Bris Vegas

If any season is the year to wipe the slate clean, then this is it. I’d only be concerned about relegation if the point deduction is 15+ points. Anything less and they will be fine. The bottom 3 won’t make it to 30 points.

I used to watch Reading when they were a struggling League One side with a mate from school. I was talking to him the other day about them, saying how they have gone full circle.

Man City's charges are different. It's between the years 2009-2018. And they have rejected the charges so it's up to the PL to prove they are guilty, which then permits City to appeal. It's going to roll on for years. Everton and Forest, meanwhile, have both accepted they fell foul of the rules. They may fight the punishment, but they have already accepted the charges. The whole mess has come about because of stupid FFP rules anyway. FFP was never brought in to stop smaller clubs from spending above their means and potentially going bust. It was brought in to protect their main assets, to stop smaller clubs from doing a Man City and knocking Man Utd off their perch. I find it ridiculous how Newcastle may have to sell players to buy. Let them spend. Apply a wage and signing bonus cap instead.

Forest will still stay up even with a 10-point deduction as they have a decent PL manager now. And the bottom three are crap.

The eastern europeans have a brilliant work ethic and training style when it comes to combat sports. Firas Zahabi explains it very well on the Joe Rogan podcast.

Pretty spot on prediction there Alpha. Callum Smith lacked power and variation. He just didn’t move Beterbiev who was wearing him down round by round. I was watching on ESPN and they were focusing on Smith’s corner at the end of each round and his coach was just saying the same thing over and over - you’re head hunting, looking for a one-punch knockout. No good baby. Work the body, left hook downstairs. Every round the same. I think he and Smith knew very quickly that Beterbiev just was barely flinching at Smith’s punches and round two aside, there was no punch variation to potentially win a round on scoring punches. I prefer Bivol of the two and think he would win the unification on points.

Man City’s recruitment this season has been suspect. Doku is garbage. While Kovacic and Nunes are a big step down on Gundogan. I don’t know why people were predicting them to win the PL title easy this season. It was obvious after a few games that they look weaker while Liverpool look back to their strongest level. They won’t lose another game this season.

I know most people born post war look back on the years they were growing up as better days. But I detest today’s world of social media and instant gratification. We are blessed with the best technology, medicine and travel opportunities to date. But so many other things were just better in the 90s - football being one of them.

Sad news and further indication of how time flies. I grew up watching football in the 90s and I became an adult mid 00s. The players I grew up watching are all pretty much retired now bar the odd one or two exceptions (Ronaldo and Messi are 39 and 37 this year!). Players I grew up watching are now managers, and managers 20-30 years ago are now elderly and in some cases unfortunately passing away. Different times back then when information on dieting wasn’t available and habits such as smoking was common among those in their 50s+.

Jesse Lingard seemed more interested in trying to become a brand than a footballer.

Does Kai Havertz not like football? Every time I’ve seen him play it’s like he just doesn’t want to be there. He plays with zero urgency. Arsenal’s season is slowly slipping away. Liverpool, meanwhile, could genuinely win 4 trophies this season. They are favorites for the Carabao Cup, Europa League and the PL IMO. And in a one-off cup game, I’d back them over City who always rotate.

I watched Chelsea v Preston second half after watching Newcastle at Sunderland earlier on (both games were on ESPN+ which I get for free). Anyway, the gulf in both games was worrying. Unless you have a unique playing style and can rough it at home like Luton, or spend £250m upon promotion, the gap between mid table PL and the Championship is enormous.

If AJ impressively beats Ngannou then it’s going to reflect pretty badly on Fury, especially if he loses to Usyk or ends up pulling out which many predict he will do.

Two of the next three are away to follow on from three of the past four. Somewhere further on in the season we will have a run of 4 in 6 or 5 in 7 being at Pride Park and that’s when we can really make a mark. I know Posh looked decent and Bolton are picking up the points. But it will be a huge failure if we don’t go up this season. The league in general is dire. Pompey, Barnsley, Posh and Bolton fans are probably saying the same thing. At least two of us will miss out.

His knowledge was buy high, sell low.

The equivalent of robbing a bank and then loaning them the cash with interest to get them back on their feet.

I created a similar thread this time last year and then we fell away, not even making the playoffs.

It’s weird how people in England argue over attendances. It just doesn’t happen abroad. Like I don’t think Leverkusen give two hoots that Schalke get bigger attendances than them. Or Sevilla care that Real Betis get more bums on seats. We’re all similar sized clubs, no bigger than Leicester, Bolton, Norwich, Blackburn, Southampton, Middlesbrough etc. And we’ll just fluctuate between midtable PL to top half League One until the day we die.

Just adding that since Rooney has come in, no team has picked up fewer points than his Birmingham’s side’s 10 points over the 15 games. Not even bottom side Rotherham who haven’t won an away game in over a year. Rooney was tasked with getting Birmingham out of the Championship. He is doing a fine job indeed.

Was he already on a yellow? It didn’t look like deliberate handball so I wouldn’t expect a booking for that.

Why against 10 men? What did I miss?

Beaten by the better side. No real complaints after we beat them at their place earlier in the season. They have notably quicker players all over the park and they look far more comfortable on the ball.

Rooney continues his fine form at Birmingham.

Posh play some lovely football.