First one was not a penalty. The second one was close enough to debate as while the defender had no chance to pull his hand away, he did have it out a bit. But in the end, I think the ref got both calls right.
Words like 'clearly' are clearly inappropriate with the current state of the hand-ball situation I'm sorry but no-one really seems to understand how the rules should be applied and the game needs to sort it out by coming up with a definition that refs can have some hope of working to and the rest of us can understand. It won't stop all the controversy but the current situation is mad. Today's decisions seem to rest on ... "Not intentional" - Very few handballs are and yet they are given; how do you decide? It's like a "thought crime" "Would have hit his body anyway" - But if you move your hand to the ball from a free kick to defend your body then its hand-ball "Hand needs to move towards the ball" - Which it did for the 1st one "Needs to stop a goal scoring opportunity" - Which it did for the 2nd one And Schmeichel Snr. says it should be given if it hits someones hands under any circumstances. Defenders need to start considering amputations then Ron's right, Leicester probably deserved to win, but he has every reason to be unhappy. He's such a level headed guy, isn't he sometimes allowed to get passionate about us losing a close game that hurts our chances of getting into Europe? Well done Leicester, go on and win the league now
It can be (and I think sometimes has been in the past) but with Long injured and Austin and Rodriguez lacking fitness Koeman didn't really have any choice who to play up front today.
Some say it wasn,'t, the coverage I am watching in Sri Lanka had Andy Townsend (ex Saints so auto respect) said he thought it was a stone wall and a red. The replays show that his arm does move a little towards the ball. I think on balance one should have been given and can under stand Ron's frustration, particularly when you see some decisions go against us this season
So, Saints save the world...from the frankly appalling prospect of having to watch pudding faced Argie sleazeball Mauricio Pochetosspot passing up Tottenham High Road in an open topped bus.
I can appreciate the number of stonewall penalties we've been denied this season is frustrating. But these two weren't.
Yep. We need a couple more advanced creative players, at least one of whom can play centrally...crossing into a congested penalty area is really, really difficult.
Except it wasn't, it moves out and pushes the ball away. He has time to react and lower the arm, but moves it towards the ball instead. If you watch him run, he has a fairly normal gait and doesn't flail his arms outwards, so this is a response to the ball coming towards him. It's a penalty.
