Michael

You make some very interesting observations. I also do not think that Werder or Schalke will get relegated and I believe that Gladbach will at the very least finish in the top 5. I think that it's important to note that both Werder and Schalke had huge injury problems last season and that clearly affected their performances. I don't read too much into Werder's loss to Hertha, as Hertha have a team of quality players. I am sure that Hertha will qualify for Europe this season. But Werder have enough quality about them to finish in mid-table, with or without Rashica(I am sure Rashica will be leaving). The same applies to Schalke if both these sides play their cards right. Sides like Mainz, Union Berlin, Arminia Bielefeld and dare I say it Augsburg, all look weaker to me than the teams that Werder or Schalke can lineup. Stuttgart had a dodgy start to the season against Freiburg and I believe their manager was a bit naive in his approach against the side from the Black Forest. However, they have some decent players in their team, so I believe that the Swabians should also just about avoid relegation this season, if Matarazzo gets his act together. Koln and Freiburg also look too strong to go down in my opinion.

Haha, I see, excuse my typo...*signing If Werder could sign Chong permanently, he would be a great acquisition. Unfortunately there was no option to buy clause inserted into his loan deal with Werder.

With all due respect to Osako, there is no way in hell that United are going to be interested in singing him from Werder Bremen. Chong has already demonstrated that there is something special about him and he should be a great asset to Werder this season.

Yes, I read about this loan deal being close to completion this morning. As Frankfurt have now signed Andre Silva on a permanent basis, he was always going to be our first choice forward. While Bas Dost was likely second choice. As the youngster Ache was signed this summer, the competition was getting tough up front for Paciencia. So it kind of makes sense that we have loaned him out. Having said that, he will still find some sort of stiff competition at Schalke as well. Ibisevic was very impressive for Hertha Berlin last year, while Kutucu is a fast improving young forward. However, with those 3 competing as out and out strikers, Burgstaller is unlikely to get much playing time this season, which should be a relief to a lot of Schalke fans.

Yes and he has been one of the most improved players at Bayern. He was an integral part of Bayern Munich's Champions League winning team and he sometimes doesn't get the credit he deserves behind the world class headline grabbers like Lewandowski, Mueller, Gnabry, Thiago, Davies, Kimmich, Alaba etc.

Well that's been well known since Euro 96.

Looks like a decent squad, but I am not sure if Kalvin Philips should be there, he's not at the same level as the other midfielders in my opinion(I don't care if he has played very well in the Championship, because Premier League football and top tier international football are a much higher standard). Also Maguire shouldn't really have gotten a call up, he's been a very naughty boy recently.

Yes, thank god he got to Germany. Hopefully the treatment that he gets there keeps him alive. Clearly he was poisoned, the Kremlin are a disgrace.

These types of things seem to only happen in Russia.

Yes mate and apparently the Russian doctors are claiming that Navalny wasn't poisoned. They are instead suggesting that his condition is due to metabolic disease, caused by low blood sugar. Clearly the doctors are following orders from the Kremlin. https://news.sky.com/story/doctors-ban-navalny-being-transported-abroad-amid-claim-of-kremlin-pressure-12053503

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has been poisoned. Putin's cruelty seemingly knows no limits. It's not the first time he's gotten his minions to poison those who oppose his authority. Navalny is reportedly in a coma and in intensive care. It's an absolute disgrace the way Putin rules that country. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53844958 https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/screams-of-pain-heard-on-navalny-flight/vi-BB18aY2H?ocid=msedgntp

Has anyone been watching the Snooker World Championship? The final is being played right now and it seems like Rocket Ronnie O'Sullivan is back to his very best. He has ben playing some flawless snooker in this championship. He's taken a 5-2 lead over Kyren Wilson in the final. It will be interesting to see if Kyren can come back and win this one or if Ronnie is just too good for him.

This couple standing less than 600 meters away from the explosion were extremely lucky to survive the blast.

Here we have an example of the opposite type of person to the one that Tommy reported. Mr Scumbag Stephen Gallagher 55, stabbed his father Thomas Gallagher 76, more than a dozen times after the pair had an argument over broadband internet speed. Thomas told his son to leave the house. But his son Stephen said that his father had irritated him, so he approached his father when his father was on the phone and he stabbed him many times, ignoring his father's pleas for him to stop. It is said that Stephen suffers from a form of autism as well as alcohol problems, but there is no excuse for the savage murder that he undertook. Only a low life scumbag would murder their own father like that. Sometimes I see the logic with the death penalty that is used in certain US states. https://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/britain/son-jailed-for-life-over-brutal-murder-of-mayo-native-father-39438382.html https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/son-jailed-for-life-for-stabbing-father-to-death-over-trivial-broadband-row/ar-BB17N3nK?ocid=msedgntp

What a selfless, caring hero of a man. It is so tragic that he himself died in the process of saving the lives of others. What a brave man he was. With all the nasty deeds that certain people do in this world, heroic people like Mr Marcin Kolczyński give us faith in humanity. My condolences go out to his family and friends, the world has lost another lovely soul. R.I.P. Marcin Kolczyński

Meanwhile, also in the Middle East, there was a huge fire at a market in Ajman, in the UAE.

The Brentford team must be quite distraught right now. After having the great season that they had, they have come away with nothing. There is nothing worse for a Championship side than losing a play-off final I would imagine. I expect several of their better players will leave the club over the summer.

Yeah, they are saying that at least 100 dead now, but that figure is bound to continue to increase. So many people will have died from a huge blast like that in the middle of the city centre. It's a real tragedy and heads will inevitably have to roll for this.

Yes, I can't think of a more damaging blast/explosion in history, outside of a war situation. It is all very worrying and Lebanon is in a real mess. The future looks very bleak for Lebanon right now, it's a real shame.

Even the priest feels the effect.

Yes, sadly they will find more dead as they continue their search. These are bad times in Lebanon right now, nothing seems to have gone right for the Lebanese people in 2020.

There are more than 50 dead due to the explosion in Lebanon and 2,750 wounded, very sad. https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/aug/04/beirut-explosion-huge-blast-port-lebanon-capital

It is suspected that Israel could be behind the bombings in Iran.