Greenlizard0 Weekend Football Thread ** spoilers ** [8th - 13th December 2017]

Status
Not open for further replies.
It's a dive, nothing more or less. He steps away from the line of the ball, he's no where near close enough to the ball to be claiming he's shielding it, you need to be directly able to control the ball, ie within leg reach AT ALL TIMES not just when you start moving away from the ball. A defender can see the ball out and physically hold off a player by putting himself between the ball and an opposition player only if he's able to control the ball, directly next to it. He can't from 5 yards away step across another player to 'shield' the ball, that is obstruction and nothing else.

Lewin stepped away from the ball, in doing so the ball was going out and he lost control, he was no longer able to catch and retrieve it and it would be a goal kick not a corner. The only reason to step away from it is to throw himself down and buy a penalty, which is exactly what he tried and managed to do. Hands mean nothing, the ref can and should see that Lewin has stepped across Lovren and that it's both obstruction directly and a dive worthy of booking.


On another note the best stat this weekend is City how have enough points already to finish 8th last season, Utd have one point more than required to not be relegated while no one else is safe by last season's table, that is how damn good City have been. 11 point lead and would have finished 8th last season after only 16 games played is nothing short of incredible. They are averaging 2.875 points per game and are currently on course for a 109point finish :o :o :o

Previously all I've claimed about Guardiola is that he's done great things but at teams with existing squads that were phenomenal and it wasn't proven he could build a team. That he could coach and improve players wasn't questionable imo. How quickly and completely he's changed City's style and consistency is amazing. I do think that the squad is amazing, that KDB is nothing short of brilliant and Sterling is just becoming more consistent, he showed a lot of this ability in that first season with Suarez and Sturridge in form. the turn around in defensive and midfield players is massive. I don't think they'll actually finish with 109 points, but I think they are very capable of smashing pretty much most of the records possible this year.

I do think it helps that for me, Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal are being mismanaged and have incredibly poor squads for the amounts they've spent and do spend on wages and I think Spurs and Liverpool are doing well but are on a completely different level financially.

Guardiola for me is the first manager in this league since Wenger pre 05 and Fergie in terms of just being at the top of their game and getting value for the money being spent.
 
BaZ87 said:
Since when have you been allowed to step into a player? Lewin doesn't have the ball at his feet and dribble in front of Lovren, he ignores the ball steps in the complete opposite direction of where the ball is travelling.

And Halsey done well not to answer the question - if he thought it was a foul why didn't he say so rather than come out with comments like 'giving the ref a decision to make'?
Click to expand...

I said step across, not into, there's a difference. Stepping across to shield the ball from an opposing player has always been allowed. Calvert-Lewin doesn't reverse back into Lovren, he steps across Lovren's path to shield the ball, there's nothing wrong with doing that. It's then up to Lovren not to run into the back of him. I'm sorry but I think your Liverpool supporter bias is showing through. The Sky Sports pundits thought it was a pen, Halsey thinks it was a pen, the MOTD2 pundits thought it was a pen, and so does Dermot Gallagher in his ref watch article:

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11166350/ref-watch-derby-day-calls-correct

That's a pretty major consensus of ex-players and referees.
 
nicktay2605 said:
he steps across Lovren's path
Click to expand...

So Lewin created the contact. I can accept a player shielding the ball if they're actually in possession of the ball but he's stepped in the complete opposite direction of the ball though. I couldn't careless whether a dinosaur on motd or the whole world disagrees, you're never convincing me that Lewin hasn't dived there. Lovren doesn't create the contact, Lewin does and he's done so to con the ref.

And please give the bias bs a rest. You're a Utd supporter, you're just being bias:rolleyes:
 
Haha wow just agreed with pretty much all of a DM post, good to see Fraudiola getting respect

Only thing I would say is whilst Arsenal are being mismanaged they aren't really on the same level financially as the other 3 are they?
 
I can see Mourinho having a full blown meltdown with all the praise Guardiola is getting (and deservedly so).

Our only hope is the January window, we need something positive and some fast, creative players who are dangerous. Players more along the lines of Coutinho than Mata. Our strongest 11 is all about power rather than anything else, you need a bit of both.

If Ozil was to give 100% every single game then I wouldn't mind him, but there's a large degree of risk.
 
you need runners & dribblers I think, people that can go past a few people, like Hazard or something. Mata has got the ability to start the moves, Ozil is a similar player really.
 
Trusty said:
you need runners & dribblers I think, people that can go past a few people, like Hazard or something. Mata has got the ability to start the moves, Ozil is a similar player really.
Click to expand...

Yes, being able to run with the ball and do things at speed is so crucial. Rashford and Martial are not creative players in that sense, nor is Lingard.

A player who can fill in for Pogba and play with him would be good too, like a Goretzka, but he'll probably go to Bayern.
 
Sanchez is the one that stands out, he's got baggage but Mourinho might be able to handle him. Surprised it hasn't been mentioned in the transfer gossip that much.
 
Robbo said:
Not like a Coutinho... Martial is a striker/winger, he's not going to carve teams open with his passing is he. Rashford is actually better at it but it's not one of his strengths either.
Click to expand...

He's perfectly capable of doing that role, just need to look at some of his assists to see that, he'd have more if Lukaku could hit a barn door :p
 
I think Martial has the potential to be class. He's only 22 so he's got loads of time to develop and imo there's nobody else at United quite like him, he's got great feet and a nice turn of pace, but yeah he's definitely a winger/striker rather than the creative central midfielder Robbo is talking about. We need a third top class midfielder to play alongside Matic and Pogba. It was painfully obvious against City that they are superior to us in midfield. Imo we have just as good CBs as them and have some quality up front (when Lukaku is on form), but they are clearly better than us in midfield with De Bruyne and Silva. You look at all the other top teams and they all have either a dynamic number ten, such as Coutinho at Liverpool, or they have a centre mid with great vision, such as Eriksen at Spurs. We need that type of player.
 
Both those teams are below manu, you need a manager who has a clue what he is doing in these games. Mourinho hasn't seemed to have a clue in these games since Inter.
 
Last edited:
nicktay2605 said:
It was painfully obvious against City that they are superior to us in midfield.....We need that type of player.
Click to expand...
It doesn't matter who you sign, you're never going to play like City while Mourinho is manager. He's always built his sides on a strong defence and then pace, power & physicality in attack. You could have put Coutinho in your midfield (along with Pogba) and City would have still dominated possession - every player Guardiola picks has to be comfortable on the ball, able and willing to play the ball in tight areas. Guardiola sacrifices the pace, power and physicality Utd have for players that are capable of dominating possession and Mourinho the opposite, he'll take a Fellaini or Matic over a 5'5 technical midfielder every day of the week. This is the reason whenever people do these combined 11's they're all a crock of ****. No matter how good people think Pogba is, he's never getting in Pep's midfield and equally Silva isn't getting in Mourinho's midfield*.

I've said it 100 times before, Utd never wanted Mourinho as their manager. We know they tried to get Pep and Klopp but missed out and even settled on Moyes over him - his antics and style of football is why. They've only gone for him because of the disastrous jobs Moyes and LvG done - he was the safest bet to establish them back in the CL and protect the value of the club. Every time Mourinho gets a new job we're told he's changed but every time he's the exact same Mourinho as before.

*He might stick him out on the wing if he didn't have anybody else but he's never playing him in an orthodox central midfield anyway.
 
Unprecedented collapse of 11 points with over half the season to go :D? Is he forgetting the 8 points collapse from 6 games a few years ago lol
 
Catching them isn't out of the question, they could easily drop 11 points, but I don't think the rest of the teams are good enough, short of a miracle in the January window (rarely happens).

If Liverpool actually spent on a couple of decent centre backs, I could see them doing well.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom