The Football Topic (Page 12 of 52)

a great days footie, - no problem from me with only taking one point out the Wolves game. And as for Liverpool, - well done! Sorry Brack but Rooney and Fergie are now really annoying me, - their behavior is so damaging to the game, - can't believe that I am typing this but (almost) good to see that Man U lead being cut back, and I have never been in that ManU hatred camp like most none Man U fans.

Well done West ham, - it would be a tragedy if they were to be relegated.

Amsterhammer, - I really don't think Levy thought for a second that he would win the Olympic Stadium, but now he has lost it and WH are getting so much council help on funding he can ask for similar. Spurs do not want to leave WHL and they own all of the buildings around it now but a couple have restrictions on them making the building of the new stadium impossible.

Well I don't think there could have been a better way to pay respects to Dean Richards than that game and the tribute that preceded it yesterday. Tragic that anyone, let alone a professional sportsman, should be taken from us at just 36 years of age through illness. I have a feeling Deano was looking down on that game yesterday with a big smile on his face as two of his former clubs fought out a real thriller.
A draw was probably a fair result, although as usual the officials seemed to favour the bigger club. Not to say the result might not have been the same had Hutton walked (how on earth was that not "denying a goalscoring opportunity"?)    Fantastic goals by Defoe and Pavlychenko Ian, and a pretty good one by Stearman - depite Gomez' attempt to "catch" his head rather than the ball 

I really wish the standards of refereeing would improve - at least to the level of "consistant".
Carragher should clearly have been red carded for that awful challenge in the Liverpool game - Rafael's challenge I think he got right as both players were closing in on a loose ball - wouldn't have even warranted yellow 20 years ago.

Well done to your boys George on their upturn in fortunes (he said grinding his teeth  ) One thing's for sure - it's getting awful tight down there now. I think it may need a record number of points to avoid relegation this year.

Ian

to add, when I say the right top six I do not mean that quite the way it reads but the game today I fear that you cannot go top six without the money to import ready made stars from overseas. It was the top four up until this year that were an exclusive "club" but now the top six are a closed shop. Which is perhaps why the league below those is so tight. Probably right up to Sunderland in eighth or Newcastle ninth have a risk of going on a poor run and dropping like a stone.

The debate (on the refereeing) rages on and now is further highlighted by United's media ban. Within their rights of course NOT to speak to anyone. Shame it has to get to this.

SAF's comments were unfortunate. I wish someone of his standing in the game would use such perceived injustices to force through change. I don't know what his personal thoughts on the subject are. Does he favour use of technology?

If he does it would be so much better to voice his full support for officials trying to regulate the modern game in impossible circumstances. Instant replay is the genie out of the bottle. We cannot 'unknow' this technology, so we have to find a way to incorporate it.

Watching the Bundesliga this past weekend there were a couple of games which featured potential 'game changing decisions. Both were instantly replayed on the stadium screens clearly showing the officials had got it wrong. 60,000 plus people know within 15 seconds that a major 'faux-pas' has occurred and the poor guy in the middle gets it in the neck for the rest of the game.

Hamburg 'scored' a goal which never was, didn't get a penalty which they should have, and Schalke conceded a penalty for handball which should never have been given. They lost the game by that single goal.

After the Hamburg game the ref was interviewed and was sorry for the error of the first 'goal', but as he said, without technology to assist him he gave what he thought he and the linesman saw.

I have to say I'm all for it (technology) that is. Yes it will change the game. Yes it may have an effect on atmosphere - sometimes - but the ref can be seen to be impartial and fair, and offences that go unseen in the moment can be reviewed and the appropriate punishment to players given.

What could it mean? Substantially reduced refereeing errors. Off the ball instances being properly identified. The game stopped, a review on the screen shown and a 4th or 5th official announcing the action being taken. Diving and faking injury - a thing of the past. Got to be worth a try.

The game is awash with money, it seems ridiculous to me that clubs very futures hang on the decisions of an individual who cannot be reasonably expected to see every incident and every line call. FIFA are like King Canute. Stubbornly sitting there thinking they can command the tide of techincal advancement. They want a modern game and yet they saddle it with the officialdom of the last century.

I don't get it.

so I am quite happy about last nights game....the first English manager to get to the Champions League 1/4 finals!  "Are you watching Ars-e-nal"? Would never have put money on it being a nil-nil. Another potentially leg breaking tackle from Flamini and once again only another yellow card.  Even I have sympathy for Van-Persie if you compare the 1 second whistle to shot against the Flamini tackle.

The moral of recent games is clearly that no matter how good you might be on the night, you have to score to win. Milan outplayed Spurs all over the park for most of the game - I thought that Seedorf in particular had a great game, but no goals.

Last night my second team, Ajax, totally outplayed Spartak Moscow with the best football they have played in many years (really!), but the ball simply would not go in, goalie had a blinder, etc, and they wound up losing to one decent shot from outside the area. It's a funny old game sometimes. Meanwhile, Dutch champions Twente, were comprehensively outplayed by Zenith St. Petersburg, yet won 3-0 because three of their four chances went in, while none of Zenith's dozen or more did.

As far as electronic aids are concerned, they should have been introduced long ago, certainly at the highest level, where a ref's or lino's error of judgment can literally cost a team many millions. Accepting that human error was an intrinsic, and even essential part of the game was fine in the 'old days', when the game was not so fast, when players didn't cheat as much, and when there was more prestige than money at stake. There is no excuse for not introducing goal line and offside electronic monitoring - the replays are available within 10 seconds, so there is no issue with delaying the game. The issue is that Blatter has been against it for so long, that he would lose face to 'give in' now.

FIFA needs a revolution, Blatter/Ghadaffi needs to go! 

How lucky, Bolton v ManU is the feature on the tube this morning. 
Rick

Hopes for our middie Holden after the cleats up by Cahill. 
Big loss for the US.
Rick