shen

Which is probably why any litigation claims will ultimately fail. The whatifs and buts and the almost endless compensation loops means it's not realistic to expect anything but a sporting punishment in the form of points deduction, relegation, transfer sanctions or maybe just fines that would/should go to grassroots football or to the EFL, whose clubs are increasingly on the edge of bankruptcy.

As fantastic as our club's achievements have been, it's not exactly been squeaky clean either. To be fair, very few of the top clubs have been, so you can argue the degree of our misdemeanor is minor compared to others. But let's not be holier than thou and instead ask that punishment is more consistently and systematically assigned (looking at you Chelsea and Man City et al).

Hamilton et al that have been speaking out about these tracks have been told to shut up and get on with things. Some of the rules imposed post 2021 seem oddly targeted (i.e. the jewelry one). Verstapppen will only speak out until he's put back in his place.

I think results like Azerbaijan beating Sweden 3-0 (one worldie goal as well), Kazakhstan very much in the hunt to qualify as well as Moldova - all of whom have been really poor for many years - together with the improved nations like Armenia, Albania, Georgia, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia etc shows that it is a competitive playing field. Obviously you have nations that just cannot improve to that level, but even San Marino caused Denmark problems and Malta, Liechtenstein, Andorra have been pulling off some decent upsets in my lifetime. But I'm sure you'll get your wish at some point, as there cannot be much commercial interest in broadcasting these games.

Israel will give themselves a massive chance if they beat Romania next. Kosovo can still qualify too although very unlikely. Montengro and Armenia also not out of it. Feel a bit sorry for Luxembourg though. 14 points, likely 17 at the end of the campaign, is an unreal amount in such a difficult group.

"The Mercedes of George Russell has clear road in front of it but the Briton can't improve from his P7 spot and now sits fifth after the opening runs."

So Simon Jordan seems to think there is no chance of winning a lawsuit as all clubs sign off on points deduction sanctions for financial breaches. Surely the problem here is the delay in coming to a verdict. It has vindicated Everton's decision to mismanage - they've at least earned another year in the PL at the expense of another club. You may even argue that their strategy has allowed them an inflated squad for the entire period, so each club relegated in third-last position could feel aggrieved. I just don't understand how these rules and the verdicts are fair or do in any way discourage other clubs from doing the same. A 10-point deduction for 5+ years of overspend? Why not just throw out clubs doing this?

Worth mentioning that the game qualified Denmark for the Euros. Ratings are a not harsh there, especially for VK.

He did say that: (https://bold.dk/fodbold/klubber/bologna/nyheder/vks-turbulente-ar-gav-mig-ar-pa-sjaelen) - google translated It was a very hard six months. It was probably the hardest way to get abroad as a young player. - I came to the best league in the world and saw a very dysfunctional team that was under enormous pressure, had many contract expirations and a coach who was also under pressure and was later fired. It was very difficult to be brought in as one of those who had to save the whole team and the whole club at a very young age. Once in a while, when I sat by myself, I wondered if this is what it's like to be abroad. - I hadn't tried anything else, so I had nothing to compare it to. - I was alone over there, and it's hard to have to deal with all those things alone. It has clearly left some small scars on the soul.

That's where he usually plays for Denmark.

He did during pre-season, which is how he found out it wasn't for him. One person's "poor mentality" is another person's "staunch self-confidence". As an example, I've been through the wringer in my previous workplace, changing roles and adapting, going outside my comfort zone, because that was asked of me. Only to be ditched once a new manager came in and wanted to change the structure. If I had stayed in my previous role I would likely have gone to a competitor and further enhanced my career in the field. As it is, I'm caught a bit in noman's land. Now I wish I had VK's foresight and confidence to stick to the tried and trusted and build my reputation elsewhere.

How is it arrogant to admit finding it hard to adapt to a new club & country, feeling lonely and feeling that one's strongest part of the game is neutered?

Life is setting boundaries to my gaming these days. So when I can I sink time into slow/pausable turn-based games. As much as I want to try BG3, I know I will not get near enough the anticipated enjoyment out of it by playing casually and stop/start every few days. That said, I'm really giving Stellaris a go after flirting with it for years. You really can't go wrong with Paradox - once you get over the initial steep learning curve that is!

And did you also praise the team after 13 games in equal measure? I only ever notice hour name on here when the boat starts to rock a bit.

Nowhere near being Hamza's fault we lost today. It doesn't feel far off the Hull game. A wonderstrike this time when we should've really put them to bed before then. Poor finishing all around and Mavididi had an absolute stinker. I can't believe Van den Berg had the beating of him all second half. I think the entire defense looked shaky and made poor tackles in dangerous areas. Hamza was unfortunate that his action resulted in a goal.

Why laugh about someone crying?

Great block Rodon

How do we only have 4 players in the box for a corner with 10 mins to play?

This smells like a heavy defeat...

It's funny how the first pass to Nacho is a long ball. A couple of times Vardy made the run first half and our reluctance to ever switch it up is really making us predictable and rather easy prey here.

He's had a lot of joy against them in the past, no? Maybe that was a factor.

Difficult to gauge bargains unless taking average prices, wages and inflation into count. Also, how do you compare to free transfers (i.e. Sol Campbell)? He's fantastic business in a sporting sense. So was Mahrez, so was Schmeichel (and his dad too at Man Utd). Solskjaer, Irwin, Cantona, all fantastic transfers. Probably Vardy is the least expected great success story of all of those though.

It's premature to even mention him in the same breath as Klopp or Pep, except in context of his time at Man City, wouldn't you say?

How were they fortunate? It was great goalkeeping and poor finishing that kept us at bay, in much the same way as they were kept at bay.

Kels and Fatawu were particularly guilty of losing possession. Our normal patience was not really there for long stretches of the game. It does also feel like we need to exploit our wingers more. They had both fullbacks on toast today but we had little to show for it. Impressive performance off the ball though and despite a few hairy moments, I thought we defended really well.