Weekend Football

[genome]

What the hell happened to Aubameyang? Absolutely shocking miss with the last kick of the game

He's been horrific since he signed that £300k a week contract

[NathStPaul]

What the hell happened to Aubameyang? Absolutely shocking miss with the last kick of the game

He's been horrific since he signed that £300k a week contract

Combination of age and a crap team around him I'd guess. They should have got rid in the summer, invested in youth.

[URZZZZ]

What the hell happened to Aubameyang? Absolutely shocking miss with the last kick of the game

He's been horrific since he signed that £300k a week contract

Combination of age and a crap team around him I'd guess. They should have got rid in the summer, invested in youth.

He’s gone downhill ever since Ozil was frozen out/sold. Not surprising given Ozil was a class act

[Royal Rother]

I think Arteta’s time is up.

Or should be anyway.

[Sanguine]

Spurs have 13 confirmed cases of COVID amongst playing and coaching staff. Hard to imagine their games with Rennes and Brighton aren't postponed.

[Royal Rother]

Spurs have 13 confirmed cases of COVID amongst playing and coaching staff. Hard to imagine their games with Rennes and Brighton aren't postponed.

I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) they have to name 25 for the European Squad at the start of the tournament and providing they have 13 fit players they HAVE to play the game.

Well, wotdyknow, 25 minus 13 Covid cases means 12 fit players....

Probably got 3 or 4 genuine cases including some of their best players.

Cynical me.

[Franchise FC]

Spurs have 13 confirmed cases of COVID amongst playing and coaching staff. Hard to imagine their games with Rennes and Brighton aren't postponed.

I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) they have to name 25 for the European Squad at the start of the tournament and providing they have 13 fit players they HAVE to play the game.

Well, wotdyknow, 25 minus 13 Covid cases means 12 fit players....

Probably got 3 or 4 genuine cases including some of their best players.

Cynical me.

ONLY 8 players, apparently

[Sutekh]

Spurs have 13 confirmed cases of COVID amongst playing and coaching staff. Hard to imagine their games with Rennes and Brighton aren't postponed.

I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) they have to name 25 for the European Squad at the start of the tournament and providing they have 13 fit players they HAVE to play the game.

Well, wotdyknow, 25 minus 13 Covid cases means 12 fit players....

Probably got 3 or 4 genuine cases including some of their best players.

Cynical me.

ONLY 8 players, apparently

What’s the betting every one of them is asymptomatic

[Donny Ironside]

According to my sources directly inside the first team staff at arsenal fc , aubameyang has been dropped due to getting a tattoo instead of turning up to training and lying about it.

[Franchise FC]

Surprised no-one’s mentioned the brainless idiot that is Raul Jimenez
Whatever made him think that was a good idea.

As for the City penalty

[URZZZZ]

Regular calls from the “smaller clubs” that certain agendas exist in favour of bigger clubs. Whilst on the grand scheme of things I doubt it’s true (although I do reckon it exists in small quantities) lots of ammunition for them this week

Ronaldo goes over easily - penalty awarded
Rudiger goes over easily - penalty awarded
Salah goes over easily - penalty awarded
Wolves player hitting his chest - penalty awarded
Dawson goes over easily for West Ham (with contact) - no penalty

The inconsistencies within VAR and what constitutes a penalty (I.e is contact enough) remains evident but it does seem certain players (looking at Salah here) seems to benefit more than others. Still, no doubt Klopp will complain about the ref next time they lose

[South Coast Royal]

Regular calls from the “smaller clubs” that certain agendas exist in favour of bigger clubs. Whilst on the grand scheme of things I doubt it’s true (although I do reckon it exists in small quantities) lots of ammunition for them this week

Ronaldo goes over easily - penalty awarded
Rudiger goes over easily - penalty awarded
Salah goes over easily - penalty awarded
Wolves player hitting his chest - penalty awarded
Dawson goes over easily for West Ham (with contact) - no penalty

The inconsistencies within VAR and what constitutes a penalty (I.e is contact enough) remains evident but it does seem certain players (looking at Salah here) seems to benefit more than others. Still, no doubt Klopp will complain about the ref next time they lose

I am probably biased about the Liverpool one as I saw it that Mings had got all confused by Salah and couldn't resist bringing him down.
At the other end I feel that Liverpool were a bit lucky in not being penalised for Alisson's attempt to play the ball.

The one awarded against Wolves was IMHO a travesty and I thought that Alonso was unfortunate to have a penalty given against him..

[BROB0T]

Regular calls from the “smaller clubs” that certain agendas exist in favour of bigger clubs. Whilst on the grand scheme of things I doubt it’s true (although I do reckon it exists in small quantities) lots of ammunition for them this week

Ronaldo goes over easily - penalty awarded was a penalty
Rudiger goes over easily - penalty awarded was a penalty
Salah goes over easily - penalty awarded was a penalty
Wolves player hitting his chest - penalty awarded wasn't a penalty
Dawson goes over easily for West Ham (with contact) - no penalty not really sure where the boundary of Dawson jumping into the defender and being kicked by the defender is

The inconsistencies within VAR and what constitutes a penalty (I.e is contact enough) remains evident but it does seem certain players (looking at Salah here) seems to benefit more than others. Still, no doubt Klopp will complain about the ref next time they lose

[Sanguine]

Regular calls from the “smaller clubs” that certain agendas exist in favour of bigger clubs. Whilst on the grand scheme of things I doubt it’s true (although I do reckon it exists in small quantities) lots of ammunition for them this week

Ronaldo goes over easily - penalty awarded
Rudiger goes over easily - penalty awarded
Salah goes over easily - penalty awarded
Wolves player hitting his chest - penalty awarded
Dawson goes over easily for West Ham (with contact) - no penalty

The inconsistencies within VAR and what constitutes a penalty (I.e is contact enough) remains evident but it does seem certain players (looking at Salah here) seems to benefit more than others. Still, no doubt Klopp will complain about the ref next time they lose

Salah and Rudiger (x2) were obviously fouled, not sure they can be debated really. Ronaldo maybe was soft, but if you put your hand or arm around an attacker you are asking for trouble.

Agree that the Moutinho one was poor. Not sure he could reasonably be expected to have had his arm in a different place.

[URZZZZ]

Regular calls from the “smaller clubs” that certain agendas exist in favour of bigger clubs. Whilst on the grand scheme of things I doubt it’s true (although I do reckon it exists in small quantities) lots of ammunition for them this week

Ronaldo goes over easily - penalty awarded
Rudiger goes over easily - penalty awarded
Salah goes over easily - penalty awarded
Wolves player hitting his chest - penalty awarded
Dawson goes over easily for West Ham (with contact) - no penalty

The inconsistencies within VAR and what constitutes a penalty (I.e is contact enough) remains evident but it does seem certain players (looking at Salah here) seems to benefit more than others. Still, no doubt Klopp will complain about the ref next time they lose

Salah and Rudiger (x2) were obviously fouled, not sure they can be debated really. Ronaldo maybe was soft, but if you put your hand or arm around an attacker you are asking for trouble.

Agree that the Moutinho one was poor. Not sure he could reasonably be expected to have had his arm in a different place.

That’s the point though. At what point is “contact enough”? Any contact in the penalty area is asking for trouble, I agree but there was also contact on Dawson and that wasn’t given

You could tell Moyes didn’t think the contact was enough to gain a penalty but as he said when other teams get soft calls for limited contact, why isn’t it applied consistently?

[URZZZZ]

Regular calls from the “smaller clubs” that certain agendas exist in favour of bigger clubs. Whilst on the grand scheme of things I doubt it’s true (although I do reckon it exists in small quantities) lots of ammunition for them this week

Ronaldo goes over easily - penalty awarded
Rudiger goes over easily - penalty awarded
Salah goes over easily - penalty awarded
Wolves player hitting his chest - penalty awarded
Dawson goes over easily for West Ham (with contact) - no penalty

The inconsistencies within VAR and what constitutes a penalty (I.e is contact enough) remains evident but it does seem certain players (looking at Salah here) seems to benefit more than others. Still, no doubt Klopp will complain about the ref next time they lose

I am probably biased about the Liverpool one as I saw it that Mings had got all confused by Salah and couldn't resist bringing him down.
At the other end I feel that Liverpool were a bit lucky in not being penalised for Alisson's attempt to play the ball.

The one awarded against Wolves was IMHO a travesty and I thought that Alonso was unfortunate to have a penalty given against him..

Thought the one from Alonso was pretty clear cut - will need to re watch that

Also thought the first booking for Jimenez was harsh but doesn’t forgive what he did. Can’t be many more occasions with two yellow cards in such quick succession involving two different incidents

[6ft Kerplunk]

How did James Maddison's not get overturned by VAR? There's prempting contact and trying to ride an incoming challenge and then there's diving early towards the defender to make sure there's minimal contact.

[Sanguine]

Over-arching comment re VAR probably more suited to the VAR thread. Fans, pundits etc should move away from the demand that VAR doesn't 'stop the flow of the game'. I'm getting more and more convinced that half of the problem and inconsistency with its use is that officials are expected to make a decision quickly. An error can be 'clear and obvious' but at the same time need a little time to determine. Was thinking about this watching NFL last night, and NBA is similar. Rugby too. Decisions are pored over for as much time as is required to get them, if not definitively correct, then close to it.

[Sanguine]

Is Eddie Howe going to last the season? Or even, to the end of the January transfer window?

I've always quite liked Newcastle, brilliant atmosphere at St. James Park, Alan Shearer, Gazza, Keegan etc, but there would be something particularly hilarious about our latest super-club starting their first full season in the Championship.

[Donny Ironside]

if only the FA listened to my presentation. the handball thing was one of the specifics that was spoken about