Match Day Thread Brighton v Saints Saturday 24th August 3pm

Those Brighton fans really are disgusting aren't they?

 

But don’t you think most of their corners included an obstruction on Gunn?

 

Yeah, this was the biggest let down for me as well

 

It isn`t the most sophisticated of tactics, and I`m glad they didn`t profit from it. I expected a bit better from Potter, to be honest - and they persisted with it after the goal was chalked off. Locadia was a yard offside too when he hit the post, so it wouldn't have counted anyway.

 

Yeah I've been reading a forum of theirs this morning, pretty entertaining. They are right that they were the much better side for most of the game, would've won the game easily if not for the red and we are **** and deffo going down, but still pretty amusing to read.

 

Not sure if it has been mentioned but I think we got away with the Bednarek handball, think we all would've felt harshly done by if it was Dunk and Duffy doing the chuckle brothers impression Vestergaard and Bednarek were doing then

 

I did mean to mention it late last night when I watched the full game, but I wanted to gen up on the new handball law, as some of you have been screaming blue murder about it. Last season I'm pretty sure that would have been given as a penalty, even though Bednarek didn't intend to handball. It was quite obvious with his outstretched arms, that he thought Vestergaard was going to back into him, and he was going to fend him off. But the ball seemed to hit his arms as it came down. I still haven't read up on the new handball law, but why that wasn't given as a penalty, I don't know. Perhaps I should look at it again. Kevin Frend said 'No', after some appeals, and I assume VAR looked at it, but nothing was overturned.

OK, just looked up the new ruling on defenders handling inside the penalty box. Clearly Kevin Frend didn't think it was deliberate. And I didn't think so either, but last season that would have probably been given, in my opinion.

 

Well you could always go and try supporting your one of your local clubs like City or Rovers, ya ****ing gloryhunter!...

 

Thought he had one of his poorer games actually. So many near-misses on careless mistakes where we’ve been punished previously

 

Yep, a lot of our reliable players from last season (Bedders, JWP, Pierre, Romeu, Valery) haven't started this season in great form yet.

 

My understanding is handball is handball regardless of intent for an attacker in the build up to a goal.
It has to be deemed deliberate for a defender to concede a penalty. - Logic is overrated

 

Yes, that's how I read it too. It's a different rule for strikers, and defenders of the goal, in the penalty box. One is not up for judgement by the referee [striker handball], the other is.

 

Don't know why everyone is getting wound up about this handball business....no goal should ever involve a hand (self evident I would say), but a penalty has to have an element of intent (that one's been around for a while). I have no problem with it if the rule is equally applied to each team. These are not commandments sent down by God on tablets of stone...just rules laid out for playing a game. Relax.

 

Early morning coffee rush probably, but I like the idea of tablets of stone being wheeled out and a player being red carded for coveting his neighbour's ass (ooh, missus).

 

Only if it’s intentional though right?

I think our devotion to Le God would prove to be a problem

 

Whilst I agree with your understanding of the handball rule for the attacking team when a "goal" is scored, my understanding of the rule is different when it comes to handball in any other situation.

Needing to be deliberate is no longer a requirement. We're simply looking at the position of the arm: if it's beyond the "natural silhouette" of the player, then it's handball - with the exception of when the ball takes a deflection during it's path (whether off another part of the body of the player himself who has handled, or a different player). So there could be no intent to handle the ball whatsoever, but if your arm is out and the ball hits it direct, it's a FK or penalty.

Hence the distinction between handball in general, and handball specifically in relation to the attacking team scoring, is that in the latter case we don't even consider the "natural silhouette". Even if your arm is down by your side, or tucked in front of your stomach, it's handball.

Or at least that is my understanding.

 

Would Moses have approved of Var?

 

One last talking point: Jan Valery, after the tackle, was deemed uninjured, yet I noticed he'd lost his normal good level. I don't think it was any coincidence that he was the first to be substituted in the second half.