Baird of the land

Yeah to me spending 5 minutes reviewing whether there was a toe end or the exact position of a hand damages the game. I can’t really see it getting quicker in those instances. Equally we see other similar incidents that don’t even get to the review stage. If they really wanted to muck about with 5he keeper rule they would have been better suited encorporating the convention of allowing the keeper a certain latitude to move from the line rather than enforcing this unreasonable Strict crackdown to an issue the vast majority were unconcerned with.

If the argentine woman had of been meaner on the 2nd she could have stuttered at the end of her run up and the Scottish keeper would have been sent off for wandering off her line in a confused daze. As it was it was mighty close.

A rule designed by someone who has no understanding of goalkeeping.

Always assumed Bowen was a striker based on his goal record last season. Can’t comment too much but adding someone with an eye for goal in that role might be good. If it does happen you’d assume boufal would move on, leaving us Bowen, djenepo, jwp, Sims competing for 2 starting berths.

Using your speed camera analogy it’s like doing someone for going 31 in a 30 but ignoring people going 40 in a 30 everywhere. If you were same standard to the entire pitch the game would grind to a crawl. Personally I think the tolerance is needed where being hyper strict just ends up with laughable double standards where they end up turning a blind eye to multiple other tranfressions.

Minor positive news that the most fruit loopy of the lot has fall3n at the 2nd hurdle.

Also most crucially was the throw in taken from the exact spot the ball went out of play.

There was encrochment on the 2nd penalty. That's breaking the rule too so why not the same result. Looking forward to official measuring of all player yardages from direct free kicks with a tape measure before they are taken. Then a review post free kick to check no player edged forward a yard or if they jump did their jump take them forward slightly. With retakes if they did.

The new rule seems nuts to me. Treats goalie behaviour with heavyhanded minutae whilst ignoring other petty rule breaking and allowing the striker to do whatever they want in their run up. Hardly like penalties with biased in favour of keepers previously.

Knew when I heard of that rule change it was appalling. Attacker can do all the stutters they like but keeper has to stay stuck to line.

Yeah we’ll have to wait for things to shake out first to get rid of dross.

Loving the Star's line that Arsenal need fullbacks because right back Stephan Lichsteiner has left. So if you lose a right back the natural response is get a left back, that's still a fullback.

I'd say centre back(someone to organise the defence) was the one position someone at top end of 24 bracket or above might be needed Van Dijk would have been about 24 i guess when we signed him. In goal we've got Gunn, who i can't see us wanting to supplant him with an older goalkeeper and in midfield Hojberg is already our captain.

More likely places where we have less possession will mean opposition are far more likely to be given a soft penalty if there are lots more awarded Also I don’t really see it getting rid of hidden bias as it seems you can have too similar incidents one where the ref awards and one where they don’t but you get different outcomes because of blurry ness of clear and obvious in many cases.

Buying players in Jan is pretty much a mistake.

Not a fan. Going to be a penalty field day for the big clubs most likely.

Or the break up of the UK given how toxic he is considered outside of England.

Especially as the candidates are fantasists.

Given he was very ropey at West Ham and then injured, think we dodged a bullet.

Odd signing.

If he'd displayed the slightest hint of something in the games he's played this season you'd be tempted to see if he'd improve in his 2nd season Depressing situation is that likely we have four years of loaning him out to the likes of Fenerbahce to come and just saving on some of his wages

Personally I think the attacking mid is a very big priority especially as it seems Ralph wants Redmond further forward in his preferred formation. I hope hope boufal comes back and knuckles down and shows he’s capable of being part of things but we shouldn’t be relying on that. Armstrong doesn’t strike me as someone who is particularly well suited to how Ralph want to play either.

I know swap deals are rather rare but i wonder if there would be interest in them for Gallagher as a part of any deal, given he did ok on loan there.

With vestergaard feel we are much less susceptible to folding to that sort of player. We still need to replace the organizational/leadership aspect we had with fonte/van dijk.

Yeah we set standards across all sorts of categories. I don't see people saying we should abandon all them because people would have option to work out themselves if they should avoid the potentially dangerous ones.