TCO

Other than the blatant OTT sponsorship what's people's problem with RB Leipzig? They run that football club brilliantly and have brought top level football back to prominence in East Germany for the first time since reunification. I know they skirt the 50+1 rules in Germany but are they really different to Hoffenheim, Wolfsburg or Bayer Leverkusen who are/were all owned by massive corporations who use it for sponsorship? The same Bayer who used concentration camp slave labour during WW2? But a shitty energy drink draws all the shit. Not just Germany either, nobody is bothered that PSV were literally called after Phillips and had their name on the branding for their whole existence.

It's equally FA Cup, as it is Premier League.🙄 I'll be having my lengthy discussion about the Community Shield in the FA Cup thread if anyone wants to join me

I preferred when they were just numbered 1-5. Seems like there's a team at Sky that do unnecessary rebrands of their sports channel to make themselves look busy. The worst was when they "launched" Sky Sports News HQ. Which was exactly the same as SSN but in a redesigned studio and annoyingly moved to 401. Best part was the name was too long for the menu so it said something like "SkySpNewsHQ HD" defeating the purpose of the rebrand!

I'd take Maitland-Niles in a heartbeat. He's been decent any time I've watched him play and he could flourish if he gets consistent game time.

Nah, for once I think this actually makes sense. Juventus expect to win the league every year, that's a given. They played poor football and the players didn't take to Sarri's style of play anyway. They invested in Cristiano Ronaldo who's now 35 and they need to win a Champions League to justify that investment. They're not going to do that with Sarri in the next 2-3 seasons and the squad needs a tiny overhaul too. Get a new manager in who'll have the players on side and maximise Cristiano's ability. If you're getting knocked out in the last 16 to Lyon with Ronaldo in your team, then it's automatically time for a change.

Pjanic was playing last night though. His move doesn't go through until the end of the Champions League. 😕 I wonder will Ronaldo look to leave now? I don't think that Juventus team will win a Champions League in the next few years and is time is ticking. Would love to see how he'd do in PSG's team.

Palace's new kits are decent. Bit samey in the design I suppose but nice!

I was completely unaware they were making a Fred Hampton movie. Holy shit though the trailer on the cast exceeds any expectations of what is a fascinating and tragic story. Can't wait to see this!

This was technically a yellow card up until recently too which is hilariously ridiculous and only applied when the referee felt like it . Ireland's u17 keeper got sent off during the quarter final penalty shoot-out for a 2nd yellow for this. Outfield player goes in and the Dutch win. Netherlands benefited from plenty of decisions in that game, the ref was a farce. I hate over the top rules that are only applied randomly

Northern Ireland are so irrelevant that people don't realise their in demand prospect even plays for them and it drives up his price as a future England international!

There is of course but a lot of managers have a preference for one of each because of how they play out from the back, Pep being one of them. Not saying they won't play together but I don't think they'll be a first choice pairing because of this

I don't see Pep consistenly playing two left-footed centre backs together really. Ake will get plenty of game time between centre back and left back. I could be wrong but I don't think he'll be playing alongside Laporte and Man City will certainly sign another big name, right-footed centre back.

I'm sure City will make that back in a lucarative new "sponsorship" agreement with a Qatar shell company. A company that's totally not owned by the UAE royal family while FFP rules can go hound lower league teams for spending too much money.

Man City casually spending £42mil on a rotational player.

😏

I like when teams have traditional away colours so even though West Brom's green and yellow is a bit shite, it's nice that they consistently wear it!

Is Deeney really that terrible for a 2nd choice striker? Wasn't there a year where Spurs only had Clinton N'Jie as a backup to Kane?

Brentford and The Bees pale in comparison to Watford being The Hornets and having a big fuck-off, red deer on their badge crest!

PIF is it's own legal entity and has nothing to do with the piracy anyway, so it has no effect legally. Premier League obviously dragging their heels on it to either get as much as leverage as they can from the Saudi state or else stalling for long enough so they'll pull out. Either way it's to appease their official evil Arab state partner Qatar and not let a new evil Arab state join the fun. I'm sick of it and the wait is killing the club because there's no choice but to stand still. The transfer window will be an absolute mess.

Doesn't apply in Ireland either but we get the lovely luxury of paying for a 3rd overpriced subscription digital channel. All to watch a single 3pm game per week, not of our choosing!

The $150k is a salary advance available to any player apart from undrafted free agent rookies. People in the high risk category get a payment of $350k if they opt out and they get a year accrued towards free agency. Not a bad deal at all for any player who's at high risk, a complete no brainer to sit out.

If he wants to go there and his release clause is £45mil then they're idiots to not just pay it. He's more than worth it and is probably exactly what Arsenal need.

So apparently it'll be back to normal for TV next year even if there's no crowds. Meaning you have to pay extortionate BT and Sky Sports prices yet still have no way to legally watch all 38 games for your team. It's ridiculous they've gotten away with that so far but to keep it up when there's no crowds is just ridiculous.

That's a beauty alright. Pinstripes rarely look bad! I thought it was an away kit today, weird not seeing them in stripes but apparently it's based on the 1983 kit. Noticed it's £52 too while Newcastle have the cheek to sell the Puma template for £65!

I don't think Zaha had a choice in the matter, he very vocally wanted out. They priced him out of it and he had no choice but to stay and hounour his contract. I admire him for his professionalism really. He's been good enough to play with a much better club for a while now. Fraser is moving on a free and will get more money now than if he had moved last year. Money isn't everything sure but I doubt he's earned that much in his career thus far, so I'd guess he'll be happy for that.