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Amazing the scrutiny Lampard is under. He's been here 5 minutes. Of course we should stick with him if we get relegated, if nothing more than to send a message to these players that you're the ones who are going to get turfed out here after you've seen off 6, 7, 8 managers. People from outside the club really will struggle to apply normal analysis to Everton's situation I'm afraid. Ancelotti is off pissing La Liga and knocking PSG out of the Champions League and even he could only get 10th place out of this lot. Ideally we would have kept him as he had the authority to cut loose all of the players who have been letting us down for years under loads of different managers. Sadly circumstance intervened and we have to try to give that authority to Lampard. I've already referred once to Jamie Carragher's comments about Everton on Monday Night Football. They've had Koeman, Silva, Allardyce, Ancelotti, Benitez, Lampard. At some point you have to stop looking for a new manager to get more out of the same players and tell them it's about fucking time you get some performance out of yourself or you can forget about a new contract at this club. This should have started happening 3-4 managers ago.

Are some of you more upset with the reaction to Putin's war (tennis players having to disagree with mass murder and Chelsea fans not being able to buy tickets to football matches for a while) than what Putin himself is actually doing (killing thousands of people, mostly those from his own military that he's sending to their deaths to do his bidding)? I'm giving you a chance to say no because that's a pretty horrible conclusion to come to, but for some people, that's where all the evidence points.

Johnson & the tories: "It's not cool for us to take Russian money anymore, so our new best friends are Saudis"

Carlos Sainz is a pretty cool guy.

I've had a quick read into this, and the words "must" and "will" are a problem, because all I can see is that it's been rumoured, and it's not off the table, but that the Mirror and Express are running with it. It isn't a done deal, they may yet discuss it and decide against it. Again, I don't actually disagree with you. They probably shouldn't be made to express an opinion. I would ask them to stay away if they'd come out in support or Putin, and I'd make sure they played under a 'neutral' flag instead of a Russian one even if they condemn him publicly. Still, I can't really bring myself to get properly mad about a handful of professional tennis players not being able to compete at Wimbledon for (what's hopefully only) one year, especially when it's only hypothetical at this point too. It goes back to my original point that I think this is a valid discussion to have, but as soon as I start thinking about whether that's unfair on those tennis players, all I can then think as a follow-up is to look at the big picture and consider how unfair the war is on all of the ordinary Ukrainians having their homes destroyed and all of the ordinary Russian foot soldiers being sent to their deaths. I just really can't get that angry about a few sportspeople being unable to compete in a few competitions in the grand scheme of things, so it confuses me to see others who seem to be more visibly angry about that than they are about the war itself.

if he doesn't denounce it he is banned, that is persecution based on preconceived ideas that all Russians are complicit. medvedev has absolutely no reason to be asked this. it is enough to denounce Putin and his cronies, slam the largely ineffective embargos on them. but treating every Russian with contempt is to far.

given that medvedev and Chelsea have nothing to do with Putin, or sport with geo political issues. I don't see what it will help and he could flat out lie and nobody will be wiser. what Putin is doing is wrong, but the persecution of Russians just for being Russia is a bridge to far (no pun)

Daniel medvedev now has to get up like a puppet and denounce Putin to play. like anyone really needs to be concerned about a tennis player playing tennis. it's gone to far

Yeah it's mental. I'm pretty sure the Dutch are born with a bicycle I love it, though. Nowhere was getting around so easy as in the Netherlands. Granted, I lived in a much smaller city, so it was much more relaxed than Amsterdam

@Dr. Gonzo good info but very much not good.

From a Western perspective, the Ukraine-Russia conflict is a lot more "clear cut" than the crisis in Yemen, at least in terms of "standing up for Western values." With Ukraine getting invaded, it's a democracy that wanted closer ties with the EU getting invaded by an autocratic country. It's much easier for us to imagine a side to support in this conflict, we're from the UK and have lived with democracy our whole lives - we have such close ties with the EU too that we were even fucking in the bloody thing until recently. With Yemen, it's a much more complicated situation because: ultimately, regardless of who wins the conflict, there's nobody that you or I (or anyone else on the forum) would consider a good option for the future of Yemen. And it's a conflict steeped in sectarian bullshit, which is really offputting for most people. Since 2004, the Houthi rebels (who at the time I think were all Shia, whereas now they're predominantly Shia but Sunnis fight with them too now) started an insurgency against Yemen's government (which was essentially a Saudi puppet government), by 2014 economic collapse & the end of oil subsidies had turned this conflict into a full blown civil war. In 2015, the president of Yemen fled when the Houthis stormed the presidential compound. And it goes without saying, the Houthis are definitely not nice people. They're religious extremists, just a different flavour to what we're used to with Wahabi/Salafist extremists like ISIS (which btw we can also thank the Saudis as the biggest financial backers and proponents of the shite Wahabi ideology). Having said that, having absolute shit people in your country is not justification for what the Saudis have done to Yemenis generally. Hadi (Yemen's president) fled to Saudi Arabia, where MBS & co. decided to support their failing puppet by leading a military intervention in Yemen. This originally consisted of bombing campaigns, but eventually spread to a blockade. This blockade has prevented food from reaching Yemen. The blockade would eventually lead to a food source crisis, which at this point has expanded into a famine in the country. As the war expanded, the Saudi coalition (which the US and UK are a part of) started racking up a long list of war crimes in the conflict. They declared an entire city a legitimate military target (violating international law) and began deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure with cluster munitions. They began deliberately targeting facilities run by aid organisations & targeting camps for wounded war victims and doctors - this sent the message that aid workers and medical personnel in Yemen should fuck off outta there, which has led to critically low numbers of doctors in Yemen. This isn't just an issue for providing aid to the war wounded, it's led to the spread of diseases like cholera... and of course it's not like COVID-19 decided it would just ignore a warzone. Other war crimes aside (btw, it's weird typing that out), using famine and disease as weapons of war to prop up a puppet government that was ousted from the country it was meant to rule is absolutely disgusting. But as I've described, they're not just using famine and disease for the war - there's a whole host of other war crimes. And it's absolutely grim what's going on in Yemen and pretty disgusting that the West doesn't just arm these warmongers but also provides them support as members of the coalition as well.

Netherlands are hardcore when it comes to cycling. I once cycled in Amsterdam, and when we were at a red light, at the milisecond it turned green I had someone literally bumping into me from behind (No, MUFC, not like that).

Maybe he means recycle

How corrupt is the Ukrainian goverment?

I find it very disappointing that tickets have been stopped for Chelsea fans against Boro in the cup. Seems a massive overkill which diminishes the quarterfinal spectacle, I think Ken Bates recently said this is more about the govt grandstanding that it is being tough on Russia when it really is the ordinary fan and worker that pays the cost not Putin.

and tbh the West has done themselves no favours in making it so Putin can't reach for any flimsy justification for the invasion or to justify war crimes

Was supposed to just be a routine hip surgery from what I've read. Not an expert on the subject but shocking that it could go from that to three heart attacks, having to be put on life support, and then eventually needing to have that life support turned off. RIP.

Our daughter's update on Puddin when she is in bed TRYING to sleep. Puddin still likes to sit on my chest Puddin forgets he's fricking bigger Puddin also likes to sit facing out so his chocolate starfish is practically up my nose because his tail is not a normal tail it curls up and over. Puddin also bunny hopped off my frigging chest after this photo. I swear I have paw indents on my chest and possible fractures