Have a look around this link, it shows the discipline statistics for the Championship for various seasons, http://www.football-league.co.uk/page/ClubDiscipline/0,,10794~20127,00.html . Are we getting more cards recently? I tihnk we are, we are already on 18 yellows and 2 reds. Last SEASON we had 67 yellows and 3 reds. Why is this? OK we have a big squad, a few cards might not hit us too hard int hat way but it can change games and basically the less we get the better. Thoughts...
we had loads of yellows at Charlton and against Middlesbrough. From what i can tell, the refs are card happy...i don't see us deserving a fair few of them but that could be yellow tinted glasses talking..(though i don't think it is!)
One red card was pretty harsh and the other for minor offences. Its not like we're hacking people down with 2 footed tackles.
After the way that players reportedly got away with fouls and diving in the Prem at the weekend, I wonder if there is a plan a foot to clamp down on players in the FL.
Another factor could be a lot of our players having to adjust to the unfamiliarity of the English game.
This could well be a contributing factor. I predict that we will be ok for bookings this weekend though.
Its all down to the wrong kind of studs you know. Our recent imports aren't used to the slippy surfaces and their studs just don't grip so they end up falling over more often and sliding more often. Or maybe its a poor grasp of the Engleeesh language so more dissent by mistake, or could it be racism by referees not liking these foreign upstarts and applying a secret FA ruling to victimise the naughty Watford for finding a way of making their loan policy look ridiculous. None of the above its just the MIB don't like us......
And after today's game. This needs to be sort out ASAP, as soon as we get a bad rep, and we are well on our way to it now, then we'll be even more chingado. FFS...have a look at the top link when our new round or cards has set in and it is not even Christmas yet. Not happy about this.
Its unfortunate but if Pudli has lashed out and the Chelsea guy kicked a ball away then they will be punished. We will have to see them ourselves ofcourse.
Let's hope it's a passing phase. It certainly needs some management intervention to avoid the really unnecessary ones.
In his after match comments GFZ did not think that there is a problem with discipline, but then he didn't see the penalty or what happened for a straight red. Think he was being diplomatic. As he doesn't see things on the pitch, maybe an orange box to stand on might help.
He did do a good impression of Wenger but did also suggest he or rather the rest of the players felt a bit let down by the 2 red cards.. Its probably hard for him to be fully clear in english but he seemed to suggest we need to keep "cool" I don't think Zola is a ranter though... Just think of the reaction Malky would be giving if it was Cardiff getting 2 red cards!
Not seen tonights effort, but when I see a 'colleague' of mine have a good game I'll let you know. On the face of it the penalty sounds harsh at best, the usual decision we never get in our favour. Pudil probably technically (at least) deserved his red, we are told to come down hard on these lash-outs. Chalaboah down to inexperience possibly, but I do not recall much of a change in the laws... kick the ball away you are likely to get booked whether it is U9, U12, U16 etc or senior football. It would appear that the referee decided that discretion could not apply. Flicking through from watching manyoo on ITV and teletext it was all too predictable. 1-0 up with plenty of time left; down to 10; concede a penalty; down to 9 (didn't see that coming tbh) and then an injury time winner. Could have put my hat on Bet365, would have made a mint. I look forward to seeing the decisions and posting a more "informed" comment. Either way, cheesed off, thouroughly cheesed off!
It looks like we have sorted out our card problem a bit, that is good news! You could almost say that it has swung in our favour a bit recently, thank god. (Tommy Mooney) COYH !!
I agree MH, it seems to have shifted the luck. And we seem to have the same religion. Surprised to see the Wolves card overturned though, but having watched it back it's difficult to tell if Deeneys just holding him off to begin with and they deemed it to be 50/50, or if he's being held back from the start in which case the red card was correct.
