Other games (2024/25)

[54]

3 minutes ago, Dr.Spaceman said:

 

That's a fucking disgusting image 

I'm really game someone picked up on that comment

[Mike]

@54 hoy that into the football in AI thread.

[54]

2 minutes ago, Mike said:

@54 hoy that into the football in AI thread.

[Cf]

19 minutes ago, Mike said:

Blackpool aren't on draftkings ffs. Guess I'll just work for a living.

 

Get on over to Fanduel instead. 

[Kaizero]

25 minutes ago, 54 said:

This isn't necessarily on the player though, it on UEFA for creating a situation where this happens, top level footballer are just playing an exorbitant amount of football, that to try and find time to actually recover, rest and recuperate is just next to impossible, and the schedule is just getting worse and worse. 

 

So whether you like it or not, players have to make tough decisions about when that happens, especially when it's literally their body they're running into the ground for the aim of entertainment, and a competition that is basically a bunch of glorified friendlies, is going to be something that players look at as a way to actually get that rest, and recover.

 

It's going to happen more and more too and UEFA and FIFA don't give a toss about player welfare and keep adding more and more games to the calendar.

 

It's not the fact he chickened out of playing that grinds my gears the most, it's that he, the captain of the team - left the team to travel back to London, telling the press he intended to relax on his sofa and recuperate for the rest of the week. Even if you don't intend to play, when you've already traveled out to meet up with team... stick the fuck around and motivate your teammates as their fucking captain. Be a on the subs list for both matches, with the understanding that you won't get subbed in unless the match has become a defcon one situation or similar. It's about just taking basic responsibility for your given role as captain of the team... 

 

At worst, sit out the Slovenia away fixture and don't travel down there with the team tomorrow night. However, given that the fucker owns an even larger and better apartment in Oslo than the one he has in London, the fucker could just as well relax on his sofa there until the squad returns on Friday. Then he could join up with them during the day and relax in his fucking sofa the rest of the day. And, if the standings make it clear that Norway needs o win the last Nations League match against Kazaksthan to win their league, grow a pair of fucking balls, take responsibility and lead your fucking team out on the pitch to annihilate the fuckers. Play through the fucking pain, you fucking managed it extremely well for 90 minutes plus extra time this weekend, as well as half the match against Inter in a few days before that. Between this weekend's match and the Boratstan match on Sunday, you'll have been able to fucking sit and relax on your designer fucking sofa for an entire week. 

 

Blame UEFA and FIFA as much as you want, look me in the eyes and tell me Shearer would've done the same as Ødegaard ahead of two crucial matches to have a chance at qualifying for the World Cup? Or that Bryan Robson or Kevin Keegan would?

 

All I see is that modern footballers don't even care about getting the chance to fight for glory in major tournaments, I'd not be surprised if the majority of professional footballers today don't actually enjoy the sport they play - for them it's just a job like any other. When players revealed that they didn't care about football even though they were among the best players in the world a decade or two ago, it sent shockwaves through the media... "how can he not enjoy football when he's so good at it?!?"

 

Now, what used to be a shocking reveal, feels like the norm. I'd be more shocked if a player today said in an interview that they are genuinely passionate followers of the sport.

[Kaizero]

1 hour ago, Erikse said:

 

Seeing people are arguing stuff like "he can't play twice in a week", as if it's either 180 min or nothing. It's not like he HAD to start both, even just coming in after 60 would atleast show that he somewhat prioritized it. Seeing the presser with Solbakken is allways infuriating, the guy gets way less critical questions than any other manager in a similar position, and still starts crying and attacks the journo everytime someone asks him something remotely critical. Most of the time there's nothing wrong with the question, it's just that he doesn't want to answer the question, so instead he becomes super defensive. Eddie Howe conducts himself infinitely better when he gets asked questions that are 10 times worse.

 

Worst part is, the NFF are just as toothless as Solbakken himself, and that's why he's still there.

 

 

 

 

100% this!

 

I'd not even mind him using the excuse he pulled today as a reason to stay behind in Norway, sitting out the Slovenia match. That choice could be framed by him as the captain "having faith in the team to do the business", yet still leave the window open for him to either start against the Kazakhs, or start on the bench to either sit that match out as well if we cruise to victory - or enter the pitch when/if needed as a "supersub", as what that would mean to the players on the pitch would be a massive motivating factor for the remainder of the game. They'd have been told the intention for Ødegaard would be to sit out the match, so when they see him get ready to come on - what they'd perceive would be their captain choosing to play through the "pain" to make sure Norway wins. 

 

It's even more infuriating once you stop to think about how well everything could be spun if they weren't idiots, just his presence in itself - putting the needs of the nation he's been chosen to lead above his own "needs"? Getting subbed on as a supersub, changing the pre-match plans because Norway appeared to need a lift?  

 

It's a shitshow. If Haaland hadn't acted like the biggest fucking spoilt brat when he filled in for Ødegaard as captain in the last two matches, I might have lost my shit less dramatically over this. But everything wrong with modern football keeps happening over and over and over again and I just... I despair, I feel saddened, I feel like my favorite sport doesn't exist anymore - actual footballers that at least somewhat care and gave a shit just doesn't exist anymore.