Comments

1. “anti-american bias still exists at least to some degree in EPL. this is my definitive response to the people who always blame the player and say we just got out-competed for a job.”

   You’re basing this on Howard’s statements, a guy who is no way objective on the topic?

   Forgive me, I must have missed your announcement. I was not aware that you were coming out with a “definitive response”. What was the topic again?

   ” if you look at the actual player movement, 5 americans left EPL sides this year, plus CCV and others in recent years. whether certain fanboys want to admit it, the pool is voting with its feet.”

   “Voting with its feet”?? Those 5 American (plus CCV and others) left voluntarily?
   You’re implying they left in protest to the anti -Americanism?

   Funny, I had the impression that their clubs no longer required their services and kindly arranged for them to leave town.

   It’s sort of like that joke ” You can’t fire me, because I quit!”.

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2. Pepi and Lozano fued foe PK that Pepi earned. Boss gave nod to Pepi to take the PK.

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   • I had missed that PSV had signed Lozano at the deadline. Probably means less minutes for Malick and maybe even Pepi.

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     • JR,

       Chucky left a few years ago. He had a knee injury at Napoli and did not do that much last season. They wanted him to take a pay cut which Chucky refused to do. They wound up shopping him around and he wound up back at PSV. He went to Napoli for about 45 million and came back for 15 million. It’s a career reset attempt, like Dest and Pulisic but I don’t know that Chucky plans on staying much past this season. Maybe Saudi Arabia is in his future.

       Striker does not accept quotes as truthful; so here is the link:

       https://www.marca.com/en/football/2023/09/17/6506ce35268e3e061f8b4584.html

       “The play occurred in the final stretch of the match, in the 87th minute, when both players began to argue over who was to take the penalty to make it 4-0. As both players did not reach an amicable agreement, the indication came from the bench and the ball went to Pepi, who effectively converted. At the end, Lozano himself also came over to congratulate him, although the TV shot also showed the Mexican with a gesture of disagreement. However, the discussion caused a division of opinions in the stands of the Philips Stadion, as Pepi was booed and Chucky’s name was also chanted. It is worth remembering that it was precisely in Eindhoven where the stands invented the “El Chucky Lozano” chant, with a popular electronic music tune”

       The good thing here is that Pepi is not backing down to some has-been El Tri star.
       Pepi was brought in to be developed for the future so telling Chucky to do something physically impossible for most humans will probably be seen as a positive thing.

3. Richards a rough final ten minutes. Took a boot to the face and then was whistled for a penalty that gave Villa the lead. Somewhat questionable penalty call.

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4. tim howard says pulisic did a brilliant job in recent years but it doesn’t matter because americans can’t just have good games, they have to be good every game, and that if he had been dutch or italian he’d still be there and not turned into a sub or shipped out. howard implies anti-american bias still exists at least to some degree in EPL. this is my definitive response to the people who always blame the player and say we just got out-competed for a job. if you look at the actual player movement, 5 americans left EPL sides this year, plus CCV and others in recent years. whether certain fanboys want to admit it, the pool is voting with its feet. people disagree with me and argue that having a strong opinion means you are biased. but here the facts are actually behind me, if you bother to look. (as they often are, including on GB, a mediocre coach with a plodding system that will not take us to the pinnacle.)

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   • So what’s your point?

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   • Tim Howard stating his opinion doesn’t make it a fact. Christian obviously faced a lot of bias from Chelsea fans being American but explain to me how both Tuchel and Lampard developed this bias after previously featuring Pulisic as one of their favored attackers? So maybe at least a portion of his struggles at Chelsea were performance related.

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     • There was no doubt that Christian , at his best, was good enough to be a regular for Chelsea.

       However, because of injury or a lack of form most likely caused by him needing to recover from injury, Christian was not able to show up and perform at his best often enough.

       Such a lame attendance record might be okay at a sloppy seconds club like Howard’s Everton but at major club like Chelsea you are expected to win now.

       This idea that if he were another nationality would have given him more of a margin of error with Chelsea is lazy bullshit.

       What gave him a reduced margin of error was his price tag.

       If you are in the 50-60 million range, people expect more.
       Aaronson cost Leeds 30 million + and gave them very little for their money.

       If Chelsea had paid 25 million or so ( roughly what Milan paid ) for Pulisic, he might still be at Chelsea.

       The ability to show up on the field when you are most needed is non negotiable, something Tyler and Gio need to really think about.

       One of Clint’s most prized qualities was that , in his time in Europe he did not miss a lot of games through injury.