• 7 Posts
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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: October 9th, 2023

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  • Using Antony as an example:

    He was playing for Ajax. Ajax were the strongest team in a league that struggles to be ranked in the top 10 leagues in Europe.

    So he was playing for the strongest team in a weak league where a lot of the opposition teams were pretty poor.

    His teammates were some of the best in the league. He had solid defenders behind him, top attackers fo get him assists and top creators to get him goals.

    So he looks great.

    Then he moves to a team who are struggling to fight near the top of what is arguably the most competitive league in world football. The defence is struggling, meaning he is required to chase back far more. The attackers are impotent, meaning he gets fewer assists, and the best creative player (Bruno) is often forced to play out of position, meaning he gets fewer chances created for him. Add to that the fact that pretty much every single opposing left back in the league knows that he wants to cut inside onto his stronger foot now, and you get a player struggling.

    Antony would have struggled in pretty much any team in the league.

    Let’s look at your Doku example.

    I’m not sure he would have struggled as much for Man U as you expect. He was performing well in a more competitive league, for a side who weren’t the best in the league. Or even the second best. He was playing for Rennes for 3 seasons, who finished 4th last season, 4th the season before that, and 6th the season before. So, pretty much Man U’s level.

    Last season he managed 6 goals and 2 assists in the league. Season before that, 1 goal and 2 assists, season before that, 2 goals and 3 assists. Not brilliant numbers, but this season he’s already got 2 goals and 5 assists, which is a great return in a debut season in the Premier League.

    One thing you’re not factoring in when it comes to people shitting on Antony is how incredibly unlikeable he comes across as on the pitch. Doku seems to play with a smile whilst Antony plays with a scowl. As such, people seem happier to give Doku the benefit of the doubt more than Antony.





  • Interestingly enough, there is a precedent for this.

    After Sheffield United were relegated below West Ham in the 06/07 season, they sued The Hammers since West Ham’s “signing” of Javier Mascherano and more importantly Carlos Tevez was in clear breach of third party ownership rules in the Premier League. West Ham finished 3 points above Sheffield United with an inferior goal difference. Tevez literally scored the winning goal in a 1-0 victory on the final day of the season to keep West Ham up.

    Sheffield United originally sued to try and have West Ham relegated instead of them, but failed. So instead they sued West Ham for monies lost by no longer being in the Premier League, and West Ham settled out of court for £20m. One can only surmise that the reason they settled out of court was because they expected they would probably lose if it went to court.

    Thus, Burnley, Leeds and Leicester have a reason to think they might be able to financially benefit from suing Everton. However, realistically only 1 club could have avoided relegation had Everton had their points deduction sooner, and Burnley were relegated a season before Leeds and Leicester. Last season Leicester finished above Leeds, so really only Leicester should be the one suing Everton. As for Burnley, if they want to claim that Everton should have faced their points deduction in the 21/22 season then that’ll be interesting.