El Zen

You’re just asking that for the halibut.

You’d love to hear it: «Of course, they hate a good number 9 here at Morecambe. Don’t care for it at all». It’s the worst cliche in football.

A few ex-Villa, obviously, but other than «my» two clubs I hate most other teams and their players. If they’re a potential rival, they’re words removed. I’m very tribal when it comes to football. I do like St. Pauli and Union Berlin for their club culture, but I don’t follow German football closely, and Lionel Messi’s Barca is a long time guilty pleasure of mine. Other than that, f*** the lot of them

Bernie would have beaten Trump in 16, and could absolutely beat him in 20. I think the DNC establishment’s views on «electability», whatever that is, are outdated.

Warren is impressive. Watched a couple of town halls with her, and she’s both bright and personable, while coming across less combative than Bernie. Probably my preferred candidate

Meanwhile, VP Biden is on the campaign trail making a fool of himself: https://mobile.twitter.com/twinklingtania/status/1159643459055042560?s=21 «Poor kids are just as smart as white kids» Great work, Joe. Great work.

One of my favourite shows right now. You wouldn’t have guessed it, but I’m really into the «science» of comedy. (I just choose not to practice it.)

You’d be a very unsuccessful sitcom writer.

Bested by a superior team, broken by superior players. Move on and move forward. You never want to lose, especially when you get the first goal. I left the pub in a disappointed, frustrated mood. I felt we played a decent first 60 mins, but completely fell apart. I felt we made too many individual mistakes, and I was frustrated we didn’t make the ball stick in their half more often than we did. I was surprised we never managed to press them higher up the pitch. The reality of it is, though, that a defeat away to the Champions League runners up will not define our season. Tonight has showed us what we already knew: we still have a long way to go before we can compete with the very best in the business. Tonight, however, says nothing about how we’ll do against your Brightons, your Bournemouthes and your Burnleys. I expect we’ll see a very different Villa, starting a week from now.

Well, this Premier League stuff is stressful, isn’t it?

A couple of surprising selections, but I think Deano has earned our trust.

It’s true. For a funeral recently, I tried on a jacket I bought when I was a good three stone heavier. Reminded me of Dr. Fraud.

On my way to t’pub for a Premier League all-dayer. Feels like ages since last time.

I think the point about shoe horning his military background into a lot of conversations is valid, though, even if I’m prepared to accept that says more about American political discourse than it does about Mayor Pete in particular.

Me too.

So would I, to be fair. Beto is about as charismatic as a potted plant. He does it better than everyone else too, though, which makes me think he’ll stay in the race for a while.

Yeah, but our kitchens are tiny. Not really, though I would guess the median house size is slightly higher here. If you have a smallish bathroom, like a lot of smaller flats do have, you either get one of those small top-loading numbers, or use the laundry room. I seriously don’t think I’ve ever seen a washing machine in a Norwegian kitchen. Much like I’ve not seen wall-to-wall carpeting on a Norwegian floor since the early nineties

Buttigieg is definitely likeable, while at the same time giving off an impression of being the smartest guy in the room. That’s a good combo. If there is enough actual substance behind all that remains to be seen. So far, I’m more convinced by Warren and Sanders. I genuinely believe they would do a very good job if given the chance.

Very true. Washing machine in the kitchen would be unheard of here. Always in bathroom or separate room, and always in a waterproof room. Which kind of makes sense, I think.

And you can drop in for meatballs and a book shelf. Win/win!

I’m certainly not expecting anything. Spurs are a good team and we’re still a bit of an unknown quality. However, I refuse to be defeatist and I do expect the boys to go there trying to win, set up to win, and believing that they can win. Because of course we can win. My next door neighbour is Spurs (season ticket, would you believe!) and is travelling over for the game. I hope we’ll make his trip a miserable one, as he is very, very confident they’ll beat us. Chances are they will, but I think we are very capable of surprising a few people tomorrow and I don’t think we’ll make it easy for them. As for team selection, I guess the biggest question marks are DCM and wide forwards. You’d probably want Luiz in there, but let’s not collectively capitulate in here if it’s Conor. Trez, and certainly Jota, have both looked promising, but I’d be surprised not to see Anwar start if he’s fully fit. He kind of earned his spot last year and it’s up to Jota and/or Trez to take it from him. Whoever starts, I hope we go straight at them from the start. I want us to beat them at their own schtick and have our pressing game firing at all cylinders. Let them know we’re there to play our part. When our pressing game is on, I’ve said before, it’s a work of art. Happy New Year tomorrow, sports fans!

Change makes me uncomfortable sometimes, like the case of Mike Mooney’s avatar. (I still miss the cat, for pete’s sake!)

With that tone, you’d better hope the mods are in a lox mood.

Will this thread remain open with gleeful anticipation of continental departures for Tshibola and Nyland/Kalinic carrying us past 1000 pages?

Is there an «it’s not happening!» gif?