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Second Captains Part II

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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 103 ✭✭bike2wkr


    Branno is great. Brings a bit of craic and energy to the show. Very articulate too. Be great to see him get a weekly slot or 2 on league of ireland or whatever. His slot on the dumphy book/rovers was good last week



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,973 ✭✭✭✭siblers


    Never thought I'd ever hear Ken ask someone 'how was your **** battle?"

    What a strange and slightly depressing episode today but I did enjoy it



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 35,074 ✭✭✭✭~Rebel~


    Yeah, good, weird, insightful episode into a pretty grim subculture.

    Gonna make googling certain Arsenal stuff pretty perilous for their fans for the foreseeable though. Will have to be especially careful with hashtags! The whole fanbase is basically NSFW now 😅

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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 661 ✭✭✭Tucker.Tim


    Ken’s Cardio Man really proving the doubters right today



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 979 ✭✭✭cheese sandwich


    Jaysus Gerry Thornley got very riled up today



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,994 ✭✭✭Brock Turnpike


    All the print journalists who cover Irish rugby, to my mind, are basically fans with typewriters. Thornley's performance today very much a demonstration of that.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 138 ✭✭Leslie Purkiss


    Thornley is a sycophant’s sycophant



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,973 ✭✭✭✭siblers




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,328 ✭✭✭jones


    Thornley is basically a mouthpiece for the national team he rarely goes against the team in any regard. He's like a paid PR consultant



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 15,612 ✭✭✭✭Arghus


    Maybe I'm biased because I really hate them - but I thought that take from Gavin Cooney about City being the neutral's choice was a bit mad.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,777 ✭✭✭atilladehun


    Yeah, it's rock and a hard place for a lot of people. People really hate the arsenal approach, and i wouldn't even count the set pieces and big men as part of the problem. Arteta started the process to this team by pushing very cynical play, which obviously riles up most football watchers. Its tough to watch but hard to compare to a despotic ownership and 130 administration charges.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 1,200 ✭✭✭cunnifferous


    Gerry Thornly came across very poorly in that pod. He came across like he was a member of the coaching team, so offended by any questions of performance.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,953 ✭✭✭Raoul




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,328 ✭✭✭jones


    I agree but I think I know what he's getting at. I think a lot of people see City as the status quo given how much they've won the league in the last 10 years. Arsenal's style of football isn't doing them any favours and I personally know a few people who hate City but would still prefer to see City win it again over Arsenal as it doesn't mean anything when City win it whereas Arsenal winning it would hurt. I think that's what he was getting at.

    Ps is Caitlin Thompson completely on the outs now with second captains? When I saw the show notes today I thought she was on for a second but it was about Caitlin Clark.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 15,612 ✭✭✭✭Arghus


    I've heard a version of this before. When Liverpool were competing v City for the league, I heard more than a few United fans say they hoped City would win it, as it wouldn't mean anything to them, but they'd hate to see Liverpool do it.

    Personally, when Liverpool were going up against City I always wanted them to do it over City - and I've no love for Liverpool. Just City, IMO, are a soulless machine.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 733 ✭✭✭dog_pig


    It's horrible to hear the racism Caitlin Clark has been subjected to in the WNBA. I'm sure the golf comparison will raise a few eyebrows.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 661 ✭✭✭Tucker.Tim


    https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/nov/11/liverpool-mohamed-salah-arne-slot-analysis

    Sophomoric sensation Barney has rowed in behind Cardio Man in the civil war that will define a generation and (hopefully) Unitedise Liverpool



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 661 ✭✭✭Tucker.Tim


    Branno praising the lads in hoodies pretending they’re in Milan or Rome at LoI grounds for being progressive in last week’s pod is like him intentionally trying to set himself up for the most obvious fall imaginable



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 35,074 ✭✭✭✭~Rebel~


    Bit hysterical from Dion there with his whole thing of this team and manager failing every single attempt at anything. I think if we're being honest, dodgy as we often look, if we convert that loss to Armenia into a win we'd all be content enough with this campaign so far, and I daresay HH might be looking at an extension offer if he fancied it. That one loss was devastating, and made progression very hard, but Dion's hysterics felt more like PTSD from the previous two qualification campaigns.

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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,837 ✭✭✭bren2001


    The FAI were offering HH an extension prior to the Armenia game. After it, HH said wait until the end of the campaign to discuss what's next.

    The problem with a manager like HH is that when you don't get results, you're quickly shipped out. He's been very lucky, two red cards and we got 4 points.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 35,074 ✭✭✭✭~Rebel~


    I don't think they were actually offering a contract tbf, I think they were just at the earliest stages of opening talks, which as you say HH quickly shut down.

    In the end, luck doesn't really matter in international ball… in these short campaigns no one cares why you won or lost, only that you did. Good luck with (deserved) red cards, or bad luck with suspensions and injuries, it doesn't matter. Ya just have to do the business. Primarily because of that away Armenia result, we didn't and HH will be out the door as a result. Plenty of criticism deserved. Just felt Dion lost the run of himself and fell into 'bad vibes' reporting instead of having a bit of rationality.

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  • Administrators, Computer Games Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 32,704 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Mickeroo


    Ah I would have loved a late night pod now....



  • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 13,226 Mod ✭✭✭✭Say Your Number


    WE'RE ALL PART OF HEIMIR'S ARMY



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 1,026 ✭✭✭Appletart Upsetter


    Get that contract out, Heimirs at the wheel!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 13,687 ✭✭✭✭dastardly00


    Surely the lads will have to do an emergency pod! 🚨



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 661 ✭✭✭Tucker.Tim


    The one bloody match they decide not to do a late night pod for



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,087 ✭✭✭EltonJohn69


    one of the great red cards, better than most movies. Looking forward to Ken’s take on it.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 13,687 ✭✭✭✭dastardly00


    Jaysus, Joseph Parker has failed a drugs test. He tested positive for cocaine on the day of his last fight a few weeks ago 😬



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 661 ✭✭✭Tucker.Tim


    Cocaine is a speeding ticket in boxing, and rightly so. Non- performance enhancing drugs really shouldn’t be an issue even if it was stupid thing to do by Parker.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 35,074 ✭✭✭✭~Rebel~


    I wonder if we'll have any sort of a climbdown on the more disrespectful anti-HH stuff we've seen over the past while. Dion was in hysterics the last day, and the lads have been very sneery too. All in all, HH has now completed the mandate most of us had for him - taking qualification right down to the last day, with it in our own hands.

    Armenia away aside, which was an awful abhoration, HH has at least traversed some of the squads inbuilt traumas and shown signs of bringing some balls back to the team. The come-from-behind wins against Bulgaria and Finland, coming from 2-0 to wrestle a draw from Hungary at home, the defensive performance in Portugal which - while losing - still earned credit, which of course was brought to the next level last night with the best performance and result we've had in a decade. It's far from perfect, but it's a lot more nuanced than lads like doom-spiral Dion recognise.

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