lemon revolution

  Another set of average, insipid displays has seen England be dumped out the Euros and without a manager. As ever, the London media knives are baying at the door of the man in charge (Hodgson), with the occasional reference to a lack of footballing identity and the FA's unbreakable ability to fuck it all up. The FA has been fucking things up for English football for a long, long time. Anyone who has played the game at a grass roots level understands how poor the coaching of young talent is, and it's really no surprise to see the likes of Wilshere, Rooney, Lallana and Henderson repeatedly fail to work up a 70% share of possession into a scoreboard mauling. Shearer (Carney had it right - and I wrong - in saying that he's improved as a pundit before the tournament started) summed it up with something like: "we overrate the Premier League. We're blinded by it. We think it's the best, and let me tell you this, it's not. Our players are nowhere near good e...

What a bizarre and utterly frightening day. I feel shit and shot because the castle has been toppled by a pair of fascists. It's truly tear-worthy, and every element of the political spectrum needs to take a long hard look at itself. Richard Seymour was pretty nailed on. The Farage 'not a single bullet fired' comment has to be the most contemptible, despicable and horrific statements I've ever heard from a British political figure.

Only been watching bits and parts (pits and barts) of games the last couple of days. But feels a bit slow. Bit turgid, bit stick the kettle on. Really wanted Wales to win, but the biggest disappointment was how deep they sat. Just invited on pressure and handed England time to pick their passes and set up camp in the Welsh half. And it seems as though this formula is being followed by pretty much every team out there against reputable opposition. It means that players such as Nuri Sahin, Joey Allen (yes), Aaron Ramsey and Tommy Rosicky are spending far too much time shuffling, jogging and watching as the other side knocks it about. Their own managers have no desire to press, win the ball back quickly and keep it. It's pretty fucking dull. What has been mentioned here and there is the new format: with 3 teams going through, there's less incentive to go out and there really hunt a game down on the front foot. I also think, perhaps, that there's a lack of fresh-thinking m...

myself .

First game that felt like a proper tournament game I think. Late evening, both crowds roaring and two high-quality sides trying to take the game to each other. -Hazard. An incredibly gifted player, who's ball control is up there with the very best in the world. But his decision-making unfortunately, let's him down far too often. He's a defender's nightmare: get tight and he'll draw you in and spin you, stand off and that gives him the room to face goal, pick up speed and run. His ability to hang onto the ball means that wherever on the field he receives it (after coming too deep for instance), he usually always finds a way to skip past a couple of men and drive into a threatening area. But it's his final ball which separates him from the world's best: plays it at the wrong time far too much. -Italy. Loved watching them. Was picked up by everyone watching that they looked like a proper team of 11 men working together (Belgium didn't). Whatever Be...

-Both teams with packed midfields, and to my eye neither side looked especially breathtaking. Modric and Rakitic tried to dominate possession and did weave together some nice moves and combinations, though Croatia saw more joy on the break and down the sides of the Turkish block than through the middle. -Both sides not only packed the middle of the park, but also pressed pretty relentlessly, refusing to give the opposition's midfielders time on the ball. This meant that neither side managed to control the game with the ball on the floor. In particular, Turkey struggled to get out of their own half without punting it forward - begs the question, why on earth wasn't el Nuri playing? -In contrast to the fucking shite and typically hyperbolic commentators on ITV, I actually enjoyed watching Turkey. As a unit they ran and fought hard, and when they did manage to progress into the opposition half, made good use of the width of the pitch. Created a couple of decent chances an...

sat in the pub, hard to really focus on the game much. God save the fucking queen was sung in unison by pretty much all 200 people crammed into the place bar commie Dave and commie me. bollocks. Dier looked good, a cracking hit for that free kick. kept wanting Russia to get back into it, never been much of an England fan and don't plan on ever being more of one either. few comments on the way out slammed Hodgson for being nothing other than an FA 'yes man', a conservative bore intent on playing drab football with a team built on reputation over form or talent. sums up my feelings towards the man, a timeless wanker who tried telling el nino aka the kid aka the fucking red hammer to chase paul konchesky's long balls into the corners at anfield, who tried telling fans we expected too much from our club, who probably votes capital C Conservative at every fucking election in every fucking country he's lived in. also the same prick who Gerrard pointed his slimy finger ...

-First half was shite, tepid, neither side look anything like a well-functioning attacking team -If Bilic hadn't gone and got a hair transplant he'd be a geezer -Second half got better, would have loved for Romania to steal it. Were solid defensively throughout the game, and could have knicked it with a snapshot-chance before Payet's screamer -Payet - an absolute gem of a player. Set slight the screen with that strike, hope it's the sign of more to come -Point on Romania - while watching, Carney and I discussed how great it must have been for a Romanian fan to see that penalty go in. "Poorest country in Europe (or at least one of the poorest), vilified across the continent by media, upper-class spivvs and tories for being gypsies....just imagine if they turned up here and took the trophy home" - and that would be incredible, imagine them seeing off Germany 1-0 in an extra-time final, a political uprising on the football pitch -England fans and h...

Incredibly sad to hear Ali had passed on, yesterday. As a young adolescent, Ali was a man I admired and idolised on a number different fronts: a man who confronted his anxiety over the future and over his inner self with a dedication to loving his own life and his own history; who was unrelentingly fierce in speaking his mind to authority, and who, when faced with the trauma and isolation of national disgrace and imprisonment, resolved to stand by his deepest beliefs and convictions. I wrote a piece on Ali around a year ago - you can find it here Ali’s actions were symbolic of the colossal weight of the energy within the Civil Rights movement, in which those involved appeared engulfed by the most simple, radical notion: that there is something more important than the self, something so condensed in love and empathy, that it breeds anger and even hatred. And without this bristling charge, is the notion of social change is not an empty cartridge: a gun without a bullet which, as...

oh, some of us'll wind up in St Cloud Prison and some of us'll wind up to be lawyers and things and some of us'll wind up and'll meet on your crossroads from inside the grounds of walls of Red Wing