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@alphachui_ @OptaJoe Stats Performs official data base, you know, the Opta stats everyone uses

@OptaJoe Source?

44 – Arsenal average 44 seconds per corner taken in the Premier League this season, the longest average delay of any team in the competition in 2025-26. Dawdle.

@JanAageFjortoft I have no idea why they don't just add a time limit for a VAR check. If it takes more than 30 sec (or say max 1 min) it's just not "clear and obvious" and they play on. If the referee need to check the video themselves then they get another (max) 1 min.

I’m a supporter of any tool that makes our game fairer. But VAR was introduced with two simple, powerful principles: “clear and obvious.” It was never meant to mean searching for minutes on end to find a reason to disallow a goal. It was never meant to freeze the game to pick out a single frame and rule someone offside by an inch. We were told VAR would strengthen referees. Instead, it has made them more hesitant and less authoritative. This weekend, VAR was given an even wider mandate. At the very same meeting, new rules were introduced to reduce time-wasting, yet the biggest source of delay in modern football is VAR itself. I still believe in using technology to make football fairer. But in its current form, VAR risks damaging the flow of the game and the experience of the fans. And without the fans, there is no game.

@FatPartyAnimal1 @JanAageFjortoft Your "solution" has nothing to do with VAR and would have no effect on what they are trying to prevent - a game being stopped for too long. And wasting time isn't just about running down the clock, it's also about giving a team a break

@JanAageFjortoft I know this might ruffle some feathers in Europe, but just stop the clock for fouls, throw-ins, goal kicks, and corners. You can’t waste time if the clock isn’t running.

@Paulscw1988 @igottheballref @themagic_tophat @AdamJoseph There is a very big difference, and any half-decent lawyer could educate you about the differences. Talking about tax evading does not put you in court for tax evasion...

@igottheballref @themagic_tophat @AdamJoseph I'm guessing it would be no different than in law if you plan on carrying out a terrorist attack they will arrest you before you do it.

🧵 THREAD: Manchester City, the charges, the evidence, & how justice was delayed. Manchester City weren’t charged because rivals complained or because they 'spent big'. They were charged because evidence shows a decade-long system designed to hide owner funding, inflate revenue & deceive & obstruct investigations. The Premier League’s case didn’t appear overnight. It began in late 2018, triggered by Football Leaks documents - internal emails, invoices, contracts - that contradicted what City had been telling UEFA & the Premier League for years. Those emails are the backbone of everything that followed. At the centre of the case is a simple allegation: Manchester City repeatedly disguised owner funding as commercial revenue. FFP rules require sponsorship income to be real, independent, and market value. What the emails suggest is that City’s biggest 'sponsors' weren’t paying what City claimed - Abu Dhabi was. Take Etihad as an example. Leaked emails show City executives discussing Etihad paying only a fraction of headline sponsorship deals, with the shortfall quietly topped up by Abu Dhabi government-linked entities. One email explicitly references ensuring funds 'come through the correct channels' so they are not detected as separate sources of funding. That is the definition of disguised equity. This wasn’t a one-off. Emails show Etihad deals where shirt sponsorship, stadium, training kit & campus naming rights were all inflated wildly out of line with the market at the time - later confirmed in the actual contracts, not just drafts. The numbers in the leaks weren’t hypothetical. They were real. UEFA auditors suspected this as early as 2013–14. They found £47m of 'intellectual property' sales boosting income, a £5m 'win bonus' paid for an FA Cup final City lost & sponsorships from Aabar and Etisalat above market value. City were fined & restricted - but crucially, UEFA never saw the full records. Why? Because City refused to provide them. This becomes a pattern. When UEFA charged City again in 2020, they imposed a two-year Champions League ban. City appealed to CAS & had it overturned. City fans shout 'INNOCENT', shared out of context screenshots. They're wrong. CAS did not rule that City were innocent. CAS ruled that UEFA could not meet the burden of proof - largely because City did not co-operate. City were fined €10m specifically for obstructing the investigation. Even City's own expert witness was denied access to key information that could have disproved disguised funding. 'No evidence' doesn’t mean nothing happened. It means the evidence was withheld. CAS explicitly stated that disguised equity funding could not be excluded - only that neither side could conclusively prove their case. That vagueness was entirely engineered. After CAS, new emails emerged suggesting Simon Pearce, a senior City executive & Sheikh Mansour adviser, had given misleading testimony under oath. City declined to comment. Again. While all this was happening, the Premier League had already been investigating City for years. City’s response? Delay. Delay. Delay. Obstruct. Litigate. Court filings later revealed City challenged the legality of the investigation itself, filed repeated procedural applications, refused to hand over documents, forced arbitration, then challenged arbitration & tried to keep the entire process secret. A High Court judge called it out in 2021. “It is surprising, and a matter of legitimate public concern, that so little progress has been made.” That’s legal spiel for stonewalling. This obstruction accounts for 35 of the 115 charges alone & that’s before we get to the secret payments. City declared Roberto Mancini's salary as £1.45m per year. On the same day he signed with City, he also signed a “consultancy” deal with Al Jazira - a club owned by the same man who owns City - worth £1.75m per year. That deal was explicitly marked confidential. Emails show City executives arranging the payments. Same signatures. Same people. Same day. The allegation is obvious: City paid Mancini off the books. Leaked documents allege undeclared payments for Yaya Touré, including via third parties. These aren’t rumours. They’re contracts, emails, invoices. This is why there are 14 charges relating to manager and player remuneration. Then there’s image rights. City told UEFA they sold player image rights for a £24.5m lump sum to comply with FFP. Later, they quietly resumed earning millions from image rights again. The buyer? A company whose directors included City’s own senior legal officer. Independent journalists couldn’t even establish its genuine commercial purpose. All of this feeds into the core allegation across 54 charges: City failed to provide accurate financial information in good faith. Not once. Not twice. But repeatedly, over nearly a decade. Now add politics. UK government departments discussed City’s charges with the British embassy in Abu Dhabi. Those communications are sealed - because releasing them could 'damage relations with the UAE'. City insist they are not state-backed. Then why is the state involved? Yet still, the delays continue. A 12-week closed-door hearing. Half a million documents. Years of silence. City remain 'innocent' - not because the evidence disappeared, but because the verdict hasn’t landed. This is why the case matters. If City walk away with a fine, it tells every club to cheat cleverly, obstruct endlessly, spend on lawyers, not compliance.. & the rules collapse. This isn’t about jealousy. It isn’t about success. It’s about whether financial regulation in English football is real - or optional for the richest club in the league. The evidence exists. The emails exist. The delays are documented. Now only one question remains, do the rules apply to City or not?

@Iam_Odinkem @David_Ornstein @TheAthleticFC Semenyo has a release clause, everybody are tabling the same amount to Bournemouth

@David_Ornstein @TheAthleticFC We just made Manchester United and City to overpay. Mission accomplished 😂😂😂😂

🚨 Chelsea decide against pursuing Antoine Semenyo. #CFC made initial enquiry but not planning to go further. Confidence in depth + quality of existing options - will continue to look at attacking in signing in 2026 & reward leading players @TheAthleticFC nytimes.com/athletic/69150…

@StudsUp4 @UTDLynx @OfficialFPL What else would it count as? If someone shots, it hits the post and rebounds onto an opponent and into goal, it's an own goal so it must count as an defensive touch or else it would be given as a goal.

@UTDLynx @OfficialFPL The rule states no assist for “two defensive touches“, not two touches ...there is a difference. How is a rebound off the post onto the keeper a defensive touch?

🅰️ Two assists 📈 Maximum bonus points Over 1,000,000 #FPL managers captained Bukayo Saka in Gameweek 16 and it paid off!

@Rowey710 @jamesco_tt @OfficialFPL But it isn't a save, it's a touch by Johnstone after a corner pass from Saka? Which then hits the bar, touches Johnstone again an then becomes an own goal. In no statitics would Saka be credited with a shot on target after that corner kick

@jamesco_tt @OfficialFPL

SCOUT: After review, the assist for Arsenal’s first goal is awarded to Bukayo Saka. His cross was deflected by Sam Johnstone onto the woodwork before rebounding off Johnstone into the goal. As stated in the rules, if an own goal is scored following a deflected pass, an assist is awarded. There is only one defensive touch before the own goal is scored by Johnstone.

@ewan_rowson @jamesco_tt @OfficialFPL The rules doesn't say 2 or more touches before a touch to make an own goal, why does the own goal touch suddenly not count? It's not a shot so the first touch isn't a save, just a defensive touch, the second touch results in a own goal...

@jamesco_tt @OfficialFPL 1 touch before the own goal. The second touch IS the own goal

@LetsTalk_FPL But the rules states a caveat about 2 defensive touches? Deflecting it onto the bar and fumbling it over the line on the rebound is 2 touches no? Had Mosquera headed the corner pass into the bar and then kicked it back into the net, no assist would be rewarded?

Maybe I overcomplicated it and it's simply... "A player who has the final touch before an own goal is scored is awarded an assist." I'm done interpreting assists.....until the next assist.

Saka 2nd assist added!

@DragoonFpl @LetsTalk_FPL For example. Had Saka hit the post and it had rebound of Johnstone into goal it's a own goal and a Saka assist. If you claim a rebound of an opponent isn't a defensive touch that example would have to be a Saka goal, and it isn't.

@DragoonFpl @LetsTalk_FPL Why do you claim Johnstones second touch isn't a defensive touch? Hitting an opponent resulting in an own goals is by the rules a defensive touch (and therefor an own goal).

@Cant_Beat_The_D @LetsTalk_FPL ? This just makes more managers pick the same team (if anything this accelerate the switch to more similar teams)

@LetsTalk_FPL When you think about it this kinda has to happen to stop everyone having just about the same team

The number of price changes is a bit silly at the moment… 13 rises and 23 drops! Do think FPL should have probably intervened after handing everyone 5 transfers but it is what it is. On the plus side, Man United’s defensive midfielder is up to £9.2m 😍

@ziggyhanbanana @themagic_tophat @WFAFOOTBALL14 with Haaland and the rest of Norways team (Nusa, Bobb, Sørloth etc) he had the most assists of all players in the UEFA WC qualifiers, and he wasn't even playing the last few games. Give him a OK striker and he's gold.

@themagic_tophat @WFAFOOTBALL14 He’s had every type of player in front of him including haaland at the international level. He did have a much much better 2nd half but he doesn’t offer what this team needs in that position. Did we struggle to control games when he was out? No we did not. Eze is a better fit

The game just passes him by unfortunately. Teams out grown him. Holding us back

@aboveaveragefpl @AshBrown25 @fplteam_ @Hibbo_FPL It not about not having those players on the bench, more that you wouldn't normally put a player like Saka on the bench, and especially not all 3 Arsenal vs Sunderland...

@AshBrown25 @fplteam_ @Hibbo_FPL Looks like my bench to me, I’ll check the official app to make sure. Can’t be more authentic than the app.

Expected more but at least I got over 10 points, that should always be the aim for a single GW BB imo

@adebayotosin80 @TheAthleticFC they sadly have to field Swedish players, and the current crop aren't good enough

@TheAthleticFC What's going on Sweden?

Sweden's defeat to Kosovo leaves them with one point from their four World Cup qualifying games.

@GGMUUTFR @TheAthleticFC This is simply wrong. Ronaldo, Messi etc have played multiple tournaments with their national teams. Then they are together for many weeks to train and "gel", Haaland has done his games in max 10 day periods with a handful of sessions and changed team call ups

@TheAthleticFC Erling Haaland only needed 46 because there are now more games to be played. Context doesn't matter with journalist anymore does it.

It took Cristiano Ronaldo 114 games to score 50 international goals. It took Lionel Messi 107. Erling Haaland only needed 46 matches to reach that milestone with Norway. Ali Daei, who scored his 100th goal for Iran in his 131st cap, is the fastest player to reach the century mark in international football. Few would bet against Haaland obliterating that record. ✍️ @EliasBurke nytimes.com/athletic/67105…

@roblack66 @City_Xtra @FotballNO the 4 who have played the most CL games for their club got the next friendly off (Haaland, Sørloth, Ryerson and Bjørkan)

@City_Xtra @FotballNO Why though?

Erling Haaland will not feature for Norway vs New Zealand in an international friendly on Tuesday evening and has returned to #ManCity early for rest. [via @FotballNO]

@_Pato20 @OptaJoe calm down, Messi have been padding his scoring against Haiti, Nicaragua, Guatamala, Honduras, Panama, Hong Kong, Curacao, Venezuela and Bolivia. Of his 10 hattricks, only 2 have come against top 20 teams.

@OptaJoe If Messi plays in Europe he will have scored 50 goals in just 30+ appearance.

50 – Games taken to reach 50 senior international goals (select players): Erling Haaland (Norway) – 46 Harry Kane (England) – 71 Neymar (Brazil) – 74 Kylian Mbappé (France) – 90 Robert Lewandowski (Poland) - 90 Lionel Messi (Argentina) – 107 Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) – 114 Colossal.

@slimRaekwon @City_Xtra @ErlingHaaland 16 goals in 54 games

@City_Xtra @ErlingHaaland How many does isak have

Erling Haaland has now scored 50 goals for Norway, reaching the landmark in 46 appearances. 🫶🇳🇴

@DPXI000 @LetsTalk_FPL But in that price bracket there are better and more explosive options than Rice, Enzo (at least while Palmer is out), Sarr, Kudus, Ndiaye, Doku (if he keeps his place)

@LetsTalk_FPL Perfectly summed up Andy. no clear forwards consistently performing to replace Gyokeres. Our Defence is the best, although triple defence is overkill. Best bet is probably Rice in MF - consistent points all round. Too many attackers now sharing the spoils, this Saka not VFM yet

Thoughts on Gyokeres… Obviously have to take the L on the penalty situation, thought he had a chance of being first choice, was never 100% but I was confident - wrongly! Still think there’s a chance there might be a bit of penalty sharing, but Saka is still first choice by looks of it. He’s clearly not value at £9.0m. BUT, I don’t think there’s a rush to get rid of him unless you need the money in a 2 transfer move. The minutes are there, the fixtures aren’t bad, and let’s be honest, most of the forwards are a bit rubbish right now. The thought of using 1 FT to move to a different forward feels extremely 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ For my team, he, Bruno and Van Dijk all feel like not great value, but I want 1-2 transfers to do something exciting rather than sell them off one by one over 3 weeks. Not even sure id definitely go Saka, might be tempted by triple Arsenal defence.