Match Day Thread Fulham v Southampton 26/12/2020 3pm Sky sports

[st_brendy]

Fulham's biggest threat yesterday was clearly Lookman. So I don't think it should be a surprise that KWP's defensive game was more prominent than his offensive game yesterday.

Although yes, Theo (and Armstrong) having a poor game - and no Vestergaard to ping balls cross-field - wouldn't have helped either.

 

[fran-MLs little camera]

Got a point. Next!

 

[fatletiss]

I thought that Jan and Jack were pretty solid and both made some excellent blocks and it is only the suicidal high line at the start of the season that made them look bad and possibly Big Vester would've looked bad too then.

I think Vestergaard’s blistering pace would have coped with the high line.





* well why not? 12 months ago Jan couldn’t out jump or trap a bag of cement, nor pass wind let alone a 40 yard cross field pass... it’s Christmas and miracle time after all... .

 

[garysfc]

Still can’t believe we didn’t get the handball. Totally understand ref not giving but as soon as Var got involved & we saw couple of angles, thought it was a stonewall.
Missed opportunity but with 3x first team missing, was always going to be difficult. Thought Diallo did ok for first full game. Jack didn’t let us down. Unlucky with the spin & couple close offsides. Tricky game coming up, which could be be a big pointer for rest of season.

 

[davecg69]

Still can’t believe we didn’t get the handball. Totally understand ref not giving but as soon as Var got involved & we saw couple of angles, thought it was a stonewall.
Missed opportunity but with 3x first team missing, was always going to be difficult. Thought Diallo did ok for first full game. Jack didn’t let us down. Unlucky with the spin & couple close offsides. Tricky game coming up, which could be be a big pointer for rest of season.

Yep - seriously pissed off with that. Defender leaned into it to ensure the ball didn’t go across the box. Stonewall I’d have said. The one against Jan would have been more contentious as he moved his arm towards his body and the ball hit it. I always thought it was “hand/arm to ball”, but obviously I’m wrong. Imagine if it had been a “big club” appealing it, Jon Moss would have given it ....

 

[SaintinNZ]

For te first time, I though KWP had a quiet game, which i thought affected Theo.

KWP wasnt wuite in it, and his usual self, with the exception of a couple of runs in the second half, ine of eich should have resulted in a free kick.

I wondered if it were tiredness, but I felt we were rarely a threat down the right sue, until late on with Theo's disallowed goal.

Anyone else feel he wasn't at his usual best?

He was actually my man of the match! His defensive work was fantastic as always, some vital interceptions and tackles went in. Going forward he did the shift but I think the forwards movement and positioning meant there wasn’t much on.

 

[SaintinNZ]

Still can’t believe we didn’t get the handball. Totally understand ref not giving but as soon as Var got involved & we saw couple of angles, thought it was a stonewall.
Missed opportunity but with 3x first team missing, was always going to be difficult. Thought Diallo did ok for first full game. Jack didn’t let us down. Unlucky with the spin & couple close offsides. Tricky game coming up, which could be be a big pointer for rest of season.

I’m so pissed off with VARs inconsistency. At the start of the season they are both penalties but in the last 3 weeks nothing is a penalty. We’ve seen players damn near catch the ball and handballs not given. The Fulham one yesterday was a clear use of the arm to block a cross. It’s not the number of calls they were giving earlier in the season it was the clearly accidental and unavoidable calls they were giving. They may as well get rid of VAR if it isn’t going to make decisions.

 

[SaintinNZ]

Interesting. Could VAR be having an effect?

I’d say not so much so far ...but., big club bias is a combination of fans affecting players and refs giving dodgy decisions in front of the Koop/Stretford end so COVID took away the former, video review has very likely taken away quite a lot of the latter.

 

[ChilcoSaint]

I’d say not so much so far ...but., big club bias is a combination of fans affecting players and refs giving dodgy decisions in front of the Koop/Stretford end so COVID took away the former, video review has very likely taken away quite a lot of the latter.

The big club effect takes place afterwards nowadays, as the likes of Klopp, Mourinho and so on openly criticising refereeing decisions which affect their clubs adversely. Over time this has an effect on the way both on-pitch refs and VAR’s deal with big decisions in matches affecting big 6 clubs. You could have bet your mortgage on the Fulham handball being given as a pen if Man U or Liverpool, say, had been the attacking team.

 

[st_brendy]

I’m so pissed off with VARs inconsistency. At the start of the season they are both penalties but in the last 3 weeks nothing is a penalty. We’ve seen players damn near catch the ball and handballs not given. The Fulham one yesterday was a clear use of the arm to block a cross. It’s not the number of calls they were giving earlier in the season it was the clearly accidental and unavoidable calls they were giving. They may as well get rid of VAR if it isn’t going to make decisions.

But that's because they agreed to change what they would penalise. The negative feedback, particularly from the clubs, received during those first few weeks was so strong, they felt that they had to act.

So of course some handballs which were penalised at the start, are not being penalised now. It's illogical to compare decisions now to decisions then - the framework is different.

That said, I did say at the time that introducing such a change would result in some debateable/incorrect decisions arising. People (many, many people) might have hated the original handball interpretation, but at least everyone knew where they stood - ie if it hits your hand, it's a penalty. By moving away from that, the position immediately ceases to be black and white. People can't have it both ways.

 

[SaintinNZ]

But that's because they agreed to change what they would penalise. The negative feedback, particularly from the clubs, received during those first few weeks was so strong, they felt that they had to act.

So of course some handballs which were penalised at the start, are not being penalised now. It's illogical to compare decisions now to decisions then - the framework is different.

That said, I did say at the time that introducing such a change would result in some debateable/incorrect decisions arising. People (many, many people) might have hated the original handball interpretation, but at least everyone knew where they stood - ie if it hits your hand, it's a penalty. By moving away from that, the position immediately ceases to be black and white. People can't have it both ways.

Yes, thats pretty much what I was saying but in the last two weeks I've seen players control the ball in the box with their arm and score, we've seen a defender yesterday lean into a cross and block it with their arm. we've seen the bicep called the shoulder on multiple occasions. Those are clear handballs that are now not being called in-spite of clear video evidence. Its gone from being uneccesarily used to not being used at all. If anything its enhancing the case for getting rid of it.

 

[Itchen Masack]

KWP has been amazing for us all season, and in this match every time he went forward he was given nothing to work with.

Theo and Armstrong were non-entities for most of the match, and JWP looked to be holding back a lot more than usual. Absence of Romeu, being tired, Fulham playing well, I don't know, but it didn't gel together and is something the team needs to look at.

 

[OddRiverOakWizards]

We missed Romeu to play through the lines.