Whitey Grandad

Playing one up front at home and nobody getting up to support him is never going to lead anywhere.

Because this season I have sat through too many games equally as stultifying boring as yesterday's. I go to St Mary's to be excited and uplifted, not sent to sleep.

That could take more than a year to recover.

I spent most of the game studying the clouds and the seagulls. Much more exciting.

Yep. A bloody great hole in midfield. We never had any control on the game.

The FA Cup games were also dire.

No shots at all first half either on or off target.

Home games have been disproportionately bad, at least from what I have seen.

OUT OUT OUT The thought of another season of this total crap appals me.

My last comment on this incident: Albrighton admitted that he was going to take out De Griezman but got there too late and got outsmarted. There was a contact outside the area but there was further contact inside it and Albrighton even grabs at De Griezman's arm as he cuts inside. It was a deliberate assault, a poorly timed attempt at a professional foul and he got punished for it. De Griezman was fouled, De Griezman was inside the area. If you give that as a free kick outside the area then you also have to consider that it would quite likely have been a red card.

If a woman asks you for a double entendre then give her one.

Hi hand was moving that way before the ball was kicked.

Total billhooks. The Athletico player was vertically over the line when he was fouled.

Always great fun. Not the best footballer but always seemed to play with a smile on his face.

Tu quoque

Europa League?

Thanks for that, I'm out of the country at the moment so much appreciated. Very similar to his goal at the Emirates. Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

Pour encourager les autres. Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

Fraser was hauled backwards by Bertrand, different to Long's case. If it was stonewall then why did one of our best referees have a very clear view of it and decide it wasn't?

There are a number of factors to be considered. Time to react is one of them. If there were always penalties for such examples then players would spend the whole game trying to kick the ball at the defenders' hands.

'Accidental' and yet a penalty?

They all go on residential courses where incidents such as this are examined in an attempt to get a modicum of consistency. Handball is one such case and the interpretation can change from season to season. That incident last night was too close to the kicker and his hand was moving in that direction before the ball was kicked so it was not an unnatural movement. Consider this, if Roger East had been the video ref would he have overruled the on pitch decision and given a penalty?

'Getting hacked down' is very extreme. There's no video evidence that he was actually touched, certainly not enough to bring him down, and not enough for any video ref to give a ruling. This was examined from several views on Sky.

That always worries me. Anybody who tried that at Riverside Park would end up being kneecapped by the flints just under the surface.

As I saw it his hand was moving before the ball was kicked up at it. There may be one or two referees who would have given it but in general I think most would have turned it down. Long's incident was a long way away from me. My neighbour was adamant that the defender's thigh had caught Long's but how he could have seen that I don't know. I'd have liked to have seen a replay of it. Still, the ref didn't give that nor he alleged foul on Zaha. In both cases I felt that that attacker was trying to initiate a foul.