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Regardless of what the supporters think, the world club championship is far more important to the club and i would guess the players and management than 2nd domestic cup in England. Even if they weren't in the world club competition they still would have been playing the B team in the Carabao Cup so its odd to expect the fixture congestion to force their hand and play the first team.

On a separate note, i look at some of the prediction models that a few of the advanced stats websites produce and i notice that 538 have Liverpool's chances of retaining the Champions league at around 8% (4th highest). However, they have also give them a 10% chance of winning the Europa league - higher than any side currently in that competition!   

Clov I appreciate what you are saying but those last two few seasons were terrible from Kaep, and I was a fan at a stage, and you can talk about the situation he was in there are plenty of shitty situations in the NFL for a QB, it doesent mean your play regresses so badly.

When you look at his PFF stats that I mentioned the other day, and I know everyone isn't a fan of it but plenty of NFL teams use it now, *every* throw is graded, takes into account drops etc (no excuses basically) those last two seasons were abysmal. I think the boat has sailed for him, no way a player has improved after 3 seasons out of the NFL. He was very good at a time but that time has long passed.

I would concede were he to be given a chance that you might be proven right. But the problem is that he has not been given an opportunity to prove his worth one way or another - when career duds like Gabbert are still making a living in the league. Sure, he might flame out again but teams regularly invest hope and money in QB's with thinner resumes than Kaep (Case Keenam, Foles).

I'm a 49ers fan and probably watched most of kaepernick's games for the Niners and i would lean towards Seanie's view on Kaep.

The idea that he lost his job to Blaine Gabbert is a bit of false narrative. After starting the first half of the 2015 season with Gabbert as his back-up he went on IR after week 9 to have shoulder surgery. He had more surgery in the off-season and had reportedly lost weight and muscle mass by training camp and so Gabbert started the season. Predictably it went terrible and Kaepernick came in after a 5 or 6 weeks and played the season out. He outperformed Gabbert statistically in all categories bar sacks (a common issue with mobile QBs).

I think the main problem for Kaep in evaluating his worth as a QB is that he has a very odd career trajectory. He won the Niners starting job when Alex Smith went out with a concussion and subsequently outperformed Smith (who was having his best ever season up till that point) the rest of the year, taking the Niners to within one play of a Superbowl win. The following season the Niners went to the NFC championship and came within a Richard Sherman finger tip of reaching the Superbowl again. That NFC championship was an incredible game, one the best i've ever seen. He made some astounding plays in that game - the touchdown to Anquan Boldin over Earl Thomas in particular sticks in the mind. At that point in his career, he and Wilson were neck and neck in terms of their development and i think the comparison with were Jackson and Watson are now is valid.

This is when it starts to go wrong for him. The following season was Harbaugh's final year - Kaep played ok as i recall but that Niners team was starting to unravel with a lot of retirement, not to mention the standoff between harbaugh the front office and ownership. Kaep's final two seasons with niners were not good but as Seanie said there were mitigating circumstances - Tomsula was completely out of his depth as HC and then Chip Kelly was a busted flush by the time he landed in SF - the Niners went 2-14 and everyone got fired.

In my opinion, in footballing terms he is good enough to be in the league. In the right system his ceiling is high. The Panthers should have had a go with him when Newton went down. Tampa is another spot were he would be a significant upgrade over the starter. He'd make an excellent back-up for teams like the Texans or Ravens. If you think he is just 'not worth the hassle of the circus and attention he would bring' to paraphrase a few on here, then i think that says more about your attitude to his political cause than it does about his footballing ability. The NFL is a circus - that's the whole point of it. Decrying Kaep's activism for the unwanted attention it brings just rings hollow when you consider just how much soft power politics the NFL engages in with things like military and veterans support.   

That he is being blackballed is beyond contention - Bill Barnwell had a remarkable stat on this. Kaep was 29 years old when he last started a game. Since 1970 not one single NFL QB that started a game aged 29 failed to subsequently make it onto an NFL roster (barring gambling addiction i think).

I suspect on the world stage that China might have a few surprisingly large settlements without any place of religious worship* given the state attitude to organised religion.

*at least in the sense of the 'Abrahamic religions'. Obviously there are lots of traditional temples.

Emmanuel Sanders to the 49ers, for a third and a fourth (with a fifth coming the other way). Don't like the price but the Niners are very weak at receiver.

I was an absolute genius and picked up Murray in fantasy after Kamara went down having seen what Josh Jacobs was able to do to the Hicks-less Bears D with my own eyes two weeks ago.

Of course I was an absolute coward and thought "nah that Bears D will stop him" and stuck with Melvin Gordon instead.

I'm not sure Mariota is the answer Seanie. Is he any better than Trubisky? Mariota gonna have to get paid next year too. I think the season is as good as done for the Bears and they should start thinking about what they want to do long term with the offense.

I think Mariota is a good QB who has been in a shit situation all his career. He's a better QB than Goff for example and I reckon he'd succeed in the Bears offense under Nagy. More expensive but Cam Newton either perhaps? time moves on fast and when you've a decent defense you need to try and go it. I think the time to give up on Trubisky has come. He'll probably kill it next week after me saying this but I don't see him taking the Bears to the playoffs.

I'd be very surprised if Mariota is anything more than average to below average starting quarterback for the rest of his career. He is far too conservative (his sack rate is ridiculous) and fairly injury prone to boot. The Titans have had decent defenses in his time there (including this year) and a few weapons (Derrick Henry, Delanie Walker) but he has consistently been a major limiting factor on their success (though Mularky takes some blame too).
The Bears aren't really in a position to trade for a quarterback in any case, as they're without a 1st round pick next year. IMO they'd be better rolling with Trubisky (or Daniels) the rest of the season and then looking at free agency for a QB. May be if the Bengals land the top pick they will cut Dalton, who has a higher ceiling than Mariota imo. 

The Niners are legitimate contenders this year (if they can stay healthy).

hopefully the fullback is ok looked like best player on the field until he got hurt

Yeah, its weird to think of a fullback being so important to offense in this day and age but he does a lot for them in the run game and they are a very heavy run offense. He's also a very good receiver.

The Niners are legitimate contenders this year (if they can stay healthy).

Ciaran Carson.

A great man and a fabulous poet.

Sharia law actually is a tautology.

Is there a British Taoiseach? I thought the head of governments in other countries were referred to as Príomh Aire.

A tautology is saying the same thing twice over. Is 'Irish' and 'taoiseach' the same thing? Clearly not.
A pleonasm is a redundancy in speech. As Taoisigh (in the sense the term is used in English) only ever refer to Irish leaders the Irish prefix is redundant. Hence pleonasm.

Are there any examples of tautologies in this thread?

Referring to Sharia as Sharia law tells a naive informant what sort of thing Sharia is (cf. Brehon law).

Irish Taoiseach is a pleonasm, not a tautology, as Taoiseach is not the same the same thing as Irish.

Don't think a challenge like that should warrant a penalty but not at all surprised by the decision. That's the way the game is referred these days.

Very interesting discussion here with the former chief scientific advisor to the British government

https://www.talkingpoliticspodcast.com/blog/2019/160-david-king-on-climate-repair

[Aymara Indian]

He has a great future in front of him.

This is a metaphor, not a tautology.

I only discovered what tautology meant two minutes ago.

What if he said "he has a great future behind him"

Then he'd probably be an Aymara Indian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aymara_language#Idiosyncrasies

Tautology 

He has a great future in front of him.

This is a metaphor, not a tautology.

I only discovered what tautology meant two minutes ago.

What if he said "he has a great future behind him"

Then he'd probably be an Aymara Indian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aymara_language#Idiosyncrasies