sydney_saint

They have one attacking threat which is S-M. I highly doubt he was meant to be that far away from him. When you see JWP play that role for example (as and out of position player) he sticks tight to their main threat (one time he lost Grealish they scored). Stephens was too far up

I know our full backs tend to get forward. But I highly doubt that Ralph's instructions was for our full back to be 20 yards away from their biggest threat.

Is this satire? Because if I was to put together the life of a footballer in satire form- this is it. I particularly like "I spend most of the time playing FIFA"...pause..."sometimes I watch Netflix with my wife"...but most of the time I play FIFA...." pause " "Oh and try to play with my son too...." followed by "Let's go to the other room". Riveting stuff. Fuck me what a waste of money paying these footballers such high amounts if this what they do.

Thats from the FA's website. It actually reads pretty clear cut to me. We should send a copy of that to the FA, with a quick one sentence saying "No more Mike Dean."

Yes. We won the toss once and chose which direction we wanted to play...

Lee Mason I don't think is corrupt. He is woefully inept and one of the worst I have seen in my lifetime for consistently poor performances in the top division. Kevin Friend and Mike Dean on the other hand....It's hard not to believe there is something going on. Even when I take off my red tinted specs it's obvious. If I watch any of the other 14 clubs in the league playing one of the top 6, and I can almost guarantee the smaller club will get absolutely shafted.

Just so everyone is clear. This is a penalty and a red card. Where a defender brushes the attacker And this is not. Where a defender sticks out an arm to stop a goalbound shot. Mike Dean should not be allowed anywhere near our games again. This isn't cherry picking two incidents that happened miles apart. This is in consecutive games!! And in both cases had time to watch replays to make that decision.

No. Close thread

Hope everyone picked up their winnings.

Shocking performance and the players deserve all the criticism. There are two refs I dread when playing the big boys and it is Mike dean and Kevin friend. Proven all over again just what a disgrace Mike dean. That goes for all the smaller clubs when I watch them play a bigger team, he royally shafts them. Dean is a disgrace to football.

Honestly if you think Bertand is the issue then there isn't much hope for you. Look at the work he did in the game against Liverpool for one, and how much we have struggled whenever he is missing, which fortunately is rarely

The whole referring structure needs a complete overhaul. Ditching VAR doesn't solve so many of the problems and in a year we will be begging for it back. And then wanting it removed. At the Premier League level Mike Reilly needs to go immediately. He was an appalling referee himself and has overseen a shocking period of refereeing. How Lee Mason is allowed to referee at the top level year in year out is just mind blowing. Yes, they need to be able to protect themselves a bit otherwise we would have no competent refs left if there was a witch hunt after every mistake. But rewarding buffoons like him sends out the wrong signal. I get the talent pool is tiny and shrinking every year. But come on, give someone else a chance. Some of these refs, particularly Mason, will never, ever be good enough, in the same way Long was never gonna be a 20 goal a year striker. Then there is all the tinkering of rules during the season which to me is a sackable offence to whichever suit (or it might be Reilly again) is coming up with that. That shit needs to be sorted clearly in pre-season and clearly communicated. There have been about 3-4 completely different handball interpretations in half a season. That's appalling. At the grassroots level we need to do so much more to keep young talent. It is never okay to abuse a referee at grassroots and we need to send out a strong signal which again begins with the top. I've seen parents hurling abuse from the touchlines at an under 12s division 4 game! That is not okay. Refs are allowed to make mistakes. You don't yell at a 12 year old kid for missing a one on one, why is it okay to yell at a young ref for missing a foul? All it does is mean those talented refs give it up. And we are left with ego-maniac power trippers, or incompetent refs who are too dumb to even realise they are been abused and making mistakes. It is ridiculous how much protection refs at the top level are given, yet those at the bottom are left to fend for themselves. We need to take a leaf out of rugbys book and stop players crowding the ref. The issues with refereeing as seriously deep rooted, keeping or getting rid of VAR doesn't really solve anything.

Chucking a tonne of money on United to get a penalty in the game. It's free money.

I can handle the offside in isolation. Every team has been fucked over by it multiple times. But what pisses me off is this. He is considered offside by the sleeve of his shirt. A part of the body he can not score from. Yet their defender is allowed to defend with an outstretched arm with a shot on goal. This is absurd. I don't think lee Mason is corrupt though. He is woefully inept. Whether for us or against us, or in a completely different match I don't care. Nuno was absolutely bang on in his assessment of him and it is an embarrassment to the FA that he is still considered worthy of the top division. About 15 years ago I was fortunate enough to be progressing through the Australian ref ranks pretty quickly. Not something I ever took super seriously but had a bit of a knack for it. And as a ref you kinda look for inspirations, just like players do. I remember very distinctly watching Mike Reilly and thinking that is a ref I absolutely do not want to be like. I thought not only was he woefully incompetent, but that he didn't understand football and would be a stickler for the rules rather than manage the game. It's little wonder he has managed a cohort of refereeing to be like this. Mike Dean finding some finicky interpretation not to give it is systematic of how refs are coached now. I have sympathy for the ref community. They lose so many talented refs in the ranks through to abuse. Frankly that was why I quit, and know many others better than me that did too for the same reason. But when you have someone like Lee Mason chosen week after week, and VAR decisions like this, then as an organisation they deserve flak.

I hope Ings puts ideas of a move aside as I think it is impacting his play. When he first joined there was a lot of pressure because of the fee we had committed to and whether he would be worth it. And his form was patchy at the beginning. Once he got going and was playing with no pressure and a smile on his face the goals poured in. Now I think the pressure is back on, because he knows he has to keep scoring to get a move at his age. But that pressure may be impacting him. Put it aside and hopefully we see that smile (and goals) return

Well the one thing I didn't expect when I wrote this was for both of them to start! Not sure about that, Che seems to nail one beautiful pass per game, which is more than can be guaranteed with those two combined. Anyone know whether Diallo has played right back before? It is quite a specialised position so I am a little worried.

The annoying thing with Walcott and Redmond is they play their way out of the side, rather than one of them playing into the side. Walcott has been poor recently so can't complain if he gets dropped. But I have pretty low expectations of Redmond who could easily have some poor games and then we swap them over in a month.

Arsenal are playing well, but it is annoying because with a bit more brains on the pitch we could still be leading. Bednarek got caught out bringing it out and got away with it. Stephens then had no fucking excuse to do the exact same thing. Utterly appalling, as the warning was already there. Walcott's decision making and often technique are just too poor. That pass is going to haunt me for a long time, I would expect a semi pro to get it in the right area. Ings seems to be trying too hard to score now to get his numbers up and just needs to focus on playing well. Some good performers in the side which is keeping us in this. But the laggards need to up their game and most importantly switch on.

Well turns out he is that inept.

One of the best bits of skill I've seen in ages. So hard to hit it like that. Looked deliberate to me, he struck the ball differently to normal. I tell you now if that was Bruno the commentators wouldn't question it

It would be kinda amusing if this happened. All the attempts to go so forensic with offside and all that happens is that goal hanging returns- the one thing that the offside rule was brought in to eliminate.

I could be wrong, but I hope it's simply his age dictating it and that if he was 25/26 and he had joined us in the same circumstances he wouldn't be in such a rush. But he will turn 29 in the next transfer window and he will be all too conscious that his window to perform to his standards at a big club is narrowing.

I need to see another replay, but it looks like two fouls. One with his hand where he tugged him back. And a second with his legs as he cluttered into him

If the ref gives a foul he also has to book Ndidi. The whole game then changes as he needs to be careful not to pick up a second. Instead we are a goal down and Diallo ends up in the book.

Have a watch of this for more detail. He talks about his reasoning particularly around muscle memory. He's clearly an intelligent guy which I think has helped him here and worked out how to maximise his strengths and cover his weaknesses like pace.