My take ...

[pommpey]

Still got my Whitworth spanners I got as an apprentice, we had some old shit on the railways but I can't ever remember using them much at all. By the late 70's I wasn't using AF spanners either. I ought to weigh them in I don't think I'll be restoring any classic cars.

Almost everything I have - much of which is my dad's legacy tools from his time at Sheffield Works Department on Manor Lane, is AF or Metric

Whitworth and BSF is the work of Satan.

pommpey

 

[S40BLADE]

Yet again with Norwood I could write an essay on his importance during Most of last season and in the promotion campaign before it regarding his overlooked defensive contributions and obvious chance creation ability (specifically in the champ). But as with most at the club he has been nothing short of absolutely fucking horrific in terms of technical and physical quality for over a year so my positives that made me love him have been effectively voided. He is going to have to put some wild shifts in over the next handful of games for me to ponder him staying involved for much longer.

 

[Scarebus]

Still got my Whitworth spanners I got as an apprentice, we had some old shit on the railways but I can't ever remember using them much at all. By the late 70's I wasn't using AF spanners either. I ought to weigh them in I don't think I'll be restoring any classic cars.

Thankfully aircraft became standardised not long after ww2 and I've only ever needed AF, although every aircraft I've ever worked on has 1 bastard metric bolt on it somewhere, and I've never got it in the box.

 

[pommpey]

Thankfully aircraft became standardised after ww2 and I've only ever needed AF, although every aircraft I've ever worked on has 1 bastard metric bolt on it somewhere, and I've never got it in the box.

I could basically maintain all Royal Navy ships in the 70s, 80s and 90s using a toolkit of:

1 x King Dick Adjustable Spanner
1 x 11/8"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 15/16"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 9/16"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 1/2"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 3/8"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 10oz Engineer's Ball Pien
1 x Set of Fox Wedges
1 x Engineer's Scraper
1 x Flat Screwdriver
1 x Philips Screwdriver

This was anyone's basic toolkit.

Anyway ... United.

pommpey

 

[Scarebus]

I could basically maintain all Royal Navy ships in the 70s, 80s and 90s using a toolkit of:

1 x King Dick Adjustable Spanner
1 x 11/8"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 15/16"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 9/16"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 1/2"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 3/8"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 10oz Engineer's Ball Pien
1 x Set of Fox Wedges
1 x Engineer's Scraper
1 x Flat Screwdriver
1 x Philips Screwdriver

This was anyone's basic toolkit.

Anyway ... United.

pommpey

Add a pen, mag-light, 5/16" and 1/4" to that and you've completed your ship to commercial aircraft training.

 

[pommpey]

Add a pen, mag-light, 5/16" and 1/4" to that and you've completed your ship to commercial aircraft training.

Mag lights were much, much later. We had a 'Pusser's Right Angle Torch' which was ace for the first ten minutes of new batteries. After that it was a depleting, declining measure of luminosity down to 3 pico bleems (i.e. very dim)

pommpey

 

[CornwallBlade]

I could basically maintain all Royal Navy ships in the 70s, 80s and 90s using a toolkit of:

1 x King Dick Adjustable Spanner
1 x 11/8"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 15/16"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 9/16"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 1/2"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 3/8"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 10oz Engineer's Ball Pien
1 x Set of Fox Wedges
1 x Engineer's Scraper
1 x Flat Screwdriver
1 x Philips Screwdriver

This was anyone's basic toolkit.

Anyway ... United.

pommpey

Christ you matelots obviously have huge balls, I don’t know what a “Pien” is - some sort of testicle hammock?

 

[BerksBlade]

Christ you matelots obviously have huge balls, I don’t know what a “Pien” is - some sort of testicle hammock?

It's just a big 'ammer to you & I pal...

 

[pommpey]

Christ you matelots obviously have huge balls, I don’t know what a “Pien” is - some sort of testicle hammock?

A 'Sutcliffe', as we'd call it in an unsavoury and distasteful manner

pommpey

 

[blade too long]

Whitworth bolts mate. The enemy of any real engineer. I fucking hate them.

Speaking of which, anyone seen that @fitter.mat bloke on tiktok? He's fucking brilliant (as an engineer) and has suitably 'industrial' language to boot. He sounds 'South Yorkshire' too.

pommpey

Bloody predictive turned it to Wentworth
Must have been someone from Rotherham on duty

 

[blade too long]

I could basically maintain all Royal Navy ships in the 70s, 80s and 90s using a toolkit of:

1 x King Dick Adjustable Spanner
1 x 11/8"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 15/16"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 9/16"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 1/2"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 3/8"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 10oz Engineer's Ball Pien
1 x Set of Fox Wedges
1 x Engineer's Scraper
1 x Flat Screwdriver
1 x Philips Screwdriver

This was anyone's basic toolkit.

Anyway ... United.

pommpey

Commonly known now as a full set if Fred DIbnahs

 

[lazyfecklessblade]

I thought the Chelsea man of the match was the Ref ................ now he was a cunt.
I'm fairly certain he could have booked at least three of their players for diving.

That my parents are aliens looking tosspot gets sold dozens of soft free kicks every time he refs us.

 

[Bearlie]

Not sure what you expected from this thread. It's here every week, and usually follows a similar format.

Oh thats ok then ,plenty of women on here who find the use of the word C%$t deplorable. And Its not a new phenomenon been dispised for decades long before the snowflake Generation

 

[PaulHalfway]

The ability to hit the first man at a corner is totally amazing
Game after game, week after week
I guess now when we get a corner like everyone else we sit there and say
Get it over the first man
Guess what

 

[pommpey]

The ability to hit the first man at a corner is totally amazing
Game after game, week after week
I guess now when we get a corner like everyone else we sit there and say
Get it over the first man
Guess what

Must be fucking ace, the tactical brief before a United match:

Opposition Coach: "Okay lads. Team Captain? For corners, put the smallest fucker on the front stick. Norwood's their corner taker and it's going straight to him."

pommpey

 

[Geordie Blade]

Me too.

Frightens me more that people have this illusion he is any good at anything, bar pointing and giving the ball away.

This season we've seen him caught in possession, squandering crossfield 'pings' straight to the opposition, beaten for pace and wasting setpieces straight onto the melon of the first man. And an own goal today.

Really, really wish I could have some of those specs people wear which makes Oliver Norwood look like Kevin de Bruyne, N'Golo Kante or Teilemans

pommpey

I know that you like to use exaggeration for effect, but nobody has ever said that Norwood is as good as de Bruyne, Kante or Teilemans.

For what it's worth, I think that Norwood has had a very poor season, on lots of counts, most notably three things: (i) his lack of steeliness in front of the back five, (ii) his tendency to get caught in possession, and (iii) his drop in quality when passing forwards. Looking at each of these in turn:

1. Lack of steeliness. This has never been his strong suit, but he seems to have become even easier to drift past this season. When a player's form drops in terms of quality, I always want to see them compensate with a bit more grittiness, but Norwood hasn't done that. He's looked slightly more on it in the regard over the last two or three games, but I think this is a big failing for him this year.

2. Sloppy possession. No doubt he's done this far too many times this season. However, I will point to other players who have been hiding far too much. For all the criticism that Norwood has received this season, he has never hidden away, and has always shown for possession. Because others have hidden, it's meant that Norwood was often given the ball in stupid positions (West Ham away being an example) and compounded by the fact that he has no options when he does get it. He has still given it away too much, but I'm surprised that so many fans have targeted him rather than the other players who are hiding.

3. Lack of 'pings'. This is clearly a result of our change in overall approach. Last season, Norwood's pings were aimed left and right, and would be met by Stevens/O'Connell on one side or Basham/Baldock on the other. This season, the LCB and RCB just haven't got forward, so there's only been one player out wide on each flank, each of whom has been marked. As you rightly say, the 5-3-2 (not 3-5-2) hampers us to the extent that it makes the 'pivot' role useless. Again, rather than blaming Norwood, I ask questions of the manager who persists with that role in a team when it clearly doesn't work.

Just to complete the picture, some of the other criticisms:

(i) The pointing. I'm ok with this. Football is a team game, and communication is vital. Over the previous four seasons, we had a great system where the midfielders would always communicate to the back 3 (or 5) to let them know when a runner was coming through (by talking and pointing). Coutts did it, Fleck does it, Lundstram does it, Norwood does it. If anyone really believes that this is laziness and they're just pointing because they can't be arsed to run, I don't think they understand the game.

(ii) Hitting the first man at corners. This is a fair criticism. I've previously argued that you would expect some corners to fail to beat the first man. This is because the ideal corner is one that whips just above the first man. The only way of guaranteeing to beat the first man is to float the ball in, and that's easy to clear. Because no player (even de Bruyne) is that accurate, you'd always expect some whipped corners to be headed away and I think managers would always accept this. That said, the quality of our corners this year is atrocious, and the percentage hitting the first man has been unacceptably high (to the point that it probably would be better to just float them in and see what happens). On a related note, I had no idea why, yesterday, Fleck took the corners on the left and Norwood on the right. I might be old fashioned but, as a goalkeeper myself, I'm always relieved when I see that it's going to be an outswinger. Inswingers are so much harder to defend.

(iii) The own goal. I'm not blaming him for that. It's a split second decision and at least he wanted to get in the way of it. As I've said elsewhere, I can accept cirticism of players for lack of effort, but having a go at him for the own goal is a cheap shot.

 

[Espania blade]

Bit of a mixed bag today, wasn't it? We started looking positive, better than last week and pressing Chelsea well, then we just couldn't stop giving the ball away and looking vulnerable and finished the last half hour looking like a draw - or even a win, wouldn't have been undeserved.

That ultra makeshift back three worked fucking hard between them considering none of them would dream they'd finish this season in the quarter finals playing Chelsea in that line up. I think Jags, for his age and given his personal situation, had a fucking great game considering he kept the very capable Giroud under wraps for an hour. The other two main threats Hudson-Adoye and Pulisic were marshalled pretty well by a shared responsibility of Baldock and Bogle and on the other side Osborn (who I thought gave a great account of himself) and Stevens, who was much better than recent weeks.

The midfield was characteristically weak and characteristically undermanned against Chelsea's faster, agile and better passing four man and I wondered just why Hecky didn't go four at the back and put Bogle further up the wing to provide the numbers. From ten minutes in to ten minutes after half time we were critically second best, clumsy, error prone and looking like no one wanted the ball. Certainly the possession stats bore that out with 75/25% ball keeping by their lot who basically made our heads spin playing keep ball for too long periods and denying us any way of turning defence into attack. When we did get up there it was at the cost of having no fucker in the box at all with McPub doing his McPub best to 'leave summat in' (and get play stopped and the advantage to them) or him well out of the crossing zone which happened a few times, us out wide and the crosser looking up to see no pink shirts to hit in the box. Norwood was his level best again, damned bad luck but a stupid decision to lunge for a ball going wide or simply playing a careless, stupid ball across the penalty area for them to almost score from.

But sometime in the second half for some reason we rolled our sleeves up and decided to play proper footy, making good excursions down each flank at last and starting to put Chelsea under the pressure they fucking well deserved to be put under. When we did this and actually passed to each other ... yeah ... that's right ... passed to each other in space and actually took opposition players on ... we looked capable. Lunny may not have tron any trees up in both halves but his cross onto Didsy's nut was a fucking pearler and only Didsy himself will know why he didn't nut that in. Funnily enough, I did this match last night on FIFA21 and got wide, sent in a cross and Didsy got square onto it for his hat-trick. This afternoon I leapt out of my seat with a 'FUCK!' and finished it with a 'ING HELL!' As Alan Hanson would glibly say, "Ach, yev jest got tae score them."

But we're out now - by hook or by crook even if we'd have gone to extra time or penalties you know luck wouldn't be in our favour and it would have gone down to Ramsdale's last spot kick and ... yeah ... you know what would have happened.

Concentrate on relegation now.

Ramsdale 5/10: Looked reasonably comfortable and made some decent claims. Good sav from Norwood's fuck up and no chance with the goals. His distribution today was shit on toast though.
Bogle 6.5/10: Good performance from him. He is the only player amongst the signings I feel content with. Has real potential, but I'd like to see him further up on the wing in a 4-1-3-2 formation
Baldock 6/10: Second outing of Furious in the RCB role and he put himself about on Pulisic a lot. Worked hard.
Jagielka 7/10: For effort. Okay, the back three was a hotch-potch but all three benefitted from his experience and for a long time, seemed to be the only player who looked like he knew how to take the ball off the opposition, and he grafted hard, despite age and his personal situation bearing heavy on his character
Stevens 5/10: Thought he looked improved today after a poor, hesitant start
Osborn 6.5/10: Good outing for Ozzy, even if he was targeted with the lofted pass over his head to Hudson-Odoye a lot. Second half he really got stuck in and tried hard to make openings up the left flank
Lundstram 4/10: His usual, disconnected self. Superb cross for Didsy's header though
Norwood 4.5/10: Quite poor and ineffectual. A few moderately decent passes. Second half - that corner, "C'mon Norwood. Don't hit the first man." Answers on a fucking postcard to:

Oliver Norwood's Setpiece Shitfest
Match of the Day
BBC Television
Wood Green
London
W1 8QT

No later than next Tuesday. Winner gets a kick in the cunt, and if you haven't got a cunt, a cunt will be kicked until verily, a cunt exists.
Own goal too. A fitting end to his season with us.

Fleck 6/10: Best of the midfield really. Worked hard with Osborn on the left side to get anything going
McGoldrick 2/10: Sorry, Didsy. You are a Blades hero at any other time but the 7/10 you should have earned today loses five whole points for that header. It's unforgivable. Yes - I would have scored that fucker. Me. Yes. Fucking too right I would. Couple of tame shouts on goal
McBurnie 4/10: Usual dust-up and fouling, shoving, barging and elbowing sesh from him. Mind you, in fairness, he's never up in the danger area because he's trying to make shit happen elsewhere, like midfield. Had a crack on goal which would have been ace if it had have gone in but, y'know, it didn't.

Burke 3/10: What pace this bloke has. Erm, that's it.
Brewster 4.5/10: Get involved and wants to badly to score. Poor kid.
Mousset; lol

Oh well. It was nice whilst it happened. Another late exit from the cup, before we reach the final, or even goddammit win the fucker, just once in my lifetime.

One thing is for certain, you will always get what you always got if you always do what you always did.

Like getting beaten with 5-3-2.

pommpey

Great "alternative" read, well done for taking time out to make me smile.

Agree about Ozzy' I do think he stands off his man to much and gives them to much space, he'll learn
Bogle brilliant, Ramm'y, fast becoming my fav' player, boy done good today, well done Rammy'
I just thought that some of the young un's performed better today, even Brewster looked as though he just might become the player he should be, only in his body language but it was there.
Same with Ozzy & Bogle.

Let's look forward to the Champ' and back up at the end of next season (well 'er let's see who the new manager is first!)

 

[Bert]

Commonly known now as a full set if Fred DIbnahs

Dibnah would have been a Whitworth man. Just like the Victorians who built the railways, battleships, bridges and everything else held together with Whitworth nuts and bolts.

 

[pommpey]

I know that you like to use exaggeration for effect, but nobody has ever said that Norwood is as good as de Bruyne, Kante or Teilemans.

It isn't an exaggeration. It is the quality we need to be able to play with a three man midfield. Would you expect Michael Doyle to do any better? What about Mark Patterson?

1. Lack of steeliness. This has never been his strong suit, but he seems to have become even easier to drift past this season. When a player's form drops in terms of quality, I always want to see them compensate with a bit more grittiness, but Norwood hasn't done that. He's looked slightly more on it in the regard over the last two or three games, but I think this is a big failing for him this year.

Agreed. His lack of 'fight' this year - and indeed last - has been notable. He doesn't need that in the division below, because the midfield is less hectic and you have more time, and the wingbacks are more advanced. He seems to want to put his foot on the ball so much, have a look up at his options and select any one of a dozen fancy-arsed passes instead of collecting, moving forward and going on the attack. Fortunately his last few games has seen him far better in reaction to us changing possession and I have noted him moving quicker back to defend. But he's still behind the player with the ball, so effectively out of the game.

2. Sloppy possession. No doubt he's done this far too many times this season. However, I will point to other players who have been hiding far too much. For all the criticism that Norwood has received this season, he has never hidden away, and has always shown for possession. Because others have hidden, it's meant that Norwood was often given the ball in stupid positions (West Ham away being an example) and compounded by the fact that he has no options when he does get it. He has still given it away too much, but I'm surprised that so many fans have targeted him rather than the other players who are hiding.

We can name any number of players - Stevens, Fleck to some extent and Lundstram who have been profligate with possession this season. But Norwood is high on the list and there because when he loses it, it has a propensity to end up whistling past Ramsdale.

3. Lack of 'pings'. This is clearly a result of our change in overall approach. Last season, Norwood's pings were aimed left and right, and would be met by Stevens/O'Connell on one side or Basham/Baldock on the other. This season, the LCB and RCB just haven't got forward, so there's only been one player out wide on each flank, each of whom has been marked. As you rightly say, the 5-3-2 (not 3-5-2) hampers us to the extent that it makes the 'pivot' role useless. Again, rather than blaming Norwood, I ask questions of the manager who persists with that role in a team when it clearly doesn't work.

What you have missed there though is how predictable Norwood is though. If he has time on the ball, opposition defences know what his plan is and what his single strength is - knocking a ball over to an advancing wingback. It seems like the whole 5-3-2 system is build especially for that. But two things shit in the chipbag of that little notion:

a. firstly, our wingbacks aren't so far up the wings these days and are playing like outlying back five defenders (because our defence is fucked)
b. the opposition defence out wide just drops two metres to cover the space behind them Norwood hopes to exploit

Finally, the own goal mention was simply because any defender worth their salt doesn't lunge at a shot/cross passing them when facing their own goal. Cherwell's shot was actually going wide.

pommpey

 

[Worksop II]

Dibnah would have been a Whitworth man. Just like the Victorians who built the railways, battleships, bridges and everything else held together with Whitworth nuts and bolts.

My BSA C15 was Whitworth ..... always leaked oil

 

[Bert]

My BSA C15 was Whitworth ..... always leaked oil

British bikes had vertically split crankcase, that was the problem.
The Japs split them horizontally and solved it.

Bert's Royal Enfield Continental GT only spilt a bit.

 

[Worksop II]

British bikes had vertically split crankcase, that was the problem.
The Japs split them horizontally and solved it.

Bert's Royal Enfield Continental GT only spilt a bit.

The Push Rod tube endlessly weeping, a chromed steel tube sanwiched between cast pieces



I always put it down to expanding different amounts

 

[Ralph Blade]

Norwood is still the best passer of a ball in our squad

To the opposition.

I don’t see the plaudits for Bogle Im afraid, I thought it was one of his poorer matches. Good from Ramsdale, Jags, Ozzy. Brewsters getting closer, he’s got a really powerful shot on him.

 

[The Vicar]

I could basically maintain all Royal Navy ships in the 70s, 80s and 90s using a toolkit of:

1 x King Dick Adjustable Spanner
1 x 11/8"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 15/16"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 9/16"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 1/2"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 3/8"AF Combination Spanner
1 x 10oz Engineer's Ball Pien
1 x Set of Fox Wedges
1 x Engineer's Scraper
1 x Flat Screwdriver
1 x Philips Screwdriver

This was anyone's basic toolkit.

Anyway ... United.

pommpey

Still got my micrometers & spanners from when I left Shardlows in the 80's.

Happy days!

Maybe if some of our team had done a few night shifts they might appreciate their elevated status in life today!

 

[metalblade]

No doubt most of the engineering tools mentioned on this thread would have been made in Sheffield too. My imperial micrometers came from Moore&Wright other stuff was made by Stanley, Steadfast, Britool and were made to last a lifetime unlike some of the nice looking Japanese shit that would only last a matter of months if you were lucky.

 

[BornOnShorehamStreet]

Mag lights were much, much later. We had a 'Pusser's Right Angle Torch' which was ace for the first ten minutes of new batteries. After that it was a depleting, declining measure of luminosity down to 3 pico bleems (i.e. very dim)

pommpey

Not forgetting a bottle of Pusser's Rum

 

[Greenwich Blade]

Oh thats ok then ,plenty of women on here who find the use of the word C%$t deplorable. And Its not a new phenomenon been dispised for decades long before the snowflake Generation

Even Viz used to shy away from using the word, although it turned out that was because one of the Donald brothers had a girlfriend who hated the word. When they split up, this strip was published.

 

[Numpty's Dusty Ruts.]

The Push Rod tube endlessly weeping, a chromed steel tube sanwiched between cast pieces

View attachment 108843

I always put it down to expanding different amounts

Suzuki two strokes may not have been cool but they generally meant you got there and back reliably, albeit in a cloud of blue smoke! And in quite a speedy way!!

 

[adiosmiamigo]

Still got my micrometers & spanners from when I left Shardlows in the 80's.

Happy days!

Maybe if some of our team had done a few night shifts they might appreciate their elevated status in life today!

Were you at Shardlows?

Still got my micrometers & spanners from when I left Shardlows in the 80's.

Happy days!

Maybe if some of our team had done a few night shifts they might appreciate their elevated status in life today!

Were you at Shardlows?

 

[The Vicar]

Were you at Shardlows?

Yes, sure was! Apprentice from 1977 until I took voluntary redundancy in 1987!

A Grinder! And you?