Rooney

Seems like it. Unfortunare for him as I thought they were much the better side against Leicester.

We're about to have a President who will pardon himself. I agree, it's not a great optic but at this stage, you can take the moral high ground or just join what everyone else is doing. Funny to see the MAGA crew losing their heads. Always knew they were a massive bunch of hypocrites :lol:

Easy, you manage the squad and transition. Too early to say they are finished- they will come back. I don’t think they will win the title this season for what it’s worth as I don’t think the holes can be patched up quickly. But on their day they can still beat anyone. And Pep might even find a tactical fix with the players at his disposal. Not sure Walker is finished- he’s just not able to play like he used to. Same with a lot of their players. Transitioning the squad is the hardest thing to do and you have to be brutal. Suspect this run has told Pep what he needs to do. Surely wider issue is they’ve let so many players go who’d walk in to their team right now (Palmer, Rogers, Lavia, Harwood-Bellis).

They are a machine and the machine is broken. If Pep fixes it, who knows. Right now that looks really unlikely. Outside of Pep’s first season, the only other team that’s truly broken the machine is the 2019-2020 Liverpool team. They are a level below at the moment but they’ve been her before too (in 2020-2021) albeit not as far behind. I think writing them off completely is too much, out of any team in the world they are the most robotic and machine like, so if they find the missing part, will be difficult to stop. They still have good players, they just can’t defend on the transition!

Tuesday 3rd December Ipswich Town 2-1 Crystal Palace (19:30) Leicester City 2-2 West Ham United (20:15) Wednesday 4th December Everton 1-3 Wolverhampton Wanderers (19:30) Manchester City 2-1 Nottingham Forest (19:30) Newcastle United 1-3 Liverpool (19:30) Southampton 2-4 Chelsea (19:30) Arsenal 1-1 Manchester United (20:15) Aston Villa 2-1 Brentford (20:15) Thursday 5th December Fulham 2-1 Brighton & Hove Albion (19:30) AFC Bournemouth 3-3 Tottenham Hotspur (20:15)

All part of the process though - they are in bad form and it does not look right, but Pep just needs to work it out. They are still mostly trying to play the same way with a midfield that can just not compete and control, and yes lots of players out of form. But they'll come back, there was a period in the game today where they took control, but Liverpool were good in their shape and they couldn't create anything. But the problem then is on the transition when the lose the ball.

They will pick up points still, lost against Spurs (their bogey team), Liverpool (they have a terrible record at Anfield) and against a Brighton team in good form as well as Bournemouth who are good at home. They are clearly struggling in midfield and defensively and are in low confidence at the moment, but they will come through it. Can't see them missing Top 4 at all, ages to go yet.

They are really vulnerable in transitions but still have the players to pick up points. Really reminds me a bit of the spell Liverpool went through in 2022-2023.

I don't think it's anything to do with that. By all accounts she was doing a good job. Issue is stories like this can run and run, especially if there was more to come out, look what happened to the Tories. The offence was pretty minor and hyes, it does seem absolutely stupid in the grand scheme of things.. but I also guess this means she can quietly come back to the Cabinet in the future too.

Friday 29th November Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 Southampton (20:00) Saturday 30th November Brentford 3-1 Leicester City Crystal Palace 1-1 Newcastle United Nottingham Forest 1-0 Ipswich Town Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-2 AFC Bournemouth West Ham United 0-2 Arsenal (17:30) Sunday 1st December Chelsea 3-2 Aston Villa (13:30) Manchester United 2-1 Everton (13:30) Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Fulham (13:30) Liverpool 3-1 Manchester City (16:00)

Exactly that we need to get populist, the Government know things will get worse before they get better and that’s how voters will vote. Unfortunately even though I’m sure Labour will tell people that Reform will ban violent video games, make healthcare less accessible and give us all less rights, people will continue to vote for it. We’re lucky we have 4.5 years before an election and a lot can happen before that time, but totally agree Starmer’s team need to get populist and fight back. Reform will start using the local elections as a mandate for an election.

Elon Musk has no idea how the British political system works, added this to id say half the signatures on there are bots or from other countries. They are just riding on the US election wave at the moment. But this does count as a lesson for us all to combating the threat in the future. Lots of things Labour can do to stop this which I don’t think will be populate with the Left, but I think they have to, otherwise we’re going to have some form of Tory/Reform coalition now that the US know the election can be bought.

Can't see it under a FPTP system. They'll make a lot of gains and Labour need to be careful as I fully expect the Tories to sell out to Reform, but just can't see a Reform majority. Would be terrible for the country, no policies would get through. Would be like Brexit all over again.

Thought Amorim came across quite well in the interviews today. Those quotes doing the rounds about media duties are not a good thing though.. what's he going to be like in 3 months if Man Utd are still mid table!? Totally get he wants to work with the players but also a bit naive if he did not think there would be OTT heavy media duties too.

There's loads of factors, Rodri is a massive one. However even before they Rodri injury they didn't look quite right. I do think the age and mileage in some of the players has an effect too, no denying a lot of theur key players are aging. Coupled with a Foden looking off form at the moment. The squad needs some surgery to it - mad how you think how many players they've let go from the youth team that they could have tried to integrate in the first team too. Selling Alvazrez in the summer was a mad moment, but most of their problems come down to Rodri, they look very weak in the transitions.

City look so weak on the transitions, that midfield without a proper #6 can really be got out. Not sure Pep's worked out the solution to that problem yet..

Stadium tour announced after his Coachella gig was announced too! I know for a fact there's an extra date being held back on the Sunday 15th at St. James Park so I'm assuming there's one being held back in London too when it inevitably sells out.

Saturday 23rd November Leicester City 1-2 Chelsea (12:30) AFC Bournemouth 2-1 Brighton & Hove Albion Arsenal 1-0 Nottingham Forest Aston Villa 3-1 Crystal Palace Everton 1-1 Brentford Fulham 2-2Wolverhampton Wanderers Manchester City 3-2 Tottenham Hotspur (17:30) Sunday 24th November Southampton 0-2 Liverpool (14:00) Ipswich Town 1-2 Manchester United (16:30) Monday 25th November Newcastle United 2-1 West Ham United (20:00)

That's exactly how I see it too Iz. Who wins with a full scale war? Certainly not Russia. Who wins if Russia fire a nuke on a NATO state? Not Russia again. This entire facade is about Russia showing their hand. We know Trump is going to want to solve the war in 2025, which I think he will do through a land treaty and Ukraine know Trump will likely pull funding, so before that happens, they need to show their hand to Russia too by battering their infastructure. If Russia wanted the war to escalate, I think it would have happened long before now. In my opinion, introducting North Korean troops is a sign Russia are struggling. All sides will spin it as they've won, but in reality nobody's really won.

Or the more likely probability is both sides know the end of the war is likely happening in the near future, so both sides are showing their hand ready for any negotiations to begin. The implications of Russia getting exactly what they want are terrible. So the West need to show their hand too before any negotiations begin.

Pep's signed a 1 year extension at City. Interesting. Cue all the links to the England/Brazil jobs..

It's all self defence though and a show of strength. All these countries know the dangerous of nuclear weapons and what it means. There's no way anyone with half a brain will fire a nuclear weapon, it's basically an admission of defeat as it will either be shot down, or something much larger fired in the opposite direction. As for Ukraine using US missiles, I suspect the West will follow quickly. Russia will say it's aggression, but the West will point to North Korean troops entering the war. It's classic appeasement. I'd say based off everything the war is likely to end in 2025/2026 unless there's a serious escalation.

Job done I guess, was important to qualify back to Group A. Feel like Carsley has left a bit of a legacy, of course there was that awful Greece performance but I also think we needed that performance too as it shows everyone that despite how stacked we are in those attacking midfield positions, it means we lack balance across the field. I've no idea what Tuchel will do, pretty clear his brief will be to win the World Cup. I think he'll stick with a family similar 28-35 players, so that first squad he picks will be interesting

We thinking that Musk will run for President in 2028 then?

I think Gabby Logan is a way better presenter personally. Match of the Day is still massively watched and personally I prefer watching it to the YouTube highlights! I think Alex Scott would see a tumble in viewership personally. I think Mark Chapman is the best logical presenter - he does a stellar job on Match of the Day 2 and then use Match of the Day 2 to bed in a new presenter