CHOULO19

I think he keeps making saves at crucial moments where he would not be blamed has the ball went in. He did it again yesterday with Wilshere in the first half and the 1vs1 in the second. For me that is what defines top keepers.

Another perfect performance today. He's been nothing short of world class this season. BY FAR the best in the league at the moment.

Great to have a dominant performance and comfortable win after sort of scraping the points in the last 3 matches. Would have liked to see Conte use his subs earlier, especially Mitchy, since we have a packed run of games and it's important to keep everyone away from fatigue. Hazard looked shattered when he came off. Went for Pedro for MOTM. Eden was by far the performer of the match but I thought that Pedro's individual brilliance in the first is what changed the match.

Should have had at least 4 or five the way we've played in the second.

Yeah, I saw the replay. Looked a pen in real time.

Should get Mitchy on. There's space on the counter and he'll probably want a goal more than anyone else in the team. EDIT: HOW is that not a pen?!

For what is required of players on the wing in our system I would take Pedro and even Willian over him even though he's clearly a better player overall at the moment.

Best of luck to him. Appreciate all that he's done for the club. Was clearly capable of the magnificent but never found the consistency to genuinely become a top player.

If it makes you feel any better, neither would fit anywhere in our current system.

Yes, it's much more a moral crisis than a refugee crisis. The numbers entering Europe, even Germany are almost negligible. Lebanon has taken in refugees more than half of its population. I'm not suggesting that every country should do the same, but that's just to put the numbers going to Europe into perspective. For me it's a no-brainer: you let them in after looking at backgrounds as much as possible but I get that people have different opinions about this. For me it is easy because it goes down to the simple question: Do we want a human civilization based on compassion and equality to all? Because we take risks with things we want every single day. We take huge risks, many thousand times more than the threat of terrorist attacks, when we get in the car in the morning because we want fast transportation. We take risks because we value rights and privacy. Is it so outlandish to take risks because we value humanity? Also, I genuinely don't believe that it is about risks of terrorist attacks for most politicians. Both on the right and the left. The main issue for them is that these people and their children if/when they get their voting rights will overwhelmingly vote for left wingers and progressives as almost every migrant community has ever done in history.

I get what you mean, I even agree with you, but ultimately people have the right to freedom of religious belief and that includes identifying as Muslim even if you don't believe in Allah. That is of course an extreme and rare case, but my original point was about the diversity of belief in Islam even about major things like Hijab, praying, fasting, social structures, civil and human rights and reforming religion. I do not doubt that what you mean by Islam is the violent jihadi strand that's all over the news. I genuinely believe that that is what most Western people mean. But that is incredibly dangerous. On one hand you have the (for want of better word) direct damage that is done to people who don't know much about Islam and Muslims except what little they hear on the news who will then think that anyone who identifies as a Muslim falls into that category or even people with mental illnesses who might want to go out and stop those dangerous Muslim they keep hearing about. But even more damaging is the indirect damage as a result of conflating the two. Because while you mean violent jihadi Muslims, when people talk about a Muslim ban they are mostly banning ordinary people going about their lives, when people talk about Muslim refugees they are mostly talking about normal families trying to find safety away from war, when the US is bombing 8 different Muslim-majority countries they are mostly bombing farmers and herders. My point is the consequences of the debates in which people you and many are using "Islam" to denote violent Jihadi Islam is the incitement of violence against ALL who identify as Muslim (and some who even don't). It's like calling the banks and media 'Jews'. Even if you are not referring to everyday Jewish people you are still incing hatred and violence against them. It's not that difficult to add "extremist" or "violent" or "jihadi" or "takfiri" before the word Islam but it does have a huge effect the entire debate.

No, I really don't know what you mean. Pakistan is also a world apart from Turkey, which is a world apart from Somalia, which is a world apart from Indonesia culturally, ethnically, philosophically and even in some religious practices. A Muslim is anyone who identifies as a Muslim. It's not up to me and you to decide who is a 'real Muslim' and who practices Islam 'correctly'. That's what ISIS and other extremist takfiri groups do. My point about agnostics who identify as culturally Muslim is that Islam is about a lot more than god and mohammed. It's the communities that people live in. If you really want to know, a pillar of Shiaism is "Ijtihad" which means to come up with new meanings and adjustments to Islam. Yes, it is based on Ali who was a revolutionary and the first major reformer of Islam. Hussein was probably the second. Look up people like Al Ghazali, Ibn Bajja (Avempace) and Avicenna if you're really interested. There are many sects inside Islam and even different 'sub-sects' called mathahib inside some of the main sects. Tens in total. Yes, leaving Islam is very hard and often dangerous in some Muslim majority countries. But perfectly normal in others. I grew up in a family with two Muslim parents who had Darwin's origin of species on the same bookshelf as the Quran. It's largely cultural because as you said this is also present in almost any religion. There is nothing intrinsic about Islam that makes it more dangerous to leave than another religion.

Again, what you're saying is not only irrational. It has zero evidence. "Islamic parents are the most abusive on earth." Based on what exactly? Because you feel so? Have you got any stats of child abuse in Muslim majority countries vs Europe? Go on, look 'em up, come up with real evidence or don't make that sort of baseless Islamophobic comments. No, of course people are not the product what they've inherited to believe. We are all 'indoctrinated' into all sorts of beliefs by our families, societies, times...etc. In a thousand years, most of what you and I believe about society, the universe...etc. even some scientific facts will most likely be considered absolutely ridiculous. But by far the most irrational part of that claim is the notion that Islam is a constant objective simply-graspable thing that has the same effect everywhere. Among the 1.6 billion currently living Muslims who overwhelmingly likely inherited their beliefs, the 'spectrum' of Islam varies more than the difference between say Islam and Christianity. From belief in reincarnation, to belief that Plato and Socrates were prophets, to praying by playing musical instruments, to not having ant religious clerks. Those are some of the difference between some sects that all belong to Islam (without even getting into Sufism). And that is all without getting into the difference in personal beliefs in any of those sects. My dad prays five times a day but does not believe in fasting in Ramadan. A friend of his likes to drink wine while reading the Quran at night. Learn more about the the history and diversity of Islam. Meet and try to connect with actual Muslims. In general, imagine people more complexly.

The 'Islamic world' is not a thing. Muslims don't live in a parallel world on their own The only correct finish to the sentence "All Muslim" I can think of is "are or were humans". That's it. I even have agnostic friends who identify as culturally Muslim. 'Apostasy' is punishable in Saudi Arabia. You can say whatever the fuck you want in Turkey or Lebanon. And just because you don't know of any reformers doesn't mean that don't exists. Islam has had more reformers than any of the major religions. Shiaism is actually based on constant reform. You're conflating the conditions that force people into violence into the tool that is used to channel that violence. Also, the reason Muslims on the internet don't comment about attacks like these is most likely because they fear they will be attacked by racists and bigots if they do.

You all knew, did you? Seems more like you were hoping more than any thing which is beyond sick. The police have already said that the Pakistani asylum seeker likely had nothing to do with the attack. The only attack that was actually carried out by a refugee in Germany was the axe attack in the train. A horrific crime, but statistically normal given that Germany took in a million refugees in 2015 alone. You can't possibly not know how not only bigoted but also ignorant it is to paint millions of refugees from different countries, ethnicities and even continents all in the same brush. Go meet and actual person fleeing war. Talk a Syrian family who have lost everything. Connect with them on a human level because you're the one losing your humanity with comments like this one. What a silly idea that Islam 'produces' people. For the vast majority of the 1.6 billion Muslims, Islam is something you inherent from your family, just like any other religion, just nationality just like economic class. Of course there are Muslims of every type. Completely irrational to suggest otherwise.

You mean a concentrated private power that has interest in the weapons industry and the military complex that is naturally allied with settler-colonialism?

By the way @Fulham Broadway did you hear about the Tunisian inventor who was assassinated by the mossad in Tunisia 3 days ago? I tried googling it and it doesn't seem to have been reported at all in western media.

That's all unfortunately true but not necessarily for everyone. In Lebanon, laws are written (often intentionally) open to interpretations. So, how the law sees you depends on how much money and power you got. If you're rich/upper middle class or hold a high ranking position in on of the ruling parties you get protection from the state for all your rights. Or as the privileged pricks put it, you're basically living in the "Switzerland of the east". But if you're poor, or even worse a Syrian refugee or an African migrant worker, your rights can be discarded at every turn. This is true for domestic violence, homosexuality or even basic rights such as shelter and education.

Kante

Pedro's been poor today but we don't really have anyone to bring on in his place.

That was a ridiculous save from Thibaut. But wtf was David doing throughout that attack?!

Oooh that was unlucky, WIllian.

HUGE credit for Kante for that goal. He made all that happen with his interception.

They've got 8-9 players in about 10 meters of pitch at the edge of their box. Hard to get more defensive than that. They're happy to give us space on the flanks when Costa has to beat 3 or 4 defenders to any cross into the box.