KentVillan

I don’t think it’s as clearcut as that re which league you play in, as the Champions League is the big leveller. Mbappe hasn’t yet won it, but he’s come pretty close a couple of times and has a World Cup to his name. The whole winning the league at different clubs in different countries thing is overstated (mainly by obsessive Cristiano Ronaldo fans) and personally I think there’s different ways of being great that aren’t always reflected in stats and honours. Totti was a genuine great, for example, and only had one league title to his name and no European honours. Nowadays I don’t think playing at PSG is much different from playing at Bayern. Dominant in the league, but you’re expected to challenge for the Champions League every single season.

I thought Cash played reasonably well. Nothing to be ashamed of, but nothing special. Which is kind of what you'd expect of a mid-table right back playing in a mid-level international side against Messi and Mbappe. Those of you who live in Poland, what's the reaction been to his attitude? Think he's come off as a bit of an adventure tourist enjoying the holiday in some of his interviews... which I can completely understand... it's probably exactly how any of us would feel, but wonder how diehard Polish fans would react to it? Reminds me a bit of when Owen Hargreaves rocked up in the England squad.

I disagree that the bridges are burnt. Watching him underperform for City has made people think £100m was a good deal for us, and now Emery is here I think the way Grealish’s departure derailed the Smith project is water under the bridge. The bigger question is would we actually want him back in footballing terms? He did hint at the time of the transfer that people would understand the move more one day. Not sure if the implication is that he has a long term fitness issue or what, but it does feel like we sold him at his peak price. Does anyone know what his family have supposedly been telling people?

Federer was playing an individual sport, though, it was all about him by definition. Ronaldo has never been a team player… he sees his teammates as his assistants in his quest to win trophies, score goals, win Ballons d’Ors etc but it’s been clear for a long time that when the team is doing well and he isn’t getting the credit he feels resentful. People say it’s just his winning mentality and singular focus on being the best, but lots of other all time greats *weren’t* like that. He’s embarrassing himself a bit. Still an incredible footballer, though.

I think Mbappe will be one of the top 3-5 players in the world for most of his 20s, but if his pace starts to go and he picks up the odd injury, he might drop off a bit, as what makes him so dangerous is his ability to do all the basics at insane speed. He’s not at the same technical level as Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar, etc. but still an amazing player.

Yes, good shout, although he hasn’t won much in the last 10 years. But agree they are an outside contender and I wouldn’t fancy Southgate matching up against him in a big game. Reality is I think France’s attack will expose the issues with Maguire and Stones, who I think have been getting away with a few brain farts so far as we haven’t faced a really quality attack. That isn’t on Southgate tbf, as hard to see who else he could be starting in defence, and he’s had them playing better than most expected.

One thing that might help Southgate is there aren't loads of really top managers in this World Cup. In the Euros he came up against a "proper" manager in Mancini, who out thought him tactically. You look at who he might be up against now, it's Deschamps, then Regragui / Enrique / Santos / Yakin if we make the semis, then likely Tite / Scaloni in the final. Some decent coaches there (definitely better records than Southgate), but Enrique is the only one who's really got the elite silverware at club level.

I've always been very anti Southgate, but I think he is improving as a manager. He uses the squad better, and I find it harder to disagree with his 11s and his subs these days. We're still not a very fluent team, but it's a lot better than it was. The only thing I don't get is why Kane is getting run into the ground. Class player, but I think we could have benched him for the Wales game and as soon as we were 3-0 up against Senegal. Also still not convinced our defence is good enough to handle the big sides. But very happy with this midfield now.

Pusha T, "It's Almost Dry" is an excellent album if you like Kanye. Not so keen on the Pharrell Williams productions, but Dreaming of the Past and Diet Coke are great.

Self Esteem was in my Spotify Unwrapped Top 5 artists, although I was a bit surprised by that. But agree it's a very good (if not "great") album. I can't get my head round Taylor Swift. I've tried to give her a chance, but it's just so... vanilla. Think you'll like Nilüfer Yanya - start with her song Melt from an earlier album and see if you like it, then give the 2022 album a go.

I’ve noticed that eating more salad thins out your jizz, actually

something that really helped me was making more of a conscious effort to have veg in the fridge to snack on. Celery, cucumber, carrot, etc with a pot of humus or whatever to dip it in. Swap out one of your snacks for raw veg & dip or add it to your meals. Sorts out your digestion, keeps your appetite down, bla bla. Other thing is one long (hour+) walk per day, on top of any other exercise you do. As early in the day as possible, but evening is fine if that’s your only gap.

Think Acaster’s persona is a bit smarter? One of his finest moments was his appearance on Jonathan Ross with Harry Redknapp and Gemma Collins. They barely laughed. It was beautiful

Not sure why my album sales are suffering because of this

Nilüfer Yanya, “Painless” is quite nice. Not been a vintage year for new music?

I think that’s where the pre-prepared statements come in: https://www.reeds.co.uk/insight/legal-guidance-adverse-inferences/ Complicated legal area, but you’d think he should have at least as soon as he was under arrest prioritised getting a lawyer before answering any questions? It looked like he said a lot to the police without any lawyer present. I watched the programme again last night and there are a few hints in things he said that probably got him ruined. Calling them “little rocket polishers”, saying he could see the bike’s lights “in the distance”, saying he didn’t know if the road was a 30 or a national speed limit. Thinking about it some more, the detectives are right that he didn’t just endanger himself and the thieves, but also could potentially have killed other people. So maybe it’s one of those where it’s a nice guy reacting in an understandable way, where something still needed to be done in the eyes of the law. Really interesting programme anyway. Got me thinking.

Mexico are having a Partey tonight!

Weird how Elon the “independent” who is neither left nor right seems to get all his support from bottom of the barrel Fox News morons

You could argue that if you’re looking at that specific period, it really has to be Sergio Ramos, massive prick that he is. Just a phenomenal all round footballer who won everything. Not enough respect given to defenders in today’s game. Edit: and in fact if you look at FIFPro annual World XIs he’s behind only Messi and Ronaldo in appearances, with an unbroken stint from 2011-2020

I think in terms of most likely to be the next Messi v Ronaldo, it’s probably Mbappe and Haaland. In terms of actual performances over that period, there are a load of elite players who’ve been consistently excellent. Modric, Lewandowski, etc as named above. On the more defensive side, worth mentioning Neuer, Sergio Ramos, Casemiro, Kante.

I think if he'd kept his mouth shut, a lawyer would have been able to come up with an explanation that sounded more reasonable, and could have talked about the high rate of burglaries in the area, his fear for his pregnant wife, etc.... wanting to make sure they had left the area (rather than chasing them). And no quotes from him that the prosecution can use. I tend to agree, I probably wouldn't have done the same thing, but hard to know how you'll react in that situation. I didn't really agree with the police that it was premeditated because he'd had enough time to cool off. And I'm pretty sure it's been confirmed he had no previous convictions. Seemed a very harsh sentence indeed, although yes he was definitely guilty of the crime.

I get that the police need to be a bit two-faced to lock up a paedophile or a serial killer or whatever. But in this case, I don't really see how ethically they were able to say to themselves, "he seems like a decent genuine person, I'd have done the same thing probably" and then go into a room and trick him into incriminating himself. It was bizarre and sickening. I felt like the police at the start were much more careful with him and tried to get him to calm down and shut up. The detectives completely suckered him. Anyway, key lesson is don't cooperate with the police until you've spoken to a lawyer.

Just watched it. Infuriating. Wonder how it would have gone if he'd gone down the No Comment route, though. Was begging him to shut up and let a lawyer deal with it.

Anyone else noticing Twitter is starting to feel spammier and clunkier now? My feed is full of weird ads

It’s not a turn based game where you can only do one thing at a time