In terms of free kicks it won't make much difference as he hasn't scored from a free kick in the premier league this season and only once since he joined.
Tbf he is pretty **** at free kicks, the general direction and movement of the ball is ok but the accuracy is poor. EDIT.........still not counted as assists though.
As you need to score a goal for an assist to exist , with no goals scored your logic can't be faulted (And you and Bob are factually correct too)
...and even if he was here, he wouldn't take them, considering Gareth Bale isn't on FK duty In approximately three months, Diego will catch up
I think that they need to find separate VAR officials. It would reduce the workload of the current refs, reduce matey decisions and bring some specialisation to the role. Maybe pick some people that are from within about 100 miles of London, too. Not a bunch of northerners who pretend to support small clubs.
I see no reason why Championship officials can't be put in charge of VAR. To suggest they aren't capable of watching multiple replays in slow motion or drawing a line with a computer is an insult to their intelligence. And there is the added incentive that they will want to impress by getting tight and tough decisions right. The fatal flaw in the plan is that the PGMOL is such a cartel, as soon as a lower league official overrules Oliver or Tierney, they'll be sent to the Gulags.
Alternatively, just have SFA officials on VAR They're floating the idea of introducing VAR to the SPL (or whatever it's called this season) so giving their officials a season to learn how to operate the system, while also giving the SFA a season to see how not to use it by having the usual ****wits bollocks up an Old Firm game so bad that Ibrox turns into a cannibalistic bloodbath because somebody's chakras were aligning past the arbitrarily drawn line which would, in turn, improve officiating in England as so many of the ****witted officials would either be dead or in hiding
The problem with refs is the same problem that runs through life in general. Ego. Ego hinders progress because it prevents people from accepting they make mistakes. In my school we do a lot of training and discussional work about egos. Staff are actively encouraged to challenge eachother, even those in senior leadership positions. If a person is looking frazzled we tell them to go for a walk or a drink to clear their mind and we all accept the offer. If we are getting nowhere dealing with a child another member of staff will take over. All of this means we have a great reputation with the kids and parents and the kids make huge progress in their behaviours and academically. This is possible because we have addressed the issue of ego. Until the refs do the same this ****show of appallingly inconsistent refereeing and ludicrous VAR decisions will continue.
The problem is that it goes above the refs, as The FA are just as guilty of ego getting in the way of progress or simply admitting their employees got it wrong, as they've been shielding refs from valid criticism for decades - and it has to be said that VAR feels like they inserted a buffer so that fans will criticise either the ref or VAR rather than The FA for continuing to employ such hapless twerps to officiate matches And will The FA ever yield and admit fault? Well let's put it this way, they're still in denial that saying "We invented football, gimme gimme gimme" isn't a valid basis for hosting a World Cup, hence the bids for 2006 and 2018 tanked
Neither did Germany, as it was South Africa who were trying to bribe their way to hosting the 2006 WC Luckily they weren't rewarded by something like being the only country on the ballot for the 2010 tournament or...oh
Pass map time please log in to view this image Straight away you can see one obvious difference between this one and the one against Sheffield United - namely how Dele is dropping so deep that he's almost as deep as Hojbjerg, and as a result Lo Celso has pushed up to compensate, which is not only leaving a gap in our midfield that we can plainly see, but also means that Aurier doesn't have the out ball that was so productive against Sheff Utd It also has to be said our back line is a bit of a mess too, because instead of Toby and Dier being level with one another and creating various triangles between themselves, the FBs and the CMs, instead its clearly lopsided with Dier and Reguilon pushing up way more than Toby and Aurier (the latter most likely pinned back due to Leeds attacking down our right flank - which also happens to debunk that video doing the rounds on Twitter for the third goal (funnily enough...) and what does having a lopsided back line do? Create gaps And that's before we address the pachyderm in the room, namely the amount of traffic headed back to Hugo. Acceptable when it's the CBs rolling the ball back to relieve pressure, not acceptable when Aurier is passing to Hugo more than he is to Bale, or how the map makes it look like our idea of relieving pressure is Dier passing back to Hugo so he can pass to Toby or vice versa, as that's something opponents can pick up on Basically the only things that worked were the Dier/Reguilon/Hojbjerg and Hojbjerg/Reguilon/Son combinations, but the entire right side of the pitch is a write off and it's hard not to blame Dele for this due to him wandering so deep for the ball yet doing very little with it as there's only some thin lines from him to Kane and Hojbjerg (and maybe Lo Celso, to be honest I can't make it out as it looks like a massive scribble there) yet if you look at the traffic to and from Lo Celso going to and from Kane, Son, Bale and Hojbjerg and possibly Dier and Dele (again, indecipherable scribble) you can see where the system failed, as if Lo Celso was deeper he'd have been available for passes from Aurier and also someone who could play a one-two with Bale to send him on his way, and what would have kept Lo Celso deeper? Dele not dropping back so far that Lo Celso pushed up to compensate, which created a hideous gap in the middle of the pitch
Bale was non-existent, Dier was **** and Aurier tried to compensate for the Welshman's disappearance and ended up being useless at both ends. We lost the midfield, failed to deal with their fullbacks and we've knackered several of our best players by overusing them.
And then compounded by this and Lamela’s decision to rabona a pass out of play when 3-1 down. Fun times, man.
When you look at Leeds' map, you can see why Bale and Aurier were so ineffective please log in to view this image Not only were we overrun in midfield, which goes a long way to explaining why Dele was dropping deep and Lo Celso was overcompensating by pushing higher, but you can see just how much traffic was coming at our right flank - and a hell of a lot of that can be levelled at Bale, because we've known all season that teams target Aurier because they're waiting for the brainfart, and against a hard pressing team the one player we did not want in front of him was Bale as that would leave him in no man's land But for some reason nobody's posting any videos to twitter saying "Look how **** Gareth Bale was", because we're apparently not allowed to scapegoat him for his anonymous performances and have to blame literally everyone else within 30ft of him
Playing Lo Celso as a central midfielder was what ****ed him at PSG and allowed us to sign him in the first place. He needs to be higher up the pitch, which unfortunately is also true of Ndombele, Alli and any other creative midfielders we've got. It worked against Sheffield United because they're pretty **** and we had virtually all of the ball. That's why Bale looked good against them for a chunk of the match and got a hat-trick, yet was invisible against Leeds. We need a midfielder who can dictate the pace of the game and bring other players into it.
I keep coming back to the fact that I truly believe the midfield is more of a pressing issue than the defence. It doesn't seem to matter who we play there or what formation we use, we end up with the same product: zero control of a game. At least under Maureen an excuse could be made in that we were more than happy to relinquish control, but for the last half a year or so under Poch and now under Mason, we're trying to play on the front foot and trying to set the tempo but the midfield offers as much support as a damp tissue. It's a real, real dilemma as we have sunk upwards of £110m into that section of the team but nothing has improved. Hojbjerg's positioning and anticipation is possibly the worst I've seen since Gary Doherty, NDombele simply isn't cut out for the PL and Lo Celso just looks completely lost. I'd love it to be as simple as Skipp slotting straight in and fixing it overnight, but that is a huge ask and an unreasonable amount of pressure to place on a 20 year old. If we continue down the path of zero control, we could bring in Van Dijk and we'd still be miles off of our rivals. The quality of attackers in the PL is such that pretty much any backline is liable to get hurt if it is under sustained pressure most of the game.
Hojbjerg is fine, he's just played too much and doesn't have a suitable partner next to him or any backup. Skipp would solve the latter, but I think he might benefit from another season of regular first team football. Bringing in an experienced holding midfielder for a season or two could be the correct move. Javi Martinez is free. The other position is a major problem and I think we need to sign two players to solve it. Another short-term fix might help as one of those and then someone like Ward-Prowse as the other could do it. Clearing out a ton of deadwood will help our wage bill on that front.