Dr. Gonzo

Hasn't Ukraine already declared it a war, it's Russia that hasn't. Armenia's triggered CSTO asking Russia for assistance & Georgia's holding a referendum to see whether the population supports driving out the Russians from Ossetia. Looks like Azerbaijan and Georgia are either taking advantage of how stretched Russia is, or they've been told by a west this is a good time to press their claims. Because realistically, Russia's not going to be able to keep up a fight against a NATO equipped Ukraine, while also needing to protect its allies under CSTO and protect its separatist republic it played a part in setting up. Putin cant project strength if his peacekeepers are essentially worthless. But if Russia does declare a war, they can start conscription and start throwing bodies at these conflicts. But that's now potentially 4 fronts of active conflict for Russia - Ukraine, Azerbaijan-Armenia (where they're meant to be keeping the peace), and Syria (propping up Assad), and potentially Georgia. Even with conscription, I don't think Russia can enjoy success on all fronts. Especially as Georgia would likely receive NATO backing as well.

Deport this man back to the US

Yeah, tbf I'm still working while sick. I'm just not going to the office. And the holiday was with paid time off that I'd earned and I deserved a fucking break.

I tested positive for COVID again! Missed 10 days of work & now missing 10 more, and I'm not allowed to leave my house which suits me just fine with this fucking jetlag.

Heading back home, was a good trip for the most part. Liked Rome, a bit pissed off about my wallet for a day or two, but the good food fixed that up. Bari and Puglia were incredible. Naples… ehhh the Veiled Christ and pizza was great… but honestly that’s about all I liked. Couldn’t wait to get the fuck out. Florence was incredible. Can’t wait to go fucking home and sleep in my own bed again though.

Nope front pocket, impressive skill from the pickpocket. All in all, I’ve closed all the cards & had no cash with me… so I’ve really just lost drivers license (which is a pain) and the wallet itself. But it’s still seriously fucking annoying and a shit way to start a trip.

Landed in Rome, promptly got my wallet taken off me, want to go home lol

It's very interesting imo that it seems his time at clubs seems to follow a sort of pattern. Definitely not a "long term" manager. I think he might do well in a league like Serie A where managers aren't really expected to do anything in the long term - where it won't seem so bad if he floats from club to club every couple of years.

Tbh around the end of Rodgers tenure with us, a lot of players that ended up being looking a lot better once Rodgers left looked a lot like players that couldn't cut it at the level expected of them either. I said it last year, but I think a lot of how Leicester have stagnated reminds me of how he just couldn't get things right with us once Suarez had gone. He's a decent manager until he gets stale, then he gets really annoying. Weird tactics, players out of position, results won't go your way and he won't really change much unless there's injuries or suspensions... it's like a rot sets in with him and it just starts spreading throughout the squad. I think Leicester need to sack him sooner rather than later if they want to keep looking forward without having to recover from too many setbacks.

It's the beginning of the season, I don't think any conclusions can really be drawn until we're 10 matches in or so. See above for my thoughts on the 7 year shite. It's just lazy journalism tbh. It's not like Dortmund where they played well but were constantly missing boatloads of chances, we were just poor in the first 3 matches. Good in that glorified friendly cup against City & against the most shit team I've seen in a long time.

Fabinho was really poor in the first two matches, but we did look a lot better when he came on against United and definitely against Bournemouth (although I don't think too much can be read into the Bournemouth match because I think Bournemouth are possibly the worst side in the league by some distance). We've seen it before, like the year where no CBs or CMs could stay fit for more than a period of weeks - with enough injuries, the system will break down entirely. And I think also relying on Milner and Henderson for too many matches too quickly is going to lead to other moments where the system just breaks down. Imo we need to be bringing in 2 midfielders in the next few windows that compliment Fabinho well, because we've got a few sicknotes and reliance on old players, in what is possibly the most important area of the pitch.

It's not exactly been a mystery - for seasons many managers have had their side target him because he bombs so far up the pitch. When our midfield is functioning like a normal midfield, usually a central midfielder drops into that gap. In some matches this season we've abandoned that (but honestly, I think it's just that we've asked Henderson and Milner to play more matches than they can physically handle) and our system can break down pretty badly if players aren't all playing their roles correctly. I don't really think he'll abandon the system of having the CMs cover for when the fullbacks push forward.

We should be expecting to beat any team outside of the "top 6" if we're at Anfield tbh

I wish. I’m very shit at sleeping generally & I think it’s really hard to sleep on planes.

He's been great so far, tbh I think he's been our best performer so far (granted, it's early days and we've had a few bad performances before this 9-0). He's started every match so far, I don't know if that will be the case once Thiago is back tbh - but if he keeps performing well, it's possible. I certainly think he's not far away from being a permanent starter if he keeps developing. No idea how far he is from an England cap - I don't know how Southgate views midfielders like him tbh. I don't think he will want to break away from central midfield of Rice & Phillips though... so if he does make it into the England squad, I don't think he'd regularly play in the centre where Klopp likes playing him. Idk if he played as a central midfielder or a winger for you though.

How long are the episodes? I need to load up some content for a very long flight and now that I'm close to done with Better Call Saul, I need something to watch on that long flight. Is it just the one episode out now, or two?

It happens, it's been a long week

I said for the word rival? I think I just misunderstood @Stan

The year Dortmund were shit under him though they weren't terrible, they still created decent chances. They just were shit at putting those chances away. We've looked bad in all 3 league matches though, so it's maybe worse. I think it's a bit lazy journalism to say "look he had 7 years at Dortmund and it went to shit" and then see our current form and think "ah ha, it's the 7 year curse" - I don't think we've been tremendously unlucky. I think we've just been bad.

Doesn't that sort of go against "the competitive nature?"

But were we even at the same levels? We were good, but not great, and mostly a cup team in that era. Chelsea were expected to compete on pretty much all fronts.

Tbh I don't even think those games are that "classic" other than the ghost goal one (but I'm biased).

Well it's football, so put the "normal" definition back in the dictionary because it's stupid to call every team your rival even though they literally all are rivals because you are facing them in a competition for something Imo your footballing rivals are the ones like derbies (for us Everton) or your hated enemies (Manchester United). A lot of Liverpool fans do hate Chelsea, but mostly for reasons that Chelsea are generally disliked by a LOT of clubs: far right dickheads & racism... and even I know that's not what a lot of Chelsea fans like about their club and it's probably something that pisses a lot of them off too. In essence, this.

Pretty impressive Liz Truss has managed to piss off a key ally before ever becoming PM.

Nah not really. Arsenal and Chelsea are both big matches but I wouldn’t really consider either a rival