Olav Sigmundstad

@mehdirhasan But muslims are no more a race than Islam is. Unless you are saying that all muslims on earth, from Morocco in North-West Africa to Indonesia in the South-East Pacific, all belong to the same ethnic group?

Are you stupid or just bigoted? 1) The old 'Islam isn't a race' line is dumb and lazy because Muslims are largely a racial minority in the West. 2) Cleese never demonized Christians in real life or suggested they're not part of Britain.

@ZachLowy He has to start to perform, period?

If Bukayo Saka wants to be considered on the same level as Lamine Yamal, Lionel Messi and Michael Olise, he’s going to have to start performing in games like today. It’s all fine to deliver against Brighton and Wolves, but these are the games that actually determine legacies.

@talkSPORT This is such an English sentiment. Much more ado about a player juggling the ball for three seconds than about, say, a player tacking his opponent into an early retirement Roy Keane-style.

😳 "It was an insult." ❌ "If you're a pro footballer, that's a no-go." Alan Pardew wasn't a fan of Rayan Cherki's showboating against Arsenal in the League Cup final...

@Holmesey88 @FPLfrasier Yes, but that instruction did not include Silva. Why is that, you think?

@OSigmundstad @FPLfrasier Did you watch the video? It wasn't about lack of close control, it was that the touch slowed the transition down. Pep preferred they let the pass move across the player to keep the momentum of the ball going.

I was listening to a Neville/Walker interview and one segment showed how narrative can be far away from reality. Because KDB is fantastic and played for a very good team under Pep, Gary Neville just assumed that KDB was great receiving on the half turn and turning to play passes. Because that’s how top midfielders in the past played. Walker completely shut him down. Walker said something interesting that hardly anyone talks about in public media. Walker said that Pep hates players receiving on the half turn in the meddle of the pitch. Only player who was allowed to do this under Pep was Silva. Not even KDB was allowed. Walker challenged Gary to find more than 20 clips in a season where KDB would be receiving on the half turn and turning with the ball. This is Gary Neville, who is employed by big media outlets and commentates and talks about football professionally. Just shows how narratives and perceptions dominate football discussion. Not many are willing to do think independently and do their research.

@havehopehut Together with late 80s/early 90s Serie A, the La Liga of the 2010s was arguably the zenith of domestic club football. Spanish teams absolutely dominated European competitions. Throughout the decade, the FIFA/UEFA world XIs comprised more or less exclusively of La Liga players.

Premier league pundits or clowns like Neville and Cundy are either desperate for views or are plain stupid to say Salah is better than Neymar or that Neymar would not hack it in the premier league. A league where the BEST players never stay in at their peak.

@Max_Thomas98 @_NOMICS He was very poor in the 2020 CL final, but that does not detract from his greatness. R9 was also rubbish in the WC final of 1998.

@_NOMICS Did he miss the final in 2020? Both legs vs City in 21?

The difference between Neymar at PsG & Barcelona in #BigGames is he missed some because of injuries. He was a better player at psg and anyone who just uses their eyes would know that

@yeezusleft He was even better in the 2020 Euros.

While we're at it no English midfielder has ever hit Pogba world cup 2018 levels

@SelecaoTalk Agree wholeheartedly. World’s second best between 2015-22. Still a shame that he missed some of the crucial CL knockout-games with PSG due to injury. Would have loved to see him take that team to more finals. Also a pity that the 2018 and 2022 WCs came on the back of injuries.

Whenever anyone labels Neymar’s career as wasted potential, send them this. Quite simply, Neymar is a top 15 player in football history. You’d be hard pressed to come up with 15 names that played football at a higher level. Saying he “didn’t fulfil his potential” is misleading at best, and surface level analysis. Even if you argue the most extreme point of view. That Neymar’s potential was to become a top 5 player of all time, which is debatable in itself. There is no denying he still came extremely close. There isn’t a lot of ‘unfulfilled’ potential left. The distance between where he ended up and that ‘hypothetical ceiling’ you’ve labelled him with is still marginal. • Brazil’s all time top scorer & assister • 12th most Goals + Assists in history • 4th most goals ever in Cup Finals • World-class level from 2011-2023 • Prime at PSG one of the highest peaks of all time. This is not the footballing CV of a wasted career, or falling short. He left behind a body of work that cements him as one of the greatest to ever kick a ball. Diego Maradona only played 680 career games. His legacy is not diminished because of it. There is more than enough volume during his prime across varying environments and contexts (club & country), to accurately judge his level and place him amongst the greats. The same applies to Neymar. We have a ~250 game body of work during his peak years (2016-2021) to accurately judge him. Nothing more is needed. More volume wouldn’t make him a better player. Injuries didn’t prevent him playing football better. His injuries simply reduced volume. We saw 40 games per calendar year, instead of 60. Neymar’s career can never be described as a story of unfulfilled or wasted potential. It’s the story of an all-time great career. A career that gave you a unique feeling every time he stepped onto a football pitch, that you were going to see something special, and expected it. He was more than a world class footballer, he belongs in a category very few in history do. Beyond stats, numbers, dissection. He’s in a select group of footballers that are remembered for how it felt to watch and experience them. A combination of artistry, entertainment and output rarely seen in history. Neymar is a story of almost unimaginable potential that was very nearly fulfilled. That left little to be desired. A game of small margins.

@LujoLujo1983 @SelecaoTalk He was obviously not flawless.

@OSigmundstad @SelecaoTalk So what?

Neymar was far superior as a dribbler, chance creator & ball carrier. Far more inventive/genius, has better goal per game numbers, better overall output, better in big games across club & country + a significantly higher peak. Rooney was better off the ball. Sit this one out.

@LujoLujo1983 @SelecaoTalk Yet he was still benched, supposedly in his prime, in the decisive knock-out game against Real Madrid in 2013. Danny Welbeck was his replacement.

@SelecaoTalk Yes it is. He was flawles player.

@CinemaTweets1 To be honest, I think it’s quite obvious that what’s Leo is doing in this film is on an entire different level to his fellow nominees. Borderline preposterous if he’s bypassed (as seems to be most likely).

#1. Leonardo DiCaprio for One Battle After Another (2025; PTA)

The 2026 #Oscar Nominees for Best Actor: Ranked. A Thread 🧵. #5. Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon (2025; Linklater)

@si_rubinstein @nassaujuan He’s at best browsed some of David Lindsay Keir. Can’t imagine he’s read any of the Victorians or anything which smacks of the idea of Gothic constitutionalism or English exceptionalism.

@nassaujuan What would you set him? Hallam? Stubbs?

Wonder if Keir Starmer ever read an actual book on English Constitutional History lol

@DrFrancisYoung @ALucieSmith Yeah it’s not like the Catholic response to Protestant iconoclasm was like ‘hey, yeah sure, just take them down’.

@ALucieSmith What organisations who think it’s safer just to ban all representations of religious figures don’t seem to grasp is that for Catholics and Orthodox Christians representations of Christ aren’t optional, and therefore it’s actively offensive to ban them

To forbid images of Jesus is not something that any Catholic (or Orthodox) could ever accept. This was settled at the Second Council of Nicaea back in 787 AD

@KaizerRMA Modric has an amazing physic, tailor-made for football. But if there in one player who actually dominated midfield without having any physical advantages whatsoever, it might be Pirlo.

Again with this "zero athletic ability" nonsense Modric used to body players twice his size. He can run for 90 minutes without a sweat. Just because he doesn't have biceps like Traore doesn't mean he isn't physical

@Drazyc1 Jepp. Putin (og Iran og Hamas) sa akkurat samme etter USAs intervensjon in Venezuela. Hykleriet er én ting. Dersom folkeretten har blitt et instrument for terrorstater til å delegitimere (vestlige) handlinger som de selv begår ad infinitum, har den utspilt sin rolle.

@OSigmundstad Nettopp, sånn som dette.

Folkeretten er tilpasset en verden som er vernet av respekten for en supermakt som USA, og der land primært opptrer på ordentlig vis. I en uorganisert verden viser folkeretten dens ufullstendighet. Har sagt det før: Allierte statsledere ville fort blitt sendt til Haag under WW2.

@owenjonesjourno Quite a big difference, though, that Khamenei has been killed within 15 hours of fighting and not a single US or NATO soldier has set foot on Iranian soil. Modern warfare has taken considerable leaps since 2003, not to mention the intel provided by the US military and Mossad.

Yes, I remember all the triumphalism over the capture / deaths of Saddam Hussein, Colonel Gaddafi, bin Laden, Mullah Omar. And the Iraqi people, the Libyan people, and the Afghan people all lived happily ever after.

@TobiasSD I dag var det tidvis som å se Ronaldinho reinkarnert.

Lamine Yamals første hat trick i karrieren kom som 18 år og 230 dager. Lionel Messi var 19 år og 259 dager. Jeg tror ikke han kommer opp på nivået Messi hadde, men det blir veldig spennende å se hvordan han utvikler seg de neste årene.

@stulah @ademir2z He is definitely the George Best of military commanders.

@ademir2z The lad Alexander, nobody is denying his talent, but where’s the longevity? You hate to say it, you really do, but was it a flash in the pan?

Absolutely loving the comments in this thread. Gives you a real view of how ridiculous so many arguments we have in football really are.