charlierc

So on top of Match of the Day being reduced to a hollow shell relying on the Premier League's in-house work, the Football Focus magazine show looks like it's not going to air after both presenter Alex Scott and contributor/stand-in presenter Kelly Somers refused to host with the pundits also saying no, while several members of staff due to have been going to games to do live updates for Final Score and it's main presenter Jason Mohammad are not going, essentially meaning the BBC's football coverage today has been practically wiped out. I mean, what a fucking mess.

Well yeah, we need to score some bloody goals if we're going to do better, given our form since Christmas has been generally poor in that department. A few difficult ones are coming up, mind, given Wolves have recently beaten Spurs and Liverpool, Nottingham Forest have a very good home record (in comparison to a truly terrible away one), Manchester United are probably not going to be as abysmal as they were at Anfield, and we then have 3 away games in a row after hosting Ten Hag et all. Hopefully if we can win one, it'll kick-start something better. I'd prefer it tbf if Brighton put their energy into winning the FA Cup, which they have a brilliant chance to do, although given the two Manchester clubs still lurk, I suspect one of those two will win it and that it could well be easier to get a European place via the league. It's still got potential to be quite the unpredictable battle tbf. If not quite as open as the relegation zone given everyone in the bottom half bar 11th place Aston Villa could go down.

More a question for FA procedure, though according to leaks, the process to determine a final penalty is still ongoing. Clearly, if Brentford can play Toney, they will.

I mean, they also have a trip to St James' Park and historically have an inconsistent record up there. But equally, Spurs have also recently lost to Wolves and Leicester and are still yet to shake their "Doctor Tottenham" reputation (or just being nicknamed Spursy) in bottling it in random places. Fulham are still in this tbf, even with the loss at Brentford yesterday (and a question mark on whether Ivan Toney should have been playing given he's likely about to get a long ban). Though Brighton look like the best bet of the 3 behind the top six I think ot make it.

It reminds me a little of 2016 or 2020 tbf, where one team out front is cleaning up but the fights behind have potential to be pretty good. Bahrain has had better races, mind. I don't think Red Bull will win 100% of all races given that it's never happened before and even previous teams who were a million miles ahead of everyone else have bottled a race or two, but this is a team and car that's perhaps got the best potential to see that. Though obviously, just one race. And tbf Ocon did eventually get called in to stop given his incredible penalty bingo. I think McLaren treated it as just an extra testing session given they did less mileage than many peers, but yeah, they're in an abysmal place.

It's already looked quite pricey for stuff in Hasselt when I did a cursory glance tbf. Genk looked cheaper but obviously further away from the site.

I mean, the O2 looked very full when I went, as did the crowd for their Glastonbury set. Maybe not a sell out but I doubt they'll be playing to an empty field, especially with the note that this is a European exclusive.

Just 3 have been announced so far, and usually has 6 shows, so... that could be a shout.

I think it helps Werchter doesn't have the same issue as UK festival promoters have where dozens of people are all chasing the same acts to come play events. And I say this even noting RW looks to have more going for it if I was gonna attend either.

I didn't see that but Jesus Christ. There were moments last season when Bruno Fernandes gave off a fairweather player vibe who often puts in bad traits when things aren't going his way, but to see the captain down tools like that is quite something, and not in a good way.

We've drifted into a fight, and given we still have to play Brighton, Brentford, Man Utd and Spurs, one we're gonna have to buck up for. Or at least score some fucking goals.

So... interesting. Everyone has work to do to reel in Red Bull, Aston Martin are looking genuinely quite impressive, Ferrari clearly needed to replace more than just Binotto, Mercedes are already talking up binning their car concept, the midfield looks competitive, McLaren are in a bit of a hole and I don't think anyone had a worse day than Esteban Ocon who just picked up all the penalties.

Give us a little credit for last weekend - we weren't terrible until the penalty area, and then that's where it all fell to shit. But yeah, given how we've been limping for a few weeks, I'd take 6th if offered now tbh.

Nah Bruce is waiting for a job at Old Trafford. Or at least as a defensive coach.

If only Man United had put in such a shaky and bizarre performance last weekend.

I guess tomorrow's practice sessions ahead of the Bahrain race will possibly give us more of a sign as to whether Red Bull have built a monster, if Aston Martin are on Mercedes' level, what Alpine's level actually is after they opted to do a slow test or whether McLaren are at the back.

Half of the FA Cup last 8 being outside the Premier League with the Championship having a guaranteed representative in the semi-finals and League 2 Grimsby reaching the last 8 after dumping out Southampton... not bad.

I remember some of my first stadium gigs having bespoke tickets, with Green Day and Muse at Wembley in 2010 doing these quite elaborate arty ones, then by 2019 even those kinda shows were just generic ones or e-mails. But yeah. I've got a pile of them in my room and I do enjoy seeing these. It almost felt like a throwback when my ticket to Biffy Clyro was an actual thick physical ticket when all my other ones in 2022 were printed PDFs or on a phone app.

Jeez what awful and sad news.

I can only presume that this might have been tightened up after the US Capitol riots 2 years ago... maybe.

It's the same colour scheme as the single art for their new song, so I would suspect a neat coincidence is coming into play if you're seeing Coldplay colours. The speculation came about in another thread partly because they're supporting Coldplay in Brazil later this month, so clearly, a band on Martin & Co's radar.

Some were speculating this might map Chvrches in line with Coldplay's UK stadium dates, which are in Cardiff and Manchester ending two days before this. Not yet announced, mind. No show outside Scotland other than Nottingham is quite the bold step to dub it as a UK tour in fairness.

Well you say that, the agency claiming lab origins was doing so "with low confidence", which I wouldn't exactly call a conclusive analysis of covid's origins just yet, not least as other US government agencies have reported back different results.

I remember doing the Houses of Parliament tour back in 2012 the day after that year's Jubilee. Was quite an interesting experience and certainly quite something to see it in person. Not quite the same activity I'm guessing you'd get to watch PMQ's live though.

87/118. Would've been more had I randomly not forgotten Stormzy.