Dr. Gonzo

I mean, they’re still an investment capital company… just one run by a family. I wouldn’t say they’re just philanthropic billionaires pursuing purely passion projects - good ROI will always be the end goal for them.

They also came into a Roma that had been put into a financial hole by Monchi's very terrible transfers (some of which are still dragging Roma down financially because Monchi had signed some bang average players to absolutely insane contracts) - while I think part of their problems at Roma have been due to them not really knowing a whole lot about football or running a football club, they've also done some things that Roma fans like & they've also had their hands tied by some of those dealings before they'd bought the club. They've got a sort of mixed reputation among Roma fans. I know a couple of diehard Roma fans in Rome irl and one of them absolutely hates them the other thinks they're not so bad given the circumstances they found themselves in... although has questioned their decision making. The truth is probably they're somewhere in the middle of those two views. For as unhappy as many Roma fans are... they did win that silly new European trophy pretty recently - which means even Roma fans unhappy with the state of their club have seen more joy in recent years than most Everton fans have for the entirety of my life. And realistically speaking, their struggles as owners of Roma are probably a really good learning experience for them as they try to build Everton up from the pits that Moshiri & Kenwright have pulled one of English footballs biggest clubs into. For as bad as the Friedkin group can potentially be, I think it'd be a far cry from what Moshiri's tenure as Everton owner would mean for the club.

Getting subbed at half time (or was it before half time - can't remember) this season too, probably can't have helped his confidence either. I understand why Slot did it, he was looking like a real liability and getting him off the pitch did shore us up. But he looks absolutely lost out there lately. Really not great though because CB's a position where you really can't dwell on your mistakes for too long. You've got to accept a mistake was made, clear your head, and do your best to stay mistake free for the rest of the match. It's one of those things, I think there's a good defender in there for sure - but he needs more experience to truly develop... and I just don't think he's ready to get that much time on the pitch for us unless we're having another injury crisis and we've got no other choice. I think Konate getting healthy ASAP and staying healthy ASAP is necessary for our hopes of having a successful season - it's tricky though given his injury history. Honestly was quite impressed with Southampton again, despite how dogshit they've been in the league. That's now two matches against them where I don't think they've looked as bad as the league position suggests they are. Having said that, Spurs put 5 past them at half time - so it could just be they're one of those teams that we've got a tactical weakness against. Because they really probably aren't much better than their league position. Although today, as you say, we were without most of the usual names and faces you'd expect to see from a Liverpool side.

Quansah's looked pretty shit this season when called upon, kind of mental considering how good he's looked in the past for us. I think a loan move for him so he can play consistently would be good - although that's probably not going to be likely at all with our lack of depth at CB.

Was smart for him to play poorly so nobody would suspect he was doping

Maybe I’ve crossed the line with the cokehead ref allegation, but the City thing and their second jobs in the UAE is absolutely a criticism they’ve brought on themselves. I think all clubs get fucked over by refs, except City and Newcastle & there’s a reason for it.

One guy facing accountability for a series of videos that are indefensible isn’t going to change my mind that it’s a club of mates who protect their own. I trust them to have any integrity less than I’d trust Nigel Farage to not rally against immigrants the next time he’s on a TV screen. They need a total overhaul before I ever start treating them reasonably. They simply don’t deserve the benefit of doubt.

I don’t think Fulham had any incidents that merited straight red cards. But I do think Diop & the guy who scored their first should have definitely gotten second yellows. Weird ref performance because I think he got the big decisions right - but he got so many of the smaller decisions wrong. But when you look at it in the totality of the decisions made the little errors really make a big impact overall. I get that it’s a hard job, but being so consistently bad at a job is mental to me. Normal people get sacked when little errors add up.

They’ve been so badly run for a while now, I doubt even a “new manager bounce” will save them. Gary O’Neill’s not a good manager at this level, but I think they’re going down regardless of whoever they bring in after him.

Yeah well until they do things that don’t open them up to conspiracy theories it’s fair game

Don’t like me complaining about the refs? Then demand refs do better

Bet the dipshit refs blame us for their mate getting sacked so we should probably get used to “inept” displays from them that are worse than their usual low standards.

We might not get all 3 points, but I did get to see an ex-blueshite player hurt his testicles. Quality.

I picked a bad time to stop getting high

He’s one of those players like Rodri that gets away with everything

He’s an absolutely massive cunt, I hope Newcastle sell him to a club outside of England soon. I’d be happy if I never have to see him again. Aside from being a cheat, he’s also a very dirty player.

Maybe they should draw the VAR lines with cocaine, I think they’ve got that wrong

Can VAR intervene on this red? Looks like he was offside before the foul. I don’t think Pereira should have been sent off, imo the yellow was the right decision.

Oof that’s terrible defending

No card at all for Diop there? Oh, no he got a yellow - good

I hate the new format for this reason. But UEFA wanted more money and more matches, so we have to deal with this shite.

Fair points that I can't disagree with

What about their last... 115 130 fixtures

I hope he ends up as good as Doku & Savinho (not very good)

It's a rare moment where he's not wrong though, especially with Gaza. Hamas hasn't built a civil society. Prior to Oct 7th they'd just let Gazan desperation fester for their own benefit, while going after any dissenting voices with extreme brutality. They've squandered all the aid and support they've received for the international community. Turning things like irrigation and plumbing into weapons isn't indicative of a serious government that wants to benefit the people it governs. Palestinians deserve better. Their leadership sees them as pawns in a game where they're up against a country that the west is always going to back. Palestinians need real leaders that actually give a shit about the future of Palestine. They don't need to be led by puppet groups of foreign countries that simply do not give a shit about the people in Palestine. The Palestinian diaspora needs to rally against the leadership they've left back at home and push for new leadership in exile and work with the international community to do things that actually support the will of Palestinians, rather than simply tow the line for Hamas and Hezbollah (... and Hezbollah aren't even Palestinians...); the idea that all resistance is good resistance is a flawed idea. Granted, he gets a lot of other shit in his post wrong lol so there is that and I do agree he's got a very fucked up worldview. He'll never see the truth that Palestinians are in fact horrifically oppressed by Israelis - even when the IDF isn't slaughtering Palestinians, they're oppressed in ways that are unconscionable. But Palestinians also need to face the reality that their leadership has done fuck all for them other than put them in the firing line and demonstrate strong resistance to them as well. This is all easier said than done, though. It's easy to say these things while not actively facing the oppression Palestinians are facing from both sides. It's incredibly difficult to live through the feeling of oppression coming from internal and external sources - and in the case of the Palestinians, they've lost allies. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, Egypt... they've all turned their backs on Palestine. Lebanon is a failed state. Syria is busy dealing with their own problems, which are massive. Palestine's only got 2 "friends" - a two faced Qatar and an evil regime in Iran.