I assume you've all read Ed's match review? Oh, one of you hasn't? Well, it's a good one, and the link's right there. We'll still be here when you get back, so get to it.
Now, where was I? Oh, right, the seven minute extended Match of the Day highlight package for yesterday's Liverpool v. Birmingham City game. Enjoy:
After getting used to going through every-touch compilations to break down the play of individuals, even seven minutes of highlights can seem oddly incomplete, though we do get a good showing of the work of Suarez, Kuyt, and of course Maxi. We also get Cole's fifth, which is tacked onto the end of the compilation almost as an embarrassed afterthought, a fittingly shy addendum for a player whose season-long performance hardly merits leaping celebrations for a single lucky strike. In any case, the five goal feast1 that marked the largest margin of victory as well as the most goals scored in the league this year by a pair over any past result, as well as beating out a 4-1 thrashing of Steaua Bucharest in Europe on the later front in any competition, probably does deserve a set of highlights more concerned with the overall result than in player movement.
With the asinine 3PM televised blackout in England that means it's easier to watch your team play just about anywhere else in the world on a Saturday afternoon, a full set of highlights might also be called for for anybody in England who hasn't long since taken to the streams due to the FA's idiocy. Though of course with the current set of collective television rights approaching their end it's probably only a matter of time before a big club or two follows the lead of the Spanish giants and then, on top of their own TV deal, heads off to charge a pound per match for high quality streams that don't force you to hear about Kate's face breaking out, allowing them to essentially start printing money. And a money-printing machine could be a fairly useful competitive tool in the approaching financial fair play era. Which probably won't be the greatest thing for overall competition, though one doesn't imagine long-term competitive balance will be amongst the primary concerns, and meanwhile it means that afternoon games you can't legally watch in England are likely almost at an end.
So there's that. And also that Liverpool's more likely to end up closer to Barcelona than Osasuna on the monetary totem pole, as well as that it would be faintly amusing if attempts by footballs' governing bodies to force competitive balance on the sport lead to the exact opposite.
Anyhow, there's no word on where Everton thinks they'll end up in the new world order. But back in the now, things will pick back up again on Monday as the week properly starts. In the meantime, enjoy a (hopefully) lazy Sunday without too many stressful moments or onerous familial responsibilities.
1 I'm well aware that pretty much everybody who's covered this and any other five goal game has used that phrase already, so there's really no need for you to be a dick and point it out or anything.