Man City to follow Everton? You’re deluding yourself! Southgate, Arsenal FFP, and more…

In support of Southgate?
As I have frequently indicated, I am not a fan of Southgate for a variety of reasons. Last night was a perfect example of boring, plodding, negative football. Poor game management and player selection based on “bessie mate” criteria.

Cole Palmer’s performance was one of the (very few) bright spots, and F365 mentions this in their player ratings. Let’s be clear: he was not a member of the initial group! He was drafted in when an opening appeared, and following the press clamour after his excellent performance against Manchester City, Southgate bowed to media pressure once more, his introduction was made ahead of players capable of performing that role and who Southgate deemed suitable to be in the original squad, how must they be feeling this morning? Southgate hailed Phil Foden’s performance after the game, despite the fact that he is a member of the team that has dominated domestic football for years, and was only selected owing to Saka’s injury.

A full house at Wembley deserved a lot better performance than players “subconsciously” underperforming. This, and starting poorly, “It was a game where we didn’t start well, and if you don’t start well, it’s hard to pick up the game,” surely this is part of Southgate’s task, to ensure that the players are “up for it,” to impress upon them the necessity of a quick start and a duty to the paying public. Being 1-0 up after 8 minutes is a nice start, however fortuitous.

I may have to give Southgate a pass because, in his defense—and this pains me to say—a game without pressure should be a chance for players to express themselves, and very few of them took this. This could be partly because of a can’t-be-arsed attitude, a lack of desire, or a “it doesn’t matter if I’m shit, Gareth will still pick me for the next game” mentality (I’m looking at you, Marcus, Kieran, and Hendo).

Despite this, he ought to have acknowledged it, given Gallagher the whole 90 minutes, and either Bowen or Watkins for Saka. After all, he did imply that the players understood they didn’t need to perform at a high level to win the game.

In addition, Dion Dublin’s co-commentary excelled beyond recognition. Just seconds after England scored their second goal, he disclosed the incredible two-touch football training technique that most school teachers and amateur “coaches” have been using for the past 432 years. He was thrilled to show the footage and tally the touches made by each player.But when he only tallied Kyle Walker’s two touches—three, actually—instead of the most important component of the move—putting the ball in the net—his counting went awry. After that, he called Rice’s goal that was disallowed “an easy finish,” only to clarify a few seconds later that it wasn’t! Looking forward to his contribution in the upcoming game.
Howard Jones (Megaflop, Captain Chaos just scored against the World Champions)

Is this really a brand-new circumstance?

Really, don’t anyone pay any attention to teams that aren’t in the Premier League? Many supporters of Championship and lower league clubs are scratching their heads in total bewilderment over Everton being fined 10 points.

Penalties for Premier League clubs under FFP regulations may be new, but I’ve seen a number of explanations in the media about how unjust it is to punish a team for bad ownership and management when there hasn’t been any attempt at dishonesty or fraud. Yes, well. However, I can assure you that Coventry City did not gain any advantages from entering administration, failing to emerge from it appropriately, and having to play 35 miles away of the city. Nevertheless, the team continued to lose 10 points in successive seasons. Back then, where was the outcry? Alternatively for Leeds, Middlesborough, Birmingham City, Wigan, Reading, Derby, Bolton, Sheffield Wednesday, Bury, Bournemouth, Luton, Rotherham, Portsmouth, etc.

The arguments remain the same even though the circumstances may not be exactly the same. The fact that people fail to recognize that kind of blows my mind.

PUSB. Holster. SMH

When it became clear that they had broken sustainability guidelines, I told one of my closest friends—who happens to be an Everton fan—that they would be made an example of and face a significant fine. My thinking is that Everton needed to be dealt with severely first because they want to throw the book at City.

The problem is that those in positions of authority dislike it when those who are essentially their subordinates look down on them. That’s what City has done time and time again, and for that, they were fined by CAS. Do the authorities harbor animosity towards them? If they didn’t previously, they most definitely do now.

The quantity of charges and the authorities’ need to make sure that every “i” is dotted and every “t” is crossed are the two main reasons why I believe the process will take a long time. They are fully aware that they will provide every appeal with the best attorneys money can buy, and they will want to make sure they have covered all the bases. Although the other teams won’t want it, I doubt titles will be taken away; however, a protracted European ban? Relegations in the vein of Calciopoli? To be honest, I wouldn’t be shocked.
Way, Lewis, Busby

I think it’s very obvious that there is no need to accuse corruption in order to explain the apparent delay between Everton and Man City receiving judgments.

Everton acknowledged it, but the city won’t work with them.

If you arrest a car burglar and he admits, “Fair enough, guv, I did it and it’s parked up over there,” then everything will move rather smoothly from there on out in the criminal court system. even though it’s perfectly legal for him to challenge a severe sentence.

After apprehending a man who has stolen over a hundred cars, he sits silently and opens his mouth momentarily to ask for his attorney. It is likely that you will need to invest some effort in developing a case. It will also need to be done for every charge.

It’s terrible, and I predict that going forward, all clubs will be far less inclined to work together. However, I don’t think it makes sense to impose a penalty before you’ve determined how to prove your case. As a matter of fact, it’s largely the reason Juventus successfully appealed their initial point deduction from the previous season.
Swansea, G

Though everyone agrees/hopes that City should eventually face the book, the Everton supporters’ tears are utterly uncalled for. “Let’s make an example of little old Everton shall we,” says Texas Bill. Everton, the little one? Boo hoo, huh. The amount of money Everton has spent on players over the previous five or six years has been astounding and puzzling to the supporters of every other mid-to lower-table team.

I’m sure someone can obtain an F365 website that lists Everton’s staggering amount of foolish signings for more than £20 million, but it seemed like they were using a cheat code every year. It was infuriating for teams attempting to survive in the same league because there was a cr@p (but historic, I liked going there, and I adore the supporters) ground, no funding, and a waste of money. They are deserving of punishment. Nobody should sympathize with the several teams that have been demoted in recent years despite Everton spending outrageous sums of money to circle the drain annually; neither should they.
Mike ,HOU

I believe you are deluding yourselves when you say that Man City will come next. Since money regulations in FIFA and EUFA have been known for years, why would you think the FA and PL are any different?

If not, why are they still “investigating” events that occurred between five and fourteen years ago? The “investigators” must be having a hard time coming up with a means to exonerate Cityzens!
T. William

Hey,

The absurdity of the Man City predicament is brought to light by Everton’s instant 10-point deduction for a single financial rule violation.

115 charges, and we have to wait for the results of all of them to be investigated? Why not simply administer the penalty while the investigation is ongoing? Charge one person ten points, two people twenty points and a hefty fine, three people thirty points and an even bigger fine, and so on. This may continue until City can no longer participate in a Sunday afternoon kickabout in the neighborhood park.

A quick point deduction or ban from the league should also be the consequence of failing to cooperate with an investigation, as was the case with City. Refusing to assist with an inquiry in which you might easily establish your innocence by providing emails and documentation is the epitome of guilt.

Although City supporters will yell, “Waaaaah, you just hate us because we win,” the truth is that, just this season, two clubs have been penalized for a single infraction. The City scenario cannot be ignored, as the City is undoubtedly counting on, and it will probably require government action due to the existence of natural gas.
Morrison

FFP and Arsenal

The day that I suggested that Arsenal fans were always playing within the rules was long ago, and they laughed it off.

They were placed on the watch list by the European Football Association not too long ago because, in addition to past losses under Paelladyce, they spent more than Chelsea in the 19/20, 20/21, and 21 seasons, totaling almost £260 million. You may Google it if you don’t believe me. And before you jump up and down saying that nothing was done, keep in mind that the UEFA is powerless. Additionally, I didn’t say “definitely cheating” because you people are sensitive; rather, I said “possibly creatively accounting,” which is kind of accurate if you think about spending £260 million in two years on top of losses from the prior two years when the ceiling was lower

Regarding some who objected, “But but Liverpool spend big!”
We do, but not beyond our limits or in violation of FFP; in fact, this is the one instance in which I can confidently state that Liverpool has done nothing wrong and that I have no reason to suspect they have either.
lee

The last point in the Stewie’s debate between Emery and Arteta Can I just make one last point regarding Stewie’s missive that Emery got us to the Europa League final? He did, but A) we were utterly awful in it, losing 4-1 overall and hardly ever really competing [8 shots on target to 2] and B) [and this is kind of important], we played some incredibly horrible shi*e along the way, losing the first leg of the rounds of final 32 & 16 to the mighty BATE Borisov + Rennes, respectively. We played decently in the QF + SF admittedly, but this was no spectacular run to the final. Even our group contained Vorskla Poltava & Qarabaē, teams I had never heard of since.

#shivers

Although Emery is an excellent coach and I wish him well, he performed poorly as manager of Arsenal in 2019–20, had a total breakdown in the dressing room, and carried over a terrible legacy from his last season at PSG, in which his team advanced to the first round of the Champions League 4–0 against Barcelona before losing 6-1 in Barcelona to send them out of the competition for the first time in history.

He was [perhaps] the correct manager, but he came in at the wrong time, and he will probably never get another chance because of the mess he produced. Both of these things are fine, and I doubt he would ever want to be our manager again. Decide to have a different argument, Stewie, please.Bravo to Lee for taking down that bot-goon in a fairly thorough manner. Even though I’m from Liverpool and have no stake in the outcome, I will still find it funny if he vanishes, but it still made me laugh.