Dr. Gonzo

Letting him see out his contract is the cheaper thing to do & it gives them the rest of the season to sound out new managers and get an immediate replacement when the time has come. Rather than sacking him now and then dealing with an interim situation that ultimately may not pan out in the long term.

Probably because he first started his career at City and then wasn't considered good enough for them. And it wasn't until after United already had De Gea that he started looking like a top flight keeper tbh. And while Schmeichel is good, De Gea's pedigree is just that of a much better keeper.

Good job not every league fixture Chelsea have to play is against United then? That's like saying Matthew Longstaff is better than McTominay because when Man Utd played Newcastle, Longstaff scored once and McTominay didn't do anything. A bit ridiculous you're trying to shit on Tammy Abraham, who's got a pretty fantastic goal record this season at a very young age, and Firmino (btw: https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/jose-mourinho-roberto-firmino-liverpool-16963050) because of that stat you've come up with. It is good, though, for United that they've got strikers that are as efficient in front of goal - it's certainly needed considering how little creativity is in the side.

Did they have a mid season trip to Qatar when they won the treble? If we’d been dumped out of the league cup early like we’d been trying to I’d say go for it. But Unai Emery fucked that up for us.

Yeah I’d bin the FA cup off as well. Do we get fined if we don’t even turn up? Tbh that’s what we should have done with the league cup

Tbh I just find Gibson’s scale length and fretboard radius easier to play on generally. If you do go back to buy it, make sure you play with it for a bit... make sure you actually like the thing first before you fork over your hard earned cash. But I suspect it’s just that you’re not quite used to Fender necks (first time you held one, right?) and in the long run it wouldn’t be a big issue. I think (like not very certain at all, it’s just my guess) it’s mostly the scale length, it feels like you’ve got to stretch your fingers a bit more (to me, at least) with the Fender scale length.

I always felt Gibsons had big fat chunky necks compared to Fenders. But I think Gibson uses 3 different neck profiles & I’ve only come across just one of them. I’ve also never played an Ibanez that didn’t have a paper thin neck. There’s a lot of reasons why it’ll feel different tbh. Different neck profile, Gibson fretboard radius v Fender’s (Gibson’s generally have flatter fretboard radiuses than Fender’s - some of Fender’s other brands use necks that have a rounder radius at the top & it’s flatter at the higher frets, for soloing). Then there’s also the scale length - the Fenders have a bit longer scale length than the Gibsons - that affects the tension in the strings & probably which gauge of string you would prefer on the guitar. I use thicker strings on Gibson scale length guitars than Fender scale length guitars because I’m used to a certain tension in the strings. @Inverted - that’s actually a bargain mate. I cannot say a bad word about that guitar at that price. Also with the thin strings on guitars, most manufacturers slap .9 gauge strings on every guitar they make - which I think a lot of people think “this is too thin!” No idea why they do that.

He's always been a media golden boy - I doubt they ever turn on him.

Climate change denial stems from the fact that there are more businesses that stand to make a lot more money if we bury our heads in the sand about what we're doing to the planet than otherwise. Rich people have money, they're the ones who own newspapers/TV channels and pay for the ads on them - so they can peddle their bullshit. If you're ever having a hard time understanding a right wing position, even if it's not extreme, just ask yourself "do a group of extremely wealthy people stand to be more wealthy if these policies are followed?" - the answer is almost universally: "yes." And that's really as simple as it'll get for many of their positions. I think racism is more of a far right feature, but as right wing parties around the world get more radicalised… I suppose it becomes more of the norm. I don't have anything good to say about the far right at all though. The people who are intelligent on the far right are monsters that are radicalising people and turning them into true believers. The rest are impressionable morons.

For the far right, anyone left of centre is a "Marxist" or a "socialist." Fear is a rallying cry for them and the fear of socialists and socialism has been built up for decades - it's an easy dogwhistle to blow to try to rally around them. They can't argue policy, at least not in good faith, so they stick to fear of the "other" - with Brexit the "other" is immigrants, with UK politics the "other" is socialists. How anyone can say they'd back Boris's Brexit "for the good of the nation" after shitting all over May's deal... which many feel was less harmful to the British economy than Boris's deal - and that first deal was universally considered bad - it just requires a ton of mental gymnastics. But it's the same people that have been doing mental gymnastics since before the referendum, assuring themselves (and each other) that the rest of the world will abandon multilateral trade agreements if we do (spoiler alert: that's fantasy thinking) and that us leaving the EU doesn't significantly weaken our hand at the negotiating table for future trade deals (it does) - therefore they reassured themselves any short term hit to the economy was just going to be short term. They were "ripping the bandaid off." It's hard to take any of the far-right Brexit brigade ideologically seriously either, because the goalposts keep moving. First we were promised there wouldn't be a hard Brexit, then we were told a hard Brexit is what the country voted for. And it shouldn't be surprising, since one of the "great minds" behind Brexit is Nigel Farage - a man who genuinely had power to push for the UK to have more power in the EU as a MEP, but instead used that role to collect money from the EU while not really representing UK interests at all and prefers using his time as an MEP to just be an irritating troll. And what's his fucking stance on Brexit? If it's shit for the UK, he's going to fuck off to America. It's much easier to take the left-wing Brexit seriously - EU economic policies for member states and the austerity foisted on Greece are so much in line with many Thatcher era economic policies - it is a more ideologically consistent approach to Brexit. The counter point to that is that many of these legitimate concerns that ended up devastating communities and have led to Westminster funneling funding to London while neglecting most of the country, particularly the north, should have been taken more seriously then. And it's true - they should have. But it's been 3 decades of investing into this system. This isn't ripping a bandage off - it's going over a healed scar, saying you're tearing the bandage off... but first you cut yourself over the scar pretty badly and need to bandage yourself back up again. The easiest counterpoint to a left-wing Brexit argument is that... it's likely not going to be a left-wing aftermath for Brexit, because it'll likely come in led by Tories - it'll be to usher in a new Thatcherite wet dream. Because to Tories, the EU goes too far in business regulation, employment regulation, and ensuring that workers are adequately paid.

100% agree. Interesting to see how a generation that's spent quite a lot of time shitting upon a younger generation isn't liking it so much when that younger generation decides to stand up and call that older generation out on it's bullshit.

My hero: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50327034

That’s 2 of us for AI officials! Our numbers are growing!

Step 1: condemn people for voting for people because of a theoretically incompetent government. Step 2: then throw your support behind a government led by Boris Johnson.

It really is such a shame that such a talented guitarist has been robbed of his ability to play for SUCH a long time. But in 1989 he was given 5 years to live after his ALS diagnosis - and he's still composing today. This track is cool because it's got so many brilliant guitarists on it.

I think these replaced the "Fender Standard" Made in Mexico line. I've not played the newer replacement "Player" series - but I did used to have a made in Mexico Fender Standard Stratocaster that I bought used. It was a FANTASTIC guitar - I don't really have anything bad to say about it at all. The only reason I don't have it anymore is because when I moved to the US, I was worried about whether or not the airline would damage the guitar... so I sold it and used the money from the sale to buy myself a guitar once I got settled after the move. If you're looking at Fenders, but you don't want to pay the big bucks of a USA made Fender, those Mexican Fenders are a great deal. Also as @Mel81x mentioned, Fender's budget brand Squier has Fender models made out in China and Indonesia that compete with the more expensive Fenders.The product line that Mel recommended, the "Classic Vibe" series is very affordable and the guitars come with some very nice pickups on them. And I've got a bit of experience with them as well and can vouch for their quality, I got my dad one of those for his birthday. It plays fantastically and it sounds great and it wasn't very expensive. If you do end up going with a Squier… I can only recommend 2 of their product lines though. If you want something with the "vintage" specs in terms of your pickups and hardware, go with the "Classic Vibe" series. They're better made than most Squier guitars by a bit and like I said, the electronics in them are really high quality for the money you pay. If you want something with more modern, I'd go with the "Contemporary" series - I think with the kind of music you like playing, you'd probably want to steer clear of the Contemporary Squiers that have the active pickups and the Floyd Rose tremolos. But something like this: https://shop.fender.com/en-GB/squier-electric-guitars/stratocaster/contemporary-stratocaster-hss/0370322523.html - that's a lot of guitar for a decent price & that pickup configuration is extremely versatile.

In my everlasting quest to find an amp that I think sounds good at low volumes and... tbh, what I really want is something that feels like a valve amp, I've sold the 6505 combo (too fucking loud) & I've sold the Boss Katana 50 (was a tough decision tbh). I've decided I'm keeping the Mooer because, quite frankly, it's nice having a super versatile modeler - and it did everything the Katana 50 could do (and probably more tbh). And the modeler is probably how I'll go when I want to fuck around with new tones or experiment with new sounds... and I'll be plugging it into the FX Return part of the new amp I just picked up. But a lot of the time I just want an amp that's got a good base tone. Not too many effects really, a noise-gate & an overdrive as a boost maybe (found myself putting a tube screamer in 90% of the patches I made on the GE200 and the Helix, prior to those fuckers stealing my fucking Helix), my MXR 10-Band & delay in the FX loop and... that's pretty much it. So after several trips to various guitar shops fucking around with various "micro amp" heads - I think I've found the one for me finally. And I am very happy that it's much cheaper than the 6505 MH which I was leaning towards (although that amp might be overall the better choice for me). I just picked up the insanely tiny, insanely cheap (£149 new!) Orange Micro Dark head (basically a tiny version of the Orange Dark Terror) - it's got 1 valve in the preamp and a 20 watt solid state power section. They advertise is as being voiced for metal... but I'm not sure how accurate that is - it definitely needs an overdrive to give it a boost into utter brutality, but thankfully I've got one of the pedals I'll be using with this already. I like that it very much feels, sounds, and acts like a full valve amp - most of the hybrid amps I felt didn't have that same responsiveness as a valve amp. I also like how it sounds really good quiet... but if I crank the fucking thing up it definitely feels like an amp I could probably gig with if I wanted to. It's surprisingly loud & last night we ran it through my friends 4x12 cab to give it a little volume test and I was seriously impressed. And after blasting my ears off with it, I took it home and played around a bit at home at home volumes. I was told by my wife that the volumes I was playing at were perfect. And that really makes the purchase worthwhile because finally I can play at low volumes and get a tone I am happy with, without having to tweak a billion settings on the Mooer because for some reason what sounds good at one volume with that doesn't necessarily translate to what'll sound good. And with all of that valve responsiveness that guitar players love so much. The only thing I don't really like about it is the EQ knob really just scoops/boosts the mids and that's about it - minor problem though when you've got a 10-band EQ pedal though. But other than that, seriously impressed with this tiny little head with it's tiny little pricetag but it's massive tone. So now I'm borrowing a shite little 1x12 from a friend while I look for a new cabinet... and I've got loads of cash left over from selling the other two amps. So all in all, very pleased. I hope this is the end of my very long amp search - now that I've gone through several fucking amps

You've got the better built squad right now though. Don't get me wrong, I think Arsenal have some quality about them - particularly in attack. But as a whole, I'd back this current Leicester team under Rodgers to beat Emery's Arsenal home or away. Weirdly, I think this current Arsenal side has a lot in common with the side we had under Rodgers around the end of his time with us... but I think Arsenal are a bit better up front (on paper at least). Weirdly defensively set up, playing with a total lack of identity/players that don't have the character to stand up and be counted, defensively fragile despite a fairly conservative approach to matches. I don't know if Rodgers is now more amenable to working with other people on transfers... or if he's just gotten better at identifying talent. Or if his system with us just was so heavily reliant on Suarez that he wasn't expecting us to seriously sell Suarez. But if he is better at identifying talent/working with people that are better at picking out players than him, Arsenal should be taking a serious look at trying to convince Rodgers to make the move to Arsenal. But I think the thing is now, currently I think it'd be a step down for Rodgers... but they do have the money and "prestige." But as things stand now, he's got a much better chance of ending up in the CL next season with Leicester - which would give him a bit more prestige in that regard & also give him a chance to keep his current group of players going in a system that's working, while also adding to it with the players that want to play in the CL... ya know, very good players.

@Inverted one good thing about you learning to play on a Gibson SG is you got to start on something very nice early on in your guitar playing days. So you’ll know if something feels a bit shit on a lower priced guitar - and really that’s honestly the most important things, how it feels. Because you can change the electronics and hardware and shit like that. But at that price range you’ll definitely find things that play and feel excellent. Like you found & like @Mel81x said, there’s a lot of good stuff around that price (and sometimes lower tbh). Do a quick google search on how to check if a guitars neck. Knowing about this makes the used market a lot less risky (and not every guitar shop checks if they’re selling crap or not either). With the used market you can find phenomenal value, but even new there’s plenty of good new options that’ll still get you plenty of value. The most important thing will be how the neck feels and how the guitar sounds, which imo is mostly from the pickups and the amp used. Watch out for shit like sharp pokey fret edges, but if you see the frets all look and feel nicely rounded off... that’s a sign of a nicely made guitar. With the sound, there’s a lot to it... but the simplest way to think about it is: do you like humbucker tones, do you like single cool tones, or do you like both. Generally speaking I think a guitar with single coils in the neck & middle with a bridge humbucker are the most versatile. I’d check out different guitar shops playing different guitars in that price range & also looking at guitars you seem keen on YouTube (but a lotta these are stores so take it with a pinch of salt, but they can be decent tone demos).

Told you he was good! Looks like he just needed a bit of time to adjust to the league. Which isn't surprising as he made the move from Serie A football, so the football's played at a completely different pace.

In fairness, Xhaka should never have been captain in the first place. But this just also adds more to the impression that Emery doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing. Tbh I think Emery is a dead man walking and I’m not even sure it’s worth it for Arsenal to let him see out the season if they can line up a replacement at any time before hand. And I would be hoping that’s what Arsenal are doing right now - looking for their next manager

I think any commitments we gave to the EFL may be a load of bollocks we just told them as they “worked with us” to not really ease the fixture congestion at all. Klopp don’t Carabao this cup

Lol so we're playing Villa on December 17. Then less than 24 hours later in Qatar we've got a semi-final for the WCW. Good luck to our U23s against Villa