User Comments, Suggestions, or Complaints | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Advertising
|
Demarini, Easton and TPX Baseball Bats
|
AllianceTickets.com has cheap MLB Tickets. Get all your Colorado Rockies Tickets, Seattle Mariners Tickets, San Francisco Giants Tickets and all your favorite baseball tickets here. We also carry cheap Denver Broncos Tickets, Seattle Seahawks Tickets and Denver Nuggets Tickets. |
For wholesale prices on baseball gifts and equipment, check these stores out! |
Page rendered in 0.5312 seconds
53 querie(s) executed
Reader Comments and Retorts
Go to end of page
Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.
I like to think he was screaming, "My face, my beautiful face!" (Yes, I know how mean that is to say. I'm pretty sure he can't hear me!)
Zlatan really is very good. He has seemed the most threatening in his link-up play. He can win the ball in the middle, hold onto it, and then distribute. Doesn't seem like he WANTS to play that role, though. He's not one of the best in the world as people were saying (and I was sort of believing) a few years ago. But he is an excellent player.
And as I write this, he almost scores.
EDIT: This game IS a time warp. We've gone back in time!
That's always been possible, but both teams should be able to comfortably beat Ukraine and Sweden. Should.
But with the win, you sort of have to go get the 6 points or you could be in real trouble if you're left with just 5 (win, 2 draws). Chasing 6 points over 2 matches doesn't really seem to be in the England game plan, but I could be wrong.
Next match is Ukraine-France and Sweden-England. That's better for England, I would have to think. If they get a win, they very much control their own destiny. Win by two goals and it would only take a draw against Ukraine to guarantee going through.
The France/Ukraine game should be intriguing. A draw wouldn't hurt either too badly, but both need a win to completely control their fate.
It's hard to go out with 5 points. It's only possible if everybody beats Sweden and draw amongst themselves. Then the least impressive Sweden-beater gets the boot.
Just to elaborate on my previous post:
If England beat Sweden by two goals and draw Ukraine, they will have 5 points and GD of +2. In that circumstance, it's impossible for both France and Ukraine to beat that. If Ukraine wins, France can only get to 4 points. If France wins, Ukraine finishes on 4 points (assuming a draw in the third game). If they draw, Ukraine would end up on 5 points, but with a GD of +1 (again, assuming a draw).
Conclusion: the game against Sweden is a must-win (preferably by a big margin). But it's quite possible for a win and a draw to see them through.
And if Sweden can get anything from France, then a draw/win from England would also be sufficient.
I thought the ref properly added time at the end. As I watched it happen I had the same cynical thought you had but he let it play through to just about 95' which was the appropriate adding of time (IMHO). I only saw about 20-25 minutes of the match at various points but I thought the ref did a good job. Not only did he get the stoppage time right not letting Ukraine game the system but I thought he got some tough calls right.
Group A - Russia have to feel very good with the big win over the 2nd best team in the group. Good chance that matchday three is a relaxing one for them. Greece and Poland have to be eager but the Czechs should still go through, I think they'll get the 4 points they need.
Group B - The Dutch are in a world of trouble. Germany will look to go for the foot on the throat and I think the Danes will get what they need against Portugal.
Group C - The one group I didn't see so I can't offer much about the Spain-Italy game. Spain should get through and while I am a bit less certain of Italy i think they will too.
Group D - Somewhat similar to Group C. While it's a huge win for Ukraine I imagine both England and France were looking at Ukraine and Sweden as six points to take. Realistically 4 points should be enough because I don't see Ukraine drawing with both.
Worse yet, once fans get into the stadium, they're treated like children with attention deficit disorders (and sponsor-appropriate credit cards). Throbbing music makes conversation impossible. Embarrassing cheerleaders attempt to whip the crowd into a frenzy with some terrible version of how they think fans act or talk. (Does any England fan really need a Ukrainian with a microphone shouting "1966" at them?) Then there's the most egregious innovation for this tournament: a countdown to kickoff.
They're not all that good and Ukraine is at home. I wouldn't be shocked to see the group finishing something like:
France 7
Ukraine 4
---------
England 3
Sweden 1
Or why not:
Ukraine 6
France 5
-----
England 4
Sweden 1
I don't think England is obvious favorites against Ukraine with home advantage.
Oh you unashamed homer!
*cough cough*
Messi's goal to finish off his hattrick was something else. The first two were pretty nice too, although they were as much about the two perfectly weighted through balls (were those both from Higuain?) as they were about the great finishes from Messi. The third goal, though...man, that was a golazo even by Messi's standards.
RB is simply recognizing that your current standing is tainted by the spurious decision to overrule UEFA and award Given an own goal.
Not sure what this means re: their placement in the Scottish pyramid. I'm assuming they'll be parachuted right back into the SPL for financial reasons, no?
Rumors!:
PSG are after lil Luka. Rumors are flying in the Spurs blogosphere that 'Arry is getting the sack. Liverpool want Steven Caulker for 8 million. Liverpool also, supposedly, want Solomon Kalou. And in my favorite BS story of the day, Juventus are sending Pavel Nedved to the Euros to sweet talk Robin Van Persie.
Not in the U. S. of ####### A! Actually, I have no idea what % of capacity that tourney had though it remains, I will note, the highest attended Soccer tournament of all time despite the expansion to 32 teams. Enjoy Qatar FIFA!
This is not Spurs way. I wouldn't worry about the presence or not of 'Arry ahving an effect on transfers. That's mostly done above his head these days. It just means you won't see any veteran goodness coming in the squad, ie. Joe Cole or Rio Ferdinand. I have mixed feelings about Redknapp and I'm ok with him going or staying but, yeah, they need to #### or get off the pot at this point. Either extend him or sack him.
As for Luka, I think they're stuck until after Euros as Luka will have to negotiate personal terms with his suitors and I doubt that heats up until Croatia are out of the tournament. I am through all 5 stages of grief with him leaving, though. Now it's just about how much business Spurs can do and who will replace him. (I actually like the idea of Van der Vaart dropping into a deeper playmaking role and that money spent on a striker or two, FWIW. That would also open up some playing time for Iago Falque.)
A striker or two would be nice, but I'm not as wild about VDV playing deeper. I don't think he's mobile enough or a good enough defender to play that role successfully, especially given his periodic fitness problems.
Falque is a mildly interesting talent, but if he's anything but a Plan C for next season then Spurs are in some trouble.
I guess maybe what I'm saying is they should sack 'Arry if he's not going to either (a) be significantly involved in and committed to the transfers or (b) be willing to play whoever he's given.I like that a lot. It's a little worrisome to drop VdV deeper given that he doesn't defend, but if they rotate two of Parker/Sandro/Livermore in holding positions, they should be able to do ok. He's certainly got the creative skills to be effective there, though you need a sub from the 75th minute on to pick up the slack.
I think he'd have to be paired with SANDRO!, but he's great at keeping possession and his long passes to unleash Bale and Lennon are works of art. Of course, he'd have to want to change roles, too. Thud should be back to pick up some of the slack when VDV needs time off, too. I'm under no illusion he'd be as good as Modric in that role, but getting a Modric level replacement ain't going to happen, sadly.
Plan C is fine. I'd like to see him brought along, though. He could develop into a Juan Mata-like player, I think.
Sounds good to me--I think that tilts Spurs back a little more to a counterattacking team which is fine with me. That's a good team, assuming we get a decent striker. If I had a few hours, I could list all the strikers we've been linked with...
One other thing. Where does Dos Santos play when he's amazing for Mexico? Am I right that they play him in a sort of #10 role, sitting off of Hernandez at striker? If that's right, and they'd actually play him, he could be a very useful substitute for Spurs - they could bring Dos Santos in to play behind the admittedly still hypothetical striker if they needed a more offensive-minded squad.
So Poland will probably park the bus today- Smuda's already announced he's replacing attacking midfielder Rybus with defensive mid Dudka. Which is fine I guess; the best Poland can hope for today is a draw and I think they do better on the counter anyway.
In the other game I think I'm hoping for a Czech win. At the very least that will give Poland a chance to control their own destiny heading into Saturday (assuming Greece can't defeat Russia, even Russia's B-team).
I'm just assuming he's leaving unless 1) Spurs really have a new manager 2) That new manager makes it a point at the press conference to talk about how much he wants to play Dos Santos. Can't really blame Dos Santos for wanting to leave at this point.
GOOOAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!
Work?
Great, Gekas is on the bench. My Twatball team is not amused.
Now, now, no need to panic like that.
As for Spurs, there are some matchups where playing two defensive mids (Sandro, Parker, Livermore in some combination) is a good idea, e.g. against the most potent attacking sides like the Manchesters, Arsenal, etc. The problem with being a counterattacking team, though, is that it takes two to tango. You have to be attacked in order to counter effectively, and in the vast majority of their games Spurs are going to have the onus of breaking the other team down.
There are only five, maybe six, out of the nineteen other teams that would do Spurs the favor of committing men forward and giving them regular opportunities on the break. When you're one of the top sides in the league, you have to be able to find a way through teams who set out their stall to defend. Because that is going to happen a lot.
One other thing. Where does Dos Santos play when he's amazing for Mexico? Am I right that they play him in a sort of #10 role, sitting off of Hernandez at striker? If that's right, and they'd actually play him, he could be a very useful substitute for Spurs - they could bring Dos Santos in to play behind the admittedly still hypothetical striker if they needed a more offensive-minded squad.
When the Mexicans played mostly 4-3-3, Gio was usually deployed on the right-hand side of the front three. I think that's still his best position. I have not seen much of Mexico lately, but I get the sense they have changed their tactics a bit and Gio is indeed playing more centrally. I think he can do the proverbial job there, but it wouldn't be my first choice of a role for him at club level.
Gio plays with a lot more confidence for Mexico--and often against lesser opposition than he sees for Spurs--so his game seems to play up a bit on international duty. When he gets a cameo with Tottenham, I feel like he often tries to do too much in a vain attempt to impress.
Will UEFA grant Greece some extra goals if they find themselves short?
And in Harry's world there is no such thing as second fiddle.
It's really too bad that Greece didn't join Spain, Italy, and Ireland in Group C. Lots of people are still calling that the Group of Debt, even with Croatia in there instead - but Greece would have made it perfect.
That's a different issue. Harry is quite happy to play guys in positions that are not their best, provided they are his first-choice guys.
Can you imagine Tom Coughlin giving gambling advice?
Excellent.
A post-liquidation Newco should start in the Scottish Third Division, but many believe that some kind of deal will be done to prevent them from falling that far (or, perhaps, at all).
How are the creditors going to get their money? Are they going to sell every first team player and the stadium?
For the Czech-Greece game, I missed the opening 10 minutes (the first 10 minutes I've missed of the tournament so far) and it was already 2-0. Bad time to be on the road...
The administrators have sold the club's assets to Charles Green for £5.5M, so they'll split that.
EDIT: Also, the taxman wants to go after the former owners. Which is a big part of why they didn't want administration.
There's no football game on now, though.
Yeah, we were hoping for that when they made the draw--it was a real possibility--but 3 out of 4 ain't bad.
Happy now?
No, I just lost points.
Mabe if he didn't wear that stupid head pad, he wouldn't play like a rugby player...
18 points right there!
Russia pick(-155) Under2.5(-155) Moneyline (+130)
Draw (+235)
Any picks out there?
The march is provocation, pure and simple.
Unless I am reading that wrong you get better odds on Russia (+130). Which strikes me as pretty good, although maybe an overreaction to 1 game...
The -155 is for the under 2.5 (i.e. less than 3 goals scored in the game). Which looks horrible. I like the over at better than even odds.
The massive "This Is Russia" banner with the medieval soldier on it will not go down well in Warsaw (or my office, for that matter).
You must be Registered and Logged In to post comments.
<< Back to main