The first step is called the Politics Section. Youthful rage at the sturm & drang of the quotidian human condition. You gently ascend through the Team Bus & TV sections before beginning to feel some state of grace in Gardens & Wildlife. The final step is the progression to the nirvana of The Golden Years. Final resolution is achieved.
Antonio dives twice against Watford last season to get Holebas incorrectly sent off, and earns his side a penalty. West Ham fans love him for it. Pereyra and Deulofeu (allegedly) dive for Watford and Watford fans hate them for it. There's something wrong with this picture.
Speaking of c*nts, I reviewed the West Ham match thread from last season. Amount of people complaining about Antonio diving - 1. Bet you can't guess who. Everyone else just thought Kiko was ****. Not a lot changes around here.
Late to the conversation regarding Troy and heading. Was just having a nerdy browse at opta stats, Troy is indeed 2nd for most header duels won, however he is also too by some distance with headed duels lost (he has lost 25 and 2nd place 16). Not a dig at Troy, but maybe the tactic used.
Yes, it's also important to look at "percentage aerial duels won" rather than just the raw numbers. Winning 10 is better than winning 16 if the person who won 10 only contested 10 balls and the person who won 16 contested 100.
Yes, we are end of Boothroyd era hoofing now. No direction to it, just get it up there. Worst thing is, we have supposedly the 'best midfield pairing outside the top 6' yet still resort to that. Embarrassing.