Men's Soccer (Football) Thread [ARCHIVED] Soccer • Page 2151

Also, last thing, but it’s mad that VAR can’t look at a second yellow. They’re going to be happening loads more this season. Any time a player is sent off, VAR should be able to check.

 

Not sure about that. Wouldn't signing a controversial figure like that be the antithesis of sportswashing, which is all about positive coverage?

 

Good one

 

Yes please.

 

They could try spinning it as some weird second chance thing. Either to show how understanding they are or to show that people can change. Something awful, either way.

 

Historically (and changes are slowly being made), Saudi Arabia have a generally poor standard of life for women, so they may not even see the problem.

 

Yeah, that's kinda the reason I doubt the story. The point of the sportswashing is to change perceptions of the country. Signing a scumbag would just re-enforce it (correctly obviously).

 

Sportswashing is mainly rendered effective by the softening of time, rather than positive coverage. It doesn't matter if there's controversy at the start, as with Newcastle, as with the Qatar World Cup, as long as the antipathy is blunt and impotent. Once people get used to it, they can be pretty brazen about their links, as with these Saudi friendlies at St James' Park, and it doesn't have any real impact. I don't think one of those clubs signing Mason Greenwood dents them at all, especially when Man United have already created for him a rehabilitation story.

The whole thing functions on indifference.

 

Remember when Malaga was in the champions league?

 

Immaculate Footy didn't accept one of my answers today and I'm annoyed about it

 

Today's was a lot harder than yesterday haha

 

I guess you could say…

…he’s hedging his bets

 

It’s making me feel very dumb right now

 

got stuck on the Newcastle/City one and Newcastle/Ireland one briefly but otherwise this was way more doable for me today

 

Curious if we sit Maddison for this weekend and have Lo Celso start.

 

Isak took me the longest of all.

 

I want this level of fandom in MLS.

 

There's been a lot of talk (probably too much) about the much needed Spurs rebuild. It was the ultimate juxtaposition during the Conte era at Tottenham. A manager who wants immediate results at a club who needs to flip the squad and rebuild. Well, there's a detail from Saturday's game that surprisingly hasn't really been talked about.

9 of the 11 starters from Saturday are in their first or second season with the club. The other 2 players are Son and Romero (and its only Romero's third season). Furthermore, Son was the only player 30 or older. The rest of the starters were 26 years or younger.

Paratici has actually been carrying out the rebuild this whole time. He has done a great job at identifying talent as well as value. The midfield from Saturday cost around 70m all together.

The club appointed the wrong manager for the project and it kinda masked the work Paratici and others had been doing. It seems like they finally found the right manager and things are clicking.

The next step is getting the deadwood out. We've brought in some fantastic talent. But the job isn't done. More is needed. But that can't happen until the squad is less bloated.

 

I finally found a use for Emil Krafth!

I got 8. The one I couldn't get was Irish and Celtic, which was (by some margin) the one with the most answers...

 

Compare that to Chelsea, who also have a ton of new players in their first/second year with the club, and it's fairly impressive how good Spurs look so early into the season. It gives me hope that we actually know what we're doing when scouting vs just buying the new shiny prospect.

 

Trippier?

 

So much overlap and options to place guys like Larsson, Bellamy, Given, and Keane.