Deuce

About time we hired an African manager.

very big difference between a “defensive-minded coach” and a coach who just knows how to organize a defense. Rafa is one who will get tarred as the former even though he’s really the latter.

Oh I bet he does. He and Lampard would both be terrible hires.

The “Saudi XI (coached by Wenger)” is interesting.

That’s a 10/10 shirt if not for that stupid off-center collar. Defoe’s gotta be 45 years old at this point.

It was me.

Would be a solid addition.

I’m surprised he hasn’t been more involved with the national team, for his consistency alone if nothing else. Just not quite make the cut over the past few years? @Village Idiot

I think the difference is that I still cared during the Pardew years. Haven’t really given much of a shit since Rafa left.

it happen

Sounds like we played like shit, but winning on the road in CONCACAF is always hard. Twellman is fast approaching Lalas levels of irritating twat.

Yeah that’s cool n’ all but nothing beats hoying the lads out on the pitch with instructions to run hard and track back.

“you can’t criticize the Saudis because the West is bad, too” isn’t the slam dunk some of y’all think it is.

I’m also absolutely not looking forward to the dregs of our fan base thinking they see common ground with our new owners and feeling emboldend to peddle their right-wing homophobic, misogynistic, and racist bullshit.

I love him. He’s a cynical asshole who plays cynical asshole football but I want to see him succeed.

They’re thrilled to get the rumor mill turning again. Like cats in heat.

I really tee’d that one up. Sorry, Mike.

For what it’s worth, the media scrunity will die down sooner rather than later. Staveley and Co. will go on charm campaign and the success of the club on the pitch will quiet the human rights talk. Because the enduring truth of our modern society is that nobody gives a shit two weeks later. Opposing supporters will have their chants and snide remarks, but if it wasn’t Saudi-based they’d simply find something else to bitch about.

To add to this, I’d say it’s also possible for supporters to lament the fact that *the club itself* is not spared from the moral balancing act we have to do with so many things in our daily lives. To feel like you now have to say, “My club is associated with a brutal, authoritarian regime, which sucks but which I accept as the price of doing business.” And what a shame that is. Some of you literally could not care less, and that’s totally fine. I get it. But don’t ever gaslight your fellow fans by acting like that’s not true. It’s a shame to have to equivocate about yet another thing in life, particularly one as meaningful as this club. You can always buy a different brand of shoe; you can’t just pick a new club to follow.