Greenlizard0 PL & Championship Football Thread ** spoilers ** [26th - 29th Jan 2021]

[BaZ87]

Well that was better than expected. A couple of moments in the first 10-15 mins aside we controlled the game from front to back. In fact had it not been for the injury to Matip (and Fab pre-game) it would have been a close to perfect night. We looked as comfortable at the back as we've been for a long time and we looked really sharp going forward and on another day could have had a couple of goals more than we did.

Re our disallowed goal, it's a bit like the City goal vs Villa - correct by the letter of the law, *******s by the spirit of the law. It's mad that they can look at that incident and see 2 offences by Dier before the ball strikes Firmino's arm and the end result is a free-kick to Spurs :/

And how many times has the most unlikely player in the Spurs side scored a worldie vs us? Hjobjerg will never score another goal like that in his life and it was just our luck at the moment that he scores that vs us.

According to baz origi must train really well

According to Klopp he's more useful than Minamino. His opinion matters more than all ours.

 

[chroniclard]

I had hopes for Origi over the years but they have faded to nothing.

 

[BaZ87]

He's tall, maybe he can play CB. Klopp's supposedly said Matip's injury is quite serious.

 

[Pigeon_Killer]

Didn't he tangle with Kane or Son in the first half? Could be anything from a bruise to a snapped spine.

Edit: Ankle ligaments. That's him done for most of the season then

 

[BaZ87]

Where have you read he's done his ankle ligaments? There's hugely different types of ankle ligament injury too - it could be a simple twist or much more serious.

 

[Pigeon_Killer]

Read it on RAWK but it's being reported by Joyce, Pearce and others on Twitter.

 

[BaZ87]

Read it on RAWK but it's being reported by Joyce, Pearce and others on Twitter.

Our luck! We're the only team that can start by thinking we've got Matip back and end with Matip and Fabinho out

 

[Tombstone]

This cant carry on surely, we have got to try and sign someone, but theres only mere days to go and FSG seem reluctant to spend. We cant just keep holding on hoping that Gomez or VVD will be back sooner than later and rushing either of them back could ultimately be bad for them anyway.

 

[adam cool dude]

What is Jose doing with Spurs. They seemed to have that balance in the beginning of the season but they have slowly regressed further and further back into their own half. If Tony Pulis had Harry Kane and Son at Stoke City he would have been challenging for top four too.

 

[Maundie]

So I've just seen the disallowed goal on BBC breakfast and the mind boggles, Dier has got hold of Bobby with a fistful of his shirt, the ball then hits Dier's forearm and it's knocked onto Bobby's forearm, of course the **** show that is VAR/referee give Spurs a freekick for handball against Bobby and people ask why I'm not interested in football anymore, this has completely ruined football and is turning fans away from the game.

 

[fez]

What is Jose doing with Spurs. They seemed to have that balance in the beginning of the season but they have slowly regressed further and further back into their own half. If Tony Pulis had Harry Kane and Son at Stoke City he would have been challenging for top four too.

I think its just an occupational hazard of his style of football. Its so dour that any team that wants to successfully implement it must completely buy into it and be happy to put results over performances. You have to be happy to put defensive shape over everything else. Spurs have been playing exciting attacking football for years and now they are playing boring football with exactly the same outcome as before, a top 4-6 challenge.

I think this is just what happens slowly under Mourinho these days. Players slowly start to lose the drive and enjoyment in their game and it reflects on the pitch. I might be wrong and Spurs come back but with Kane out I think they will really struggle. Kane not only scored a lot of goals for them but when he wasn't scoring he was setting up Son.

Between the two of them they have 29 out of the teams 63 goals and 21 out of the teams 41 assists. Will be interesting to see how they do without him for a while.

 

[omnomnom]

So I've just seen the disallowed goal on BBC breakfast and the mind boggles, Dier has got hold of Bobby with a fistful of his shirt, the ball then hits Dier's forearm and it's knocked onto Bobby's forearm, of course the **** show that is VAR/referee give Spurs a freekick for handball against Bobby and people ask why I'm not interested in football anymore, this has completely ruined football and is turning fans away from the game.

It shouldnt have even been reviewed. It isnt only reviewed if he scores or assists the goal. Its appalling officiating.

 

[fez]

Its appalling officiating.

Ahh yes but it is consistent.

 

[omnomnom]

Ahh yes but it is consistent.

I dont even think it is at this point. Was it Rice that had a goal ruled out for a unintentional handball last season which prompted the rule change which meant it had to be a goal or assist?

Its bizarre. Some days something is handball, the other it isnt.

 

[fez]

I dont even think it is at this point. Was it Rice that had a goal ruled out for a unintentional handball last season which prompted the rule change which meant it had to be a goal or assist?

Its bizarre. Some days something is handball, the other it isnt.

I meant its consistently inconsistent. They aren't even consistent from moment to moment in a game let alone between matches and referees.

They need to mic up the refs and do what they do in rugby. "This is my decision and this is why I am giving it".

 

[Kenai]

You can see why 'they' didn't want VAR in football - all it's done is shine a massive spotlight on how poorly written / overcomplicated some of the rules have gotten alongside how inconsistently the officials interpret subjective calls and even at times what you'd think should be objective ones too.

Now the 'oooh well maybe he didn't see it very well' excuse has gone, it's plain for everyone to see just how much some of them seem to be winging it and making it up as they go.

 

[BaZ87]

It shouldnt have even been reviewed. It isnt only reviewed if he scores or assists the goal. Its appalling officiating.

This isn't correct - you're confusing the attacking handball rule and the general handball rule. The attacking handball rule only applies if the player scores directly with his arm or the ball strikes an arm directly before the goal - it doesn't matter if it was accidental or not, the goal will be ruled out. The attacking handball rule wasn't what ruled out our goal yesterday though. Firmino was adjudged to have intentionally handled the ball (with intent simply meaning his arm was outside his normal silhouette) and by the letter of the law, he did. The problem is the law is an ass. Firmino was being ragdolled by Dier - his arms won't be in a natural position while he's trying to hold a defender off that's pulling him all over the place.

You can see why 'they' didn't want VAR in football - all it's done is shine a massive spotlight on how poorly written / overcomplicated some of the rules have gotten alongside how inconsistently the officials interpret subjective calls and even at times what you'd think should be objective ones too.

Now the 'oooh well maybe he didn't see it very well' excuse has gone, it's plain for everyone to see just how much some of them seem to be winging it and making it up as they go.

100% this. All VAR is doing is highlighting how poorly thought through a number of rules are. The perfect example was last summers change to the handball rule. So many people were complaining about handballs being given when the ball was striking a players shoulder area that they decided to tweak the handball rule so that the arm starts from the shirtsleeve. Sounds like a great idea, except nobody considered the consequences to the offside rule. Players can now legally play the ball with the top of their arm and with the help of VAR we're seeing offsides given because a players arm is in an offside position :/

 

[FMF]

Only seen the highlights but looked like Lloris and the CB's for Spurs had a poor game.