Ogre Shrek

Guys, grab your popcorn, then go google the details of José Mourinho's first Man Utd press con. LVG got shaded for his 'philosophy', Arsene skewered for being trophyless for 10 years, Moyes got hit, and Giggs slimed for wanting his (i.e. Mourinho's) job. Mikhitaryan's (sp?) a done deal, Pogba's return's hinted, and Rooney will no longer have a place in midfield... The guy gives good copy; no wonder the English press loves him so. Wouldn't want him anywhere near the club I support, but I've got to admit that he's an asset to the EPL. For one thing, his press conferences are usually bloody entertaining... especially after his team loses and he has a pissy fit!

Sure. Not like I can prevent it from happening But the idea of this thread is to provide a space for people to express their unpopular but honest opinions, not to replicate the Bashing Thread (where users seem to post bashes for the sake of getting up-voted (or down-voted, as the case may be)), so hopefully people will recognise that the opinions expressed in this thread are meant (by definition) to be unpopular, and respond accordingly (i.e. refrain from becoming butthurt).

To this day, I still cannot fathom how #19 did not win the vote when we last changed the badges. Anyway, this time around I'll be voting for #31 and #32; she looks especially great in those mock ups. Edit: Welp! Just realised the preliminary round for voting has ended. I'm glad at least one of the two I wanted to vote for, got selected for the final round of voting.

Yeah, Mane's not quite the star name us fans were hoping for, but his 15 goals last season is more than any other 'Pool player managed. Plus 4 of those goals were scored against us, and Liverpool have a tendency recently of buying players who played well when facing us. Was a bit concerned as this reeked of a signing by the infamous Transfer Committee, but Klopp's reassuring words* are, well, reassuring. As a wag said in twitter, Liverpool shops so often at Southampton, the loyalty points collected ought to entitle 'Pool to get Fraser Forster for free next season.

10 against 10! The referee bungled again; that was NOT straight red worthy. But this will even things up and (hopefully) we'll get lots of goals Edit: The hope was in vain... OTL. Into extra time now.

THAT WAS NOT DESERVING OF A SECOND YELLOW, WTF! 30 minutes in, and Chile is down to 10 men with Diaz sent off after collecting two yellow cards.

The English clubs that were dragging their feet in the signing of foreign players, are crying right now. As are those English clubs who made offers in Euros to sign players from abroad. They're probably standing by their fax machines trying frantically to fax letters of withdrawal of their offers Foreign players who get paid in pounds sterling are counting the hit to their salaries. And the EPL is suddenly a far less desirable destination for players from Europe than it was just 24 hours ago.

32 minutes in, and it's 2-0 to Argentina. The first was a header 3 minutes in, after a sublime ball over the top by Messi, bypassing the entire US defence. The second, a typical Messi free kick from way out, which left Brad Guzan with no chance. Edit: Argentina could/should have been 3 goals up by half-time. Even if the third 'goal' was offside, a penalty should have been given for the clothesline by Guzan on the striker.

Since it was my report that got the mods to take action in relation to your posts, let me paraphrase what I said in my report: Offensive imagery: While the gif is not offensive in and by itself, in the context of the post (where someone was murdered in cold blood), that lipstick applying gif is both inappropriate and offensive Spam: the same image is posted multiple times (9x in one post; 12x in another post). Edit: It would do you good to familiarise yourself with the forum rules.

Wow. Brazil vs Peru is into the 70+ minutes with the score at 0-0 when Peru launched a counter attack and scored. The Brazilian players protested furiously to the officials that there was handball. The referee and his assistant were surrounded and the referee took ages to decide... before finally (after what seemed like more than 5 minutes) to call it a goal. The replay CLEARLY showed that the Peru player used his hand to swipe the ball into the Brazilian net! Four more minutes plus stoppage time to go. If Brazil doesn't equalise, it is OUT of the Copa America! Edit: Six minutes of stoppage time. This could be THE incident that finally forces FIFA to agree to embrace technology. Edit: THAT'S IT! BRAZIL IS KNOCKED OUT OF THE COPA AMERICA CENTENARIO! By a handballed goal. http://youtu.be/15AsaUTKi_g

It wasn't just the scoreline which was upsetting, but the fact the Colombian coach replaced ten (10!!) of his first-team players in his starting line up. I had lumped in early irl because I thought the odds would fall as the kick off time drew near. Then when 10-men USA managed to hold off Paraguay to win and lead Group A, I thought Colombia would go all out to regain top spot in the group so as to avoid Brazil, but... sigh! Brazil may no longer be as strong as it used to be, but surely it's still preferable to top the group and play Peru in the quarterfinals, no? Now I'll have to survive on bread and cheese for the rest of the week... (Edit: j/k) (Edit2: Thanks to Germany, I can now afford caviar for b/f )

So at the Copa America Centenario, Colombia (who comfortably won both their matches so far, including a 2-0 win against USA) needed only to draw in their final Group A match to finish first in the group and avoid a likely quarter-final match against Brazil. Their opponent was Costa Rica, who had nothing to play for, having failed to score in the whole tournament and who was just thrashed 4-0 by USA. Guess what happened.

Read somewhere that Vardy's release clause figure is £20 million. Did Arsenal bid £20m +1 pound? On a more serious note, I'm not sure that Vardy would fit into this Arsenal team, tbh. Vardy is very effective for the counter-attacking game that Leicester is set up to play. But Arsenal's game is possession-based; they wouldn't be playing to his strengths. ~~~ YouTube link for live streaming for the friendly match between Belgium and Norway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNUiYDH4bVM&feature=youtu.be Second half just started, and Belgium has just conceded again to go from 1 nil up to 2-1 down. Notwithstanding all the stars at their disposal, Belgium is a pretty poor team, judging by their performance so far in this game. Lots of possession, lots of runs to the byline to deliver crosses, but the Norwegian goalkeeper is barely tested, whereas at the other end, the Belgium defence is a bundle of nerves. If they play like this at the Euros, Belgium may not even make it out of the group stages... Edit: YES! Two goals in the space of four minutes has turn this game on its head. Fingers crossed, Belgium can hold on to the lead now (15 minutes more to go).

Read elsewhere a comment in reaction to this gif: "Clattenburg's wife is a lucky woman".

As a 'Pool fan, have always known that Rafa's a class act. Football aside, the unwavering support he gave to the Justice for the 96 cause were over and beyond that which can be expected of him. Plus, not many top managers would have taken the Newcastle job, for fear of tarnishing their reputations. His decision to stay on and manage in the Championship (even though he could legitimately walk away) earns him even more respect. It's a tough gig to get Newcastle promoted back to the EPL, but #InRafaWeTrust. ~~~ Btw, posting this here in case one of you can help: A friend of mine bought tickets to the CL Final in Milan next Saturday (between Real Madrid and Atletico). Thing is, he completely forgot about it (having bought the tixs online months earlier). He is due to get married on the same Saturday. So he asked me to help him ask around... to see if anyone is interested in getting married.

Some of these new fangled football kits are really... um... interesting : Click here to view the Tweet Instant pecs and six-packs!

It's Soyul's birthday today! This video was made (not by me!) for her birthday last year: Happy Birthday to Crayon Pop's mascot and maknae! 아름답다! 박혜경!

I was about to add my two cents' worth about Bayern's poaching of Dortmund's best players year after year... ... but then I remembered that that's basically Liverpool's modus operandi for transfers under BRodge, with Southampton the Dortmund equivalent. Latest rumours have us targeting the Saint's goalie Forster. Oops! Thank goodness for Klopp! \o/ \o/ \o/ Question: Does Klopp have the requisite ruthless streak (required of top managers) to get rid of the good-but-not-quite-good-enough players? I seem to remember reading something about that, but Mignolet being given a fresh 5-year deal has had me worried...

There, there. There's still the Playoffs route. Brighton fighting!

Brighton's goalscorer red-carded though... Edit: Sidwell's still playing? I remember having him in my fantasy football league team... I thought he had retired

Happy Third Anniversary! This milestone seems especially poignant in view of EntAsia's recent closure...

Best Most exciting match I've seen this year, by far. Also, both sets of fans were fantastic.

No possibility of ET now... Liverpool needs 3 goals and not concede in the second half... no pressure... Edit: Three minutes in, one down, two to go. YASSS!!

Expecting another 1-1 draw after 90 mins, ET, then penalties (and we all know how good the Germans are at penalties... ) 10 more minutes to go... Question: Does the 'away goals' rule apply during extra time? I.e. If it finishes 1-1 after 90 minutes, and Dortmund scores one more during ET, will the tie goes to penalties if Liverpool equalizes, or must Liverpool score 2 to go though on aggregate?