Weekend Football

[From Despair To Where?]

Possibly.

But I do find it surprising that the most successful manager of all time has had an almost unbroken succession of failures in management from his pupils. It seems like the longer a player was with him, the less likely they are to be successful in management.

And pretty much the same applies to his succession of No 2s.

At the very least I find it odd because I would have expected it to be the other way around.

I think it points more to those who have stellar playing careers not necessarily making the best managers.

Having said that, Hughes, Strachan and Bruce have had almost unbroken managerial careers lasting in excess of 20 years.

[NathStPaul]

That was truly awful refeering at the end of the City game, so bad it looked corrupt. It wasn't of course, the referee just had a major brain fart. Hopefully there will be a full and frank apology made by Howard Webb.

[Winston Biscuit]

I don't like where the game is going in that regard at all. It seems to have fairly quickly gone from people pointing out refereeing mistakes, to people being apoplectic with rage over them and demanding apologies, and even getting them. and Haaland's screaming in the refs face over it is just embarrassing from an adult.

[genome]

Refeering mistakes have always been a thing... been a talking point in your radio phone-ins for decades.

I guess the big drama now is that it shouldn't be happening because of VAR. I called it when VAR was introduced. It just replaced a bunch of bad decisions with another bunch of different, but similarly bad decisions

[Winston Biscuit]

Refeering mistakes have always been a thing... been a talking point in your radio phone-ins for decades

fully agree on that, but it feels to me like the culture and vibe around it has shifted a little in the last year or so. Its gone from discussing refereeing mistakes to losing your head outraged and refusing to accept it could happen to me/my club and demanding something MUST be done about it.

I think its quite damaging for the game imo

[Sanguine]

Remains to be seen how the role continues to develop, but two goals from TAA from his new hybrid position, the second having been moved firmly into the midfield, feels like a bit of a coming of age. Brilliant yesterday, his stats on the ball this season put him way ahead of almost everyone.

[genome]

Refeering mistakes have always been a thing... been a talking point in your radio phone-ins for decades

fully agree on that, but it feels to me like the culture and vibe around it has shifted a little in the last year or so. Its gone from discussing refereeing mistakes to losing your head outraged and refusing to accept it could happen to me/my club and demanding something MUST be done about it.

I think its quite damaging for the game imo

I think the only thing that really irritates me is that the default viewpoint of fans when something goes against them seems to be "CORRUPTION!", or that the league is out to get their team.

Couldn't possibly be that the referees are just bad, not trained well enough... no... it's a league-wide conspiracy

[NathStPaul]

I don't like where the game is going in that regard at all. It seems to have fairly quickly gone from people pointing out refereeing mistakes, to people being apoplectic with rage over them and demanding apologies, and even getting them. and Haaland's screaming in the refs face over it is just embarrassing from an adult.

Haaland should have been booked twice and sent off at the end, issue is the ref had screwed up so badly that he painted himself in a corner and didn't want to make it worse by sending off City's star striker.

I agree RE: apologies in general, especially in situations where it is a 50/50 decision. The mistake yesterday has huge implications though and was really basic stuff for a top flight referee, it could cost City the league title. In those situations I think it is important for Howard Webb to come out and explain why the referee did what he did and what he will do to stop it happening again.

[Sutekh]

Refeering mistakes have always been a thing... been a talking point in your radio phone-ins for decades.

I guess the big drama now is that it shouldn't be happening because of VAR. I called it when VAR was introduced. It just replaced a bunch of bad decisions with another bunch of different, but similarly bad decisions

But with VAR there is no excuse, a team of professional experts review an incident at however many speeds and from different angles. If they give a wrong decision then fans, management and players are with in their rights to be apoplectic with rage.

When it's just one bloke in the middle calling it incorrectly in a split second with no benefit of replays or other (neutral) opinions then that's truly part of the game and just one of those things that happens and you get on with it and have a bit of a talking point afterwards.

Of course it helps neither method of reffing when FIFA and IFAB keep piddling about doing everything they can to confuse the interpretations of various laws and changing the game so it's so biased in favour of the attacking side.

[Sutekh]

I don't like where the game is going in that regard at all. It seems to have fairly quickly gone from people pointing out refereeing mistakes, to people being apoplectic with rage over them and demanding apologies, and even getting them. and Haaland's screaming in the refs face over it is just embarrassing from an adult.

Haaland should have been booked twice and sent off at the end, issue is the ref had screwed up so badly that he painted himself in a corner and didn't want to make it worse by sending off City's star striker.

I agree RE: apologies in general, especially in situations where it is a 50/50 decision. The mistake yesterday has huge implications though and was really basic stuff for a top flight referee, it could cost City the league title. In those situations I think it is important for Howard Webb to come out and explain why the referee did what he did and what he will do to stop it happening again.

Can argue that perhaps it's starting to even out after the disgrace that was Spurs v Liverpool which really screwed Liverpool over. Seems there's a reasonable chance that, so far, Spurs have benefitted by 4 points from refereeing **** ups.

[Dirk Gently]

Refeering mistakes have always been a thing... been a talking point in your radio phone-ins for decades.

I guess the big drama now is that it shouldn't be happening because of VAR. I called it when VAR was introduced. It just replaced a bunch of bad decisions with another bunch of different, but similarly bad decisions

Yes, but also the difference is that whereas before VAR a referee would almost never change their decision, VAR has implanted into the minds of players that referees' decisions are only "provisional" and potentially subject to change. Therefore, screaming at them and crowding them is now more justified because referring decisions are no longer fixed and final.

Yes, a lot of the decisions being contested are outside the scope of VAR for one reason or another (e.g. not in the box) but players won't rationalise that in the heat of the moment - just that once the concept is established that decisions are fluid rather than final it's inevitable things like this will happen.

[Dirk Gently]

[Brogue]

[Winston Biscuit]

If someone could put Haaland's face on that (or just on his ticklestick) it would be wonderful

[NathStPaul]

Arsenal get lucky. Could be their title this season, luck is on their side.

[Ascotexgunner]

Arsenal get lucky. Could be their title this season, luck is on their side.

What luck? Clearly the better side.

[Royal Rother]

Good to see Barkley seems to be playing well again.

And Osho - well, he just makes you want to throttle someone.

Is Arteta capable of reversing his decision re the ‘keeper? Ramsdale had his brain fart moments but he’s a better bet than Raya who is becoming a bit of a liability.

[URZZZZ]

Good to see Barkley seems to be playing well again.

And Osho - well, he just makes you want to throttle someone.

Is Arteta capable of reversing his decision re the ‘keeper? Ramsdale had his brain fart moments but he’s a better bet than Raya who is becoming a bit of a liability.

It was an odd decision from Arteta. Two decent keepers, similar ish quality

Little justification for swapping it. Not only puts pressure on Raya (somewhat contributing to his mistakes IMO) but also puts pressure on Ramsdale to perform in his limited opportunities (extremely shaky against Brentford a couple of weeks back). As a GK, pressure really is something you don’t want to have on your mind

[windermereROYAL]

Luton actually surprised me last night, what they lack in skill compared to the top sides they more than make up for by swarming over Arsenal like a rash.
But I think the 2 David Raya errors gave the look that it was a close game, it wasn`t, the gunners were clearly the better side especially in the last 20 minutes when Luton struggled to get out of their own half and were deserved winners.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Of the 3 promoted sides, I think Luton have the best chance. Before the season, I said Burnley but I guess if you're a diet Man City that doesn't work against technically superior teams. Luton by contrast have physicality, workrate and have the wide quality to put consistently good balls into the area. They're also brave enough to have men in the box attacking crosses. I think they will pick up a handful of wins at home. It'll partly be settled off the pitch, as I can see Everton's deduction being reduced to 6.