England "omens"

[DrS]

Agreed.

Inspired by Paul the octopus, I asked a lizard who lives in the outside wall of the corner of our house. Having put down two identical pieces of cheese with the German and English flags inscribed with a kitchen knife, he chose both of them, which I took to indicate that both teams would score, and then left 4 small bits of German cheese and 2 bits of English. Of course it was 4-1, officially, but it was really 4-2 ...

Impressive eh?

I think I'm going to have to do some more tests ...

[Tony Williams]

God, England were absolutely dismal. Honestly, they were a disgrace from start to finish. And I mean the tournament, not just the Germany game.

I don't know why people are so puzzled that they don't play as well as they do in their Premier League teams.

Let's see: on the one hand you have a group of players who are together all season long, many of them for season after season with the same manager, learning each other's playing styles and in matches together every week for much of the year. On the other hand you get a disparate group of players for many different teams, used to different playing strategies, pulled together for brief periods, will little time to practice and even fewer opportunities to play matches. No great surprise that they don't play that well together - it is a team game, after all.

The psychology is wrong too. They already have the life that most can only dream of, with national fame and vast salaries. That's entirely based on their club performances, nothing to do with playing for England. Why should they care about the World Cup? If I were a successful professional footballer, I think I'd find the World Cup a rather irrelevant nuisance.

[smudge]

I don't know why people are so puzzled that they don't play as well as they do in their Premier League teams.

Let's see: on the one hand you have a group of players who are together all season long, many of them for season after season with the same manager, learning each other's playing styles and in matches together every week for much of the year. On the other hand you get a disparate group of players for many different teams, used to different playing strategies, pulled together for brief periods, will little time to practice and even fewer opportunities to play matches. No great surprise that they don't play that well together - it is a team game, after all.

The psychology is wrong too. They already have the life that most can only dream of, with national fame and vast salaries. That's entirely based on their club performances, nothing to do with playing for England. Why should they care about the World Cup? If I were a successful professional footballer, I think I'd find the World Cup a rather irrelevant nuisance.

But other national teams have same problems and perform better.

The England players are over rated.

I'm sick of hearing biased commentators describing certain teams as "small", or "lesser". Those teams often have more of a team ethic than England and are more skillful too. WE are a "small", "lesser" team. The sooner the pundits and the FA realise this the better.

"Golden generation"...Pah!

[Tony Williams]

But other national teams have same problems and perform better.

The England players are over rated.

I'm sick of hearing biased commentators describing certain teams as "small", or "lesser". Those teams often have more of a team ethic than England and are more skillful too. WE are a "small", "lesser" team. The sooner the pundits and the FA realise this the better.

"Golden generation"...Pah!

Agreed - partly. But notice that other national teams in European countries where football is a very big business didn't do that well either. France and Italy didn't even get as far as we did, and Spain had a shaky start in a very weak group. Note that the German team is relatively young - and maybe therefore more enthusiastic and determined?

[Matt]

Golden shower more like!

Those two extra German goals probably reduced the referee's life insurance premiums considerably.

[Tony Williams]

It's also worth bearing in mind that, as Garth Crooks put it, no serious commentator expected England to win: a semi-final place was regarded as the best that could reasonably be hoped for, with the quarter-finals most likely - only one game further than we actually achieved.

[Croydon Bob]

Does anyone know if John Terry had been shagging the linesman's wife? It's the best reason I can think of for the "assistant ref"'s strange lack of sight at the crucial moment. England was robbed! We should have lost 4 - 2 not 4 - 1!

Strange lot in Croydon aren't they?

And your point is?

[chaggle]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10521867.stm

Paul's predicted that Spain will win tonight

Paul, from the Sea Life Aquarium in the western city of Oberhausen, chose a mussel from a jar with the Spanish flag instead of one with a German flag.

Correspondents says Paul's plumping for Spain has caused alarm in the country, but some analysts point out that his predictive powers are not perfect.

During Euro 2008 he wrongly picked Germany as the victor against Spain.

[polomint38]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10521867.stm

Paul's predicted that Spain will win tonight

Paul, from the Sea Life Aquarium in the western city of Oberhausen, chose a mussel from a jar with the Spanish flag instead of one with a German flag.

I am awaiting with bated breath for Paul's next prediction.

Or will they cut him up for calamari?

[DrS]

They'll not be cutting him up. Zapatero has promised to send a protection squad for el pulpo Pablito ...

[Tony Williams]

But can he predict the outcome of the final, or does he only get out of bed when Germany is involved?

No doubt some people will theorise that the foreknowledge of their certain defeat sapped the will to win of the German team....

[chaggle]

They'll not be cutting him up. Zapatero has promised to send a protection squad squid for el pulpo Pablito ...

I'm sure that's what you meant really

[DrS]

brilliant!

Why do I never think of these things?

I don't know what'll happen now though because I think it's only Germany's games that Pablito could foresee. Spain needs a new oracle. I've tried one of the lizards, I think I mentioned, but he wasn't interested yesterday in forecasting anything! Far more interested in the cold chicken we put out for them, and the lobelia flowers ...

[Tony Williams]

I don't know what'll happen now though because I think it's only Germany's games that Pablito could foresee. Spain needs a new oracle. I've tried one of the lizards, I think I mentioned, but he wasn't interested yesterday in forecasting anything! Far more interested in the cold chicken we put out for them, and the lobelia flowers ...

The classical way of forecasting the future with animals is to disembowel them and examine their entrails (what they were looking for, I'm not exactly sure). If this were pointed out to the lizard, it might become more cooperative...

[DrS]

Even when they eat the lobelia they aren't to be disemboweled!! The very thought ...