Firpo got the ball, no penalty, end of. VAR was never going to overturn the on field decision whatever that wining co-commentator kept crying about.
Doesn't matter if the shirt pull actually affects Traore. The fact he grabbed a handful of shirt and pulled at it is against the rules of the game. If it was the other way around we'd be whingeing like **** and rightly so. The Firpo challenge for the penalty appeal was very close. I don't think it was a pen but I've seen them given. Oh, and the Firpo thing. I've given him credit for the last few matches but yesterday Wolves gave Ayling AND Firpo the complete runaround. Both were poor.
Were both poor or did Wolves have good wingers? On the penalty, if the ref had given it, VAR wouldn’t have changed his decision, that’s my point, not a clear and obvious error so whatever the ref decides on field remains. Wolves are cheating diving ****s and Traore got what he deserved, nothing. Personally I wouldn’t be whinging if it was the other way around, I’d be embarrassed that one of our team would stop playing and throw their arms around for such a minor touch. And how can you say that was rightly a foul when nothing was given for Dawson (I think) pulling Bamford all over the place?
Look at my original post on the first page of this thread. I said there that Wolves rely on their wide men to create something spectacular or usually require mistakes despite having decent possession. It's clear and obvious that Wolves are very strong out wide. It's our job to nullify that threat. Ayling and Firpo failed to do that. Wolves got in behind our full backs far too often and more worryingly far too easily. When Dawson pulled Bamford all over the place he gave away a foul and was taken off at half time before he was sent off. I dunno why you are calling me out on the penalty. I've said a couple of times that I didn't think it was a penalty. I've just said that I've seen those types of tackles given as penalties before. As you say, if the ref gave it on the pitch I think he stands by it but as it happens it went our way for once. We had alot of 50/50 decisions go our way yesterday. I'm delighted with the win and much needed points. I'm also delighted that the video review tomorrow morning in training will show some errors that are easily rectified for future games.
Mate, not calling you out on the penalty at all. In fact supporting your view, given or not, VAR wouldn’t have changed either outcome. Easy to say that their job is to nullify the threat but sometimes you come up against players that are better than you, doesn’t mean you’ve played badly and in terms of risk v reward we scored four. You may have a point on the shirt pull but I’d still be embarrassed if one of our team had looked like such a wuss, I maintain he got what he deserved and well done ref in that instance
Regarding the debate about Firpo & Ayling's performances. Firpo was fine until his yellow just before HT. Then Wolves brought Traore on and put him directly up against Junior who obviously couldn't run the risk of getting sent off. Much better to rely on his useless crossing and so it proved. An average game for Firpo and our new coach made the right decision to sub him off after 81 mins as Struijk could get tight without running the risk of a red card. Incidentially if Firpo had fouled Traore and walked we'd all be slagging him off, so at least he showed good discipline. Ayling was struggling from the off and it was clear he was in for a very difficult afternoon, which became even more difficult after being harshly yellow carded in the 24 minute. To his credit he stuck to the task, scored a goal and didn't do anything crazy to pick up a second yellow. Again Gracia had to try and help him by bring Kristensen on so Luke could move inside. At the time I questioned Gracia's substitutions and if the result had gone against he'd have been slaughtered. However with hindsight he was reacting to help the 2 players in the team under the most pressure and as it ultimately worked any critisicm of his changes would be wrong.
What rule is it? I had a good look on the FA site & could find no specific reference to it. TBF, it did turn into white noise in front of my eyes after a short while. But I would have expected guidance in the rules, regarding type & violence of grab, impact etc. But nowt - either that or I'm a Dutchman. Which would be rather unfair on the Duth!
This is just in answer to WJ's specific question, not getting into the argument regarding the actual incident yesterday https://www.thefa.com/football-rule.../football-11-11/law-12---fouls-and-misconduct Law 12 - FOULS and MISCONDUCT Law 12.1 states that a direct free kick should be awarded if a player holds or impedes an opponent with contact Law 12.2 states that an indirect free kick should be awarded if a player impedes an opponent, without any contact being made Law 12.4 states where a player commits an offence against an opponent within their own penalty area which denies an opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and the referee awards a penalty kick, the offender is cautioned if the offence was an attempt to play the ball; in all other circumstances (e.g. holding, pulling, pushing, no possibility to play the ball etc.) the offending player must be sent off. Ignore the fact that the below image mentions the penalty area, the rules are the same all over the pitch, this was just provided to managers in 2016, to say that refs had been informed to clamp down on these type of incidents in the penalty area. Worked fine until everyone started to complain that too many penalties were being awarded, so the FA quickly retracted, instead of continuing with the directive and allowing players to learn that they would be punished if they carry on please log in to view this image
Think the last bullet explains the VAR / Ref decision, as Traore's movement (thanks to his strength) was not impeded by the shirt tug. I might have affected some less robust players, but not that huge unit.
I would say that is not quite true WJ, given that you have to consider that the on pitch ref and the VAR ref interpreted the incident differently, hence why VAR asked that the on pitch ref review his decision. If the VAR official interpreted the incident the same way as the ref, there would have been no requirement for the pitch side review. Luckily for us, the on pitch official was the one that had the final say with the decision. I'll be honest I would have given the foul when I was a ref, although I am sure there would have been plenty of times in games when I would have said play on, with the exact same incident.
That ‘making it up as you go along’ confession, makes you sound well qualified to ref a Leeds game aski
I would quote you Milky, but you've messed the quote system up. To be honest at the level I reffed at, you just hoped you didn't make a giant cock up, and got through the match without any major incident.
lol any chance of me going up the ref pyramid was totally ruined, when I allowed a goal to stand, after the ball had been thrown back onto the pitch by one of the spectators. Got distracted by one of the captains disputing one of my decisions, looked at him and told him where to go, next minute I see the ball enter the net so gave the goal. My dad told me afterwards that the ball had gone out of play, and someone had just thrown it back onto the pitch The only other decision I regret, is sending my cousin off in a game, when in reality if it had been any other player I would have given them a final warning. People watching knew we were related and I didn't want to be accused of showing favouritism so dealt with it harsher than I should have.
One of my old bosses in Glasgow was a ref. The biggest challenge he ever had - and the scariest - was reffing a game between 2 shipyards. There were 2000+ guys in toe 'tector boots from the 'home' side, getting more & more aggressive & vocal as they were being royally humped - by the ref, in their opinion. He finished the match 5 minutes early after he had positioned himself close to the bothy where he would get changed (with door locked, of course). 4 hours he was in there, with them rocking the bothy into some impossible shapes & growling for his blood. He was saved by the end of shift hooter. They might have been baying for blood, but the call of getting out of the place & heading to the pub was too much for them to resist. Wouldn't happen to a PL ref, but you've got to shine at these levels to progress. He eventually chose not to, citing love of life over threats.
People should research before they contradict others. Do you think he'll admit he was wrong ? To paraphrase legendary boxing promoter Don King: "There's two chances, slim and none - and Slim's just left town".
