Dr. Gonzo

Leaked SCOTUS documents indicate that the US's highest court is planning on rolling back abortion rights - saying that there is no federal fundamental right to an abortion.

The housing market is insane right now. I own where I live but I wanted to sell it and move somewhere bigger - but the prices are so insane here I can't really afford anything better than where I currently live. Rent is almost double what my mortgage is too - so I can't even temporarily rent somewhere bigger and hope to save. It'd cost way too much for no real benefit whatsoever. So while I'm not content with my living situation, I've got friends paying out the arse for far shittier living situations who are feeling even more bleak about their prospects of ever owning property at all and thinking they'll be paying extortionate rent for the rest of their lives.

To an extent I think that’s true, but part of me feels Howe’s done an incredible job with the players already at the club. He signed what, 3 players in January? I don’t think their turnaround in form is wholly down to bringing in these players (but I do think these signings have made a significant impact for them). Especially Trippier who’s spent a chunk of the season injured. I think the most remarkable thing about the turnaround is there’s players at Newcastle that I thought were dogshit… that have spent the past few months proving they’ve got decent quality. And whoever decided Joellinton should be playing in midfield rather than as a striker deserves a big raise. But ultimately I agree with you, Howe and co. will be wanting to bringing higher quality players in. But I’m not so sure as many players need to be cleared out of Newcastle as I previously had thought. If they can push some of their current starters into squad roles rather than nailed on starters & bring in the right players… they could have some serious depth. I thought Howe would be a mistake because of his defensive record but he’s basically come in and been the opposite of what I expected he’d be… while still playing positive football. I think @Honey Honey & @OrangeKhrush have lots of reasons to be excited about the future of the club.

Wouldn’t be the first time they’ve got some corporate guy in charge of football operations though. I don’t think they have a director of football - closest thing will probably be when Rangnick’s a consultant next season

Yeah probably, I think you should probably have tiered goals. Realistic and “best case” and a couple of tiers in between. But given the turnaround Howe’s given Newcastle, I imagine the best case scenario is pretty good. The right kind of signings in the right positions and you’re a fairly decent looking side. But I think there’s a lot of scenarios where Newcastle could be saying they had a good season next year.

Matt Judge has resigned from his position as Manchester United’s head of corporate development. Judge was responsible for negotiating transfers and contracts for Manchester United. Good news for United because this guy was obviously a fucking idiot

You think they'll do that though? They used their money pretty intelligently in January, imo. Some ambitious signings, but also clearly kept their feet on the ground and didn't reach unrealistically high. And as a result, they sort of really turned things around considering how absolutely shite they were. I think they'll spend big but they'll probably be signing players that fit into a realistic goal for next season - which could be breaking into the top 6.

Rumour is Kyle Walker is likely out for the season & Stones is unlikely to make the match vs Leeds.

I just worry his confidence might be seriously impacted by all the criticism he's (justifiably) received all season. I agree that he's better for England than he is for United and the England setup does a lot to paper over some of the flaws in his game.

Yeah didn't his mum die right when it looked like the wheels came off our season? And then Alisson's dad died shortly after his mum died. Probably not the best mood around at training back then. COVID, injury crisis, historically shit form, parents dying... can't really blame someone for feeling downtrodden considering the circumstances.

City's owners doing more to aid Russia in Ukraine than Roman Abramovich: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-28/manchester-city-s-owner-helps-usher-more-russian-tycoons-to-uae Interesting, I wonder if Zinchenko will say anything... after all, he did say a pretty recently "silence is violence" regarding the conflict. Seems weird that they'll probably remain unsanctioned despite this news tbh. It's the owner of a British business helping beat sanctioned people through British, EU, and US sanctions though... should get a response from the government.

Does Maguire keep his place in the England side after the awful season he's had?

What the fuck? You still have Tosun?!

HOLY SHIT YES

Would be so massive if we can get him to stay longer

I think it's weird too. Is their argument that Hirohito's Japan wasn't fascist? Maybe that's true, but even if it is true... it's also true that if Imperial Japan wasn't fascist, it was certainly very close to being fascist. But I know there's a large part of Japan's population that likes to pretend that they were never a part of the Axis powers and that Japan are just victims of WW2, rather than aggressive imperialists that brutalised China, Korea, etc, committing horrific war crimes (Unit 731 is notable because it is absolutely horrific)... going so far as to deny that war crimes ever happened. I think it's a stupid thing for Japan to get offended about; Italians and Germans weren't offended (at least not many of them) because they're more ashamed of their past in WW2 I suppose.

We've got one too: but ours is mostly just shit like that

I think adjusting the way some of our more injury prone players train and recover from matches is a huge part of why we're not seeing those same players injured constantly. Just look at Matip, he's been a rock at the heart of our defense and is arguably our player of the season - he's played so many more matches for us this season than any other season with no real injury woes. Keita's another player we could never really rely on for selection. Also last season, we had a massive injury crisis with players having to fill in at CB and without really having the same depth we had at the beginning of the season because... players kept getting injured, which meant players couldn't be rotated in and out. So some players had massive burnout because they were unable to get a rest. Our depth this season is what... two additional players compared to last season. One's Konate and he's been slowly bedded in, mostly getting his chances in Europe or any time where we've got more than 1 match a week (so Matip can get his well deserved rests that keep him match fit) - the other's Diaz and we've just signed him fairly recently. I guess you could make the argument for Elliott - but it looked he was going to slot into our midfield 3 (and take Gini's place in the squad) - then he got his injury now he's found it harder to get back into the team. For me, I think the biggest thing is that the training staff has taken the steps to avoid another crisis like we suffered last season once VVD was out and we were relying on Matip and Gomez - two very injury prone players - to perform week in week out, sometimes multiple matches a week.

Tbf after last year the coaching staff worked out different training schedules for players like Matip, Keita, Thiago, and Gomez... and this season, unlike other seasons, we've not seen them as injury prone as they were before. Also worked out a different training regime for our Muslim players during Ramadan, which seems to be paying off as our Muslim players have played pretty well despite probably being starving when they take to the pitch. Smart stuff from them in all honesty.

Yes, most countries do - I dunno about all of them, but a lot of them do. And yeah, they're run by the government.

Yeah, it was really nice. There's a lot I liked about it, but especially the hiking I did. I also snowboarded for the first time ever in my life, and I've never really ever been anywhere where you can ski/snowboard before so that was pretty fun. But the hikes were the best bit, imo, probably because I've never really been anywhere like that before. But it's got fantastic scenery and it's a very serene place. Second best bit was renting a Tesla dual motor model 3 with snow tires while I was out there - got to do some very very fun driving out there. The downside to that is now I really want a Tesla after going back to my Corolla.

Spent the past 4 days up in the mountains for a quick little getaway, it was pretty nice

Good goal record for England too

Yeah Andy Carroll was terrible, definitely makes my top 10 list of worst signings in the league. Definitely the worst LFC signing in my lifetime. Wan Bissaka's ended up a poor signing and maybe it was too early for him to make a big move after just one top flight season where he looked brilliant. Honestly, I think he's just a bit unfortunate that modern football seems to call for these really well rounded fullbacks and he's more of a "traditional" fullback that's less well rounded. I think there's a case to be made that United in recent years is not a good place for promising young players to develop & I also think there's a case to be made that he wasn't really the right sort of fullback that United needed to sign. Honestly, I think Maguire and AWB could yet salvage their United careers. I think it'd be harder for Maguire, because he'd have to accept he's not a leader and isn't fit to be captain - and I'm not sure he'd agree with that. But I don't think it's a coincidence he's looked best when paired next to Johnny Evans. But put them in a back 4 where they've got actual defensive organisation and a midfield that helps them out... I doubt they look as shit. Or go full Southgate and just have the most basic defensive tactics you can think of But I do think they'll always be viewed as players that failed to live up to initial expectations. I'm also not sure this dysfunctional United side was the best place for AWB to develop after his brilliant breakout season at Palace - maybe he made his move to a big club too early like Zaha did before him? Cos Zaha was a flop earlier on in his career, but now that he's back at Palace he's ended up kicking on pretty massively - I think if United had signed Zaha as good as he is today (or last year) he'd have ended up being considered a really good signing. But Pogba's definitely my #1 pick for absolute worst signing in the league. He's got the talent, he's just not arsed more often than not. A few world class passes every once in a while doesn't make up for the fact he's basically the opposite of what United fans were promised when it was announced he re-signed with you lot. Even though I fucking hate United, whenever I watch him play like dogshit (which tbh is 95% or more of the time I see him play) I can't help but think "I am so fucking glad he doesn't play for Liverpool" - I'd absolutely hate watching him play. And @DeadLinesmanis already angry enough already, can't be good for his heart having to watch Pogba act like he's god's gift to football despite the state of your midfield.

Lingard I think at least has a bit of fight in him. He's just not good enough to be the player United want him to be - but he showed if he's got a bigger role at a smaller club, like he had a West Ham, he can be a decent player. Pogba's really only showed he can perform at a high level if he's got a midfield that already performs at a high level without him. He'd probably have been a great signing for a club that had an already brilliant midfield... like Juve was. But making him the centrepiece of a midfield in the middle of a massive rebuild was a HUGE mistake. But it's hard to even blame United scouts for that - I think that's a mentality thing entirely. I don't even think he'd be a hit at PSG, because I think there's a good argument that the worst thing about PSG right now is the way their midfield performs. It'd be another unbalanced midfield he walks into and acts like he's the savior of, while he's unwilling to actually fight to make that midfield any better. It's like a flake 99. I think soft-serve ice cream is shit without a Cadburry flake in it. I think Pogba is shit without good midfielders around him. He's the soft-serve ice cream without the delicious half flake tucked into it.