Robertson was very balanced on it actually.
Had the opportunity to condemn it and didn’t.
This goes back to what I said about Real Madrid and their tapping up via the media. This is how it works. It creates animosity between the player and the fans, hence giving the player the feeling that it’s better for him to leave
You constantly tell us not to believe the media and twitter sources etc and then claim this. Seems a bit strange that you would believe Madrid are tapping up via the media given your insistence for telling us not to believe anything in the media .
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I think you’re under-thinking it.
My point is simple: far more often than they’d like to admit, people will believe what they want to believe. In this case, it’s very easy to manipulate fans by just drip-feeding “journalists” talk about how close Alexander-Arnold is to signing for Real Madrid.
Fans, being the gullible human meat-sacks we all are, will be vulnerable to that influnece, and start to show their nasty side, and demonstrate to the player they don’t need them, e.g. by burning their tops or whatever, which only serves to alienate the player from the support of the club.
You seem to want to believe he’s had his heart on leaving, even though no one had that suggestion until talk about his contract started, and the above-mentioned drip-feeding started.
And you’re throwing a tantrum because it actually happened, and people have the temerity to accuse fans prioritising their ego over what a more sensible reaction is.
Wenger more than suggested the tapping up started 2 years ago
I don’t see the contradiction here. For me, it’s precisely because Real Madrid would do such a thing that you can’t believe most things that football media says about it. In the past, I wouldn’t have been so absolute, but it’s quite clear that when it comes to our club nowadays, pretty much nothing leaks out from our side. We have pretty much zero incentive for leaking anything, and it certainly doesn’t seem to be the way the club operates.
And on a broader basis, I think the industry of journalism nowadays has been fully subsumed by the media and advertising industry. It’s not about how accurate you are in most reporting (I exclude some of the more traditional publications such as the FT from this because as far as I’m aware their revenue still largely depends on subscriptions), because the financial incentive is to get more views and clicks, so it’s about how sensational you can make it. Facts are secondary to that. Verification is secondary to that, especially when it comes to Xitter.
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Even if Wenger is somehow in the know about this, it doesn’t mean the player will have “colluded” (to use @Mascot’s words) to leave on a free transfer.
It simply means that there is concrete interest that the player is aware of. There’s still many, many steps to get to the point where he signs a contract with them. I’m not sure any of these practices are new either.
I have no doubt that if Wenger is correct, Konaté will also have been approached. But the same also applies to us, and I don’t think Real Madrid are in anyway exclusive in that.
I’m very cautious in drawing a straight line between tapping up and a player actually moving. United can tap up all the players in the world, but only idiots would actually move there.
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That’s not the same thing. Trent is leaving, the matches are relatively meaningless, and it’s should be party time
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Fair enough.
For me I’d prioritise Bradley’s development, winning the games, and then whatever else, hence the preference. Ideally Gomez would be fit and firing so we can play him there instead to get him the minutes and accolades he deserves.
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I’m sorry, what? All of the tantrums have been thrown by the people comdeming the fans for yesterday. My tantrum is against the gormless idiots caling our fans scum and pathetic and pricks. There’s fuck all temerity involved there and you’ve been reading the wrong thread then, boyo, and fuck all sensible about their words now do yourself a favour and jog on. This is exactly what I’ve been saying about being on a wind up by the ‘sensible’ ones because no matter how much one can engage in good faith there always has to be smug air somewhere. I said you could have the last word but you decided to take the piss with it.
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Thanks!! I always try my hardest and recognition of that fact is always welcome.
As for the Trent stuff I see the Superfans have been out in force overnight telling everyone how to behave at the match. Let’s hope they take heed and do as they’re told at the Palace match.
And let’s get something straight. I didn’t boo yesterday and I didn’t want anyone else to but I fully understand why people did. There’s no “self-entitlement” here, Trent has always banged on about being a fan and loving the club but as someone who shares the same views it’s inconceivable to me to fuck off to those cunts on a free after running down a contract. Simple as that, the two things aren’t compatible.
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What do you think about @ZinedineBiscan’s points about the transfer market and how it operates nowadays, especially with how options for player at the top tier are limited?
This post is such a brilliant encapsulation of the whole argument. Some people are talking out of emotion, annoyed and frustrated at how a local lad could turn his back on the institution that means so much to the city and others want to talk about how the transfer market works for Real Madrid in 2025.
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True but the other three also were ‘more important’ to the team on the pitch at the time and their leaving felt like much more of a blow. Trent, great talent that he is and formerly an assist king, is our right back. Hopefully we don’t play Madrid at Anfield while Trent is playing for them and then, with the passage of time, he may face a similar fate.
I can’t believe that such a non-issue flares up so much excitement and controversy.
Anyway, let’s stop the name calling on here. I have removed one or two posts and ask everybody to tone it down a notch or two from now on. Thanks.
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Perhaps, but being
also suggests that the club is entitled to a career of servitude from the player.
If we accept that it isn’t the case, then the next question would be, what constitutes a fair exchange for the club? It’s not too far from there to then ask the question of whether such a fair exchange is even possible.
As far as I’m concerned, if he hadn’t been injured against PSG, we could well be looking at him bidding farewell to the club having won the League Cup, the title, and potentially making it to the Champions League Final at least. I’d say that’s a fair exchange for no transfer fee.
But in this instance hes not a fan he’s a professional footballer who has decided to move on which hes fully entitled too.
Why can’t he be both? Why can’t he be a fan of the club but also want to try something new?
It’s not like he’s leaving us as we’re about to collapse into irrelevance, or leaving us for something that’s objectively better. We dismantled his supposed destination club without him, and we’re on the up under Arne. If he left after 2022-23 I can understand the upset, but he’s leaving a club that could well have won at least a double, if not a treble this season, having already won only the 20th league title in its history, the 2nd in 30 years.
He’s been a crucial component of our success for the past 8 years, it’s not surprising that he might want to try something new.
In any case many fans have been clamouring for Bradley to replace him supposedly solely on the basis of his performances, so why exactly would these fans be upset that he’s leaving?
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He can be both I agree, but too many are jumping on the fan aspect when the more important one hes a professional footballer.
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The point of my post you quoted wasn’t really to push one side over the other it was to highlight that it was funny that you’d reply to such an emotional post, asking if the poster had any thoughts on the current mechanisms of the transfer market. You’re having two completely different conversations.
Some people approach this sort of thing emotionally and with strong views on what constitutes loyalty and what it means to represent you’re own city and that’s what drives their thinking. Whereas others, yourself included, seem to view it all as completely transactional and want to analyse the terms and the conditions that allow the move to happen.
The fact you’ve then responded to me by assessing the value of his final year versus a potential fee, is again, quite funny. None of which is a criticism, you’re obviously looking at it logically and who can fault that!? But personally my view is that what makes the club and the fan base great is that we approach everything completely full of emotion and sometimes against all logic.
Just to reiterate, I didn’t boo in the ground and personally wouldn’t boo a Liverpool player. Just commenting on the discourse really.
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This is long …