saintant

Maybe you're one of the nods on here - you seem to be arguing that consistency of refereeing decisions is a bad thing. If Vardy pats JWP on the back with the same force as DCC used I'll have no issues with that.

Still waiting for DCC to be arrested for GBH.

Yeah, cut out the middle man ie ref going to the monitor because it's a waste of everyone's time.

Very refreshing and as you allude to some of the useless football referees would find it very difficult and also embarrassing trying to explain how they come to their decisions.

Correct.

He had no right to go down unless he physically couldn't stay on his feet. Stop making excuses for cheating.

Have a feeling he might have Lavia on the bench tomorrow.

He hardly lashed out - don't be fooled like the ref was by the fact that their player went down as though he'd been hit by a sledge hammer.It was a frustrated swipe on the back which should have been met with a wry grin by their forward. The ref could have booked the pair of them and got on with the game. One thing it clearly didn't warrant was the award of a penalty kick.

It would have been headline news everywhere if it had been given against one of the elite clubs.

The second penalty ranks as one of the most ridiculous decisions I've seen in 60 years watching football.

Selles seems to be trying to get the team to build from the back and, for sides like us, that's counterintuitive. Good sides full of quality players like Man City can do it but we can't because invariably we'll lose the ball whether through a sloppy pass or a player failing to control the ball. When Poch arrived we instantly looked better by trying to win the ball higher up the pitch through an organised high press. That way we have the ball deep in the opponents half with the chance to create chances. For some reason, and I suspect it's to give us more stamina over 90 minutes, we have gone away from the high press. I think we should get back to this style of play because it's the only time we look remotely like a decent football team playing attractive football with a chance of winning games. The five subs should help with the stamina thing. I've had enough of the slow build up with pointless square and backward passes that gets us nowhere.

Never trust a man who writes the type of bullshit books that Ankersen puts his name to. In general these sort of authors fill the pages with a load of self-indulgent waffle and none of it has the remotest connection to real life. The brains at Brentford is still there and, when Ankersen left, they didn't even bother replacing him. He talks a good game but there is no substance to him.

The first team should watch these young lads and learn how to pass and move.

You make some great points including the one that I've been banging on about for ages - we are too static. Where is the pass and move or the clever positioning between the lines that is the recipe for good flowing football. The coaches must see it's not happening so why is nothing being done. It's basics.

You are missing the point. Show me the directive that says VAR must look at every offside decision no matter how tight. They are there to guard against clear and obvious errors such as someone being half a yard offside, scoring and that being missed by the onfield officials. They are not there to get out a box of slide rules, pencils, crayons and the like to try to prove a player was a fraction of an inch offside when scoring.

Then explain why neither the referee or his assistant gave offside in real time. Also, if it is clear and obvious why the need to draw lines and take so long to make a decision? It's a very marginal decision not given as offside by the onfield officials - no need for VAR to get involved and their own directives state that they shouldn't. VAR was not introduced for these very tight calls and it's high time they were told to stick to what they are there for instead of ruining football.

Any shirt tugging was well outside the area.

Look up the directives for VAR - VAR can only intervene when it's a clear and obvious error.

So why did neither the referee nor his assistant give offside in real time?

Walcott's goal should have been allowed and should not even have been looked at by VAR. The directive is that VAR looks at clear and obvious errors - there was nothing clear or obvious, it looked a goal in normal time and should have been allowed with no need for VAR to check. Even when we saw the stupid drawn lines it still wasn't clear or obvious based on when the ball was kicked. Decisions that close should always go to the attacking side - VAR can look but if they see it's that tight they shouldn't pipe up. It's for CLEAR AND OBVIOUS errors. Stop using it for every goal scored.

Yes he did.

Yes it was clearly the referee.

This is spot on but people on here are saying it was ok. That would never be given against Man City, Man Utd or Liverpool.This is blatant bias by a very sub-standard referee and should be looked at.

You can condone him going down like a sack of spuds but this typifies everything that is wrong with football. Referees clearly see a player fall to the ground as if shot when the reality is they've been barely touched - instead of dealing with the cheat and giving a yellow card they penalise the other side and give a penalty. Imagine that happening in rugby - the player concerned would be laughed at and rightly so. Football needs a good clean up from top to bottom and people condoning these things as though they are part and parcel of the game and ok are part of the problem.

Agree, just thought it was weird.