Going to spend the next few weeks writing some short pieces on my thoughts about managers who could be on the move this summer for Played on Paper
The first one is on Roberto de Zerbi
There are comedy writers who spend countless hours lying awake at night knowing that they’ll never be able to replicate a moment of satire as perfect as this does naturally
In a fitting tribute, DJ David Guetta gives a shoutout to George Floyd’s family, remixes MLK Jr.’s I have a dream speech, and proceeds to drop the beat
When you go into a penalty shootout with Emi Martinez, you’re no longer in a stadium, you’re in a box and it’s just you and him and every second that goes by, that box closes in, getting smaller and smaller as he laughs like a madman
Yeah sometimes I’m like ‘the encroachment rule is a bit much, give goalkeepers a chance’ and then I see this Dudek clip and I get reminded why it exists
I think we should just accept that when Ten Hag is willing to run a 30 year old man with a pacemaker into the ground for 90 minutes, Donny van de Beek might just not be that good
Using his first name to make him sound like some unknown South American talent rather than the harsh reality that they’ve just conceded a brace to Oliver Skipp
Lisandro Martinez could win 99 out of 100 headers at this point, but the one he does lose will go be pointed to as the reason he can't play centre-back for the next 5 years
Tom Cruise is ‘extremely interested in pursuing’ Shakira after they were seeing hanging out at the Miami Grand Prix, a source tells Page Six.
Tom reportedly sent her flowers after the event.
Onana carried his team to a Champions League final last season after multiple seasons of being one of the best upcoming keeper in Europe and the minute he’s stepped foot in Old Trafford it’s like the aliens from Space Jam sapped all the talent out of him
Never mind the best CB in the league, he’s been the best player in the league along with KDB for four years before this one.
We have never spoken about about other CB’s being the best player before, that shows the level he was at.
Oxlade-Chamberlain.. a truly frightening talent. What a shame his career panned out the way it did. He had the turning radius, press resistance, ball-striking, clean passing, & power to dominate games from the middle of the park.
He was world class when he could sustain fitness.
Qatar owns PSG (club messi plays for), and Qatar is hosting the world Cup.. Ref keeps making calls in favor of messi and argentina. I’m gonna let y’all connect the dots 🏃♂️
Ferdinand and Scholes now trying to have their cake and eat it by praising how Ten Hag is setting the culture with how he's handling players like Ronaldo and Rashford, after criticising both decisions when they happened
Honestly the only thing more impressive than Barcelona’s constant conveyor belt of young talent is their ability to absolutely run them into the ground before they hit the American drinking age
🚨 BREAKING: Gavi has torn his ACL and the meniscus of his knee is also affected.
He will be out for 7-9 months, his season is over — further tests confirm.
Terrible news for Barcelona and Spain… get well soon, ánimo Gavi! ❤️🇪🇸
Once saw someone say that the main difference been men and women is that men can have deep meaningful conversations/debates about the most outlandish and pointless stuff and a statement has never rung truer in my life
🚨 Manchester United have invited Luke Littler to attend their game against Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford as a guest of the club following his fairytale run to the World Darts Championship final.
#MUFC
[
@MailSport
]
Cristiano Ronaldo probably went into this transfer window thinking he'd have his pick of Champions League clubs, but instead what he got was a complete dismantling of his status in world football in the space of two months
Ten Hag needs to do something, Ronaldo disrespected the team and was ‘punished’
He’s now played the last 4 90s, been absolutely awful and even had the captains armband. What sort of a message is that to give him exactly what he wanted
Arsenal fans ability to both paint themselves as the underdogs and also some incredible footballing unit in the same sentence, is as impressive as it is frustrating
France understand their strengths and secret weapon Mbappé. Who’s much better when given space to run into and far less effective against teams that sit off.
The solution, don’t press/counter press, just sit off, happily invite teams forward & concede territory.
Graeme Souness basically referring to Lisandro Martinez as a glorified Scrappy Doo (short and aggressive) and then devaluing his actual footballing ability by saying he's not good on the ball is exactly the reason why you shouldn't listen to his thoughts on football
The irony about Barcelona and Real Madrid saying 'we should share this money, it's only fair' is that the reason La Liga is so uncompetitive and unattractive to investors is they refused to equally share broadcasting money, instead negotiating their own TV rights separately
@Carra23
is spot on just because the money is drying up in La Liga and the brand is failing it’s the Premier Leagues duty to share money across Europe but when they were buying Ronaldo x 2, Figo and Zidane what did they do for the rest of europe? Hypocrisy.
@GuillemBalague
How the Moisés Caicedo deal stacks up compared to football's most expensive transfers of all-time 💰
Which of these do you think have turned out the best? 🤑
Which of these do you think have turned out the worst? 🥴
There's a hilarious level of irony in Chelsea selling Levi Colwill to bring in Nathan Ake, they have one of the best academies but run it like a circus
More on Chelsea. Levi Colwill, now likely to leave on a permanent deal this summer - as Tuchel and Boehly are working to sign three top centre backs. 🚨🔵
#CFC
Chelsea and Levi Colwill will make a decision soon - as Koulibaly deal is done, Kimpembé and Aké in talks.
With Jesse Lingard’s contract expiring, I’m glad Scott McTominay has stepped up to take the mantle of the guy who gets treated as a youth/academy player despite the fact he’s 25
🚨 The ball was in play for just 51 minutes & 23 seconds during Arsenal’s 0-0 draw with Newcastle on Tuesday, four minutes LESS than the Premier League average this season. [
@martynziegler
]
#afc
🚨 EXCL: Manchester United do not intend to activate option to extend Anthony Martial contract. Current deal expires 2024 (+ 1yr). Barring change of plan 28yo will exit
#MUFC
as free agent next summer unless suitable offers arrive in January
@TheAthleticFC
The irony that Juventus will take the Rabiot money to go buy Paredes, who is a much better player that United could sign if they need a Plan B, is beating me over the head currently
Not Arsenal fans trying to use a result in 2023 to overwrite generational trauma caused by a team that had Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley and Anderson in it
Newcastle with money turning out to be a massive pain, first Guimaraes now possibly this
You're meant to make expensive signings that don't make any sense first, not actually sign good players on reasonable deals
Martinez dealt really well with Brentford's tactic to target him despite the narrative that has been pushed both before and after the match
Problem is it feels like now in punditry that once they say something, they will double and triple down
Genuinely don’t know how Klopp managed to maintain such a ‘likeable’ reputation for so long, the journo asked him a question that he obviously has an opinion on based on his answer but he starts and ends it by berating him for absolutely no reason
🎙️ | Ian Wright: "Gary [Neville] is so self-deprecating. He's somebody that was, as a right-back, easily one of the best, one of the best I played against. Underrated. When people talk about you and your football career, you always bring it down..." [
@WeAreTheOverlap
]
One of the major reasons why Ten Hag is bitter about Ronaldo
This happened when he was assistant to Pep at Bayern. Ronaldo destroyed Bayern to the point Ten Hag was shipped off by pep to Utrecht the following year
I know we all joke that Old Trafford is falling down, but there actually needs to be an investigation into whether there’s a gas leak causing this level of brain damage among our fanbase
Eric Bailly missed 103 games through injury, I think it's disingenuous for him to suggest that the only reason he wasn't selected was due to an English bias, especially when he was the right-sided centre-back and replaced by *checks notes* Victor Lindelof
Emiliano Martinez believes Argentina having the “greatest player of all time” in their ranks gives his side a “secret advantage” against France in the 2022
#FIFAWorldCup
final.
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@bosherL
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@Anthony_Hay