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- Dec 31, 2007
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How much of a problem is this and can it actually have a severe impact on a player/team in today's constantly connected society?
I was just thinking about how this has happened to Harry Maguire recently. His poor form is without doubt but if he wasn't playing in an age where every individual mistake is giffed and re-posted to millions would it have actually lasted this long? He's essentially gone from being indispensable for us at the back end of last season (our defense fell apart once he got injured) and brilliant for England at the Euros, to almost a joke Phil Jones figure among rival and Utd fans. Some England fans booed him and this will have been a variety of supporters who definitely don't watch every Utd game, which is the most obvious example of bandwagoning. The whole thing culminated in a bomb threat to his house because one person took it too far.
This isn't meant to be discussion about how much of it is his own fault or how bad he's actually been but more about the impact it must have to know any error will get magnified a thousand times more than it used to. There must be occasions where a player makes a mistake on the pitch and then cannot concentrate because they know they'll get abuse for it or even death threats. There seems to be constant encouragement to pile on to players to the point where it's just vitriol.
Does it make it much harder to come back from? It seems once the internet deems you a joke it's very hard to shake. People I speak to who are more casual football viewers still think Fred is shit despite him probably being one of our better players this season, but it's stuck. I genuinely think part of it is because of his name, and also playing for Utd seems to double the attention most other players get (though I admit players like Lukaku and Werner have had their fair share).
There's also things like the whole Allan only completing one pass or whatever it was. Is it really necessary? You had 'proper' outlets like Sky Sports posting about it and not just the 'FootballLAD' types. It just encourages the behaviour from people. Will someone get attacked eventually? On the pitch? Off it?
Anyway, just some thoughts. Go at it and I'll see you on page 11 where two people will for some reason be arguing about Pochettino or racism or something.
I was just thinking about how this has happened to Harry Maguire recently. His poor form is without doubt but if he wasn't playing in an age where every individual mistake is giffed and re-posted to millions would it have actually lasted this long? He's essentially gone from being indispensable for us at the back end of last season (our defense fell apart once he got injured) and brilliant for England at the Euros, to almost a joke Phil Jones figure among rival and Utd fans. Some England fans booed him and this will have been a variety of supporters who definitely don't watch every Utd game, which is the most obvious example of bandwagoning. The whole thing culminated in a bomb threat to his house because one person took it too far.
This isn't meant to be discussion about how much of it is his own fault or how bad he's actually been but more about the impact it must have to know any error will get magnified a thousand times more than it used to. There must be occasions where a player makes a mistake on the pitch and then cannot concentrate because they know they'll get abuse for it or even death threats. There seems to be constant encouragement to pile on to players to the point where it's just vitriol.
Does it make it much harder to come back from? It seems once the internet deems you a joke it's very hard to shake. People I speak to who are more casual football viewers still think Fred is shit despite him probably being one of our better players this season, but it's stuck. I genuinely think part of it is because of his name, and also playing for Utd seems to double the attention most other players get (though I admit players like Lukaku and Werner have had their fair share).
There's also things like the whole Allan only completing one pass or whatever it was. Is it really necessary? You had 'proper' outlets like Sky Sports posting about it and not just the 'FootballLAD' types. It just encourages the behaviour from people. Will someone get attacked eventually? On the pitch? Off it?
Anyway, just some thoughts. Go at it and I'll see you on page 11 where two people will for some reason be arguing about Pochettino or racism or something.