25 Jun 2026 14:44:46
I hate it when the league finishes but we normally have the transfers to enjoy but with the World Cup in it seems to have held everything up.
And now you can't even enjoy the World Cup anymore with that stupid stop just to keep the American tv channels happy so they can stick an advert on.
How can a country that has no real interest change the game from two half's to four quarters.
I mean they should not set any laws in anything if the country is stupid enough to make Trump president not once but twice.
25 Jun 2026 16:03:54
Does the hydration break really matter that much? I agree it's a dumb idea, but I just go and do something else and come back to the game. I watch the game on the treadmill or while jumping rope in the morning these days anyway, so it doesn't bother me. I just mute the TV for a while, and then turn it back on when the game comes back.
Also, it's not the World Cup holding the transfers up, it's social media making you think that we should get 5 transfers wrapped up every day. Before we had transfer rumours on the Internet, we simply couldn't be asking for minute by minute updates on leaks that appear every day.
25 Jun 2026 16:16:01
What will you do when you're at games, Patrik? Not sure you can take a treadmill into Anfield, mate.
25 Jun 2026 16:21:43
I could just, I don't know, talk to the people around me or the friends I'm with?
25 Jun 2026 16:48:45
Does the OP not think player safety is a good idea? I mean, playing football for 45 minutes in 90 degree heat takes quite the toll on a body, even if they are highly tuned athletes.
I hate the 5 subs rule, which I think is highly disruptive to continuity and enjoyment as hydration breaks, but if it means players get less injured then so be it.
25 Jun 2026 16:52:53
Fwends.
25 Jun 2026 17:37:12
I think the WC has been grand with some great games, upsets etc. The hydration break doesn't really annoy me one way or the other, to be honest. They may have got that wrong in some people's eyes, but a lot has been improved. Amazing how some just focus on the negative aspect tho and not the overall game.
25 Jun 2026 17:40:47
PatrikBurgher, not a single person gives a rats what you or anybody else does during the breaks, that's not the issue here. The problem is that it completely unnecessarily and unfairly disturbs the flow of the game. Not to mention we've been playing 2x 45 minute halves for 150 years, and there's absolutely no reason whatsoever to change that. Chopping it up into 4 quarters for the sake of adverts is nothing short of an outrage.
And the World Cup absolutely holds up the transfer window. Stop trying to gaslight people.
Jari_Is_Lit, what were we doing for the last 120 years, mate? Where do we keep that long list of pro footballers who've died from dehydration again? I seem to have misplaced it.
Oh, and player safety, that's right, 5 seconds for a throw-in, 8 seconds for a goal kick, but 3 whole minutes for a mouthful of water. Makes perfect sense; it's definitely just a coincidence that 3 minutes is the typical time for an ad break.
And what about those temperature-controlled stadiums? Why are we having ad breaks - I mean hydration breaks in those? I saw interviews with fans who literally said you could do with a jumper on for those games.
25 Jun 2026 18:20:10
More breaks, the better then get them chats in.
25 Jun 2026 18:46:41
I watched the Arg game on a US stream the other night, whilst we're watching the players having a break on the pitch, the US channel are showing ads. That's probably what the intention was all along. More moolah.
25 Jun 2026 19:10:51
Let's all do a Patrik B and see what we can do during the hydration breaks, he's already got top billing with the treadmill ha, so I could play table tennis, play darts, hoover the biscuit crumbs up from around me, possibilities are endless.
25 Jun 2026 20:42:34
3 mins, I have enough time to try get a bit of action off our lass, get rejected and then go get a drink from kitchen.
25 Jun 2026 20:50:33
I'm in the Algarve watching the hydration breaks. Does that work? ?
{Ed025's Note - great stuff Irish, have a great time mate..
26 Jun 2026 11:17:23
It's just enough time to make cheese on toast and a cuppa.
@Chewy, if the World Cup impacts transfers, how did we manage to sign Munoz, or City sort out the Anderson deal?
The idea of drinks breaks in high temperatures isn't new and it's not just limited to football, although I do take the point that you watching the TV should definitely take priority over player safety.
Given the additional short breaks apply to both sides, I think it is fair for all, and, presumably, given the modern trend of playing an extra 5 - 10 minutes in each half, the idea that they play 90 minutes is becoming obsolete, at least at the elite level.
Again, playing 2 halves in 40+ degrees heat increases the excitement in terms of who is going to succumb to heat exhaustion first.
I would suggest you stop making declarative statements in your increasingly aggressive manner in an effort to present your opinions as facts. They aren't, you know.