You are spot on. 
The moment it happened I knew this was a penalty.
2 Likes
I think what we have achieved so far this season with all the injuries, silly VAR decisions and amount of games,is quite remarkable. Let´s be realistic though, the title this season is really up for grabs. Any one of about 6 teams could win it.
3 Likes
Gomez handball was clearly a penalty under current rules. I don’t think anyone is disputing that. The point is that the rule is bad. He did everything possible not to handball.
8 Likes
It’s a penalty according to the rules but the rules are a fucking joke.
They talk about natural silhouette but the natural silhouette of anyone running would show their arms away from their body.
The Rodri one his arms are arguably in a less natural position but are within the silhouette of his body so it’s not even considered.
Neither should be penalties. Neither should be allowed to be reviewed in super slow motion as that completely distorts the perception of what’s occured.
If that Gomez one is given for us I’d just smile and laugh at the ludicrous nature of it instead of frowning and being pissed off at the ludicrous nature of it.
4 Likes
Click on your Avatar in the top right hand corner and click little head & shoulders on right hand tab and then preferences and users. You can select who to ignore and for how long.
1 Like
I agree. Where is the defender supposed to put his arms in this situation?
Jo is running back; he is about 6 yards from de Bruyne; the ball takes about 0.3 seconds to reach Jo i.e. it is travelling at roughly 40 mph. He clearly tries to get his arm out of the way, but there isn’t enough time, and he isn’t a contortionist.
Still, by the current interpretation/implementation of the law it’s handball, so we just have to accept it.
And on the matter of implementing the law, when are refs going to do something about players crowding them?
5 Likes
Intentional or fluke?
The ball spins off his foot - he didn’t control the ball - it could have gone anywhere. He gets lucky with his toe poke.
1 Like
Trent’s injury could be a blessing in disguise for us if it isn’t too bad. It will keep him out of the internationals, while allowing him to recover and rest before the next batch of games.
3 Likes
Citeh were lucky we were a bit knackered,Gomez was very unlucky but i’ll take staying 5 points in front of the sleazy fuckers.
5 Likes
Thought we were excellent in the first half. Second half we tired, and couldn’t keep hold of the ball very well but a very decent point I thought.
I really hope Trent is ok.
4 Likes
I imagine from a young age Joe has been taught to jockey players and to keep his arms out for balance so it’s easier to change direction. As will every other young defender in the past few decades. Defenders that started to put hands behind their backs were roundly mocked for that poor technique but that is now what rule makers want players to do.It’s totally unnatural and a huge disadvantage to defending players, just as last years dumb rule of chalking off any goal where the ball may have touched an attackers arm at any point was a huge disadvantage to attacking players.
I just don’t get what the rule is trying to achieve. They seem obsessed with removing any context from incidents and it’s making a mockery of the game. And worse still they review incidents in slow motion too. Fans, commentators and pundits are fed up by it so I can only imagine how players and managers feel.
The average number of penalties per season over the last decade in the Premier League is 92.5. This season is on course for 180. If that doesn’t tell you the rules have swung wildly too far in one direction then I don’t know what will. It isn’t enjoyable watching endless penalties for things which clearly haven’t been penalties up until last season.
I just wish this rule had been in play when we had Suarez at his peak. We’d have been getting a couple of penalties a game with those little flicks he used to play off defenders.
4 Likes
I’m leaning towards deliberate to be honest. It just doesn’t look like he’s trying to control the ball and shield it. Pretty clear he’s trying it given the speed of the turn. He knew where it was.
Good goal to be fair. IMO.
3 Likes
We’ll never know that. To be honest if one of our players do it, we won’t even question if it was fluke (unless agenda). What we know is if it was unintentional, that was superb speed of thought to know where the ball has gone and reach it before the defenders do. Majority of football players lose the ball to a nearby defender with such a touch (if unintentional) let alone get to it and then score within fractions of seconds. Have to give it to him, in either case it was an excellent goal.
9 Likes
Yes, the speed of expectation - if you follow his head - as to where the ball would fall suggests it was intentional.
4 Likes
Analogy – car going at the speed limit, but need to take immediate action at something appearing in front of you - either turn left or right. With the instant reaction your brain calculates go left. You take left. You are now committed to left, even as more info is coming into your brain that left is wrong way to avoid. You try your best to go even further left but the momentum is taking you forward. You did everything in good faith to avoid the crash.
If you turned right in the first place, you would’ve avoided it, so some people arguing that you’re to blame as you could’ve gone right.
In yesterday’s game, some commentators saying Joe needed to drop his hand instead of trying to swivel and pull back hand. That’s monday morning quaterbacking at its finest. Easy to say in hindsight. Joe makes an instant reaction to one movement and was committed to it.
VAR – the new handball rules in the Prem is actually not as strict as it was originally meant to be. It allows for some interpretation (distance, is the player moving towards the ball or not, etc). Unfortunately, the VAR system in place shows the ref in super slow mo, so it loses some nuance I think in high speed situations.
2 Likes
Looks intentional to me, though not exactly finely executed.
In any case, I maintain my view that it was horrible defending by TAA, for to easy for Jesus to get goalside / poor positioning by TAA.
Clarity for refs. They trade the ability for Refs to get objective criteria for the freedom to make a call that is line with the intention of the rule existing in the first place. This is basically the discussion they have every year. What went wrong last year and how can they tweek the rule to remove the identified cases where it went wrong. Each time the idea of first principles…what outcome was the rule written to prevent…is ignored and we get further and further away from it.
That’s where I’m leaning as well. He may not have meant to put it exactly there, but he knew where the space was and gambled on being able to turn quicker than the unexpecting Trent could. But even if not, part of being a striker is being able to react to a half chance and he did. Either way, it’s good forward play and sometimes you just have to put your hands up and admit you got done by good play.
2 Likes
I also think that the rebound is luck. However, the way how he reacts to the rebound is stunning.
3 Likes
This is the biggest issue I have. The images take the context out. Take contact in a challenge as an example. That in itself is not a foul if the contact has not materially impacted the opponent’s ability to get/keep the ball, but VAR has pushed us even closer to the point where any contact = foul.
2 Likes
Nail on the head here. Same with the offside rule. That was created to stop forwards goal hanging. It has broadly worked pretty well with all applications and tweaks up until the introduction of VAR. Now the rule is so far beyond the original action it was intended to prevent we’ve got goals being ruled out by millimetres or for a forward pointing to where he wants the ball played with a fraction of the part of the arm that now isn’t handball just beyond the last defender.
With handball, they’re basing it off of the silhouette of someone standing still and any movement of the arms outside of that being potentially seen as handball. Issue is, football is a fast paced, dynamic sport that involves a lot of running. How can you say a natural silhouette of a footballer has their hands by their sides?
Gary Neville was spot on yesterday. From the perspective some someone who has played the game at the highest level, he can’t understand that as a handball infringement. He knows what is and isn’t natural in that position because he’s been in that position thousands of times.
I don’t want to come across all tabloid dickhead about it but it does now seem we’ve got a bunch of people who have never been good enough to play the game telling people what is and isn’t natural in the way they move.
I’m honestly losing interest. At a time when we’re at our peak in my lifetime, my enjoyment of watching the game is diminishing because of these rules and VAR. That can’t be right and I surely can’t be the only one.
7 Likes