Whitey Grandad

All’s well that ends well

Any arm above the head is asking for trouble especially if it’s just the one arm.

Moss does look overweight but it is worth remembering that all Premier League referees have to meet strict fitness levels and they are tested on them regularly.

I think there’s more to it than that. Perhaps they didn’t fully understand the system that they were asked to play, or perhaps it was just a crap system?

Today’s a Sunday. There’s no postal service on a Sunday

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This. Initially gave a penalty based on the Assistant’s flag then went over for clarification. Then corrected his decision as is his right, and he was right to do so.

For the Gunarsson claim I thought the defender flicked the ball away with his left foot. I agree with you about VAR and slow motion. It gives a false impression of the incident and makes it appear as if the defender has time to get his arm out of the way. There’s also a ‘repetition bias’ at play here. When you first see the incident in real time you don’t know where the ball is going so it will appear accidental. By the time you’ve seen the replay several times and in slow motion you can convince yourself that the defender has made contact with the ball deliberately.

We are the Renault Game of the Day on Sky Sports now if anyone is interested.

My grandson who always comes with me these days said: “The last time we scored in the first minute we lost 6-1”

I’ve always liked him

He was brought in to keep us up last season, and it worked. I can see why he was given a chance for this one but he was just going through the motions. Was Ralph available at the start of the season?

Only closed for cup games!

The fixtures used to be arranged so that both teams would not be at home on the same day. Many people had season tickets for both.

Last season Swansea were selling their season tickets for this season very early, in February I think. They were alot cheaper than ours, somewhere around the £250 mark if I remember correctly.

I’m pleased for the Watford fans. For our semi-final with them at Villa Park we were sitting just in front of a couple of them who were in the wheelchair area. They were lovely friendly people and I’d like to think they will have a great day out.

Indeed. I too have sat amongst the home fans and there is an etiquette that should be followed. I usually admit to my neighbours that I support their opposition and apologise in advance for any excited comments or gestures that I might make.

The officials are miked up but I don’t think they use them in the normal run of play. I think this was a case of the ref (Paul Tierney) doing what he should which was to allow us advantage because he thought it was a foul on JWP and then at the same time noticing that the Lino had flagged the other way. They always like to say that they work as a team so Tierney would have assumed that there was something that he had missed, maybe an elbow or something. The error here was Cann’s who got over enthusiastic and flagged too soon. Some might say that it was to protect Liverpool. I loved the way that Austin was causing trouble for VVD. Very entertaining.

I have just watched that incident again. JWP runs into their half, then stops and turns round to face our half. VVD comes flying in over the top of him. I thought it should have been a foul to us, and so did the referee because he signalled ‘advantage’ to us but then he noticed that the Lino was flagging for a foul to Liverpool and then awarded a foul to them. Two things spring to mind. Why did the Lino feel the need to indicate an opinion in such a circumstance? There was nothing there that the referee might have missed and once you flag you are almost mandating that the referee change his mind because he will feel bound not to undermine you. Secondly, why was he so quick to flag? He should have waited a couple of seconds to see what developed. Very poor show.

That ‘old fat lino’ is Darren Cann, one of the world’s top assistant referees who has run the line in a World Cup Final and a Champions’ League final. He is 49 years old.

Thanks for the clarification. I would watch the recording but please don’t ask me to go through that again.

The linesman was flagging for a foul to Liverpool. The usual practice is to waggle the flag above your head but to hold it in the hand on the side that you think should get the free kick. That way the referee can decide whether to play advantage. I didn’t see the ref give such a signal though. It was a weird situation. I’m surprised that nobody has mentioned that incident where the ref gave a goal kick but then changed his mind after protests from the Liverpool players.

Did anyone else notice Koop standing near the centre circle about 30 minutes before kickoff? He spent a long time watching our players warming up. Tactical reasons or looking for new talent for the summer?

You could easily spot a lot of them. They were the ones lined up in front of the Kingsland before kickoff taking photos of the Liverpool players warming up. At the end of the game someone was even taking photos of their fans in the opposite corner.

I think that's for contractual reasons. The cost of rebuilding Wembley was so high that the FA needed to guarantee some income to pay for it.