Yorkie

Kenedy was a bit of a weird one. Looked a really useful player in 2017/18 but went to absolute shit the following year and not done anything meaningful since. Looks absolutely terrifying now. Rondon was great. That version of him we had would be a brilliant second choice to Isak. Imagine having to deal with that fucking unit coming off the bench with twenty to go.

Compounded by the reaction to that innocuous red against Brighton.

I actually quite like this one and frankly couldn't give a monkeys about the Saudi look at this point, but I hate this attitude. Kits are so much more than just items of clothing you choose to buy or not.

Can't bear the thought of him going and realising all that potential at fucking Liverpool. He's class, don't want to lose him at all.

Well that was the worst fucking typo ever. 🙃

River Plate a lot better than Urawa. I'm officially sucked in, like. Real treat getting a flavour of the teams I only know through salivating over their kits for years. I wish it hadn't been delivered in the way it has, but their just ain't no way I'm not fizzing over some of these fixtures.

That'll look mint imo. Basically an improved version of the last Castore away which had that rubbish pattern that looked different on every shirt.

The badge and the Noon latch look stupid but that's always gonna be the way now. I'm just a sucker for a green and white kit. Palmeiras. Assume it's white shorts/green socks @Shadow Puppets?

Class.

I'm not sure we're even disagreeing here.

Go on, Boca. Header assisted by a header is an underrated goal type.

Hard Boc Stadium more like!

Boca kicking Benfica off the park.

He can't bin off the smaller confederation teams for various reasons but mainly political ones. They'll get more bigger teams by just expanding it to 48 I imagine.

They could not give tens of millions to our competitors... Like I say, I'm relaxed about it. And I don't think we're necessarily a low priority. Just not the top one. To me it appears we're just one part of an overreaching vision to invest heavily in football at a global scale.

Suggesting NUFC isn't PIF's top priority doesn't mean I'm not happy with how they're running the club; it's just an observation. I don't think it's mad to suggest they're not wearing black and white goggles when they're bankrolling a £1billion tournament that we're not competing in. I'm quite comfortable with it, tbh. Rightly or wrongly, Saudi money being everywhere makes their involvement with us easier to stomach. Do wonder how things would've played out had they not hit the jackpot with Eddie Howe, but that's a concern for another day really.

If he has a great summer at this tournament I wouldn't be astonished to see him sold tbh.

Even the most pernicious and hollow version of this tournament (i.e. the one we're getting) is at the very least intriguing. It's a shame it has to be like this because if it was done the right way - surrounded by sensible decisions regarding the calendar and governance and allocation of prize money and everything else - it could be a fantastic thing to have. Palmeiras vs Porto? Yes fucking please.

to say the least. Feels like half the teams we want to compete with have more access to Saudi money than we do. Not that I give a shite. It's an Eddie Howe operation more than any other one imo.

Looked like quite an entertaining game TBF, as I'm sure many of them will be. Incredible performance from the Al-Ahly goalie.

Well they keep fucking beating us for one.

Starting to feel like there's a few feeder clubs within the PL these days.

Absolutely. He's totally flawed as a squad player because he takes a few 90 minutes to get up to speed and doesn't have the guile to impact a game off the bench. He'd be a brilliant signing for Leeds as he should start 38 games for them.

You could argue even longer when you consider the impact of Tonali et al in this most recent season. I don't think there's much of an argument in favour for last summer mind you; recruitment was objectively a failure but we got away with it. Selling Anderson/Minteh instead of Bruno or any other prized asset is in the positives column, but it wasn't good. But still you couldn't make that judgement until after the fact.

I'd say it's become a recurring theme since Saudi Arabia started investing in football to such an extent that it's happy to bail-out the global governing body to the tune of £1billion. Any pelters being directed at the Club World Cup are absolutely fair enough. It's the ultimate demonstration of football being used as a geopolitical tool to further the interests of those with existing wealth and power. I find it quite sad tbh because in theory I actually love the idea of a Club World Cup as a showcase event that's purely in the interests of football. It shouldn't be beyond the game to accommodate a version which is built on good intentions and is motivated by traditional sporting glory. It's just not possible with the way it's governed though, it would take too much collaboration between the various leaders. What we've got is a million miles from that; it's a Saudi-funded, Trump-endorsed Infantino vanity project, crammed into an already-overspilling calendar, where clubs are only competing due to financial fomo. Even for the smaller clubs, for whom the payday is incredible, the implications on their domestic leagues are incredibly uncertain.