Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I watched it last night. They looked outclassed, too slow, and outmuscled. Things need to change.
It's hard to pick the worst back. TAA and Gomez were horrible. VVD wasn't much better other than saving a goal. Milner looks like he's wearing cement shoes. Elliott can't play defense. It was like Fabinho was playing defensive midfield by himself. Salah has been invisible since last January.
Hopefully, Thiago and Matip will be healthy. Gomez and Milner are now squad players for the Carabao and FA cup.
I haven't changed my opinion. I think Liverpool is burned out from last season. It's hard to guess what the team will look like after World Cup.
Games canceled this weekend. Looks like next weekend may be off too. RIP to thecQueen.
I’d think the full 10 days is appropriate. We’re at St James Court for a few nights this week a few blocks from Buckingham Palace. It will probably be pretty tough to get to the property. Buckingham Gate is closed until the 16th.
Arsenal looks really good. The opening goal was gorgeous.
I guess I don’t understand the rules. Why was that a red card on Emerson Royal? Did the official think it was intentional?
This particular ref has been consistent in giving a red for ankle offences. Law 12 on serious foul play was at issue. A player may be sent off for a tackle or challenge that endangers the safety of an opponent or uses excessive force or brutality. The rule has a clarifying clause that says "any player who lunges at an opponent in challenging for the ball from the front, from the side or from behind using one or both legs, with excessive force or endangers the safety of an opponent is guilty of serious foul play."
This is a judgment call. In this case, the issue was that he was not playing the ball. Royal sadly has a reputation for getting aggressive when you play him rough off the call. Martinelli knows this and baited him the entire half. He was a powder keg at that point and popped. Its a poor train in a player and I give props to Martinelli for knowing exactly what to do. He wound up drawing a red on a rather simple challenge with no force and no chance at all of any injury whatsoever. For him, this was the golden result. No risk and a red card.
Taylor tends to let the pushing for position go very far. Every ref is different and you take what you get. If this same call was made with 10 other refs, yo may have seen 10 yellow cards. But you are stuck with the call. It was not a clear error for VAR to overturn, but as you will see if you watch a lot, that same call is far more often a yellow or given the force that was used, even no call.
He came in next to the opponent and went down toward his ankle with the two players running and upright. No slide tackle was used at all, only a step down. Usually it takes a slide with the spikes up to give a red, not running with the spikes, obviously down, since that is how gravity works. But the ball was not close. If he did this and missed a challenge on the ball, I suspect even for Taylor, this was no red. Plus, the force was almost nothing, Its was very light contact. There was no chance of any injury whatsoever in this instance. But MArtinelli dropped like a stone, the sideline official was right there. It was a bad challenge and a terrible decision by Royal. Any player should control their anger better.
But since the ball was not there and this was clearly a frustrated player, the move warranted a card. Taylor went with red. No VAR is going to overturn this, its completely within the discretion of the ref. I obviously wish it were yellow, because it cost tottenham the game. Right up until the card the counter worked well. But after the card Conte was getting the sub ready and they scored again. Game was over at that point. But it happens. Calls you disagree with are a part of the game. Only idiots and fools scream and yell and complain. You move on, get ready for the next match and try better.
In this instance, I wonder if it will help the Spurs. Many spurs fans feel Royal is the weakest link in the 11. Matt Doherty looked good in replacing him last season when Royal was out. Djed Spense looked good at Forrest last year and is still training up to Conte's level. Perhaps one of them will be a big improvement. I'm not a Royal fan to be honest. So I am hopeful that this will help the team get better. Its a long season. One game and one aggressive ref call can be overcome in a long season. Its why every point counts.
Last edited by dr.strangelove; 10-03-2022 at 08:33 AM..
He came in next to the opponent and went down toward his ankle with the two players running and upright. No slide tackle was used at all, only a step down. Usually it takes a slide with the spikes up to give a red, not running with the spikes, obviously down, since that is how gravity works.
The hyperbole of spikes up slide and career ending was kind of over the top. I looked at a number of replays and it looked like spikes on leather. An obvious yellow. The Spurs had already lost the match so it didn’t change the outcome but I appreciate the explanation that most referees would have given that a yellow. That’s consistent with how I’ve seen it called.
It other news, Blackburn beat Millwall but didn’t play all that well. Millwall had the least away supporters in Championship and Blackburn barely topped 12,000. Sunderland had 41,000. I continue to be astounded.
I had Liverpool on and Blackburn on my iPad. Trent Alexander-Arnold was embarrassed a number of times. It’s like watching Manchester United malaise. They’re not playing well.
I didn’t watch the MC-MU derby. Three hat tricks. It’s hard to imagine MC not winning the league. The question is whether they will finally win Champions League.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
