Our Players Are Supposed to be Prem Level FFS

That fella is disgusting. Likes to flap his gums loads, while preaching and encouraging outright hatred for Russian civilians that have nothing to do with Putin’s war. And there is absolutely zero chance he would go and fight if it actually came to it.

The Arsenal defender began his football career with Russian team Ufa in 2016, and said he no longer talks to his friends or former teammates that are in Russia.

"Since the invasion really few [have] texted me and sent me some messages and I can't blame them because this is not their fault," he said.

"I cannot tell them, 'Guys, do the protests outside and all these things', because I know they can be [put] in prison."

He said Russians used to call Ukrainians their "brothers" and "sisters", but the invasion has shown "all of us Ukrainians that we can't be friends with them any more".

"We will never forget what they have done to us, to our people," he said. "And that's what I will teach my kids as well. And my kids will teach their kids. This is not acceptable."
Heaven forbid he might have some strong feelings about his country being invaded, friends and family living in daily fear, and his countrymen being murdered on a daily basis for defending their right to live in an independent country. WHY WONT HE JUST STICK TO FOOTBALL
 
Jack Harrison played an average of 36 games for leeds the in three seasons they were in the Premier league , young started around 15 games at decent aston villa (no way advocating more ashley young) but to say mcneil or mykolenko wouldn't be a regular for at least a mid tier or lower non relegation squad is absurd , yeah the team has major flaws and duds amongst it but I don't think the squad is putrid as you portray them as
There is a debate which can be had which argues that there is a lack of skill within the squad,pace, passing, awareness etc which gives rise to the conclusion that when playing together, they are awful. That is not helped by the fact that we have a manager who displays an inability to vary tactics or seemingly improve players.

A major part of the responsibility must surely lie with the people who identified and signed them without any vision of how we will play and how they would fit in. The topic is probably more complex than at first seems.
 
Heaven forbid he might have some strong feelings about his country being invaded, friends and family living in daily fear, and his countrymen being murdered on a daily basis for defending their right to live in an independent country. WHY WONT HE JUST STICK TO FOOTBALL

Yeah that’s it, not the fact he’s just explicitly said he’s going to teach his children to hate and demonise Russian people.
 
…..what happened?
There’s a reason they are at Everton, we have a bang average squad of players whose talent deserves their position. Only Branthwaite and Pickford have looked a level above where we are. For some reason people seem to think Onana is some kind of £100m CL player, yet he’s not even our best midfielder. We are not helped by a manager who is stuck in his ways and not willing to try new players or systems.
 

The team as a whole is relegation battle standard. It'll take a few years of good recruitment to stop the rot and even then we haven't got the money to do it. So basically you're looking for a miracle every window.

Average strikers
No creativity
Slow wide players
Defensive full backs that don't contribute much going forward.

With the ball we are every bit a lower league team.

4th best defence in the league though obviously due to the way we are approaching games.

If we had a spell with Branthwaite or Tarkowski out the side I think we'd be in the bottom 3.

I don't know where that little run of wins come from shortly after the 10 point deduction but we could do with a little more of that to get us over the line. Team hasn't looked the same since and if anything is going backwards.
 

Haven’t gone through this thread. But I was watching some of the Sheffield match thinking they have a 25 year old midfielder on their bench who made over 150 PL appearances for us. And he can’t even get minutes on the worst team in the Prem.

The overall talent in this squad is poor
 
Yeah that’s it, not the fact he’s just explicitly said he’s going to teach his children to hate and demonise Russian people.
Those are your words, not his. He said something along the lines of we can not forget what they have done to our people and I will teach my children...
That's very different. For the Ukrainians, it's not just about this disgusting invasion of their country, heinous multiple war crimes and murder of thousands. There has also been planned starvation of the population under Stalin. The country has been under invasion since 2014 in Crimea and the East. More died in that period, up to 2017 than died in the whole of the Northern Ireland troubles. His reaction is completely understandable and measured. I hope yours is based in ignorance. If not, it's warped and you lack empathy.
 
Those are your words, not his. He said something along the lines of we can not forget what they have done to our people and I will teach my children...
That's very different. For the Ukrainians, it's not just about this disgusting invasion of their country, heinous multiple war crimes and murder of thousands. There has also been planned starvation of the population under Stalin. The country has been under invasion since 2014 in Crimea and the East. More died in that period, up to 2017 than died in the whole of the Northern Ireland troubles. His reaction is completely understandable and measured. I hope yours is based in ignorance. If not, it's warped and you lack empathy.

Here’s the thing, he’s talking about his “friends in Russia”, not the government. People that are probably as much against the war as anyone else. Did you actually read what he said?
 
Here’s the thing, he’s talking about his “friends in Russia”, not the government. People that are probably as much against the war as anyone else. Did you actually read what he said?
I lived in Ukraine for 5 years. I was in Kyiv when the war started. I have many friends there and many more who are displaced because of the war. I can tell you that in spite of what you may read, Russian was very widely spoken and the Ukrainian people spoke of Russians and Belarussians as their "brothers", even during the period when Russia was occupying Crimea and had covertly invaded the East of Ukraine and despite the suffering from previous times. The majority of Russians support the war. If you expect Ukrainians to love Russians right now you are deluded. If you, your friends and family were subjected to it I suspect you would struggle to keep your language as measured as that of Zinchenko. I can say that I have met some decent Russians in recent times. They oppose the war and are ashamed of their government. Practicing the empathy that I preach I can also see that if I lived in Russia, with a diet of propaganda and fear of reprisals, I too would keep my mouth shut, or believe that the war was justifiable. However my sympathies are with the Ukrainian people and their immense hardship. Your criticism of Zinchenko is just wrong.
 

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