The Premier League Thread

not totally, we've been consistently ****ed by it for a month, week in, week out.

 

Except Burnley.............strangely.

 

But after a couple of years of Bompey fans getting above their station here in Bmth, it is funny as.

 

I'm sure next season will be delightful.

 

I get more offended with Burnley and Toon picking up points. Bloody cloggers.

 

...try living in Bournemouth all your life.

 

You're a good example of why they hate us

 

But it is great when a lesser hates you. Makes you feel right

 

#MindTheGap

 

It's like a smaller scale of Bolton and Man United


Or Hull and Leeds.

 

Surprised to see that, other than the top 5, only United, Arsenal and Wolves have scored more league goals than us and Arsenal are 2 better than us courtesy of their 4-0 win last time out.
Given our penchant for missing so many gilt edged chances I thought our goals for would be dreadful in comparison to the others.

 

What a difference having a real striker makes.

 

Well, I guess that answers a question a number of us were asking when VAR was first applied.

"What happens if a possible penalty occurs at one end and while it is being reviewed the other side go straight up the other end and score?"

We now know that the goal is disallowed and play comes all the way back to the other end for a penalty. What an absolute joke. If that were to happen to a top side (it wouldn't) there would be uproar that would go on for days. Credit to Eddie Howe for a dignified response.

 

I thought it kind of did for City v Liverpool. Not a goal, but a handball. Sort of. In reverse.

 

I wanted to watch MotD before commenting on this incident. I think having a goal chalked off and then finding that the incident gets wound back to result in a penalty the other end seems like the ultimate failing of VAR. However, I think that the initial handball looked more clear cut than I have imagined. Someone should have picked this up before Bournemouth broke away and score. I did feel that the first handball was extremely harsh. The problem with VAR is that it is simply another person's opinion albeit they have more time to come to a conclusion. What is funny is that the introduction of VAR was supposed to take the controversy out of football yet it seems to have had the opposite effect!

With regards to the performance of the teams, the controversy seemed to rob Burnley of the praise of some really good quality attacking football of the kind not mentioned in the Saints programme. They looked really good. As for Bournemouth, I have been saying this for a few weeks now but I think they are ding down. They have a difficult run in and luck seems to have deserted them. Given that Norwich are effectively already relegated, I expect the third place to be taken by West Ham although the woeful performance by Villa yesterday suggested to me that it might be tight.

The one thing I think is interesting with this season's relegation battle is that a lot of people on this board were of a consensus that 40 points would not be sufficient given the number of winning runs different teams were able to put together back then. The recent results have served to make the relegation battle much clearer and the upcoming fixtures for both Bournemouth and West Ham suggest to me they are going to be punished for failing to have similar winning runs in January. I don't think the relegation battle has panned put to be as competitive as everyone thought in December.

 

I've watched it a few times now, and its just so incredibly harsh. Both of them are shoulders, but the one that got the goal ruled out and pen awarded against, is IMO more questionable because the arm being stretched allows the ball to be controlled rather than ricocheted. But it was still 80% of the shoulder. My only hope is, we see this injustice happen to one of the big six. The ensuing riot would be hilarious!

 

.… yet de Bruyne wasn`t penalised yesterday.

 

And that was a more clear and obvious handball than any of them!

 

Doh! Dropped Diego Jota from my fantasy team this week

 

No problem with Utd's penalty. Fernandes is through on goal, little tap to take the ball away then goes down as Foster comes sprinting out and diving at his feet. Clever play to get the pen. Keepers will soon learn to dive and move their hands out the way forcing the player to make it a dive.