It’s interesting that the passing map shows Alisson only passing to Virgil. I wonder whether they will work on long passes to Barcola if his speed really is that fast?
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I was wondering when you would intervene but you are wrong the ref always makes the final decision all VAR is there is to suggest there is something that the ref needs to check and send him to the video slow mo. The main contention was if it was a penalty or not on the Szoboszlai incident but I was confident they chalk it off because they would somehow find something else like a forensic offside or an arm sleeve handball to not give a penalty.
On the Isak goal the decision was also made by the ref to chalk it off but even if it was not offside they would have gone back two or three play actions to look for a fault.
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It wasn’t…VAR correctly adjudged it offside.
How on earth can a referee decide on offside. They really don’t. They blow only once the linesman flags. Isak was offside. VAR got it right in this case..a referee is never the adjudicator of whether a player is offside or not..
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Szoboszlai, Munoz and Kerkez only pass backwards 
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To be fair to Munoz he’s only ever receiving the ball pretty high up the pitch, so he’s either cutting infield, going to the byline or…passing back
What about the penalty? Should it have been? Or is there another excuse for us not getting it?
It was worse than the one Newcastle were awarded.
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I thought either both the Alisson one and the Gakpo one last night were penalties or both weren’t. I can’t understand how they are different…it needs clarifying..
But we were talking about one specific offside decision which the poster said was wrong. He said Isak was not offside…even if he was onside, it is not down to the referee to decide either way. Not in the EPL or even in the park. The linesman flags and the referee 99.9% of the time blows it. You know that.
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Let’s see all his fans glaze this away I have never seen someone get such a free pass on been shite as much.
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They really weren’t the same sort of tackle. Alisson got down to block a shot, which is a goalkeepers job. The one against Gapko was a pretty wild foul from behind. You can make the argument that both were after the ball was release, but the latter really deserved a card.
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A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.
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I agree with this and that’s why you could call the foul against Gakpo a penalty - because it was probably reckless. The Allison one was a joke and I’m surprised PGMOL hasn’t made a comment on that. Personally I think neither were pens but the Gakpo one very marginal.
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Does it say how many times he passes backwards? The kid is always looking to progress play andf as such he will get caught out - because he’s trying to make things happen. He’s lost the ball 53 times but it doesn’t say how much possession he’s had compared to other players. It’s one of those meaningless stats that are pumped out.
It was, and first sign of some sort of mojo returning after having lost the plot last season. In the first half at least.
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The winger being shown back inside from Kerkez seemed a tactical ploy as Shaw was roasted on the outside by him for Ipswich’s goal against Man U with a low cross driven cross.
The issue was that there was no cover inside to double up and block the shot and he was isolated a lot 1 v 1, and allowing a high floaty cross with 3 CB’s is/was less dangerous.
Saying that he was poor in possession.
Im not jumping on the full hate for him but you can’t deny he isn’t doing enough creatively. This is the reason we were told he was signed for to be that key to unlock defences. He has 5 assists in 36 league games.
33 of them were playing Slotball.
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This is where I have been critical of Virg in the previous matches he wasn’t playing line breaking passes, so it was great to see him against Ipswich making those passes.
What is evident from those pass maps is how little service Munoz got from the inside right position, he would thrive on those little inside passes in between the CB and FB.
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And a lot more if players finished better or weren’t offside.
I always prefer XA (expected assists) over the assists stat as a better metric for creation.
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Thanks for that response its one I was hoping for I worded it too illicit. Why didn’t others get that same leeway Gakpo, Salah or Macca.
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He hasn’t been good enough himself though.
I’ve said a lot of times that the midfield needs to get him on the ball more and it’s still true, but Wirtz has to do so much more when he does get the ball. We did spend a lot of money on him for him to provide that quality and cutting edge, and he isn’t. Right now he looks miles off the level required. That’s just how it is.
I think he can turn it round and he was showing promise last year, but it’s the case that he isn’t good enough right now.