The commentators on the Irish stream I was watching couldn't believe that it wasn't given as a penalty as the Manure player never looked at the ball but ran straight into Shane as he closed in on the cross. The ref had a clear view and was only 5-10 metres away
This is getting more and more common these days. Something that 99% of refs would give as a free kick outside the box just waved away when it is in the box. Ridiculous, in my opinion. I think refs are scared of affecting the game by giving penalties unless it's stone-wall obvious. I'd love one ref to actually have the balls to give them for the same offence that he'd blow for in normal play. As someone said - I'd be happy to have a game with 5 or 6 penalties if it put a stop to it the following weeks!
I can see why a ref would give a free kick more readily than a penalty. You would give a free kick in a non-dangerous position if you were 75% certain, but I can quite see that you would like to feel a lot more confident if it meant a penalty. Just common sense.
I'm with Dave on this. I take your point Fran but rules is rules and should be applied wherever on the pitch they are transgressed. The problem is that in the current batch of PL referees there seem to be very few who have the confidence required to make potentially match-changing decisions. But specifically on the mayhem that goes on in the box for every corner and free-kick, it would only take a directive by UEFA or the FA that shirt-pulling shouldn't be tolerated and it would soon stop.
(Do) We now need a Charlie Austin song, that doesn't simply consist of 'Charlie Austin, doo,doo,doo,doo', (repeat), or include references to hating Pompey, just to fill in the blanks. This isn't mine (thus pretending to be modest, whilst avoiding scorn, at the same time), but how about: To the tune of The Proclaimers song "I would walk 500 miles" I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more To see the man who scores a goal or two, or three, or even more: Charlie Austin (Charlie Austin) Charlie Austin (Charlie Austin) Dum diddle um, dah dah dum diddle um dum dum (OK, this could be described better, but it does scan, and it's fairly simple)
Tell you one thing that's annoyed me amongst all the joy, the amount of journalists/fans saying "why weren't Palace/Newcastle/Everton etc in for Austin" as if it's a given that had they been, he'd have ended up elsewhere. Hey, maybe, just maybe, he wanted to join the team in 8th, not the one in 17th? Perhaps he wanted to join Saints and wouldn't have been interested in "other teams". Grr. Love, Sensitive Saints Fan.
The worst for that was the Fat Scouse B**tard on talkSport, Micky Quinn who said he showed a lack of ambition coming to Saints instead of going to his second love, Newcastle...I nearly crashed the car laughing. Typical attitude from the media...expect it to get worse as we climb the table
Yep, found the new chant yesterday embarrassing. If our fans really want to hack off Portsmouth fans, they should never sing an anti-Pompey song ever again. Vin
I just don't get why every song includes Pompey still. They are so far down the pyramid as to be insignificant. It's ridiculous
Emboldened by this vote of confidence from FLT, here it is again, in full: To the tune of The Proclaimers song "I would walk 500 miles" I would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more To see the man who scores a goal or two, or three, or even more: Charlie Austin (Charlie Austin) Charlie Austin (Charlie Austin) Dum diddle um, dah dah dum diddle um dum dum Now, if FLT could include it as part of his next 'Really, Really, Really, Really, Happy Clappy, Positive Match Thread' it would get to as wide an audience as possible (on this forum, which is all that matters), and the away fans at our match v Arsenal could take it to the next level, by singing it at (almost) every opportunity From such tiny acorns are giant oaks produced. (And I'm still not claiming the credit for it)
Maybe next game we can send the players out with shirts that have weakened seams, then when the shirt gets grabbed it will rip apart. But then again, with the refs we get, instead of being awarded a free kick/penalty, the Saints player offended against would be booked for removing his shirt.
Am I right in thinking that the Rickie Lambert song was written by female supporters who then printed out copies of it and spread them around seats in the Northam end before a game? It's a tale I heard down the pub but not certain it's true. Vin
Sounds plausible, given that it had more than one verse plus a refrain, which generally seems to be beyond the Northam. I noticed vs West Brom that the best we could manage was " la la la la la la la la laa etc, followed by "Rickie Lambert, Southampton's goal machine"
Well shirt tugging is a foul but doesn't always impede a player. And refs are scared of flagging shirt pulling. So a more fitting punishment would be for the shirt puller to have a weighted manakin strapped to his back. Punishment fits the crime. The manakins could also be made to smell really bad to put the offending player off. I think it could work.
