Dr. Gonzo

Do I have to?

Getting older is shit, it's not that long ago I used to have so much more free time. I imagine it'd be even fucking worse with a kid.

My friend says Carvalho plays like a mix of Coutinho & Gini... only a friendly and all that... but that sounds pretty brilliant for our midfield 3 if he can look like that in actual matches that mean anything.

It's only a friendly so it doesn't really mean much, but Darwin Nunez looking a lot better today with his hattrick.

I think he's rubbish. A lot of my bluenose friends think he's generally bad, but when he's got the right CB partner he looks a lot better. Idk if @RandoEFC agrees with that or not.

I haven't even seen any of the reliable Merseyside football journos link you with anyone other than Tarkowski (who you've already signed) - seems a bit strange because obviously replacing the Richarlison is probably the most important thing for Everton this summer & yeah that midfield could do with a bit of reinforcement as well. Moshiri's statement just invites more pressure on him, tbh. First floating the idea of being willing to sell the club, when in reality... I don't think he really was looking to sell, just looking to get a bit of pressure off his back before saying "nah, I'm keeping the club" - then not really being all that active after selling one of the few players who actually look like they gave a fuck about playing for Everton. Like you said, it's not just one bad summer for him - it's been years of mismanagement all under his watch. He's going to be under pressure, rightly, until he can show anyone that he's capable of getting things right.

Yeah they really need to change the rules about legislators in the US allowed to make investments. It’s basically legalised insider trading for the people who make all the decisions.

Rhys Williams has joined Blackpool on loan. Hope he develops well, he looked raw as fuck that season he had to be thrown in the deep end because we had no defenders left - ended up looking better than the Turkish lad we loaned in from Schalke in the end... but I'm not sure he was ever convincingly premiership quality.

Two murderous psychopaths met today

I think a big issue in the US right now is police officers - it seems like in the wake of the George Floyd protests and after being called a bunch of bastards, many police officers have decided they aren't going to react properly in times of emergencies. Look at how the police reacted in that Ulvade shooting - hiding in a hallway like a bunch of cowards as that incel with his AR15 is literally shooting kids down the hallway. Thank fuck they removed the screaming children sound from the video... but I'll tell you what, seeing "the sounds of children screaming have been editted out of a video" is a pretty horrifying thing to see on a video. Then there's this that's happened in San Diego: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/nbc-7-investigates-san-diego-police-face-scrutiny-over-womans-murder/ar-AAZyqCv Long story short, a woman's stalker got into her house. Police were on the scene for about 12 hours as her neighbors pleaded with them to do something. Eventually the stalker emerged from her house and notified the police that he'd killed her. Apparently the US Supreme Court has held that police don't have a duty to protect Americans (Warren v. DC, DeShaney v. Winnebego County, Castle Rock v. Gonzalez)... and it really does beg the question, what the fuck are US police actually for? Traffic enforcement? Harassing minority communities? Is every American expected to be armed to the teeth to protect themselves since the cowardly police have no actual duty to do anything?

Hasn't Martial generally been better for you in matches where you've played some sort of possession football, but also generally looked shite when you play counterattacking stuff? So I think the new manager will end up making him look a hell of a lot better than he has for the past few seasons. I guess the worry for Manchester United fans is how much of this is just enthusiasm for their players from not having Rangnick around and once they get a bit tired of him will the momentum fall like it did for Solksjaer and how much of it is actually because of the new manager with a new system?

Is it cruel if I post this? Maybe but fuck it

It still all seems very risky to me. Because aside from all of these loan restructurings (which are absolutely a good thing for them)... they've also had to pull these things Barca and the Barca media mouthpieces are calling "financial levers." Things like selling off significant portions of their TV revenue for the next 25 years & selling away significant portions of their rights to merchandising and licensing (which I think means expect a load of cheap crap being made with Barca branding) for short-term gain... it seems like sort of mortgaging against their future to stay afloat. I know they have to do these sorts of things if they want to stay competitive now... but I do wonder if it's a bit short-sighted. I also think it's a bit funny they're "pulling all these levers" for short term benefit, but aren't really concerned with paying De Jong his deferred wages.

Went to Palm Springs for the weekend. Probably not the best idea in the world to go there in July tbh.

I think it’s pretext for the US to start getting involved in more shit in the Middle East tbh

It depends what you like to do when you travel. But generally speaking, I'd say yeah - the weather is pleasant 90% of the time. Not the most stuff in the world to do though, but if you just like good weather, beaches, hikes and shit like that... it's a good place to visit. I think the biggest downside is I don't think it's the greatest place to go to if you're not renting a car - because it wasn't really designed to a city that's easy to get around. But they're working on it.

I think China's going to come out of this conflict feeling pretty good too. Maybe not with their ambitions to eventually "reunify" China by taking Taiwan... but I think they've stood to gain a lot from Russia being put under strain by the West. They now have a role as a sort of middle man, with a reliant west on them, a cheaper oil & gas from Russia (also driving Iran to drop prices to be competitive, so ultimately getting cheaper oil and gas), and an economic void to fill with many western countries leaving Russia that China can replace and in turn have more influence over their politics in the future. Turkey's definitely come out of this looking like the NATO country that's angling to restore peace between Russia and Ukraine and end the war though and weirdly Erdogan ends up looking like a pretty good statesman at least on matters of foreign policy/geopolitics because of this conflict.

It's funny how angry he is Musk's not buying it and unbanning him

Pretty sure he did that to me a lot tbh

that first one is maybe the most shit Christmas tree I've ever seen in my life

I think the German Woolworth became independent from the rest of the Woolworth brand right around the time things got shit for Woolworth and they all closed, so they still exist. I think they still exist in some other countries, but not in the UK anymore at all. I dunno if it's true but I remember my grandad saying that Woolworth invented Christmas ornaments. So while they're gone, they definitely made Christmas look more festive... so they'll always have that (unless it's not true, in which case... wtf why did my grandad lie to me).

Welcome home pal

I'm not sure I agree with that. I think there's a few good young direct players at Southgate's disposal in attack & I'm not convinced that Rice is a must-start player for England. But even if he is, put him in a midfield 3 with Henderson and Phillips and I think a decent 4-3-3 is possible. Or drop Rice to the bench throw in Mount or Maddison for a 4-2-3-1. The thing is I don't think the manager likes playing with any tactics other than: "be strong defensively, hit them on the break, and work hard at set pieces" and he's not so interested in playing decent football as much as he is in just winning matches (which, in fairness to him, is his job). But I'm not sure that'll be enough to get us passed the better sides in a world cup.

We used 32 different players in the match - basically giving 3 groups of players a chance on the pitch every 30 minutes. Looks like we had some good chances, but our finishing wasn't there (hit the post 3 times and forced some good saves). It's probably a good sign for United that these players are looking eager to prove themselves for their new manager, but I don't think there's much to read into this other than our players aren't ready for the upcoming season yet.