So it all comes down to the final game. Man City obviously huge favourites, but they showed signs of weakness in their last game. If Liverpool win, then Man City need to win... a draw isn't good enough. Does this make them vulnerable? Can Villa sit back and try to catch them on the break and get an unlikely win? It seems improbable, but the chance is there.

I think that probably the most common lie is where one person knows the truth, and then lies to hide that truth. In many instances the truth is known only to that person, and it can be extremely difficult or impossible for others to determine whether or not they are lying. I flip a coin, and tell you it landed heads... how can you know if this is true?

I'm not sure how much of it is about money, I mean he must be fabulously rich already and have more money than he'll ever need. He's a top player, and must be ambitious. Real Madrid consistently win Champions Leagues, whereas PSG don't... and Real of course are in this year's final, too. That's got to be a huge draw, irrespective of money.

Yes, it's definitely very difficult to call. There is speculation about the injuries to Salah and van Dijk, and Klopp has confirmed they will both miss Liverpool's next game... but I think this is more precautionary than anything else, and to give them a rest. It's been a long season for both Liverpool and Real Madrid, and one key factor in determining the winners might be whose players are better rested.

Swiatek is playing amazingly, but we can't say that she'd beat Barty if she hadn't retired. Personally I'd still favour Barty, but I suppose we'll never know. Swiatek has lost only 3 matches this year... including the one time she played Barty, just before the AO, and lost 6-2 6-4. Has Swiatek raised her level since then? Yes. Enough to beat Barty? Impossible to say for sure, but Barty was a long way ahead of everyone else.

It seems like this is the only way he'll go, yes. I can't imagine any way that the West can force him to step down, other than by assassinating him, which could have quite dramatic repercussions... and creating a power vacuum in Russia is probably not a great idea.

But if Russia struggles long enough, his allies are weakened, the population turns against him... then someone in Russia will likely step up to mount a coup. Not sure that any sort of democratic transition would be at all likely.

I think it's been clear for a while - since Gerrard signed Coutinho - that Suarez was next on the target list. It's a good move for Suarez, he's 35 so nearing the end of his career at the top. If he goes to Villa, he gets a reunion with his friends, has a manager who knows him and values him, a league he knows, and he's good enough to be a vital player for the team instead of just sitting warming the bench as he might do at a top club. Of course he'd have to take a pay cut, but that's the only stumbling block really.

I do think that in general Liverpool should be considered the favourites to win the final, but disregarding the potential Salah and van Dijk injuries, the biggest problem they might face is a loss of confidence due to failing to win the domestic league. Obviously the Champions League is the most important tournament for all the big teams, but Liverpool are so close to a historic 4 trophies, but it seems that the domestic league is going to elude them with Man City set to win. It's been a close fight all season, with Liverpool making up ground and at one point looking like favourites... I do wonder if losing at the last minute might cause a psychological blow that affects them for the CL final. Of course Real don't have the same issue, having already won their domestic league.

It could be tough for Man U. They've won only one of their last five league games. Palace are undefeated in their last four. I think it's far from guaranteed that Man U will win this match. Their biggest positive really is the fact that West Ham, who are chasing them, need a win but are dropping points everywhere and have only one win in their last six games.

So yes I'd say Man U will likely qualify, but it's more likely to be because West Ham fail to win than anything else.

It was a huge opportunity for Everton to secure safety, yes. They are starting to look vulnerable again now, particularly as one of their remaining two games is Arsenal, which they're likely to lose. Obviously Leeds and Burnley are in worse positions, but still Everton's defeat (and the fact that Everton played later) gives these teams hope. All three of Everton, Burnley and Leeds have winnable matches coming up, so really it's all still to play for. Leeds perhaps are still looking most likely of the three to go down.

Yes, she really does. Unless Barty makes a surprise comeback? I would love to see Barty playing Swiatek in this sort of form, but sadly won't happen. It's difficult to see anyone stopping Swiatek at RG.

On the men's side, Djokovic's return to form looks quite ominous for everyone else. Nadal is clearly not 100%, Medvedev will be rusty on his return to the tour but is poor on clay anyway, and the usual 'nearly' contenders (Tsitsipas, Zverev etc) are likely to make the later rounds but then fall. Unless Nadal can miraculously get back to full fitness very quickly, it probably leaves Alcaraz as the only real challenger. Hope he's on the opposite side of the draw to Djokovic, or else the biggest match at RG might happen before the final.

England do have some world-class players, and Harry Kane in particular can win any game. But I'd agree that England are unlikely to win the World Cup. Some of the players they've relied on in the past are just in really poor form at the moment, most notably their main defender Harry Maguire, who is not having a great time at all at Man U. And they also suffer from a ridiculous weight of expectation that is out of keeping with the quality of the players.

Well, Zverev won, but I think Djokovic will beat FAA. Djokovic may not be back to his best yet, but he's still a formidable opponent... he even took Alcaraz to a tie-breaker in the final set last week! Djokovic at 90% of his best (or whatever % he's currently at) is still too much for almost everyone else on the tour. Also, FAA has a bad record against top-5 players (won 2, lost 11).

Clubs (and particularly big clubs) can be far too impatient, they bring in a big name coach and expect instant results. Of course, that's unrealistic. First he needs to familiarise himself with the entire squad, to work out what he needs in the transfer market. Then United have to secure those players - which may be tougher for them than usual, as they don't have the prospect of Champions League football to offer to potential new recruits. Then, once they have the new players in, it takes a lot of time to get them to fit together with the current squad into a cohesive unit. And finally everyone - current players as well as new ones - have to get used to the new manager and his tactical style. Even if you bring in the best players in the world, it's almost impossible to guarantee instant results. They do indeed need to give him a few years, but you'd expect that what will happen, if they fail to qualify for the champions league again, is that they'll be looking around for another new manager this time next year.

Yes, it does look likely he'll leave Bayern. It's a shame to see him go, but at the same time, he's still one of the best players in the world, and he has only really played top football in Germany. It must be hugely enticing to be offered a chance to play for another European giant, and to test himself in another league... particularly at a time when Barca are no longer as dominant as they once were, and there is a chance for him to help restore them to their former status.

And it seems more likely now given that Barca have offloaded Coutinho to Aston Villa, and so freed up a chunk of the wage bill.

Yes, this is what I was saying earlier. Arsenal have the point advantage at the moment, but they have a tougher final two games than Spurs. Spurs have superior goal difference, but it's unlikely they'll finish on the same number of points (that would require both Spurs drawing and Arsenal losing).

Spurs play Burnley and Norwich, which is as close to a guaranteed six points as you can get in this league. If they do get the full six points, then Arsenal will also have to win both of their games in order to remain fourth. It's questionable whether Arsenal should really be favourites for fourth spot right now.

If Miami is the only race they've had this new development, then it seems to have had zero positive effect. Fifth and sixth is not an improvement over any other race this season, most races they've been around there or a bit higher. After the final restart they were losing about a second a lap on the Ferrari and RB, which is in line with the rest of the season. It sounds as though if it gets banned, it won't make their car any worse.

Yes, this could be a huge setback for him. He was winning the match easily until the injury flared up again. It's not a new injury though, it's the one he's been struggling with on and off for some time. It seems like he can't really predict when it will affect him, and when it will be fine... so there is still a chance that he'll be fine for Roland Garros, although given how soon that is, I'd probably not have him down as one of the favourites.

I would have loved to see a fully-fit Nadal vs a fully-fit Alcaraz in France, but it may be that it's not going to happen this year.

... having contracted Covid?




Hey, remember a while back when we were playing 'guess who started this thread' just by reading the title? Well, I was playing it, anyway. Certain people are really easy to spot. I think I'm 8/8 now, or something like that.

Do you think we'll ever find anything that we agree on? A couple of times I thought we were close, but then it turned out it was all an illusion. Like that Kraken thing.

The problem really is that society is set up so that acquisition of money is seen as the main measure of success, and this is exacerbated by the fact that money is of course quantifiable, so it's easy to measure your "success" against someone else's. It needs quite a paradigm shift for people to see being ethical as more desirable than being wealthy. I'm not sure how this can be achieved really, although the looming climate crisis might help to engender change.