Two wrongs don't make a right and all that, but my first view of the disallowed goal was that it wasn't, because it came off Palindrome's arm directly from the corner - but then I saw the angle that Virgil had headed it onto his arm from one foot away, and that Ekitike wasn't the one who scored, then thought it must stand. Bizarre in the end that it didn't, but when the ref goes to the screen, you know it's getting overturned.
Now, to the penalty - I laughed out loud when I saw the incident at first that VAR was checking, especially Flo's collapse, which reminded me of one of their players early on who got a hand on his midriff, then went down screaming, clutching his face. But then the replay from another angle - he clearly grabs his shirt, and even accounting for the slow-motion, it's nearly three seconds. Flo feels it when he goes for the ball, it restricts his movement (but fgs, not enough for that reaction) and goes down like a maiden aunt fainting at the sight of a streaker. But - there's far more contact than there was on Saturday, for instance, for Ibou's divi-tackle against Leeds, and nobody, even us, said that wasn't a pen. Certainly far more than the one Virgil gave away OUTSIDE THE BOX against Charlton.
So, anyway, the best team, and best team by a country mile, won, and all is good with the universe. And something else - we played variations of 4-4-1-1, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2, and 4-5-1 last night. I love Mo, and he'll always be a legend, but with him goes, imo, the final need to try and shoe-horn 4-3-3 into every game. Indeed, I'm more than happy to go 4-4-2 from now on, and use overlapping fullbacks for our width (that'll suit Kirkez and Bradley more). And on Bradley (and Wirtz), didn't a good performance look even better when they came on?
Happy days.
Now, to the penalty - I laughed out loud when I saw the incident at first that VAR was checking, especially Flo's collapse, which reminded me of one of their players early on who got a hand on his midriff, then went down screaming, clutching his face. But then the replay from another angle - he clearly grabs his shirt, and even accounting for the slow-motion, it's nearly three seconds. Flo feels it when he goes for the ball, it restricts his movement (but fgs, not enough for that reaction) and goes down like a maiden aunt fainting at the sight of a streaker. But - there's far more contact than there was on Saturday, for instance, for Ibou's divi-tackle against Leeds, and nobody, even us, said that wasn't a pen. Certainly far more than the one Virgil gave away OUTSIDE THE BOX against Charlton.
So, anyway, the best team, and best team by a country mile, won, and all is good with the universe. And something else - we played variations of 4-4-1-1, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2, and 4-5-1 last night. I love Mo, and he'll always be a legend, but with him goes, imo, the final need to try and shoe-horn 4-3-3 into every game. Indeed, I'm more than happy to go 4-4-2 from now on, and use overlapping fullbacks for our width (that'll suit Kirkez and Bradley more). And on Bradley (and Wirtz), didn't a good performance look even better when they came on?
Happy days.
