It also looked like they had no idea how to execute the diamond shape either. There was a moment in the game where 5 of our players were 10 yards from one another playing “keep ball” from Salah who was pressing them on his own. Yes, we managed to keep the ball (and so we bloody well should in a 5 v 1) but it meant there was no outlet for a pass because our players were all stood next to each other. I do wonder whether the lack of energy and how flat we are is because there’s more to this than we realise. Could it be that players stayed for this season because we were supposed to be moving into a new stadium? CL games at new WHL, the start of a new chapter for many of them who have already invested so much time and effort into the club, which now seems like a million miles away. There’s definitely something going on.
Get prepared for more bad news.... Mousers rabidly screaming for action to be taken against Vertonghen for ‘eye-catching’ moment with Firmino. Looked accidental at the time, although still images doing the media rounds today are unfortunately very graphic and maybe raise enough of a question for the PL to bow to the concerted wailing from their Darlings and serve up a retrospective punishment. Might be without Verts for a few games in that scenario.......
They always need a reason for self pity. Given how hard they cried about not getting the decisions last season, starting the season with a soft penalty, an incorrect red to an opposition player, an offside goal and the ref missing a pen for us yesterday is difficult to take so they make up things to moan about. The FA taking retrospective action? Like Firmino after the injury, I can't see anything happening
I thought Firmino made a meal out of it, in F1 it would be called 'a racing incident' no action needed, not even a foul.
Well that was bloody awful, wasn't it? Another game, another new formation and another dodgy performance. Why has Pochettino suddenly decided that our system that's worked well for two seasons or more is obsolete? Rubbish individual performances all round, but I can't help but feel that a lot of it is down to how we've set up. Why did we have Winks and Dembele starting together? Why was Moura largely isolated out on the left? We've picked a bunch of players out of position, nullified all of them and taken far too long to change anything. We could easily have lost this by more than the flattering 2-1 scoreline, but it's still very annoying to see a blatant penalty waved away, as usual. No home penalties in the league in the last two seasons is ridiculous and I can't see it changing. Watching Oliver apologising for getting in the way was very, very annoying. He was **** throughout.
Oliver was quick to remember the backlash from the Liverpool fans over VVD’s kick on Lamela last season and didn’t want to be the one responsible for giving another last minute penalty!
He didn't give the penalty, fair enough. But that should go onto the ref PL decision "balance sheet" this season as a "debit" (incorrect decision) . Those refs who in a season get sufficiently into the red (sic) should not be in charge for then upcoming PL games.
Well then the PL should use their filthy lucre to get more match officials onto the league roster. As with players, if you know your place is not under threat whatever cumulative errors you make up to any point in the season, then you have no incentive to improve your decision making.
Oliver always favours Pool (like the majority of refs), he was also the clown who gave Pool a penalty at Palace for the dive by Mo Daley (sorry, Salah), when the game was evenly poised at 0-0.
