Dr. Gonzo

I think Vardy said he's not going to unretire even if Kane's out. But otherwise, I think our sides are pretty similar. I think the big questions are: who plays as the most advanced midfielder in that central 3? And who plays next to Henderson (even though we've both said Winks)? But I think otherwise (and the striker situation, which I suppose we'll have a better idea of what we'll be seeing with England closer to the summer)… the rest of the side sort of picks itself.

Only if Kane and Rashford are fully fit. I think the last CL final is a good reason to make sure we're not rushing Kane back for a final. He was absolutely anonymous in that final. We can't have that happening in the group stages of this tournament or we'll go out pretty quickly I think. Brilliant player when he's fit, and I can understand why he wants to play the big games and be in tournaments, but for his sake (for his career's longevity) and for our sake (because seeing England do well is pretty cool) if he's not fully fit I don't think he should be starting. Likewise with Rashford, who might be a Manc… but I actually feel pretty bad for him for what he's had to go through this season. Going through much of the season as the real bright light of Man Utd's season, being asked to play with a back fracture... and then getting a double back fracture as a result. He's still young, let the kid heal. I think I'd go with something like this - but I don't know if I'd start Ings or Abraham up front, but I think Ings is better (but maybe not for this system), so I'm throwing him in here. Pickford TAA - Gomez - Maguire - Chilwell Henderson - Winks(?) -Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain Sancho - Ings - Sterling I think when everyone's healthy, the back 4 picks itself really. I went with the Ox in midfield because he's been in pretty decent form lately, meanwhile Maddison's dropped off a bit & Grealish I think should be in the squad most likely... but I'm not sure if he's ready to be starting for England. At Villa the side's built around him because he's their best player - England aren't going to do that for him just because he's Villa's best player. Sancho & Sterling, if healthy, are going to be the starters and rightly so. Ings in because he's having a good season.

Even runs like him

Ziyech is a great signing tbf

What about the second part where he says the virus needs to be quicker if it wants to catch him? Seems pretty racist tbh, to assume that because he's around an Asian guy (who might not even be Chinese for all we know) so he's potentially got the virus.

This story (it's behind a paywall, so you might not be able to get to it) is pretty interesting. It's the story of how for 50 years nations have been paying a Swiss crypto company to protect it's secrets. But it was in fact a CIA & German Intelligence agencies front & they were collecting national secrets from other countries & stealing their money. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/national-security/cia-crypto-encryption-machines-espionage/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most

Snow's alright for about 40 minutes and then after that the novelty wears off and I fucking hate it. So glad I haven't had to deal with that shite in a while.

Blame my wife

Yeah probably, because they're a well drilled club that's playing in the top flight and the England side's a collection of players - some of whom are very familiar with each other - but that mostly have to learn a system and implement it in a short amount of time. I'd expect most top flight sides in most good leagues to be able to beat most international sides tbh.

I think you've got to go with Pickford. Henderson's been good this season, but he's also had a few fuckups like Pickford. It just doesn't get the same press because one's a kid and the other is the England #1 keeper. Pope's only good at shot stopping, but there's more to being a keeper than that. Maybe if we set England up like Burnley… but does anyone actually want that?

I also really hope Southgate puts Henderson as our right sided central midfield and tries to get him an Trent working as similarly as they do for Liverpool for the England right flank. That’s give England a shitload more creativity.

Seen this stat: Getafe, who currently sit 3rd in La Liga, have a pass accuracy of 61.7% in the league. 6.9% worse than the second worst passing team in Europe's top 5 leagues that’s worse than Burnley. Are they shithousing their way into the CL?

I wasn’t getting paid enough in the UK

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_China

We Merseysiders are a class above the average Brit already, so my ethnicity just makes me extra special. If you like beef try a soltani when you go try out Persian food. So fucking tasty

Yeah my mum’s from Iran & my grandparents decided to fuck off outta Iran when Khomeini took over. You should go! I think Germany’s got a lot of Iranians - it was a lot of people’s first stop out of Iran after the revolution & a lot of them never left.

A good way to think of the rice & the tadig is as a base for the main dish. Persian food's got a lot of stews, so typically you'd put stew on top of the tadig and with the rice and eat that. I like tadig with or without stew though - without stew you'd have it on the side with whatever meat you're eating with it. That's how we ate it last night.

She’s still super tiny, but she’s grown so much

My parents are coming soon, so I’m practicing cooking some Persian food to impress my mum. Kabobs and stews aren’t too hard. But I’ve always been shit at cooking rice like a Persian and making tadig (this delicious crispy rice). I think I did okay last night though

See the Drugs thread

I think it's a cat. Tbh, I don't blame this kitty. He could be on his 9th life so he's got to be a little cautious

and he says something like "the virus needs to be quicker than that to catch me" Pretty stupid video to upload to the internet for someone who's famous

Dele Alli's also gotten some heat for some racist remarks about Asians & coronavirus

How Mallorca’s manager gestured to the bench to sub on Kubo...