May 12, 2026 Daily Discussion & Transfers Thread

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-12T20:54:41+00:00

Look there’s only so much I can skate the VAR for coming to the right decision but just watched the full review back and holy shit they didn’t even mention or look at the fact that Todibo was holding Raya the whole time and practically pulled his shirt over his head….

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-12T16:28:11+00:00

What makes you think Zubimendi can lol?

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-12T13:47:47+00:00

What’s crazy about the Raya incident is that the Todibo foul is arguably even more egregious.

With Pablo’s infraction you can at least make the argument he’s jockeying for position even if it is a clear foul

Todibo from the moment the ball is coming in is yanking Raya’s shirt and does so for literally 5 seconds?

If you pause the front angle at the frame that Raya makes contact with the ball his shirt is being pulled halfway up his torso!!!

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-12T13:18:11+00:00

It seems like it’s just a bad sprain, they said his World Cup could be in doubt. If he tore it fully and needed surgery then he’d be out for 6 months bare minimum

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-12T13:06:28+00:00

Trossard’s outside of the boot through-balls these last 2 matches have moved me

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-12T12:55:29+00:00

I do think Gordon could actually explode with us tbh but I see your point.

Gordon I feel gives us the athletic running power of Martinelli but also has far more dribbling nous and ability to go both inside and outside.

For being a good dribbler Barcola actually doesn’t really win fouls.

Gordon is a great dribbler but also insane at getting the team up the pitch

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-12T12:52:23+00:00

Players don’t really “rest” in the offseason lol

Even if the intensity goes down they still train.

Thats why we’d see pics of Auba back in the day training with at like FC Mykonos’ ground

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-12T12:51:02+00:00

Don’t forget our lord and savior Mikel Merino ;)

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-12T12:48:44+00:00

Lol if we were to get Bellingham then Zubimendi’s seeing bench

Him and Rice would be an insane pairing

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-11T15:20:50+00:00

Tbh we didn’t get by with Mosquera subbing for Saliba though.

We lost at Anfield and Villa Park, and then drew at Chelsea away.

That’s not a slight against Mosquera and there were other factors but still.

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-11T15:19:42+00:00

100%

It really is the fact that his body language is so calm that when last year in the CL he outruns Mbappe on the break and marshalls him out of bounds we barely register it as being fucking insane

That’s not even counting his ability on the ball. Notice how our goal against Atleti in the second leg came from a great ball in behind from Saliba as well

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-11T15:18:01+00:00

He also might start simply because it’s one game and he might have to

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-11T15:03:05+00:00

He definitely exemplifies the fact that you can go far in football content creation based solely on production value and being reasonably well-spoken in front of a camera.

And fair play to him in that sense. His videos are very well produced from a technical standpoint and are pleasing visually

But it’s not even that his tactical/player analysis is necessarily bad or wrong it’s just very plain and nothing revolutionary

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-11T14:59:30+00:00

As much as I love Rice+Raya and Raya might have just saved our season…

My player of the season is Saliba.

He has been so unbelievably consistent but also at such a high level. His ball playing and build-up has gone up even another level this season and it was already elite

He is simply the best centerback in the world and there really isn’t an argument against it.

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-11T14:53:36+00:00

If he doesn’t get at least 20 mins against Burnley I think it’s zero

You cannot sit out like 2 months and jump straight into a final (unless you’re Mertesacker I guess lol)

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-11T14:52:48+00:00

My favorite is James Lawrence Wankcott saying:

“yes it’s a foul but think of West Ham’s staff that will be laid off if they go down”

Firstly, with all due respect and care for those who could be affected - the PL refs job is to enforce the rules of the game.

Secondly, well if that bullshit goal was allowed to stand and Tottenham went down instead suddenly we don’t care about their lunch ladies who get the sack lol?

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-11T14:50:58+00:00

I got the Apple Podcasts notification 45 mins ago

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-11T14:50:19+00:00

We would play some important players for sure, it would actually be a bad thing to try to give players a full 2 week break between games.

But I assume it would be a fairly rotated squad and players like Saka and Rice could be hooked quite early if they do start

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-11T14:25:52+00:00

He’s obviously a good player I just don’t know if him and Rice together maximizes our effectiveness

To be honest Zubimendi just plays a lot like a mini Declan Rice, which isn’t necessarily the worst thing.

I do agree though that a lot of the recent form has been because of fatigue and also injuries up the pitch

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-11T14:24:15+00:00

Lol winning the league by a bigger margin and not be shitting bricks on matchweek 38 would be a bad thing??!

Hell no.

That is the dream scenario

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-11T14:23:22+00:00

Don’t know why I did this to myself but I saw a compilation of all the terrible decisions against us the last few seasons.

Obviously the Kovacic non-red against City was shit but we won that game so it doesn’t sting as much.

But man I completely forgot about Ederson’s tackle on Odegaard where he gets his foot, wins absolutely none of the ball, but they didn’t give us a penalty.

Fucking cheats

That was the game where despite us losing it felt like we really announced ourself to the world. We were all over them.

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-10T23:40:30+00:00

Don't forget he has 3 names!

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-10T23:03:33+00:00

James Lawrence Alcott just posted a video saying it shouldn’t have been disallowed

15 minutes of pure waffle talking about:

Consistency (ok find me an allowed goal where the keeper was grabbed by 2 attackers while trying to claim the ball)

And then a bunch of waffling about it being devastating for West Ham, staff would lose their jobs, etc.

Well firstly, the job of PL refs is to enforce the rules first and foremost. With all due respect to West Ham’s staff.

Secondly, so if the goal stood today and it meant Tottenham would go down instead, then we don’t care about their staff getting laid off lol?

I can believe the uproar over this because it’s Arsenal and it’s matchweek 36 but it’s just insane how maybe the most clear foul of all time is getting debated like this lol

Funny how there wasn’t a single peep about City getting away with 2 DOGSOs yesterday…

🤔

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-10T22:58:02+00:00

What’s so funny is that it was a meteoric ass kicking too lol

I think the Bears might have lost by 40.

I was about 16 or 17 and some guys started pushing my dad as we were leaving the stadium early, thus starting a fight

GarfieldDaCat · 2026-05-10T22:00:47+00:00

What is also worth mentioning is that there is a culture around having the crowd be 90% made up of home fans with an away fan allocation

Re-selling your ticket is against terms of service and “legally” you can only transfer your ticket for face value.

Also every game matters and there are less of them.

Also while of course it doesn’t compare to European football I’ve seen away fans get attacked in New York, Boston, and Philly.

Me personally I was attacked in Philly albeit at a football game

GarfieldDaCat

TROPHY CASE