Dan

Atalanta aren't exactly some fashionable club mind you. We were very comparable to them a few years ago, the difference is they kept doing things right. Even Congerton couldn't bring them down I'm glad this Gasperini era finally got a trophy and what a way to do it.

Kompany getting the Bayern job after serving up one of the worst Premier League campaigns of the last decade is just absolutely insane to me. He flopped at Anderlecht too. I highly doubt they'll be getting the league title back. It's on a plate for Leverkusen to retain.

I mean even the Pochettino sacking. He didn't do well this season just gone but they stood by months of dross to then decide against him after he'd shown some genuine promise, without anything that special lined up either by the looks of it. They'll put the money down but they're very silly.

Think it'll be a long, long time before Chelsea win anything serious again.

"Keep at all costs" is a bit of a race to the bottom. That means you have no faith in yourselves beyond whoever you're talking about. That's doomed to fail.

I think this is how we got Maresca in the first place. We didn't do badly out of it but it wasn't a sensible process.

Maresca potentially poached just as he might actually be forcing us to put some heat under Rudkin. Never known luck like Rudkin's. Bloke truly is unbeatable.

I can't believe even we're dumb enough to give another contract like the Rodgers one. Like I'm not against a contract but that Rodgers one was on absurd terms, surely we can't tie ourselves up like that again. If it's that or let him go though you let him go. You've got to back yourselves to take these hits otherwise you'll never actually get anywhere.

I wonder how many times in the last decade we've been at home on the first day, last day and boxing day out of 30. I bet it's over 20. It changes here. Newcastle away first.

If Kompany is genuinely in the running for Chelsea and Bayern then football is actually in a worse position than I suspected. Massive opportunities for sensible clubs to take advantage of this madness.

Poor signing really. Luxury signing when we weren't really in any position to do so.

Ah my god, Strasbourg miss a penalty at 1-1 after going 1-0 down. When your luck's out honestly.

Load of absolute rubbish mine today. Really did land everything about as unluckily as I could've done - unless Strasbourg pull something out of the bag.

Imagine Martin at Man City or Arsenal though. He could produce some absolutely biblical scorelines. They'd make Sheffield United look like Maldini and Nesta.

He looks a good player, he's got something for sure, but I think at his age and lack of long term form it's too big a gamble for us in our position. I mean Blackburn can demand probably £20mil here and we'd be mental to give them that at his age. I'd take him for a reasonable fee but we'll get stung.

St Mirren landed. I was on all of them except for Gladbach. The beauty of it again - you only need to land one of them to profit. I've settled I think on the method of picking four games that finish before the start of my 'freeze' game. That way you can guarantee you won't waste a freeze on an eventual dud while retaining the possibility of a maximum payout. It does make things a bit of a grind beforehand and it's absolutely shite if you back a losing acca filler but I think it's the most effective way to maximise your freezes. I had all four of those accas just needing the team to take the lead for my winner. St Mirren going ahead landed me £280. I needed Augsburg for £210, Darmstadt for £330 and Chaves for £775! All lost but still around £200-250 up just today. Absolutely tonnes of games for people to go for today. I've gone for the ones in bold, but I think you could justify any of them really. I have three freezes left: Eibar v Cartagena (8/1) Feyenoord v Excelsior (9/1) PSV v RKC Waalwijk (11/1) Zwolle v FC Twente (19/2) Hamburg v Nurnberg (6/1) Arsenal v Everton (12/1) Liverpool v Wolves (14/1) Man City v West Ham (20/1) Barcelona v Rayo Vallecano (10/1) Lyon v Strasbourg (6/1) Got to go hard today I think because there may never be a better day than this from now for it. Loads of leagues finishing and sooner or later they are going to nerf this. It's like a free money glitch.

Fair play to Brighton - have sensed it's gone on a bit of a downer and acted accordingly. Another example against what we chose to do two years ago. I've long suspected that De Zerbi has clocked out of there and that's linked to their downturn.

We have the club most obsessed with family friendly image of anybody.

They're the worst semi finals in playoffs history. Absolutely awful.

Butterfly effect. If there's no VAR, the cup final is probably something totally different. If we're going up the hypotheticals route.

Neither. I will still have the odd moan about them. VAR doesn't proof you from shit referees and whatnot. It's referees bias in games that still winds me up. But having seen how its played out with technology I shalln't be calling for it again. Even semi-auto offsides - looks better than all the geometry we have to put up with on the replays but still doesn't look quite as instantaneous as I'd hope. I'm not fundamentally anti technology, but it has to be fit for purpose, has to not threaten the flow of the game, has to not take away from the enjoyment. Goal line technology for example - brilliant, people bring up one particular mistake with it but that sums up the success it has been, you can point to literally one failing. VAR is an absolute shambles every single week in the Premier League and those who think its good in Europe I can only assume just don't actually watch any European football. If you could get offsides and whatnot instantaneously then I'd hear the case for it but surely those who are pro VAR must be pining for a seriously improved version of it rather than the absolute dog shit we've all had to endure *five* years of. Surely nobody is actually advocating for the current version of what we have.

The laws are full of grey areas and interpretation. So you're still leaving it open to randomness and variance. Referees will watch a decision back and not be able to agree with each other - that's the nature of the rules. Footballs rules aren't black and white enough for you to ever achieve 100% correct decisions. I don't think you're going to get it much more accurate than you have it now. But you've lost the spontaneous goal celebrations and whatnot. An absolutely enormous price to pay for something that isn't ever going to actually work out as we hope. They will compromise this summer and go for reform - for the fifth summer running, and we'll be having these discussions again in a years time. I'm hopeful one day that we'll finally eradicate VAR after this but it won't be this time around. Time will do its thing. It's a stain on the game.

It's not the technology but the refs in just about every single instance are incapable of using it effectively. Makes you wonder.

I do think at Real Madrid where the objective is simply buy the best players, where they can attract nearly anybody it's bound to work better there, but I still think it's a force for good. Its why in a perverse way I actually don't mind Real Madrid winning things because it's a victory for this type of almost freestyle. Watching everybody play the same mechanical football just ensures less upsets, ensures repeat winners etc... I wish more upcoming coaches had that Ancelotti mindset in a way. This is no call for hoping Ancelotti or Real Madrid dominate everything but more a counterbalance. Football is healthier for variety.

I think I'd almost have to see the funny side if we spent £15mil on a goalkeeper this summer.