Can we judge a player's commitment to the sport from his social media?

villain

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I don’t get your point, of cours it’s social media, and you can tell a lot by what people post.
The point is that all of us use social media and it’s not reflective of our intelligence.
Some people post on here to WUM, troll, or otherwise keep it light
Others come on here full of emotions in reaction to a match.
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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The point is that all of us use social media and it’s not reflective of our intelligence.
Some people post on here to WUM, troll, or otherwise keep it light
Others come on here full of emotions in reaction to a match.
Sorry I disagree, what people wrote on social media reflects who they are. Why wouldn’t it? It’s should be treated no differently than how people react in a real life situation.
 

Trizy

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I couldn't give a feck what the players do on social media. They have lives outside of training and matches. They can spend their past time doing what they want as far as I'm concerned.

We'd probably post a lot too if we had millions of followers.
 

Abizzz

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If anyone kept posting the entire night before a game... yeah that would have me worried. But I haven't seen anything like that so never mind.

Sorry I disagree, what people wrote on social media reflects who they are. Why wouldn’t it? It’s should be treated no differently than how people react in a real life situation.
I agree, posting something stupid/vile is no better than saying it... people reading it will always draw their conclusions about the poster from it. (Only difference to other scenarios being that something posted stays there forever, while if I say something stupid in a bar only few people will hear it and in all likelihood no one will repeat it...)
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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If anyone kept posting the entire night before a game... yeah that would have me worried. But I haven't seen anything like that so never mind.


I agree, posting something stupid/vile is no better than saying it... people reading it will always draw their conclusions about the poster from it. (Only difference to other scenarios being that something posted stays there forever, while if I say something stupid in a bar only few people will hear it and in all likelihood no one will repeat it...)
This is exactly what I mean, people calling people they don’t know names, generally trolling, being racist or sexist on social media shows me who they are and quite rightly will be judged on it.
 

villain

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Sorry I disagree, what people wrote on social media reflects who they are. Why wouldn’t it? It’s should be treated no differently than how people react in a real life situation.
You're conflating two different things.

Posting something rude/discriminatory/disrespectful etc on social media, then yes - it should be seen as a fair reflection of a person's thoughts.

However, posting videos dancing or getting haircuts doesn't mean that their life revolves around it or his attention is diverted from football.
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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You're conflating two different things.

Posting something rude/discriminatory/disrespectful etc on social media, then yes - it should be seen as a fair reflection of a person's thoughts.

However, posting videos dancing or getting haircuts doesn't mean that their life revolves around it or his attention is diverted from football.
I agree with the second bit, but I have a question, how do you think Fergie would deal with social media?
 

VivaObertan

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Not at all.

Don't remember Gary kicking off at Cristiano or Beckham with their blonde streaked hair? Lamenting Lee Sharpe for doing dances when he scored? Nah

I detest him as a pundit.
 

villain

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I agree with the second bit, but I have a question, how do you think Fergie would deal with social media?
I couldn’t really care tbh.
Fergie is the greatest British manager of all time, but he’s generational.

Time moves on.
 

Alex99

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Not at all.

Don't remember Gary kicking off at Cristiano or Beckham with their blonde streaked hair? Lamenting Lee Sharpe for doing dances when he scored? Nah

I detest him as a pundit.
The hair thing is particularly weird when his best mate almost made his name with 'iconic' hairstyles. Beckham going blond, having a mohawk, shaving his head, growing it out, getting a beard, whatever, was nearly always front page news. Pogba gets a haircut that probably takes 30 minutes during his spare time and posts a video on instagram showing it off and the pundits lose their minds.
 

noodlehair

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No. He’s a 25 year old tee total extrovert who has interest in fashion and music.

It’s a damn better commitment than someone like Rooney who kept it low key on social media but got pissed regularly and let his body fall into disrepair. Obviously Rooney huffed and puffed and put in a few late challenges so was fully committed to the cause.
Rooney did also come onto social media to whine about being made to eat healthy food before a game, and on numerous occasions to spout drunken gibberish, so I think in his case it was certainly fair to make a judgement.

The judgement goes hand in hand with what you see on the pitch. If a player's behavour in the media (social or any other kind), mirrors or explains aspects of their performance on the pitch, then it's entirely fair to make a judgement or connection.

I'm not sure about Pogba's hair or why anyone would care, but the general point Neville makes about Pogba does have an element of truth. If you are drawing attention to yourself, it's because you want people to notice what you are doing, so it's a good idea to make sure what you are doing, is, you know, good. Pogba does seem to have a loose concept of this. He's strutting and arsing around the same when he's in good form, as he is when he's playing badly. It creates the impression (whether it's correct or not) that he isn't really that bothered about whether he's playing well or not, or doesn't understand or recognise when he isn't. He probably attracts more criticism than another player would because of this.

There's two sides to it though. You don't really want a supposed world class, swaggering player, who "keeps his head down" whenever things aren't going well...you want a player to be brave enough to want to be noticed. The past week has been an example of when it can really be a positive.
 

Camilo

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Absolutely. It'd be like me going to the pub and having a laugh on a Friday night when I have a 9-5 job. Unacceptable, total lack of commitment. Keane never even took off his football shorts, never mind made a phone call.
 

LilyWhiteSpur

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Maybe I’m colour blind but Pogba’s streak is blue lol. I know it was done for his NT match but it’s still blue, it was simply bad timing for the City game after Peps quotes on being offered Pogba :lol:.
 

FujiVice

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I guarantee if Pogba was English, the amount of excuses Neville and the likes would make for him would be as long as your arm. This is the same Gary Neville who defended Beckham when he decided to call in sick for training the week of Leeds away to look after his kid (while his wife went out shopping). Giggsy was off shagging his brothers wife during the week. You'd think our side had a team of angels back when Neville played.

Cantona was a huge inspiration to the whole dressing room. He was a absolute mad head off the field. Loved his brothels, our Eric. I remember a quote from Cantona once where he said if you dont enjoy yourself away from football what's the point in it?
 

roonster09

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I think that’s a bit of a cop out, Fergie wouldn’t have tolerated it, simple as.
Why? SAF said he won't use social media, he never restricted players. Best part about SAF is he adapted and moved on unlike others.

Also SAF tolerated lot of off field activities of Beckham. What Pogba is doing isn't even bad. He is just enjoying his life and people must be so miserable if they have problem with that.
 

Keeps It tidy

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Why? SAF said he won't use social media, he never restricted players. Best part about SAF is he adapted and moved on unlike others.

Also SAF tolerated lot of off field activities of Beckham. What Pogba is doing isn't even bad. He is just enjoying his life and people must be so miserable if they have problem with that.
And Andy Cole dropped a music video during his time at United. Rio Ferdinand had a tv show, a record label, an online magazine and was a movie producer during his time at United.
 

villain

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I think that’s a bit of a cop out, Fergie wouldn’t have tolerated it, simple as.
It’s not a cop out, I just don’t see value in the ‘What would Fergie do?!’ (or any) hypothetical situations/questions, it’s a pointless exercise that means nothing and simply wastes time.

You don’t know for a fact what Fergie would’ve done.
I don’t know for a fact what Fergie would’ve done - therefore why would I care?

Fergie has retired, let’s move on.
 

roonster09

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And Andy Cole dropped a music video during his time at United. Rio Ferdinand had a tv show, a record label, an online magazine and was a movie producer during his time at United.
Exactly. People have very wrong picture of Fergie if they think he treated players like prisoners.
 

Classical Mechanic

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I guarantee if Pogba was English, the amount of excuses Neville and the likes would make for him would be as long as your arm. This is the same Gary Neville who defended Beckham when he decided to call in sick for training the week of Leeds away to look after his kid (while his wife went out shopping). Giggsy was off shagging his brothers wife during the week. You'd think our side had a team of angels back when Neville played.

Cantona was a huge inspiration to the whole dressing room. He was a absolute mad head off the field. Loved his brothels, our Eric. I remember a quote from Cantona once where he said if you dont enjoy yourself away from football what's the point in it?
Well, Becks is his best friend. Nev was best man at his wedding.

There was a lot of disquiet in Beckham's time around his lifestyle. He managed to fend off the ire of fans by producing his best form for United around that time, although there were a good number of United fans that claimed he worked harder when he played for England.

I always wondered how Ronaldo escaped criticism from Roy Keane etc in the early days. Reading Keane’s autobiography he loved Ronaldo. He liked the person but also admired his commitment and work ethic behind the scenes, which was similar to Cantona and Beckham who were noted for training harder than everyone else. Cristiano Ronaldo did take a lot of flak from the press in his early days mind. Alan Hansen especially, had a thing about him.

Pogba can do what he likes in his personal life as far as I’m concerned but if you are living a more public life and not producing on the pitch, you will get criticised. Thankfully he produced on Saturday to fend off a probable sh*tstorm.
 
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