What does common sense have to do with it? He's offside and he makes contact with the ball. There's nothing harsh about it or any leeway with the decision and it's not about intention. It's offside. His arms are up in the air and away from his sides. It's clearly an unnatural position. If a defender had his arms up like that and blocked a shot, then it would be a penalty.
The other obvious point is that Oxlade-Chamberlain said that he kicked it in his post-match interview.
PNP. We can argue about this all day long, but honestly, I think the goal was fine and it would have been harsh to rule it out. I'm not sure how you can state this so assertively when there are players who have been culpable of this numerous times, right in front of the referee, yet no penalty has been given. Your hands being away from your side when you're defending doesn't necessarily mean your hands are in an unnatural position. It's not as clear cut as this.
You can debate the handball if you want, but I have no idea what your point is supposed to be about him being offside. He's in an offside position, the ball's played forward and he makes contact with it. That's it. It's offside. He doesn't have to intend to touch the ball. He's clearly interfering with play, as he bloody scored.
We had the luck when it mattered though didn't we? I'm not complaining. If Arsenal needed an injury time handball to win at Burnley they might have problems away at better teams. As to an offside or handball there are replays to show if the ball crossed the line or not so why not for this sort of incident?
It's worse than that. Of our next 10 games in all competition, then 8 are away. Should we win at Anfield in the League Cup and then be drawn away, then 9 of our next 11 games will be away.
A good "6 yard box" cross put the defender was under pressure to clear cleanly. He didn't. It happens quite often (Spurs conceded some less pressured than that last season did they not) .
No problem. IMHO the boys play well away, and the away support is less of a burden on the players when things are not going to plan than WHL can be.
City's next match is at home to Everton. It's a difficult one to predict isn't it? Is today the start of a slump for City because 6 straight wins put pressure on them to maintain that form whereas we've dropped points so the pressure isn't as great. Also with that run have they played their best football at the beginning of the season when it's much better to play your best football at the end? Everybody said that Spurs hadn't really found their stride and so now it seems that they have and it's better to find it 7 matches in than to find it and then lose it after 6 matches which may very well be what will now happen to City. We could be top next week.
Citeh will be there or thereabouts. Pep will see to that. Phil McNulty summed Spurs up perfectly last week : steady but not spectacular. We know there is far more to come from this squad just based on last season. Which should have the alarm bells ringing for every team having to play this alleged great football already, just to stay with Spurs on pts/GD.
What I saw today in City was NOT title winners. Come the January transfer window we don't need anyone, not sure about the others.
We've seen how Mourinho isn't a man to lead in a crisis as we saw at Chelsea and he's already making excuses at Utd. I'm also wondering the same about Pep. For me he hasn't been truly tested in a crisis i.e. City start to drop too many points and he starts to panic. Let's just wait and see.
For title winners, IMHO the format is easy results against 7-20, and then it comes down to how they deal with those that will finish in the top 6.
