Hard to care, so much water has traveled under the bridge since. May as well give him benefit of the doubt.
He was a good finisher and very competitive. Also had the one thing a lot of good strikers have, a bit of attitude. Won us a penalty once when the ball was at the other end of the pitch. Keeper cleared the ball and chops was niggling, saying he was to slow to catch him. Keeper caught him and gave him a nudge. Lino saw it and flagged the ref with the ball 50 yards away. Pity his off field antics dulled his edge.
I'm not convinced you have that much time to think in that situation, it's mostly on instinct and reflexes. His Sunderland career was on the rocks at that point but what better way to resurrect it? The idea that players may intentionally not score because they have some attachment to the opposition (enough that they would jeopardize their careers) makes me wonder if Xisco really ****ing loved most other Premiership clubs. I believe him, mostly because I think he's too thick to come up with a reasonable lie. I still remember him signing his professional contracts - he was apparently better than Shearer...
