State of the fan in Premier League

That MOTD thread yesterday was mental to me. It’s amazing how many people were calling it a bad show for being shallow, and expecting highlight shows to go into in-depth football analysis. Do people not get just how commercially and financially unviable a football show featuring ex pros going into great detail would be?

What are people's thoughts on neutral football watchers? I always feel like a bit of a weirdo when I'm talking with someone about the sport and then they ask me what team I support. The thing is I just can't seem to settle on a team this late in life (was a dumb glory hunting utd fan in the 90s, then lost interest in my teens, then got back into football in my 20s as a neutral). I keep thinking of clubs I could go for but every viable option feels forced. I've lived in 4 different places in the UK and he only place I've lived long enough to be considered home has a non-league team and tbh I've never been enamoured with the place, it's just where my parents moved for work. I could support my birth city like my brother does, but it seems disingenuous since I only lived there until I was 7, never go back, plus although my passport says I am from the midlands, my family are 100% southern.

I feel I want a team but I'm struggling to find a meaningful connection and I need that to get properly invested in a club. It's different if you stuck with your childhood team or follow your father's football club, but I can't do that.

Do Everton have a transfer policy? What does Steve Walsh actually do? Why did we sign all these shite midfielders? How is sending Sandro back to Spain gona help him settle in the PL? Why are we looking to loan Mangala when FUCKING EVERYONE CAN SEE WE NEED A LB? WHY IS MORGAN SCHNEIDERLIN STILL PLAYING FOR MY CLUB? WHY THE FUCK IS BIG SAM IN CHARGE? WHO IS MAKING ANY DECISIONS IN THE BOARDROOM? HAS ANY OTHER TEAM EVER BEEN SO BIZARRELY INCOMPETENT WITH TRANSFERS BEFORE?

I'm quite intrested to hear who is your favourite referee in the Prem? I don't usually wanna talk about referees and in a way encourage them to put themselves into the spotlight (looking at you Mike Dean). But the refs in this country are getting a lot of stick lately so who deserves a shout for not being absolutely godawful? I personally think Michael Oliver seems to have a good day most of the time. PS Bobby Madley is in charge at the Etihad today against West Brom. Might as well give Walker a night off.

Aubameyang is a striker. Lacazette is also a striker, who doesn't even play all the time. What is the deal with Arsenal's biggest target being Aubameyang? I've heard something about "Wenger doesn't really play with strikers, more just general forwards," which, I'm sorry, but I find hard to believe is really an effective strategy. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something tactical here?

It just seems like it would make so much more sense to try to sign an even halfway decent CM…(or even a winger to replace Alexis). Hard to believe there's no one on the market more worth the effort than Auba right now (who is cup tied anyway, and necessitates the sale of another striker who is pretty decent i.e. Giroud).

I think these Brazillian players like Neymar coming to Europe have every right to do all the flicks/skills they want. Yes Neymar is a cunt, and I saw his stupid fake helping clip, but he isn't a cunt for doing cool tricks with the ball. Also I think he should do it even when his team is losing if it helps, not just when he is winning comfortably.

Imagine everybody doing cool shit to get out of tight spots every time you watch a match. Id take that over safe sideways passing, no matter how tactical and smart and safe that is. Imagine Kante and our midfield just flicking the shit out of the ball to counter high pressing opponents.

Jordan Henderson is a top class footballer I don't care what anyone says, it was blindingly evident how much we've missed him when he was back in the team last night. Imagine taking over the captaincy from Gerrard, takes a fucking enormous set of balls, on top of that we are always 50% better with Hendo on the pitch. Keeps the metronome ticking with his passing, a vocal and confident leader, for me one of the most underrated players in the premier league.

Selling Emerson for a fee of £17m looks like really shoddy business from Roma's perspective. I mean its bad enough that they sold one their promising young talents at the age of development for an inferior sum. Also the fact that they have Kolarov as their only left back right now doesn't help. But now they have to go for a backup with one day left in the window.

Rumours are they are going after Blind who I guess, would suit Serie A. But to sell one of your younger prospects for Blind looks underwhelming to say in the least. One thing they could've done was play him this season, let him pick up some form to drive his price up. The guy has just returned from a long time on the sidelines. Could've given him more time to get up to speed. Overall, it looks like bad business from Monchi who sold Mo Salah for £35 mil and was ready to sell Dzeko without a reliable backup.

Is there anyone here that agrees with me that Aubameyang is slightly overrated? Weren't there at least two periods of 500min within recent time, where he just couldn't score...? It is true that he scores many goals, BUT, I have seen so so many games where he misses multiple clear goal opportunities and has left me frustrated. And he plays for Dortmund, a team that generates a large amount of chances and has a lot of possession. In other words, a striker scores naturally more goals in Dortmund... IMO it's a good thing for Dortmund to find someone else.