This is a really bizarre situation.

The law in this land says innocent until proven guilty and I suppose that legally the club is doing exactly the right thing. What else can they do? Until he is actually charged with something they can't suspend him, nor should they.

How would these offenses even be proven after such a long time has elapsed? Without witnesses or physical evidence such as pictures of bruising, hospital or doctors records etc is it not just his word against hers?

Rape/sexual offences are despicable crimes and, if guilty, he deserves everything he gets and more but I can't see how the club could handle this any differently than they are at the moment.

The lad at City was actually charged and Mason Greenwood's alleged offence was backed up by a fairly damning video online so I am not sure their respective clubs could do anything else but suspend them.

Good question bubble, do you need to be actually charged with a crime to be released on bail or can you just be suspected and released on bail pending further enquiries/investigations? I think it may be the latter.

After being charged is bail set by a judge. During investigation is ‘police bail’. Similar to Andrew Tate in Romania where he hasn’t been given bail as he’s an obvious flight risk I would imagine, so is in custody whilst being investigated instead

I believe the police can do a pre charge bail whilst the police refer the case to the CPS to decide if they can bring charges. Usually with many of these type of cases there’s usually a lack of physical and forensic evidence that can be used so the cases can fester with the CPS and police over several years whilst they deliberate if there would likely be a successful prosecution basically on who said what. Even more complicated if the accused is in an actual relationship with the accuser making the allegations

Emile Smith Rowe scored for the Eng U21 tonight

https://twitter.com/dailyafc/status/163 ... -j6VVZXEoA

Man City’s Rodri with an awful tackle on Ødegaard. No penalty given. Haaland pulled out of these internationals as well

But is there any substance to this?

If you google 'Thomas Partey" nothing comes up. You have to look for it by adding other keywords.

And it is only social media that is joining the dots.

None of the papers (even the tabloids) name names.

It is all very concerning, but if there were a strong case, would the media be so coy?

Whether or not there is a 'strong case' is what counts legally, and employers cannot go too far beyond that, otherwise you end up with trail by public opinion.

Shouldn't the club call the MSM out on this?

It must be affecting Thomas as well, how would any of us like it if such things were being associated with us?

That or a complete denial only then would most of us accept that it isn't about Thomas. If it is crap which hopefully it is MSM or the likes of Twitter etc should not be allowed to make such postss or assertions.

Maybe it's up to Thomas to issue a denial but we all know there are people out there who will believe everything they read without question.

An awful situation being made worse by chinese whispers?

I suggest that Saka should cut down Grealish at England training with an intent to injure him as an even up. I am a big one for revenge.

Plus the old no smoke without fire line be trotted out.

That's the worst take on this I've seen. Mere accusation should not be enough to cause someone to lose their livelihood.

social media is about 90% smoke without fire. More heat than light ...

Absolutely, look at neymar. Same situation. Video evidence he was being scammed and it was an attempt at extortion

Well Tierney and Scotland play Spain next….

Foden has had surgery to take his appendix out. Not sure how long recovery period is for that.

Depends, is Kiwipete performing the operation??

Fabrizio Romano reporting we (along with probably everyone else) are interested in signing Roméo Lavia from Southampton. Saw that one coming, seemed obvious we’d be interested and it makes a lot of sense. 6 and 8 cover, Prem experience, high ceiling and young. Can’t say I’ve seen much of him tbh. Really we need two in midfield to cover the left 8 and 6. Transfermarkt has his value at £25M so expect Saints to be asking for 50.

I’m very curious as what we do next. Keep adding depth coming up and through with young players, or bring in higher profile players in their prime to come in and start now?

Couple of weeks.

It’s likely city forced him to have a vital organ removed to reduce our chances of winning the league

Starboy masterclass at Wembley.

What a player. World class

And he keeps getting better.

Southampton turned down £40m from Chelsea for Lavia only a few weeks after they signed him this summer

Man City have a buy back clause that triggers in 2024

Going forward I think we maintain the age profile of the squad but look now at a mix of potential and ready made. Jesus and Zinchenko at 25 ish are the perfect ready made improvement to the starting 11.

I can’t think of a right winger who is better than him right now in world football.

That’s a clear thought process.

Conte gone. Another project begins. Entertainment guaranteed at Spurs

Conte being sacked on MA's birthday as well.

Mutual consent. That is surely a sacking after the comments he made. There is no way Levy could let him stay.
So that is twice in 3 seasons Spurs have sacked a ‘proven winner’ in the home straight of a season in favour of a total rookie. They did it with Mourinho just before a cup final.
It also shows that if you play awful football, show no long term plan and show no interest in developing players that the only thing keeping your head above water is results - as soon as they drop off there is nothing left to save you. Compare this to Arteta, who had a far worse run of results than Conte experienced but the future was clear and the ideas and leadership were excellent and worth buying in to and being patient with.

Worth also noting that if Arsenal were 6th in the table in no way would spurs be sacking their manager.

Yep. They have 49 points from 28 games. Last season, they had 48pts from 28 games.

I'm not sure that is a given after his comments

He wouldn’t have made those comments if Arsenal were 6th.

Absolutely. They’re consumed by us.

I wonder what Saka would be like in the position Ødegaard plays? I’m certainly not advocating unbalancing the team and trying something new right now but Saka has the skills to play that role and perhaps there is a case that getting him on the ball even more could help.
I don’t necessarily think he’d be an upgrade on what Ødegaard is producing but could be an able deputy if we find someone who could fill in for Saka.

Flexibility in positions is clearly something Arteta has identified in his recruitment and squad build. There are not many players in our squad who can only really play their primary position.

Going through the squad the only ones I can think of (apart from gk) are Holding, Elneny maybe Nketiah
I think all of our defenders can play CB or Full back or with Zinchenko he can play CM
Xhaka can play deeper or even in defence
Partey plays further forward for Ghana
And the entire front line can play in multiple positions epitomised by Trossard

It allows him to work with a smaller squad. It’s also something Man City have in abundance as well

Would be such a waste of his strengths. Starboy has absolutely shredded most of the full backs he’s come up against this season. They can’t contain him and resort to kicking him. Absolutely destroyed Luke Shaw at our place and that’s his international team mate.

I don’t doubt he could do it to a reasonable standard but honestly moving saka away from his match winning position would be like something Conte would do.

Only 4 players have scored more goals for England at the age Saka is now….and all 4 of those (Dean, Greaves, Owen, Rooney) were strikers not right wingers

I have no idea who this is. Where is omoh or soc when you need them. lol



“The biggest regret of my whole football career was leaving White Hart Lane in 1970. My interest weakened after that. I was heartbroken

Where ever I have traveled, the EPL has dominated in terms of which league people say they watch.

https://youtube.com/shorts/ZJI9qdMVAdo?feature=share

Oddly enough, he was mentioned in the previous post. It's Jimmy Greaves.

Jimmy Greaves - for many, the greatest of all English strikers.

Spot on, Old Man.

Yes, I concur...made it look so easy.....brilliant finisher.....best domestic striker I have seen.

But my estimation of him was negatively impacted when I played against him at the end of his career....I played for Eton Manor against Barnet....he was strolling around midfield …probably in his late 30's by then.....best player on the pitch by a mile ….but he was awful...moaning and groaning all game and absolutely coating the poor ref at any opportunity

Shame as it spoiled the image I had built up about him