Lighthouse

I never understood making a goalkeeper captain. According to the FA only the captain is permitted to speak to the ref anyway, should he feel the need to appeal against or discus an on the pitch issue. Under the current rules, how can a goalkeeper do that for an incident committed 90 yards away? If you insist on having a GK as a captain then the duty of calling for a video replay could quite easily be given to a designated outfield player. That really isn't complicated. Yes, you could abuse the system but; 1. If there is a 5 second rule you aren't going to get very far. That's probably just enough time to win the dubious tackle, control the ball and clear it over the halfway line. It's not like you would be able to stop play for a video replay when the opposition is 10 yards from an open goal. 2. There would obviously have to be some common sense on behalf of the ref. If it's blatantly obvious a captain is just time wasting, i.e. there hasn't been anything resembling a dangers challenge or foul in the box then the video ref should be denied. It is pretty obvious when there is a contentious issue and when someone is just trying to stop play.

Maybe the birth was a few hours earlier than officially reported, in order for Kate to come out looking happier and fresher for the cameras. Is that really a conspiracy? I mean who actually gives a sh*t? The Royals would have known it was a girl months ago and probably have been decided on the name for a while. The idea that it got leaked and ended up on Facebook somewhere, before the birth, isn't all that extraordinary either.

They do serve a few functions 1. To replace the ref if injured, although there is no reason one of the video refs couldn't do this. 2. To calculate stoppage time and hold up the board. If as I proposed we didn't have stoppage time, this wouldn't be required either. 3. Holding up the flag and board for substitutes. Potentially the managers could have a small buzzer to the refs ear piece for substitutions, then when the ball goes out of play they hold up the board themselves. Just an idea. I'm not personally saying we should do the above but there are ways of making the 4th official surplus to requirements. He does just stand there like a lemon for 90% of the match.

You have absolutely no sensible idea why that wouldn't work do you.

It's why I refuse to go to games these days. Just not a world I want to live in.

It's not a logical extension of anything. Two guys to quickly look at the footage (in case one of them misses something on the video) and send a radio message to the referee. If the two of them can't agree, the ref's original decision stands. Nobody is suggesting we review every foul, throw in etc. Just contentious issues on which games are decided. Nobody ever lost a game because a throw in was incorrectly given but the pen. and red card on Saturday was a turning point in the game. I'm not sure I get your last sentence. Did you like that JWP was sent off on Sunday? Was it the correct decision because the referee said so?

1. Er no, I never said that 2. Er, no I never said that 3. Er, no I never said that

Give the captain about 5 seconds to get the ref's attention and call for a video replay. At that point play stops whilst the video footage is reviewed. 30 seconds later it's either a penalty or a goal kick. How is this complicated? If we're doing games by actual in play time, we would have to look at an average in play time for a given sample of games and base it around that. Make each half 35 or 40 minutes of 'live ball time' at a rough guess. We would still have some play acting if players wanted to break up the game but how many times have we seen a player lying on the floor for 2 minutes, only for the ref to add about 20 seconds of injury time at the end. If Man Utd are 1-0 up against Arsenal at OT and there are 3 minutes of injury time; Juan Mata goes down in a heap and needs 2 minutes of physio, is the ref really going to play 5 minutes of injury time with 70,000 people screaming at him?

How is the flow different exactly? I can pause and rewind a game 5 seconds instantly just using sky plus. Why can an a video ref not do exactly the same but with a couple of screens showing different camera angles and say, 'pen/no pen/offside/redcard' etc. Stopping the clock in rugby seems to work well enough and they have 80 minute games with plenty of stoppages. They also don't have players rolling around on the floor, demanding a physio and some magic spray to try and waste time when they are winning. If the clock is stopped that doesn't happen. I find it odd that you are happy enough watching this but feel video replays would disrupt the flow of the game. There is no reason why games have to be 90 minutes. We could have 80 minute games too but without including all the time wasted kicking the ball away or 30 seconds of waving at your team mates before taking a throw in.

There are a couple of ways of doing it: 1. The 'video ref' can review the footage whilst the game continues. If a penalty is awarded, play can be stopped and brought back. 2. The captain of each team gets 2 or 3 video penalty appeals per game. If a captain calls for a video review, play stops. Then either a pen or a goal kick is awarded depending on the outcome. If successful that team keeps their 2/3 appeals, if unsuccessful they only have 1/2 left, like in tennis, in order to prevent frivolous appealing. This isn't a flawless system but would prevent some of the silly decisions we see. A video ref may or may not have given the second penalty yesterday but would almost certain not have given the red. Also incidents like the penalty not given to Aguero at St Mary's would be wiped out. Not to mention some incidents which are an utter farce, like the ref sending the wrong player off for West Brom a few weeks ago.

It seems like every week now sh*te refereeing decisions are being discussed on here and in the wider media. This week alone we have the JWP incident, Burnley sending off and an Aguero penalty claim which many would argue the officials got wrong. How hard would it be to have a quiet isolated room somewhere in the stadium with a couple of TV screens and a radio link to the referee? Two officials who can quickly review the last few seconds of footage from different angles and pass the info on to the ref. I don't buy the argument that it would slow the game down at all. I'd say there is a good minute between the foul being committed and the penalty being taken, plenty of time to review the footage. Every other sport does it and we're stuck in the stone age having to accept these daft officiating errors. Also, why don't we stop the clock when the ball is out of play and do away with injury time, like they do in rugby. It would stop players from time wasting by taking ages to take throw ins, free kicks, goal kicks, slow substitutions etc. No more Fergie time, just play until bang on 90 minutes then end the game when the ball goes out of play.

If you're going to talk about what should have happened, you can't have it one way and not the other. That should have been a penalty, Long should have had one at 0-0. Neither should have been a sending off.

Not to mention he had lost control of the ball and it was already going wide. A penalty and a yellow but not a red to the letter of the law. I'm amazed at the number of people who think a red is automatically 3 matches. Only for violent conduct.

Don't see why we can't get a result here. Leicester have improved but are nothing amazing. I don't get the logic of people who can only see another defeat. We're playing well below our best but that's the whole point of form, it's temporary and will always change sooner or later. Back in December we'd just lost 5 in a row, most recently at Sheff Utd in the cup, before that Burnley in the League. Then we went and comprehensively beat Everton, without Wanyama and Morgan present. It's hard to pick a team when nobody really looks like they want a place. I'd probably go with: Davis Clyne - Fonte - Yoshi - Bertrand Wanyama - Toby Long - Mane - Tadic Pelle Depending on any groan injuries obviously.

Heck of a finish from Ritchie there.

I don't think an alpha male like Turks would tolerate such a strong and domineering wife. I think that's more likely to be Bateman and Lou.

Jeff =

I seem to remember our resident number 9 leaving his shooting boots at home. Good laugh though.

I was the sh*t centre half behind you. The one who turned up and said I'll play anywhere except centre half. 50p head doesn't do me justice. Christ knows how we kept a clean sheet.

On the plus side he will probably play for 3 packs of Marlborough Lights.

I'm pretty sure I played in the forum game with Smirkers at Flemming Park a couple of years ago. A midfield general IIRC, very much in the mould of Jermaine Wright.

What time zone is Liverpool in?

You've met the wife then.

I can't really hate Monday's because I was born on one. Plus is Asian Sluts Night on Babestation, which is pretty much the highlight of my week. We've got to start liking Thursdays now if we're going to be playing Europa League football. Not Wednesday though, Wednesday can f**k off.