Kobbie to Bruno;
“Bruno, when we’ve got the ball up there let’s keep it”
Foundation has already been built from Carrick for games like city / arsenal, finding a balanced blend of pace & patience in the final third vs Fulham et al will be the key
You forced Qatar to accept Israelis in because it’s an “international tournament and everyone must be welcome” just say you’re terrified of trump and his fascist government and move.
Mike Brown is one win away from winning the NBA championship; same guy that was waiving his salaries just to invest in the operations of the D’Tigers and eventually left due logistical & structural problems within the Nigerian sports administration. We’re such a pathetic country.
Michael Carrick the manager is building something special, but it makes me laugh when modern fans claim prime Michael Carrick the player wouldn't fit a high pressing system. He was the literal definition of press resistant. You could throw three opposition midfielders at him, and he would casually drop his shoulder, find a vertical passing line to Rooney, and eliminate an entire defensive block. If Carrick had a 26 year old version of himself to play next to Kobbie Mainoo right now, the Premier League title race would be a foregone conclusion.
Can you all see how CAF left their Best Referee out in the cold. No support, no statement, absolutely NOTHING. We all know the reason. When Infantino asks Motsepe to jump, Mr Sundowns just has to ask How High Oga?
@AJEnglish This is unfair. If Qatar or Russia had tried to do something similar to this, FIFA would have threatened to withdraw their hosting rights and ban them from international football
I have looked at this list again, and all I will say is timing matters a lot in football.
Haaland scored 27 goals and 8 assists in the league, about 38 goals and 9 assists in all competitions, won 2 domestic trophies, yet he’s not even the favourite.
Part of it is because we’re already used to Haaland-level numbers, but those periods of drought really damaged the perception of his season. He had about 20 goals before January. If he had scored those same 20 goals from January till now instead, he’s probably walking away with the award comfortably.
That’s how football works sometimes. Momentum shapes narratives more than anything
People remember how you finish seasons more than how you start them. If Haaland was exploding during the title run-in, scoring every week in the biggest moments, the conversation around him would feel completely different even if the final numbers stayed exactly the same.
Form close to awards season always hits harder psychologically.
It’s why players that peak late suddenly feel unstoppable while players that started the season on fire can become normalized by the end. With Haaland, his standards are now so ridiculous too that 38 goals almost feels like he didn’t have a good season.
Flip Bruno’s form to beginning of the season and he won’t be favorite for the award. Narratives and timing are what decides award.
If any other striker pull this Haaland’s number in the league, they will also be favorites. Narratives. Timing.
This “naturally gifted” narrative is one of the most misleading takes in football.
When someone reaches a level that seems impossible, people suddenly act as if talent alone explains everything. Cristiano Ronaldo did not win five Ballon d’Or awards and score over 950 goals just because he worked hard. If hard work alone was enough, football would be full of players with those numbers.
What separates the truly great is the combination of elite talent and an elite work ethic. Ronaldo is not proof that hard work beats talent. He is proof of what happens when extraordinary talent meets extraordinary dedication.
People need to stop using Lionel Messi as the example of someone who succeeded purely because of natural talent. Messi’s genius is obvious, but talent alone does not sustain excellence for two decades, win multiple Ballon d’Or awards, or keep a player at the very top of the game year after year. That level of consistency demands sacrifice, professionalism, and an obsession with improvement. We've seen talented players waste away and never attain this height because they lack the consistency and hard work to replicate such heights.
Sometimes the simplest explanation is the correct one. Messi is one of the most naturally gifted footballers ever, but he is also one of the hardest working. The idea that he simply relied on talent while others relied on effort is a lazy and inaccurate way of looking at greatness. The greatest players combine both at a level most people cannot comprehend.
David Ornstein has built more credibility and legacy in football journalism than Fabrizio Romano, and it’s not even close.
Romano is brilliant for speed and updates, but Ornstein is the one clubs, executives and journalists trust when it comes to accuracy and breaking the biggest stories.
When Ornstein speaks, people treat it as confirmation. When Romano speaks, people often wait for Ornstein to confirm it.
We can confirm that Marco Silva will leave his role as Head Coach at Fulham this summer.
It’s a position that Silva has held for five years – a spell which was laden with success.
@Hakeem_Onitolo@The_Forty_Four@MekusOsuagwu They didint concede due to lack og quality. Thry did cos the press was uncoordinated. They didnt plan for it. If they didnt they most likely wont have conceded such
these portuguese guys btw proper engines all of them…vitinha, nuno mendes, joao neves, bernado silva, bruno fernandes. They almost never get tired and never get injured. It’s crazy
My only contention against an expansive style of play vs another team is when there's a massive disparity in the quality of both teams. When Manchester United played low blocks vs other 'Top 5' teams, it was due to their lack of quality. Therefore, it was largely accepted not 'fully'.
However, when you claim you are the best team on earth (i.e. Saliba > Rio/Terry, Gabriel > Vidic, etc.) You can't defend the style you presented yesterday unless you are willing to admit that you are NOT the best team and PSG had a HUGE quality advantage over you. You can't have it both ways.
While Luis Enrique deserves immense credit for rebuilding PSG, it's hard to argue that Kylian Mbappe wouldn't have elevated this team even further.
The idea and popular trend that PSG became better because Mbappe left ignores the fact that he is one of the most complete attacking players in the world. In a team already creating this volume of chances through combinations, rotations, and technical superiority, adding Mbappe’s elite finishing, pace in behind, and ability to decide games on his own would have made them even more devastating.
The real achievement of Enrique wasn't replacing Mbappe, it was proving that PSG could function as a collective without being dependent on him. Those are two very different things. This PSG side is exceptional, but there's every chance they would have been even more dangerous with a fully committed Mbappe integrated into this structure.