Gravenberch negatives should not outweigh his positives; sportswashing dominates the Mailbox

Sportswashing talk is having its way with the Mailbox yet again. There are also some bits about Burnley, Eric Dier leaving Tottenham and Liverpool’s Ryan Gravenberch.

Send your options in to theeditor@football365.com…

Farewell, Eric
One of the last bastions of The Peak Poch Era has departed. Eric Dier isn’t for everyone but anyone with a head on their shoulders would recognise his contributions during those glorious, if ultimately tangibly unsuccessful years.

He is an intelligent person who, despite I’m sure every effort, wasn’t quite the consistently required standard we’d hoped he would become. That said, most of the supporters were on his side (our last home match against Everton featured two lung busting renditions of ‘I love Eric Dier’).

Most clubs will have had, or currently feature, players who are probably replaceable but in some dark recesses of the brain, the fans are desperate for them to just be a bit better, to blow the doubters away and tell the on-line loudmouths to shove it, for Tottenham, that man is Dier* – plus, he’s almost certainly going to join that long, illustrious list of ex-Spurs players to rather quickly win something.

Almost ten years on from their debuts, the club no longer has Dier, Winks, Lloris, Kane…our longest serving player is Ben Davies** and, not unlike during Poch’s first year at Spurs, the older generation are being moved on (okay, Kane was hardly moved on), and an exciting group of young, impressionable players have arrived.

*Ben Davies is another coincidentally
**wouldn’t be a surprise for him to leave in the summer.
Anon

You can’t win on Twitter
I made the mistake of going on Twitter to see how the great Tottenham diaspora is reacting to the recent transfer activity.  To me it’s seemed a bit different to Levy’s usual approach and wondered if I were even vaguely on the same page.  I’m not.

‘Levy waits too long to get business done.’  Levy brings in Werner almost immediately upon the window opening.  ‘Why did he go so early, he could have waited instead of buying a proven flop.’

‘Levy is impossible for other clubs to do deals with because he tried to do it all on the cheap.  He should just pay the fee.’  Levy brings in Dragusin despite Bayern circling.  ‘Oh he’s had his pants pulled down there.  Way over paid.’

‘Levy needs to support Ang.’  Levy brings in 2 players Ang wanted and moved on 3 he didn’t.  ‘What’s Levy doing bringing in flops and unproven players while letting experienced servants go on the cheap?’

Goodbye Twitter.
Dr Oyvind, Earth

Give Ryan Gravenberch time
Some interesting mails in the last couple of days about Gravenberch – just wanted to add some thoughts on that and certain other aspects of the midfield.

In my opinion we have managed to bag an excellent prospect in Gravenberch who will prove to be value for money.

I agree with certain elements of concerns raised in the mailbox about him being questionable in the tackle and at times he has given the ball away too cheaply, but that should not outweigh what I see as his high end abilities to move/glide with the ball and open up angles around the box from the number 8 position which is particularly useful when facing teams employing a low block.

Clearly there is still some coaching work that needs to take place in terms of adding a bit of steal and reliability to his play, but that shouldn’t change us from being glass half full to glass half empty in terms of our overall thoughts about the player.

Although significant strides were made last summer in terms of refreshing the midfield options it is still pretty clear to me that we don’t have that totally sorted yet.

Key to this is solving the number 6 position. I don’t feel that Endo is going to be the ongoing solution to that key position as we move into next year so I sit here with interest on who we will go for. My personal favourite would be Paulinho from Fulham due to physical presence and ability to provide a genuine shield for the defence, but he’ll be 29 in the summer and may not fit the ideal profile in that regard for the club.

Depending on how the transfer dominoes line up, you could see him heading to Bayern (per last summer’s interest) if they feel Kimmich is on his way (would love to see him continue his desire to play in a red shirt!).

Let’s not forget that we have a certain Stefan Bajcetic in the wings who I can see flourishing in the number 6 role in the future – perhaps a season or two too early for that to happen, hence my enthusiasm for getting an older head in that would balance well with his development.

Although Mac Allister has not set the world alight for us yet in terms of stats output you can see that we’ve got a really good player there (and good bloke) who will prove to be a mainstay of our midfield going forward, just not in the number 6 role that he has been asked to employ at times. Happy with him.

Finally, Szoboszlai – looks a technically excellent player who started the season really, really well for us but has perhaps regressed slightly in the last month or so. Great purchase.

What was interesting to me when watching the 0-0 draw with Man U that he attempted to do an unnecessary back-heal flick in the centre circle just after the hour mark, which didn’t feel like the best thing to do at the time.

Within 2 minutes he was hooked by Klopp – part of me thinks that had something to do with the decision.

You get the sense with him that he rates himself (not necessarily a bad thing), but needs to be reminded that team trumps individual (well certainly it does at LFC under Klopp). Just needs to adopt the ‘bury yourself for the team’ attitude a bit more and he will flourish (just like Diaz did so brilliantly when he first joined 2 years ago).

Great to be in the mix again, although the smart money remains on Citeh to plough through to the title come May.

But silverware of some kind looks a real possibility, the dream being to get to the Europa final in Dublin.

I was there when we won the UEFA cup equivalent against Alaves back in 2001, capping off a mad 4 days after robbing Arsenal in the FA Cup final in Cardiff (mini parallels to this season !?!).

Found myself sat two seats along from Elvis Costello in the Dortmund stand and then looked round to see Chris De Burgh sat two rows behind with his Miss World competing daughter alongside (he must have married well !).

Spam over.
Sparky, LFC

‘Laws’ of the game 
It looked like a foul live and looked like a clearer foul on the replay. Seriously, why the f*** does s*** like this need to keep happening? Why can’t there be more strict standards and definitions as to what is allowed in these goalkeeping situations? Or handball.

You can probably go all over the rulebook with this. Also – when has that ever not been an obstruction offence?

Sure, it can be termed “subjective”…but that’s misleading and a really poor excuse. It’s only subjective because no one has tried to provide any sort of clarity as to how to judge scenarios that we now know we can typically expect.

I’ll say it again for people who love to criticize American sports – this is almost a non-issue nowadays and was never this problematic to begin with in any of the major American sports leagues. The NFL spent years tweaking the catch rule in real time because things exactly like this kept happening before there was any clarity on the rule.

It’s not hard and there are honestly no excuses for this – it almost seems intentional at this point just to get people like me to do things like write into the mailbox about it.
MAW, LA Gooner (Both of these teams are getting relegated anyway.)

READ MORE: Burnley face more worrying times as VAR controversy overshadows woeful result vs Luton

Sportwashing apologetics
G’day mates

I am writing in this morning bleary eyed but frustrated yet again with the usual twitter sludge infecting my leisure time. Ignoring the woke debate (people who still watch Ricky Gervais – is it because you loved David Brent that much?) I have moved on to grump at the far more relateable and sympathetic annoying whataboutary brigade.

I shouldn’t get too down on  people who take their talking points direct from the Saudi ministry of Swiss bank accounts, after all their loyalty and community is part of the package sold to these regimes. I just want them to realise that at least I don’t expect them to stop being fans of a team they have spent a lifetime following.

What I do hope for is that they treat these regimes with the respect that all unearned inherited authority should receive, none.  You actually do have power, a whole stadium of Newcastle fans demanding the release of political prisoners would have an effect.

Remember they are buying yr loyalty here, why are people so scared of crossing them.  Think of how brave the people who protest these regimes are.

It’s not an easy thing, I have sympathy for those who are battling with it, even those who have succumbed to the massive PR machine on social media and parrot the puppets are worthy of sympathy. The reflexive whataboutary is ridiculous though. As terrible as the some of our (varied) countries behaviour has been I don’t think the average North Korean would appreciate being told that it’s just the same as being executed for watching squid game and therefore North Korea is a valid owner for a premier league team (as I read a Newcastle supporters group state the other day.)

I have no doubt that any teams support would behave the same. Thats not the point.  Attacking the ownership is like complaining about the government – no reflection on those living under it. Being put in prison for liking a tweet is bad not someone being mean about the team you love.
Emma Spurs NZ in OZ

…That’s quite the Straw Man that “Lee” is trying to build, about City and Newcastle fans claiming they have no say in how the club is run, but secretly not wanting it to change.

In honesty I think he’s giving us too much credit on the moral compass.

Us City fans sing Sheikh Mansour songs every week, also chants about going down with billions in the bank etc.

Newcastle fans reaction to the takeover was to descend on St. James’ in Arabic dress.

Both sets of fans appear quite happy as long as trophies continue / arrive (respectively).

Maybe it’s the open acceptance that really annoys the opposition fans?
Phil (MCFC)

Lee’s magical thinking
Hey, Lee. I’d like to buy NUFC off the Saudi royal family. I make low six-figures. Please tell me how to make that happen, you magnificent genius.
Chris C, Toon Army DC

Lucky Lee
Gosh, Lee must be living an incredible life; yachts, beautiful wife and kids, fulfilling work, all the things anyone would hope for. How do I know this? As he says himself ‘when you really want something you find a way to make it happen. When you don’t, you find excuses not to try’.

I can see where he is going though with the claims of Toon and City fans not to have any say in who owns the club. He rightly mentions Man U fans who have complained about their owners, protested and got nowhere. He then mentions the Liverpool fans who have pushed back against ticket price rises and been successful. I would say though, that there is a big difference between minor financial compromises and selling a huge asset like a football club, particularly when we are always being told that ticket sales produce a smaller and smaller percent of club income with every passing TV deal. The ESL was a decent example of fan power being effective, but such a spontaneous outpouring of scorn is not easily reproduced, and I’m not sure it would even happen if a second attempt was made.

He doesn’t mention that Newcastle fans did protest Mike Ashley, complete with season tickets being ripped up and declined by long standing fans and it got them nowhere. He doesn’t mention either that there is a Newcastle fan group (I assume there must be a City one too) who are actively against the current ownership, but they are for now, pretty small. Maybe they should mail F365 more often, that’s probably the trick they are missing.

I can’t speak for local fans, but as an overseas plastic fan, I would rather Newcastle had owners that are just rotten capitalists, rather than a troubling regime. But there are a lot of other things to worry about in the world. I have kids to raise, local and world political issues to feel sad and impotent about, my own financial concerns and a whole range of other things to consider. I doubt my not buying a new jersey once every 5 years is going to upset them too much.

Locally Newcastle United FC does a lot of work with food banks, so I could see the recipients of those having more pressing concerns than the club ownership, and the people who don’t use them most likely have a lot of personal concerns of their own that feel much more real. You can’t protest every issue you don’t like, modern global life is a parade of sh*t and a person needs to find a way to live in it and not go insane.

So maybe they do just enjoy the football for a change, after years of frustration in that regard and don’t think too much about all the horrors of modern life, that was supposed to be the point in the beginning wasn’t it?
Derek from Dundalk

The curse of reasonable mails
F365.  Bloody Hell.  There’s me, opening Friday morning’s mailbox, all aggressive and defensive at the same time, anticipating the hate and bile I just KNEW was coming.  And what did I get?  A mail from Ronnie Buzzard that not only slapped me hard in the face, but also properly put me on my arse.  I found myself reading it initially as “Yeah, what’s this guy’s dig gonna be because…… Oh”.

He’s absolutely spot on.  I was definitely THAT City fan sneering at United’s dominance, from a dilapidated Maine Road whilst declaring that at least I was a ‘proper’ supporter of a ‘real’ club and not one populated by ‘Cockney Reds’.

He also forced me to reflect on what I’ve enjoyed more whilst supporting City.  The recent trophies or watching the likes of Kinkladze (THAT goal against Southampton), Paulo Wanchope, Shaun Goater (The one and only GOAT), Richard Dunne scoring yet another own goal, or Shaun Wright-Phillips going on another breathtaking mazy run only to end up in the opposition box with a shot on goal that a four-year-old girl would’ve been embarrassed by.

(I was at Palace v City back in the day when he put one in the back of the net.  After the initial celebrations, there was a pregnant pause before some genius started singing “I was there, I was there, I was there when Shauny Scored!”  Harsh but hilarious).

I admit that it’s been somewhat weird watching world-class players plying their trade in a Man City shirt because I’ve been (mostly) unable to shake the ‘typical City mindset.  But that’s on me.  I can’t square Ronnie’s circle, as he puts it, and watching City when we were absolute pants still feels more ‘meaty’ or ‘real’ than the juggernaut I’m watching now.

Would I change anything though?  Not really.  And if, as appears to be the wet dream of many, City are found guilty of some, or all of the 115 charges laid against them, and they are relegated down to the Conference, with both Sheikh Mansour and Pep Guardiola skipping off to pastures new, you know what I’ll be doing the day after?

I’ll be supporting Manchester City.  Because it’ll still be MY club.
Mark (Damn you Ronnie Buzzard for writing a calm, reasonable and incisive mail.  Git!).  MCFC.

Football ski lift draft 
I’m heading out to the slopes with a few mates and we will do our best to remain uninjured and un-buried in snow. When on ski lifts, we play a draft game where we pick players based on a set rule and see who creates the best team. The participants explain to 3rd person why their team is better and they judge the winner.

E.g. Any player from 1990 onwards who has played for a team in a red and white striped shirt.  There is a time limit on each pick to speed things up. This pressure led someone to pick a towering front three of Crouch, Niall Quinn, and Kenywe Jones on one occasion (with Lee Cattermole supplying).

The rule doesn’t have to be kit types, it could be nationalities, regions of the country, or players with certain letters in their names (we did a bald 11 v 11 one time). Mailbox, thinking as creatively as possible, what new categories can you add to our roster?
Matt

Enlighten the ignorant…
As a Yank new to the EPL, I would love to know about the usage and derivation of the terms “game”, “match” and “tie”. I’ve already learned that the game is football, NOT soccer, they are “pens” and NOT “PKs”, and that a shot is “on target” and NOT “on frame”.

Any other American abominations I should learn to avoid?
John, Pelham, NY, LFC

A question for the Mailbox
Arsenal are still in the Champions League, and look like contenders to make the CL next year, Spurs too. I was curious if their English fans had a choice, they would rather see their teams win that one day, or England win WC or EC?
Anon