shurlock

Which forecast was that?

Glasgow? You're tripping your tits off little fella.

An ambulance was also damaged on Borough High Street. #bantz

So when did perfect foresight equate to not understanding how the real world works? FWIW I didn’t think the economy would come crashing down. I could go into a lengthy discussion of how path dependencies and sunk costs mean that economic shocks take time before they filter through to the investment and consumption decisions of businesses and households. But the last time I mentioned anything remotely informed -Dani Rodrik was it- you got bizarrely triggered. Suffice to say, I do think a hard Brexit will be bad over the long-term for the economy and nothing in the economic data over the last two years -and Brexit hasn't happened yet- is inconsistent with that belief. While Jihadi John remains slow on the uptake, there's a reason sterling automatically jumps whenever there is a whiff that Brexit will be softened or watered down. By contrast, you and your barmy cult were told how negotiations were likely to proceed and that your edifice of deluded claims and half-truths was unlikely to survive contact with reality. Remind me how many concessions has the UK wrought from the EU thanks to holding all the cards? So now the best you can offer is not to face reality but to double down on the fantasy that the UK should have crashed out of the EU without triggering article 50 and entering negotiations. That’s not one I’ve heard from my Brexit supporting acquaintances before. In case you’re labouring under some confusion pal, the point of a negotiation is to maximise your leverage, not fatally weaken it. Always happy to help.

You sound like a hipster whose favourite band has gone mainstream.

Decent side, especially before they were picked apart by the big sides - what’s your point Eko?

Ok Gary. Bilic looked like he was going to chin the opinionated runt. Guess Neville had to find a new keeper to bash after bashing Pickford the other night. Subasic is a very good keeper - the spine of an excellent Monaco side that played some of the most swashbuckling football in the CL the season before last. We know to our cost the confidence that a decent GK gives the rest of the side.

#finemargins

Travelling back is always the worst but many of the big clubs go out to the Far East without any seeming adverse effects. The club has doctors and specialists and I'm sure they're on top of all the ways to manage the jet lag. Mountain out of molehill stuff.

Edit

They don't f**k about every summer pal. #headlesschickens

Actually think going out to such a distant and unfamiliar place will do wonders for team camaraderie. And you know if it was Pochettino, he would be exploiting the heat and humidity to improve conditioning (like he did when he ran the squad into the ground under the Spanish sun in 2013). We lost that intensity under Pellegrino. While there may be commercial motives for going out to China, they're arguably a sideshow and don't be surprised if the real benefit of the trip is felt on the footballing side.

Vrsaljko is a proper player.

Even worse.

Three lions is a horrible song. Black Grape’s England’s Irie is infinitely better (from the same tourno).

Brilliant another poundshop Machiavelli who doesn’t have a clue about the real world. The idea that the UK would have gained some leverage by pressing the nuclear button, implied by Millbrook, is as laughable as it is terrifying. Quite the opposite, it would have caused the UK to go back to the EU, on its hands and knees, begging for help. It’s just a rehash of the same gullible belief that, somehow, the UK holds all the cards. How’s that turned out Who knows what Trump would have done: he hasn’t pulled the US out of NAFTA yet, notwithstanding the fact that the US is the dominant economic party and NAFTA is a far more shallow trading bloc than the EU. And frankly who cares: I know jihadists look up to him. But that says less about Trump’s effectiveness than their own failings - your inability to take responsibility and accept that the situation is a shambles -not because you’ve been stabbed in the back by shadowy forces but because you’ve never had a workable or realistic plan. It’s time for you to stop playing the victim and face reality pal.

Subasic is an excellent GK - would have him over Pickford, though it’s close. Maguire is decent but not great - struggles mightily against pace. Fortunately Croatia don’t have the pace that France and Belgium do. Kane is head and shoulders better than anything Croatia has.

Modric was unbelievable last night - was still sprinting around like it was the first minute. There was one incident in ET where he literally sprinted 40 yards just to stop a ball going out for a goalkick.

Clueless. Croatia are technically better than England, though they lack a cutting edge upfront.

Croatia 2-1up

Bilic destroying Neville. Neville's contrarian hardman act would fit in well on here.

Easy side of the draw pal.

1-1. Well-worked goal.

The gods are smiling.

Rashford is a more polished finisher but not as good running with the ball as Sterling.