Seems like a lot of upsets on the cards tonight. Barnsley thrashed by Carlisle Oldham leading Blackburn Huddersfield losing to Lincoln Middlesborough losing to Crewe Cambridge beating Brentford Swansea losing to Northampton Hadn't noticed AFC Wimbledon had been drawn against MK Dons. MK winning at the moment unfortunately.
Apart from Luton beating 1p5wich Lincoln beat Huddersfield Crewe beat Boro on penalties Millwall leading WBA in the last few minutes. Edit - I quite fancy QPR in the next round!!! Millwall win!!
I suppose after being critical of FLC on the weekend (Although it was mostly a dig at pundits.) Fair play to them for pushing Liverpoo all the way to Penalties. I didn't watch it but I saw he had mostly recalled his more experienced players and like Klopp had fielded a strong side. Bah!
I took Lampard's starting lineup to be him giving the players who won the Europa League (those who remained that is) their due. He waited until very close to the end of the 90 minutes before introducing the youngsters -- Abrahams, Mount and Tomori. Neither Giroud nor Christensen looked very happy at being replaced. I haven't read the reports but I wouldn't be surprised if there were comments to the effect that, had he stuck with the experienced players, Chelsea might well have won.
The reality is probably a multitude of factors, including that at least a couple of the senior players, e.g. Kante were not fully fit for the first game. Giving their due, rotating to keep happy and experiment with his best line up. Regarding the might have won, I think thats tough to say (Not having seen it) but the youngsters came on and drew the added time too. Bah!
Anybody else watching Huddersfield v Fulham? No? Good decision; it's awful. Pritchard is the only one on either side showing anything at all.
What do people think about the handball VAR call? I thought it created an advantage and the goal was rightly disallowed.
Nevertheless accidental so it seems kind of wrong to rule it out. Having said that I am pleased Citeh dropped points.
Agreed. The rule might be a bit odd, but it is better than having doubt about whether it is a deliberate handball. Players are good at subtle not deliberate looking behaviour... that didn’t look it but it could have been deliberate and without it the goal probably wouldn’t have been scored
As I understand it, any contact with the hand or arm in the penalty box that leads to a goal scored for that players team, intentional or not, is handball. VAR got it right The question is - is the new handball rule correct? Seems a little harsh when not intentional, and no different to the ball bouncing off another part of the body. The "sticking point" is how do you prove or disprove intent so I kind of see why the rule has been changed
I think it's something we'll be discussing all season and it did seem harsh, but fair. The teams/players know the rules. What I found surprising was that Citeh didn't get a penalty.
It is fully explained in law 12 that all teams agreed to : if the ball touches an attacking player's hand or arm, whether deliberately or not and that leads to a goal, then that goal will be disallowed! All we need now is for it to be applied consistently. Wolves had it happen to them last week
Best play in a straight jacket then. Not sure how he could have avoided it hitting his hand. I know them's the rules, but even so....
