lanky316

What a lively start Brentford/Wolves has had...

The Chiefs/Raiders game has been some of the best Nuffle I've seen in years. Fantastic christmas entertainment.

An argument could be that he doesn't flap if he's not being held on to which leaves the chance on around the defensive blundering. Fortunate to get away with it but can see why it was given.

Literally the only time I'd really heard that mentioned as a genre was in Chart Wars way back when, it was used for Evanescence and Nightwish pretty much exclusively from memory so I assume it's essentially Symphonic Rock/Metal, I've given up trying to identify what genres are these days though. I only need two "shit I like and shit I don't like".

Has everybody got little video messages from their most listened artist on Spotify? My most listened artist was Babymetal who did a little "thank you for listening to us" message which was nice. Given my music is split quite a bit between full albums on my phone and Spotify is only background stuff when at home which meant I was a bit surprised that Alestorm, Gloryhammer or Sabaton didn't appear but as most of my listening there has been out and about and not logged with them they didn't make an appearance.

Ended up treating myself to two of the Babymetal UK dates with both being in London, was meant to be going to Wolverhampton tonight but lift fell through and won't home in time for work tomorrow going by train. It was an amazing couple of nights and the Roundhouse was bouncing throughout. I've liked them almost since I first came across them about a decade ago but at the moment they seem to be getting better and better. Last nights show was the 13th anniversary of their first appearance as a sub-unit of the idol group they got their start in and it's amazing to think that they still seem to be getting better, not bad for a gimmicky act who were told they would fail and teachers warned them "don't get too disheartened when you fail and please keep trying to perform".

Things are so bad for the Jets that Lineker is using all of his clout to show their incompetence to the nation on Breakfast. Didn't expect an interception being returned for a touchdown to be deemed that newsworthy but here we are!

We're at the point where christmas songs begin to dominate the airwaves now so I apologise for this one. Tarja has decided that she's going old school and doing a seasonal album full of covers of various pop songs fitting the time of year. Overall, it's not likely to be an album that gets a lot of airplay but I'm liking that she's given this stuff a really haunting gothic quality.

I've not really watched masses of anime over the years but after coming across some live performances from the voice cast from BanG Dream! I've caught up on that with the latest series "It's MyGo!!!!!" being particularly good with the expected good music alongside a really good story. The lead vocalist not only has a beautifully soulful voice but the characterisation of someone on the spectrum is really well handled. One episode is near entirely told with and from a first person perspective which is really worth checking out. The real reason I came into here though is the other series I've unexpectedly fell in love with. Umamusume : Pretty Derby, basically it's a series that tells the stories of great racehorses ups and downs while turning them into horsegirls and having them all go to school together. It's a bizarre premise but I'm loving the little details from a horse racing perspective (did not expect a cutesy Japanese series to reference Eclipse!) and the heart and humour that it offers alongside it all that keeps me absorbed in it all. The third season is coming out now and has been great, it takes place more recently than the others so there's an element of familiarity with it that hasn't detracted so far but for unexpected gems it's worth checking out if you enjoy sports series'.

Spurs' discipline in the first half was mad. They were cruising for the first 15 minutes or so, then some people lost their heads and they went mad. Vicario made some great stops in a sweeper role in the second half but you felt it was a matter of time before Chelsea got it right, then from being 2-1 up there's the Dier goal chalked off, Bentancur not quite getting contact from point blank and the Son chance before a couple of late goals when Spurs had everyone in the Chelsea half. It easily could have been 2-2 in stoppage time. Mental game.

That high line, how Spurs could think they could get away with standing on the half way line over and over again has made this look far more comfortable for Chelsea than it could have been. Crazy game overall.

I keep on getting surprised at how Chelsea somehow also have 11 men, there's been so many players making silly challenges when I'd assumed they were on yellow cards for cynical trips or repeated fouls that I'm shocked to find it's only a first yellow when the ref reaches into his pocket.

This is the thing every week isn't it? You can watch a dozen incidents and say "how is this X and that not?" It's so inconsistent and you never know what you're going to get. Not knowing what you're going to get week to week, even from the same refs makes it really tough to understand where you stand. You'd almost think that this is a plan to get viewers for "ref watch" type shows on Sky Sports News Worst part is this is still better than what I see every other week in League One...

That 4 late goals almost made it look "respectable", still humiliating but it almost hides they were seven down. Meanwhile Stevenage made hard work against a poor Tranmere side, we were the better side but let in seemingly every shot on goal they had.

eah Guimares was ridiculously lucky and a further sign of the ref and players losing the plot. It's one of those games where players "see what they get away with" and little late hits and stuff being unpunished escalates it. I do think it's a close one on the challenge that led to things spiralling. He finally makes contact low down but he flies in there off the ground, it's one where I think if it had been a red, it probably won't be overturned same as the yellow. Can't tell with how much things are refereed these days but half time came at a good time as both managers can try and calm the players and reset.

It could be a long day for Newcastle, that was a desperate act to try and reduce them to 10 men for *checks note* having a player clattered by a player late, again.

You'll have to pay for his live show to get the REAL reason.

Wasn't sure whether this would go here or in the films but as it's more music cross over figured this was the place. Decided to treat myself to an early birthday present and bought tickets to the premier of Sabatons new film "The War to End All Wars" at the RAF museum which will also include a Q& A with Joachim and Par so it should be really interesting. I've liked Yarnhubs videos for a while and it'll be interesting to see how the "plot" will revolve around the stories that are told and the music. It's going to be interesting at least if not a spectacular "must watch". Then later in the month, Babymetal are back in London and unsurprisingly I'll be going to that too!

The Rams have started well against Dallas...

I think it was mainly ill discipline from New Zealand that ultimately was the difference. A couple of fringe calls maybe against them but for the most part I felt like it was their own fault. Some good rugby in there and they fought well and could have just edged it on the second half but a poor first half left them with a mountain to climb.

That hurts in the end. It still wasn't pretty but after all that giving away a silly penalty late on to be edged out. Fair play to them though, it was ugly stuff but the big thing in the end I think was not really reacting to their changes, especially around the pack as the number of penalties involving the scrums was our one area of ill discipline.

Can't complain with that, it's not been pretty but it doesn't need to be. I still fear South Africa going up several gears in the second half but we've got something to hang on to which I wasn't anticipating.

To be honest, despite all the money and everything I do like how Newcastle have gone about things. They haven't gone out and spent the money just because they have it, they've actually built a team with the right work ethic. It's unglamourous but they've not gone mad with the money and tried to force in any star who becomes available.

I was impressed with Argentinas start and fight, they're not freezing on the occasion and haven't been making stupid errors but they're just not as good. It could get ugly but with half hour up it's still close.

Papa Johns can either go back to being a competition for the lower league sides or fuck all the way off. Most teams don't take it seriously but those extra fixtures are unneeded the way things are now. Scrapping replays just to help out the big boys is bullshit, the teams at the lower levels are playing more games at the best of times (the year Leicester won the title they played just 43 games) so if you're thinking of doing this it should be all the way through. I don't hate replays, there is the extra fixture that adds to an intensive schedule which almost punishes a smaller team doing well but if Stevenage are drawn away to Manchester United and after 90 minutes are level I'd much rather that we got the chance to take them back to Broadhall Way a week later than go through a shootout on the day. Either just scrap them entirely or get on with it.