It is really quite impressive to have over 1000 fans from an away side at a pre-season friendly , and more so when these fans came from Germany. A few photographs of the fans and some of their team from the 1-1 draw with Brentford today. Enjoy.
Sam Saunders played the friendly game versus FC Kaiserslautern as though it was a cup final, at full pace, and at times getting irritated with the occasional niggling foul.
He seems a man on a mission to regain and keep his place in the side. his fitness looks in no doubt.
When he was substituted he ran off looking like an extra from RoboCop
Prahran is a fairly inauspicious suburb in Melbourne . It is however home to The Cullen hotel one of the worlds top 100 boutique hotels. The Cullen is an artistic hotel with fairly bright prints on every wall and rooms decorated in unusual styles that include donkeys and mules staring down at the bed as you sleep.
Prahran is also home to a fair number of street art designs including one of the best I have seen worldwide . This excellent piece of work is down a dismal alley and one can only presume the artist chose this site for some very precise reason.
There are street art paintings on many walls and garage doors. Even brightening up some of the more miserable looking alleys where rubbish bins line the walls.
Ljubljana is Slovenia’s capital and largest city. It’s known for its university population and green spaces, including expansive Tivoli Park. The curving Ljubljanica River, lined by outdoor cafes, divides the city’s old town from its commercial hub. Ljubljana also has many museums, including the National Museum of Slovenia.
What however is less well known is the street art that covers walls in many parts of the city. Here is a selection of some of the variety you can see, all from the city centre. Some are works of art whilst some border almost on the graffiti border. Would you want a half eaten fox on the wall of your restaurant?
MLK seems to be wondering which bicycle he might use?
Cannot make up my mind if this half eaten fox is a good thing to see against the wall of a restaurant?
An unusual mixture of street art to observe whilst drinking coffee or beer
Painted door. I think I like this
A real mixture of street art
I suppose this is street art but some might say just graffiti
Corpus Christi is the Catholic holiday in honour of the presence of the body of Christ in the holy water. It is celebrated throughout Spain and is held in either May or June depending on when Easter occurs. To calculate the next Corpus Christi date, look for the first Thursday after Trinity Sunday (the eighth Sunday after Easter) and you’ll know when the fiesta is set to begin in towns and villages throughout Andalucia.
This is a painting from Benalmadena Pueblo by Vincent Van B from Corpus Christi 2016. Today it is still typical to carpet the streets of towns and villages with greenery for the solemn Corpus Christi processions. This adds a special ambiance to the processions. The Corpus Christi parades also tend to attract all the local authorities, and in some cases, military personnel as well.
What can be seen here is not the petals that adorn the smaller streets but the greenery that is essentially decorative only.
This is a serious suggestion. Many football grounds are actually relatively bland now and could do with a bit of organised decorating. I am sure many will disagree but the standards of graffiti art or street art are so high now that under some sort of supervision the inside and maybe the outside of grounds can be somewhat improved. Thoughts?
The street art might be football related of course and even reflect previous players.
As I travel around Europe there is an ever increasing amount of street art to see and some is extraordinary and in fact only rarely is it average or poor.
Lets have a debate over this topic.
Maybe they could be the way in for football clubs to enhance their culinary range? Many have tried such delicacies as Chilli and balti pies, but where in UK have any reindeer hotdogs been seen?
Seems Reindeer oddly may be the alternative to fish. Reindeer meat is one of the leanest meats. It compares favourably with fish when it comes to omega-3 and essential fatty acids. If you want your diet to be low in fat and high in B-12, omega-3, omega-6 and essential fatty acids, you might think your only choice is a trip to the fish market but perhaps a few Reindeer hotdogs might be the answer. The Arctic University of Norway has also done its research and reindeer meat may have more than twice as much vitamin B12 than veal or lamb.
So come on football clubs, be adventurous and keep your fans healthy.
Could Reindeer hotdogs catch on at football?
No Bees fan will object to 6 points in a week even though the opposition was truthfully dire. For the first time in many weeks or even months, Bees fans came to the game with an expectation of winning. A healthy 3-0 victory a few days previously at Nottingham Forest provided the belief that winning against the bottom side in the Championship would be a likely outcome.
Griffin Park looking good under floodlights
Brentford seem to be praying for victory
The evening was perfect for football and even the River Thames at Brentford looked pleasant enough doused in muddy water. A few strange items, like an old toilet residing beside the water filled with what I hope was old leaves.
River Thames at Brentford
Outdoor toilets
New Road
The game was far from a classic but as much as Brentford ever do, they won this game easily at a canter. The Bolton defending was dreadful and frankly a decent Ryman South team might also have beaten them last night. The evening was perfect for football and the result turned out also to be perfect, a 3-1 victory, marred ever so slightly by Alan McCormack giving away a penalty. Brentford played decently enough and a few sparks of what we saw earlier in the season began to emerge. Oddly Nico Yennaris was the man of the match, although Lasse Vibe took the plaudits for his two goals, but Yennaris in central midfield looked comfortable and is learning how to tackle, though was outmuscled a few times . This was an encouraging performance that meant the game was over before half time with Brentford leading 3-0. It was surprising that as many as 350 Bolton fans made the trip on a tuesday evening to watch their appalling side.
Lets focus on Bolton. They were without doubt the worst side to visit Griffin Park this season and were as awful as Blackpool last season. Their likely trajectory will be similar too as this team looks poor even by League 1 standards, and I could back Colchester bottom in league 1 to beat this current Bolton team. They seemed generally poor footballers, but also dispirited and at times totally disinterested. There were no redeeming features. The defending was non league. Emile Heskey was an unused substitute but his body shape looked more likely to succeed in WWF than in professional football. Time to call it a day. Even he when warming up in front of the cheerful New Road crowd failed to acknowledge the generous applause he got. Darren Pratley committed enough fouls to have got a lifetime ban and seemed slow in pace and thought. A shadow of the former footballer he was.
So two wins in a few days essentially means that we will not get relegated and talk is of aiming for a top ten finish. But we should not get too carried away. Some of our defending was again dire last night. David Button almost gave a goal away by giving the ball away a few yards from goal and Harley Dean made numerous errors that somehow went unpunished. This was however an improved performance with the team looking more balanced than for a long while. Saunders and Woods out wide and Yennaris and McCormack more centrally gave the midfield a formation that seemed to work. Vibe scored two goals and the second one a very neat header. So we are in a lower mid-table position and thats probably right, maybe even slightly flattering. But it is a building block and we are staying up and Brentford fans will have woken up happy this morning.
River Thames at Brentford
One normally does not associate Ryman South with wonderful flowing and skilful football. Those people may be wrong. Essentially to give context this was a middle table game with nothing depending on it between two very different teams. The War Memorial ground is an excellent ground at this level and might easily host Conference South football with a few strategic amendments. The superb 3G pitch looks like a huge success and it was difficult to tell any difference from a grass version.
War Memorial Ground Carshalton
Some of the best non league terracing Carshalton
Even in the warm up it was clear to the casual observer, one of the 288 present, that the Carshalton team was young and mostly looked 10 years younger than a slightly gnarled older looking Three Bridges team.
The styles also were a huge contrast with Carshalton favouring a fluid skilful game playing the ball out of defence and using the wings, whilst Three bridges were more physical, forceful and at times presented Carshalton with some rigorous tackles.
Three Bridges also favoured the opportunity to debate regularly with the referee Chris Felton , whether his decisions were correct and give input as to which Carshalton players should be booked and for what reason.
The game was played in the first half in bright sunshine and by the second half light rain.
The crowd of 288 was a very respectable number considering the league positions and the paucity of away following from Three bridges.
The reality was that Carshalton won this game easily 4-1 and in Ricky Korboa had a winger with unreal talent and balance, who scored a goal worthy of goal of the month at any football level.
Ricky Korboa
Ricky Korboa
This current Carshalton team if kept together will be interesting to watch over the next 12 months.
Tommy Bradford
Tommy Bradford
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 