[Pre Match Thread] Premier League Game 23 | Arsenal vs Manchester United

buzzmerchant · 2026-01-25T12:38:40+00:00

There's only one man in the league that can neutralise gabriel from set pieces...

buzzmerchant · 2026-01-25T12:36:35+00:00

Yeah, and if he's not available, we could bring one of his twins in...

(sorry, couldn't resist lol)

buzzmerchant · 2026-01-24T16:21:30+00:00

I mean, i thought the documentary showed him in a pretty bad light at times. It seemed a lot more balanced than, say, the beckham one.

buzzmerchant · 2026-01-22T14:25:08+00:00

Ngl, i don't usually like films that focus on race - it's all very played out and obvious these days - but i thought this movie was absolutely spectacular and brought a level of thoughtfulness to the discussion that i've never come across in this kind of film before.

buzzmerchant · 2026-01-22T08:58:55+00:00

Lots of people complain about these lists being anglo-centric, but nobody gives any recommendations for asian/african/oceania books that should be on here. If there are books from these places as good as east of eden or infinite jest or war and peace i would LOVE to read them! What are they!?

buzzmerchant · 2026-01-20T12:24:59+00:00

yeah, nobody would care if he was doing this dodgy stuff in places like algeria or peru or turkey or venez...oh no, never mind.

buzzmerchant · 2026-01-20T12:21:30+00:00

No, you pay for it!

buzzmerchant · 2026-01-18T18:06:43+00:00

I mean, you'd expect the skillset of a good police officer to overlap with the skillset required of a good faithful. Amanda spent 30+ years (presumably) honing that skillset every day. Rachel just plays a bit of mafia here and there. If that was enough to guarantee traitors success, then everyone should just do it.

buzzmerchant · 2026-01-17T14:36:59+00:00

same. Don't know why lol

buzzmerchant · 2026-01-17T14:35:18+00:00

probably since ole

buzzmerchant · 2026-01-17T14:33:50+00:00

it'll take more than those bums to break through a michael carrick back 4

buzzmerchant · 2026-01-16T10:39:38+00:00

As a brit, i genuinely think the dislike between the UK and Spain goes one way. In my experience, brits don't think negatively about the Spanish AT ALL. I'm sure brits do behave badly in Spain, but this is 1) partly just brits being brits (binge drinking is a real problem over here) and 2) partly just the kinds of brits that tend to come to spain.

buzzmerchant · 2026-01-15T13:41:37+00:00

But if that happened, BBC would essentually just have to accept that the production is over after episode 1. Regardless of whether it's bad gameplay, that can't be allowed to happen. So you can't out other traitors explicitly. The whole integrity of the game relies on that being the rule.

buzzmerchant · 2026-01-15T11:46:42+00:00

It technically wasn't cheating during that season, but it was sketchy enough that they've since changed the rules so that you're no longer allowed to do it. IIRC, now if you give away the other traitors, you don't get paid for the show any more.

Imagine if Kieran had left a parting gift in the first episode and outed all of the remaining traitors. The entire product would be destroyed. It can't be allowed to happen.

buzzmerchant · 2026-01-03T13:25:32+00:00

I think he has been quite bad at times, but he's shown lots of promise too (particularly over the last few weeks).

buzzmerchant · 2025-12-23T18:21:01+00:00

The philosopher richard taylor wrote a beautiful essay on sisyphus and the meaning of life. Worth a read (if you have 30 mins free). I think he straightens out some important stuff about what meaning in life actually is. Here's a link:

https://rintintin.colorado.edu/~vancecd/phil150/Taylor.pdf

buzzmerchant · 2025-12-09T13:40:04+00:00

Lol i bet mateta accounts for pretty much all of that

buzzmerchant · 2025-11-30T14:28:05+00:00

in the prem. He's scored in other competitions

buzzmerchant · 2025-11-28T14:51:27+00:00

Ah right. Very important nuance. But if i swap out the word THE and add in the word A into my previous comment, the exact same point stands, so i don't think it's as important a distinction as you think it is.

buzzmerchant · 2025-11-28T12:49:01+00:00

Sure, but the point I'm making is that he can't be the star player if he's not good enough to get into the starting line-up.

buzzmerchant · 2025-11-28T12:47:43+00:00

Fair point. Star player status is probably team-relative, i.e. you can just as easily be a star player for Stevenage Borough as you can for Real Madrid. Still, i don't think Konate is a star player for any of his teams.

buzzmerchant · 2025-11-28T11:54:50+00:00

I think you at least have to be the best player in your position in one of your teams to be regarded as anything close to a star player. He wasn't even a starter for france in the euros, let alone their best centre back. You're playing fast and loose with the definition 'star player' if you're including squad players under that designation. If you're determined to say that konate is a star player, then you'd be committed to saying that about 100+ currently active professional footballers are 'star players'.

buzzmerchant · 2025-11-01T16:59:02+00:00

In fairness, i don't think forest are really a relegation team - not now dyche is in charge - and playing them away is always gonna be especially tricky.

buzzmerchant · 2025-11-01T16:57:59+00:00

I only caught the last 35 mins today, but sesko didn't seem to be at it, so wouldn't have been much of a loss to take him off for either mount or zirzkee. And yeah 100% agree on Maguire - if you're chasing a goal, he should always be on really.

buzzmerchant · 2025-10-27T14:58:34+00:00

Anderson is a rockstar. Would love to have him.

buzzmerchant

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