Dr. Gonzo

At least next week I can go back to hoping for what I hope for every week: Everton losing & Manchester clubs stop existing.

lol

I think United should worry about getting their new Director of Football in his role and letting him have a say in who the manager that he'll be working with on a day to day basis is going to be. I know there's that proceeding with Newcastle regarding compensation holding things up, but no sense in trying to get ahead of themselves when there's plenty of foundational work a Director of Football's going to have to do. I think just bringing in someone now before Ashworth's had time to properly vet them doesn't really do them any favours. A lot of United's modern day issues are structural and from failure to develop long term plans to go along with the short term planning. I think bringing in someone without Ashworth being properly involved is just continuing that policy - a manager works under and with a Director of Football, so Ashworth not being properly involved in the selection is just putting together a structure without regard for whether or not the 2 men share the same philosophies on short and long term development. United aren't just disjoint on the pitch, they're disjoint off the pitch. Until you've got the club working on clear long and short term goals simultaneously, with the people behind the scenes as well as the managers and players all pulling in the same direction, I don't see United's struggles really ending any time soon.

I think it's a bit fucked that their human rights abuses get overlooked by the West because they're 1.) paying western politicians - lobbying is just legal bribery; 2.) the West wants to encourage normalised relations between the Saudis and Israelis - so a blind eye to human rights abuses is turned. I think a part of that is because it will likely have some backlash in the Arab world and human rights abuses are what MBS uses to silence dissent. Saudi Arabia's received a lot of praise in the west for "modernisation" of women's rights because they've allowed some things (letting women drive - something that Iran's had for... as long as there's been cars; relaxed restrictions on permissible clothing for women - and to MBS's credit, it's more relaxed than Iran - but they've gone from burkas and niqabs to being able to dress how they want only very recently)... but they've still got similar gender apartheid to Iran. Non-Arab minorities native to the country face systemic and violent oppression. Tribal people are treated like animals & as I recently posted, are getting slaughtered for happening to live where a ridiculous vanity project's proposed site is. Saudis abroad are subject to criminal charges for dissent (or chopped into pieces like that journalist). It is not a good thing that such a wealthy country, with such disregard for human rights and human life, has so much sway over western politics. And the money they spent in cleaning up their image internationally among normal people has done wonders for them. Their involvement with sports entertainment: Newcastle, golf, F1, professional wrestling; their involvement with the general and social media: fox/news corp, Disney, meta, etc. - these all have an impact on how the public perceives them and how the media portrays them, despite these blatant abuses.

Most Liverpool fans I know don't want Everton relegated because they don't want to have seasons without the Merseyside derby & because Everton not being in the top flight is generally just bad for the city?

Pretty sure we've been in positions before in my lifetime lol. I'd blame the other sides that just roll over for the Manchester clubs and part their arse cheeks more than I'd blame us.

I get this but... 1.) It's a cup tie and honestly you don't have to be anywhere near the best side in Europe (granted, being very good at football is helpful) to go on a good cup run, or even make the final. And if you make the final, anything can happen. 2.) CL European nights > Europa League European nights 3.) CL attracts better players, gives more money to participants... and more money also attracts better players. So being in the CL, and being able to get there with some degree of consistency, does set up a better platform for actually growing a team into something competitive. In the long run, you're better off with a season in the CL imo. But I understand in the short term wanting to fuck over your biggest rivals. Either way, I fucking hate Man City and everything they represent in football, so I am very much hoping Arsenal win the title and if that means Spurs sneak a win here that would be great. Honestly though, I don't think you've got a chance against City though.

COYS

They've mentally been on holiday for a while

It's a totally dead rubber match for us? The results that really hurt are already in the past, our season's over. Nothing to play for other than giving Klopp a final sendoff at Anfield, then time to... rebuild yet again.

He’s always crying when he’s not just running away with the league title. So he’s just annoyed he’s still got to worry about Arsenal. Can’t wait for him to fuck off out of English football forever.

They're being sued for fraud ($600m USD!) by one of their financial backers and have just hired a firm that assists companies restructure their way out of bankruptcy. 777 are absolutely fucked and there's no way in hell they should be allowed to take over any clubs in football. Even if they survive bankruptcy, or even manage to avoid it altogether, they're not going to be in any financial condition to be running any football club. Shit for Everton, still, because even if 777 declare bankruptcy and go through all the proceedings - Everton still have to pay their loan back to them.

Think it's originally a pic from when Ward was announced as our new DoF when Edwards was stepping down. With Edwards and Ward both back so quickly after the news Klopp is leaving, it does make me wonder if part of the reason they left has something to do with him having increased power at the club. The thing is, while Edwards proved to be incredible at his job over time, there is the fact that both Edwards and Ward were at the club before Klopp was there and didn't quite enjoy the same success. Although tbf, Rodgers hated the transfer committee and resented their signings. And with players like Firmino, Rodgers simply couldn't get the best out of that Edwards signing... even though I think he's absolutely one of the best transfers we've made in modern history. I think I'd rather keep Diaz than Nunez, if it came down to having to pick one to stay and one to go. They've both been outrageously frustrating though and with Slot coming in, I do wonder if we'll see Gakpo play more on the left side of a front 3 - which is apparently his preferred position. And if that's the case, it makes me wonder how either Diaz or Nunez would actually fit in with us. I think in the off season we should probably try to bring in a CB we can count on to start most matches for the long term as well as another striker, ideally one that's actually clinical and not someone like Nunez. I'd also say we should probably go for a CDM... but Endo's been pretty handy and we've got Morton coming back from loan at Hull where Hull fans seem to think he's great - might be worth giving him a shot at earning a place in the side. But up front I think is where our biggest issues lie, but there's also some definite truth to the fact we could do to shore up our defense a bit. It's actually absurd how many matches we've conceded the first goal and honestly considering how long that's been an issue for us, it's no wonder our title race faltered at the last second. We've been putting pressure on our attacking players all season by constantly having to chase matches. Although apparently Slot's teams are also comeback kings so maybe the shaky defensiveness is "part of the plan" - certainly makes it hard to compete with the likes of City though.

Here's some bad news: imo Julian Ward's signings were all crap lol, so not too keen on this news.

I don't think there's many obvious choices on who should be leading our front line at the moment. Too bad we can't go get a time machine and get prime Fernando Torres or something like that.

Should give them another points deduction for bothering to lodge a frivolous appeal

I wonder if we have a buyback clause on Solanke

I’m pretty sure Diaz actually has a worse conversion rate than Nunez, he’s also massively wasteful. But his shots are more likely to actually be on target and that’s slightly less infuriating than what Nunez does.

Agree with all this. I'd probably have swapped out Virgil for Saliba & Rodri for Haaland. From this shortlist, I'd probably give it to POTS to Rice or Foden & YPOTS to Palmer though and I'm not sure that changes even if these shortlists are "corrected" to properly reflect the players that have been the best players of the season. Although tbh, while I hate Rodri, I think it's hard to say he's not been one of the best players - so maybe I'd actually be between Rice or Rodri. I think Rice has done really well though and in less than a year I've gone from thinking he's tremendously overrated to thinking "shit, he's actually really really good."

I stopped caring about my age once I turned 25 because everything after that is just a different shade of "old"

Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia MBS has given his forces authority to kill the tribes living in the area where he wants his stupid "eco-city" in the desert to be. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68945445

He's younger than Cole Palmer, just turned 21 in April.

26 26

I'd have to look at the stats, but probably Mainoo.

I don't agree with Virgil being on the player of the season shortlist tbh... but I also think it's mental Harvey Elliott hasn't even been shortlisted for the YPOTS considering the season he's had.