Stopharage

Van Bronkhurst sacked. Stevie G incoming…

Can’t the camera folk zoom in on a sad Emir and Infantino deep in conversation. “This is not what I paid for.”

Was it because the attacker was slightly behind the keeper? Don’t you need keeper and a defender in front of you or you’re offside?

The accommodation looks great and such value for money. I hope this tournament is an utter disaster. 6,500 dead migrant workers treated as little more than a mishap by FIFA, the shameful toads.

Good Old Infantino.

To be fair to him it was only the once odd 235 times..

That’s a pretty broad request. Fact/fiction? Genre?

That's a poor, poor goal to give away by Villa. Luiz seems to have dropped off since getting that new contract.

When I rule the world, everyone that has talked this game up on here is going to be sent to the same pit that all those fuckers who got me into Hades are going to. 'I'll have one quick go to see what everyone's waffling on about' turned into 'mad rush to get the youngest to football on time'. A 5 minute nosey turned into a 3 hour sesh. This could test my relationships.

Brentford were great there, held City off well and the CB’s handled Haaland. Actually thought the ref had a really decent game too, didn’t fall for any of the City theatrics in the penalty area.

Hope we don't see any injuries over the weekend's fixtures. Wonder whether there is ever any chat about putting a few reducers on a World Cup opponent, ie.Adams on Kane later. I can imagine the 1990 Argentina team would have given it a go, they were a nasty bunch.

Love Pep’s ‘Dad who begrudgingly has got to pick up the kids from a party’ look on the sidelines.

This is well worth a watch. Seems to be based on David Conn's excellent Fall Of The House of Fifa book. One episode down and it's as infuriating as you'd expect.

I was well chuffed that Maddison got in the squad. He's been terrific for us over the last year and has the ability to conjure up something from nothing. He'll also win a load of free-kicks when/if he's on. There's a decent series on Audible just been added called ' How to Win a World Cup' with Gary Lineker and Cesc Fabregas. Great rapport between them both and some interesting stories shared.

Tielemans is trying to have every entry in the goal of the season competition. Woof!

Putting Chris Jordan on as a sub fielder feels like the cricketing equivalent of the Konami code.

I enjoyed the relationship at the heart of Catastrophe. Dysfunctional yet ultimately loving. And this ending very much was in keeping with the rest of the series. Captured the ennui that can threaten long term relationships with a final scene that resolves nothing apart from showing that the couple are still deeply in love. Excellent use of Arcade Fire to boot.

@MarkN, if you're desperate for some herbs and spices, I've probably got a load spare I can send your way which I won't use. Not sure if that's in the spirit of this endeavour...

The World Cup is going to give some clubs a significant advantage. Read an article a couple of weeks back where Pickford was likely to be the only Everton player going to the WC. Gives Lampard a real opportunity to work on systems and tactics with the rest of the squad.

First day back at work, no lessons, Sky Go making everything more palatable. Times like these almost make the huge outlay on Sky Sports worth it. Think England will win this. Fancy Stokes to step in when it’s going wrong and take a few quick wickets.

Bit of something for everyone this month. Going to buy quite a few of these. I’ve read quite a few of these and would recommend How to be Perfect, Utopia for Realists, Born a Crime, Bit of a Stretch, Shadow State and Barca. Meantime - Frankie Boyle Mort - Terry Pratchett £1.99 Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica’s Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night - Julian Sancton £1.99 How to be Perfect: Moral philosophy from the creator of THE GOOD PLACE - Michael Schur Utopia For Realists - Rutger Bregman £1.99 Bodies: Life and Death in Music - Ian Winwood £1.99 Monty: His Part in My Victory (Milligan Memoirs Book 3) - Spike Milligan Why the Germans Do it Better: Notes from a Grown-Up Country - John Kampfner £1.19 Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now - Jaron Lanier The Heeding: Longlisted for the Wainwright Prize 2022 for Nature Writing - Rob Cowen £1.99 The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera £1.99 Born A Crime - Trevor Noah Step By Step - Simon Reeve A Bit Of A Stretch - Chris Atkins People Person - Candice Carty-Williams Goshawk Summer: The Diary of an Extraordinary Season in the Forest - James Aldred £1.89 The Panama Papers - Frederick Obermaier Scoff: A History of Food and Class in Britain - Pen Vogler £1.19 The Narrow Road to the Deep North - Richard Flanagan Before They Are Hanged: Book Two (The First Law 2) - Joe Abercrombie Don’t Laugh, It Will Only Encourage Her - Daisy May Cooper Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story - Arnold Schwarzenegger Fingers In The Sparkle Jar - Chris Packham Shadow State: Murder, Mayhem and Russia’s Remaking of the West - Luke Harding £2.59 Jeremy Hardy Speaks Volumes: words, wit, wisdom, one-liners and rants Barça: The rise and fall of the club that built modern football - Simon Kuper The Fall of the House of Fifa: How the world of football became corrupt - David Conn Champagne Football: John Delaney and the Betrayal of Irish Football: The Inside Story - Mark Tighe & Paul Rowan £1.99 Hitting Against the Spin: How Cricket Really Works - Nathan Leanon & Ben Jones Billy Connolly - Pamela Stephenson Chasing The Light: How I Fought My Way into Hollywood - Oliver Stone Animals- Sara Pascoe £1.99 Red Dragon - Thomas Harris The Chrysalids - John Wyndham Post Office - Charles Bukowski Inside Out - Demi Moore The Long Mars - Stephen Baxter & Terry Pratchett £1.99 Midnight Tides: (Malazan Book of the Fallen 5) - Steven Erikson The Enchanted Wood - Enid Blyton Riders - Jilly Cooper Rose water - Tade Thompson The Great Post Office Scandal - Nick Wallace

An incredible end to the Zimbabwe v Bangladesh game. Despite the best efforts of the weather there has been some amazing games so far in this World Cup. This is a game to watch the highlights without knowing the result.

Glad I missed most of this game then. Sounds like we've just gone for damage limitation for most of the game with no appetite for forcing a goal. Disappointing but helps to maintain the confidence of recent weeks. 4 clean sheets in 6 games now and just the 1 against us from City.

I'm about half way through that at the moment and it does read like something that will be turned into a Sky One series in the next couple of years to much fanfare and poor-to-average critical feedback.

What an ending. Last ball, could go either way. Get the yorker in....