There's one decision I referenced earlier that is an absolute steal, looking forward to the write-up/2p2 reaction

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its quite tough to find a good soccerball pick because managers are approximately pointless and very few of their in game decisions have any meaningful impact. that said,



Le Tissier off, Dia on

Its 1995. Graeme Souness, manager of premier league side Southampton FC, gets a call from a football agent. His client - Ali Dia - is out of contract and looking for a new club. Dia's credentials: he has played 13 times for the Senegal national team, 19 times for Paris St. Germain, and had most recently been playing in the German second division.

Souness invites Dia to train with southampton in order to have a look at him. Soton captain Le Tissier describes what happened:

Nevertheless, Dia was signed to a one month contract and selected for the substitutes bench for the next game, a premier league match against Leeds.

After 32 minutes, Le Tissier picked up an injury. Souness decided to replace him with Dia.

Dia lasted 53 minutes on the pitch before being subbed off himself (this almost never happens as you're only allowed 3 subs total per match)

in his post match interview, Souness offered these thoughts:

And that was the end of Ali Dia, he went home and never showed up again.

So what happened?

Well it turns out, Ali Dia did not have 13 caps for Senegal. He had not played for PSG. He had not played in the German second division. The person that rung Souness offering Dia's services was not a football agent, it was Dia's mate.

Ali Dia wasn't a footballer.

He was just some bloke.

Southampton lost the game 2-0.

Hoping there's video of that somewhere.

Bambi on ice sounds good.

A small amount of footage, he had a shot on target!

Dia is an amazing pick

His shirt is the highest seller for the club IIRC

Here is the recap of the endgame of the Panthers/Falcons game:


recap:

-doesn't go for it in an obvious QB sneak situation with probably the most dominant QB sneak QB of all time
-gets best result possible from the punt
-fail to play prevent defense by allowing a 59 yard reception where the WR was behind EVERY defender
-start giving up multiple passes to the sidelines when the other team has <30s and no TOs left and is still only in range for a 57 yard FG
-**** up icing the kicker by calling the TO too early
-leave yourself no TO for after the ensuing kickoff because you ****ed up icing the kicker

dia pick 2+2 reaction recap:

This thread is getting me more excited for the upcoming football season than any ad campaign ever could.

I'll keep this rolling

I'm taking Tracy Claeys clock management at the end of the 2015 Michigan vs Minnesota game

and



Caldwell timeout vs NYJ.

At work, will post more in depth in a hour or so

****ing nakamura

man i hated that guy

The Caldwell TO vs Jets is great pick, and should have gone much higher.
Not only was it indefensibly stupid, but that team had legit championship equity, which makes random Mike Smith nonsense look quaint by comparison.

It was also the last game Peyton Manning ever played for the Colts.

Echo this 100%. I often think about all the things I hate about football season, but I completely forgot about one thing I absolutely love. People getting paid millions of dollars to make high pressure decisions and completely failing at it.

Just remembered an amazing soccer pick

Michigan vs Minnesota 2015

Minnesota thinks they have scored the go ahead touchdown with 19 seconds left in the game but the call is overturned so it's 1st and goal at the one yard line. The clock starts back up because of the 1st down, Claeys with a timeout in his pocket decides to let 13 seconds roll of the clock before snapping the ball. Incomplete pass with 2 seconds on the clock, stuffed qb sneak to end the game. In his defense, he did use his timeout when the clock was stopped after the incomplete pass

He got two plays off in 19 seconds, he's a savant compared to STEVE

STEVE didn't sit on a timeout until the clock was stopped though

for my next pick we enter the world of the paranormal



The main protagonists:

Raymond Domenech was appointed manager of the french national soccerball side in 2004.

Robert Pires was an outstanding french footballer who played for club side Arsenal, scoring 84 goals in 189 games. He also played 79 times for his country and was part of the 1998 world cup and 2000 euros squads, both of which france won. His most notable contribution for France was providing the assist for the winning goal in the final of euro 2000.

Domenech took over in 2004, and that was the end of Pires' international career despite excellent play for his club side.

Why?

Pires is a Scorpio.

I humbly submit that there are very few things stupider than using astrology to pick your team.

Despite Domenech's madcap ways, the super talented French side made it to the final of the 2006 world cup, losing to Italy. Future success was not in the stars for poor old Raymond - France crashed out in last place in the group stage of Euro 2008 (behind Romania) and also the world cup of 2010 (behind South Africa), winning no games in either competition. He was sacked.

Supposedly he saw it coming.

Dan Quinn blows the superbowl
Dusty ruins Mark Prior's career
Souness subs on a literal random bloke
Domenech consults the zodiac

hilarious pick, but think that violates the in game decisions only instead of trades/player acquisition.

hm maybe. dudd ruling pls

i figd its similar to the earlier pick of cam being available to play but not being used for a lol coach reason

if its not allowed then you'll have to skip me for now, i'll be back in a few hrs to make a replacement pick if necessary

While it does violate it, I'll allow it since astrology is enough of a weirdo thing that it's not lol Nets for mortgaging their future for a bunch of geriatrics or the Herschel Walker trade

to clarify, i think there's a diff cos its not possible to make a roster move in international football (in the usual sense)

its more like having, i dno, russell westbrook or someone contracted to your nba team for life, but the coach decides he's not gonna put him in the game or on the bench because scorpio. so he gets left at home

since we are talking about a national team, that is more of a lineup decision instead of a roster construction decision that a GM would make. your pool of players is every french person and that doesn't change.

Can I pick a coaching decision from practice?