Paul

Arnaud is the Kevin Feige of the UCU.

When you’re right, you’re right.

Going to try this. I love all that survival shit. Nice one.

Just read Aliens: Bishop by T. R. Tapper. It’s set after Alien 3 and is about the scramble for Bishop’s remains in order to access his highly valuable memories of the xenomorphs. Various business and governmental forces get involved and there’s loads of action. I really enjoyed this and it’s definitely recommended if you’re a fan of that narrative universe.

Same. I’m also intrigued to see what Slot can do with him though.

I wasn’t at the game so can’t comment from personal experience, but I will say that the atmosphere at Anfield has been far, far, far below its previous heights over the two seasons prior to this one. We mentioned it on the pod most weeks last season.

I see Walk as far more of an everyman - and a slightly pathetic, broken one at that. The lack of respect he gets from other characters, along with his medical condition, makes him seem very beaten. It’s definitely not a “leading man” part, in my head.

Woah! Mad the way people interpret books differently. I had Walk as way more pathetic and far less Alpha than Josh Brolin. Not sure who I’d cast, though.

Just finished this. I enjoyed it but wasn’t blown away. It’s beautifully written and the characterisation is brilliant - especially Duchess (even if she is ridiculously wise and self-assured for her age, even allowing for the way trauma has supposedly shaped her). The ending is incredibly satisfying, too. However, it felt slow in places and was silly in the way it focused so much on Walk without confirming the bleedin’ obvious of his specific medical condition. That said, I think it could make a truly great film in the right hands if they resisted making it too pulpy. If it was made in the tone of something like Gone Baby, Gone for example, it could be something special.

The Quansah comments are a big mistake in my view. Regardless of whether it worked or not, I have no problem with the decision as that’s a manager’s job to use his judgement to change a game. Also, I have no problem with his reasoning and the fact that the player should be told. However, I cannot see for the life of me what he achieves by making that public in such a personal way. There is no upside to embarrassing a player in public, no matter what he’s done. Even if a player has got something badly wrong in a non-performance context, ripping him to shreds achieves nothing constructive. Clearly this was not that though, which makes it worse. The idea that your boss should tell everyone else at work - and in this case, millions of the viewing public – what he was not happy about in your performance, is absolutely insane. It’s humiliating, regardless of whether that was the intention or not. Imagine how any of us would feel in the same situation. Obviously, you haven’t got a boss Dave so think of it as Gail critiquing your domestic performances in the middle of the Asda for everyone to hear. You won’t hear the specifics of what she’s saying; you’ll just be embarrassed. He could’ve easily explained why he made the change but de-personalised it and made clear it was not a knock on the lad himself -even if that’s not what he truly believed. I am convinced that if he carries on like this it will backfire on him. It’s a very foolish way to lead in my opinion and smacks of either inexperience or a lack of care.

Agree with all of that. 7 for me. The zero gravity stuff was good. One thing I think so few of these B-movie/action films fail at these days is the casting and dialogue for the minor characters. Films like Aliens and Predator always got that absolutely on point where the minor characters felt real and you knew who they were and what they were about. The ones in this are just bland and forgettable. Oh and if I never see another CGI resurrection again in my life, it won’t be a bad thing.

One point I wanted to make on the pod, but which slipped my mind is that there is a downside to Edwards hiring all his old mates. Complete consensus in any leadership team is to be avoided. The last thing Liverpool need is an echo chamber at the top where everyone is telling each other that they’re right. When you read about the triumvirate that delivered our greatest successes of the last decade, the thing that stands out to me is the occasional professional tensions between Klopp, Edwards and Gordon. Are all these nerds holding each other to account or are they just patting each other on the back and saying, “Good process, boys“?

My understanding of what Dave was saying on the pod is that he fears that we are simply commodifying our Academy. However, I see absolutely no evidence for that whatsoever. I think it’s Dave‘s understandable scepticism at the rise of the nerds at the club affecting his view of things currently. Once the window’s closed and we’re playing good stuff under Slot, he’ll settle down. Basically, hearing that The Real Thing track in the restaurant has spun him out.

I don’t think that’s what we’re doing though. Judicious sales have to be part of the plan or else we can’t generate the money for purchases. It’s been a fundamental element of our transfer success for the entire FSG period. So far we’ve not sold any young players and are apparently open to selling only two. That’s hardly flogging the kids for a fast buck. On those players, I haven’t seen anything from Doak to make me think he’s Liverpool quality. He’s too small and has no end product, so far. You could argue that’s the reason to keep him so we can see how he turns out, but that might be offset by a good price now that the club feels we might not get in future. As for Clarke, I’m not sure where he fits in the squad now, never mind the team. He’s worth decent money and moving him on might open up opportunities for a potentially even better player in Trey Nyoni. If we turn into Chelsea, I’ll be as critical as anyone. But that’s not what we’re seeing in my view. And as long as we mitigate the risks of misjudging a player’s development by inserting buy-back and sell-on clauses, then we’re covered every which way. Finally, it’s conceivable that some players need the jeopardy of a permanent move to accelerate their development. The comfort of a loan might not be the spur some of them need in order to progress.

Only 90 minutes? Optimistic...