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Rumour has it in these parts that Chelsea are getting Gordon Ramsey in, he’s kept himself fit so he can still play a bit as an impact sub - the added bonus is he can cook the books to a Michelin star standard 😀⚽️
To hell with it, might as well go the whole hog, get Slick Rick in to replace Wilcox - we could then do more revolutionary things on top of buying a keeper to not let in goals, he’d have us buying a striker fit enough to play all season and score lots of goals ⚽️😀
I’d say play a similar team to Watford away in the Cup, come what may we are finishing 4th so no point risking our best players or Stewart, even if he is fit, as he would be the priority target for Leeds to kick lumps out of to ensure he misses the P/O Final as he would be a new dimension up front and a type of threat we don’t currently have in our arsenal of attacking options. Of course, that is assuming we successfully navigate to semi finals….
And don’t forget he thinks Bazunu is a great keeper despite the facts proving the exact opposite - worst keeper in the division according to the official stats. Spot on re your assessment of RM - I really don’t understand our club’s thinking process when it comes to recruiting, for example, when there was us, Villa and Wolves struggling, Villa get Emery in, Wolves get Lopetegui in and we get Nathan bloody Jones! If somehow we go up through the play-offs we will get annihilated playing Rustyball so my choice would be Potter + a squad overhaul. If we don’t go up I’d go for Cooper. TBH, up or not, I’d take either of them over RM. So, we had better get the replacement for Wilcox in and get on with planning next season.
OK, fair enough, I didn’t know a about the PSG incident but now you mention it I do recall the Villa game. Perhaps I should re-phrase it and say when it makes a decision, goal line tech is more reliable than VAR as no human decision making is involved. If what you have flagged up is the sum total of its errors / failures then I think it is fair to say it is about as good as can be expected. Accept what you say, it is not absolutely perfect but pretty close.
You say Offside is offside, and it is one of the things that VAR CAN be relied to get right.
Really?
Presenting the case for the prosecution - this is the one we know about, how many more examples are there that we don't know about? I'd love to think this is a one-off but I very seriously doubt it, to be honest, I would not trust them as far as I could bench press an elephant...
The one thing you can rely on is goalline tech = no humans involved.
Spot on - look how well goal line tech works as there are no Refs involved in the decision, it is the tech that makes the decision. I don’t think it is always corrupt decision making, although I would not rule it out, especially in instances like yesterday at Wembley, in other cases I think it is just rank stupidity and incompetence. I suspect VAR won’t ever be scrapped and sadly I think the Championship will be plagued with it at some stage in the future, it is clear and obvious changes need to be made and I suspect within the next decade the solution will come (perhaps partially) in the form of AI. If that happens the key battle will be to factor in common sense to the AI learning process and then what happens if there are any significant changes to LOTG between seasons - will AI have time to fully adapt? Be careful what we wish for might be a good phrase to keep in mind…
As I said in my first post, a good solution has been offered but the Refs had a hissy fit so this is where we are at as a result. I honestly believe they enjoy being pedants and ruining occasions like yesterday at Wembley as they get some kind of perverse enjoyment out of it. Several solutions are available, apparently the tech is available to chip the kits but I have not seen the detailed explanation of how that tech works so I don’t know how good it would be in terms of proposing it as an alternative to the current farce we all have to endure. Other solutions were suggested at the same time as the BM proposal but anything put forward is just shouted down. I honestly think it will take some form of direct action to improve the current situation.
And in the case of the Everton game not one but two of the three penalty shouts definitely pens one of those two not so much nailed on as superglued on! As Forest have pointed out, a known Luton fan was in charge of VAR for that game - why??? Has anyone at PGMOL got a brain? As they said on MOTD2 last night, the use of a bit more intelligence on making the appointment would have gone a long way.
Clog up the rail lines? Engineering works will probably put paid to that!! They’ve done it before a couple of seasons ago where the West Coast main line was part shut the weekend of the Final. Thing is the FA still take a considerable volume of Cup Final tickets, although not quite as many as they used to, so even an extended Anfield would not be big enough. The allocation the FA take don’t go to the two competing Clubs. There really should be a second national stadium in either the NW or Yorkshire to cater for the all northern semi finals / finals and as a northern base for some England games to be played at as an alternative to Wembley. Saw England at Old Trafford and Sunderland when Wembley was being rebuilt and the atmosphere was arguably better than Wembley.
Agree with just about all the sentiments expressed above - I was absolutely gutted for Coventry City and all their supporters for what was essentially a ridiculous decision which for the umpteenth time since this tech was introduced has ruined a great game of football and proves the lunatics really are running the asylum when it suits them.
According to the Laws Of The Game, a player who is level with the second last opponent is onside with arms and hands excluded from consideration. I have copied and pasted the relevant extract from LOTG below
Law 11.1 Offside position It is not an offence to be in an offside position.
A player is in an offside position if: any part of the head, body or feet is in the opponents’ half (excluding the halfway line) and any part of the head, body or feet is nearer to the opponents’ goal line than both the ball and the second-last opponent The hands and arms of all players, including the goalkeepers, are not considered. For the purposes of determining offside, the upper boundary of the arm is in line with the bottom of the armpit. A player is not in an offside position if level with the: second-last opponent or last two opponents
So, if, as was the case yesterday, 99.95% of the player’s body is level with the second last opponent and 0.05% is offside - a toenail in this instance then the player is offside?? Utter b/s, this was NEVER, EVER the way the rule was meant to be interpreted and the bed wetters in the VAR booths damned well know it. If you really want to be pedantic - and don’t they just LOVE being pedants - the rule states body not boot, I would therefore contend that the space in front of the end of the big toe and the outer edge of the boot is sufficient for all parts of the Coventry player’s BODY to have been onside but the front one third of an inch of the boot being offside - the law says body…. Yes, that is sooo pedantic, but that’s what it has come to.
This is all so unnecessary as a solution to all of this was offered up after the first season of VAR in the PL. The solution offered would have almost ended the need to draw the pathetic lines and was a tweak to how offside was judged, the tweak being using a percentage of the attacking player’s body mass needing to be level with the second last opponent - or in front of the second last opponent if you prefer to determine level/onside or in front/offside. Hands & arms were still excluded and the percentages talked about ranged from 10/90 to 20/80. Even 10/90 (in front/level) would negate the ridiculous decision yesterday where a fraction of a percentage of the players boot was offside. Decisions like this are ruining the game. When suggested the Refs / Refs bodies had a hissy fit so we are where we are. They all know damned well that pre-VAR none of the decisions that need lines drawn would ever have been given as offside and level was level - and for the avoidance of doubt, when 99.9% of the attacking player’s body is level then onside is the ONLY sensible and right minded decision to be made. Won’t bother watching the Manc-fest in May…..
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