Julius

Record scratch Hold on a second. Oblak is among the top ‘keepers in the world, no question; he’s definitely not in that “next bracket”. Like I said above, his save percentage numbers were the best across the continent last season. Also, as great as Neuer has been in the past, don’t forget that he’s just returned from a serious injury which has kept him sidelined since early last season, so I don’t think even attempting to get him would have been a wise move for any club or the player himself (even if this is the most realistic chance anyone will ever have of signing Neuer from Bayern). I’d throw Keylor Navas into that mix of top ‘keepers too, and he certainly seems available, considering that Real seem to be after a goalkeeper and he’s hinted at leaving. That aside, I agree with your points on Schmeichel and Pickford, and certainly agree with your point on Alisson: if he comes good this season, which he’s got the talent to do, then he’ll come good. If not, and he takes more time to adjust? So Liverpool don’t win the Premier League title for another year...what’s another year of waiting?

Well that looks awful. But on the upside (uh, I guess, if there were to be one?) that isn’t part of the DCEU...as far as I can tell. They’re doing such a poor job of communicating what’s going on with their cinematic universe right now, which really isn’t helped by having spin-off/related/other DC live-actions shows which could very easily be related to the DCEU, but aren’t, for some silly reason. There’s no synergy between WB’s television and film studios right now, which is definitely worrying. @Fierce_LiNk agreed, I’m not a fan of everyone going their separate ways to try to sell what can only be described as hot garbage like this. The only one I see myself subscribing to is Disney’s: I know that they have an exclusive live-action series directed by Jon Favreau on the way; I know that The Clone Wars is finally making its triumphant return, and will hopefully be completed this time around; and I know that I’ll have access to the rest of the shows and films under the Disney banner. It seems like an investment which, at the very worst, is a little questionable, but it’s not a crazy investment where I think that I won’t get my money’s worth. Whereas DC Universe seems to be where all of the hot garbage which everyone wants done right is ending up on the DC side of things.

@Hero-of-Time, I think Alisson is much better than you might realise. It might be hard to tell if some of your exposure to him is that of his Champions League performances against yourselves and Barcelona last season. Sure, he doesn’t have Premier League experience, but he had the third-best save percentage of any goalkeeper across Europe last season, at 79.26% (below only De Gea and Oblak — I’d recommend checking out one of his highlight reels, because, based on his performances last season, he is a brilliant goalkeeper). Speaking of Oblak, I’m very surprised to read that no-one has put a bid in for his services as of yet: he had the best save percentage across Europe last season, at 82.68%. @Kav, in the even that Courtois does leave, I think he’s the ‘keeper that Chelsea have to go after. I’ve seen Cech thrown around as another possible ‘keeper for us to turn to, and I honestly wouldn’t be against seeing him return, but Oblak would certainly be my preference. Courtois hasn’t been anywhere near as consistent in his performances for us as he was in his loan stints at Atlético, so I’m not against his move, so long as we go after someone like Oblak to replace him. Hazard is of course the player that I’m much more nervous about us losing, and I think that £150m figure for the pair has to be well off; I agree with you that such a figure seems fit for Hazard alone. We also seem to be in the market for another striker (I’ve seen Higuain’s name floating around, which I’m on the fence about), which shouldn’t be too surprising I guess, given how inconsistent Morata turned out to be in his first season, and I definitely think that the presence of a more experienced striker could take some of the weight off his shoulders. @Charlie, I’d add Shaqiri to that list too. I doubt that he’ll start many games for Liverpool, but his impact as a sub could be great, considering his pace and physicality. Not to mention that he tries some audacious things on a regular basis, and with minds often starting to wander late on into games, I really think that he could be a great impact player for Liverpool, and I agree with you and others about Liverpool spending their money in the right places (finally!). I expect them to return to Fekir and attempt to sign him before the transfer window closes in a few weeks, seeing as the World Cup was the main obstacle which got in their way last month, and I think they’ll be a contender, on paper at least, to win the title next season. I expect to see the transfer market go into overdrive for Chelsea and United in the coming weeks. We’ve been silent because we’ve been waiting for Sarri, which I can understand, but United certainly need something more if they’re expecting to give City more of a competition in the upcoming season. UPDATE: it’s official...

The best thing to come from the Disney buyout. Thank the Force. Just announced at SDCC. For those unaware, or for those that need reminding, The Clone Wars was never completed due to the Disney buyout, with only five seasons airing, and a selection of partially completed/essential episodes pushed out under the Lost Missions banner after the buyout, unofficially designated as being season 6. In recent years, Dave Filoni has talked at Star Wars Celebrations at length about remaining plans for the series which could have seen go well into seven or even eight seasons, with plans originally in place to take the show up to, during, and past Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. For example, Boba Fett’s showdown with Cad Bane, explaining how he got that dent in his helmet; or, more interestingly, Ahsoka’s return to Mandalore with a large number of the 501st to take on Maul. The latter specifically seems like it will be tackled, judging from the trailer, and the change in 501st uniform and helmet that Filoni hinted at for those members of the 501st joining up with Ahsoka... We don’t know how much we’re getting, or even when it’s coming, but I feel like the half complete episodes shown at Celebrations past will likely be included, as well as, I would strongly assume, any episodes hinted at or explained with concept art during those showings at Celebration, as those episodes had, of course, been at the very least conceptualised, if not storyboarded. Here’s an interview with Dave Filoni on the matter, with StarWars.com. This show meant, and means, a lot to me — its what satiated my hunger for more Star Wars straight from the mind of Lucas himself after Episode III — and I cannot wait to see and hear more about what we’ll be getting from Filoni and the folks over at Lucasfilm Animation. It’s great to see that the funds needed to get this show back up and running — for whatever number of episodes that we end up getting — are finally being awarded to Filoni to oversee what will, in many ways, be the genuine completion of Rex’s and Ahsoka’s character arcs, as this is a large gap which needs to be filled in their respective arcs. UPDATE 1: the new episodes are planned to be streamed (at least initially — I imagine a complete series DVD and Blu-Ray collection is on the way) on Disney’s new streaming service. Damn it, they got me good. UPDATE 2: Confirmed to be a twelve episode run, as well as unofficially given the berth of being Season 7. That’s probably going to be three, four-episode arcs? My guess would be: The Bad Batch (already aired online in its proto-stage previously, after being shown at Celebration a few years back, and was supposed to be the premiere of S7 — we see Hunter besides Anakin and Rex in this trailer); the Utapau arc involving the a massive kyber crystal, likely to be the one used in the Death Star (also previously aired in its proto-stage at a recent Celebration); and the Siege Of Mandalore, as talked about at last year’s Celebration, and as teased in the trailer (which is currently unseen, and only in canon talked about very briefly in Ahsoka).

Great video by Gamespot, in which Cyberpunk creator Mike Pondsmith breaks down the universe home to Cyberpunk 2020 and Cyberpunk 2077.

I’ve already made my points, and it’s becoming abundantly clear that you’re not paying attention to many — if any — of them. I’ve made rebuttals to your “Chelsea shouldn’t have kept him around this summer” argument (this was mostly down to Napoli’s handling of Sarri’s contract); your “consistently classless” argument (see: Real Madrid, Napoli); and your “this is unprofessional” argument (see: Conte publicly calling out the board; we could have handled this better; etc.). Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to get back to looking forward to the new season under Sarri, and I personally wish Conte all of the best, as well as a club which finally backs him up in the transfer market. Cheers, and enjoy the World Cup final tomorrow @Kav I’m very excited to see how central midfield shapes up, seeing as this is the principal driving force behind the instigation of his (and Pep’s) footballing philosophy. I just don’t know if he’s got enough time left to really drive that philosophy home by the time that the new season starts, and I’m a little bit worried that we’ll see a halfhearted take on his beautiful style of play in his first season as a result.

Sarri has officially signed as Chelsea manager on a three-year contract. Just a little under four weeks until the end of the transfer window and the start of the Premier League season, so it’ll be interesting to see who comes in/goes out in that time, and how much of his footballing philosophy that the team can absorb in such a limited time. He’s just as brash as Conte, and is a chain smoker. Should make for some fun press conferences... To be clear, I’m not arguing that it’s right to treat Conte in such a way (regardless of the success that he brought in two seasons with two trophies), nor any other manager. I’m not giving my team a pass for how we’ve treated our managers in the past or in the present. But how the club officially treats a member of staff has little to do with the fans’ appreciation of them, so I’m struggling to see what you’re getting at, because you’re going to struggle to find many teams at the top of Europe (or aiming to be there or thereabouts) with undeniable and unreserved respect for their manager or their players. Real Madrid’s treatment of Ancelotti a few years ago comes to mind, as does their treatment of legends such as Casillas and Raul. I don’t bring up these examples to say that what we’re doing is okay — I’d much rather Conte be treated with the respect he deserves for establish a three-man defence as something more typical in the English game, and I doubt we would have seen Southgate employ a 3-5-2 at this World Cup had Conte not managed here — but it is a part of the game these days which is becoming increasingly common. I hope you call out other teams for this and not just Chelsea, and I doubt Conte is nearly as bothered as you seem to be — he looks like he’ll be pocketing £9 million from this when it’s all said and done.

Eh, Sarri’s been on the way since April. The bigger news now is that Jorginho is reportedly coming along with him. We might finally get to see us play the beautiful brand of football that Abramovich has been after ever since Guardiola burst onto the scene a decade ago. On the Conte ordeal (who I personally think is an excellent manager, but let the club’s shortcomings in the transfer market get to him in the same way that it did towards the end of his tenure at Juventus), and I suppose this is for @Ramar (thanks for the unnecessary jibes, but they seem quite childish): I do think that it’s worth pointing out that holding onto him for this long had made sense both financially and from a sporting perspective. We expected other clubs to be lining up for him, which would have made an impact on whether or not we were the ones paying out his compensation fee for an early termination of his contract, or whether another club would be footing up the bill. In addition, Napoli have been playing hardball (perhaps even more so than ourselves on this occasion) — currently, Ancelotti is their manager, yet Sarri has not had his contract terminated at this moment in time. Holding on to Conte in the event that we didn’t land Sarri was always going to be the safest way to do things, and you’ll find that this is exactly the same way it happens elsewhere (though, obviously, in a much shorter window — but again, we have Napoli and Abramovich’s visa situation to thank for that). It’s a rather circular arrangement: we were waiting for someone to land Conte and pay his compensation so that we weren’t paying out of turn to pay Sarri’s compensation, as Napoli do not want to see pay his compensation fee (as we can tell by his contract not yet being terminated).

It will likely be a bit-part role at best, probably turning up at Leia’s funeral or something along those lines. I have to agree with you, though; I’ve loved both TFA and TLJ, but they aren’t without their problems, and this would have been the better type of fan service. My biggest regret with TLJ is that we didn’t get to see the gang back together in a flashback. It wasn’t too much of a problem for me with TFA, considering how quickly things were moving along, but I think it would have suited the pace and plot of TLJ perfectly. It would have made some sense in setting up Ben/Kylo, at least just giving us more of a peek into his upbringing. I just don’t see Lando having that same effect on Ben, but I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.

Great deal for Ronaldo. Italy is known for how it stretches on the careers of great players well into their late 30’s, and I’ve wanted him and/or Messi in Italy for a number of years now, what with Serie A being on the up and up for quite a while. Of the five major leagues, only in Italy could Ronaldo potentially play into his 40s, in my opinion, what with how strong the medical and training teams have been for decades. Great for Madrid, too, in that it finally allows them to move on from Ronaldo and onto new pastures. They haven’t made any big purchases since the summer of the last World Cup when they signed James Rodriguez, so they’ve got a lot of cash to splurge right now. I imagine that the likes of Bale and Benzema could also be on the move, too, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see three or four world class attackers signed in the coming weeks. Hazard, Neymar, Mbappé, etc., are of course in the running up top, but it could also give them a chance to evaluate their options elsewhere on the pitch. Marcelo, Ramos, and Modrić are key players who are all also over 30, so I wouldn’t be too surprised if we also see some relatively younger signings to come into the team more as they slowly fade out. It’s perfect time Lopetegui to walk in as a new manager. From my understanding of the situation, the reason that a deal had taken so long to be finalised is because Florentino Perez wanted Ronaldo to have a send-off, but I think that the fact that this hasn’t been mentioned in any official capacity, as far as I’m aware, suggests that Ronaldo’s relationship with Madrid’s president had become nothing but bitter. Great for Ronaldo, great for Madrid, and especially sweet for Italian football and Serie A. Won’t be surprised at all if this transfer window breaks a number of records now that Madrid are jumping into it head first, nor would I be surprised if they spent upwards of £500 million — if they can get the players that they want.

Buffon has officially made the move to PSG on a one-year contract, with an optional extension for a further year. Definitely got his eyes on winning the Champions League, and rightly so. It’s the only major trophy missing from his trophy cabinet at this point, and he’s probably the best goalkeeper to have not won the Champions League in its modern format. Just a shame that he won’t be leading Juve, especially seeing as the potential signing of Ronaldo would make them one of the favourites

The final twenty minutes of the game were seriously intense. 17 shots for Brazil in the second half v. Belgium’s 1 says it all. Feel a bit sorry for Brazil, especially Neymar. A lot of pressure on him going into a tournament like this, and yes there was a lot of unnecessary rolling around on the floor, but he played absolutely brilliantly after he dived in the second half. Douglas Costa was superb too when he came on. France v. Belgium is one of those games which could be an absolute belter of a match. Can’t wait for Tuesday guess we’ve got to see if we don’t mess up tomorrow against Sweden first, though...

Game on...what a pass!

Belgium look lethal on the counterattack. And yeah, I had the same initial reaction. It seemed like the ref was debating with the VAR team and they were describing what happened — in such an instance where description of the event is required, I do think that, going forwards (beyond the WC), referees need to really have a look at it for themselves. At the end of the day, they’re the ones who make the call, so I think a second look in such a situation could work a bit better than the process that they’ve used so far at the WC, which has been a bit messy at times.

That Kompany challenge on Jesus really did look like a penalty from the replays that we got to see. Really got to wonder why it wouldn’t be given. Brazil on the up and up now. Neymar’s dive and the consequent moans from the players and the crowd has actually spurred him on, and he’s playing much better now.

Can we just mention how poorly the referee has handled this game? There were plenty of clear yellow card offences in the opening fifteen or twenty minutes which the ref could and should have been carding players — mostly Uruguayan players — for. If you don’t give those, you lose the game, because players aren’t going to trust your judgement, nor will they think that you’ll actually award any cards. Difficult to tell exactly what happened between Rodríguez and Mbappé (it looks like Rodríguez’s arm clearly moved in his direction from the replay that we were shown), but I disagree with Gary Neville’s assertion that Mbappé wasn’t pulling off flicks and turns prior to that, and that it was showboating that resulted in Rodríguez’s actions. There have been several times in this match where he was doing that; he’s young, so that’s still going to be a big part of his playing style. And back to the referee: what exactly did he are these players for? There was no mention of VAR being used by the team in Moscow, nor did he check himself. Did he just figure out that they both must have don’t something to cause such a stir and both deserved yellow cards as a result? Because that’s a very dangerous and blizzard way to referee a football match.

The World Cup’s still ongoing, but I thought the time to kick this thread off was about right, with many teams likely to become much more active in the transfer market as the World Cup draws ever closer to an end. Oh, and also in large part because of the rumour that’s persisted for the last week, and is looking more and more likely to come true: Cristiano Ronaldo is set to move to Juventus for £88 million - £106 million, in a deal which will see him contracted to earn £26.5 million per year. That’s bound to kickstart the transfer activity of many clubs in the coming weeks, and is a transfer which seems to make sense in every way for all involved: Ronaldo, Juventus, Serie A, and Real Madrid.

Agree with much, if not all, of what you said, @Fierce_LiNk, and I too had the same mentality going as you into this that the quarter-finals were the goal and anything beyond that is just a bonus. We’ve been ridiculously lucky in the draw and we still almost bottled it against Colombia, but Sweden should be a relatively more comfortable game for us (in that they aren’t going to be chopping down our players left and right, riling us up, etc.). This half of the draw feels almost a bit too open — Russia is on home soil, and are using that as a deafening advantage (and rightly so); Croatia were cruising prior to the knockout stage but struggled against Denmark; etc. Compare that to the other side of the draw, where all of the quarter finalists are, at least on paper, worthy of being in the final. I’m just worried that the underdog mentality has left England now and that the expectation has returned because we’ve made it to a quarter final, and well...the weight of expectation very rarely helps teams out in a knockout format. What worried me most about England last night was probably that, despite many of the starting XI having something of an unprecedented nine days of rest, they looked absolutely shattered by the 65th minute. What compounds that niggling worry into a genuine concern going forward is that Gareth Southgate seemed completely unaware, at least judging from his substitutions and their timing, that the team were well out of steam and chasing the game, struggling to keep a hold of the ball and not chasing it down, almost a third of the match prior to Colombia equalising. It’s at that sort of time you’d expect Rashford to be coming on, to give the opposition defence a pacy player to struggle and question themselves against, not well into extra-time. I just hope Gareth’s going to analyse that game for all that it’s worth and learn from these mistakes, instead of just brushing it under the table because we ended up coming out on top, as we’ve many relatively inexperienced managers do time and time again before.

Well...that was a rollercoaster of emotions.

Yeah, it was that long. 50 minute long shady backdoor deals... @bob, from every reaction that I’ve heard/watched, the parts of the game shown in the demo sound like they were of fairly similar graphical fidelity to what we saw in the trailer.

The Australian Microsoft store might have just let it slip that Shenmue I & II is releasing on the 20th of August...

First half kind of sucked, but the second half had it all. Martinez’ tactics were still completely wrong, and he was fortunate that the subs had such an impact given just how well Japan had contained them up to that point. All I’m going to say is that there’s no way Belgium will be able to shackle Brazil with the 3-4-3 that they were running today This has been one hell of a World Cup so far, and the Round of 16 has been to this point too. And off the pitch, I can’t recall there being any troubles, and by all means it looks like it’s going great, and the atmosphere almost like a festival. Going into this, I have to admit that I was a bit worried that Russia might cause a stir like they did with Poland back in Euro 2012, but they’ve been superb hosts to this point. Here’s hoping that the lads do us proud tomorrow against Colombia to continue the warm feeling around this World Cup

AHHHHHHHHHH, please just don’t concede now