Lets Talk Football

Thanks for the Pienaar news Hon. Hope you feel better soon!

I thought I was right, too. Then I watched Iniesta tonight and realised I completely forgot about him. How did that happen? Frankly, I'm embarrassed.

Absolutely. He breaks quicker than a reject condom.

That's pretty much how it went, wasn't it? As we said at the start of the tournament, it's Spain's depth of quality that pushes them above everyone else. I agree that they're the best team, but anyone can have a bad game and that's where Spain really shine, atm.

Despite the way that the Dutch played, I still wanted them to win but, with the exception of Robben's first chance, it never really looked like happening, did it? No doubt that the best team won and deserved to win.

Thought Howard Webb was treated rather poorly, though. Can you imagine if he'd played to the letter of the law? Holland may not've finshed the game at all, let alone with 10 or 9 men.

Really interesting Grand Prix today. Although I have to put up with all the "Britishness", Silverstone is usually one of the best Grand Prix's of the year. Spa, Silverstone, Monaco, Gilles Villeneuve and Interlagos. Those are my favourite tracks because they usually provide the best/most interesting racing.

Anyway, onto transfer gossip.

goal.com said that Aston Villa are interested in Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, but they say he'd have to greatly lower his £70,000 a week wages. The NOTW say that, along with Villa, he's also been offered to Spurs and City.

It seems that most papers were talking about Liverpool in one fashion or another.

The Mail On Sunday said that Liverpool would put a £100m price tag on Torres before the World Cup final. I'd have said that no one would pay that before he pulled up again with, what looked suspiciously like, a hamstring injury.

Whereas the News Of The World said that Liverpool had told Torres that he'd have to put in a written transfer request and that, unless they stumped up £70m, he wasn't going to Chelsea. From that, I assume that Chelsea is the only realistic destination for Torres.

However, if you were reading the Sunday Telegraph you'd have been told that Chelsea were growing confident of getting Torres for £50m.

They also said that Hodgson was already in talks with Wolfsburg for Edin Dzeko, should Torres walk. Well, hobble.

But if you read the Sunday Express, you'll have seen Hodgson will be spending his cash on Nice striker Loic Remy and will be paying £15m.

Again, another paper and another option, with the NOTW saying that the new Liverpool striker will be Ghana's Asamoah Gyan and that £20m is the price.

The Mail On Sunday had a story about Mourinho wanting Ashley Cole to go to Real.

The Sunday Telegraph has Fergie telling everyone that he's not bid for Wes Sneijder or German wunderkind, Ozil, so he can't have been turned down or refused by anyone.

The NOTW has West Ham joining 'the race' to sign Sol Campbell.

They also tell the great story about the fall of football, I mean, of Jimmy Bullard having to take a £15,000 a week cut in wages to join Celtic, as they can't afford the wage Hull City were paying. Yep, you've read that right. Celtic can't afford to pay Jimmy Bullard the same wage as Hull did.

Another NOTW story has Heskey moving to Celtic, with Aiden McGeady coming the other way.

They also tell us that Martin O'Neill is confident of landing Robbie Keane and Stephen Ireland.

Steve Sidwell is off to Fulham for £3m. Fulham are also talking to Eidur Gudjohnsen, after his contract talks with Spurs stalled.

Arsenal have missed out on Portugal keeper, Eduardo, because they took too long to make their move. He's joined Genoa as he originally intended.

Jermaine Jenas has said he's going to 'fight for his place' at Spurs, rather than move to Villa. In other words, "There's no way they'll pay me what Spurs are, so why should I go?"

Finally, a paper other than the NOTW has piped up. The Sunday Express tells us that Real Zaragoza's 18-year-old defender Diego Torrellas will join Arsenal.

They also say that Spurs think that they can get Luis Fabiano for around £20m.

West Ham and Birmingham are fighting over Robert Pires, after he was released by Villareal.

The Sunday Mirror says that Stoke will Liverpool's rival over the £7m signing of Maynor Figueroa. How the mighty have fallen.

The Star have a story which has Joe Cole instructing his agent to look at Serie A and La Liga teams.

The Sunday Mirror tells us that David Bentley may find a home at Aston Villa.

Ajax have told United to make them an offer they can't refuse and sign Luis Suarez. £25m was the price, now Ajax say that after the World Cup he's had, £35m is the offer they couldn't refuse. Pretty much prices him out of United's transfer bracket, I suspect.

Sunday Express has Sven-Goran Eriksson as Fulham's new boss.

Capello's reorganizing his backstaff and cutting Stuart Pearce and Ray Clemence. He'll also demand the introduction of a winter break in English football. That's from the NOTW.

Another Russian billionaire is coming into English football. The NOTW say Len Blavatnik is about to make a £30m offer to buy a 35% stake in West Ham.

Jack Wilshere is seeking assurances from manager Arsene Wenger over how much he will play in the first team next season.

Yossi Benayoun has put the boot in on Rafa. He has accused his former manager of trying to "break" him and said "never treated me with the respect I deserved".

The Daily Telegraph has Craig Johnston putting the boot into the Jabulani ball, much like he did on the MOTD highlights programme about 2 weeks ago, you mean guys?

The Mail reckon that Shay Given may be left out at City, after Roberto Mancini re-signed Stuart Taylor and welcomed Joe Hart back from his season-long loan at Birmingham City.

Interesting, if true, story in the Sunday Mirror where Jose Mourinho will be able to leave Real Madrid for free at the end of each year of his current contract, making him available to take over at Old Trafford should Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson be ready to retire.

OK, early stuff from today's papers.

Carlo Ancelotti has 'admitted' that he'd like to sign Kaka, but doesn't there's much chance of it happening. Is that a story? Manager of football club wants one of the best players in the world to play in his team, but he probably won't.

David Villa says Fernando Torres won't go to Man City. He also reckons if Torres quits Liverpool it is likely to be to join Chelsea. Both those stories from The Mail.

The Mirror tells us that Wenger decided not to meet with Barcelona in South Africa to discuss the transfer of Cesc Fabregas.

Well, one of those classless (and there can't be anyone arguing with that now who's not employed by the company or related to Vettel) Red Bulls sailed off into the distance. The other one showed again that he has less racecraft than my granny.

Good GP, poor WC final. Below par World Cup in total, I think. Dunno quite what we'll remember of it in future years apart from those bloody trumpets and the best players in the world failing to perform.

The Dutch were awfully cynical but I guess that wasn't helped by Spain making the most of every foul.

Would Iniesta be the same player without Xavi? You're right about him (and Xavi) being overlooked - They work together so well in that midfield unit without being flamboyant in any way. Maybe that's their problem in terms of recognition.

I think that Old Trafford is the only logical place for Jose to end up. No matter how successful he is at Real, we all know it's not gonna end well and I can see Ferguson finally hanging up the wine rack at the end of this season.

Of course, if a club doesn't have to pay Real compo for Jose's services does that also mean that he's not due any compo if/when he gets sacked?

I have got a pile of movies to watch which is now taller than a small child. Thank god the football's over!

For a few weeks, anyway.

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"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

Congratulations to Spain.

I'm genuinely delighted for them. They have the togetherness, grace and talent that puts England's hodgepodge of dwindling, one-paced 'stars' to shame. And they don't play boring football. I could spend a lifetime watching Xavi and Iniesta. Utterly tremendous team.

Look at this wicked video as well:

&feature=player_embedded#!

That second kiss is gorgeous (that's Iker's missus by the way), shows affection rather than the expected macho lust. I dread to fear what might have happened if that was Terry instead of Casillas. He probably would have flipped her over and spit-roasted her with a couple of his braindead co-pro's, then would come an internet leak, kiss and tell exclusive in the Currant Bun, super injunction at the high court, a few non-convictions thanks to their £1000 an hour lawyers, etc.

howard webb ruined the game.

Really? Ruined the game? I've yet to understand how he did that. All I've read is everyone whinging about his performance, but I think that, not only did he do the best he could, I think he did the right thing.

Had he reffed the game the way FIFA likes, that is, to the letter of the law. The Dutch would've been lucky to finish the 1st half with 10 men. The Spanish play the second half passing around the Dutch and win the game by three or four goals. People moan that the ref 'ruined the game' with the sending off and, after that, it "was ruined as a spectacle". That's how it usually goes.

Had he not dished out the yellow cards, he'd have been called "weak". Not only that, he'd have probably never reffed a big game again in his life, effectively ending his career.

I thought this was worth a look.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/120720...o-villain.html

I whilst I agree with the conclusion, I still stand by what I said above. A case of damned if you do and damned if you don't, as it usually is for refs.

OK, transfer news.

Both Manchester clubs want to sign the 19-year-old Inter Milan striker Mario Balotelli, with the Italian flattered by United boss Sir Alex Ferguson's interest according to the player's agent. This is from the Press Association.

The Daily Mail has Hull's head of football operations Adam Pearson accusing Jimmy Bullard of making "ridiculous financial demands" which prevented his season long loan to Celtic.

L'Equipe tells us that Loic Remy wants any deal with West Ham to be completed quickly. He's said he's interested in a move to Upton Park but has admitted that Nice's asking price could be a problem, saying: "[they] are asking for a lot of money."

The Sun says that Chelsea will move for Fabio Coentrao of Benfica and Portugal, should Ashley Cole move to Real.

The Daily Telegraph has gone back a few weeks to tell us that Man City are looking at Wolfsburg striker Edin Dzeko, but don't want to pay the £34m asking price. However, a player-plus-cash deal involving Roque Santa Cruz could be one option. So, the buy out clause price (£34m) has become the asking price? I wish Fleet Street would just admit they don't know. That or take a look at previous stories so they can keep it all straight.

Though Dan Gosling is as good as at Newcastle, Everton are still hopeful of securing £4m in compensation for the England Under-21 international. That's from The Mirror.

The Daily Express tells this sad story of woe. West Brom want to sign Marcus Berg on a season-long loan deal from Hamburg, although the German side are demanding a "substantial" fee for the striker. The Baggies are also keen on David Ngog following their return to the Premier League. They want goals and they're keen on Ngog? You see what poverty does to you? Don't Baggies fans have enough strife in their lives?

Papa Bouba Diop is probably off to AEK Athens from Portsmouth for £3.5m.

The Star tells us that Harry Redknapp fears this could be Johnathon Woodgate's last season as a professional footballer, due to the injuries he's suffered throughout his career. I disagree. I think it'd be his first, but only if he plays.

That's the gossip. Not much as, I assume, most of the space was dedicated to last night's final. I saw that the viewing figures are in from last night. 20 million watched overall, with the BBC obliterating ITV (as I'd expect) with a 60% share of the audience and a peak audience of 17.9m. While ITV peaked with a 13% share and an audience of 3.8m. The game averaged 15.1 million (a 54% share of viewers) on BBC1 and 3.3 million (12%) on ITV1. I'd also like to mention that the British GP was watched by an audience of 6.8m, one million more than last year.

Here's a fundamental difference between English football and Spain's. They've got this wonderful gal asking them post-match questions and the BBC have ... Garth Crooks. And his minute-long sentences.

What sort of example is this to young professionals? Where's the incentive to do well and win stuff? At the very least The FA should set up an enquiry.

Suggestions: Melanie Sykes or, if they want to go down a serious journalistic route (there's always a first time for the Beeb's footie coverage) and a 'stick' rather than a 'carrot' approach, Kirstie Allsopp.

Can you imagine England's Lion Big Brave JT, Fat Frank, Cashley (funny how they're all Chelsea players ) et al disagreeing with Kirstie?

Cashley would be walking funny for weeks.

Some of the Sky Sports News birds should start taking some post-match interviews. Millie Clode and Georgie Thompson would suit our purpose just fine me thinks.

Back to Casillas' Doris for a second, there is quite a story behind their hook-up (they are now the Posh and Becks of Spain although I trust that the media love-in is less crass and stalker-like than it would be in the UK). Apparently, the girl in question is one of those impossible Spanish birds and the Real Madrid players had a little wager on who could be the first to take her out on a date. The winner would get the date paid for by the rest of the squad. Casillas was the third to try and hasn't looked back since but then, why would you?

Kirsty Gallacher used to do some post-match interviews for Sky didn't she? Don't think she does any more and is it a coincidence that England have a really crap team?

I think not.

What about Nadine Coyle from Girls Aloud?

"Jan Turry, youse hiv wan, wan null. How di yis feel?"

She's no less articulate than Shearer.

Sure i agree he had to pull out yellow cards to dont look weak, but he should have pulled more on Spain too.

Ok we were lucky nigel de jong wasnt send off after his karate kick.. bit later in the game van bommel got kicked down by a player of Spain while the ball was long gone.. and the referee saw it and gave no card at all.

Also the last yellow card for heitinga was totally undeserved he barely touched iniesta and he went down.

Above and the following decision ruined the game:
In the last minutes before the goal in the 118 minute the dutch got a free kick, sneijder shot it into the wall and via the wall it went behind so it would've been a corner. instead Spain got a goal kick and after that the goal was scored.. that is the biggest mistake and it was a clear corner, everybody saw it, hell you could see that thing from out of space but the referee didn't saw it or didnt want to see it.

If we lost with penals i would say congrats so Spain. but now i think its undeserved.. Spain was better in parts of the game, others parts the dutch played better, it was well matched but the referee ruined the game by making allot of wrong decisions

Dunno if there's an appropriate smiley for laughing so loudly that a passing dog turned its head towards the livingroom window, but if there was I'd post it here.

You see, I've just been reading Football365's essential Mediawatch column and have found out what Sepp Blatter's middle name is:

Joseph Bellend Blatter

Proof and more proof.

Words fail me at the aptness of it all...

I think there may've been a card or two extra for Spain but, tbh, I don't remember him going too easy on the Spanish. I think he reffed the game according to how the Dutch played. Let's be honest, there were a good few yellow cards not given to players because they were already on a yellow. A quick and, probably rather lazy example is as follows. Iniesta gets a yellow card for removing his shirt after scoring but Robben didn't get one for kicking the ball away after he'd heard the whistle. Reason? Iniesta hadn't been booked and Robben had. If he'd sent Robben off for that, late on in the World Cup final, there'd have been murders.

True and it should've been a card. But then, van Bommel shouldn't have made the end of the 1st half so, had he reffed by the rules, that incident wouldn't have happened because van Bommel wouldn't have been on the pitch. As I said, damned if he did and damned if he didn't.

That yellow was for persistant fouling. Whilst I can see the argument that, if he hadn't sent him off before, why choose that one? But, at some point, you have to say enough's enough.

No, that's not exactly how it happened. I agree that the incident you describe should've been a corner. No argument there. That was a mistake, but the ref won't usually overrule his assistant on those decisions. If the linesman didn't flag, then a ref won't usually give it. I'm not saying it's right, it wasn't, but that's usually what happens and it happens fairly often. However, that wasn't what lead to the goal.

The goal came from the decision not to give a foul for the block on, I think it was Elia, on the edge of the box. Now, that's a ref's job, to make that judgement. It wasn't clear cut. Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don't. Sometimes going down easily (which he did) can be enough for the ref not to give it. Personally, I thought it was a foul, but I wasn't surprised he didn't give it, especially after what he'd put up with. He's only human, after all.

From that, the Spanish break, but the Dutch have players back. The play switches to the left, then either it breaks down or is blocked (I can't remember which) the Dutch don't clear it and it's passed across the box to Iniesta, who scores.

Trust me, I understand being bitter after being knocked out in a Cup final, but to think that Spain didn't deserve to win that final is really myopic. They didn't deserve to finish the game, let alone win it and, while a neutral, I was cheering the Dutch all the way and still wanted them to win until the end, but Spain were the best team on the night and the best team in the tournament.

OK, transfer gossip.

The Portsmouth News says Portsmouth's Papa Bouba Diop has made his move to AEK Athens. Striker John Utaka is also said to be on the way out of the club. The Indepentent say Sunderland is the expected destination. Staying with Portsmouth and the Daily Express tell us that Portsmouth are about to release David James are getting frustrated with not hearing from him about a one year extension to his contract.

Ronaldinho has agreed to join Flamengo and is now waiting for AC Milan to close the deal with the Brazilian club, GloboEsporte reports.

ESPN Soccernet reports that Harry Redknapp has spoken "at length" with Joe Cole's agent about a move to Spurs.

More of the same about the Mascherano transfer rumour and more from the player's agent. The Press Association has him quoted as saying "to be linked to Inter has a magical taste...it's a dream." I'm starting to wonder how much of this is the agent wanting to get paid and how much is the player. My guess is that Inter will pay more than Barcelona for him, which may be why the agent favours that move so much.

goal.com have an interesting, if true, story about Fulham Ottmar Hitzfeld about taking over from Roy Hodgson. I've got a lot of time for Hitzfeld and he was someone I'd have liked to have seen at United when Fergie said he was going to retire. However, The Sun says that Fulham are looking at recruiting United States coach Bob Bradley as manager.

The Guardian says that Torres could be out for two months with a groin injury and that his move to Chelsea may now be called off.

The Mail says that Edin Dzeko is confident that his current team, Wolfsburg, will drop their asking price of £50m to get him to Man City.

They also have a story about Blackpool looking into a move for United States international midfielder Michael Bradley.

The Daily Mirror tell us that Mexican winger Pablo Barrera is set to complete his £4m switch from Pumas to West Ham on a two-year contract, with the option of a third, subject to gaining a work permit.

They also carry news about Loic Remy's proposed move to West Ham. £12m is now the mentioned asking price.

The Daily Mail report that Liverpool have stopped the season long loan deal taking David Ngog to West Brom, in case they can't bring in two strikers before the transfer deadline.

The Daily Star, among others, carries the story that Real have given up on Steven Gerrard, as they don't think £30m represents value for money for the 30 year old. Haven't we heard all this before from Real?

The Daily Record tells us that the Old Firm reunion at Middlesborough is set to continue with the £2m transfer of Rangers midfielder Kevin Thomson. Kris Boyd, Chris Killen and Barry Robson are already at the Riverside Stadium.

Lots of papers tell us that Artur Boruc's bags were unloaded from the plane that was taking Celtic to the US to start their tour. The rumour is that he's on this way to Fiorentina to secure a £1.7m transfer.

The Daily Express also brings us the news that Aiden McGeady wasn't on the plane to the States with his Celtic teammates because of injury and not because he's about to leave the club.

The future of James Beattie and Dave Kitson look to lie elsewhere, after Stoke manager, Tony Pulis, left them both out of the clubs tour in Austria.

The Daily Mail has a worrying story for Arsenal fans. It tells them that Cesc Fabregas had a Barcelona shirt forced on him and was referred to as "the future of Barcelona" by Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina as Spain's players celebrated their World Cup win in front of 200,000 fans in Madrid. Here's a pic of the man himself, with Iniesta who, along with Pique put the shirt on him.

Before I get to today's gossip, I'd just like to illustrate to those who don't know (or aren't aware) just how pointless everything FIFA is.

Today's FIFA World Rankings. I'll just post the top 15, but here's the link for the article and top 50.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/140720...-rankings.html

Ranking (previous position in brackets)

1 (2) Spain

2 (4) Netherlands

3 (1) Brazil

4 (6) Germany

5 (7) Argentina

6 (16) Uruguay

7 (8) England

8 (3) Portugal

9 (12) Egypt

10 (18) Chile

11 (5) Italy

12 (13) Greece

13 (14) USA

13 (15) Serbia

15 (10) Croatia

Yep, that's right. England, after our worst performance in a World Cup finals, have risen one place in the FIFA rankings.

OK, here's the transfer gossip.

The Sun tells us that Real have just about sealed the deal for Ashley Cole's £30m move from Chelsea and quote Iker Casillas saying: "I am confident he can be a Real Madrid player next year".

They also have a story which has Chelsea switching targets from Mesut Ozil to Stuttgart and Germany midfielder, Sami Khedira.

More Chelsea gossip in The Star, where they say that Chelsea will join United and Man City in the race to sign Italian striker Mario Balotelli from Inter Milan. However, they'll have to bid, at least, £28m which they tell us is how much United are willing to pay. They add that it's also £2m more than City have offered.

The Times goes back to a story that started the summer - the exodus of players at Man City. They say that Robinho and Craig Bellamy are expected to be among the first out the door and start an £80m exodus from the club this summer. They've got Robinho off to AC Milan and Bellamy off to Spurs (as has been rumoured for at least a week.) Micah Richards has also been linked with a move to Spurs.

Until you hear differently, just assume that there's a story in one of the papers quoting Mascherano's agent saying a move to Inter would be a "dream". Today, it's in The Mirror.

The Sun have a story saying new Liverpool manager, Roy Hodgson, is interested in Chu-Young, the South Korean striker at Monaco.

In The Daily Star they have Birmingham City manager, Alex McLeish, about to bid £8m for Liverpool's Ryan Babel.

The Mirror says that Sunderland have made a second attempt to sign Paraguay striker Nelson Valdez from Borussia Dortmund.

Another story in the paper has Owen Coyle ready to sign Real Madrid left-back Marcos Alonso in a £2.2m deal to bring him to Bolton.

Over the border, The Herald says that Celtic have completed the signing of Mexican left back Efrain Juarez for £4m from UNAM Pumas subject to a medical and work permit.

Still over the border and in The Daily Record they tell us that Artur Boruc wants a pay off of about £700,000 from Celtic before completing a £3m transfer to Fiorentina.

A couple of Old Firm related stories from the Daily Express.

Celtic will sign a replacement for goalkeeper Artur Boruc and have asked about Coventry City's Keiren Westwood and Preston's Andy Lonergan.

And Rangers have started talks with Burnley about signing £1.5m-rated midfielder Chris Eagles.

Back to The Daily Star, where they tell us Fabio Capello will tell the FA he wants Italian coaches Mauro Tassotti and Walter Zenga added to his backroom staff to replace Stuart Pearce and Ray Clemence.

Roy Hodgson has told Lucas Leiva that he has a future at Liverpool, so says The Mail.

The Independent goes with the story that Otmar Hitzfeld is in informal talks with Fulham over their vacant managerial role, even though he has two years left on his contract as manager of Switzerland.

Could Man City become the A-Team? The Times carries the story that Man City have given a trial to Roldand Benedict, the son of Dirk Benedict, one of the former stars of The A-Team. Roland Benedict, 20, has been training with City's development squad.

Finally, those reading in New York may want to get themselves a season ticket for the Red Bulls, as Thierry Henry has signed a "multi-year contract". He's expected to make his debut for them on July 22nd against Spurs.

They've already got Howlin' Mad Bellamy in the squad, but for how much longer I dunno.

Dennis Bergkamp might be worth bringing out of retirement too - He ain't gettin' on no plane, fool!

Sorry.

Don't apologise, Tacitus, bring in Bergkamp was great.

What about Fabrizio "The White Feather" Ravanelli for Hannibal?

Indeed.

Gazza for Murdoch seems too cruel...on which one, I don't know yet.

Franck Ribery for Face? Failing that, old 'Modo himself, Peter Beardsley.

The girl who sometimes tags along and basks in the A Team's glory could be Capdevila, I suppose.

EDIT - Or David May.

Surely Robbie Savage for the blonde journo, no?

Ribery would be the scariest Faceman, wouldn't he? Beardsley would work well, but if we couldn't get him, how about Ian Dowie or the goregous Luke Chadwick.

Chadwick?!?!

Thank god I didn't read this post before bedtime.

Talking about lá Savage (who's always reminded me of an Afghan Hound), did you hear him at all on 5Live over the World Cup? Throughout his playing career he's been a thoroughly dislikeable pantomime villain to fans of every club he's not actually playing for but I took a bit of a shine to the guy when he's in the pundit's chair.

He's not as good as The Waddler (the clip of him going completely batsh*t during the England/Germany match is a classic already) and is clearly thruppence short of a shilling but Alan 'He'll be disappointed with that' Shearer he isn't.

And this should be treasured.

Savage became a whole pantomime audience - booing teams he didn't like

And talking of strange animal life forms... another creature was predicting world cup success this year... the Toxoplasma Virus

Hooray for science

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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here

Makes a change from the argument as to why it was a dullish WC because the Southern hemisphere means that the liquid in (European-based) players' brains was sloshing around in a different direction than usual...

Aaaanyway

Good old Robbie:

Took a four-mile run with my BBC producer John Southall the other morning. He was blowing hard by the end but I was fine and commented that the altitude didn’t seem to be affecting me one bit.

“Robbie, you idiot,” he said. “We’ve just been running on the beach.”