#kompany they say

[i-am-q]

Those that were allowed to use the ATP battery in my brain for their “double blind” study up until Jan. 2024, I respect you but respectfully ask for full control of my body again—whatever that means.

Those with access to the slave cameras through the company, keep it up (A plus as they say). The world is behind you.

[lauriel816]

I think we need to call this lady back

[genelatifah]

From relegation to Bayern, life is good for Vincent.

[beardedmrbean]

Justice Minister Paul Van Tigchelt (Open VLD) is under fire for comments he made about migrants and their contribution to the Belgian economy.

Featuring as a guest on the podcast 'Talks With Charly', Van Tigchelt was asked about his views on whether it was possible to prevent migrants from entering Belgium, to which he replied: "Of course not. Something like that is impossible, unnecessary and undesirable."

He went on to emphasise the economic role migrants play here. "Who takes care of our care? Who will lay my water pipe? Who cleans my windows at home?"

Podcast host Charly Badibanga then took offence to the insinuation that migrants only contribute to Belgium via low-skilled work, and the Justice Minister quickly sought to nuance his comments. "Sorry for expressing myself incorrectly, but take away migration and our economy will come to a standstill."

He added that figures such as directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah and former football players Marouane Fellaini and Vincent Kompany are a testament to the "wealth" that migration has brought to Belgium.

'Stereotypical'

Van Tigchelt's comments demonstrated a "stereotypical" view of work performed by migrants but was not off the mark regarding the economic impact of reduced migration, says Eva Van Belle, a migration and labour expert at VUB.

"It is difficult to predict the impact a migration policy change would have on the economy, but what we do know is that the rate of migration we have today is good for growth," she told The Brussels Times. "There is a positive fiscal effect too, as migrants contribute more to public finances than what they cost. If we stopped migration, this positive effect would disappear."

The perception that a high proportion of migrants work in low-skilled positions is due to the fact that Belgium lacks any clear strategy to attract high-skilled individuals. In addition, a cinched domestic labour market coupled with discrimination faced by people from migrant backgrounds pushes many of them to unskilled positions. Nevertheless, migrants make up significant portions of professional sectors too, such as IT, healthcare and consulting.

Migration is an enormous topic for political parties ahead of federal elections on 9 June. Van Tigchelt's liberal party Open VLD wants to increase controls at EU borders and make family reunification conditions much more stringent. The party calls for more humane conditions for asylum seekers awaiting a decision on their application despite overseeing a worsening reception crisis since being in government.

[msburgundy]

he is my greatest shame

:)

NO

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Meeting of Team Avatars

Krew (Korra), Gaang (Aang), Kompany (Kyoshi), Yircle (Yangchen), and Krowd (Kuruk).

Yangchen: *looking at Krew, Gaang, Kompany* Oh my god.... My prayers didn't work. Kyoshi: What? Yangchen: Especially you. You're the worst offender! Kyoshi: What???? Yangchen: Don't worry about it.

Krew: Omg it's the Gaang! Oh you guys are LEGENDARY! Gaang: This is amazing! So everything has been going well since we left you in charge? Krew: Wouldn't say "well" but we're doing what we can.... Gaang: I get it, totally! Yircle: So theses are the famous "team Avatars?" Should we even be called one? We're more like a spy group. Kompany: That. Is. So. COOL! W-we also do jobs too! Breaking and entering and other sabotage! Gaang: And who are you guys? Kompany: We're the Flying Opera Company (plus old people allies). We're Kyoshi's team. Krew: No WAY! I always thought Kyoshi would just have a mini army of Kyoshi Warriors! Kompany: A what of what now? Krowd: Haha! So you're who takes over after us? Well nice to meet you-wait why does your firebender have Hei-Ran's face. Rangi: God....DAMN it..... Krowd: What was that? Rangi/Kompany: I said stay THE FUCK away from us. Krowd: ????? O_O Huh?

Kyoshi: This is going to be a disaster.

[fabioquartararhoe]

i’m gonna say it lol i like kompany, he has good ideas but he doesn’t have players who can play like that but i prefer nagelsmann. idk i feel like he was a better fit and he deserved more time and better players.

[esneullert]

so i tried to write something for @miroslavcloset ‘s fictober just for fun

10/07 “The media keeps posting about us.”

wirtziala, background neuller because i had to

It is true that Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala give an excellent performance together on the German national team. It is also very true that the two of them have become close friends during the Euros. So, the media doesn’t pass up on the opportunity.

They’re on vacation together, and Flo is posting their selfie on his Instagram stories.

“How do you feel about the fact that lately they’ve been, like, shipping us?” Jamal asks. “Kind of annoying, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know, I mean, it does feel like too much attention. But it’s kinda fun?” Flo answers as he presses send.

“Yeah, I guess it is”, Jamal agrees, and hits like instantly.

Getting over Germany’s loss is relatively easy for them since they realize they still have all the time ahead of them. It isn’t easy, though, to get over the fact they won’t be seeing each other often as the season starts.

They send each other good luck texts before each match of their respective teams; when confronted about watching Bayern matches on his phone in Leverkusen’s locker room, Wirtz comes up with something like I need to study Kompany’s tactics since we’re playing against them soon; in reality, he misses Jamal a lot.

They’re excited to be reunited during the next international break.

When the Bayern part of the squad is back in Munich after the break, they meet up for coffee with their teammates to catch up on things; Jamal is on his phone pretty much the whole time.

“Look, the media is all about us again”, Flo texts him and sends a link.

Somewhere in the background, Kimmich is jokingly complaining about how he’s not used to the fact that ter Stegen isn’t a sweeper keeper and Neuer just laughs; Jamal isn’t really listening. He opens the link and it’s a video of their goal in the latest Nations League match captioned as #wusiala.

“You really miss him, do you?” The question catches him off guard.

He looks up from the screen. “What are you talking about?”

“You and Wirtz, obviously.”

“Oh”, he realizes his teammates noticed. “Well, yeah, I do”, he admits, “that’s what friends do?”

“I know being on rival teams isn’t easy”, Thomas says. “Reminds me of when I was your age, I had a major crush on Schalke’s keeper”, with that, he winks at Neuer.

“No, it’s not like that.” Jamal protests instinctively, but it suddenly hits him that it’s exactly like that. “So what came out of it?”

“He’s Bayern’s keeper now”, Manu states. “I’m not opposed to buying Wirtz though, if that’s one way to solve it.”

“Wait, you guys are…?”

Jamal proceeds to tell Flo what he just found out. “With how they were always attached by the hip on the national team I’m not surprised”, he gets a reply.

Maybe that could be us, he wants to text back, but doesn’t.

Maybe the media isn’t all that wrong about them.

Eventually, and inevitably, the day comes when they have to play against each other. It’s their first time doing so as best friends, and no matter how happy they are to see each other, for the next 90 minutes they have to forget about it - all business, nothing personal.

The match ends in a draw, and as much as each of them wanted to win such an important game, they both feel kind of relieved that neither of them did.

Flo finds Jamal in the locker rooms after the game. “So, a friendly 1:1 then?”

“I guess so. You guys did well though.”

Flo shrugs. “Could’ve done better.”

“Same about us.”

“Our training doesn’t start until Monday. Maybe I can convince the management and stay here in Munich for one more day”, Flo suggests.

“Sounds great”, Jamal lights up. “Drinks tonight, then?”

They hear a camera snap a picture of them talking.

“Goddammit”, Flo sighs. “They’ll be all about the “wirtziala” thing again for the next few days or so.”

“Whatever.” With the side of his eye Jamal catches Thomas giving Manu a kiss on the cheek as they’re exiting the locker rooms. “Maybe we should kiss just to spite the media?”

And so they do, later, when they’re out for drinks after the game, and when Flo stays over at Jamal’s place, and when they’re at the train station saying each other goodbye - only until next time.

[coldpintglass]

I don’t know how likely it is, but how would you react if Southgate got the Manchester United job?

And maybe more importantly, how would Harry feel, seeing Gareth cozy up to a captain that isn’t him? I wonder if Harry gets jealous easily and-

*gunshots* Spurs beats United 3-0 *blond man runs away cackling wearing lederhosen*

Well, first of all Anon, thanks for providing the inspiration for this:

Hoping this will inspire Kompany with a new attacking tactic for the next champions league match so Harold can get his paws on a trophy. Lee Carsley would insist Harold use a brick instead, a classic English approach x

Okay actual thoughts (and light mentions of SouthKane) under the cut:

I am a Liverpool girlie first and SouthKane whack job second so you’ll have to take my thoughts with the pinch of salt that I am not a huge football person still but am getting there. 

But well. WELL. I guess what’s the problem Ten Hag has with the team atm? Seems to be there’s no passion and there’s not like longevity built into the team. Lots of old players Ten Hag has worked with and loads of money spent with fuck all to show. 

I know 90% of Man U fans knee jerk reactions is fear when Southgate is mentioned to replace him. I get it - people don’t like how his term as England manager ended and he did FLUNK as a club manager. I do wonder if his time (and yes I’ll say it) success with England may have helped him since then? It’s a totally different gig tbh. 

If he does end up being Man Us coach, fuck me, he’ll be eaten alive I know that much. Unless he gets some winners and I don’t think that’s likely. Not just cause of his style but who’s there too. He’d have to bring back a drive and desire in them and IDK if that’s 100% possible. Maybe with Maguire, Shaw and Rashford causes he’s worked with them before but well. That was so much easier because you really only get to pick the nation to represent that your part of and that’s easy pride to pick at but at a club level, you can chase trophies and money and who really gives a shit so long as you’re being paid. 

So I’d probably feel as bad for Southgate as I did for Man Utd tbh.  

That’s a lie, I’d love it, it be chaos lmao. Get that fucking club relegated Garf x 

AS FOR HAROLD!!!!! 

He’d be shaking like a 3 legged chihuahua watching Southgate cosy up to Fernandez or Maguire  (especially Maguire!!!!) ahahah

I think it’s very uncharted territory for Harold, he’s been Southgate’s favourite for like over a decade and never needed to compete but NOW! OH NOW!!!! Southgate clearly occupied with a team that doesn’t have him in it, woof, I bet he’d be fine but it would wind him up eventually. Harry accidentally becoming a Man U fan just to look out for snippets of Gareth. There’d be no way he’d join Man U but if they met via a match, he’d be making a bee line to him after. Bless.

Honestly low key interested to see what Southgate does next because it’s going to be marvellous to see how I can ham fist further Southkane into my writing 🫡 Part of me wants him to do something outside of football because it be honestly so funny. I cycle between my thoughts on Southgate regularly but mostly it’s “lmao it be funny if this happened to him”

Anyway thank you for the question babes!!! X

[probayern]

i've gotta say, i'm liking kompany's football so far. yes it's not 100% yet but this is the kind of sexy dominant attacking football i've been missing

[miasanmuller]

I wasn't gonna say anything on the matter but Thomas subbed in on the last few minutes again? Kompany I'm on your walls

[wiremotherofficial]

i wonder what kompanie-mutter would say about us constantly remaking

she would say, "they will never escape samsara"

[diemannschaftblr]

@/iMiaSanMia: Jamal Musiala on what he's still missing to become the perfect player and maybe win the Ballon d'Or: For me, it's always important to take a step forward. I did that last season, I took a step forward, but maybe the goals and assists were missing a bit. It's about working to improve and staying fit to play as many games as possible and perform.

Under the cut: on Paul Wanner's situation, being constantly fouled, expectations and pressure, thoughts on Nagelsmann and Kompany as young coaches.

• on Paul Wanner's international future, having been in a similar situation himself: It's important for Paul to take his time and not look too much into what the media are saying. He has to decide for himself. But of course I'd like to have him here with us. I've known him for a while and know how good of a player he is.

• on being fouled so often and asking for protection from referees: I try to speak to the referees. They're doing what they think is right and trying to give their best. I don't want to complain a lot and want to have fun on the pitch. I'll always speak to the referee if I feel that I'm being fouled a lot - but I know that's part of the game.

• on the expectations being placed on him and whether that puts pressure on him: Over the years I've learned not to pay too much attention to that. Of course it's nice to read good things about yourself, but sometimes when things aren't going well, you have to make sure you're always in the same rhythm and focus. Experience helps with that.

• on his relationship with Vincent Kompany and Julian Nagelsmann as two young coaches: I have a very good relationship with Vincent and the entire coaching staff. We're very open with each other. We all want to win things and improve. The same goes for Julian. We spoke a lot, especially when I was younger and just becoming a regular starter. He helped me a lot to do things better. For me it's always about being open and taking criticism and advice well.

[leonsliga]

I don't know how to support a club that openly and transparently treats a players who's given his effing ALL like this. I don't know how. If it had been a normal transfer sure would've sucked still but they're ousting him ans treating him like he's the dirt on their shoe. Wtf

I’m gonna assume this is about Leon, and if it is, we’re in the same boat, dear anon 😵🫂 I know football is just business at the end of the day, and business can be cruel, but this feels like it goes beyond that. Besides, Bayern is supposed to be better than that (at least we like to think so); Bayern is supposed to be a family—one that looks after its members. And yet, here we are. A house divided.

Hell, if it had been a normal transfer and they’d sent him on his merry way, no hard feelings, it might’ve hurt less than this. I know Leon wants to stay at the club, but they’re not making it easy on him. Actually, that’s an understatement; between benching him when he’s fit and leaving him off the squad entirely, it’s pretty clear where he stands right now. I know there’s lots of great options in midfield and Leon needs to fight for his position, but the way Bayern’s handling it all feels a little juvenile. Surely after everything he’s given the club, he deserves more than a constant cold shoulder and exclusion from the squad. I know I’m biased, but it’s hard to read Freund’s, Eberl’s, and Kompany’s comments on him lately, along with all the rumors about how he has “no prospects in Munich” and how they want to “offload him before deadline day”:

I’m glad Jo and Thomas stuck up for him at least:

The whole situation is maddening, honestly. Everyone keeps saying he’s a good player and he’s training well, but it’s hard not to feel like those are empty words at the moment. I’d love to be wrong, but given the way Bayern is freezing him out, it feels like the writing’s on the wall this time. I’d love for Leon to stay and be able to prove himself, but it doesn’t feel like they’re even giving him a chance anymore. I don’t know, maybe it’s just the cynicism talking, but hearing comments from Freund like “he was very successful” make it seem like him leaving is a foregone conclusion. Times like these make it hard to love Bayern, I won’t lie 😂 even if I do still love the club

[msburgundy]

i wonder what kompanie-mutter would say

i am inclined to think she would agree with me, because surely the catholic church would not allow this???

[kentuckyanarchist]

Songs of 2023

Here we are, a bit late, not quite as late as last year. 2023 was a busy year but somehow an uncomplex one for me—there’ve been worse years, there’ve been better. If the songs spoke to the times, they did so in obscure ways. Nonetheless: 50 favourite songs, 50 fuzzy thoughts, I hope you like them too.

1. Fenne Lily, “Lights Light Up”

Just the right amount of confidence and the right amount of caveats; just the right amount of magic and the right amount of realism.

2. Boygenius, “True Blue”

I love the matter-of-factness of Lucy Dacus’ diction here, putting friendship to words like it’s the most obvious thing in the world: “I can’t hide from you like I hide from myself, duh.”

3. ANOHNI, “Sliver of Ice”

Somehow, amidst the wreckage, it’s the elegance of ANOHNI’s rhymes that get me: view/blue, tonight/light, more/before; if only death was so simple.

4. Caroline Polachek, “Billions”

All I can say here, and it’ll sound silly, is that what’s happening in this song is an attempt to block off the curve from hedonism to cynicism.

5. Ratboys, “Black Earth, WI”

How is it that, with the mushroom cloud above and the ground opening up before them, Ratboys seem to have all the time in the world?

6. Julie Byrne, “Portrait of a Clear Day”

There’s a particular vocal style, smooth and blue like a lake surface, that you find in some English folk music, and in 2023 Julie Byrne was its sharpest, wisest practitioner.

7. Feist, “Hiding Out in the Open”

Homespun, delicate; thrillingly, almost uncomfortably intimate.

8. Slaughter Beach, Dog, “Strange Weather”

One for cataloguing, inventorying, totting up, working out where you stand.

9. Yo La Tengo, “Aselestine”

“Aselestine”’s two songs: the instrumentals so serenely flowing, circling, generative; Georgia Hubley’s vocals so clipped, terse, holding back.

10. Billy Woods & Kenny Segal ft. Samuel T. Herring, “FaceTime”

Could Billy Woods be our foremost imagist? “In a Station of the Metro” but the train’s derailed, bones snapped, screaming kids, twisted metal? I’ve already said too much.

11. Doja Cat, “Agora Hills”

The year’s best pop song, a delicate dedication from (is it fair to say?) unexpected quarters, smut and bravado doing the bare minimum to conceal its softness.

12. Mitski, “Bug Like an Angel”

This song doesn’t have a chorus in the sense of a refrain but has a chorus in the Ancient Greek sense, a set of voices that interrupt in unison, sometimes using dramatic irony.

13. Big Thief, “Born for Loving You”

Sometimes we speak out of the sides of our mouths and sometimes we dissemble; Big Thief could never.

14. The Antlers, “I Was Not There”

The word sweep is a good one for songs by the Antlers: conveying breadth and inexorability, it’s cosy and domestic too; to sweep like they do is to upturn, to wreck, but to renovate, to welcome.

15. Lana Del Rey, “The Grants”

Philip Larkin said poetry was a matter of experiencing a vision then “attempt[ing] to express the whole of which the vision is a part.” For Lana there’s no whole or part, just vision.

16. The Pines of Rome, “I Am a Road”

Gnomic, wry, lamenting, ground-down but still kicking, a bit ornery but if you sit down at its feet you’ll learn something.

17. Bonnie “Prince” Billy, “Willow, Pine and Oak”

Stolid and unsappy, this tripartite scheme isn’t quite right, but it certainly is one way of looking at the world.

18. Lande Hekt, “Pottery Class”

This song says it’s about missing someone, but all those sighs, all those “again”s, all those “buts” make you wonder.

19. James Yorkston, Nina Persson and the Second Hand Orchestra, “A Forestful of Rogues”

“If I say so myself, and I damn well do”—when you start a line like that you can follow it up with almost anything.

20. M83, “Amnesia”

Big as stars and glistening like them; who, in 2023, does it better?

21. CMAT, “Vincent Kompany”

CMAT sometimes seems to want to be “relatable” but then snaps out of it and takes joy in being idiosyncratic, or a bit off, or, basically, really fucking odd.

22. Mannequin Pussy, “I Got Heaven”

Let it be known that in 2023 we snarled sometimes.

23. Shit Present, “More to Lose”

Shit Present, in the best of traditions, use monotone as a weapon: here Iona Cairns drags down what could be a soaring chorus in the most politically astute of ways.

24. Fever Ray, “Kandy”

The word could be skeletal: minimal, of course, but also spooky, schlocky, body-horror, prone to decomposition.

25. Girl Ray, “Hold Tight”

“Hold Tight” says it wants simple sedentary situations, “talking shit on the grass,” “get a Coke and sit on the wall,” all while it bounces and hops non-stop.

26. Charlotte Cornfield, “You and Me”

I’ll admit to preferring the more pensive Charlotte Cornfield, but no one’s surprised she can do affirmative too.

27. Shannon Lay, “From the Morning”

I love Shannon Lay’s confidence: there’s something ever-so-slightly irreverent in this Nick Drake cover, just the slightest smirk.

28. Jeff Rosenstock, “HEALMODE”

The sort of song you find under rotting wooden pallets in derelict parts of the city.

29. The Mountain Goats, “Fresh Tattoo”

The Mountain Goats grow old no worse for wear: still telling meandering parables, still making us feel right at home.

30. Samia, “Charm You”

“As You Are,” Samia’s paean to unconditional familial love, was my favourite song of 2021. “Charm You” works up the same giddiness about a new relationship but introduces a smidge of reticence.

31. Alex Lahey, “The Answer Is Always Yes”

A big year for affirmations in pop (see#4, #26, #46), but (1) this one’s so intricate too, and (2) this one knows what it’s up against too.

32. The Hold Steady, “Grand Junction”

Metronomic, “Grand Junction” declines to shift its swing, which is no problem as it keeps on hitting.

33. Arlo Parks, “Dog Rose”

Arlo Parks writes pop songs with an undercurrent, love songs that threaten to get a bit weird.

34. Holly Humberstone and MUNA, “Into Your Room”

A late entrant: one that toys with overstatement, knows it sounds a bit overblown, but wants to say what it has to say anyway and see how it goes.

35. Young Fathers, “Holy Moly”

This sounds like 2006 to me, a sticky floor and cigarette smoke.

36. Heather Woods Broderick, “Seemed a River”

This song’s weirdly verbose, maybe it’s indecisive? Maybe it’s keeping secrets?

37. Pearla, “Flicker”

Circularity like the seasons, like the sunrise-sunset, like fresh starts, like the worms.

38. Sparklehorse, “The Scull of Lucia”

A grandiose sort of lullaby, making short work of squally seas.

39. Joy Oladokun, “Changes”

I go back and forth on this one: it feels tailored for the Obama playlist, but it still charms me; sometimes it seems too smooth for the ugly world it describes, but there are more egregious sins.

40. Quinnie, “Security Question”

A missed connection that spirals from a whim into a crisis: the entire problem of other minds “at some party I wandered to.”

41. Black Country, New Road, “Laughing Song (Live at Bush Hall)”

On Live at Bush Hall BC,NR continued to be our best worriers, biters of nails, pickers of scabs.

42. Blink-182, “More Than You Know”

If there’s nostalgia here, and there may be, it’s for “Easy Target” or “Stockholm Syndrome,” the careful use of melancholy, the harmonies, Travis Barker drumming like a submachine gun.

43. Vagabon, “Lexicon”

Vagabon’s a rare songwriter who’ll admit to speechlessness, dumbstruckness, stagefright. But some things are unsayable, some thoughts do need to be expressed in deeds.

44. Subsonic Eye, “Machine”

Go on then, make it seem effortless!

45. The Milk Carton Kids, “Star Shine”

I suspect this one’s too hard on itself—there are big lies and little lies, gentle ones and harsh ones, after all.

46. Sufjan Stevens, “Shit Talk”

Somewhere in the ’10s Sufjan became a permanent presence: a waystation, a landmark, a totem, and on Javelin you feel he cautiously started embracing that.

47. Indigo De Souza, “Losing”

It’s one thing to say “less is more”, it’s another to model brevity like this, to just fill two minutes and nineteen seconds with five- or six-word lines that describe all the details of one thought.

48. Fred Again.., “Winnie (Rosslyn Crescent)”

I’m still captivated by Fred Again..’s soundscapes, his windows into London kitchen-sink scenes, and how much he leaves unsaid.

49. Sofia Kourtesis, “Moving Houses”

Fractured images, shards of life, but Sofia Kourtesis seems confident things can be put back together.

50. Oneohtrix Point Never, “Nightmare Paint”

Not an album where you can pick out one song, of course, but if I had to it’d be this pew-pew space opera, brightly lit and smoothly running, letting the unknown in through the airlock.