Has anyone felt like the Club World Championship - technically the most prestigous cup of all - has gone under the radar again? I didn't even know Chelsea were playing in it 😄
Spurs and Man Utd felt like they lost a ton of ground in that window on paper. It was initially turning out to be a decent window with movement for players that you felt should move around. Shame Man Utd blocked Lingaard's moves because it doesn't make any sense to sit on that bench any longer than he has so far. Its obvious that Rangnick doesn't like him much but I hope he proves him wrong. Dele needed a new start so i hope he grabs it with both hands....I have my doubts though still.
Newcastle did what was expected, but again, they didn't bring in top quality players. Better than existing? Possibly, but it will be very interesting to see if they can stay up still. Imagine that team in the Championship.
Meanwhile, Bournemouth have tried to literally buy their way out of the Championship. Every player that a top team wanted, there ploy was 'just buy them'. In some ways I don't blame them. Let them do anything they can to get out of the Championship, however whenever this happens, you do have something in your gut that just wants to see other teams beat them with their squads they've stuck by.
Not been trying to post in here about the Championship, mainly because I don't want to jinx it! 😄 All i'll say is that the seeing is an absolute cracker in the Championship so far. Everyone beating everyone, and I think it shows how good a league can be with tight squads. Even the likes of Fulham, Bournemouth and West Brom have not been allowed to run away with it....just yet.
I geniunely think that Derby will also stay up now! -21 points and only 8 points away from getting out of the relegation zone. Especially 19 games to go. Mental season.
Maybe if they hadn't been so successful in recent years and won the constructors once again, they would've made a greater fuss but this was ultimately a weak move.
Like i've said before, I don't think ANY team in that position had any other choice. They didn't want it to drag on from a sporting viewpoint but its the only way they could ensure some form of change could happen. I think they were pretty clear that it wasn't directed at Red Bull. And Lewis clearly knew that he wouldn't want a Championship given to him in this way, so it looks like the right decision has been made with the World Sport Council advising that a full investigation to happen and changes to be made with the FIA.
People naively think this is all about Lewis and Max and it isn't. Billions and Trillions of money rest on these decisions, and then you have the sporting integrity to uphold infront of all the fans. I think Toto's interview yesterday speaks volumes. Toto and Lewis respectfully declined to go to the presentation awards yesterday because it sends the wrong message to the FIA that they are happy with the decision. Toto says Lewis isn't a guarnatee to race next year and Toto doesn't want anything to do with Michael Masi. I'm pretty sure one head will at least roll for this call - and it has to be Michael as it was purely his decision alone.
I think everyone on both sides and neutrals have come out and are pretty unison in that the FIA must change which proves that the last race was a debacle.
50 minutes ago, Plumbers Crack said:
Let MV have it with an asterisk and move on... I'm pretty sure LH has
Absolutely Max should have it. And whether Max likes it or not, he has to live with the asterisk that everyone else will put along side it. Pretty sure he wouldn't have wanted that but that's what Michael Masi has created unfortunately.
Problem with the situation was , so many people watching, formula 1 getting more interest than forever, and you end up having to finish the championship with 5 laps behind the safety car…..that would have been even worse than what they did !
Maybe they should halt the lap counter if the safety car comes out with less than 10 laps to go?
You point out exactly the issue unfortunately Bob, that Masi had multiple options to him, now they've used the Article 15.3 "Do what the fuck I want" badge out in the open. He chose the worst option from a Sporting Code perspective.
When the crash happened at a high speed corner, he could've chosen to red flag the race.
He could've chosen to start with the cars where they were as it was safe.
He could've chosen to let the other final cars pass.
He could've finished it behind the safety car.
But he didn't.
Regradless whether you like Hamilton or hate him, you have to factor in the moment where Masi clearly knew Verstappen was on Soft new tyres and Hamilton was a sitting duck on Hard old tyres. If he wanted a spectacle that was fair, red flag it at the 4 laps left both could be on Soft tyres and next to each other for a 4 lap shootout. "but, but thats just given the balance back to Hamilton, Lee". No it isn't. Hamilton was clear of Verstappen through the entire race. He got closer due to Virtual Safety Car and got new tyres and then the real Safety Car got the best tyres. Hamilton would've lost his lead but the fairness would've come from the tyres and a potential Grid Restart.
Horner using the late Niki Lauda's words after theresult from the stewards came in late yesterday was just sickening imo. A Mercedes consult until the day he died, that was a stab at Merc and using Lauda's words just shows how much of a **** he really is. I didn't want Mercedes to appeal because whichever way you look at it, its a Lose/Lose for them. No way they would turn over those celebrations but what could Merc do as if it was anyone else you have to raise to the stewards when rules are broken. I always think about you have to be careful and considerate when you speak of others in positions as it could be yourself under scrutiny one day - but i have an overwhelming emotion to say out loud that everyone should be accountable for actions. If this challenge and appeal lead to at least one thing, I would expect it to be for Michael Masi to be held accountable for his actions. Charlie Whiting must be turning in his grave watching that.
I really have to admit, this year has been superb. Great respect for both drivers to give us this championship, regardless of what I think of them. But the first time in years, yesterday left the worst bitter taste in my mouth for this sport and even waking up today, I can't shift it. It was the most immoral thing to do because everyone then knew EXACTLY what was going to happen on that final lap. I wanted Verstappen to win on merit. That way, even though I'm passionate that his driving skills are too dangerous, I could at least understand that he won perfectly on merit of his own doing. This wasn't his doing though.
I'm hoping next year Lando Norris and McLarten have a great year but I'm honestly still feeling sick to the stomach on whether I want to watch racing with those decisions happening.
Barcelona out of the Champions League in the group stage for the first time in 21 years and into the Europa League. Just imagine if they land West Ham, Rangers or Leicester at some stage😅
13 hours ago, J4MES OX4D said:
Leicester lose to Napoli and drop into the Conference League playoffs🤣
Didn't know that was a thing but it sounds truly tragic.
I didn't realise there's a further drop from Europa to Conference.
How in the world do UEFA not see that this ruling devalues the entire European football i'll never know.
Coronavirus will definitely hit a few more clubs in the next month. Praying its not going to hit Rovers though.
On 12/6/2021 at 8:12 PM, J4MES OX4D said:
Be interesting to see who joins them in Jan especially if they are in the relegation zone. Whoever goes there will be doing it purely for a fat pay cheque for the rest of the season. They probably wont be able to make an high-wage permanent signings because if they go down, they wont be able to meet the fair play rules based on their income unless they start cheating like QPR did. I hope they get relegated and then all talk of Mbappe signing will be put to bed🤣
I actually think top players won't go until they see them moving away from the relegation zone. They might have to go to the Championship and lower down to buy some up and coming quality but they aren't like Man City or Chelsea when they both got took over as they were mid/lower table teams, not relegation bound ones.
Heard Eddie Howe wants Trippier to help him get out of relegation. I really hope he doesn't go. Swapping from the La Liga Champions to relegation potential alongside impacting his England World Cup chances is a no brainer.
The 63 shots got me laughing hard, its basically a shot every 90 seconds in the game! 🤣🤣 I turned on ITV4 when they were 14-0 up and it was a massacre for sure. The Goalkeeper is really what stands out for me as the dealbreaker in womens football. The agility and physical prowess you would expect from International Qualifiers was just not there. Some shots dribbled past the keeper...and that was after they subbed the other keeper after it went 8-0 at half time!! 🤦♂️🤣
It was sad indeed. My early thoughts are pretty much bang on the mark. This will start a reform in Cricket, I have no doubt about that. Many heads are going to roll, and rightly so if they've been derogatory in any way.
It was a great game to see. Its been an age since we could actually say we have a team that will beat good teams and really punish the poor ones. The fact we have breezed qualifying just shows how well Gareth Southgate and the team have done in recent years.
Mental to think the European Champions might not make the World Cup...feels abit like when Liverpool won the Champions League but only finished 5th in the league 😬
All good. We didn't want a large positive goal difference anyway 🙃
Worst home defeat in our entire history....but by 5pm yesterday we finished the week with 2 wins out of 3 and back up into the playoffs. Football is a funny old game.
I'm hearing Nuno will be sacked within the next 2 hours.
I really don't like how its got to this point but at the same time its the horrible harsh reality of managing in the premier league. They aren't looking great at all and many of their previous top players just don't look like anything like they used to.
Starting to get some tasty results now. Really is much closer than it looks, even though Chelsea are looking quite strong of late. Brighton look like the surprise package this year and deservedly so. Hoping they can hold on to a European place by the end.
Brill, thanks all so far for your replies. I'll leave it for this year but want to add it onto our Calendar of stuff to look forward to next year. @Antpool84, love the idea of a mock up one - based on timings above, when is best to do a mock up one? Is it July ahead of August properly setting it up?
When does the draft happen though? So we start looking at it in Augustm, yeah? Anyone else fancy it though next year (or this year if we still wanna do something)?
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Has anyone felt like the Club World Championship - technically the most prestigous cup of all - has gone under the radar again? I didn't even know Chelsea were playing in it 😄
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