Thought Gomez was classy today too. AJ some great touches, unlucky to be taken off. Good cameo from Alvarez too. When Giacch is available there'll certainly be competition for the wide berths.
I thought O'Shea & Larsson were good once again. in the summer I would rather kept Colback than Larsson but f** me Larsson has played well this season. 1 point away from home isn't bad but Poyet needs to start going for games more.
I don't blame the lad for going pal. he went to the team who he supports, gets around 50k a week & had a decent signing on fee. Sunderland football club f** it up. The way the stupid Geordie's are going on about him, I can't wait to see the ginger pirlo try to control our midfield in too weeks time.
Although he really does need to cut this out of his game as he goes down far too easily nowadays, he was fouled a few times in the game. Been the same for a few weeks now, he's getting nothing from the referees. Maybe he's doing it more because he's not getting anything? Of course, that's the wrong way to go, a player should always try to stay on their feet. Problem then is, if it is a foul then why do the referees not give a foul if the players manages to stay upright?
Its like the 'why do you have to appeal to the ref for a foul/free kick'. The whole thing is a mess really.
It's called giving himself a reputation fella. Frustratingly it's bloody hard to shrug off once established, ask Lee Cattermole.
Exactly. If fouls were given without the need to go to ground, player may not do it as much. Needs retrospective punishment for clear cut dives IMO, something that will be a deterrent. You're not wrong. We've already seen it with Suarez too. Thing is, not one of those on Sterling against you guys was without contact. A couple of them were fouls, a few weren't. The reputation of a player shouldn't matter when a referee makes a judgement but inevitably, it does.
I blame the appalling standard of officiating over the decades, they've made things like diving, faking injury and anchoring attackers at set pieces unpoliceable purely to protect themselves. Not only that, reputations, the way they judge players on previous incidents separate to the game they're officiating is disgraceful. All the while they're punishing perfectly good tackles left right and centre purely based on how hard the tackle was. If they can't tackle hard how can a player protect themselves from injury? Fa and Officials are killing this game dead imo.
If I had my way, any clear cut dive (ie daylight between players) would get a automatic ten game ban. Add five games for each repeat occurrence. Clubs will soon stop their players doing it. Players would be less likely to look for the contact too because of the risk involved. Referees need to blow for a foul even if the player doesn't go to ground. They need to encourage players to carry on. Don't get me started on players that dive inside the box where they could have had a shot had they stayed upright
The thing that annoys me in particular is the assertion that contact=a foul. And 'it would be a foul anywhere else on the pitch'. Keepers are afforded far too much protection. Like I said, a mess.
That one is particularly annoying Why do referees insist on 'having a word' with player at corners and set-pieces but then ignore it anyway? And of course you're right, contact isn't always a foul either.
