I'd reckon they were the 4 outsiders at the time of the draw. It's good for football to have some fresh faces.
Well, I never expected that. I would have been quite happy with a 2-1 loss tonight and have made a game of it. Must say I am delighted
They Don't Know The Rules Part XXVII (Thomas Tuchel)... "From my point of view I watched Dalot take the shot. I saw the ball flying straight from his foot and for me it was clear it was going way over the bar. There are many things to discuss before taking the decision and I think it's a 50-50 decision. What makes it super hard is I had the clear feeling the shot was not on target, and to get rewarded with a penalty, there is no logic." Penalty or no (it wasn't), managers talking complete bollocks doesn't help. This nonsense is worthy of Shearer.
I clearly watched a totally different football match to everyone in the media, in the game I watched Man Utd were outplayed for large periods, PSG looked comfortable if not threatening and were going through until VAR intervened and gifted Utd the win.
Managers and players/ex players need to understand that under next seasons rules this will be a penalty 99% of the time* (*excluding visitors to old toilet and klanfield). Defenders will not be able to jump and turn their backs to block a shot. Defending will be far more difficult and more goals will be scored. And as an aside, Sheerer did tweet that Harry Kane's goal v Dortmund was 'an absolutely fantastic finish'. Fortunately, I didn't hurt myself as I fell off my chair.
IMHO the PSG result is the one that secures Man Utd a PL top 4 slot. The self-belief in their squad will now be very high, and it will show in the results in their remaining PL games.
With the addition of VAR, there's going to be a lot of changes. It's all about getting the officials to know how to apply the laws and consistency in all circumstances after that. If it's a penalty for Southampton at OT as well as against them, then okay. My fear is that the extraneous factors that currently influence decisions, will do so just as much as ever they have done. That and the delays and lack of information for supporters in the stadium. The current PL referees and their management don't fill me full of confidence but we shall see...
They might just get a few more injuries which to affect them. Be good to see them beat l'arse at the weekend though. Personally I think the biggest change is the return of Mike Phelan. Reading his twitter feed while they were waiting for the VAR review, he spoke with Rashford and said 'Relax lad, we've been here before, we've played bigger matches than this. Breathe, and put it in the net, it's just part of the job.' Clough was nothing without Peter Taylor and Maureen has done little without his second in command. The assistants with the calming influence make a world of difference.
We have had the advantage of watching it being rolled out in European leagues. Clearly the lino can let the play proceed and not flag for offside if it is a close call, which can only be good for clever players like Kane. We should also get a lot less of 'the klanfield gravity affect' which has given the mousers somewhere between 12 and 14 undeserved extra points this season. I think personally, in order to introduce it smoothly, could we not recruit some of the foreign officials who have had a years practice to train our guys, otherwise we will have to go through the same learning process as they did. I do think that each team should have say two review requests, otherwise the ref is going to be surrounded by half a dozen players making a VAR tv gesture at the ref every time someone is tackled/falls over. Then if a player makes a review gesture, it would use up one review if the original decision stood. All goals/offsides/penalties/hand balls should be review as a matter of course anyway. Miking up would be good for the fans, but the FA will fight against that. However, I think that it will come in eventually. I remember MP's objecting to the televising of Parliament, but we got there in the end.
They won't have refs miked up after what happened with poch and the ref it'll prove how biased some of them are.
MP's argued that televising Parliament would give people a bad impression of them because some doze off after a late night sitting the previous night. Nowadays they just don't bother to turn up. Personally, I thought it was better when they dozed off, they did less damage to the country
Dozing off looks more dignified than the usual pantomime bollocks and zoological bellowing we get from the benches
