Thought Wolves were hard done by last night. When is a referee gonna have the guts to go to the monitor and disagree with the invisible referees. When are we going to hear those conversations.. Since when is a headbutt not a sending off? When the recipient doesn't roll around on the grass screaming like a banshee on bad acid.. VAR was supposed to improve refereeing standards. It clearly hasn't. Yes most offside decisions are now correctable, although human error has been more than noted. However where decisions are 'subjective', it must be in everyone's interests for the conversations to be public as in other sports that use technology to aid refereeing/umpiring decisions.
Can't wait until Bruno is sin binned. Sin-bin trial plan recommended for professional games - BBC Sport
Devil's in the details, but I don't necessarily dislike it. Particularly for cynical fouls...if you cut someone down on a break, there *should* be some sort of cost/benefit other than "you're only allowed normal fouls from here on out". The other idea that I've liked is having an orange card: the player is disqualified from the game, but can be substituted (if you have a substitute remaining, obviously). Not as game-changing as a red, so refs are likely to be less hesitant handing them out, but a serious punishment for the player and impediment for the team that might keep them wanting to mouth off.
If I remember correctly when working in Glascow many years ago the local leagues played on red blaes pitches had a 10 yard rule similar to rugby which significantly improved player behavior.
Cynical fouls can be subjective and not black and white, especially when the “fouled” player has engineered a coming together, so I can see this being very contentious. I would consider using concussion substitutes to deal with those players that go down as if poleaxed, when someone brushes their cheek. If they know that they will need to go off for a thorough examination, they might stop the theatrics. And if they have actually been hurt, they will be better looked after on the sideline, with no pressure to get back into the game. I’d also introduce a play pen for those that simulate injury and leave them in there until their mum or dad comes to collect them.
I was quite surprised by the BBC's report this morning about Premier League footballers being charged with assault. This was not because it is sadly unusual or symptamtic of the nature of these things these days but because the article also referred to a manager who was also subject to 2 investigations for historic abuse. The article did not name names yet it did imply the he was a former footballer who had played in the PL before becomeing a manager. This struck me as being wrong because it effectively narrows the person down to a handful of managers who, at this point in time, have not been proved to be guilty. In my opinion, it is shocking journalism and as bad at the nonsense regarding the new book about the Royals. Will the BBC apologise to all of the potential managers should this not culminate in a conviction ?
It's early, but Sheffield United are on pace to have the worst goal differential in Premier League history: on average, they're losing every match by two goals.
City are just magnificent. the way they fizz the ball around is absolutely incredible. They work so hard off the ball as well
This doesn’t look good for the referee in the City v Spurs game. Clearly waves play on then stops the game when Haaland hits a perfect through ball for Grealish. You can understand the anger of the players but I don’t understand why the ref reacted as he did. https://x.com/ErlingRoIe/status/1731381239716647263?s=20
It looks bad on TV but you get a much better view on TV then on the pitch. I suspect he blew because he thought the ball was overhit or he didn't see Grealish for some reason. He should have waited but it's so easy to do what he did. And he knew he ****ed up straight away. I've been there. Not quite as bad as that but I've blown up when a team has a good attacking opportunity.
Yeah I felt sorry for the ref there. He knew he had cocked up. Also thought Grealish might have been offside. I want to know what Vicario said to Pep as he clearly stopped him from having a massive go at the ref which was to everyone’s credit
Nah, thinking he may be offside can't be an excuse. First of all that's the AR's job and officials are instructed to let play go on in that scenario. I just think he thought either Grealish wasn't getting there or didn't see him.
It’s a shame as I was thinking to myself that he’d had a pretty good game up until then. Then he went and ruined it with the worst decision ever
