The Open Thread/Daily Merengue is a place where you can discuss anything and everything related to football. Feel free to discuss the topics presented here, or start your very own discussions! The Open thread will be posted every day by one of the mods you’d totally rewatch Lord of the Rings with: Valyrian Steel, Felipejack, Kung_Fu_Zizou (AKA KFZ), Juninho and, of course... yours truly.

So the Drama Continues

I think it’s unbelievable that people display this kind of behavious in the year 2023. On the football pitch at that! It’s entertainment and fans actually abuse a player with rascist remarks. This has been going on for quite a while. Vinicius has been the target of such comments for months now and what’s happened? Nothing. This is a really bad look for La Liga.

Now, on the Vini side of things, he could most definitely show a cooler head. Yes, this is too much and yes, something has to be done about it. However, if Vini himself could handle his anger a tad better, perhaps the abusing remarks would drop, if only a little. If people can keep getting to his head like that, don’t expect it to stop anytime soon.

CLARRIFICATIONS

Okay, so I see the previous paragraph hasn’t had a good reception. Unfortunately, I think it’s for the wrong reasons, as perhaps I haven’t worded what I meant to say carefully enough in a sensitive matter. I leave said paragraph as is, since it’s been the subject of most of the comments below, and clarify what I meant to say in the following one.

Guys, let me be clear; I am not placing any of the blame on Vinicius, so, please, try not to feel that way. What I am saying is, that I would like to see him channeling his anger in the game itself - in other words do his talking on the pitch. The player has the right to walk off the pitch as well, though I am not sure why the games aren’t stopped in cases like this. Of course, this is easier said than done and, in all fairness, this may be a bit too much to ask of a young player during such verbal abuse by fans shouting literally next to him. Practically, perhaps he even shouldn’t take a word. Obviously, this sort of behavior by opposing club’s fans has to be condemned and it is surprising to see LL taking few and slow steps towards this (re-read the paragraph before that one). So, two things here; 1) I really hate to see opposing players get to Vini’s head this often. 2) It’s worrying that LL hasn’t come up with a way to deal with this sort of thing yet.

You Know, This Actually Has Crossed My Mind

Imagine abusing Vini like that and then having to deal with Ramos and Pepe.