gbandit

If he knew how to stay onside and had better movement he would have been world class

2-0 loss, struggle to see us scoring. Would absolutely love a point. Think we’ll get at least a draw at Everton though

They’re not playing badly though, I’m sure their results will turn around soon, even though the run they’re on is terrible

Delighted for Xavi like, not watched any of your games but what are perceptions like of him as a manager?

Fair play, sorry to hear you’ve fallen out of love with the game. I’m right back in but I would love not to have Saudi owners. As has been mentioned before in this thread though, the sport is an absolute mess and riddled with corrupt owners and it’s hard to see a way back for it right now

Fair response @christ I think the muddying of waters is definitely an information war tool. I just wonder how effective it will be here given that surely most people are aware already or won’t have to look far to find out about human rights issues in KSA

I know that’s what sportswashing is, what I’m asking is about how superficial it is. Sure, SA have people batting for them on Twitter which on the face of it counts for a lot but are they genuinely changing people’s perceptions of SA? Maybe for a small amount of people but the majority of these people defending them were either awful dickheads to begin with or they’re only temporary cheerleaders

I think he was just high off a Man U win. He’s alright provided he doesn’t have something to crow about

I look on Twitter and see some pretty horrible replies from NUFC accounts whenever people bring up Saudi Arabian human rights issues and it makes me think more about the sportswashing debate. A useful parallel is racism, we think that racism has improved significantly since the 80s but then we get spates of hate crimes in response to Brexit and Covid, and xenophobia feels worse than it has been in well over two decades and you realise that so many of these racists were hiding in plain sight all along. Then I think about some of these people defending the SA regime using whataboutery and deflection and it makes me think, they’re not really sportswashed are they? They’re just dickheads who were dickheads all along. It’s not like the takeover has genuinely changed their opinion of Saudi Arabia. Decent people will hold issue with SA irrespective of whether they’re an NUFC fan or not. These same NUFC idiots who defend Saudi Arabia online would be going all in on them had they taken over Sunderland. I’m not sure if I’m making a coherent point here or not, but I think it’s up for debate how superficial sportswashing can be or is

Out of curiosity, why is this? I had wondered about the number of fans who’d cut or reduced ties with the club because of our new ownership. Like, what happened to Incognito, does he post under a new name (no pun intended) or has he quit the forum?

I prefer wum Froggy when Man U lose to be honest. Nothing wrong with raising the Saudi issue here for debate but I’m not sure that’s what he’s after

Did you forget during your five-word sentence what your plan was?

Great composure on the finish, that’s the most impressive thing. Despite weaving and passing a few players the finish is so calm given he only has a small area to aim at

Hate his way of taking them but can’t knock the outcome

Disagree, if Everton don’t get 3 points against us or Wolves I think they’re fucked

Fuck me, new lows for the football forum

Depends, personally I’d go all out for Nicoise but wouldn’t even look at Waldorf

It’s fair enough, there’s not nearly enough discussion about the horrors going on in Yemen

Fuck that

Nice guy mask slips a bit here. He needs to get out of management, looks like it’s terrible for his health

I hope those West Brom fans don’t turn on him, not lovely bloke Steve Bruce who’s the right man for the fight. My one piece of advice would be for the fans to dust themselves down tonight when they lose because Steve will have them bang up for it against league leaders, Fulham next week

I interpreted that as respect to his dad about the taxi he used to drive

That Newcastle fan behind him is class, channelling @oldtype energy on that game show in his celebration

He’s deceptively good at nipping the ball away from the opposition and playing it into space. As his block showed yesterday as well, he reads the play very well. I hadn’t realised there was as much of a defensive side to his game until recently

Sounds like he'll be getting a visit from the boys in blue sometime soon