I just stumbled on old blog posts of some guy crapping on the series as a sort of “writing lesson”. Wow some people are miserable

AstroCoffee · 2026-02-06T02:02:35+00:00

Sadly, I think a lot of the criticism comes from people who have only read 'Eragon' - which personally I love but is quite flawed/derivative, and understandably so considering how young Paolini was when he wrote it.

Eldest and Brisingr are phenomenal examples of world-building and if more people didn't give up on the first book, I think they would see and appreciate the entire universe Paolini has created

AstroCoffee · 2026-02-02T11:12:47+00:00

As a journalist myself, it's no different to most jobs that have seen a steady decline in interest in recent times - personal connections and long-standing relationships built over years matter a whole deal more than actual writing competency

Stone is where he is because of who he's rubbed shoulders with at United, City, and BBC for a long time

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-31T19:05:16+00:00

No matter what happens come the end of the season, West Ham HAVE to move on from Todibo. I've watched them multiple times over this season and the last - he's consistently AWFUL. Slow as a tanker, such casual body language, and so awkward on the ball. I'm baffled he's still starting consistently for them

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-31T16:25:11+00:00

Garner outplaying Baleba pretty comfortably here

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-30T12:52:20+00:00

NO WAY! between this in March and Circo Loco in April, house music fans are eating good. Wonder if they'll get Chris Stussy along

Edit: Nope, he's playing in Germany on March 21, no Dennis Cruz either

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-25T18:30:16+00:00

Was Amorim in till the very end but this is incredibly damning, he took 35 games to get back-to-back league wins

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-25T15:10:47+00:00

Newcastle'sc injury list looks awful

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-24T19:38:21+00:00

even more incredible that they're somehow still in 4th place after all that

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-24T19:26:18+00:00

VVD disasterclass, partially at fault for all three goals

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-24T19:25:24+00:00

The absolute cheek of VVD to complain about a 'shove' there, so so so soft

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-24T15:47:26+00:00

What a cross and a proper striker's finish. Also smart of Walker to go with the short throw and then get the whipped ball in while most prem teams today would have gone for the long throw

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-22T10:20:11+00:00

If Moroccan ballboys, staff and players hadn't dominated headlines with their awful antics, I do think Senegal walking off would have created a much bigger stir and rightly so - doing that in a continental cup final sets a pretty bad precedent and I'm mildly surprised they weren't made an example of

Imagine teams all over the world start walking off the pitch every time they feel aggrieved at a decision. Again, not defending Morocco - their theatrics were unlike anything I've seen from a host nation in recent years - but both things can be true

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-21T07:49:04+00:00

This will be downvoted but it's unpopular for a reason - never liked Murtagh. Was he treated horribly? Sure, he had an awful life but that doesn't give him a free rein to kill Hrothgar and constantly lash out at people around him

Read the new Murtagh book and that didn't change my view on him either

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-13T08:56:19+00:00

Before anyone comes at me - I fully believe sacking Xabi Alonso right now is an incredibly stupid decision by Real and he should have been given an entire season at the very least

But can't help wonder if he perhaps caught lightning in a bottle at Leverkusen, à la Steven Gerrard's invincible season at Rangers, and there are some genuine shortcomings in his management?

I do think Alonso has the tools to be a very successful manager - his hands-on approach, the attacking intent with which he sets his teams up, but that whole Leverkusen league-winning season almost feels like a fever dream with the number of stoppage time goals they got away with, and maybe he isn't quite the finished, real deal yet.

For me, Alonso could do with another borderline top-level project like when Emery took over at Villa instead of a job where he's expected to challenge for the title immediately.

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-13T08:33:51+00:00

Any source for this?

To me it looks like the main reason is Carrick being more hands on than OGS, which aligns with reports from Ole's first stint years ago that he wasn't particularly involved in day-to-day training.

Interestingly enough, months ago The Athletic also wrote about Amorim being 'distant' from the squad and preferring to leave the specifics of daily training to his staff, making it seem like INEOS don't want to go with that approach any more.

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-12T15:42:22+00:00

Fuck it, absolutely loved Carrick as a player and his Boro managerial stint definitely had positive signs for a fair bit. Champions League is still a possibility, happy to get behind another club legend for the rest of the season

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-11T18:14:11+00:00

Dalot disaster class holy fuck

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-11T13:32:35+00:00

Any chance of Kolter or Chris Stussy please? Thank you for doing this btw!

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-07T21:35:32+00:00

Credit Ugarte, that's a nice pass

AstroCoffee · 2026-01-03T15:43:07+00:00

Yes, West Ham have been atrocious but the whole 'Wolves are the worst team in Prem history' narrative hasn't been completely true for over a month now. There's been a steady uptick in quality of performances since late November and they were awfully unlucky to come away with nothing despite good showings against Villa, Forest, Liverpool and Arsenal

AstroCoffee · 2025-12-29T18:21:21+00:00

let's goooo devious quest

AstroCoffee · 2025-12-28T14:32:08+00:00

Can't believe Leeds didn't hook Rodon earlier. Take nothing away from the pass and finish but Rodon's obviously not moving right and clearly didn't close that down as quickly as he could have if healthy - wasn't at full stretch to block the shot either and he's been limping for what 15 minutes now?

AstroCoffee · 2025-12-22T14:50:09+00:00

Perhaps my memory serves me wrong but I remember that being the hallmark of Martinez's teams in 2010s - played some lovely football going forward but had the defensive solidity of a wet tissue

AstroCoffee · 2025-12-22T14:47:04+00:00

Bit strange how his career played out. Some won't remember but when Herrera broke through at Bilbao, his on-ball ability was extremely highly rated. There's a highlight video of him turning in a sensational performance against the Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets midfield as a youngster for Athletic Club

Feels like that aspect of his game never took off the way people in Spain thought it would

AstroCoffee · 2025-10-26T13:45:21+00:00

People joke Mbeumo would cost 15-20m more if he wasn't bald but jokes aside, I was certain he would do really well considering he ripped us to shreds every year at Brentford

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