out tommorrow and announce Rogan taylor would be a fan representative for the club, how would the fans react? I find it unlikely that the fans will actualy get a say or a vote on who they want to represent them but who has Rogan taylor ever represented? he basically gathered a list of email addresses who stated they were interested in Supporter Ownership, then placed himself at the head of it without election or any communication with the fans who signed up. How can Dr. Taylor genuinely claim to represent fans?