nutmegwolf203

Great run and goal.

Always well spoken and it seems he's sincerely excited about playing for the club. This is a good one.

Yeah I'm not a fan either and I actually don't think he's that great of a finisher. Perhaps it's match fitness but recently I've seen him miss some great chances and make poor choices in front of goal.

This is really my point. I'm not trying to call him a liar. But this really does have to be 100%. I've been called dishonest in these situations and there is nothing gained from a lack of proof. That's all I'm saying. Sorry to make it seem like I was throwing him to the wolves. I hope he is backed up in all this, always want to support our players and I hope justice is served. I won't say any more on the subject.

Just so I can properly give my stance on the twitter thing: I don't even know what batty boy means, don't care to look it up or have someone explain. Sure, he was young(er) than he is now I was merely saying that the internet is a deep archive and for anybody claiming discrimination in this day and age, especially about race, because race is a topic that's often bypassed in terms of social progress, it is incredibly common for people to try and slander your character. That's all.

Well, comedians take liberties and I'm a fan of some who use some crude language as I assume we all are, but in general I'm not in to crass humor. But at the same time you're talking about constructs that make up modern society as we know it, hard to avoid those topics if you want to tell a narrative of who we are right now, for better or worse. My social circles are really diverse so I'm lucky in that way, but I think that's conflating the fact that you can speak of being queer without using the word faggot. I'm pretty sure it's possible. But the point is, young or not, it was used as a negative, it wasn't celebratory in those tweets. That, as many have said can be a commonality in young people who learn those terms and the contexts to use them in from influential sources. Beyond all this, I'm really not here to judge his past tweets. Based on the series of events and the way people tend to cover their bases after high profile situations it did seem like a PR move, but as people have pointed out it was suggested by the authorities. I wish kids didn't learn to apply these terms so casually, because they don't sit casually with people on the other side. I could talk about that forever and not say anything we don't already know.

More to the point of when things are reported. If Mason is proven right in all this then I hope we see some changes in how things are handled during matches by officials. Firmino should have been off right away and Madley should be reprimanded for ignoring that type of verbal abuse. They send managers in to the stands for less.

Not trying to paint myself as a saint, just being honest. That's all.

I'm just addressing the topic. It's not anti-Holgate, it's just my take on the situation. I agree the lip reading can only be done on the footage being seen. I just don't believe he decided to switch to English with the ref and other players between them to say something even more disgusting. Sure, I hope I'm wrong. If he was told to take down his twitter then so be it. This is just my opinion on what I can see and the logic I'd apply to the situation, given the language he was using. It's not in defense of Firmino; I just read the whole episode as messy. If Firmino's guilty then how on earth are they going to prove that with Madley not even flinching at a sickeningly derogatory word being said over his shoulder? Furthermore, his friends and teammates on the Everton side of things react but they're not outraged. They side with him in general, anybody would. But when he's explaining things to them it's as if they're hearing it for the first time. Believe me you get that word hurled at you and no one else seems to care and things get real lonely all of a sudden. With that being said Madley should be ashamed for not throwing him out of the match. If Mason could hear it why not him? Or does verbal abuse of that sort not get punished in matches? (genuine question) So if it did happen and he performed that well for the rest of the match then more power to him. It's not easy. I like Holgate; think he's a good player and I love the club and you guys can gang up on me and think it's anti-Holgate rhetoric or whatever. My biggest fear is just a kid getting in over his head and providing more naysayers with ammunition to combat the effort that true activist make for equality. Again, if Holgate's side of the story is corroborated I'll hold my hands up and you can all say I told you so, as it seems you're so eager to do. The alternative will be horrible and can undo a lot of good work. For the record I want the former scenario to be true. If Madley heard anything and didn't react in any way, but was tasked to do so as an official, HE should be investigated. It's easy to be uppity on the internet about these situations, but how many bigots are called out in real time. Hopefully I'm making myself clear here. He was there and still Mason is the only one reacting to the insult. He had to tell him what was said. Ni***r is a word in the English language, simple for those present to understand; where was the alarm from him or are we to suspect the presiding match official is so tone deaf or racist himself it didn't phase him? You may think I'm the enemy here, but I'm just trying to sift through an all too familiar scene to understand it better.

No, I personally never have. I think homophobic is homophobic at any age.

Based on some more recent articles it seem Holgate's been found out for some past homophobic tweets, that's why he deleted his account. The internet knows all.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/he-called-n-evertons-mason-11809267 As soon as this happened and I saw the replays I feared I knew the outcome. While this article is in no way conclusive, in terms of the FA investigation being done; they really didn't need a lip reading expert to confirm what many could see plainly. The push was immature. Just dumb. The same type of naive move we've been criticizing Mirallas for making during his whole Everton career. I remember seeing someone in the matchday thread say they "liked the push" or the passion it signified. Really? It was way too close to the touchline and it's a miracle he wasn't booked right away, but at the same time, Madley never had that match under control. This is going to look so messy once they finalize this investigation. I honestly don't know the rules here but perhaps since it was initiated by the officials there won't be anything retroactive against Holgate? I can see him getting a lengthy ban for a false accusation if that's even on the table. RF was speaking Portuguese, that'd be the first hurdle in even understanding him and the statement he most likely made wouldn't really sound like what MH is saying he heard. The reason I even bring this up is because 'crying wolf' in this situation helps no one. Justice and retribution in situations like this is already so rare. I bet Holgate realized he shouldn't have pushed Firmino and got caught up in the furor of the moment. At that point perhaps he misheard or embellished. I'm too familiar with this word to not know what it looks like being mouthed by someone. Perhaps MH just didn't want to deal with abuse via twitter and decided to step away, but personally, if I believed in my truth - I wouldn't back down for anything, especially from social media. I think he fucked up pretty bad and he knows it.

^Sounds like a breakfast option

Hope this doesn't turn into an Oviedo-like scramble for fitness ahead of the world cup. Not healthy; or at least it wasn't for him.

True, and Lookman played well when he came on. If he can be more consistent then we'll have a real player.

It also comes down to decision making. Bolasie with that chance at the end to put Sig in on goal sums it all up. Why shoot from there?

I don't think it was a pen at all. It makes no sense for both feet to come up from the ground while being held around the upper body. That being said, when Holgate isn'tt playing well, he really is trash. There's no in between. He just losses it and the disappointing thing is that there's no one in his ear to put him back on track. I like the passion, but we always get punished for it in derbies.

'Tis the season

We really need two quality options in this position.

None of them pass well. It's insane. Our worst passers are in our midfield.

^ The team should be wearing that kit more often. And, agreed, I'm just not sure he's capable at this level, or at least not with us right now.

He may just be the best option available at the time.

I fully agree with you. I like Niasse and for what he offers his attitude is top notch. I just think Allardyce, Koeman etc. have been tasked with the decision of playing him, who will score - eventually, erratically, unconventionally or with having someone like DCL, or whoever, that will allow the team to 'play'. Your logic is sound I just don't think Niasse always fits the puzzle. It's just his unique way of playing. It's not good or bad, but it is different from everyone else. It's less of a personal opinion and more of an assumption of what's going on with him.

Probably one of my favorite YouTube channels by far

That's almost encouraging because it's a confidence thing and not an ability thing. Everything's usually on target for him he just needs to care less about the result and put more force in to it.