Elon Musk has finally seen the light and cracked the code for ‘X’. Recently, the business tycoon made Grok AI, the AI assistant chatbot on his platform, free to use for all users. Now, there’s obviously a premium version of it, like for all Gen AI platforms, but football Twitter, now known as ‘X’, has already had a field day with this version.
From various fan fiction, rivalries, and football storylines to just straight-right banter and memes, fans have made use of this feature to its fullest and given life (and imagery) to… let’s just say some of football’s most unexpected yet humorous pictures.
Today, with respect to this new AI storm that has taken over social media, we look at some of the most unanticipated and weirdly comical instances of these images.
Mo Salah vs Jamie Carragher
When you think of Liverpool, it’d be hard not to think about Mo Salah as well. Those two terms go hand-to-hand. Salah has truly cemented himself as one of the greatest players of all time for The Kop, all while winning countless individual and team honours during his time.
Ask any Liverpool fan, and they would probably tell you he’s the best ever to wear that shirt. Thus, the scousers have every right to feel frustrated when the Liverpool Board is yet to make an offer to the Egyptian winger. Salah is already in his final year of contract and has openly mentioned across media interviews that he wishes to stay at the club and sees no other destination apart from Liverpool.
But, even after his own wish to stay, if the Liverpool board don’t make a renewal offer to him, his hands are tied, and this situation has angered a lot of Liverpool fans, as mentioned above.
So, when Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher criticised Salah in a recent Sky Sports episode for being ‘selfish’ and openly disclosing his contract to the media in an important week where the club were playing Real Madrid and Manchester City in a week’s worth of time, Liverpool fans this time didn’t even spare their club legend and were on Salah’s side, stating how could he be selfish when the winger is himself asking to stay at the club, that too with zero increase in his wages from the previous contract.
And when, eventually, Musk made Grok AI free, many fans got creative with their banter and frustration towards Jamie’s comments on Salah. By of course creating images of the pair.
One of the famous iterations of this meme is an image wherein Salah has the Ballon d’Or in his hand at the ceremony, with Jamie Carragher visibly frustrated with the outcome of this in the backdrop. Now that’s one way to turn frustration into jokes.
One fan in reaction to the image said, “It’s so funny how every teams fanbase hate carragher, Liverpool included haha not even a legend at his own club… should have just kept his mouth shut 🤐”
Another said, “I hate AI stuff but this.. this is my fav one so far out of all of them. Would love to see it next year 😂” Let’s just say if that materialises next year, in reality, AI has fully taken over the world and we’re honestly doomed.
Arsenal—The New Stoke in town?
Nico Jover and Arteta have made Arsenal the best set-piece team in Europe this season. With many of their crucial goals this season coming as a byproduct of corners and free kicks, Jover has become a favourite amongst the Arsenal faithful, with him getting his own photo/mural/banner on the walls of the club stadium and facilities recently as well.
While this tactic has been immensely loved by Arsenal fans, rival fans have been rigour-sly bantering them by calling them the new ‘Stoke’ and Arteta the new ‘Tony Pulis’.
For those who aren’t aware, Stoke were or have always been known for their long balls and set pieces—a style robust in nature but dire and hard to watch for an average fan.
Rival fans have given life to this storyline by creating images where Arsenal players like Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, and William Saliba are all wearing the Stoke home kit. There are also other iterations where Arteta can be seen taking tactics or copying tactical notes from Tony Pulis (ex-Stoke manager) with regards to his set-piece and long-ball tactics.
This was one of the famous Grok AI creations across Football Twitter and was humorously liked by… well, only rival fans.
Eden Hazard x Burger King
If we were to ask, who was the closest that ever came to dribbling in terms of Messi? A lot of fans will suggest many names like Neymar Jr. or, moreover in today’s time, players like Lamine Yamal, but only real Chelsea fans know—Eden Hazard was the closest.
The Belgian winger in his prime was amongst the world’s best at Stamford Bridge, lighting up the Premier League with his mesmerising dribbling and unique skillset on the ball. However, little did it work out for him after he secured his dream move to the Los Blancos. Regular injuries and concerns surrounding his weight and him not being in shape for training or even game matches eventually turned his dream essentially into a nightmare. On the pitch, Hazard looked way off the intensity in the games he played during his time at Real, with little to no impact on games, a shocking contrast from his time in England. He literally used to make Chelsea win games. He was their most influential player.
Eventually, Hazard did retire from football due to his unfortunate injuries and ended probably the tenure for one of the worst high-profile transfers in football history. At the time when Madrid bought him from Chelsea, the move was made for around 150 million pounds in total, and let’s just say the money was definitely not spent.
Rival fans on the other hand had always been kinda waiting for this moment, as the Belgian speedster had always traumatised them for years scoring and assisting countless goals against them.
Thus, in this next version of weirdly funny Grok AI images, rival fans took to the internet and created pictures that shared this Hazard and overweight narrative. One such iteration is Hazard with a dozen burgers sitting at a sofa, presumably at his home, and watching Salah’s goals on the TV. It won’t be rocket science to guess that this particular one might be made by a Scouser.
Other Famous Iterations
Amongst others continuing this trend, we have English managers Neil Warnock and Mick McCarthy (both meme-worthy managers!) part of the new Avengers squad. At least in the Grok AI universe. For all the Marvel enthusiasts, maybe it’s finally time to pitch this English senior coaching duo for the upcoming Avengers movie to the Russo brothers.
Other versions include Timo Werner doing his usual shifts at your local supermarket or McDonald’s amidst his poor performance for Spurs in the Europa League, wherein his manager Ange Postecoglou absolutely hammered him by slating his performance as unacceptable at this senior level, especially when he was the senior most player out on the pitch with a bunch of Tottenham kids with much less experience.
Spurs fans have also further created versions of their club captain, Heung Min Son, wherein he’s also seen signing with Saudi Club, Al-Nassr, amidst his declining age and recent dip in form (as that’s the norm nowadays—for older players to play and eventually retire properly in Saudi Arabia for the money)
In terms of players signing for new clubs, ever imagined Messi signing for the might Leeds and playing in the Championship? Well, we’ve got that in stock as well. Honestly, these images are truly a gift that keeps coming.
Someone even imagined Sean Dyche winning the Champions League trophy.
Well, there you have it, folks! Some of the Internet’s best creations have some storylines that will definitely make you chuckle at least a tiny bit. We don’t know how much of these are actually legal, especially when they’re using real-life faces of people, but one thing we’re sure of is that Grok AI images will keep on coming, and we’re here for it!
