Whitey Grandad

There is a danger in getting too chatty with the players. It’s fine to let them know some of the reasons behind your decisions but when a centre half, for example, comes up to you and says “Watch out for their number 9, he’s pulling my shirt all the time” what do you do the next time there’s a tussle and they’re pulling each other all over the place? I also don’t like it when Premier League referees talk to players on first name terms. This is especially wrong when such referees are handling a mixed Premier League/ lower division game.

At least he didn’t get sent off after three minutes.

But not all of our stars played the full 120 minutes.

Many years ago I sold and installed some giant electronic scoreboards at Strasbourg’s Stade de La Meinau stadium. They don’t get many away fans there but the brave souls who make the journey are caged high in one corner behind twenty foot fencing. They also have a concrete dry moat to stop undesirables from getting on the pitch.

How common is it?

Why give the away team any advantages? Do other clubs do it?

Not a completely awful performance but understandably he wasn’t going to take any unnecessary risks. Playing in an unsettled defensive line up can’t have helped either.

Don’t be ridiculous. The assistant was in consultation with the referee at the time and even held his palm up to signal to Caballero that he should keep quiet and wait. In my opinion the assistant was unsure if the procedure when VAR is involved. After a brief consultation the flag went up and then the referee just waited a few moments for confirmation from VAR. Believe me, the more that players complain to an official the less likely they are to get a marginal decision go their way.

? But she’s the Prime Minister.

It’s been an issue for decades now. Away teams in the second half attack a goal which has there own supporters behind it. That’s a big boost for them and is one of the reasons that we surrender leads. Which other grounds can we think of where the away fans are immediately behind one of the goals?

Another one of my bugbears. BBC nearly missed the second goal because they were too busy showing replays even though the game is going on. Why is another replay of something that we already know about more important than some that that may happen? It’s like reading an exciting book where you keep going back to read the previous page and then skipping the next.

I think it was the Itchen corner that has been suggested.

I have seen mention that the concourse in the Itchen makes it difficult to segregate the fans but I cannot believe that it would take a lot of money.

It was available but not needed. Its presence delayed the offside decision slightly.

I heard that it was the Police who insisted on the location of the away fans.

They are miked up these days anyway. No referee would ever not look at his assistant in such situations. He would never referee another game.

He was looking across to the referee. Then after a moment or two he raised his flag. He seemed unsure as to when he should raise his flag, I don’t think he had any doubt about the offside. There was then an anxious wait until the referee confirmed the decision. That’s iPhone of the problems with VAR.

That won’t have influenced the linesman. In the new world of VAR the offside protocol is a complete mess. It was a clear offside and it seemed to me that there was a short consultation between the referee and his assistant. It may be that the officials don’t normally operate under the VAR environment.

Wednesday at 19:45

It was only a few seconds but it always seems longer when your adrenaline is flowing.

It takes a long while for any promising player to adapt to the Premier League. This is true of lower league players as much as it is for those coming from foreign leagues. That’s why they tend to be brought into clubs like Saints rather than those in the top of our league. These clubs will wait until the talent has been proven and developed before splashing out the cash and paying a premium for doing so. Clubs like ours are the developing grounds for the big boys.

Wednesday 2nd March. Total idiocy.

Thanks for your views. I must say that I was impressed by your team.Whilst we were disjointed your lot were putting together some very slick moves. That succulent goal from Stuart Armstrong was something that you only see once every few seasons so there’s no disgrace in losing because of that.

Rats leaving a sinking shit.

What’s the point of bigger screens anyway? All they show are adverts and propaganda.