I bet there’s not only me…
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And by the way Diaz has been ruthless in Bundesliga. 5 matches - 3 goals 3 assists.
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Elanga had a great shout for a penalty. Gabriel’s arm was up in the air as he slid on the ground to block. I think the only reason why a penalty wasn’t given was because of close proximity, as it was only two yards from leaving foot to hitting arm.
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Yes, but his arm was in an unnatural position and Arsenal gained an advantage from that.
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To be clear, I thought it should have been a penalty. His arm was up vertical, and it blocked the cross.
I didn’t hear an official verdict as to why it was not given, but I would imagine it was because of the close proximity. I disagree with that and thought it should have been a penalty.
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I think the feeble excuse was’it ricocheted off his leg’…but it still hit his arm which was nowhere near his body…feeble, feeble, feeble…poor excuse to give a win…
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A bit early considering this time last season we still weren’t top.
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Early because ..the commentators, tv presenters,etc…have all become the baying crowd obviously biased to the Arses…which helps(I think)to sway refs and vars…we shall see…
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It’s almost like all the talk of winning it by December was a bit silly.
Anyhow can anyone see Notts Forest go down?
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Its just me…I always want us to win…top of the PL and should be always…but things beyond my/our control deem it to be a stressful few months…
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Delap was the master at it for Stoke.
Mr Hackett is always putting his oar in when we get an advantage. He is supposed to be impartial.
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The hype reminded me a lot of the hype surrounding Serbia’s basketball team ahead of the last Euro championship. I think I read at least two articles proclaiming Liverpool’s five point lead unassailable - I knew they were out to jinx us.
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If truth be told, I don’t think anyone looks pretty impressive this season.
Every team has had their moments but also their flaws, Arsenal beating Newcastle does sort of give them a bit of an edge but I can see them struggling to get the goals again in some games.
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This was the third decision in a weekend where the preferred interpretation of a rule arrived at an absurd decision demonstrating the rule/interpretation is not fit for purpose. In each case there is an explanation that can be given for the decision that is technically correct and consistent with what we all saw, but the outcome of each was absurd.
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Yeah, it means that we, as fans, have no idea what is or isn’t handball. A gamechanging decision can be made and we don’t know why.
This looks to me as if the defender has stuck his arm up in the air and gained a clear advantage. The ref’s saying it was too close, but we’ve all seen penalties given for exactly this type of offence. So, is it just a lottery?
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In most cases it is knowable why the ref made the decision they did and the guidance can be cited in justification of it. In this case the explanation is that it was close AND it ricocheted off other things onto his arm, and that takes precedence over the unnatural position of the arm.
Broad leeway for defenders to not be punished for ball to hand makes sense when they are standing their ground. But when they throw themselves into the path of the ball and gain a big advantage by the ball being blocked by the outstretched arm then that SHOULD be handball, and the authorities should go back to the drawing board to revise the guidance in whatever way is necessary for situations like this to be given.
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The Dom penalty against Brighton a couple of seasons ago is another great example. He was about 12 yards out lined up somewhere around the right hand post. He chopped the ball back onto his left foot to create a shooting opportunity into what would have been an open goal and was pulled down and prevented from shooting. It was deemed not DOGSO because his touch took the ball away from goal. It did in a vertical vector…by inches, but got it closer to the center of the goal in a horizontal vector. In a full vector analysis he was closer to goal than before the touch. But jesus fucking christ, you dont need to go into that level of detail to see that a mostly open goal, 12 yards out, positioned between the width of the goal is a clear goal scoring opportunity.
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The Beeb with another pearler. They have an article on ‘new’ inventions in football every week. Make it stop
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