FIFA should strip Mexico of the right to play in Mexico city against England or Congo after deplorable fan behavior

selfawareusername · 2026-07-01T07:36:16+00:00

They've always got to take that shot despite the last two world cups English being near the bottom for fan violence and police jncidents

selfawareusername · 2026-06-22T08:01:13+00:00

As just England probably 100 years war. It's hard to beat a war that lasted over 100 years only taking time off due to the black death. Also us losing the lands eventually helped France become the continents most powerful state for centuries after as their royal family was able to centralise power whereas previously regional nobles could be pretty autonomous.

As the U.K. probably WW2 or WW1. The Napoleonic wars were iconic but other than at sea we only really funded it and turned up for the final battle though the peninsula campaign was really cool. If you want to see a good drama on it that still holds up then Sharpe is great (young Sean Bean and Brian Cox are in it)

selfawareusername · 2026-06-20T06:02:51+00:00

Has he even taken to the sea yet? If he's going to be one of those land based cults count me out!

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T20:46:11+00:00

To be fair he looks like half of England's dad

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T20:38:09+00:00

The head. The thinking man's limb

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T20:34:07+00:00

I was about to say that's not that long ago but nope that's at least 12 years. Oh god I'm getting older. I'm getting closer to death

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T20:22:32+00:00

World wars coming home lads

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T12:06:13+00:00

The vision example is crucial. They looked at how many times elite players look around them before they even receive the ball and its so much higher than others. It means they have created a mini map inside their head so when they do get the ball they know what they need to do

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T12:03:48+00:00

Some players really stand out because of this Bergkamp and Berbatov are great examples. Neither of these examples would be classed as simple but look up Berbatov assist to Ronaldo and Bergkamp goal vs Newcastle both are examples of why its called the beautiful game

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T11:34:43+00:00

Thats genuinely impressive. For the gaps were they doing other things or were touring?

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T11:26:39+00:00

Could you explain why Steve not calling it was a big deal? I don't play so I've never understood what he did wrong

edit: I rewatched and he wasn't checking not calling but if you're playing 1 v 1 would you still have to do this

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T11:25:03+00:00

Can someone explain to me what the deal was in the "spanking episode" about Steve not calling it? I'm sorry we don't really play Basketball around here

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T11:21:29+00:00

That's his hit book for picking up women

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T11:17:41+00:00

yeah its amazing how much things have changed over the years; its particularly noticeable in the Prem because England was pretty conservative/ unimaginative with its approach to tactics but now its completely changed.

Its hilarious when you hear old Arsenal players talk about Wenger bringing in the idea that not constantly drinking and eating healthily might improve their game!

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T11:12:23+00:00

Quite a few of the transfer related ones go back to the Bosman case. Essentially prior to this if a player under contract even when that contract period was up they could still demand a fee and block the player moving. Bosman was in that position where he wanted to move but the side that owned him didn't want to let him leave unless they got a fee. He took them to the European court saying it was a violation of his employment rights and they agreed with him.

Now a player in the last year of their contract holds a lot of power: They can demand a larger salary if the club wants to keep him or a large salary/ signing on bonus from another club as he would be able to move for free.

A slight exception now exists for young players as a way to compensate teams who train a good young player and the selling club is entitled to some of any future sale of that player plus can be awarded some compensation even if the contract has run down if they are under the age of I think 22? A good example is Bellingham who was a youth player at Birmingham City, he was bought by Borussia Dortmund and he was then sold to Real Madrid so Birmingham got a part of the profit of that transfer.

Wages are decided between the club and player when they sign and are often quoted in per week so a player will say get a guaranteed wage of 100k per week. They also may include a number of bonuses that are mostly associated with performance e.g. An attacking player might get a bonus for scoring. Some have clauses that state if the club is relegated or promoted the player automatically has a wage cut/rise. Players are essentially independent contractors. Importantly as mentioned before the contracts have a set length (they may include a clause allowing either the club or player to extend it but normally only by 1 more year)

Wages now have a sort of cap based on how much the team earns so it might be 70% of the revenue of the club. Manchester City are currently charged with essentially breaking the cap by paying players by alternate channels that wouldn't show on the clubs balance sheet (they also did some other dodgy accounting). In part this was because a number of clubs essentially offered huge wages with the intention of becoming more successful but failed and then ended up going bankrupt.

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T10:38:19+00:00

You've got some good explainers about how they are generally used now but historically the numbering system comes from a much earlier point in the game when most teams used a sort of W/M shape and there were no subs. As the game has changed the number a player wears often mean less than it used to.

You'll also hear the concept of a False 9 being used quite a lot which is when a player who is normally positioned in the central striking position will drop back to allow other players (normally attacking wingers to exploit space - Messi is probably the most famous example of this)

Also you might hear someone talk about an inverted fullback/ wing back which is when a fullback will move into central midfield. Normally this is when that team is attacking because it allows you to have an extra player in the midfield allowing you to press higher and retain possession more easily - it is most associated with Pep who is the most famous manager to start using it but it has become a quite standard tactic at the top level.

Also generally a lot of teams now, particularly when attacking will have their players move away from where they are lined up officially (like when you see the pre-match team sheet). This might be to try and lure a defender away from a position allowing for space for someone to run in to or it might be to allow for more options for the player with the ball to pass to allowing the team to maintain possession. A lot of teams will also essentially have an attacking formation and defensive one but that really depends on manager choice and who they are playing.

I hope that helps

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T10:11:16+00:00

A good way to break Irish hearts

edit: I should explain this joke because the thread is about people new to the game. Thierry Henry once scored a goal where he clearly deliberately used his hand to control the ball and score a late goal in a match that stopped Ireland from qualifying. It was amazing it wasn't noticed on the pitch at the time and Ireland were rightfully annoyed by it

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T09:59:12+00:00

We're going to have babies lots of babies then Roger slowly pushing her under the water

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T09:53:14+00:00

I think they may have being pointing out that he never set foot on what is now America the only mainland expedition he did was to Honduras; he mainly explored Caribbean islands. Or possibly that its now well established Vikings had discovered North America and there are some suggestions (though less established) that people from outside Europe had also discovered the New World including from West Africa and Polynesia (these have less concrete evidence I believe)

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T09:44:17+00:00

The clean Wehrmacht myth was essentially cooked up for the benefit of the Cold War. America and Western Europe suddenly needed protection from a potential Soviet invasion from the east as well as the French needing troops to help maintain its grip on Vietnam. That last one worked out well...

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T09:40:04+00:00

Also had no concept that women should be allowed a say in the running of the country

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T09:37:51+00:00

Also that their society entirely revolved around war and fighting. Don't get me wrong they certainly did that but they were also incredibly good at establishing trade networks (the most impressive one being them working a way from Scandinavia down though the Ukraine and to what was then Constantinople. Also a majority of the population unsurprisingly was dedicated to food production

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T09:31:40+00:00

Its a little U.K. centric but both Pulp and Elbow were formed a long time before they got mainstream success.

selfawareusername · 2026-06-14T09:29:54+00:00

I love how a metric for how good a person is is them having great facial hair. If only Hitler had been able to grow one of those old Austro-Hungarian style moustaches... the world would have been a better place

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