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2010-2011 Football Thread

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Lord Blackadder said:
Stuart Atwell has taken a lot of stick in the recent past, so it's good to see him making a crucial call correctly.
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Sorry I disagree, 'free kick' was taken 25 yards forward of where it was due to be taken.

awmazz said:
What is a travesty in my book is the fact people actually think Torres and Kuyt cheated when in fact it was Turner. Cheating as in ignoring/breaking the rules and then claiming injustice was done when it goes against them. Because refs have let them for so long. How many times a week, a game, every game, do we see referees allowing players to dick around with the ball on free kicks - tapping it around with their foot, kicking it to another player before the 'actual' free kick, rolling it forward again to gain extra yardage, standing with their foot on the ball as if it's a kick-off etc etc, as if they have every right under the rules to kick and/or move the ball as much as they want to until *they* decide when it's actually taken.
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I didn't think they were cheating, I just don't like to see that kind of thing happen. And yes taking extra yards really ticks me off too, especially the number of trial runs they have at throw-ins.
 
United can only snatch a draw against Bolton, and Arsenal lose. Chelsea dodge a bullet this weekend, but the gap is closing.

Jaffa Cake said:
He's made it through another 90 minutes so it's a case of so far, so good I suppose. We're gradually starting to look a bit better – for one thing, the acquisitions of Gerrard and Ayala have done wonders for our defence – so we'll see how things develop.
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Probably glad you didn't keep Michael Turner around now, eh? :D
 
Fuzzy14 said:
Sorry I disagree, 'free kick' was taken 25 yards forward of where it was due to be taken.
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EDIT: Re: the Liverpool/Sunderland goal controversy...plenty of discussion 'round the net on this. The Guardian has a little article about it and some of the comments are interesting. It also links to a Graham Poll piece that I disagree with, although even Poll admits that the rules were not broken.

The sequence of events as I understand them are:

  • Atwell whistles for a freekick to Sunderland, which they take.
  • Atwell whistles again and makes them re-take it either because it was being taken too quickly or from the wrong place. There seems to be some confusion over why the kick was re-taken ( think it was because it was being taken from the wrong place).
  • Turner places the ball to re-take, then backheels it to the keeper.
  • Torres runs onto the ball while everyone else stands around. Kuyt follows to the right and puts Torres' squared pass into the back of the net.
  • Atwell consults his assistant and allows the goal.

The keeper was 15 yards away from where the free-kick was supposed to be taken, so it seems odd that Turner would kick the ball away from the spot pointed to by Atwell just so the keeper could dribble back into place and take it. If the keeper was only a yard or two behind Turner there would be more doubt, but he was a long way off, long enough for Torres to sprint up to it.

It's true that once a ref whistles for a freekick, players often roll the ball to another player to take it, and that the touches are not considered the kick itself. But in this case Turner was in the right spot and rolled the ball a long way to the keeper. It think it truly was a call that could have gone either way, but the sequence of events as they happened fit within the rules as I see it.

I see it as Karma for the beachball goal anyway. ;)
 
Lord Blackadder said:
It's true that once a ref whistles for a freekick, players often roll the ball to another player to take it, and that the touches are not considered the kick itself. But in this case Turner was in the right spot and rolled the ball a long way to the keeper. It think it truly was a call that could have gone either way, but the sequence of events as they happened fit within the rules as I see it.
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Hey if my team scored a goal like that I would be laughing my head off! Keeps the game interesting.

Lord Blackadder said:
I see it as Karma for the beachball goal anyway. ;)
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That doesn't ring a bell, will YouTube it tonight. Instant Karma's gets you every time.
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Ah, but we all know how they 'punish' refs who make poor decisions, don't we? They drop them down a division or two for a spell.

We'll have to watch out for Atwell at a stadium near us soon...
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Can't wait.

I love that he gave a goal when the ball didn't even go close to the goal, and was then promoted to a Premiership referee...


Leeds 3 - 1 Preston. We keep going behind then coming back to get 3 points. Love it!
 
"It was absolutely gobsmacking," said Grayson.
"I was lost for words. I was embarrassed and ashamed...unprofessional is another word you could use.
"We actually looked decent for a period in the first half, went 4-1 up, and were a major threat - but it still wasn't good enough. We said to keep it tight and see the first half out, but the goal before half-time gave them a lift and made it 4-2.
"I had a right go at them at half-time because there were too many things going wrong. We were being unprofessional and we told them.
"But in the second half we completely capitulated in terms doing all the wrong things. There were too many players playing as individuals and not as a team. There were too many mistakes. I could be here all day and night talking about the wrong things.
"It was like groundhog day again. To say it was disappointing would be a complete understatement.
"I've never been involved in a game like that before and I never want to be involved in another one.
"It was so frustrating because you look like you have turned a corner with a couple of decent results after the Barnsley game and then you get done six. Football amazes you."
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Too right.

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Valencia are top of the table in Spain, I think they may pull out a good result against United here, especially a Rooney-less United.

EDIT: Or not. :rolleyes:

smwatson said:
Too right.
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A game like that is every manager's worst nightmare - after shaky first half but holding a good lead, he tries to get the team back on track with his halftime talk, only to watch them totally fall apart and let the opposition mount a huge comeback.
 
I had a wander around the pubs in Boro but none of the pubs would put on the Rangers game so ended up watching the Man U game but left before the goal. Man U were pretty poor again, Valencia were all over them for most of the game. Great result for Rangers, top of the table!:)
 
I think last season's Valencia, with David Villa and David Silva on the field, would have won, but Valencia just couldn't put away chances.
 
With such a weakened squad, I expected United to lose today, and was merely hoping to come out with a draw. However they managed to defend pretty well except for those moments where Evra got utterly embarrassed. Valencia had the better scoring chances but they couldn't quite convert, or United defenders made good last ditch stops.

Second half was definitely more interesting as both teams went 4-4-2. I'd say that lad Chicharito is a natural finisher.
 
Silencio said:
Second half was definitely more interesting as both teams went 4-4-2. I'd say that lad Chicharito is a natural finisher.
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With the Mexican league's style of play featuring a much slower buildup than the Premier League's, it will be interesting to see how he does in league play, especially with fast counterattacks. He has obvious talent in front of goal though, no doubt about that.

EDIT: A poor away performance at Utrecht, but Liverpool escape with a draw. Utrecht were the better side, though Liverpool created a couple chances that, two seasons ago, they probably would have converted. Bad defending, a better team would have punished us mercilessly. The rebuilding continues...
 
So I'm tuned into Man. City v. Juve and I hear a name that feels like I've been hearing it all my life: Del Piero

Weird. I thought he would have retired a long time ago.
 
Jaffa Cake said:
According to Wikipedia, 'Il Pinturicchio' will be 36 the month after next. Clearly he's modelling himself on Dean Windass...
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Clearly. :D He must have debuted at an early age. I'm sure when Football Italia was still on Channel 4, he was a first team player for Juve then.

Policemen are looking younger these days too.
 
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