Absolute nonsense you are chatting Jay ! Look how dangerous and potent we looked in that first half when we moved the ball quickly forward to Gyokeres, his hold up/link up play was fantastic, he led the line against the so-called best defence in the league brilliantly, we were magnificent in that first half. He seemed to physically fade in the second half, he got manhandled, is that a fitness thing or the fact Newcastle were doing some WWE rough housing ?!
Bro, that first half was reminiscent of the 2022/23 season when we used to blitz teams with our attack. Newcastle didn't know what him them. Kudos to Arteta for acknowledging the change of tactic was required, we could easily have been 4 up at half time.
If Pope was a CB - they would say he denied Gyokeres a clear goalscoring opportunity. That challenged would have been a foul all day long. (and a red card)
I am commentating on where the ball went to when it was touched by Popes foot. , it wasn’t a certain tap in goal
The reason why the touch is irrelevant (IMO) is because it's not like Pope made a challenge to get the ball first. Gyokeres gets to the ball first, it brushes Pope's foot, which is planted, then there is clear knee-on-thigh contact which made it a penalty. I can show you the contact if you want. Also, just because you get minimal contact on the ball, doesn't mean you can make any challenge you want. A foul is a foul at the end of the day. It wasn't a red card for Pope, but it absolutely was a penalty. It was not a clear and obvious error to overturn the original decision.
It doesn't have to be a tap in or a certain goal, it just needs to be a foul. Fouls are committed and given all over the pitch not just when a goal is on the line. The keeper had forward momentum, there was significant impact with the player after the player and keeper touched the ball.
