Dr. Gonzo

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.

His short time on the pitch is really a microcosm of his whole United career tbh. The going got tough for United, so he limped away. And it wasn't just Pirlo doing the heavy lifting for him, that whole Juve midfield was absolute quality - imo one of the best in Europe at the time. Similarly to his world cup winning France side had an absolutely quality filled midfield. Agree with @Devil - the term luxury player was made for Pogba and players like him. Looks great when they've got other people doing the dirty work for them. He and Maguire have to be up there as two of the worst all time signings in the league.

Lavrov's said Russia's not considering using nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Given Russia's propensity to do basically the opposite of whatever they claim they're about to do in this war... I actually am quite nervous about what that might mean.

That's awful, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.

I imagine a title race like this season is more interesting for neutrals than the past 2 seasons were. Don’t get me wrong, I loved running away with the league… but last season it felt like by the end of January the league winner was basically decided. As for when there’s a next contender… I don’t think Chelsea are too far away, but it depends on who their new owner is and what they do. United always have the money to be considered contenders. But even if Pep goes, City will always be favourites imo.

Nah I have no idea, see the post right before yours

Last visited 10 days ago... I hope he's alright

And he wants it to be completely unmoderated. Which I actually think would be hilarious because that opens up Twitter to all kinds of legal liability.

This psycho is obsessed with bombing Iran.

And they want to sell off Channel 4 so it goes the way of the rest of the UK media, into Tory pockets.

After seeing those pictures of the aftermath... I think he's already been convicted in the court of public opinion. The way they'd stop him from playing is by just keeping him out of the first team and having him train alone until his contract is up. I know it's on a much smaller scale, both in terms of the players' talent and the size of the clubs... but David Goodwillie (btw, awful name for an alleged rapist) was never convicted of rape but found guilty of it in civil courts. He was able to keep playing for a bit, but after the recent backlash after his recent transfer... he couldn't even get to play on a loan back to the club where he'd re-established himself in professional Scottish football (even though it was the Scottish league one/two). Even if all charges are dropped, I'm not sure it's worth the horrible PR it would be for United to have him playing again. The evidence against him that we saw and heard in the audio was compelling and while it might not be enough to get a criminal charge (but I think it will, let's not forget after his initial arrest he was subsequently arrested with further allegations of sexual assault & making threats to kill) - there's enough to where backlash against United would be tremendous if they decided to go ahead and play him. He's not Ronaldo where people can look passed horrific allegations. Especially because the public's gotten a taste of some of the evidence against him... and it didn't look or sound like he's not a violent rapist. Put simply, if he were out on bail for another crime... I think he'd probably still be allowed to train (and maybe even play depending on the crime that was alleged). But the club aren't letting him do that because they know how it'll look if he is charged... and even if he isn't, considering what the public heard and saw... it'll look like a rich kid gets to skirt justice because he plays for United and the club stood by him. He's finished at United, imo, regardless of whether he's charged or not. And I doubt another top flight club is willing to give him a second chance. I can't even see a Championship willing to take a punt on him. Charge or no charge, I can't see many clubs wanting to stand by someone after the pictures and audio went public. Honestly, I think United are probably hoping he's charged so they can sack him with no worries about what happens next. Otherwise they're either going to have to pay him to do nothing or pay him to fuck off, and I don't think they're particularly keen on that. Nor should they be.

The destruction in Syria is not just down to Russia but... Russia is responsible for a lot of the destruction there. The total war style tactics used in Syria were brutal, even compared to normal modern warfare which is inherently brutal. The longer this war goes on, the more dark it will get. Russia's shown domestically in Chechnya and abroad in Syria that they don't care if they have to completely destroy cities in order to achieve their military goals. The Azov Regiment defending Mariupol are now saying Russia's used chemical weapons. It's hard to really believe that as the Azov Regiment are, unfortunately, neo-Nazi dickheads and they're making this claim of a red line being crossed while there are no reporters left in the besieged city to verify the claims. So that could just be a group of unscrupulous Nazis trying to pull NATO into the war. But it's definitely concerning that the man in charge of Syria is now in charge of Ukraine. He does not give a shit about civilian deaths, collateral damage, or war crimes.

Wtf are United telling people like Ten Hag (and Klopp before him) that they aren't eager to join Manchester United. I know with Klopp it was some sort of "Disneyland for adults" comparison that put him off... ... but if you're having a hard time telling a manager "hey come to United, you'll be paid well & you'll have lots of money to shape the squad how you like it" and managers are still hesitant... it really does beg the question, what the fuck are these managers being told? Are they being given just a season or 2 to bring United back to glory? Because... I think that is probably what would put me off from taking this United side on if I'm a good manager who believes in myself. I think while United have bucketloads of cash to spend... it's a huge ask for any manager, regardless of talent, to turn things around for United in a year or two. There's players who are just shit, there's players who aren't bad but they've had all their confidence sapped from them, there's players that have talent but aren't willing to put in the work to fight for hard wins... it takes managers time to sort out which players are the ones who need to be shipped out and which ones can have their confidence restored and brought back to playing football at the highest level. And not just that, it takes time to identify the right players and get them to join. United can't just be offering a lot of money to managers, promising a transfer budget, and then saying "so you think you can win us the league in a year?" Because that's just not realistic. But I suspect the clowns in charge of United aren't really ready to deal with reality just yet after they've spent so much.

Tbh that says something about him, but also the sides he's been in - because no individual can just guarantee making it to the finals. But he's been a part of Chelsea's incredibly good youth sides, a Derby side that probably should have won promotion, and some first team Chelsea sides - other than Derby, I sort of would expect Chelsea (especially their youth teams because you've got one of the best academies in Europe, let alone England) sides to be pretty strong. Again, I don't think he's a bad player. Far from it, he's a good player and there's obviously something very special about him and the way he carries himself despite being so young, I just think he's a bit overrated (and that's probably because he came through at Chelsea while Lampard was manager so there were a lot of lazy Lampard comparisons... and comparing a kid to a legend like Lampard like that is ultimately going to make people watch him and expect him to be like prime Lampard, which I think is unfair on him). And I know that's unfair on him, he's still a young player developing and I think Chelsea are right to stick with him as a key player because, as you say, he's got the right attitude you need to be a top level player. And he's got the talent, so time is on his side especially with an attitude like that.

Surely the answer for Tuchel (or any future Chelsea manager) would be to try to get the most out of them. Like what England managers should have done with Gerrard & Lampard if not for the weird obsession with a flat 442 for most of their time as internationals. I dunno how any Chelsea fan could not like Mount. Sure, I think he's a bit overrated but he's still a very good player for his age and the past few seasons have to be very good experience for him as a young player that's had a lot on his shoulders. He's clearly got something about him that most players don't have at that age imo. Meanwhile Gallagher just looks an incredibly exciting prospect - a ball of energy with a good eye for a pass/shot. Now that Oxlade-Chamberlain looks on his way out, I'd be quite happy if we managed to end up with Gallagher (it'll never happen, but I'd like it a lot). Surely you'd want a beast of a DM in and find some way to slot those two in. But then I guess there's less room for players like Kante in the side then.

I think it's in your settings somewhere

I think current Ronaldo could probably still get a good amount of goals in the current City side. They're full of creators and he's a good person to have on the end of chances. But I don't think he'd play as much as he'd like - I think in some matches, Pep would prefer having 10 outfield players that can press and Ronaldo's not the kind of player you'd want pressing hard for 90 minutes at his current age. I don't think he'd do well with us in his current state. Being able to press high up the pitch for 90 minutes is sort of the minimum expected requirement of our front 3. I'd take Bruno Fernandes, at least as a squad player, though. I think he's the one player that could actually fit in pretty well with our side. Everyone else, I wouldn't even consider. Especially not Pogba, he's got the completely wrong attitude for any side that's hoping to go toe to toe with an opponent like City. De Gea's not a bad keeper, but in 2022 I think anyone takes Alisson over him without even thinking about it. So that's maybe Goldbridge's funniest shout.

I doubt he ever plays in the top flight again. I think out of the current crop of players, sensible people running United would/should be letting anyone who wants to go out of the club - except De Gea. No player is bigger than the club and these players are delusional if they think they're not a serious part of the problem at what's wrong at United. Too many egos and too little effort being put in. And the excuses given for these players is outrageous - they can always hide behind a manager for their absolute lack of effort. The latest excuse given now is "they know Rangnick's temporary so they're not motivated to play for him" - yeah he's temporary as manager... he's still sticking around at United to give guidance and will be making recommendations to the new manager based off his experience managing them in the interim. I don't care how talented a player is on paper... anyone not willing to put in the minimum effort to fight for their club is a player that's not doing enough. It's fine and dandy to blame a manager, but when you go through a shitload of managers and things remain the same or get worse... it's time to look beyond the manager. The people above the manager at United have been clueless for years and the players under the manager have been putting in shifts that don't match their big egos and big paychecks. Any manager would struggle, they need a big clearout of some of the more toxic elements of their dressing room. So any player that wants to leave, United should be happy to show them the exit door and get ready for a serious rebuild... if they want to be good any time soon again. It reminds me of us in the 90s tbh.

In a sense, yes - but in another sense, he's better suited than a lot of managers to take over a big side having achieved success with Ajax. They're not as big as United, but they're the biggest club in Holland and managing big clubs comes with some additional requirements for managers: expectation is much higher and the media scrutiny is more intense. Aside from looking like he's got the goods tactically, I think his time at Ajax is fairly good preparation for his future at United. I just think United fans and the board will need to show some patience with him. It looks like it took him a few months to really get going at Ajax - and out of this current United squad, I think he'll want to be replacing a lot of players to get them playing in his style. United can probably afford to sell a shitload of players and buy a whole new team - but there's also issues in doing that as well with team chemistry and whatnot. I think he might get a season (or two) to really get going - and I dunno if United really have that kind of patience with a manager that's not one of their own like Solkjaer was. But they've needed some sort of long term vision for a while now and I think if they stick with him they'll end up a very good side in a few seasons.

If United get Ten Hag in the summer... I think if I'm Harry Kane, I'd be pretty tempted to make the move to United. United have been wasteful in the transfer market, but they're ambitious - even if they're ambitious while backing the wrong manager at the time. It's a big step up from Ajax to United, for sure, but I do think he's the right sort of manager for them to be looking at. And spending the kind of money that United spend, I think with him as manager and with a player like Kane... that he'd be in a position to be able to win things quicker than if he stayed at Spurs. Having said that, I wouldn't be surprised if City go back in for him.