Of course we can’t. No VAR for second yellow cards is also a horrific rule, too. Just awful stuff all round.
We need an outlet. Havertz isn’t the guy that you want as the furthest outfield player when you need to relieve pressure. Shouldn’t have taken Eddie off.
Zinchenko and Kiwior coming on for Odegaard and Saka. These changes still don’t give us an outlet to relieve pressure….
The first player should have got the booking throw in but the second weren't even a foul let alone a card
Tomiyasu should never have been sent off. Why do these weird-ass decisions always happen to us? Regardless we were poor today but showed character. What won us the game was probably the quality of the defensive Subs. Jorginho, Gabriel and Zinchenko.. just shows the depth of our squad now.
Last Season when we played Newcastle the ball was only in play for a total of 50 mins. Newcastle were regularly taking 30+ seconds with throw ins. Tomiyasu today got carded for an 8 second wait.
Did think beforehand that the subs bench we had today looks like almost the best bench I've ever seen?! Shame we're now so reliant on inverted full backs that we're a bit naff when we don't have a fit one.
Yep - Even that's nothing compared to what we regularly see from some of the leagues more 'defensive' teams. Lets see if any of them get the same treatment this Season - I highly doubt it.
FT. 0-1. Wasn’t pretty at all, but we got the job done. Palace away is never easy, however, I was expecting a better, more fluid attacking display compared to what I saw. Hopefully we will see gradual improvements as the season goes on. Rice and Saliba were by far and away our best players, followed by White and Nketiah who were pretty good also (despite Eddie’s two misses). Everyone else was OK, but I expected to see more from Havertz, Saka and Martinelli. I guess it’s difficult for Saka because he has so many players doubling up on him. Going to a 5-3-1 when we were down to 10 was hard to watch, but it gave us security. And the Zinchenko - Jorginho subs gave us calmness and composure in possession which meant we could eat up the minutes. I just wish they came on earlier. 2 games, 2 wins and 6/6 points. Still more work that is needed to be done, but at least we’ve got maximum points so far.
The result was all that mattered in the end yesterday after that **** show from the ref. Classic grinding out a result after the abominable sending off So what is the rule now, take more than 8 seconds to take a throw in and it's a yellow card ? I shall be watching that closely because I'd put my house on it now that it won't be enforced consistently
Even more frustrating that Ayew, who was on a yellow, made a bad foul on Saka when he was about to get into the attacking third, yet the referee let him off and doesn't give him a second yellow. Then he gives Tomiyasu a second yellow 7 minutes after the first yellow when the guy, who shouldn't have even been on the pitch, dived. Coote is a horrible referee and I hope he rightfully gets castigated today. Amateur stuff.
Yep the Ayew second yellow that never came was ridiculous given that tomiyasu got one for just putting his hand on his back
I think the performance against Palace was superb. Very hard place to win at. City got a late 1-0 win last season with a stupid penalty concession after Palace had held them off quite comfortably. Once the ref tried to get Palace back into it (no other explanation) we then showed real defensive solidity and determination. The nature of the win will also foster the togetherness in the squad. In some ways a better outcome than just rolling them over. it’s vital we keep pace at the top early so 3pts was vital.
That is what grates the most. The inconsistency. That’s why the pundits are so annoying. They just look at the incident and ignore the real issue with refereeing. Fact is that Ayews foul 15 mins earlier was worse. If that was not a yellow, neither was Tomi’s. If it was a yellow he’d have been off and not even on the pitch to get Tomi sent off. Refs need to be made to explain this ****.
Yeah I would have liked Trossard to have come on. He would have made more sense as an outlet rather than playing Haverts up there. (who had been pretty quiet)
