Rooney

It was 2023-2024 where they signed big. Zinchenko was a massive player for them and Jesus is really good. Those players were signed to bring them to the next level, it was summer 2023 where they signed Timber, Rice, Havertz where they kicked on and did a good job. Problem was this season they strengthen bizarrely in areas they were already fairly strong.

They haven’t been unlucky though. They’ve been poor this season. Last season they were on a really good run of form in 2024. They did well last season to keep pace with City. Not sure I agree with not buying big clubs rejects either.. Salah and KDB have probably been the best two players over the last 6-7 years!

Fuming about growing our economy. Not sure Reform fans will be happy until we’re all handing out rations and listening to white cliffs of Dover every evening.

Trying to deflect for his own failures. It would be impressive if they got to 90 points.

Inter play in a way that is krypotonite for the big pressing teams. Dear Lord a final vs Arsenal would be a complete dullard though. Barcelona are good but they lack the defensive nous at the moment. Inter are terrible going forward, yet scored 7 times over the ties.. madness. Obviously really fun to watch though for us nuetrals.

And what amazing deals will Reform do? I'll tell you they will be absolutely shite or won't happen. Probably spending their budget making sure we have the correct flags up whilst completely oblivious to regional flags. Guessing you've read the detail to the whole Trade deal on the Gov website with what the assessed overall impact is? I'll summarise, it's good. And even more laughable is Reform getting their knickers in a twist without fully understanding social security contributions.

The impact on immigration will be absolutely miniscule. Any jobs they do get preference in will be for the AI industry, for which the UK is a growth hub and needs the talent. So I don't know, seems like a good way to grow the economy and have people splashing the cash in the UK. India is a massive economy and will only grow over the next 10-20 years. If you're telling me this is a bad deal cos someone from India is gonna come and take your job, that's not happening. Markets are a good indication because it shows how investors are reacting to the situation as they expect their money to grow, in turn make even more money.

Which just shows why Reform are terrible for Britain. Focusing on a tiny point which is temporary vs what looks on the face of it, a pretty decent deal considering we have a poor hand to deal with. Not sure how this compares to the EU deal (or even if there is one) but that's your benchmark. The markets and currency have responded positively so on the face of it, it will be economically benefical for us.

Completely agree. I can imagine it’s difficult as when we play the game we have 30 hours with these characters and we see things through their eyes only. But yeah, knowing what’s to come, this version of Ellie is nowhere near the lost, broken, depressed and hateful Ellie of the game. So if they follow the same path, the development seems a bit off.

When you learn more about the WLF you'll realise why. The Isaac bits are important but as a character he's not as important this season. Suspect those scenes were to set up a different part of the story which is purely speculation on my behalf and will make no sense to you yet, as there's been zero hints of it yet through Ellie and Dina walking in Seattle. On a show level, I always found the Ellie/Dina a weaker narrative part, but it made sense. They made some nice changes to combine everythng in the show, but I thought the writing was a bit stretched. They did a good piece of building up the tension but I don't buy Dina's reaction to the situation. Just found that whole exchange really lazy writing along with the space stuff. I know why they did that line, but it feels very forced. Loved the Take On Me scene though. Hope we get the Pearl Jam song at some stage :D Although the show version of Ellie is nowhere near as messed up as the game version of Ellie.

When the Lib Dems do well, Labour usually do well. I'd suspect come 2029 Labour would likely need the Lib Dems to govern in any case with a working majority.

Vance now coming out and saying the Russia/Ukraine war isn't going to end anytime soon, Trump wanting to Tarriff films and re-open Alcatraz. Just more classic wisdomm and dumb ass ideas. The only saving Grace is when the car crash comes in to play, judging from what's happened in Canada & Australia, perhaps the UK might be able to keep Reform at bay.

I mean the result at Stamford Bridge means absolutely nothing. Not one Liverpool fan cares really, we’ve won the league and seems Slot is going to use the last few games to test the fringe players out ahead of a big summer. Obviously disappointed by the Trent news but it’s been common knowledge for months and pretty clear him and his camp had their heads lured by Real years ago. Players move on. I do worry about how we match the creative output, but that’s a problem we should address in the summer. He’s been a great player for us and wish him the best, although not sure he will settle in Madrid myself. Can only think of Mascherano and Suarez in recent times who’ve left Liverpool and gone on to enjoy themselves! The rumours are Alonso will play him in midfield, which I can’t see working.

Can't believe there's not a topic on this already. What a film. Well worth it all for the mid scene with I Lied Tp You which is surely going to win best Original Song for the Oscars in 2026. Suspect that Blues scene will end up becoming iconic. If I had one criticism it was I thought some of the dialogue was weak in places as it became too obvious what would happen. BUT some of the script was so good too. Well worth the hype if you are on the fence about seeing it.

Reform are also shit though and will end up being dogged down by their own policies, much like the Green Party do.

Exactly this. Local elections are always slightly different to general elections as most places do the merry dance between parties. Be interesting to see what Reform do with their councils (not a lot) before going back in to the hands of the Tories/Labour in the next cycle.

Probably helps that in your last 3 games you've played against 10 men for two of the ties! The Europa League is significantly weaker and will be going forwards. Not having the 3rd placed teams drop down is probably fairer. But if the CL format didn't change you'd have had the likes of Man City, Juventus, Brugge, Sporting even Celtic in there as well.

I would suspect we will be half asleep against Chelsea at the weekend. Could really see us slipping to defeat there or getting a draw. Don't Chelsea play Forest on the final day? Could be a winner takes all game.

I thought it would be worse in Runcorn to be honest. Hopefully this is a wake up for Labour. As much as I think it was the right move, the WFH policy has been a disaster for them in the short term. Like everyone says though, really looking forward to everyone experiencing Reform who want to give everything but have no way to fund or pay it as well as slashing the NHS. Turkeys voting for Christmas springs to mind.

Must admit, I find the treatment of Kneecap pretty baffling. I don't agree with the 'kill your MP' they said - albeit they have apologised for that and while they can say it was out of context. But anyway, they have apologised. But the campaign to basically cancel them is beyond bonkers. Can't see a way Glastonbury stop the booking, despite various figures trying to get them cancelled, as obviously we all know what they will say and rightly so. And Joseph, what you say is exactly right. The path to a two State is only going to happen if the world, or more likely the US makes it happen.

6 clubs in the CL next year from England will make it way harder to get 5 CL spots the following season. All it takes is for half of the teams to be crap.

Great game. Barcelona are so fun to watch but they can easily be got at defensively. So much better than the bore game on Tuesday!

PSG were well worth the win. Arsenal still have a shot but jeez they are so one dimensional. Very strong on set pieces but if that’s your primary source of goals then it’s going to limit you. Not sure I can see PSG losing by two clear goals in Paris..

Yeah I think Reform will win, but I also think it's a disaster waiting to happen. A lot of their support material all seems to be based on Farage and I'm just nt+ot sure how much of an election pull he will be come 2029. Plus, as even the likes of Rupert Lowe are pointing out, Reform don't have any answers for how they're actually going to do anything (fecking shock). If you tell someone whose struggling that they will increase the personal tax allowance to 20k, then I understand why people would vote for them, I would in their situation. Although what they don't tell you is how they're actually going to do that without bankrupting the country or just making sure you pay more for everything else to compensate through VAT.

Think Arsenal might win, albeit it will be very close. PSG have so much speed, I think a lot of the game will depend on how brave Arsenal are.