Joys of mute, I never do nowadays not for our matches, image wise I don’t even remember a replay.
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Debating whether he had “control” is the wrong framing though. That is what the rule says, but it also provides objective criteria to apply to determine whether control was gained. The “in control” framing encourages people to create their own definition of what that means, which is a big part of the reason why these discussions tend to go off the rails so much. Just as with handball and offside, one might have a personal opinion of how it should be defined, but you can only debate the merit of the ref’s decision on the basis of what the rules actually say.
The rule is a bit more ambiguous when the ball is loose, as it is after a rebound, but he still at that point only needs to get the ball between his hands, or get one hand on it when it’s one the ground, similar to the downward pressure interpretation in rugby. I dont see any justification for allowing that based on those definitions, but that two professionals seemed to be on the same page to allow it suggests there is good reason to. Some form of official statement about this sort of thing would be really helpful, which I believe is one of the things Clattenburg brought in during his toime running the MLS process.
Yeah, Matip on a diving header for a ball that was ankle height 
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As an amateur keeper it’s happened enough times the whole thing was a bit of mess to be fair, the save not being a particularly good one.
I’m still not sure it’s clear and obvious, the only decision that was and was missed was the pen thankfully it wasn’t a city fan boy on VAR. In my view the decisions were shit rather than corrupt.
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Well someone liked the comment so it must have been good
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It was, but it’s a boring subject and so have no desire to extend the conversation.
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Maybe try accepting that people can have valid opinions that don’t fit in with yours.
And remember that you are calling people out on stuff, so then its courteous to engage
Edit
I am not trying to convince anyone of my view. Pass on by if you dont want to engage
Strictly from a performance perspective, and understanding it is still preaseason, the game showed me that we might have an edge over City wrt squad depth.
Depth as defined by the diversity of the squad.
We have potentially multiple new ways to attack the season overall, just by the greater diversity of the squad, PLUS the improvements over the players who left- Origi/Minamino.
But a lot of that will depend on the trio of Elliot, Fabio and Jones. Possibly Ramsey, but that is further down the road because of his lack of preseason.
Several aspects of the City match showcassed snapshots of emerging trends in attack.
- Like when Nunes came on- and an immediate shift in Salah’s role
- then when Elliot came on; then when Fabio came on…
But I especially liked the defensive shape/shifting in the non-possession phase and how well we used it to control the game from deep.
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I would love to see a bit less of an edge on this one. Come on fellas!
Some thought Adrian was fouled. Some did not. Crucially the officials did not. They scored from it, but as it happened we scored three! Darwin looks fast as you like, hungry too. So many positives.
The reds are marching up the hill again, and it should be a cracking season.
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I don’t think it’s Stonewall. It was a penalty, but before the referee gets to that point he has to decide if the City players arms are in an ‘unnatural’ position. There is some subjectivity to that.
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If I were a referee and I was refereeing a game NOT involving City I probably don’t give that penalty.
But … Sucks to be City I guess.
It was definitely a stonewall penalty, 100%.
I’m not sure of the wording of the law for City’s goal but Adrian does have two hands on the ball, which I’ve always taken to mean the keeper is in possession of it.
Boring discussion anyway as above, we should be talking about how sharp Nunez and Salah looked. Mo’s quality in possession has returned, he was outstanding.
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Mo was outstanding, and will develop a lethal parnership with Nunez. I think Mo signing a new deal was the best business of the summer.
There is fuck all more to say on decisions to be honest.
It may be boring to some but obviously it matters to others.
And in fairness its a discussion that will evoke respones and argument during the season.
Mo was my MOM. A goal, an assist for Trent, an assist for the pen and an assist for the assist for Nunez’s goal. He was brilliant throughout. Also, it was great to see him looking relaxed and happy. He must have smiled more in that one game than he smiled for the entirety of last season.
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Have you ever refereed a game?
I have, sometimes you cannot see the contact because of your positioning, the player body angle etc. You are pretty sure what has happened but that us not enough, you have to be certain and that is where VAR comes in. Refs cannot see everything, now if you said there is a conspiracy with VAR, especially after last seasons Spurs game, I might agree
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So he made a pass.
Not really sure that is something to get to boyant over. As a professional footballer being able to pass a ball should be a given
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I have refereed a few games.
Not very good at it though.
But it wasn’t my job with the eyes of the world on me. And if I made such elementary mistakes in my job there would be questions
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I think the thing is that no matter how many people are watching and how much someone is paid, they still have one pair of eyes. Being professional doesn’t mean he can see through bodies.
I won’t cry foul when a referee makes an understandable mistake, and then corrects it with the benefit of a reply. If you want to talk about referee bias/incompetence, we have a number of examples from last season. Getting pissed off about the ref not giving a pen without a look at the monitor, is just cryarsing for the sake of it. To me, it’s the system working exactly as it should.
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There are countless examples over the last few seasons.
I just hoped for better, but I thought the ref and VAR were poor on Saturday.
Two big decisions incorrect, he had no choice with the pen.
Its rinse and repeat
And the rest of his game?
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Of course he had a choice with the Pen. He could look at the screen and decide it was accidental contact, and play on.
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