forameus

At this rate, I'd rather Wales got a seeded spot given the realistic chance we have of getting the same. Could be a horror draw for us, but wouldn't mind Wales in Cardiff as an alternative. It'll be a tragedy if we get beat, but still.

To be fair, he's replying to my hypothetical. Which is all it is realistically.

I don't think you can really look at Qatar now and compare it to what it'll be like during the tournament. I imagine there will be a lot of leeway shown during that month. In the run up to the tournament you'll likely have the papers running all sorts of stories about how travelling fans are definitely going to be thrown in jail forever (see "you're all going to die" prior to South Africa) and then nothing will happen during that month as everyone has a big nudge nudge wink wink party for the football. Just get out before it all finishes, as that'll soon change. Having said that though, zero interest to travel.

Knew I'd fucked it up! But would Netherlands be behind us? They've still got to play Montenegro, so can pick up the three they need there. If Norway won both after that, they'd win the group, but Netherlands would finish on 16 ahead of us. It's likely pie in the sky stuff anyway. We just need to look at our own game. A point should be enough to see us through barring mental results. Or we could just go and try and win it and make sure.

Am I being dense in thinking that there's a (very slim) chance we could beat Denmark and still not be seeded? Croatia and Poland both win their final game, and Norway win both of their final games with a GD of +4/5, we all finish on 17 points and we lose out on goal difference. Realistically though, I doubt Norway would do that, so a point should be enough to finish ahead of the Czechs and Norway. But given Denmark are still heavy favourites, I guess we're looking at Group G. Czech Republic/Wales are likely to take 2nd in Group E, but unless they boost their GD, it's unlikely they'll catch us. Turkey have Gibraltar and Montenegro, Norway have Latvia and Netherlands. If Turkey win both - which they probably will - they'll finish on 15 and ahead of us. Aye, we kind of need a point don't we?

Unless I'm being dense, this seems almost entirely wrong. Group A and group B are already above our points total, we would only overtake them if we beat Denmark. To get above Serbia, we'd probably need heavy defeat for them and big win for us. Are you taking off the points against bottom sides for the 6 team groups? Wikipedia seems up to date to me.

Ended up getting promoted fairly easily in the first season with Thistle, few slip-ups, but took it by about 9 points in the end. Got given absolutely f**k all money for the next season and despite picking up 7 points from 12, I've lost EVERY game since. Now in the 2022 World Cup induced winter break. Only Livingston are worse than us, so looks like the playoffs for me. Pretty realistic too, as we were 1-0 up at Ibrox going into stoppage time, and we shat it to lose 2-1. Big Carlos Tevez has probably been a poor decision. 9 goals and 1 assist in 25 appearances over the two seasons, and he'll be retiring at the end. EDIT: And now England have won the World Cup and Rangers have hired Pirlo. f**k sake.

Amazing the lengths he'll go to not to have to shell out for that Now TV Day Pass.

I think there's a very slim chance we don't make the playoffs. I don't expect us to go to Moldova tomorrow and turn in a Rolls Royce of a performance and run out 10-0 winners or anything, but I think we'll edge a pretty uncomfortable and utterly shite game to render the Israel game pointless. After that, Monday's game looks typically ominous. I think we'll probably provide a spirited performance against Denmark, maybe even inflict the first goal they've conceded, but I expect they'll score a fair few in return. We'll then be unseeded, and from there it's just a question of the draw. For me, our success in the playoffs depends purely on the seeding, and even then it's still a long shot to get through both games. On the long shot that we absolutely shit the bed though, I don't think the Israel game is that foregone a conclusion. They've definitely put in some great performances, particularly against Austria last time out, but I was really surprised when we played them just how limited they seemed. Their approach seemed all wrong, preferring to shitfest the game rather than take advantage of having easily superior attacking options. If Israel turn up fancying it, they could run over the top of them, but given Austria know they're in the playoffs, I'd imagine they'd quite fancy a good performance going into that.

Exciting times at Firhill as we look like we'll romp to the Championship title. 9 points ahead of Hamilton with 5 games left, strolling it for the most part. Brought back Kris Doolan for a laugh, with a view to getting him into coaching when he's physically too old to do anything else. He even nabbed his first goal against Killie in a 4-0 pumping. But then big Carlos Tevez popped up in my inbox, and I just had to. He's been largely average, but the thought of a big red "Welcome to Maryhill" sign on Firhill Road meant I had to. First youth intake too, and one of my top prospects is a keeper from DR Congo. Second nationalities of Scottish and...Finnish. For some reason.

Pick up the demo and give it a shot. Can't tell much long term as it's limited to 6 months, but you can probably tell a fair deal about it. I'm enjoying it so far personally, although I think it's because it's the first time I've played a proper Thistle save where I "know" the players. Couldn't really get into the past few versions, even though not a massive amount has changed.

It's a problem with podcasts across the board to be honest. Particularly now that Patreon etc are a thing, and they can easily offer ad-free episodes. They can double dip like that - I need to make a living, so I'm going to fill this episode with as many ads as I can. Don't want to hear them? Line my pockets elsewhere... It's hardly a good listen, but if someone's giving decent content, it's hard to really grudge it, particularly if they can work said ads in more naturally than others. Stuff like the Football Ramble and their ilk add about 5-6 minutes of ads to every episode, spreading them throughout (think it was something like 3 in a row at the start, couple in the middle, then couple at the end). Some of the other podcasts I listen to at least do the reads themselves to try and add something to them.

They've ballsed up the World Cup Playoffs in Europe, as they seem to have completely omitted a second placed table. No seeding, so the random draw took away Scotland's home draw, and put them away to Austria (who should have been unseeded and away from home. We were beaten 2-0, with Ryan Fredericks taking his spot in the big revolving door of right wing-backs. Did really well too. Booked in the 51st, sent off in the 53rd.

Fallout 4 was indeed an incredible disappointment when stacked up against Witcher 3. Maybe an unfair comparison, but if I remember right, I ended up playing them both around the same time, and the bits that W3 did well, Fallout did reeeeeally badly. Which is a shame, as it wasn't like FO4 was bad, just a bit disappointing. Big one for me was a quest in FO4 that ended with what I guess was supposed to be this big momentous, heroic death for a character. There was a bit of dialogue, the soundtrack swelled a wee bit, and then...guy just made a wee noise and ragdolled. No real effort to craft anything meaningful in the writing or anything, just...stuff. And at the same time CDPR were putting out minor side quests that had better effort put into them.

The stuff about kits is wrong, but not something I'd spend much time getting raging about. Completely disagree about "massive dumbing down and cartoonificafion" of the game, as I'd say it's the complete opposite that is the problem. It's an incredibly po-faced and overly serious game most of the time, and often incredibly bland if you don't make something out of it yourself. If they did dumb it down and actually remembered to make it consistently entertaining, it'd likely be a better game. Better watch I don't say that on the official forums though, wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of that insulation, would I? Cutting. Really is.

Well at least I'm doing something right I was going to say usually it's pretty clear the people that have these kinds of issues, but you proved it without me saying it.

I've never understood this constantly getting trotted out. There's a difference between not taking unconstructive rants and "insulating themselves".

And hilariously, it seems like this year they've reintroduced the "not for sale" option, and there's already been people complaining about it.

I think it's their (clumsy) way of showing that a player isn't really that interested in joining you. Instead of just telling you gtf, they'll put in an offer that you either can't meet, or need to go full Kevin Kyle to get to. I'm getting it a lot with Thistle, people asking for a few hundred over the max allowed, then ending up going down to England, presumably for less money. I never check. They're dead to me.

If they do come over here in September, I wonder if they'll go big and risk a stadium, or just do something like the O2. Still, that seems a bit small-time if they're coming over here for the first time in ages. 21k for the MEN, 20k for the O2. But could they sell out somewhere like Cardiff with the roof closed? It might not be one of the big shows, but I'm sure they'd have the interest to be able to push for it. Mania is a big move. Obviously 2020 was what it was, and 2021 was a bit of a special case with a limited capacity and the first show back. 100k on each night will be quite the earner for them, but they're going to have to put on quite a show with the year they've had.

Probably in the same boat. It's the game I've probably put the most hours into, but it's been a long old time since I aborted a Switch playthrough. Wouldn't mind one last go of it.

Honestly wouldn't mind it as long as they can sort the two things that are "wrong" with Brock. If they can book him so he actually faces some peril other than the middle 5 minutes in a match (which they managed in the last match) and also manage to have him actually present a little more, then him finally taking the title probably works. Now that they've given Big E the title opposite, there isn't really this big babyface they could build up to beat Reigns. If there's going to be no Rock, get Brock.

Expect the reply is just someone trying to be edgy and forgetting - or not caring - that when it's online, it just makes you sound like a c**t. It's absolutely the right way for them to go with this stuff.

Yeah, that was a pretty good show. Seems that WWE have realised that just because they're travelling to Saudi Arabia, they don't have to put on a cringey, awful show. It felt, in effort at least, like they were putting it up with the big 4, and didn't outstay its welcome. I didn't really like the Brock/Reigns finish either, but the match itself was a breath of fresh air when it comes to the former. For years now we've had the same pattern for his matches. Heyman introduces him, he charges at the opponent, kicks the shit out of them and then wins. For big matches, maybe someone gets in a wee flurry in the middle, but ultimately he wins. I don't remember the last time he went into the match feeling like largely the equal, and being booked to take an equal amount of offence. He's brilliant at selling, and that match made him look human. Well, about as human as a sentient ham can. When he comes back probably depends whether they can get the Rock in for WM. If not, I expect we'll get a rematch there.

Wee update on that Very Hard playthrough... f**k me is it spiteful at times. Playing on Hard just seemed to amp up the annoying parts - more timefall, more wear and tear - without really making it much more difficult. Combat was still pretty easy and you never really got into much trouble if you knew your way around. Very Hard laughs at such things and truly hates you. The big trip up to Mountain Knot the first time drained everything, and I completely forgot that at the end of it, you get punted out and have to go all the way back down. And the battles with Cliff are utterly brutal (just about smashed the controller against the wall at the WW2 one last night)