Malenko

5 minutes ago, damshow said:

Yeah lots of "huh?" in that group. I'm fine with a Muse inclusion and that might be the best song of theirs to include. Likewise, Christina definitely belongs in a list like this but probably not for that song. But for the rest? Justice had their moment in the sun and then were just as quickly forgotten. Same for Uffie. Both part of that post-Daft Punk wave of everyone thinking electro pop was going to define the future. When this book was written it required a ton of guesswork identifying what would stand the test of time. And they surely guessed wrong. Never heard the last song in this group before and while nice I don't know if I *had* to hear it.

Electropop is quite big in Europe so they're never really quickly forgotten in some places. Radios won't allow it. 

A bit like apart from ginormous names, most famous american hip hop acts barely get any airplay in Europe. It's a regional thing, I think.

It was the first time I heard the last song in this group too. It's the first song I definitely never heard n the last 10 pages or so. 

This bunch isn't for me. I don't really care about any of them. I agree Christina Aguilera belongs in the book though but is this really her first song in the book? I don't remember.

I have no doubt Cristiano Ronaldo can still be useful, but, while still very good, he is no longer the ridiculous goal scorer he was in his peak years in Madrid.

I know people know this but I just feel no matter what he does it will feel like a disappointment, because people may be expecting him to do things he hasn't done in a while.

It seems very likely he'll end up at Man Utd now. City are out.

If Spurs don't get out of the group with any of the possible combinations...

7 minutes ago, CLDY said:

I dig it. Definitely don't watch that video if you have any sort of sensitivities to flashing lights, patterns, etc. though.

I like the song too but thanks for the warning. I'm not watching the video.

I know it has been like that for a while but as someone who started watching football in the late 80s and early 90s, it's still weird to see AC Milan in the "you've done well to get this far" pot.

23 minutes ago, Szumi - A Polack said:

What was confusing about that?

It's not confusing. I just didn't know what you were talking about. Sorry. I just read Barça and Spain just gave him 2 weeks off because he's an 18 year old who played about 10 games more than anyone else this season, but didn't know anything about it until now.

5 minutes ago, Szumi - A Polack said:

He's supposed to be dropped by Spain this international window, and rested by Barca afterwards to give him the rest he clearly needs.

Uh?

3 hours ago, Baddar said:

They're still a very strong team without Messi. It helps that Pedri has been so consistently good in midfield since debuting as well.

Pedri is great but going to the olympics after the euros might have been a mistake. He seemed tired almost the whole match and the season just started.

Man City 2-0 Arsenal (Sat 12.30pm, BT)
Newcastle 1-2 Southampton (Sat 3pm)
Norwich 1-0 Leicester (Sat 3pm)
West Ham 2-1 Crystal Palace (Sat 3pm)
Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea (Sat 5.30pm, Sky)

1 hour ago, CLDY said:

Is "good 4 u" on that album?

It is! 

Crystal Palace 3-1 Brentford (Sat 3pm)
Leeds 1-1 Everton (Sat 3pm)
Brighton 2-0 Watford (Sat 5.30pm, Sky)
Wolves 0-1 Tottenham (Sun 2pm, Sky)
Arsenal 2-0 Chelsea (Sun 4.30pm, Sky)

37 minutes ago, Bad News Jericode said:

Nope, all standing, no enforced social distancing, felt like genuine normality and I loved every second.

Oooh. Nice! I went to a couple, both seating and I didn't enjoy it half as much as I would have under those circumstances. Stopped going because of it. If things are changing, I'll definitely consider going to a few more.

1 hour ago, Bad News Jericode said:

Had my first gig in 18 months last night watching Foals at Cardiff Castle. Genuinely felt emotional, so glad live music is back.

Now to bankrupt myself buying gig tickets like I used to pre-pandemic

Seated?

25 minutes ago, damshow said:

So if I understand it right, like most caps, it's expected to increase every year? Because revenues theoretically keep increasing. But due to the large drop in revenues last season the cap plummeted and Barca had agreed upon wages with multiple players that would already put them over the cap once registered?

That's the thing. It doesn't necessarily increase every year, but the 2 massive clubs never had to worry with any of that because theirs did. Their revenues have assured them all their transfer market mistakes would never be too costly from a financial standpoint. I remember reading back in 2019 Barcelona topped all clubs in revenues but that was until the last couple of years where everything drastically changed.

1 hour ago, Arjen Robben said:

Yeah, but that was after his contract had expired and he'd become a free agent. As far as I'm aware, the rule applies to new players rather than contract extensions. After that, the amount becomes irrelevant, he could accept a wage of £1 and they still wouldn't be able to register him because he would be considered a new player when they were already over the cap.

I'm saying why didn't they try to extend his contract much earlier, once Bartomeu was gone which seemed to be the crux of Messi's issues last year, and Laporta was in, you'd think that was the time to try to do it rather than let it lapse and complicate matters as it did. Pique, de Jong, Lenglet, and Ter Stegen all signed new deals in October, they hardly seem like pressing issues by comparison, and was one of the last acts by Bartomeu.

 The salary cap doesn't apply to signings. It applies to your full squad. They call it "Coste de Plantilla" (Squad value/cost). This includes all players registered to play for them in La Liga. The registration part is key and is also the reason why they have a few new players under contract for the new season which would still get them above the salary cap but those don't matter at the moment because they aren't registered yet.

Basically when all those players you mentioned got contract extensions, the 2021/22 Coste de Plantilla still wasn't above what it needs to be because it didn't include Messi yet as he wasn't under contract for 2021/22. Besides, ter Stegen and de Jong (not sure about Lenglet) accepted paycuts so their "cost" will actually be below what it had been this season anyway.

Had they signed Messi - even at 50% of his original salary - they wouldn't be able to register quite a few of their squad next year because as has been mentioned before, he's not the only one being paid a noticeable percentage of the cap.

Why was he allowed to pay with such high wages last season then? La Liga's salary cap depends on how much you can get back. Barcelona's cap pre-Covid was higher than it is now, because they've had significantly lower revenue last season.

15 minutes ago, Arjen Robben said:

I might just be not fully clued up on the rules or something, but why did Barcelona willingly just let Messi's contract run down knowing full well that he would be considered a new player if they agreed a new contract after that? Given that he clearly wanted to stay, why did they not try to extend his contract before it expired, they'd still be massively overspending, sure, but at least he'd be registered still.

Must leave such a bad taste that they just knowingly strung him along all summer like "yeah, yeah, no bother it's all in hand, everything's agreed, Messi will still be here, don't worry" only to pull the contract off the table at the last moment and finally be like "yeah, we can't, sorry". What a way to treat your greatest ever player.

They did reach an agreement but he couldn't sign because the minimum they could give him would still be over the league's imposed salary cap.

According to news reports. If Pjanic and Umtiti leave, they have enough margin to have Depay playing.

Aguero is injured so they won't do it yet, because it would just go against the cap and he wouldn't be able to play anyway. Eric Garcia and Emerson would be closer to the 31st as long as they're able to sell Braithwaite.

They seem to be confident all 3 are going to leave the club before the 31st so all new signings will be registered.

Some suggest big names like Piqué, Jordi Alba and Busquets should accept a paycut in case those (or any of those) don't work out in order to help the club.

4 minutes ago, damshow said:

Rumor has it Messi will wear no. 30 with Neymar keeping his no. 10 shirt. 

Read that earlier today. He would go to number 30 as an alternative because it was his first number when he started with Ronaldinho as 10.

51 minutes ago, CLDY said:

IV and the Strange Band are playing here in less than a month and only just now did I learn that the "IV" in question is "Hank Williams IV", Hank 3's 30 year old (!) son. 

Just don't get confused with Hank Williams IV who is someone else entirely. That's Ricky Fitzgerald's stage name. He's also a musician and the grandson of Lewis Fitzgerald, possible illegitimate son of Hank Williams, the first. 

"Hank Williams IV" as you called him is Coleman Williams. He doesn't go by Hank Williams IV. He just adopted the IV for the band name.

15 minutes ago, Baddar said:

Sure

Thanks!

Man Utd 3  vs. 1 Leeds (Sat 12.30pm, BT)
Leicester 0 vs. 0 Wolves (Sat 3pm)
Watford 2 vs. 1 Aston Villa (Sat 3pm)
Norwich 0 vs. 2 Liverpool (Sat 5.30pm, Sky)
Tottenham 0 vs. 2 Man City (Sun 4.30pm, Sky)

Can I still join this?

On 05/08/2021 at 20:34, damshow said:

Is it outside the realm of possibility for La Liga, who just signed multiple new, lucrative international TV deals, to conjure up some exception which lets him stay at Barca

This would have already been done if it was Madrid. Not saying it couldn't have happened as well to Barcelona because money talks and obviously from a financial standpoint it would benefit LaLiga if he stayed but with Madrid it would have been much more than just money. It would have been done.

One of my friends here supports Barcelona. He shares that vision the fans were lied to. He doesn't share that guy's intensity though.

I can't stand shows like the chiringuito. There have been quite a few.

Beating Bondar was an amazing result.

Bondar is usually beaten by the Chinese at world championships and wins most european championships. He was also so much better than any non Chinese in the qualifiers I felt it was already decided before the finals even started.

I've always sucked at international level too.

There should be a couple posts back when I had a career I was managing Nigeria, failed to qualify o the world cup and then jumped ship to Japan who had already qualified to the World Cup.

Obviously I screwed Japan's chances too.