Dr. Gonzo

Messi ignoring the assistant manager during the water break is pretty shocking. His attitude is part of the problem at Barca. If the captain is ignoring instructions, everyone’s going to be ignoring instructions. Can Xavi fix that issue?

My favourite part of those posts is when he starts talking about some sort of discussion that’s literally never been had on here.

I won’t laugh at that. I think it’s be McTominay and Bruno though - but yeah, having a good defensive midfielder is always pretty fucking important. I think him coming through the youth team is important too, he’s less likely to act too important to put in a full shift. I think he and Rashford are two of the players I’d be most happy with in my squad, if I were a United fan. Thank god I’m not though

Pogba’s no Gerrard, that much is clear

Oh yeah I’m 100% in agreement with you. Pogba was a beast in a midfield full of world class midfielders. I’m not surprised the transition to a United in struggle has not been anywhere near as smooth as being a part of a well oiled machine. But I do think Pogba, for much of last season and parts of this season, was pretty much the sole person asked to be creative. And I can’t blame United fans for thinking he’s not shown the same desire and effort as he arguably should have considering the price tag and the responsibility United have put on him.

@DeadLinesman what if Bruno Fernandez is the key to getting Pogba to be the player I remember at Juve. I fucking hope not lol, but that would definitely change how we both feel about Pogba. Because he was fucking great at Juve.

It’s surreal tbh.

Lol, what the fuck? Why would this be a solution for lockdown recovery? Tbh this just confirms that Boris drinks even more than I do.

Wow what the fuck

I agree with you, although we have seen Trent make it into the first team pretty successfully and Curtis Jones is getting more and more first team chances. I’d love a new Gerrard coming through, but I’ve been waiting for the next Fowler for a very long time and I’d like to see that too.

The people making the decisions at Arsenal are some of the dumbest fuckers in top flight football.

Michael Carrick's a really really good guy, even though he played for those bastards. I'm not surprised he's gotten involved with this as hands on as he has, he's fairly involved with a lot of charities and aside from being really generous he genuinely wants to know what he can do, other than give the money he gives, to help people in need.

I think that was financially impossible for us after COVID. It seems like the club's biggest concern is keeping this side together and that means extending contracts. Don't get me wrong, I'd have liked Werner and I'm jealous Chelsea signed him - but Chelsea are also an oil club that's had a season where they weren't allowed to make transfers (so not really affected all that much by COVID) and had a direct need for a player like Werner. Whereas with us, Werner's a much less direct need. I agree we need to be bringing in squad players that can push the front 3 for a spot, ideally. But we'll be using our riches mostly to make sure that cunt clubs like Barca and Real Madrid keep their hands off our players, so really the biggest priority with new "depth" signings is just bringing in people that have more quality than the current players we rely on for depth. Also sounds like we're looking at a new left back to deputise for Robertson, because Milner's getting on and I think Klopp wants to conserve him for as long as possible, and it seems that the club doesn't rate Larouci highly enough to trust that he'll make the step up.

I mean the good thing about being behind someone on a plane is when they breathe out, it's mostly going forward not backward. The counterpoint to that is when you're on a plane, you're trapped in a metal tube with air circling through the whole tube until you reach your destination - and I can't imagine that's good for the spread of COVID. I think it's a good practice nowadays, even if you're healthy, to assume your household has it and that every other household out there has it. Wear a mask, socially distance the best you can, wash your hands - all of that shite. It's been harder for me to do as I've been asked to be a part of a "slow reopening" at work and I have to turn up to the office every once in a while... but until there's a vaccine there's really not much else we can do. Although right now I'm living somewhere where cases are rapidly going up by the day after we've reopened prematurely... so my take might not be applicable to everyone. But I'm pretty sure my advice is good advice until there's a vaccine. Better safe than sorry.

On the flight you took back home? Holy shit! Fortunately, it's been well over the incubtion period... so you either didn't get it, or you had it but were totally asymptomatic. Testing responsibility is at the state level, but states (typically) would be receiving aid (testing kits, medical supplies, etc...) from the US government. I know some states have and other states have had to take the initiative and try to source these themselves without assistance from their government. I imagine most states that have been fairly independent throughout the whole crisis aren't going to listen to Trump's directive to reduce testing rates. It's the states with the more Trumpian leadership that are the worry. Sadly for the South that includes states that include their economic powerhouses - Georgia and Florida. It's hard to imagine those governors not falling in line with Trump because recent history has shown they'll just fall in line. The US national response has been such a farce, it's hard to imagine the situation not getting worse in the US as the year goes on.

Raab, Gove, and Patel are only there to make Boris look competent by comparison

Mate you never played Star Fox 64?! It was basically that game on crack. One of the best games of my childhood for sure.

At least the UK's leader didn't come out and say something as stupid as "If we stopped testing, we'd stop seeing the number of cases go up" …as though they're only getting sick once they've been tested positive. This virus has done a pretty good job of exposing which countries exactly are struggling massively with competence issues. Shame to see the US and UK on similar footing as the Islamic Republic of Iran though...

I think it’s my favourite Nintendo game... or at least it’s the best Nintendo game I’ve played in a long while (but I’m one of those weirdos who thinks Breath of the Wild was a bit overrated). And that’s something I never thought I would say because it wasn’t that long ago I thought this game looked stupid.

Yeah anything looks good with an expensive cinematic trailer

Turns out Animal Crossing is basically video game heroin. It's very relaxing and very addictive... and it sucks up a lot of time without you really knowing how much time it's been or if you've really done anything.

I have been wanting a game like X-Wing v Tie Fighter (a fucking classic) for such a long time. Definitely over a decade. And there was another, much more arcade-style game... Star Wars Rogue Squadron (on the Nintendo 64) and... that game was also fantastic and I've long thought "well if we can't get X-Wing v. Tie Fighter in the modern day, can we at least get Rogue Squadron 2?" So I am excited at the prospect of this game. But it's got to be fucking good to live up to the levels of those other 2 games, because those games were absolutely brilliant. Any news on the developer? I hope it's Respawn, they've yet to disappoint imo - even after EA bought them out. Although it'd be a very different game from the other games they've put out... but Jedi Fallen Order was very different from their other games (the Titanfall games + Apex) and it was a fucking fantastic game as well. Got high hopes!

Is it? I think the US just really hasn't had an effective or coordinated effort to stop the spread. Some states effected measures too late... and then began reopening as they saw a spike. Every state, barring the pacific states that are working together, basically has their own "plan" to deal with the virus. But in America, people are pretty free to cross state lines with impunity even in a pandemic - and no lockdown in the US has been anywhere near as strict as the UK or China. There was a recent holiday where many people around the country basically ignored all guidance to stay at home... and it's suspected that's a big reason why the US is seeing a big spike currently. There will be another spike in a week or so, probably, because of the protesters (although it's hard to tell people to stay home and protest, when you've still got American cops killing black people during lockdowns). There's a good deal of people here who won't believe the virus even exists until someone they know is seriously ill with the virus. I honestly think the issue is an issue of competence and ignorance in the US. No coordinated nationwide effort to combat the virus coupled with the idea of American Exceptionalism > any challenge Americans may face (leading to a number of people thinking Americans would beat COVID all on their own, by virtue of them simply being American).

Dybala's also in a fortunate position where he can be tested 4 times in pretty rapid succession, which wouldn't happen with most people on the planet unfortunately. It's also important to keep in mind he got this virus pretty early on as it broke out in Europe and at a time where the reliability of the testing was in doubt. Because we're still in early days now in terms of what we understand about the virus, but we're a bit further along now than when it was first reported Dybala tested positive. I agree that testing positive for the virus 4 times is not the same as having the virus 4 times. And he's still not feeling 100%, which I think is more indicative that he's one of the people who's experiencing long term effects of the virus. But really it's impossible to speculate what any of that really means. None of us our virologists, so there's no reason to make any wild guesses as to why some people (even those in the "high risk ages" like King Kenny) can be completely asymptomatic and have a quick and full recovery, and why someone young, fit and healthy like Dybala can be a long time carrier. Most virologists probably don't know and that's something I suspect many researchers around the world are looking into - what makes some people hit so hard compared to others, is it the strain they're infected with, is genetics, is it something else? We'll learn more as people learn more about the virus. It's just important to know that different people feel different effects of COVID19 and that it's still a highly infectious disease that's still spreading and we need to be cautious of containing the spread because we all have the potential to be silent carriers with the potential to kill someone or fuck up their lungs/heart/etc permanently.

The US is extra fucked with this I think. This is what happened after the first weekend of pubs & restaurants being opened back up - https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/county-leaders-respond-to-photos-of-crowds-downtown/2347058/?_osource=db_npd_nbc_knsd_eml_shr - absolutely no regard for social distancing at all in the downtown and Mission Beach area. I think that California's really undone a lot of the good work they did early on when the virus reached the US by making the decision to open back up after the state and the country began to see a spike after a recent holiday where people broke quarantine. Obviously, the pressure to get the economy running like normal again is very high... but people are going to die because of this. But on the other side, if the economy doesn't get going in the US, tons of people will lose their healthcare (as most Americans have their healthcare through their jobs and unemployment has skyrocketed) and homes... neither of which is particularly good for those peoples' chance of recovering from the illness. I wouldn't say America's going to go through a second wave... because most states were still in the midst of the first wave. I think the US hasn't even seen the crest of their first wave. And still there is no real national response to the virus - just pennies for the working class and massive bailouts for billion dollar corporations (weird how the poor are meant to save up, while companies that posted record profits are claiming they're on the verge of collapse unless they're bailed out btw). This virus has really exposed a lot of the failings of the US's political, economic, and healthcare systems. And all of these concerns... that's not even accounting for the protests happening all around the country where we know the virus is going to be spreading.