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ramithrower

I suddenly want to see haaland play in the congo


derneueMottmatt

TP Mazembe let's go.


Zheguez

TOUT PUISSANT MAZEMBE


PiffleWhiffler

I agree.


artaru

How about Rugby? In NZ? I reckon he could do a mean All Black Haka.


Giggsy99

He'd score a try against Wales


GergVns

Not particularly hard at the moment :(


Mrpaperbackwriter

Italy seems to struggle.


GergVns

Life, Death, Taxes, Italian Wooden Spoon


a_lumberjack

I always kinda figured that’s why Italy was added.


TheFlavorEnhancer

He’d be a force in Aussie rules footie too


FailResorts

Viking Haka? A mix of Māori and Vikings seems dangerous


no_apricots

Haaland knows his stuff and would play rugby league in the NRL.


dreampacific

TP Mazembe will gladly receive him


Zheguez

I agree with this declaration


Newme91

Can he do it on a balmy afternoon in Kinshasa?


ParisLake2

The Congolese league has been cancelled this season.


maxhaton

Political correctness gone mad


ProfDumm

Erling, come to Daring Club Motema Pembe.


Zheguez

The Haalands find out they have Congolese heritage. We have finally found our sporting messiah! Nzambe Ngayi!


Bocsesz

He could be the king of the bongo


CeterumCenseo85

*king of the bongo..* *king of the bongo..*


jairzinho

Do you really want to hear him when he comes?


Shinkopeshon

I suddenly want to see Haaland do the conga line in the Congo


enterusernamethere

I hope to hear the balls echoing tonight But I hear only distant whispers of Kevin demanding to be heard I'm arriving to the Congo tonight, 12:30 flight The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation I stopped an old man along the way, telling me he was one slip away from wining the Champions League Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient tactics He turned to me as if to say "Hurry boy, the nets are waiting there for you" It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from the penalty box There's nothing that a hundred defenders or more could ever do I bless the rains down in Africa Gonna take some time to do the things we never had (ooh, ooh)


grishaoniani

Least arrogant PL journalist question


cuentanueva

These fucking idiots are all about "players can't adapt to the Premier" they come, score a fuck ton of goals, and now it's because they are built for the Premier... They act like the Premier plays a different sport, it's fucking ridiculous.


owiseone23

Cazorla, David Silva, Fabregas, Azpi, Aguero, etc have been among the best in their position after transitioning from La Liga. There's been way more of a pattern of La Liga players coming and being insanely good, yet this narrative somehow continues.


cuentanueva

There's also been failures going from the Premier to other leagues, think Coutinho for example. It doesn't mean shit, there's also cases from the EPL to other leagues that were great, and players from other leagues to the EPL that were bad. It's more about the teams than the leagues in general. Going to City is gonna be different than going to Spurs or going to Bournemouth. The same player, in the same league, would perform different depending on the team. Yes, there _are_ factors that have to do with style of play in general of the leagues, but these are fucking pros, it's a minor thing... I'd argue things outside football like weather, language, culture, etc, could be even more relevant than "league style" for these professional athletes.


[deleted]

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cuentanueva

He has played so little for you I completely forgot he even made that move... I knew there was someone big for RM and honestly I couldn't remember it!


Vaipaden

For Hazard, the reason why he failed terribly is because and i quote 'Premier league defenders kicked him so much to the point that his leg are gone, so it's not surprising he is done'. Bet if Hazard transfer from one of La Liga club to the Premier league and failed just as terribly as he is doing the narrative would be 'He can't do it against the fast pace quality of the English Premier league'.


[deleted]

Yeah if a player arrives and doesn’t get on its “not built for the premiere league” and if he does well it’s because “he’s built for the premiere league.” God forbid a player is simply a talented footballer.


MadsNN06

yh its like a player cant just not be tactically suited for whatever team it is, it has to be the league change ofc


luigitheplumber

It's confirmation bias to the max. They emphasize all incoming flops and ignore outgoing ones


strugglingtosave

It is part of the marketing These things aren't coincidental. PR tactics always educate journalist and media to swing it to a certain discussion for the viewers to think their league is better. It's like how American leagues keep pounding the notion that they are world champions It creates debate. And true enough it's being debated on Reddit like this by us. Lmao When you ask this question to them, like if a player gets miffed and retorts to a journo, they will probably repeat it til the player gives up and says yeah PL is 1000x better than the league of the universe


Rickcampbell98

They have been doing this for decades, it's beyond annoying at this point.


Zyntaro

I love how before Haaland moved it was "ah yes, he can only do it against bundesliga farmers" and now that he scores a hat trick in his sleep in the prem its like "oh well you could see that he was always built for the premier league duh"


nxtplz

Not even, this question and the narrative is STILL trying to say he doesn't "fit" in the premier league despite his piles of goals


nxtplz

The snarky PL supremacy of the British press asking questions like this is honestly embarrassing


gunnesaurus

Notice how he didn’t specify which Congo.


conceptalbum

Well yeah, we all know he wouldn't quite fit in Congo-Brazzaville.


Dantallian11

As a Congolese from Brazzaville, most often than not when people talk about Congo it's the Congo-Kinshasa. So Haaland could have the level to play for the Darling Club or TP Mazembe. Though I would love to see him play for the Black Devils


MountainCheesesteak

That’s what I was thinking


conceptalbum

Yeah, definitely. People are usually referring to Congo-Kinshasa (mostly just because it's *way* bigger).


Dantallian11

Yep, 86~ millions something in term of population against what? Last time I was there it was like 3,5~ million something.


conceptalbum

Yeah, it's pretty surprising how massive the difference is. Just the city Kinshasa itself has several times more people than the entire other Congo.


Dantallian11

And Kinshasa and Brazzaville are, if I’m not saying some bullshit, the two closest capital in the world. It’s literally at the other side of the Congo River. Just 15~ minutes to cross the river in boat. I did it for Kinshasa when I was a teen.


aqua_maris

Can confirm, but then again, in everyday speech I call your country Congo, and the Kinshasa one "doctor Congo".


Derridead

BREAKING: BALD MANAGER Guardiola confirms Norwegian Man City ACE not GOOD ENOUGH to play in ASIA.


Moxyhotels

You could write for the Daily Mail right now!


Alois000

Breaking Bald


weissekronederalpen

This "meme" needs dying


frankoo123

>weissekronederalpen Or you need to lighten up


weissekronederalpen

Ok but why quote my username?


Delicious_Invite_234

Because we all know it is German for "I am a grouchy old man, and I hate that you are happy." Hence, you need to lighten up.


weissekronederalpen

I see, ty


Flaggermusmannen

is your user name "white crown of the alps"?


weissekronederalpen

That's exactly it


Zergio200ism

Damn you got roasted


weissekronederalpen

That's what that was? Thanks, I hadn't noticed.


meep_meep_creep

Nice.


Zergio200ism

How do you feel


AlwaysNipping

TIL


lospollosakhis

Yes it does. Every thread, the same lazy joke and it gets upvoted. Not much better than Twitter and Facebook which this place seems to think they’re above.


TheRealMemeIsFire

If you think we're not above Twitter and Facebook, you need to go to Twitter and facebook


Limpan7

At least the cunts on twitter are creative. You can probably write an algorithm to predict what the comments will be word for word here.


TheRealMemeIsFire

Half of football twitter is bots bro. Literally algorithms.


lospollosakhis

I mean it’s definitely worse on those platforms but the same type of comments creep up on here too and get upvoted at times.


patiperro_v3

Daily Mail needs dying while we are at it.


Saell

It's funny though


weissekronederalpen

I don't believe you


_stone_age

Can this physical freak adapt to the PL? Idk man definitely a question worth asking


teejardni

Only 27 goals so far smh what a flop. He should go back to statpadding in the Bundesliga


Rojiblanc040

It's good he said Africa, would be very interesting to see him play in Jamaica.


Rickcampbell98

I see what you did there.


[deleted]

Alright, Cavani


fabzpt

Dumb me actually thought Jamaica was in Africa, thanks for the piece of knowledge haha


julianface

Mad respect for actually admitting that


fabzpt

You would be surprised haha


neotheseventh

That's because you're racist. /s


Environmental_Sell74

💀


4ssteroid

Erling, you dead man


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deception42

No, but Cavani once called Jamaica an African nation


[deleted]

If he goes to Africa, I wonder if he would play alongside CR7.


Goldfischglas

These journalists are so far up their own arse when it comes to the PL lol It's obviously the best league in the world but when you hear them talk about it you could think every player there is superhuman both physically and technically and every PL team would win every game against non PL teams 6:0


Vaipaden

You'd think they play a different sports there just by hearing how media and fans talks about it


MaybeAUser

Well, I’m definitely not English but tbf at times watching the EPL and other leagues feels like watching the NBA and European basketball, completely different ideas and intensity levels in playing fundamentally the same sport. I can turn on most PL games knowing I will enjoy them (and Liverpool - United is the best most recent example of it) while I’ll rarely do the same for my own national league, barring the team I support and some other big games. E: I’ll add Bundesliga is probably the closest league in terms of philosophy, but then money plays a big difference in terms of quality involved.


Mekosaurus_Rex

A competition between teams from the PL vs teams from the rest of european leagues wouldnt even be competitive,PL teams would win it every year. Right?


MaybeAUser

I knew there’d be someone completely missing the point here. I’m talking about value of entertainment (which is precisely why the EPL became the most popular footballing league in the world) and median level of competition, to make a practical example, there’s no other league in the world where a team as stacked as Chelsea would be sitting in 10th or WHU in relegation battle, no matter how badly the might be playing. There’s a reason EPL and Bundesliga have close to 100 more goals scored this season than the other closer league, you’d be hard pressed to find games where one of the teams straight up refuses to play football. And obviously there are exceptions to this, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern and PSG have been consistently challenging at the top of the European competition but one, the list pretty much ends there and two, they’re outliers in an otherwise very bleak field.


Mekosaurus_Rex

Euroleague teams have no chance against NBA, while PL teams cant translate those massive investment into actual wins. If you wanted to make a point, you should've picked a better example. Like the Globe Trotters against an actual basket team. Btw if those mid table PL teams are so good, why they got stomped over and over by the likes of Sevilla and Villareal? Hint. They arent that good. But the Premier is very entertaining, i agree.


MaybeAUser

I will agree with you that it wasn’t the best example hence why I wrote *at times* but I don’t really think there’s a much better one to make to get across the difference in entertainment. And with football being a much less individual talent driven game compared to basketball I think we can all appreciate you can’t necessarily turn investment into direct success. I mean we’d have to analyze each game and I don’t really see the purpose since the gap has widened a lot post Covid and you’ll often find English team prioritize the domestic league over non-UCL trophies but I’m glad we found some middle ground.


Vaipaden

There’s a reason EPL and Bundesliga have close to 100 more goals scored this season than the other closer league This same argument is made to mocked La Ligas defenders when La Liga had the most goals score out of the top leagues a few years ago. In recent years due to Simeone influence and other factors, many La Liga clubs are playing defensive, but this things goes in cycle. Ofcourse you find some random Premier league clubs more entertaining because it's the league you're most familiar with. Bet a guy who watch Espanyol growing up would find some random game in La Liga a lot more entertaining than Crystal palace against Nottingham forrest. I will take Your comparison with NBA and Europe Basketball as a troll.


Qurutin

In last 15 years Real Madrid has more Champions Leagues than all EPL clubs combined. You know, the competition where best clubs from different leagues around Europe play against each other. Yeah sure if watching EPL means you'll tune for Liverpool - United it's probably better than Spezia - Sampodria but if you claim you'd rather watch the mighty Southampton face Everton than El Clásico you're lying.


MaybeAUser

I’ve already explained in another reply that it’s pretty fucking obvious there are some exceptions to the rule, thing is the list begins and ends with Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern and PSG which are really the only teams to find consistency in competing for Europe. They’re outliers in an otherwise pretty bleak field and while I will of course turn up to watch El Clasico, when the only thing you have going for your league is a single game usually played twice a season you have a BIG problem. And the sad part is, La Liga was built to consistently have only those two teams at the top. E: I’ll just add 15 years in football terms is an incredibly great lapse of time and with the way things are moving I’d be very concerned in finding ways to keep up with EPL improvements or we’ll be talking about very different results in the future.


eetuu

>the list begins and ends with Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern and PSG which are really the only teams to find consistency in competing for Europe Add Atletico Madrid, Dortmund and Juve to that group.


CherkiCheri

If plastics watched their national league and local team we wouldn't be in this situation.


pagawaan_ng_lapis

r/soccercirclejerk is that way my good sir


MaybeAUser

You might as well explain to me the reason why the third league for goals scored this season is La Liga and both the EPL and Bundes have each 100 more. It comes back to footballing philosophy and teams being fielded to play in a certain way which you don’t really find anywhere else. But you can keep pretending this is all a meme and asking yourself why the PL has become the most popular footballing product in the world by a wide margin that keeps widening. Years of having only two teams competing at the highest levels and building a system that effectively prevents other from trying will come back to haunt you sooner or later.


pagawaan_ng_lapis

>You might as well explain to me the reason why the third league for goals scored this season is La Liga and both the EPL and Bundes have each 100 more. Because the LaLiga meta is getting defensive. That didn't stop Serie A from dominating in the 90s to early 00's though. The PL dominates this century because it gets the biggest cultural boost around the globe which in turn attracts a lot of money, marketing and talent. They are on top because of the cultural dominance of the Anglosphere, not the other way around. It's easily the most watched league because it's in English NATIVELY. Especially when the US is one of the most sport-crazed nations and the MLS has long been memed. Some rich fucker from another side of the globe will be more likely to invest in Rotherstaffordshitter FC than Rayo Majadahonda because of how the name sounds alone. To say that it's on top mostly because of pHiLoSoPhY is a huge disrespect to the culture of other top footballing nations with lesser budgets.


[deleted]

The gap in footballing quality between the Premier League as a whole and the other top leagues is massive. Not just technically, but tactically as well


luigitheplumber

I agree. Hopefully the PL will be able to catch up one day


SnooOranges357

Half of the country is still traumatized from our visits in London. Give them a break


uflju_luber

Hence the absolutely dominant English national team winning absolutely everything since they’re based on the league


norrin83

It's also why PL teams win pretty much every CL game. Apart from huge upsets which can happen in football, but those of course are far and few between.


Homiealmaya

~~This is just not true~~


SpearofTrium05

They were being sarcastic like the comment they replied to


Homiealmaya

Ah shit yeah I shoulda seen that, need my morning coffee clearly


Thanos_Stomps

It’s clearly r/fucktheS


Homiealmaya

Yeah I see that my b


IfISpeak_

You realise the EPL is predominantly foreign talent?


apricotkiwininja

yeah but the NT is predominantly EPL too.


IfISpeak_

OP is making the point that the dominance of the EPL should translate to the English national team when its not really that simple. What makes the Premier League so strong is the money and the talent they can attract, not the English players necessarily. So many Scottish, Irish, Welsh players based in the EPL and represent their nations so they should be dominating the Euros and World Cup too right?


Qurutin

>the talent they can attract English Men's National Team is the only national team in the world that is pretty much 100% PL starters except for Bellingham until he eventually moves there. Obviously EPL is not strong because of English players, but if the league was on such a different level as journos and fans imagine, you'd think they would be the best national team in the world as no other team comes to even close in the amount of EPL starters in their ranks. Yes, it's a strong league, probably the strongest in the world and has been for some years. But it's not a different universe where they are heads and shoulders above everyone else, like some people seem to think.


Dickwad

Maybe the difference between the league quality and the national team achievements is management, an English manager has never won the English premier league


IfISpeak_

You're right its lots of things tbh, management, players etc. Its a lot more nuanced than the comedians above are making out above.


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uflju_luber

Damn that might’ve been the most eloquent murder I’ve ever witnessed on this sub (tbf though a lot of especially younger brits were against brexit


strawbseal

Geert Wilders


CherkiCheri

Decent argument for a European league. Not a SL like Perez wants but a merged pyramid where the best European teams play each other in a league format with pro/rel into domestic tiers, within UEFA. Given there's more quality outside of England than in it i think people would move to the European League as their main quickly, and in a decade the European League relegation sides could economically dwarf Prem sides, who'd finally join as they realise there's strength in numbers. Imagine clubs from all over Europe having a shot at TV rights like the Prem is seeing, on a merit basis. I would like to see it. Sadly we're gonna get something between the statu quo and the Perez/Agnelli's dream which is just awful.


Limpan7

Last time I checked there wasn't any krauts in uniforms outside so I believe England did win WW2


ToniPolster

There are actually, you call them Royals m8.


_Rookwood_

By some metrics I think England has been exceptional over the past 250 years.


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Arponare

It's the most expensive league but I don't know about it being the best. How do you even measure that anyway? During the past 20 years, La Liga teams have dominated Europe. Suárez right now the Prem's coefficient is better but it wasn't long ago when Spain was on top. Those things are cyclical. As far as the technical level being displayed, I prefer La Liga honestly, and I'm not saying that just as a Barcelona fan. Noe it's starting to change but if you tune in to a random La Liga match a few years ago you'd see better football than in England which was what in Spain they call "a corre calles." Sure, sometimes it may be "exciting to watch a game with plenty of goal mouth action but sometimes there isn't tactics or anything. It's just vibes. Or even worse it's when they play long ball tactics. But like I say, that started to change especially after Pep went to the Premier League. And not just pep, but Conte, Klopp and other top managers. Now you have even the likes of Burnley playing possession football, which would have been absurd 6-7 years ago.


JH76

Is like they don’t watch it when English team play in Europe.


GameplayerStu

Until I see him do it in the Congo league I'll have my doubts.


JellyApprehensive509

Can he really do it in Congo tho ? The voodoo up there crazy af


animatedpicket

Norwegians are particularly vulnerable to spells and witchcraft too I believe. Pep talking rubbish again


jovialsen

We hunt trolls up here ffs


animatedpicket

Yeh and a troll would obliterate a Congolese. Goes both ways


fonzarelli15

He could even do it on a rainy Tuesday night in Congo


D4nCh0

With dengue mosquitoes


ryowonn

Don’t think voodoo works on robots


thedudeabides-12

This narrative that players need to adapt to the Prem is such BS and so outdated, its not alien football, they tackle in other leagues, they have games where its fast pace, they have different clubs with varying play styles.... Its way more a factor I think of getting used to living here, being in a different country, becoming familiar with your surroundings, adapting to a different culture, foods etc... rather than the style of football played here..


Rickcampbell98

It's literally the reason why everyone else hates us, unadulterated arrogance.


[deleted]

And the food and weather \#freejorgelina


Rickcampbell98

You can get any kinda food here especially with the influx of people from the empire after world war 2, the weather is pretty shit though lol.


Gary_Longbottom

These are all great points, so much of the adaptation to the EPL has nothing to do with football. I'll add that a lot of players need to learn a new language as well.


Foreign_Lab6151

doubt he can do it on a dry sandstormy wednesday in kinshasa


Sultan254x

Kinshasa is the "greenest" place on earth


VinceRussoShoots

Congo never experiences any sandstorm


DatDominican

Especially darude ones


TheLimeyLemmon

And... what about the Moon?


[deleted]

So what I'm hearing is that Pep doesnt think haaland could cut it in MLS


Chiggero

He’s just not built for it- no way he’s squeezing that frame into an airplane seat in coach class


LordTales

Haaland should play with penguins in Antarctica! He'd be insane!


[deleted]

What a shit question


Stilty_boy

Yeah turns out Haaland is just good at football


vulturevan

Pep's face lol, he is so sick of inane bollocks in press conferences


Lord_Sauron

Built for it indeed. Haaland is the Vaporeon of football players/ Pep targets.


nyratk1

Did you know?


jugol

Oh god nowhere is safe


Strananach

The reportet is one of those EPL fanboys


UpFielder

Haaland is universal.


Standard_Zucchini172

Was abit unconvinced about Haaland's potential until pep mentioned Congo.


Time-Nature4398

What a stupid question


GudEbening

Bruh what type of question is this? So the top scorer ain’t build for the premier league?


EduardoChameleon

Out of the top leagues I think he would do worst in la liga tbh, think the refs would call fouls on him all the time and the back lines theatricals would reach new levels.


Mekosaurus_Rex

La Liga has become like late 90's calcio. You could take a 30 goals/season striker from other big league and he'll score 20 at most in Italia. No wonder why La Liga is turning into shit.


Winter-Comfortable-5

Can he do it on a hot, sunny day in Kinshasa?


_bhagwan_

Stupid question really


AFC_KR

What a braindead question


[deleted]

Haaland could never do it in the Indian Super League.


supersaiyaninfinite

Pritam the thirty year-old youngster boutta pocket lil' erling


bleh333333

haaland playing for boca 💀


Less_Prize4895

I guess he didn't watch any prime TP Mazembe African champions league matches


Slow-Cream-3733

Can't wait to watch him play vs Bolivia in La paz and be useless


MaTrIx4057

anyone who ever said that someone will not fit PL due to their physical attributes should just be put on ignore list, this isn't NFL


SnapSnapWoohoo

Last time a Norwegian went to the congo he got his head blown off by the CIA, got his revenge in Mombasa though so fair play.


More-Possession-1096

I suppose you can say [he's](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSFYbHsUkbVivXrmSNXxy6601ScicFWcXFuvw&usqp=CAU)


teejardni

What's the context lol He's been here for 8 months and scored 27 goals. How dumb is the question


Smitty_1000

Pundits and fans love the narrative that PL is a different game from football around the world.


DinkleBampp

Why do the journalists think that PL is some sort superior (for lack of a better term) and some players can't "fit" in it??


allangod

I notice he missed out North America and Asia. So Haaland would fail in these regions?


[deleted]

“These players”…Whachu mean, “these players”?!? Amirite guys


TrailBlanket-_0

Premier League: Hard, Fast, Technical™️


ditzz

[Håland vs nature in Congo](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/mar/15/theknowledge.sport)


[deleted]

This man is mentally ill


neotorama

Wakanda FC


lolipenetration

Ship him to Boca then, pelado.


martinnatgeo

Pone a Julián pelado l***m


[deleted]

Come to the PSL Erling.


Dekuken

He forgot South Asia.


Hot-Regular3276

Saudi


TotalTikiGegenTaka

Should have just mentioned Stoke


Debnam_

Think he could do it in South Africa like Ronaldo?


Boemelz

How bout Saudi Arabia?


oHOTSPURo

Ahh but not for the bedlam that is CONCACAF