English football 2022-23

[Durhamfootman]

I think they were only one nil down at HT, so the capitulation, when it happened, came really fast

Been a lot of talk about Fernandes in that game. Might just see him out of the door in the summer

[Durhamfootman]

Thank heavens for that

Newcastle stop the rot with a 2-1 win over Wolves, lifting them back over Liverpool into 5th

Totally dominated the first half, with 15 shots, 7 of which were on target but only managed 1 goal from all that domination. Second half Wolves came at Newcastle and turned the match stats completely on their head. Newcastle found themselves pegged back, only mustering 4 shooting chances in the second half and 3 of them came in the last 10 mins or so. Fortunately Almiron found his shooting boots and snatched the winner after a calamitous slip from Trippier gifted a goal for Wolves that even they couldn't miss

[Gingerfinch]

top four back on. Newcastle have had a righ dip and they're still in the driving seat for fourth place. That said, I reckon Spurs will grind it out and nick it.

[Durhamfootman]

Pope needs to sort his blooming feet out, though. He's a very fine keeper, but play a long back pass to him under a bit of pressure and it's asking for trouble. We saw it for England last year and since then opposition players have become very alert to these opportunities. Surely it isn't beyond the wit of the central defenders to not play back to him from 35 yards out with 2 attackers lurking

[Durhamfootman]

oh blimey, Newcastle do like to put us all through it. Dominant performance, a couple of missed sitters, hit the bar twice, fine saves, goal line clearances and a disallowed goal for what sounds like a head scratching VAR off side call. Then to cap it all they give away a dozy goal.... another dodgy back pass from Botman to Pope. On Sunday he put Pope under all sorts of pressure from a back pass with attackers lurking which on another day or against a more favoured team, might have seen Pope red carded again. Tonight he played a back pass short which the attacker pounced on and chipped in for the opener.

Still... Isak bags a couple of goals and Newcastle have back to back wins, cementing 5th place, one point behind Spurs with a game in hand and 5 points clear of Liverpool

They can head into the international break in better spirits after turning around a bit of a slump and we can all breathe a little more easily than we were a week ago

[Durhamfootman]

Results today go in Newcastle's favour as Southampton fight back to draw with Spurs. It means Spurs are only 2 points ahead in the 4th spot race, having played 2 games more. Newcastle's next match is against Man Utd at SJP. Win that and Newcastle could end up back in 3rd place

I've seen the disallowed goal from last night and I have no idea why it was ruled out. I get that Longstaff was offside when the move for the goal began, but between him being in an offside position and the goal being scored, 2 Forest players kicked the ball to try and clear it.... kicked it, not accidentally touched it. If he's still offside after 2 Forest players have kicked the ball, then I just don't have a clue what's offside anymore

[Durhamfootman]

Maybe Salah would have been onside

[Durhamfootman]

Oh crikey.... Fulham, 1-0 up and in control of their FA cup QF, completely implode... concede a penalty and in the process get 2 players sent off at the same time...... plus the manager...... and 5 mins later they're 2-1 down and out of it

catastrophic

what a mess

not sure how long a ban Mitrovic will have to serve for laying hands on the ref

[Durhamfootman]

looks as though Conte is going to get the early easter present he's clearly been working towards. He is expected to be gone by the end of the week

[bigfluffylemon]

Oh crikey.... Fulham, 1-0 up and in control of their FA cup QF, completely implode... concede a penalty and in the process get 2 players sent off at the same time...... plus the manager...... and 5 mins later they're 2-1 down and out of it

catastrophic

what a mess

not sure how long a ban Mitrovic will have to serve for laying hands on the ref

I can't understand how they got so upset about it. It was a handball on the line, clearly visible in the replay and the decision to call in VAR under the circumstances was entirely reasonable. Deliberate handball denying a goalscoring opportunity is a red card offence. There was absolutely no justification to get annoyed about it at all, let alone the disgraceful scenes that followed.

Mitrovic should get the book well and truly thrown at him.

[sussexpob]

There was absolutely no justification to get annoyed about it at all, let alone the disgraceful scenes that followed

This might sound a bit insane (so bare with me), but I completely disagree with that, while also agreeing it was a penalty in this case. The fact is, in the last couple of weeks there have been about 5 incidents that I can remember where penalties were given or not given for ultra bizarre reasons on handballs, and the rule interpretation used to explain those decisions has to be used a precedent to guide players on what the rules are.... and the truth is, it seems all they do is make up a different rule depending on what the referee thinks.

Take the Leipzig v City match in Germany in the first leg. The Leipzig central defender pretty much punches the ball in front of his face, and it looks deliberate. In that case they agreed with the ref that it wasnt a penalty, because his arm with inside the body (ie, if his arm wasnt there, its hitting his chest) and that was fine. Then you get Arsenal have an incident very similar to the Willian one (v Villa IIRC, maybe someone else) where the argument again was its not a penalty because the player is trying to get his hands out of the way into his body. Then in the last week before this, two penalties (City v Leipzig in the return leg, Liverpool v Bournemouth in the PL) were given against a defensive player at a corner who had jumped up , in both cases missed the ball, in both cases were hit on their arm facing the other way as they were coming down from a header, and in both cases flattly impossible to have done anything else. In both cases, the penalty was given because the arm being out while jumping up was deemed to make them "unnaturally bigger".

Essentially, since the rule change, the referees have consistently given penalties against players with their arms out, and consistently not given penalties for players who are, or attempting at the very least, to make their body smaller.

So what is Willian supposed to do? Well, as soon as he sees the shot coming in, he knows he needs to get his arms tucked in. That's the way its been referred, and thats the way that players have basically been instructed to play. Shot comes in, damn well make sure if it hits your arm that arm is not out in space, even if such a position would be natural or impossible to avoid.

So while people suggest "hes moving his hand to the ball"... is he? You see this literally every match, players move their hands down to their waist and tucked in. To me, he's trying to get his knee up and his arm tucked in. I have 100% sympathy for him.... that exact action he has taken is basically what the guardians of the game have told him he needs to do, and yet again, he follows that, and they change the way the rule is referred again.

[sussexpob]

As for the red card, I thought that was harsh in this case too. Their was a focus on removing the double dip punishments for players at the penalty, but with regards to handball, the rules dont make much sense. One part of the rule says a genuine attempt to play the ball (which WIllian is doing, and its arguable whether or not his leg blocks the ball is it doesnt hit his hand) defaults a penalty to a yellow card in all cases but violence (and then lists the exact exceptions considered).... then elsewhere says its a red card. So which is it? There are two conflicting parts to the rule, and once again we are left to referees to make interpretations. Someone next week will be booked for doing exactly the mirror same.

And we all know the problem with interpretations..... they always seem to favour the interpretation best suited to Liverpool, Man United and the rest.

[Gingerfinch]

Shove a ref and you are rightly sent to the changing rooms imo. Mitrovic let his team down by acting like a *modded*.

[sussexpob]

Shove a ref and you are rightly sent to the changing rooms imo. Mitrovic let his team down by acting like a *modded*.

I think the thing that makes me laugh though is, De Gea sprinted 75 yards from his goal and spent the whole of the time the referee was at the VAR screen standing next to him shouting at the fourth official... Why wasnt he carded for that? Is he not attempting to influence play or intimidate the referee?

Dont get me wrong, nothing makes Mitrovic's shove right, but players spend all match trying to influence the ref or screaming at him, a little harmless shove suddenly makes it a 7 match ban, but its ok to scream in his face for 90 minutes?

About time they started having rugby like rules for referees. Dont call me "sir"? Dressing room. Shout at me... dressing room.

[bigfluffylemon]

Shove a ref and you are rightly sent to the changing rooms imo. Mitrovic let his team down by acting like a *modded*.

I think the thing that makes me laugh though is, De Gea sprinted 75 yards from his goal and spent the whole of the time the referee was at the VAR screen standing next to him shouting at the fourth official... Why wasnt he carded for that? Is he not attempting to influence play or intimidate the referee?

Dont get me wrong, nothing makes Mitrovic's shove right, but players spend all match trying to influence the ref or screaming at him, a little harmless shove suddenly makes it a 7 match ban, but its ok to scream in his face for 90 minutes?

About time they started having rugby like rules for referees. Dont call me "sir"? Dressing room. Shout at me... dressing room.

Totally agree on double standards, but that doesn't make it ok. I've commented several times this season already on poor behaviour by managers during and after games. You can see the influence behaviour like this is having on grassroots football. I've seen numerous reports of threats and abuse to referees in amateur league, even kids' games (parents and kids). People watch every week players getting away with abuse of the referee and think it's ok to do the same. Who'd be a referee in an amateur league - totally thankless task and you get nothing but abuse.

Agree football as a whole needs to clamp down hard on lack of respect for match officials. They can't win - start sending off too many players and they get accused of letting the match descend to 'farce'. The FA needs to back them 100% when they discipline a player for abuse.