Why are giving Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim excuses to be terrible? Plus, more on Spurs, Arsenal and Diogo Jota.
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Why are we making excuses for Amorim?
I saw Matt Stead opining the need for poor Amorim to get a proper pre-season and how the club have let him down.
First, as he mentions, it starts today. And second, the major missing pieces were a number 10 who was willing to bridge between midfield and striker – something Bruno doesn’t suit – and a RWB that isn’t Dalot.
Well, with Cunha joining to do the one, that then shuffles Amad out to do the other. Boom. We have now three on the left too.
Plus we can give that fabled pre-season and training time with the wonder that is Amorim to Zirkzee and Mount too. Maybe he can spend this time – again to be clear, starting today – to teach players how to pass into the box. Just put a cone there if you don’t want to waste time with your actual striker making runs that no one passes to. Who knows, maybe Bruno will be able to see it. If so, maybe whoever gets the now poisoned chalice of the 9 shirt should wear it in matches.
So, what’s the issue? What problem are we trying to solve with a 3rd/4th player for the right with one game a week that is so desperate?
Is the issue that he needs different players or pre-season? Maybe “buy me a whole new team like the did at Sporting” is what Amorim means by pre-season?
Otherwise, let’s not starting making excuses for him before he’s even managed to sh*t the bed.
Badwolf
Getting slightly worried about Spurs
I can’t be the only Spurs fan getting anxious about our lack of big buys. I loved the idea of Mbuemo following Frank but that seemed to have withered on the vine. Every morning I wake up hoping for a “Messi and Yamal to Spurs stuns world” or “Endrick joins Spurs on loan” but nothing.
I do trust Levy, and I think Frank will be great. But another week with just Tels and Danso through the door and I’ll worry. Eze Pleze!
Sam
Rodrygo to Arsenal explained
No problem explaining Rodrygo to you. He’s 100% an upgrade on Martinelli. For Madrid, he has to play on the right and his numbers are still solid. He has got 14, 19 and 17 in his last 3 seasons. He scores crucial goals and is technically elite. He can actually dribble too, unlike Martinelli sadly. Martinelli cannot cut inside and shoot. He’s just not capable.
Rodrygo will have no issues tracking back – he’s literally known for his defensive work so it’s weird you even mentioned that point. Mbappe and Vinicius are the ones who don’t put a shift in. I still like and want Martinelli but he definitely needs to be upgraded upon.
Dion
Defending Arsenal on Partey
I want to address the rancid steaming pile of droppings that is Stewie’s latest email. There’s no point addressing the football/transfer window content – it’s just too easy to point out he’s talking ass.
However, I do want to address the question of Partey, suspension, and whether Arsenal has done anything wrong by continuing to play him. In short, Arsenal have not, and once again Stupid Griffen couldn’t be more wrong.
The longer version of this explanation is that a suspension is needed when protection of the integrity of the investigation is required (most likely not in this case as I have not seen anything to suggest the alleged offences were in or related to the workplace). Further, and this is the key part, an employer such as Arsenal is obliged to avoid making public statements and taking any actions that might be interpreted as implying guilt and therefore prejudicing the defendant at trial.
This extends to making public statements in the media or on social media, a point which was made by the CPS last week, when announcing charges against Partey:
“We remind everyone that criminal proceedings are active, and the defendant has the right to a fair trial. We know there will be significant public interest in this announcement, but it is absolutely vital that there is no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”
If Stupid Griffen ever bothered to listen or read, rather than just spout guff, he might have seen this or examined the rules. Assuming everyone wants Partey to receive a fair trial then suspending him is not the right approach.
IF Partey is guilty, and you therefore want him convicted (rightly so, IN THAT CIRCUMSTANCE), then no one wants his case to be thrown out on the basis that he didn’t receive a fair trial due to public opinion having been swayed by Arsenal’s actions or media stories that might be said to have influenced the verdict.
Moreover, Arsenal is a company recently valued at GBP 2.1 Billion by Forbes. Does Stupid Griffen imagine that Arteta and a couple of the coaching staff went to the pub and decided what to do with Partey when they discovered the investigation was taking place?! Of course not, you lump of lead. Arsenal has an extensive team of HR and in-house lawyers who would have tackled the issue. No doubt they also would have received extensive external legal advice from top law firms and/or criminal barristers.
Given that this situation has been running for a few years, I suspect Arsenal’s legal bill over this issue would make most people’s toes curl. I imagine Arsenal would have been at pains to make sure they were complying with every bit of advice given to them every inch of the way.
Finally, if the above summary of the law and some facts aren’t enough for Mr. Stupid, then I’ll add my own ‘moral’ take. Everyone has the right to be assumed innocent until proven guilty and to receive fair trial. A world in which people are banned from their jobs/society because an accusation is made against them is not one I want to be a part of. It’s one step away from Nazi/Soviet totalitarianism where people ‘vanished’ because their neighbour reported on them for… something.
The only Kangaroo Court I want to be a part of is an F365 vote on whether the rest of us want any more Stupid Griffen emails to ever be published again. I think you can all tell which way I’m leaning.
Josh, AFC, Dubai
…I felt compelled today after reading two negative opinions on Arsenal about the Thomas Partey situation. I feel there is a lot of ignorance being spewed as knowledge by many who
Do not know about investigations
Do not know what the club knows
Despite saying otherwise have concluded someone is guilty just because he is charged
I work in law enforcement investigating complex fraud and I know how long investigations take. We investigate for on average 3 to 4 years before gathering enough evidence to determine if a charge can be brought against an individual. During that process the individual has the right to keep on working and living his life.
If we deem the person a flight risk, ie he may leave the Country for a jurisdiction we may not be able to get him back from, then we decide whether to take his passport away and keep him in this Country before a charge is or is not brought against him. After charge the case goes to Court and a jury decides his fate.
Now in this case it was well known Partey was under investigation. This takes years and he is able to work and live his life during this period as long as he is not deemed a violent risk to others during the period of the investigation (an example of someone who may be deemed a risk is someone who works with children being investigated for molesting a child. That person will and should be immediately suspended).
In Partey’s case, Arsenal would have assessed that he is not a risk of further offending after the opening of the investigation and may have been in dialogue with the Police about the investigation. Normally when we investigate we do not divulge any details of the investigation. It is likely the Police did not let on as to what will happen in their investigations to Arsenal. The club would have thus been in the dark. All they know is that Partey denies the allegations and as there were no charges against him the club had no reason to suspend him!!
If the club has to suspend every player just because an investigation is started against a player they will be setting a very dangerous precedent. What about Mason Greenwood some might say. Well that was different because their was a piece of evidence out in the public domain which forced Man United’s hand. There is no such thing here.
Another point is that as long as Partey was playing at Arsenal he was not deemed a flight risk. The Police may have even come to an arrangement with Arsenal for this to be the case. I am speculating here. So cant say if this is true.
One thing that is certain is that things changed the moment Partey’s contract ceased at the end of June. Partey could now go abroad. He is a flight risk. The Police needed to move fast. Do they charge him with the evidence they have or take a chance he leaves the Country. It will take too long to seek a warrant to detain him and take his passport so the quickest thing to do is charge him based on what they have.
As the Benjamen Mendy case showed a charge is not the same as guilt. And to charge in this manner may have been rushed. I do not know for sure. All I know is that the CPS must be sure of their evidence to take this step.
We do not know what the outcome would be. The alleged victims need to be provided with support. Partey also needs to be given support as he denies the allegations. We should stop taking sides until the full story comes out in Court. We should stop hammering Arsenal for things we know nothing about and for speculating on what the club knew or did not know.
Michael O
Football has endemic problem with misogynyIt’s open season on Thomas Partey and Arsenal, but they are just the latest in a long, long list here.
I would suggest that people at the behaviour of Solskjaer with regard to Babacar Sarr, and whilst this happened in Norway, before his tenure at United, it still calls into question the character of a man who United employed. It’s a horrible story, and if you take the time to look into it, I promise you’ll look at Ole differently afterwards. And whilst we are at it, didn’t they also re-sign a very famous footballer who paid off an accusation of rape a few years ago?
He is possibly the most telling example of all, here. The highest profile footballer in the game, even now, and this “incident” was completely swept under the carpet with money.
We all know the game is broken here – all round good guy Pep Guardiola stood as a character reference for Benjamin Mendy when he had multiple accusations of rape, and he did so in a completely voluntary capacity, despite admitting that he had no idea how the player behaved, but was happy to stand up in court and call him a “good boy”.
I don’t mean to pick on United or City particularly. Someone in the comments showed today how poorly Liverpool handled the Jon Flanagan situation, and there are countless examples of football clubs acting in a completely amoral manner when it comes to employing people convicted of all manner of dreadful crimes.
The usual suspects in the comments are coming across appallingly, because it is their tribal hatred that is driving these comments, not their concern for the endemic misogyny within the game. Football has a real problem – female fans suffering appalling harassment, women’s football being denigrated all the time, and female football commentators and pundits receiving constant criticism and abuse, most of it fueled by the “logic” that as women, they are simply not qualified to have valid opinions about such a manly sport.
The game has a problem, and perhaps it needs to treat the subject of misogyny in exactly the same way it does racism and homophobia.It’s time male footballers stood up and were counted on this issue.
Mat
Ashtray?
Sorry if this has been covered already, but I was just reading Stewie’s latest ‘submission,’ and I have to ask, why is Havertz an ashtray? I’ve been trying to figure out the analogy but it makes less sense to me than Jesus being ‘the Brazilian Steve Bull.’
Andy, Guatemala
…I am going to regret this but could Stewie kindly write in and explain why he calls Havertz an ashtray? I don’t get the analogy.
Apologies to all in advance,
Minty, LFC
No more Stewie!
I’m not an Arsenal fan and it helps that you flag beforehand it’s a mail from him but seriously, the guy is a troll and shouldn’t have the platform (outside of twatter or AFC forums) to voice his pointless diatribes.
You’re the editor and need to generate the clicks so I get it.
I’m not angry, just disappointed 😞
Brian (emoji added for Stewie’s benefit) BRFC
Jota not my favourite Red
These past few days, Diogo Jota’s passing has been top of mind each morning and my last thought before bed. Across football many have said something to the effect of not knowing the lad, but still feeling visceral grief as if firsthand, or that it was strange feeling such grief only mostly having seen just the footballing side of him. It’s definitely been strange to try and reconcile.
Having heard others have also struggled to process his passing, I’ve come to resolve some of my parasocial dissonance, believing I’m not acting unknowingly self-performative or subconsciously mining for inorganic emotion. It’s all been genuine. And if I feel this way about it from so far removed, I simply cannot fathom what the players will feel when doors open to preseason this week, or worse yet, the vast depths of sorrow the immediate families of the brothers must feel at every turn.
Last night I finally sat down and watched one of Jota’s goal-compilation videos; I remembered just about every goal he’d ever scored for Liverpool. We’d always known he was a clinical poacher, but seeing years of his goals compressed into one big stack it became resoundingly clear how much variety and creativity he possessed, what a poised finisher he was off either foot or often most impressively, with his head.
Diogo Jota wasn’t ever my favorite Red. I’ve supported the club down the years trying not to spotlight individuals anyway (but twist my arm I’d probably say, as many might, that Steven Gerrard is my all-timer). The reality is, I don’t know too many of our supporters who truly say Jota was their favorite.
But what’s obvious to see is he had all the attributes, all the stardust, all the potential to be a club favorite, and he was ever really only held back by repeated injury and unavailability. If we’d delayed getting a striker this window (perhaps awaiting Isak next summer) this could’ve been the season Jota finally, deservedly went injury free and lit the league up. He had it all, he just needed luck and a truer run of games. He just needed more time.
Eric, Los Angeles CA
Will normal service be resumed?
The untimely death of Diogo Jota and his brother was a tragedy that seemed to touch not only the whole world of football but beyond. Even fans of arch rivals seemed to, for a moment at least, suspend hostilities and pay their respects. Not that I am in any way equating the two, I do recall the British giving Baron Von Richthofen a full military funeral after he was shot down. No matter how much rivalry or animosity there might be on the surface, we can, at times, put that all to one side. Sometimes the worst of times bring out the best in people.
What I am not hopeful for however is how this will all get thrown out the window the first time Liverpool play MUFC. All the sick references to Munich, Hillsborough, etc. will be trotted out. Do these people even realize what they are chanting about? How can you not be embarrassed with yourself or with that persone next to you?
I cannot speak for other clubs but I am speaking directly to you MUFC fans. Is there any chance that, just for once, you can leave your invective at home? You are a human being first before you are a MUFC fan.
Adidasmufc (The Gerrard slip is still fair game though!)
READ: Diogo Jota death teaches us to leave everything on the pitch