Dr. Gonzo

I've been playing Pokémon Shield - it's the first Pokémon game I've played since the red one on the Gameboy. My wife's playing Pokémon sword, I spent all yesterday doing the beginning 5 fucking times so we could trade and have all the starters. I still haven't really gotten beyond the point where you can first start trading

The one handy thing about Spurs right now is that while Mourinho's gotten them back to winning ways again... they still look a bit wonky at the back - so there's always a chance to sneak a few goals. But if I were a United fan, what I'd be worried about is you just know Jose Mourinho would absolutely love to leave egg all over Ed Woodward's face and absolutely spank United here. And it's one of those weird situations where I fully believe the opposing manager knows the squad's strengths and weaknesses better than the manager (that comes off as a slight against Solksjaer… and it is - he's got no business managing Man Utd). The same is actually true of City too. But the thing about City is their attack is so ridiculous that any time they go forward they look like there's a good chance you're going to score - and if Ole does the thing he's tended to do where he sets the side up to sit deep and counter, yeah I think United will have 3-4 really good chances in the match... but City will have a ridiculous number of chances and I'm not sure how your defense would do being under constant pressure from that relentless attack. I'm not a betting man, but if I were... I'd guess you do lose to both of them. If that happens, there's a good chance you're looking weirdly close to the bottom of the table and that might be enough pressure to get rid of Solksjaer. The time to get rid of him is now - Poch is available and there's a transfer window coming up. Tbh, this is all reminding me a lot of Hodgson's time with us. A manager that's clearly out of his depth at the level he's expected to perform. A media that's really friendly to him despite this obvious out-of-depthness - which buys him far more time than he really should have. Solskjaer's recent media comments have been strangely Hodgson-at-Liverpool-esque… recently he came out and said he's not bothered with where United are in the league table. That's absolutely absurd to me, it's a step away from Hodgson's "we're not too big for a relegation battle." United are too big for a relegation battle and if they lose the next 2, I don't know if the reality of the league table can be ignored anymore. But this is all really why a manager like Solksjaer with really really limited experience at this level shouldn't have been given the job after a turnaround of fortunes during the honeymoon period at the club - that was the opportune time to just see out the season and ride the high of an unpopular manager being replaced by a club legend for as long as that would last, while scoping out which top tier managers would be interested in spending a serious amount of cash rebuilding United. Instead, United have once again spent a serious amount of cash and are now looking like they'll be handing another massive pile of cash to a new manager. You don't end up with a string of expensive rebuilds that keep failing this badly without serious problems above the manager - although right now, I think the ineptitude of the current manager is probably the most pressing issue at United. There's Poch or Allegri out there - they might not want to come into the job mid-season, but the club should be working on getting on of them into the club ASAP. The issue there is if they want to come in at the end of the season, I still think Solksjaer needs to be sacked and a new interim manager put in place. Because for as good as the form was when he first came in, that honeymoon period is well and truly over - I think he's lost the squad and tactically he's not shown anything special. So really, you'd want whoever is willing to come in to take the job right now. Honestly, it's astounding that a club as wealthy and profitable as United has really been so mismanaged from the top down. When did David Gill step down, because if Ferguson managed to still be successful working with the current crop of morons at the club... he deserves a fucking medal of some sort ("but Gonzo, he's already been knighted"). It's honestly so careless from the Glazers because you've spent the money to be so much better than you are. There really is no excuse other than incompetence. The one silver lining is that while the club have been just so ridiculously careless... you've still got the resources to be successful if you ever do hire competent people again.

A bad losing run. I can get what you’re saying about there’s no evidence the players can do better, but some of these performances are just inexcusable. 3-4 losses in a row and I think Ole’s a dead man walking. Honestly though it doesn’t address the larger problem. Ed Woodward shouldn’t be making football decisions at United

I think Leicester would spend more, but I don’t think you can expect them to start spending like CL regulars just because they qualified for the CL. Leicester have shown they will spend well if they can sustain it, so of course they would spend more. But like when Spurs first hit the CL, I don’t think we would see a radical change in spending. Arsenal will always have cash to burn as one of the big clubs in England. They can’t burn as much as the oil clubs, sure - because they’re a real football club not a rich man’s plaything or a questionable governments propaganda machine - and I think they’ll always be a fairly attractive prospect for a manager like Brendan Rodgers. Having said that, I think he stays til the end of the season because whatever happens this year with Leicester I think he’s going to come off looking really good. It’s a good year for his CV - and then he’s in a good spot to demand more from Leicester or demand more from a new club that can promise him money to burn and massive wages

Most clubs don’t give out the money that City and Chelsea or any oil club do? Do you think Emery was on less than Rodgers? And you saw how much Arsenal spent over the summer? It’s Arsenal, they’ve been shit by their standards for 10 years and they’ve still had a better time in those 10 years than most clubs in the country.

Arsenal would be giving him big money because they’re one of the big clubs in England.

Red nylon Jazz IIIs are the best

More people should be shocked about the news the NHS is up for sale in Tory’s plans to make a trade deal with the US. Us being the one western nation to follow in the US’s footsteps in healthcare would be a massive mistake. Anyone who argues that gutting the NHS and making the push for the UK to go to a US styled healthcare system with private insurance arguing “it’s cheaper for the taxpayer” should take a look at what each taxpayer pays into NHS. Then they ought to take a look at how much an American who wanted the same sort of baseline care has to pay each year. And without the NHS negotiating our drug prices with the big pharmaceutical companies, it’ll be private insurers negotiating those drug prices. Compare drug prices in the US to the UK. Less taxpayer burden, sure. But a greater burden on individuals and even on businesses, as benefits packages are pretty appealing and that’s one thing that employers in the US use to entice people. But even then, the employees are expected to foot some of that bill taken out of their wages that week. This’ll ultimately lead to some working class families needing to make a choice between their ability to pay for things they need to survive, or for properly addressing their own health. As someone who’s directly experienced both types of healthcare, I think the American system is an absolute joke. A really expensive one. And in the US, overall, it’s a place where wages are higher than the UK and the general cost of living is lower - and healthcare and is still a burden. You put that burden on a place where people are paid less on average and where things cost more on average and it’s a much bigger burden. If that’s a big issue in this election, that’s a point that really just needs to be hammered home.

Wow! ICE kept the tuition they made from their fake school too

I haven’t - I don’t think I’ve ever seen those for a guitar without a Floyd. On the guitar I had that had a Floyd, I looked into it but I think using one means your bridge is no longer floating. And on hardtail guitars I’ve always thought getting to a drop tuning’s pretty easy just using a tuning peg

Hey that’s the song you posted that made me think “hold up, this is a cool band better check out more songs” - cool! @Mel81x I think most Iron Maiden songs are easier from a guitar perspective than a bass perspective (maybe other than the solos) tbh! Steve Harris is a beast. I’ve been trying to learn “Chosen Ones” by Megadeth, someone asked I could teach it to them - I said “yeah probably, but let me learn it first.” I did not know their first album was in the annoying 1/4th step down tuning though, so that was my first lesson learned in learning that

Idk maybe he thought I was LFC backroon legend’s ghost Ronnie Moran

One time he called me a “moran”

I think you can when the implementation has been piss poor and the humans you’re entrusting the machines to are incompetent

It’s hard not to slate the fuck out of VAR with each wrong decision. It’s technology that was supposed to make less controversy with refereeing decisions and bring some consistency to refereeing - it’s failed pretty miserably just a few months in. To be honest though, I’m not surprised at all. Aside from the officials being total dogshit in this country, Mike Riley is in charge of all of the officials in this country. To me that’s absolutely astounding that one of the most controversial referees of all time gets to oversee all referees and was in charge of VAR’s implementation in England. Step one to improving VAR is sacking Mike Riley.

Duncan Ferguson can’t be a football manager because he’s scared of the media. Which I always found hilarious because he’s just a yob

Also at what point are they going to say “hey Ed, pack your things and get the fuck out of this club?”

I don't give a fuck about what happens to Sterling tbh as long as the shitbag never plays for us again lol

How much longer are United going to stick with Ole? Almost getting 3 points after being shit for 70 minutes against Sheffield United, only to then not get those 3 points... I mean there's obviously something encouraging about the fightback there. And how the young players looked to be more arsed than the seasoned professionals... But at what point do United say "well we've spent a lot of fucking money, we sacked one of the world's most highly rated managers to bring this guy in, and this guy's got us looking worse than we were at this stage last season - it's time for him to go." I know he's a club legend... but I don't think he's shown any sort of tactical genius or long term plan. I think he's just a guy who'll have a positive face and always tell the players "do your best lads!" before kickoff and always say "well done lads!" after each match. It's all well and good to always be talking about the future and saying "oh this isn't great now, but we're building a solid foundation for the future" - but you've also spent a shitload of money in the present day not seeing any immediate improvement. And that doesn't bode well for spending money again in the future. So is this Sheffield United result a good result for Ole? Or a bad one? Good - because we saw a spirited fightback after they were shite for most of the match? Or bad because United once again looked fucking shite for most of 90 minutes, despite almost getting 3 points?

Tbf, I'd say at least 2 of those are fairly large rebuilds themselves.

They have no chance of getting Poch do they? Because if they could throw a lot of money at him, maybe they could convince him... even though he's probably looking at clubs like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid (before the CL final, he was staying stuff like "maybe I'll stay in Madrid after the final" - so I do think the wants a big job in Spain), but ya know... money talks. Give Poch a long contract and back him, and he'll build Everton up - I have no doubt in my mind. But the question is... would Poch go them? Yeah he's just been sacked, but I'd say overall his stock and reputation are still pretty fucking high. Tbf, those benefits of being young, English and having the "fairytale" story are all pretty good traits when you're dealing with the media - and keeping the media singing your praises I think is a good way to buy some longevity at a club where there's a lot of work to be done and there may be setbacks on the way. I know Everton have been poor this season and have just come off the back of an inexcusable loss - but it does seem like Silva was pretty rapidly under pressure this season, after I think most Evertonians would say he'd done a pretty decent job in his first season. And I think both the manager and the squad have felt that pressure just grow and grow as the season get on. And I think the media's been happy to not give Silva any excuses because to them... it really doesn't make a difference. A managerial sacking and new appointment is just more stories for them. For a long-term project where you might not have things always go your way, and you may have periods of bad form, it might actually be good to have someone the media considers a darling at the club as a manager. It goes both ways though, because when Hodgson was at Liverpool and clearly not a good fit, we had the media constantly backing him and journos tweeting out how Liverpool fans were delusional and that we should just take looking like relegation battlers on the chin - sometimes the media keeps a man that shouldn't be keeping his job in. I can't really defend Silva though - their form this season has been so poor considering how they ended the last season. It's probably around the right time to sack him. I think Howe plays good football and has the media goodwill that has the makings of being able to come in and make changes with stability for a period of years. And he's an Everton fan.

Nice guitar mate! And @Mel81x is right, if you ever felt the need to... a strat is probably the easiest guitar in the world to modify to your tastes. I think you’re right about non-discerning ears not being able to tell the difference between the types of pickups. Also with distortion those “in between” positions in a Strat can sound fairly humbucker-y. You’ve got probably one of the most versatile sounding guitars, mate - you’ll find you’ll have a shitload of tonal diversity with a strat. Enjoy!

@Mel81x wow it was easy as fuck to fix my NS-2. There was just one loose connection (idk how it got loose in the first place, but whatever) - resoldered it real quick and put it back together and now it's good as new (well functionally, the paint is still pretty beaten up lol)

Yeah but the San Siro being pretty empty all the time now, compared to what it used to be is a pretty good way of showing how TV's played a part in keeping people at home while ticket prices are expensive.

Nah now he's carried by Vardy