Barcelona
Theo Hernandez just bottled it.
There are quite a few players they need to upgrade on, Lascelles perhaps the most pressing example but they are a bit prosaic up front as well, could have done with a lunatic like Saint-Maximin or the like to bring on and keep the feet going.
The only top player they really have at the minute is the best Bruno in the league.
Newcastle should have sat on the point and hit Milan on the break.
Hardly surprising, but annoying to see the United's tanking the coefficient so much.
At least Arsenal won their group so they can avoid getting bummed out of existence by Bayern in the last 16 for once I guess.
City winning it again will bring that coefficient back up. Villa should really win the Conference league too.
Leverkusen and CL dropouts the only real threat to the English teams other than themselves in the Europa League too.
Sweet release. I didn't expect us to get out of this group but was surprised how close we got.
Newcastle have recruited very well. Their starting XI is obviously good but now that they’re missing part of their spine for the foreseeable it makes them look a bit meh. Pope, Botman and Tonali all get into the majority of teams in the league.
They could do with upgrading Almiron but then how many top class wide players are willing to play like he does for their system. I can see Ruben Neves coming in on loan but they can’t go out and buy many players outright as they’ve got fuck all assets kicking about
In other news this injury MacAllister has after having his knee 'unfortunately' stepped on against Sheffield United sounds nice. Probably a bit of poetic licence at play but:
the stud went through pretty much the muscle on to the bone.
Geezer is a glutton for punishment.
Potter is basically English Ten Hag. Seems a pointless thing to do. Manager's probably the last member of staff they'd need to be thinking about clearing out as a priority.
He is so INEOS though. More INEOS than INEOS. You can just see him giving a pithy interview to Eurosport in front of the team truck after his domestiques fail to reel in the breakaway on the climb in to Ax-les-Thermes.
Will Still is half Belgian or whatever so it's bound to be him for the cycling links.
Can he be made to grow a Bradley Wiggins barnet?
Surprisingly I can't find any evidence of a Potter appearance on the High Performance Podcast. A bit odd, since all the lads have been on there. You know, all the boys, the men's men.
When did Starmer get his Cataracts sorted?
Potter seems your perfect corporate shill for the job. Comes across well in interviews and could bore you to death with a 3 hour powerpoint presentation of his playstyle and ideals. Who cares how it goes on the pitch because he can deflect in the press conferences. Just keep that stock price going up.
There's a great clip of Jamie Oliver telling Jake Humphreys to high performance his way the fuck off.
Jim, you've been teasing it for ages, but it's really time for the thought piece on the High Performance podcast from you.
I've never listened to it, what actually is it? Is it - as I expect - just Jakey Boy interviewing successful people? What makes them tick, their habits, routines, etc?
Here's Jamie destroying Humphrey.
Jamie Oliver on a redemption arc
It's Jake Humphrey and 'successful people' (from a quite limited range of fields, largely sport and bizness - not business, bizness) convincing each other that their success in life is down to hard work rather than god-given talent or circumstance. You know, aspire to inspire. Success, mate, it's like a prism, you know? The hard work is a bright white light, and the rewards are a fucking rainbow innit. Take good supplements, treat your wife with respect mostly, endorse only the brands that mean something to you.
It's one short hop over a very narrow polluted stream from being Andrew Tate.
As I feared. I was briefly exposed to Steven Bartletts YouTube channel, in which does similar. Self congratulatory back smacking was bad enough when it came in the form of paperback celebrity advice books each Christmas, but the smugness is unbearable in 4k.
All is forgiven, Tyson Fury.
I'm fascinated by it because of the sheer extent of the earnestness-bullshit complex involved and I still don't know if they're being cynical or simply stupid. The YouTube thumbnails alone could fill a torture chamber:
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The Eric Dier one got a legitimate lol. Geezers last High Performance was about 8 years ago, but he has indeed been outside of every Spurs Fans comfort zone ever since. Fair play.
Gary Neville referring to a long weekend in Spain where he doesn't answer emails as a 'mini retirement' was the peak of the genre.
He’s definitely written that. Either way, plugging your own podcast in a family group chat like it’s an article on Teams or Linkden is peak Humphrey
Eddie Howe under pressure for his job.
Not to worry, they’ve got a free win in the cup next week.
Not paying people for that shitty podcast is quite the grift.
Cool to Kaide Gordon back after however many years he's been dead for. Still only 19 too.
First game in the first team since January 2022. Could still come good obviously but that's some vital development time to miss.
This is still a stronger lineup than I expected to see, but happy to see the likes of Gordon and Doak in to get the night to shine. Didn't expect to see Endo though, especially at that Alexis knee injury looks and sounds like it may be a few weeks yet.
Is this Mac Allister of theirs a relative [brother?] of Alexis? Assuming the possibility due to the Bloom/Brighton connection.
Good save by Kelleher there.
That was considerably less good by Kelleher.
This has been a weird game.
The full backs and wingers on the left and right look a little lost out there.
That said. Their first goal looked offside and not one replay has been shown to suggest it was or wasn't.
Yeah, it was strange. Guy clearly thought he was offside as he barely celebrated and then everyone stood around for ages whilst VAR did something but nobody seemed to know what.
Lots of Liverpool's youngsters looking their age, which is understandable.
I'm hoping he keeps them out there for the experience and doesn't let pride sucker him into bringing on some players who really should be resting.
I think there will be some 30 minute run outs for some of the bigger guns, Nunez, Diaz, Gravenberch maybe. Only Taz's Hairy Hungarian should be resting on the bench.
Continuing on the "are they related?" front, is this Lewis Koumas related to Jason in anyway? He was a decent player.
You’ve just set off the igor alarm
I'm a twit
Son, mind-bendingly.
What the fuck is Xabi feeding them over in Bayer? I need to watch a game of theirs soon.
I'm all for the new Ajax coach giving opportunities to the youngsters, but having a 17-year old as the captain is surely taking the piss.