OhForAGreavsie

Would be beyond stupid. Can't imagine it's even being considered.

Not me. It's a simple thing to ask of a footballer. Being a figure of influence is one of the burdens which come with his extraordinarily well paid job. No one imagines that people will want a gun because they see a footballer do the pistols celebration but it's a question of cultural normalisation. Because of cultural normalisation tens of millions of Americans think it normal and sensible and wise to arm themselves with weapons of war. Not even tens of thousands of gun deaths every year are enough to overcome their addiction to firearms. We must resist every single step that might take us down the road the Yanks have travelled. No matter how small that individual step might be.

Unbelievably sad news about the death of Diogo Jota. I'm sorry for his wife and family. Words can't dilute their pain but I wish they could.

These are players from the era when I was watching a great deal of academy football and I have to say that I 100% disagree with you. I made my mind up within the first 20 minutes of the first game I watched Kakuta play that he had no chance of a Chelsea career. I think it was a game against Cardiff City 18s at Stamford Bridge. (Can't guarantee that I'm remembering the opposition correctly but it was definitely at The Bridge.) I posted that opinion on more than one fan forum the next morning. Izzy Brown I never rated as a Premier League prospect and in fact was pleased for him that he even played a bit of Championship football. Again I frequently posted that opinion at the time. Charley M I did not give up on untill he was on loan at Betis but it became clear during his spell there that he was not a top level footballer. He produced one outstanding performance there which raised expectation but spent the rest of his time in Spain desperately trying to recreate that level of impact. The most effective part of his game usually was taking a dive to win free kicks. It's my opinion that no matter what path those footballers had taken as young men, the destiny of their careers was limited by their talent level, not where they played academy football.

One of the best Spurs burns ever.

I post far less often than most people around here so there's no reason anyone should be particularly aware of this but I virtually never swear when I have something to say here. Now however I want to say f*** right off with that gun celebration. Guns f****** kill people d*******. Stop it or piss off back to Brighton.

Years ago players used to come off their fitness regimes entirely during the off season. They would eat what they want, drink what they want, smoke, and do no exercise. As a result the first couple of weeks of pre-season training was never anything to do with football. They would just work off their summer excesses. Players often spoke about how they never even saw a football for weeks in preseason training. Nowadays things are different of course, but they do go into maintenance mode during the off season, so I'm wondering whether Pedro will actually be fit to play. Perhaps he's known for a long time that this move was on the cards and has been working accordingly.

Based on what West Ham's demand is reported to be that would put the price for Rogers at £170 million.

Which I feel is the exact reason Chelsea's interest ended abruptly.

I much, much prefer Pedro to Felix so it's easy to see him as an upgrade to the Portuguese international. Problem of course is that Felix never had a role in the team so if Pedro is replacing someone who never played what's the point? Well I think there's more to Pedro's game than there is to to Felix's. For example he can perform as a nine, whereas Felix absolutely cannot. There's more physicality: and purpose about Pedro too. If we can now find new clubs for Felix and Nkunku that will be a good rearranging of the deck chairs. Bringing in one player who can, and will, contribute to replace two who couldn't, or at any rate didn't, will be a step in the right direction.

I dosed off, woke up just after the pen was scored. 🙁

And plastered over the screen while the game is being played. I just meant I didn't mind it during the drinks break. I minded it a lot at other times.

Poshing it up and making it look nice isn't fooling anybody. 🙂 My younger daughter loves it for some reason that is utterly beyond me. Takes after her mum. Got her taste in football teams from me though. 🙂

If it is a local regulation I don't see that they have any choice. If they don't follow the regulation they put themselves at risk in case anything goes wrong. And that thing, whatever it is, would be uninsured because the insurance company would have stipulated that they have to follow the local regs.

I didn't mind this station promotion during the drinks breaks.

There were fireworks pre-planned to be used to simulate lightning.

Apparently the regulation is 30 minutes sheltering followed by a 10-minute warm up for the players.

If there's anything in this world that could turn me religious it would be sushi. If I survived the shock of discovering that there really is an angry magic man in the sky. "Sushi, what's the point?", is one of the questions that would be on my mind. 🙂

Obviously. 😂

I really don't think this delay is a football decision. It seems like it's a local regulation and safety first isn't the worst way to behave when there's a forecast of lightning.

Remember watching it. There was heavy rain but no lightning.

I'm suspicious that we didn't see a live action replay. Just the automated offside image.

They are Americanising the way we watch telly.

This is America the land of the sued. Lightning is no joke though. I played in a cricket game where we waited too long to get off with lightning threatening. It was pretty scary.

Based on what they are saying in the studio it sounds like this is standard procedure in this stadium.