Dr. Gonzo

Oh yeah... I don't know how, but I somehow forgot about all of the managerial changes/pretty new owner. Some players opt not to have a testimonial until they're done with their careers. Some players that are eligible for one just decide not to have one for whatever reason. So there's probably a wide range of reasons why he might not be having one just yet. But yeah, I'd expect him and Baines (especially Baines, tbh) to get one eventually. But they might not, for whatever reason. Not a big deal in all honesty (although it's nice to have these charity matches).

Post-Brexit trade talks with the US should be fun: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/trump-britain-nhs-table-trade-deal-talks-190604131718068.html

Is he getting a testimonial? Deserves one after 12 years at the club imo.

I posted that a few days back in the breaking news/politics section. Honestly, I think it's a bit sad it takes an incredible footballer to humanise Muslims to a large swathe of the country.

I’m not sure critical thinking skills are taught well enough during elementary education for that to be true, I’m afraid

Yeah Harvard's a real tin pot uni

Dave Maddock (very reliable for us) says we’re looking to give Origi an extension (good, because he’s officially a legend now) and moving on the players with expiring contracts, namely Moreno (yay) and Sturridge (important because he’s on big wages). And that we’re also open to offers for Lallana to free up wages.

I'm not so sure that NATO is a dying requirement. We've seen plenty of Russian belligerence in recent years to indicate that they're going to try to push beyond their borders and invade elsewhere. NATO wasn't an effective deterrent to stop them from going into Georgia, it wasn't an effective deterrent to stop them from invading Ukraine and taking Crimea as their own. I'm not sure that the armies of Europe alone are enough of a deterrent for Russian belligerence. I think they already view NATO as an institution with waning influence, I imagine if the US is no longer standing beside Europe, they'll view it as virtually dead and keep trying to push back to Soviet borders. I think China would be left as the last superpower. But who knows how involved they would be in protecting their investments in the region - I imagine that right from the off in this potential war, we'll see the war escalate to a level where most countries that weren't initially involved in the first attacks will see what is happening and think "I don't want any part in this." But it's a given that if anything happens, the Straight of Hormuz is just going to be riddled with mines and there are ships from all over the world that'll be impacted by that. So right from the offset, we'd be seeing carnage. And we'd also probably see the western world shit itself at what happens to petrol prices. Granted, they'd have to be the ones trying to make the Middle East a relatively stable place after the hellfire dies down. But if the US does go to war with Iran, as I said before - I fully expect the entire region to go up in flames, the Islamic Republic knows it'll be staring defeat in conventional warfare in the face - I can't see them not using a potential invasion as a way to do everything they can to absolutely fuck over their enemies in any way they can, particularly Israel, the Saudis, and the UAE. And then there would be a long bloody occupation and insurgency over the ruins of Iran.

I've got mixed feelings on Trippier. I think he's obviously a good player, though he's struggled this season and he himself has admitted it - I think he's a better wingback than a fullback. And at the start of the season, I'd have put him ahead of Trent for England... but on the form of the two players, Trent's kicked on pretty massively (from an already good season last year) while Trippier's regressed. It'd be interesting to see how he would do if he did move to Italy. I think for both clubs he's linked with and for himself personally, Juve is a better move. And I also think it'd be better for the England national team, no disrespect to Tottenham at all - especially after this season - but Juve are one of the giants of European football and the biggest club in Italy. The pressures of playing for England I think are most able to be replicated at a side like Juve, where the fans there fully expect domestic success and where they're desperate for cup wins. And he'd also get to play alongside Ronaldo for the last few years of his career. But of course, for him to worry about his England career... he'll have to make his way back into the England side. As one of the standout performers of our World Cup campaign, I think this drop in form is just that... a drop in form. And whether he stays or goes, I suspect he'll improve and be back in the England side. Although he may find he's got more of a fight to start as Trent has grown a bit (both literally and as a player).

I can't ever remember a hangover like this. I feel terrible. Well I would feel terrible, if I didn't know why I'd drank so much. So it's a good feeling terrible, because at least I did this to myself for an excellent reason.

Yeah I hate the fuck out of that tbh Also I should have called in sick today. I only had a few hours sober this weekend and while my hangover wasn't bad yesterday, it's furious today.

I don’t think that’s what is being complained about when it’s said that “London is being overrun by outsiders” as he didn’t say “London’s housing market is being artificially inflated by Chinese investors” (which is basically happening all over the world tbh). 2 separate issues tbh and Brexit wouldn’t have an impact on Chinese investment in any case because China isn’t in the EU. But when people are saying shite like we’re being overrun by foreigners, it’s the people they’re seeing on the streets. Not the nameless, faceless (to most of us) real estate investments

My hangover’s not too bad

It’s a bit fucking insulting to a lot of English born people who’re descendants of commonwealth countries (and look at those demographic stats, those are a lot of ethnicities that were part of the British fucking empire), that live in England as English people, to tell them they’re not English because of how they look.

Bit shameful there’s so many people out there who think that English people born in England are not English because of their ancestry. Bit weird because I suspect many of them quite like Boris Johnson, who’s paternal grandfather is Ali Kemal of Turkey and he himself was born in America.

https://immigrationlab.org/working-paper-series/can-exposure-celebrities-reduce-prejudice-effect-mohamed-salah-islamophobic-behaviors-attitudes-2/ So given how the rest of the country feels about us, does he increase the prejudice effect everywhere else? Kind of explains why that non-Scouse blueshite lad on here out of the blue after not indicating he was a bigot anywhere else on the forum decided it was alright to give me & Mo some shite for being Middle Eastern though. A bit sad though that a football player can make people’s bigotry higher or lower based on who they support

I thought he had his uncle blown up with a mortar

Anyone hear this story about the pedo cops (and/or "Child Protective Services") in Kentucky? https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/05/22/how-dare-she-dash-muffins/?utm_term=.450a9313d87b Fucking sick.

If it's anything like Metal Gear Solid, it'll be widely loved by the gaming community and then when I play it, I'll think "yeah it's alright, but this story is absolutely incomprehensible." This looks even more bizarre than MGS, so I'm sure I would understand absolutely nothing about the story... but I'm sure the gameplay is fine. Kojima is weird imo, decent games... but I've never understood the MGS hype. I too am most interested in Doom: Eternal.

Before I went to work I played some Rocket League duos and went on a 8 game win streak

I'm surprised by this. He's been out of football for a while now and he's never really demonstrated that he's "still got it" after he left Porto tbh.

Yeah I've heard that Metro Exodus is a buggy disaster, which is a shame because the first two games were so good.

If Coutinho cost as much as he did, imagine what we'd demand for Klopp. Barca would probably have to sell Camp Nou and give us Messi

Lol Roberto Martinez

I don’t think we have that much deadwood to sell tbh. With Sturridge and Moreno leaving that’s a lot of wage budget freed up on two players who were paid far more than what they earned.