Yeah, that is about where my thinking is. The 50/50 is likely irrelevant, either way he is involved with play. It would only be relevant if James was taking himself out of the play rather than trying to get Mane - which would be a very difficult call to make.
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I was watching the match with a couple of mates, one of whom supports Everton and the other Chelsea so theyāve both seen a fair bit of Lukaku over the years.
Neither had seen anybody manhandle him as easily as Ibou did yesterday. Our lad is a real beast- and heās still young by central defender standards.
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I resent your implication, sir!
For me it gets into the territory of actively looking for a reason to rule out the goal.
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Milner telling Rudiger to fuck off.
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Exactly, and Bobby Firminoās armpit thinks Lukaku was offside
It was very close, but there is little doubt about the correctness of the call.
Virgil being declared to have interfered with play from an offside position away from the ball is a much more subjective and debatable call. Although I think if it happened against us Iād want the goal disallowedā¦ I also think itād probably be allowed to stand more times than not.
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I heard a story that Shankly had the changing room door and frame lowered by 6inches so that when his players walked into the corridor where the opposing team wereā¦ most of the boys had to stoop down to get through making them appear bigger than they actually wereā¦!
Shanks ehā¦ :0)
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I resemble it myself
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Did this at college. We spent a few hours in the hall taking it in turns to keep and take penalties. Trying to save the shot taken was more successful than diving either way premeditated. Forced the taker to try to hit the corners. When ever Iāve kept since for a penalty, always took the time to tell the person taking that I was going to wait till they kicked it. 1-0 straight away in terms of headology.
Did someone tell Milly that Yorkshire tea is shit?
I like how he told Marcos to tell Rudiger to fuck off then decided to cut out the middle man!
If James is holding off VVD then surely advantage to Liverpool and goal stands?
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Alternatively, acknowledge that sometimes you still lose even after making the right decision. It is not common sense to treat it as if the alternative decision was necessarily the correct one just because they ended up losing.
Athletes will often talk about the hard work not being the event itself but the preparation. Football is a little bit different, but the attitude can be leveraged. If you can convince the guys not getting the minutes they want that they are important due to the way you use them in training they will likely feel part of the victory in a moment like this. If you make clear in training that itās only the guys who will play the games who are important (a typical Jose strategy) then youāll get alienation.
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No, because VVD is offside, and still affecting play. It would have to be James preventing VVD from getting onside.
Been a while since your last visit. Welcome back is warranted i guessā¦
Also , this lukaku isnt the slob that he was at man utdā¦
Either way , there aint many defenders who would win that particular battleā¦ Konate for sure proved to be one of them
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Alissonā son
Can the FA not find anything else to moan aboutā¦other than an 18yr old ā¦whose scored his penā¦āmoving a flareāā¦
No-one near him, no fans near himā¦no-oneā¦they just canāt stand that he was in a team thatās just beat one of their favouritesā¦
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Where it gets confusing is that Virgil is NOT treated as offside if his presence simply makes James act to try to defend him. Think of Lovren a few years ago against Spurs, feeling he had to clear a ball to prevent it running through o an potentially but not definitely offside Kane, and fucking it up. The rule requires James to be trying to get over to Mane but is physically impeded from doing so in a way that affects the play. If Virgil isnāt there you can assume that James would immediately be backpeddling to get over to Mane, but the rule doesnt require you eliminate Virgil from play, which is makes it a mess to mentally work through.
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I am a bit lost on the Virgil impeding James angle.
To me James is as culpable of holding, therefore the goal should stand.
James doesnāt get to cover off Mane one way or other as he has engaged with Virgil.
Its a goal, plain and simple.
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I liked that Milner basically came to pull Harvey away from the scrap. Knew the young lad might not be as adept at keeping his head in that situation and needed to be protected from himself more than anyone else on the pitch.
Then when Rudiger turned up to pick on Elliott he could basically deflect the attention away from Harvey by getting into the fight himself instead.
Fabinho was equally as smart and composed after the Keita āelbowā incident. Naby is stood arguing his case and Fab just pulls him away as if to say to the ref āyou know that wasnāt a foul and youāre not going to do anything so let him get back in positionā.
Thought there was some really clever psychological bits and pieces we did throughout the game. Fab dinking his penalty when he saw Kepa jumping about like a tit on his line reminded me of Pirlo against Hart in the World Cup. āYeah you want to give it the biggun do you son, well you chuck yourself off over there and iāll just dink this to right where you were stood and make you look a titā.
Then Virg absolutely hammering it in the side where Kepa was obviously standing towards as if to show him it didnāt matter what antics he pulled. Doubled down on it by giving him the death stare after it went in. āstand where you want dickhead, Iām Virgil van Fucking Dijk and im better than you in every conceivable wayā.
Seemed a lot more effective than the Chelsea lads trying to shush a crowd and perhaps showed the difference in mindset and focus during the shootout.
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