Rooney

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

The timing of the leak is odd though. This could have come out ages ago.. I thought he was terrible on Saturday but for both teams and a total lack of consistency.. the no foul signal for the Salah one was a joke though. Seems to be this video comes from 2020 though.. I think it’s the Villa game though or around then, as the context of the video looks after we put in a terrible performance and when he mentions “in lockdown”, looks like some time may have passed. I reckon this was after the 7-2 Villa game and taken before the Everton game.

He’s being filmed at a party or something by his mate. Or someone at least. Anyway, he’s been suspended now!

There’s a video on Twitter of him calling Klopp a C bomb, looks like it’s not long after the 7-2 Villa game in 2020. While I do think in general Coote is just a terrible referee- this video was likely taken just before the 2-2 Everton derby in Oct 2020 and of course features a Mane goal disallowed where he’s a yard onside and the Pickford on VVD tackle.

David Coote finished as a Premier League referee then :lol: No way he gets a Liverpool game again, the decisions this guy has not given us over the last 4 years is criminal. Saturday another prime example.

My favourite part so far is Arsenal telling everyone about injuries. Their injury crisis was massively over stated, they lost one player. Liverpool and City have already had more injuries this season already! Christmas is when we’ll really be able to see. I think there’s a lot of bias with City though, they are not right at the moment. They’re giving up loads of chances in games and losing control, which the Guardiola hallmark. Sure, he might stumble upon a solution but structurally they are not quite right. When teams were beating City outside of a few exceptions, they were usually smash and grabs.. teams are literally dominating City at the moment for large periods of the game which I don’t think has happened on a consistent basis since Pep’s first season.

They'll come back, they always do, but it does very much seem like the end of the Pep era as he probably recognises a bit of a rebuild is needed and some of the players bought for big money (Nunes, Phillips) haven't really taken off. Watching Gundogan and Kovacic in that second half against Brighton did really give me Henderson and Fabinho cliff vibes in 2022/2023 :lol:

Well it's all narratives and hyperbole isnt it :lol: It's normal to lose games, was only when Pep came on that the bar was raised so high. It used to be if a team managed to put together a winning run of 9-10 agmes at any point during the season they'd probably win the league. 10 games is usually when you can tell what's happening. Everything seems so open at the moment, but something is definitely not quite right with City. Maybe Pep might fix it like he did in 2020/2021.. but he also got a great big of luck that season too!

Yeah it's pretty mad at the moment - all teams are taking points off each other, which probably does lend to the theory that 85-90 points might get you the title this year and probably seems likely those European places are well up for grabs this season as well. So close from 3rd to almost near the bottom! A good bit of form with a few wins then you're in the CL places for the time being.

There's plenty of time still, two thirds of the season to go. They'd need lots of luck and to win their home games against the Top 6-7, they've played most of their toughest away games already though I think.

Well, we both play a game before then so who knows :lol:

City were so good in that 1st half - should have been three nil up. Mad how Brighton switched things about and completely dominated though. They certainly can't control anything like they can without Rodri.. makes for an interesting season!

Saturday 9th November Brentford 2-1 AFC Bournemouth Crystal Palace 1-1 Fulham West Ham United 2-1 Everton Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 Southampton Brighton & Hove Albion 2-2 Manchester City (17:30) Liverpool 2-1 Aston Villa (20:00) Sunday 10th November Manchester United 3-2 Leicester City (14:00) Nottingham Forest 1-1 Newcastle United (14:00) Tottenham Hotspur 4-1 Ipswich Town (14:00) Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal (16:30)

And what did Trump offer people? Absolutely nothing but empty words and sound bites. I think a lot of people are completely missing the trick and it's a big lesson for Labour unless we want a similar faith. People care about money in their pocket - voters aren't bothered about whose got the best policies and plans, I'm sure the new Tory Party leader is already taking a similar path (I think it was her or maybe it was Jenrick..). There's no communication of meaninful content and instead, lots of short 10-30 second sound bites, vague impressions of what might be delivered but no real substance behind it. The Dems need to find their own version of Trump to beat the MAGA cult or get Michelle Obama. I also think looking at the data (as much as I don't agree with this myself) I don't believe America wants a woman telling it what to do (expect Michelle.. maybe).

I think this is wrong. Probably there’s two bits here, firstly as people have already stated it’s all about the economy. If people feel poorer they’ll blame the government. Even though the US economy is doing half alright, inflation was not. It’s an easy sound bite to believe. We saw the same here too. The Democrats also did not appeal to the working class white men, you need to appeal to Joe Sixpack and those Andrew Tate led males. Not only that, the Latino population often heavily skews Conservative values so not really sure running a totally progressive campaign is the right thing. Basically until Texas turns Blue, The Dems probably need Dwayne Johnson.

They need the international break. It’s clear they’re running low on bodies and the loss of Rodri is massive. If you watch their patterns, they’re trying to have more control in games to make up for the lack of Rodri. Let’s see what happens but this feels slightly different.

Bit of both really isn’t it? Europe and the U.K. are going to have to cosy up to him, like it or not. Think the analysis and fallout will come, think the problem was they should have got rid of Biden before the Primaries. We don’t actually know who the actual best candidate would have been for the Democrats. How long until Texas flips blue? :wacko:

Surely the worrying thing for the U.K. here is this emboldens Reform and how they try and gain influence within the Tories!

Can't wait to see which club reckons they will end up with Gykores :lol:

I suspect Kamala will end up winning quite comfortably. Seems the polls are 50/50 as the pollsters are worried about getting things badly wrong so sitting on the fence.

Steve said in the old thread that the Tories will move to the Centre - I just can't see it under the current Leadership. Think they'll lech further to the right and I'd be shocked if there's not a new leader in charge by 2029.

Yeah, not concerned about this one bit. I'd say will push more people to vote for Reform though - can't see the Centrists/moderates deciding in their droves to vote for Badenoch. Can't wait for her first gaff as Leader of the Opposition.

Agreed, there’s ages to go yet. I remember 2020-2021 where we were too at Christmas and City were turgid. We’re up there at the moment but a long way to go yet.