Recent content by HisNameIsEarl

Well, the award committee chose him as key player from this collective, if I compare the press reviews, he's mentioned there as well. My argument was that his talent wasn't much of a secret. And I fail to see how Zagorakis invalidates that, as Greece's win was not seen as dominant and deserved.

It doesn't matter? Spain was the best team by a margin, with the midfield led by Xavi as their centerpeace and a record of 22 unbeaten matches. And now you compare them to Greece 2004? "Best player" awards sometimes are pointless, but in Xavis case, they surely were not.

Xavi had just become "best player" in Euro 2008, and you're praising Pep for recognizing his talent?

The metrics are set by the question in the op: "Is Pep the goat?". There is no double standard because its Pep, I guess nobody doubts his extraordinary status. But talking about goat implies highest metrics, therefore the number of CL wins of post peak Barcelona cannot be the bar to jump over...

I think it depends a lot on the wording here. It's not a negative on Pep, as in the word criticism, but it's a positive on others, so when comparing managers, it gives them a bonus. As of that, it comes down to how we wheigh our criteria, for some it is the main aspect of the managers job...

Sell Sancho, buy him again, and sell him once more. Biggest statement I could think of, expressing the utter insanity of making statements with deals.

I think it's the "there is no glory in prevention" thing - this preemptive action would be perceived as a loss and the resulting negativity would be attributed to the preemptive action rather than to the bad deal beforehand. So they had to wait until it became obvious to everyone.

Hell of a player. He shields his team from all the (social) media attraction, so his teammates can concentrate and focus on their game, while he is taking that heavy burden from them. May contain traces of parody.

There's even more to it - Maradona was nicknamed "O rrè" at Naples, that is "the king". This 'crowning' clearly refers to chosing his heir. Kvara was nicked "Kvaradona" already before, so pretty much no racism.

Wasn't it you that downplayed Haalands numbers? That they would need to be weighed and be taken in the context that he plays in a producing team that is outstanding in its league? Don't get me wrong, Messi will propably get this ballon d'or, and deservedly so. But his club season wasn't successful.

Funny how you advocate for contextual usage of stats when it suits your agenda, and bluntly ignore it when it doesn't.

I feel you're mixing things up. It occassionally happens that an aging superstar can still play for his NT, once he is too old for his former contracts at club level. That doesn't mean he actively retreats from his club and rejects a contract in favor of his NT career. On the subject itself...

To be frank, this feels like an attempt to praise de Jong, hidden behind a wall of text that pretends to be an objective assessment. The implicit message is "FdJ is close to a legend of the game", which would be debatable as an open claim. Instead its masked as a comparison, and simply assuming...

You're welcome.

"Why did you send off the player?" "Well, his club didn't pay me for neutrality."