Messages

1

General discussion / Re: The Official EFL Championship

« on: May 15, 2019, 09:42:20 PM »

Richard Keogh was outstanding. Thoroughly entertaining game.

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General discussion / Re: The Official EFL Championship

« on: May 15, 2019, 03:14:47 PM »

Villa were poor over both games, when compared to their March and April form. However, a lot of that was due to West Brom's setup, which was perfect from a defensive perspective.
Decisions for Smith ahead of the final. Hourihane or Whelan? Adomah, Green or Kodjia? The second decision doesn't seem to have any good option right now.

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General discussion / Re: The official Premier League 2018/19 Thread

« on: May 12, 2019, 09:31:35 PM »

Chelsea signings?

Do you think a transfer ban will stay in place when Abramovich flashes his cash?

They will be signing Pulisic. Abramovich is done with Chelsea - looking for a buyer.

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General discussion / Re: The Super(ish) Leeds United Thread

« on: May 01, 2019, 09:41:52 AM »

Bristol City are still in the frame, at least until tonight. Derby have two tough games, and Boro are brutal.

Sorry, you're right, although even with last night's win I think they would be regarded as a wee bit of a long shot. If I'd my pick, I think I'd choose Derby, but all three of them would be capable of giving us our fill of it!

Surprises me that you'd prefer Derby. They are inconsistent, but are in pretty good form now and have class players in Mount and Wilson who could do something special in a one off game. Boro were better this time last year, when they barely created 1 chance over two legs against Villa. I would definitely prefer to play them if I were a Leeds fan.
Either way, I think Leeds will make the play-off final. Villa v WBA is as close to a 50/50 as you'll get.

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General discussion / Re: The Super(ish) Leeds United Thread

« on: May 01, 2019, 08:55:32 AM »

The Villa red card has been overturned and Bamford has been charged and is almost certainly looking at a two match ban, which is fair enough, given the evidence. However Hourihane has escaped sanction which is a bit of a puzzler, given his complete loss of discipline and what appears to be a moment where he strikes Klich.

Hopefully Roofe will be fit and available and can get back to the form he was in prior to Christmas. Ipswich away on Sunday and a match where we need to get something to ensure third place. That would mean a more favourable play-off draw against Middlesbrough or Derby County, which in turn would mean the heavyweights of WBA and Villa could go at each other over two legs. 

It's been a depressing couple of weeks, but now that everything has (hopefully) settled down, there will be a realization amongst the players that there is still an opportunity to reach the promised land of the Premiership!

Bristol City are still in the frame, at least until tonight. Derby have two tough games, and Boro are brutal.

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General discussion / Re: Las Vegas

« on: April 30, 2019, 07:47:14 PM »

I signed up to N26 (similar to Revolut) recently for a trip to Australia. Perfect. Didn't handle cash once for the whole trip. You get 5 free cash withdrawals per month if you must.

Any reason for not using Revolut?

There was, but I can't remember what it was and it wasn't major. I didn't know about the stuff Shark refers to. I just remember that, when comparing the two, N26 had something slightly preferable, but I could easily have gone for either.

They are much of a muchness. Getting the spot rate on FX is great.

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General discussion / Re: Las Vegas

« on: April 30, 2019, 06:00:50 PM »

I signed up to N26 (similar to Revolut) recently for a trip to Australia. Perfect. Didn't handle cash once for the whole trip. You get 5 free cash withdrawals per month if you must.

Any reason for not using Revolut?

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/revolut-trade-unions-labour-fintech-politics-storonsky

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General discussion / Re: The Official EFL Championship

« on: April 29, 2019, 10:52:36 AM »

I disagree with players kicking the ball out of play when a player is injured. The referee is well placed to see if an injury is so serious as to need immediate attention. In both cases on Sunday the injured player (Forshaw and Kodjia) was genuine in hitting the deck. They both hurt themselves in 50/50 tussles. But neither was fouled, nor claimed to be fouled.
The problem originated by Villa kicking the ball out when Forshaw went down. They were in an attacking position, albeit on the wing with loads of Leeds players goalside. The expectation is then there that Leeds would reciprocate. That expectation should not be there. However Roberts did make it look like he was about to tap the ball out, right up until the second he played the through ball for Klich. That was the problem.
El Ghazi should have his red card rescinded. However (and I’m not sure of the exact laws pertaining to a brawl) Hourihane can count himself lucky not to have seen red as he instigated it. Although I can understand why.
A messy situation in a messy game, that actually had very little riding on it.

Derby should take the 6th place now. The 4 teams are of a much higher standard than last season. Both Derby and Villa are better than they were last year. Fulham were obviously strong, but Middlesbrough were hopeless. Any of the 4 could go up.

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GAA Discussion / Re: 'Bad Birthday' in GAA Underage

« on: April 26, 2019, 10:25:19 AM »

In the North most but not all soccer leagues went on jan - dec years. Used to annoy me as it meant separating school friends. When I tried to change it for the league I ran I was told I couldn’t do it because of UEFA rules.

There’s remarkable statistics though on this. In 2011 more than 65% of premier league players were born in the first 4 months of their school year. For some Olympic sports it’s nearer 80%. There’s lots of studies on birth bias.

Thanks for the info David.

Any reasons why?

The studies suggest that when it came to training the slightly older kids tended to be be bigger stronger etc and therefore performed better. Consequently those kids were selected to compete more often and receive more training etc.

It's called relative age effect.

Explained pretty well here

https://believeperform.com/performance/the-relative-age-effect-in-sport/

In a nutshell, kids born earlier the year (Jan-Mar) will mature physically than those born (Oct-Dec) they will be quicker, stronger and have more endurance as they are just developing quick than their younger team mates. Coaches, and we all have egos, will pick the bigger and quicker players and then focus more of the coaching on these players. So now you have a situation where the older set are not old bigger and quicker or have more endurance but are also getting better coaching. Another off-set is that there is then a higher drop-off rate for those kids born in Q4 than Q1.

It really ties in with From the Bunkers Too Many for One Team thread

http://gaaboard.com/board/index.php?topic=29163.0

There tends to be a physical levelling out at u16 onwards so imho that's when serious competitive sport should start, kids will always be competitive but we don't need to impose winning values on young kids.

Interestingly enough Leinster Rugby changed from u18 rugby born after 1st Jan to u18.5 born after 1st July and this has seen a massive increase in retention at that age group with more clubs fielding than ever before. They replicated this at u20s being u20.5 as well, which has seen an 30% increase in clubs fielding at 20s level. It's just tapping into those kids physically not able for adult rugby but can still develop at their own pace and stay playing the game playing with their mates.

The book "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell goes in to detail on this. From football to Ice Hockey - the evidence is consistent.

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General discussion / Re: The Super(ish) Leeds United Thread

« on: April 25, 2019, 01:44:27 PM »

Yes Villa are flying but i'll be honest I wanted Sheff Utd to be in the playoffs instead of Leeds.  Leeds have been the best side to come to Villa Park this season. I also expect a few players to be rested on Sunday following their 10 in a row exploits. Abraham is gonna miss it with a shoulder problem anyway. Grealish could be rested and possibly McGinn too as he is close to the 15 yellow cards.

McGinn is on 13 yellows so he could play against Leeds and then rest against Norwich if he picks up a 14th vs Leeds. Slate is wiped before the playoffs so he may as well be on 14 cards as 13.
I expect Grealish to be left off on Sunday. Maybe Mings too. Likes of Bjarnesson, Lansbury, and Elphick could do with games.

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General discussion / Re: The Masters 2019

« on: April 14, 2019, 06:34:55 PM »

Molinari rock solid, gonna take a major balls up by him somewhere over the last 8.  No one seems to be making a charge at present.

There’s the balls up. In the water.

And again

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General discussion / Re: The Masters 2019

« on: April 14, 2019, 05:34:15 PM »

Molinari rock solid, gonna take a major balls up by him somewhere over the last 8.  No one seems to be making a charge at present.

There’s the balls up. In the water.

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General discussion / Re: The Official Golf Thread

« on: April 12, 2019, 06:07:58 PM »

I'd classify myself as a solid golfer. For me that means I can play golf to a standard where I enjoy it  the one thing I am fighting with, and always have, is a slice from left to right off the tee (right hander). Anybody any ideas on how to cut it out? Irons and short stuff has always been solid but when on the tee I have absolutely no idea about the final destination 

Swing path and club face. Nothing to do with swing speed. Swing path and the club face at impact dictate ball flight.

I had the exact same problem off the tee for years. Was perfectly straight (most of the time) with irons. To the extent that for a couple of years I played 3 iron off the tee. Eventually decided to tackle it properly - with some expert help. It was a club face issue which was solved by tinkering with my grip.

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GAA Discussion / Re: Too many for one Team

« on: April 09, 2019, 01:37:28 PM »

We have this issue in our club. Between U12s and U11s we have 40 players. We have entered 3 teams in football, and 2 teams in hurling (as the hurling will be during summer holidays). Our teams play 13 a side, 13 a side and 11 a side.

All our U12s are on our 'top' team, which means we won't win any championship, but all our u12s get games at an appropriate level for them. We don't, as a rule, put U11s  onto the 'top' team, even through some of our U11s would be better than some u12s. The rationale for this is that we want lads to play with their friends, and we know your average U12 might be your best minor.

The exception to the rule we have, with the individual players in mind, is if a player is completely out of his depth at a certain level, we would talk to his parents and him about going back to a team below, so he can be at a level where he feels he can contribute and not be embarrassed.

Likewise if an U11 is too good for his level, and his development is stunted because he is not challenged, we would suggest moving him up.

Those decisions are never made with a view to winning a championship though. We want to win every game we play, but not at the expense of long term development and player retention.


This approach is not universally liked in the club, as some people feel we should play our strongest team at the top, regardless of age. I'm not sure there's a right answer here, but I'm happy we are trying to do the right thing by our players. I'll be at a meeting tonight where we will be challenged again regarding this approach.

Stand firm. Your approach is absolutely the best one.

Read an article last year on Dr Crokes. They have massive numbers underage so field a couple of teams of equal standard at every age group. Not an 'A' team of their strongest 15 then a 'B' team of their weaker 15. It mentioned they do not win an awful lot of underage competitions but have won 13 Senior Championships, 7 Munster's and 2 All-Ireland clubs so it's definitely done them no harm.

http://www.irishnews.com/sport/gaafootball/2018/02/22/news/we-don-t-care-if-we-lose-ye-will-all-get-a-game-joe-kavanagh-on-nemo-s-famous-underage-policy-1261352/

Yep, Nemo a great example too. Of course, they have big numbers which helps. And unlike other duel clubs in Cork city they are football first, hurling second. But they don't win a whole lot underage - certainly nothing close to their record at adult level. Priority is keeping kids playing and understanding that all kids develop at different speeds.
I was born in the month of February. Had I been born two months earlier I am not sure if I would have played past the age of 14, as I would never have got sufficient playing time in the age group above me. I didn't grow until I was 16, and then improved (a small bit!). Thankfully my club has long since evolved to a development-first ethos.

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GAA Discussion / Re: Too many for one Team

« on: April 09, 2019, 12:40:55 PM »

We have this issue in our club. Between U12s and U11s we have 40 players. We have entered 3 teams in football, and 2 teams in hurling (as the hurling will be during summer holidays). Our teams play 13 a side, 13 a side and 11 a side.

All our U12s are on our 'top' team, which means we won't win any championship, but all our u12s get games at an appropriate level for them. We don't, as a rule, put U11s  onto the 'top' team, even through some of our U11s would be better than some u12s. The rationale for this is that we want lads to play with their friends, and we know your average U12 might be your best minor.

The exception to the rule we have, with the individual players in mind, is if a player is completely out of his depth at a certain level, we would talk to his parents and him about going back to a team below, so he can be at a level where he feels he can contribute and not be embarrassed.

Likewise if an U11 is too good for his level, and his development is stunted because he is not challenged, we would suggest moving him up.

Those decisions are never made with a view to winning a championship though. We want to win every game we play, but not at the expense of long term development and player retention.


This approach is not universally liked in the club, as some people feel we should play our strongest team at the top, regardless of age. I'm not sure there's a right answer here, but I'm happy we are trying to do the right thing by our players. I'll be at a meeting tonight where we will be challenged again regarding this approach.

Stand firm. Your approach is absolutely the best one.