Rory Smith

@LuvFB_HateFifa @jeremycorbyn I don’t know how to say this but I genuinely didn’t

@RorySmith @jeremycorbyn You did

Pep Guardiola is much more than just an unbelievable manager. He spoke up for the people of Palestine, Sudan and Congo while others looked away. Pep used his platform to defend our shared humanity. That will never be forgotten. Thank you, Pep.

@LuvFB_HateFifa @jeremycorbyn I don’t work for the guardian

@RorySmith @jeremycorbyn .Always the tits from the Guardian...

@Fire_and_Skill Yes I agree

Missed opportunity to call the whole Etihad Campus "Guardioland"

#PepGuardiola – the God of Manchester City’s intelligent design. The legendary manager leaves City after 10 years, 20 trophies and having revolutionised football in England. ✍️ @RorySmith bit.ly/4f74O41

@Alan_Morrison67 Think this was an unusually unbalanced final. But yes your point is basically right.

@RorySmith Freiburg have the same wage bill (roughly) as Burnley and are 7th in Germany European football broken and in thrall to the EPL

Aston Villa and Crystal Palace, like Celtic, don't want to be the bad guys. And that's fine and natural. But some stories are more heartwarming than others, and modern football starves us of them so much that we all have to take what we can get. observer.co.uk/news/sport/art…

@ljbrameld @Benjbrasilia I mean they’re all named in the piece

@Benjbrasilia @RorySmith 👏👏👏

You may not like watching Arsenal. I may not like watching Arsenal, particularly. But it's been really striking to me how much, in public and in private, other coaches love what Mikel Arteta has built. From a coaching perspective, they're a masterpiece. observer.co.uk/news/sport/art…

Arsenal don’t charm everyone but fellow coaches are in awe of Arteta. Set-pieces, structure and relentless organisation have made Mikel Arteta’s side the new benchmark for coaching in modern football. ✍️ @RorySmith bit.ly/4wBRD16

@ETimsNet @sidlowe I think they, like lots of teams in that scenario, they did what they had to do. But I’m not sure that’s the story of yesterday or the season.

@RorySmith @sidlowe Can we next have an article on astute McInnes and his tactics to seal the League.. players going and staying down every minute.. play for set pieces.. go 5 at the back with 40 mins to go

Think that’s the most stressed, and most absorbed, I have ever been at a game of football. The chaos and the tension and the heartbreak of the best title race anywhere in Europe this season, and a game that did not, in fact, end. observer.co.uk/news/sport/art…

The reason the Premier League now resembles a billion-pound bar fight is because of VAR. The “high threshold” for fouls that has led to every set-piece being a melee is designed to suit VAR. VAR didn’t decide the PL title. But it now defines the league. observer.co.uk/news/sport/art…

@Samnu_o @PolloiBoi34192 @marcsenal @5liveSport You get me wrong: I like the fact they gave the foul. I just don’t know why they’ve spent the last two years not enforcing those fouls. It’s not a big deal because it’s Arsenal. It’s a big deal because it was a big game!

@RorySmith @PolloiBoi34192 @marcsenal @5liveSport Holding a goalkeeper arm is very different to blocking. If I stand in front of you it’s not the same as holding your arm. Anyways will agree to disagree. Foul was the correct call as much as you may not like it. As I said only a big talking point becuase it’s Arsenal.

Rory came with receipts for Arsenal 📺❌ #BBCFootball #AFC #VAR

@conrad_truedson It is, but tbh I don’t know if we need to do anything that drastic. They could just enforce the actual rules.

@RorySmith Keeping attackers out of the 6 yard box on corners has been suggested and a good idea.

@Samnu_o @PolloiBoi34192 @marcsenal @5liveSport They’re not exactly the same. I didn’t say they were. But if you think they’re vastly different then you’re being disingenuous. They’re fine differences at best, and until three years ago they were ALL fouls.

@PolloiBoi34192 @marcsenal @5liveSport @RorySmith Agree very good journalist but he was liking the sound of his own voice a bit too much here. Making up situations where apparently Arsenal have done exactly the same and doubling down on it was lazy from him.

@John_Stocker7 Yep. I’m not even sure it was quite like this in the early 90s. My abiding response to the PL over the last two years has basically been “you paid how much to do this?”

@RorySmith This may be a bit of recency bias. But I think the current physicality and set-piece set ups we're seeing are more of an unpleasant watch than we've seen in the last 25-30 years.

@John_Stocker7 They did. Howard Webb did a whole thing about it. And then they found they couldn’t, because you need a high threshold for VAR.

@RorySmith Rory do you believe that all of this subjective "threshold" nonsense could've easily been avoided, if the PGMOL had said that they wouldn't stand for this back in August when they have their club visits. I'd rather see multiple free kicks and penalties over what we're seeing.

@albrookshawAFC I’m not sure that one mention of them in a parenthesis counts as lamenting them. To be honest I think the way VAR has changed what football looks like is more important than who wins the league.

@RorySmith Your final paragraph lamenting poor old Man City - I think they have done very well out of the high threshold for fouls over the last few years! It saved them a couple of red cards and a penalty just this weekend!