Full match replay available here: http://www.footballorgin.com/2014/12/southampton-v-chelsea-premier-league.html Strangely the Palace match doesn't seem to be posted yet, not that I can find anyway.
“I felt we should have won but Chelsea are a very decent team.'' Victor Wanyama 28.12.14 Gotta love him. Yes, Victor....Chelsea are a decent team (though obviously not as good as Saints inside Big Vic's head ).
I watched some of the game again last night. At least four or five incidents in there when the ref played on where we were clearly fouled in the last 15-20 minutes alone. Willian looked amazed Mane didn't win a free kick at one point. Chelsea must have knew they clearly fouled him and thought he may be genuinely injured. They weren't dragging him back to his feet and it was very late in the match. Taylor let the penalty incident get to him. Once he's made a decision he needs to back himself. Clattenburg wouldn't have crumbled like Taylor did. What I like about Clattenburg is he calls every incident as he sees it. He doesn't let something that happened earlier in a game effect him. Can't say I', pleased with the way Taylor refereed Pelle either. He was desperate to penalise him and let the centre backs get away with murder. I'm happy with a draw of course. I just hope the pundits favouring Chelsea to such an extent (and only focusing on the penalty shout) doesn't go against us in the next match.
I thoroughly agree with this statement. Saints were lucky against Chelsea as Targett did trip Fabregas but it is a shame that some players go over when the contact is actually insufficient to take them off of their feet. As well as a change from pundits, it is also interesting to delve back further and consider that when penalties were introduced in to the game there was a lot of protest because many felt that it was not necessary as to take someone out like that would have been considered ungentlemanly. As sportsmen, many players of the time felt that penalties were not necessary as no one would act in such an unsporting manner to made them necessary. Considering just how physical Victorian football was, this is quite an amazing statement. I think players will nowadays naturally look to go down even after minimal contact because of the pressures on the game with cameras and so much at stake. However, I would prefer it if the game retained some of it's former robustness and maybe players declined to dive. Traditionally this has been something levelled at foreign players but I now longer think this is the case. It would be a shame if the physical element of the game was further diminished - comments by "experts" on TV can only accentuate this matter.
I would say the more recent (PL onward) increase has been attributable to foreign players but 'traditionally' We could point out Denis Law and Francis Lee competing for the Manchester pike and half turn trophy.
I somewhat put the blame on the officials. For a foul to occur there doesn't need to be enough contact to force a player to the ground. You can be fouled and still stay on your feet. Hell, I've been elbowed in the face and throat and still stayed on my feet. We've all seen incidents when a player or their shirt is held/pulled (which is a foul) but the attacking player stays on their feet and the resulting shot or cross is poor because the attacker has been fouled by the defender. Nine times out of ten the referee won't give a foul even though one has been committed. If those sort of fouls were given players would have less reason to dive. It's the same with players surrounding referees. Football referees should be doing what rugby referees do and sending players off for swearing and questioning decisions. The behaviour of players would soon improve.
Ignoring Targett-gate (as we would expect a penalty if it happened to one of our players), I'm glad refs don't give every possible penalty....remember Fonte is a sneaky shirt puller. Lots of stuff goes on when players are jostling in the area (that sounds strangely rude).
Agree. What was Yoshida's yellow card all about? Just one example of Taylor trying to rectify a previous error. Another was Cesc not getting a second yellow for kicking the ball away.
Puck I sometimes go to watch Winchester play and it is salutary to hear some of the abuse handed out to referees and linesmen by the players. During a match last season I commented to another spectator who was there in some sought of official capacity (either with anther club or FA) and when I commented on this to him his response was that to get carded for "foul and abuse " language, you effectively need to direct it personally at the ref. As for questioning decisions, this is almost ubiquitous at all levels, I think.
That's unquestionably how things currently are but that's not how they should be and I think it would be relatively simple to stop. You'd need to give players a reasonable warning time so they can begin to adapt their behaviour but I think the problem would go away if the FA/UEFA/FIFA just gave football referees the power to do this sort of thing, encouraged them to use the power and backed them when they did: I'd also put microphones on the referees. You'd have to put a short time delay on it if you were going to broadcast from the microphone so any bad language could be bleeped out etc but even if the microphone isn't "live" the recording would help with assessing referees, appeals against cards etc True. Although, even taking the club bias out of it, I always think it's strange the way many people accept the constant fouling at corners.
I have long been an advocate of football taking some of the disciplinary measures used in Rugby Union. One of the most effective is the 10 yard rule, where any dissent over a decision gets the kick moved 10 yards nearer the offending goal line. 10 minute sin bins for yellow cards would also cut out a lot of "frivolous" misbehaviour.
They tried this a few years back for one season...was not popular. I think one reason was that moving nearer was not always an advantage for free kicks.
The only thing I'd rule out are sin bins. It's an Ice Hockey ruling and anything that takes something from Ice Hockey as a way to improve is on a downward spiral, in my opinion. As to the 10 yard rule, one could always ask the player taking the kick whether he'd like the wall moved back or kept where it was. A simple amendment which would make the ruling work.
I am not sure if it has been mentioned, but someone tweeted that Referee Taylor has apologised to Mourinho for not giving the Penalty, do we get an apology for him not giving the foul on Mane that led to their goal? If he made a mistake that was that bad then he shouldn't be Refereeing any more Premier games in my opinion.
No, that's not strictly true. He apologised for booking Fabregas. Similar thing, but exactly the same.
I don't think it was clear-cut. Fabregas made every effort not to stay on his feet, but he didn't dive. This going down with minimal contact tactic is ruining games and possibly football itself. That said, it possibly/probably was a penalty, but Chelsea don't deserve any favourable decisions, based on their past behaviour in these scenarios. But a referee shouldn't be making a decision based on that. He should judge what he sees. I can only be thankful that Taylor saw what he did. Chelsea have won games on the back of incorrect penalty decisions. This time they haven't. If it was the other way round, I'd be pissed off, but I'd know that's the way things go, and have gone before. Do I have sympathy for Chelsea..? Hmm... no.
