The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Wednesday, December 26

Hello, all!

I forgot to share that Kevin Wimmer put this on his Instagram Story the other day, and I must make up for that.

I hope he doesn’t either, Kevin.

Ramble of the Day

I was watching The Secret Life of Pets last night, and the opening scene had a shot of Central Park from a certain angle, and it reminded my older sister of the time Alexis Sánchez was in New York a couple of years ago. It was right after Chile won the Copa América Centenario, and the final was hosted in New Jersey, so it’s likely that he stuck around a little while after. He posted this picture to let his whereabouts be known:

I remember some people familiar with Sánchez and New York tweeting about the fact that he was in the city, but then we all realized something: that is definitely not a picture he took himself. He almost certainly wasn’t looking at Central Park from that vantage point, and at the start of summer, there is no way the trees looked like that. We were all rather amused by it, and I think there was a joke theory that his dogs, Atom and Humber, must’ve posted it for him.

Now that I think about it, though, maybe Sánchez wasn’t trying to act like he posted that picture. Maybe he just saw it on the internet and liked it so much that he had to share. Then again, he didn’t give credit or actually indicate that he just liked the picture so much that he had to post it. Would he, though? There are plenty of people that aren’t in the habit of sharing image credits like that, but this whole description isn’t exactly normal Instagram behavior.

That said, is taking a random picture off the internet and maybe pretending you took it normal Instagram behavior? My younger sister was telling me about an article by Taylor Lorenz at The Atlantic about how influencers are faking it ‘til they make it, so to speak, so maybe it is. (Call it a bonus long read if you’d like; it’s an interesting piece.) I doubt Sánchez was trying to be an influencer, though he might be somewhat successful if he wanted to be, but it seemingly is a thing people do on Instagram.

I suppose this could open up conversations about Instagram/internet culture, or about whether or not Sánchez and others are informal or part-time influencers with the deals they have with companies, but I’ll leave it there.

tl;dr: Let’s talk about an ... Alexis Sánchez Instagram post from two-and-a-half years ago.

Links of the Day

Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson believes Liverpool will eventually drop points before season’s end, and that Manchester City does not need to worry about the four-point gap at the top of the table.

Bacary Sagna has re-signed for the Montréal Impact after joining in August. His new deal will run for a year.

Today’s longer read: Matt Davis on the DNA of Swedish footballer Nils-Eric Johansson, which was offered in crystallized form for supporters to buy this Christmas following his retirement for the BBC