...of last night's match by the Guardian's excellent Jonathan Liew*
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/oct/21/neymar-and-bruno-fernandes-reveal-a-tale-of-two-talismans-in-paris
Here's a taster:
'But even if the counterattacking tone of the game suited United, they executed to the letter. Marcus Rashford applied the final flourish, but in truth United enjoyed multiple strongholds. Alex Telles, who with his slick ponytail and trendy beard looks like he should be serving macchiatos in the Northern Quarter, enjoyed a fine debut at left wing‑back. Axel Tuanzebe, in his first game for 10 months, left the field with Kylian Mbappé’s internet banking details. PSG have been beaten, outfought, outwitted before. But rarely have they played a team who showed them this little respect.'
* MU52, if you're reading, I know you're a fan of the writing of Barney Ronay; Liew has a similar turn of phrase while, in my view, understanding the game of football rather better.
Enjoyable write-up
posted on 21/10/20
comment by RB&W (U21434)
posted 6 minutes ago
Well, apart from the racial stereotyping of Telles' latin appearance, of which you have rightly flagged, it's a fair piece of Journalism.
(I wonder if he also thought that with his beard and greasy Mediterranean looks, Bruno should be a barista at Costa on Market Street? )
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I didn't read that as ethnic stereotyping. It's more the hipster stylings he was referring to, surely?
posted on 21/10/20
Also a much better team than 2-3 weeks ago!
It seems having almost no pre-season actually can effect the start of a season!
posted on 21/10/20
There's an observation in the article that was quite interesting. He describes PSG as:
"A team that play slow, patient football high up the pitch, but don’t really press and don’t really like to defend. In a way, it was as if United had been granted an opportunity to play themselves."
The telling features of the match (other than the fact that PSG were, let's be honest, by their standards sub-par) were that United were the team was able to adapt the game plan to exploit the other's weaknesses, and that we were ready to out-work them.
posted on 21/10/20
comment by Ji Sung Park's Cousin - Battling the energy vampires (U2958)
posted 15 minutes ago
Also a much better team than 2-3 weeks ago!
It seems having almost no pre-season actually can effect the start of a season!
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Something that none of the hysterical voices (sadly absent from the forum this morning) wanted to include in the conversation during those catastrophic first games.
posted on 21/10/20
I didn't read that as ethnic stereotyping. It's more the hipster stylings he was referring to, surely?
++
Then using his same logic with DVDBs blond, white looks should be the CEO of a multi £Billion IT conglomerate in San Francisco.
RR I actually thought this article was about highlighting daft/lazy journalism at The Guardian. Not applauding it.
posted on 21/10/20
comment by RB&W (U21434)
posted 4 minutes ago
I didn't read that as ethnic stereotyping. It's more the hipster stylings he was referring to, surely?
++
Then using his same logic with DVDBs blond, white looks should be the CEO of a multi £Billion IT conglomerate in San Francisco.
RR I actually thought this article was about highlighting daft/lazy journalism at The Guardian. Not applauding it.
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Surely RBW you know me well enough by now to understand I'm a sucker for pretentiousness and florid writing!
Actually, it's an entertaining read and subtly makes some interesting points in between the gags.
posted on 21/10/20
Axel Tuanzebe, mugged Mbappé of his internet banking details?
the thieving .......*......*
Just say, "he had him in his pocket" if you cant come up with a better analogy. We know what you mean.
posted on 21/10/20
RR
I know. Im just bored, mate, that's all.
posted on 21/10/20
Totally unrelated to the OP, but I just saw a photo of the team lining up in their 'zebra' shirts again and I started imagining what it would be like if you had David Attenborough summarising in the commentary box, with that famous voice and in his deliberative style, rather than Danny Murphy.
posted on 21/10/20
comment by RB&W (U21434)
posted 27 minutes ago
I didn't read that as ethnic stereotyping. It's more the hipster stylings he was referring to, surely?
++
Then using his same logic with DVDBs blond, white looks should be the CEO of a multi £Billion IT conglomerate in San Francisco.
RR I actually thought this article was about highlighting daft/lazy journalism at The Guardian. Not applauding it.
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I liked it RR despite the daft lazy comments about it.