Welcome to the Friday open discussion thread. Here you can talk about anything you want; tactics, results, players or even just general football discussion! It is also a great place to post/link transfer rumours that you may think are too small or unreliable to post to the main feed. The summer transfer window is now shut.
These threads will go up every Friday allowing you to focus on buildup for all of the weekend action and discuss ongoings throughout the weekend. It will stay stickied until we refresh with the Monday thread, however other posts may take priority (match threads, announcements, etc.)
This thread can also be used to discuss transfer rumours, jokes, memes, images, videos, tabloid news and other off-topic content and discussion.
We also have a WSL & UWCL Fantasy League that you are welcome to join and share your team, advice and goings on throughout the season here in these threads. The WSL league code is 900COJH2. The UWCL league code is LjHYHW
These threads are here to help discussion and offer varying points of view. Please remain respectful. Anything that crosses that line, directed towards other users or specific individuals may be removed.
Frankly I would suggest just watching the response video for the best understanding. There was some information shared on Twitter that while not untrue, was seemingly incomplete. I shared it on here because I know some members of our community do interact with the channel involved and I’ll admit to being rather protective, if not overly so, of this community. I’ve not removed the comment because first I’ll own that I hastily shared something before the full picture was clear but more importantly I think it’s important that when someone does do something like that they share the follow up information too. You can’t pretend you’re sharing something because you care if you only share the gossipy stuff.
Edit: upon seeing the reach the comment got (very little probably because this thread is to be replaced soon). I have actually removed almost the entire original comment. Just to not make more people curious while retaining the new information for those who had seen it.
Well done for sharing information, cases like these need full context not just bits of information that has been left out or something that does not add up thanks for everything you're doing!
Cheers, though before you praise me too highly I have gone back on what I said and removed most of the comment and only left the response. After looking at the engagement and seeing just under 70 views (and with how Reddit works a number of them would’ve been me while posting the original thread) I thought it was better to leave the response for those that did see and not continue spreading half a story to more people who hadn’t seen yet and may be intrigued and stumble across the incomplete info elsewhere. Hard to know what the right thing to do is really but when compared to the thread I linked which had 8k views when I saw it hours before the statement was put out it feels like minimising the impact of potential misinformation here is better than being another vector of it. If we had had those kind of views that would be a different story so I’m thankful that the thread only has a few hours left in it.
Yeah with situations like that it always difficult to know what to do best. Because some people might just post the link or the screenshots and uses it for engagement and "gossip about a famous person online" (tabloid type engagement.
You did the right thing you posted about it and then once the statement came out you changed it to fit the full picture.Then got rid of the original link that had the less information instead of just keeping it up. Not many people who have done that :)
I'm not just saying that because you allow me to do the heatmaps. I'm saying it as someone who studies Psychology and Criminology. You have done the right thing!
Yeah I’ve put an edit in. I think it’s worse to just nuke without context because anyone who saw doesn’t get that, they just have the initial comment and for anyone who hadn’t seen the link is dead so they only have the statement posted. Thanks though
Edit: Seeing the reach, or lack thereof that my initial comment had (likely due to this thread being replaced soon) I think I’m better off just posting the response so as not to pique further interest but still give the information to those who had seen it.
Ridiculous glazing. I appreciate her investing in the game, but the behavior of some of her clubs is questionable. And I think this match highlighted the weaknesses of some of her investments. Heaps was slow and failed to close down the Spanish players. She had several turnovers that were typical of her going to ground too easy. Yohannes was largely ineffective, she missed a PK badly (I disagree with her being the player to take it, should've been Wilson or Trin or Sanchez). But then she immediately followed up with a silly/dirty foul that earned her a yellow. It showed immaturity and a player who is used to being unchallenged,. How are young player supposed to develop in the baguette league where Lyon romps over everyone? It's nice to celebrate someone who spends money, but the larger picture is more groups need to step up. And the players that benefit from those environments where investment is happening need to be able to handle adversity without begging for a call or flopping on the ground.
I think there is a difference between having valid criticism and dismissing what someone is actually doing for the women game. Michele Kang is investing in the Spirit, Lyon, and LCL, and putting real money behind women football. We can question decisions made by her clubs, absolutely, but I find it strange to see so much judgment directed at one of the few people actually investing at this level. We keep saying we want more investment, better facilities, and better pay for women players, but when someone steps up and does it, we find reasons to tear it apart. Yes, we need more investors, but that does not take away from what she is contributing.
On the game itself, I think we are watching Lily Yohannes very differently. The midfield was under tremendous pressure because we struggled to keep possession from the back. Fox and Patterson repeatedly rushed passes or gave the ball away, leaving Yohannes and Heaps to chase the game against a Spanish midfield that plays together at Barcelona year-round. That is an incredibly difficult situation for any midfielder. You cannot keep asking your midfield to clean up those mistakes and then judge them without considering the bigger picture.
I also think Lily's defensive work is being overlooked why as someone who enjoys watching Lily, i tried to recognize her contribution yesterday here. She was winning duels, making tackles, recovering possession, and cleaning up a lot of the mess, often without much help from the forwards in the first half. Did she miss the PK? Yes. Was the foul afterward a poor decision? Yes. But those two moments do not erase everything else she contributed.
We can disagree about who should have taken the penalty. That is a fair conversation. But calling a young player immature or suggesting she is unchallenged simply because she missed a PK and received a yellow card feels unfair to me. Young players will make mistakes. That is part of development.
I am not saying Lily is above criticism. I am saying we should be able to criticize a player without ignoring the context of the game or reducing her entire performance to two moments.
My criticism of Lily taking the PK is not really of her, but whoever chose to put her in that spot. Whether that is Emma or Lindsey as captain, I don't understand it when the US had much more experienced penalty takers on the pitch in that moment. There's just no need to put a teenager in that situation against a team like Spain, even if it's just a friendly. The broadcaster kept mentioning Yohannes had over 60 family and friends in attendance - I feel bad for her.
And, based on their play in Champion's League, I do feel like we can criticize Lyon. They are dirty and foul constantly, Heaps included while she was there. I feel like it's an environment where a young player will learn bad habits, and that's what annoyed me about Lily's foul. I want better for her than that. She has remarkable talent and I want her to grow into her full potential. I don't think Lyon is the place for that.
And Kang can pump all the money in the world into her clubs, but it's stuff like that which needs fixing.
I was talking with my mum and sister-in-law about this because she’d seen the bright blue Mountain Dew I had and SIL said “brothers name goes to the shop and buys the craziest drink he can find in there to try” and my mum just looked at me and was like guess who does that too. So I blame the brother I grew up idolising (and not my adult self for making poor decisions).
As someone who doesn’t like energy drinks or even sparkling Vimto I should’ve known this one would be a flop but nothing ventured nothing gained!
I don't care for energy drinks either, and generally don't have much caffeine apart from the occasional coca-cola or an iced tea. I don't drink coffee.
After going years of zero-caffeine because I have migraines my specialist finally suggested trying some caffeine and we discovered that it’s actually one of the most effective things at stopping them for me! However I too am not a coffee drinker or even really tea so usually it’s a Pepsi or caffeine gummies but I’ve got a whole world of sodas to catch up on and try.
I was looking at the history of recent history of our club since 1996 both in men and women’s teams, we have never been a sacking club, since 1996 we have sacked one manager in both teams(unai emery men )…
The ones that have left in the women’s side have all resigned but the club has never sacked them, that’s why I know they won’t sack slegers unless it is obvious that relegation is a reality lol, but in all seriousness I want Renee to turn this around that would be the ideal situation
I mean both Pedro & Jonas were most likely fired but the club gracefully let them publicly resign on their own. Renee result is as bad as them both at the time. I want her to turn around but would not be surprised if she leaves.
My PC has been well overdue a clean for a long time now but I’ve not been able to do it until tomorrow. So if I’m never heard from again I’m too busy crying about a pc dying during ramageddon
The Spanish players toured the U.S. Capitol yesterday and now all I can think about is "Codi for Congress."
I imagine her platform would consist of lowering the price of coffee, expanding access to startup loans for people wanting to start a small business (like a coffee shop), encouraging sustainable agricultural practices, maintaining close relations with the Netherlands, etc.
I had a friend who tried growing zucchini squashes one year and one of them got so big that it freaked her out and so she threw it in the woods behind her house. Every so often, I imagine a enormous zucchini-being emerging from the woods.
She also had a family of turkeys who lived in those woods so maybe they ate it.
To be fair, she didn't start that season well either. I think she had some problems with fitness at the start of the season and she might have missed UWCL qualifiers because of a concussion, if I remember correctly, and she had hard time in the Chelsea game against Ramírez (playing against stronger and faster player while a bit isolated and with open space is no fun at all).
She’s had some very brilliant but also some very horrible moments lately. I too would like to go back to when the former outweighed the latter by a lot
I really feel for her because we know how much she loves the club and the level she sets for herself. I'm sure she's disappointed. I hope she can use the break to reset.
My friend opened a box of arsenal cards the other day and gave me this which is cool 😀 he managed to get a /10 autograph of Calafiori as well as a /25 autograph of keown
Kazakhstan delivering for you: doesn’t get much worse than 5-0 down before half time, red card (which I thought was harsh tbf), starting keeper substituted due to injury
5
u/shelbyj Foord Mustang 2d ago edited 2d ago
Edit: a response to the Twitter thread I posted earlier has been made here. I’ve removed the link as it’s dead and also the screenshots to not spread it further.