17 Apr 2026 20:57:16
A couple of points about the implications of last night's win and advance into the semis.
Firstly, as at 8pm yesterday we had a full squad available. Cunha mysteriously appeared out of the blue, fully fit and played a full match to a very high standard. Woody was back and we looked at full strength for the run in. All good.
By 10pm we were 3 men down, prognosis unknown. None of them fringe players either. None of them, probably with enough recovery time to be available for Sunday's season defining game.
Burnley will be our 4th game in 10 days. In other words, a game every 2 and a half days, one of them involving travel abroad.
After Burnley we now have a minimum of 8 games to play in 34 days until the end of the season (9 if we get to the Euro Final).

That’s a game roughly every 4 days, on average. Any injuries, no recovery time.
I’m beginning to think that our Euro adventure is rather like Murat's capture of Vienna in 1805. A glittering prize, certainly, but a sideshow to the lead up to Austerlitz, the Battle of the 3 Emperors, as a result of which Napoleon knocked Austria and Russia, his main opponents on land, out of the war and put him in charge of the entire continent of Europe.
Reminds me of us atm. And Murat took Vienna by a ruse, with no fighting and no casualties, unlike us last night.
Thoughts?

1.) 17 Apr 2026
17 Apr 2026 22:27:02
Thoughts? It's only football.

2.) 18 Apr 2026
17 Apr 2026 23:52:52
Stokey, you're post was making decent points. Then you started waffling again, interest gone. I'm not impressed by quotes from where ever, but if it makes you feel superior, go for it.

3.) 18 Apr 2026
18 Apr 2026 01:08:07
Don't be such a philistine, mv. Broaden your horizons. There's a whole new world out there waiting to be discovered. There's more to football than you think. Take that day back in 1823 when William Webb Ellis was playing football at Rugby School and decided to pick the ball up and run with it! The game of rugby was founded.

We're not born clever, it's in ourselves to be whatever we want to be. But, on the flip side, what world would survive if everyone was an intellect? We all need each other.

4.) 18 Apr 2026
18 Apr 2026 02:02:02
Mvred, wonderful Redvale. Along with his good missus. Forest through and through. Was watching something on Prime today, below zero. And a wonderful quote from one of them. Btw, nothing to do with anything. ? Anyway, he said "Eagles fly alone, birds fly in flocks." Just loved it.

5.) 18 Apr 2026
18 Apr 2026 02:35:51
De da de.

Geordie Maradona.


Think the togetherness and team spirit may bring us through.

6.) 18 Apr 2026
18 Apr 2026 08:20:26
Maybe I should become of those "Influenza's"???
What you think Ed???
???

{Ed001's Note -omg. That is all I have for that!}

7.) 18 Apr 2026
18 Apr 2026 10:58:13
Oggy.....
"Football is life. All my thoughts on morality and obligations I owe to football."
Albert Camus, writer, philosopher and Algerian goalkeeper.

"Some people saw football is not a matter of life or death. It's much more important than that."
Bill Shankly.

8.) 18 Apr 2026
18 Apr 2026 11:41:26
MV, apologies mate. I allowed fascination with Murat particularly and history generally to intrude, but I thought it was a relevant illustration of our situation.
Murat was a dashing, handsome cavalry commander and Napoleon's brother-in-law (which probably saved him from being shot for his unauthorised Vienna adventure). The son of an innkeeper, he was always prone to recklessness but incredibly brave. He'd have been Special Forces in modern times.
He captured the heavily mined bridge over the Danube by strolling onto it with a few staff officers under a flag of truce, and persuaded the Austrian commander that a ceasefire was in operation. Typical sneaky French trick. But, with the engineer waiting for the order to blow the bridge, he led his men on a charge to capture it during the hesitation.
The old bridge has been replaced about 100 yards upstream by a modern one carrying a motorway, but the footings are still there.

It's like Trent Bridge, a brisk 30 minute walk and you are in the City Centre (and these guys had galloping horses, the capture was over in minutes).
My wife is very patient. When we arrived by river cruise ship at Vienna a couple of years ago, I walked about 200 yards from where we landed to see the remains of the bridge, imagining the drama that had unfolded there.
Murat's recklessness caught up with him. He tried to launch a coup in Naples after Napoleon's demise, with 200 men. He was captured and the King of Naples ordered 12 of his own men to form a firing squad to execute him. He refused a blindfold. His last request was to have a hot bath infused with eau de Cologne.
Seeing that his men were distressed, he bared his breast and said his last words which were "If you truly love me, aim for my heart"……
Anyway, back to football. ??? ?? ?

9.) 18 Apr 2026
18 Apr 2026 15:22:03
You are dead right Redstripe. ???