1 minute ago, Slojo said:

It's surprised me how Barcelona have never seemed to be interested in Hazard, he would suit them far more than Real Madrid. 

Him and Messi a few years ago in the same team would have been a sight to behold. 

1 minute ago, enigma said:

Him and Messi a few years ago in the same team would have been a sight to behold. 

Hazard-Messi-Suarez would have been better than Neymar-Messi-Suarez, they were too attacking orientated, trying to outscore each other, disrupting the tika-taka style of play. Whereas Hazard would have been a brilliant support player for Suarez. 

Griezmann - Suarez - Messi. The rich get richer. Dembele and Coutinho to come off the bench. 

Yeah but we've got Pedro and Giroud, so who's the real winner here? 

Jesus christ this VAR thing is sh*t. Takes so long.

Unbelievable how little knowledge of the game Robbie Savage has.

Get in. Rochdale

 

 

2 minutes ago, charierre said:

Unbelievable how little knowledge of the game Robbie Savage has.

Get in. Rochdale

 

 

I can believe it.

It has been the rule that you cannot stop in the middle of a penalty run for a long time now. I believe Ronaldo doing it constantly got the rule introduced. It's not enforced often (largely because players now 'stutter' instead of stop) but it has been a rule for a long time.

Savage is just clueless

32 minutes ago, charierre said:

Get in. Rochdale

 

 

So VAR so good.

12 hours ago, coco said:

So VAR so good.

I've long been an advocate of stealing the way that international rugby handles this.  Referee's microphone is broadcast, video ref's responses are broadcast, pictures being reviewed are on the big screens and the time is stopped while it's done.  Doesn't ruin their game.

Also, timekeeping is handled independently of the referee, other than he says when the clock is to stopped and started, and the match finishes the next time the ball goes out of play after the 90 minutes is up.

AND, any dissent about a free kick and it moves forward 10 yards, no argument, no discussion.  But bottom line is, if the idiot rugby players and fans can cope with it, so should we be able to.  I know this will upset the younger internet, I want it all and I want it NOW generation, but better that than diving, cheating or valid goals being disallowed because a linesman can't keep up with play.

21 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

I've long been an advocate of stealing the way that international rugby handles this.  Referee's microphone is broadcast, video ref's responses are broadcast, pictures being reviewed are on the big screens and the time is stopped while it's done.  Doesn't ruin their game.

Also, timekeeping is handled independently of the referee, other than he says when the clock is to stopped and started, and the match finishes the next time the ball goes out of play after the 90 minutes is up.

AND, any dissent about a free kick and it moves forward 10 yards, no argument, no discussion.  But bottom line is, if the idiot rugby players and fans can cope with it, so should we be able to.  I know this will upset the younger internet, I want it all and I want it NOW generation, but better that than diving, cheating or valid goals being disallowed because a linesman can't keep up with play.

You forgot the key thing we should steal from rugby - pitch-side boozing!

21 minutes ago, yorkleyblue said:

I've long been an advocate of stealing the way that international rugby handles this.  Referee's microphone is broadcast, video ref's responses are broadcast, pictures being reviewed are on the big screens and the time is stopped while it's done.  Doesn't ruin their game.

Also, timekeeping is handled independently of the referee, other than he says when the clock is to stopped and started, and the match finishes the next time the ball goes out of play after the 90 minutes is up.

AND, any dissent about a free kick and it moves forward 10 yards, no argument, no discussion.  But bottom line is, if the idiot rugby players and fans can cope with it, so should we be able to.  I know this will upset the younger internet, I want it all and I want it NOW generation, but better that than diving, cheating or valid goals being disallowed because a linesman can't keep up with play.

sounds like too much common sense mate. 

@yorkleyblue  I like the idea of it, unfortunately our version is to the detriment of the game and the fault for this lies firmly in the hands of the people it's been introduced for in the first place...incompetent officials. Two and a half minutes to award a penalty like last night is ridiculous, most watching could have made the correct call within 15 secs. So far the officials involved have been the weaker ones not sure why. Bottom line is unless we have officials competent enough to make the correct calls within a reasonable time and also choose which decisions they get involved with, it will die a death. Maybe the answer is to use some of the referees who were forced into retirement by age, though that might open the door for David Elleray to return so maybe not.

Being a traditionalist,I'm also uneasy with a system that will allow some matches to have VAR but others not, the ground being the deciding factor. A competition like the FA Cup should place every club on an equal starting foot no matter how high or low in the standings they are.

Edited March 1, 20188 yr by charierre

On the Son penalty being ruled out, I always thought that taking a penalty was supposed to be a continuous motion?

The whole staggered run ups seems to be a relatively new thing and in truth I'm surprised so many players adopt it. 

A strong run up and a well placed, well struck penalty isn't going to be saved by many goalkeepers. That's generally how Le Bouef, Hasselbaink and Lampard hit them and they were all pretty successful from the spot. 

Maybe FA/UEFA/FIFA needs to address the penalty taking rule and simplify it? 

You Guys think var is good or bad for these corrupt refs and fa? As many have said, it is not that hard to implement it the correct way......but they choose to keep f**king it up on purpose. It clear to me they are making an ass out of it. And in the end they will say ohh we did try but its just not feasible as of yet but we hope with more tech and better understanding we will visit this Again in the future......and bang var is done for.

Goal line technology is all that's needed var was supposed to fix controversial decisions and it's done the opposite. Let's keep the fun bit of football which is :
Was is a penalty?
Was is a red card?
Was is offside?

Decisions will go against us but that's football and that's why it's fun... even though I will get angry at some decisions

52 minutes ago, Brutos said:

Goal line technology is all that's needed var was supposed to fix controversial decisions and it's done the opposite. Let's keep the fun bit of football which is :
Was is a penalty?
Was is a red card?
Was is offside?

Decisions will go against us but that's football and that's why it's fun... even though I will get angry at some decisions

I heard someone suggest replace VAR as it stands with having two challenges per half by managers reviewed on VAR. Perhaps two challenges per game by a manager so four maximum in a match.

Would that work?

Seems to work well in the NFL, but with all the normal dead time between plays, maybe 30 seconds to a minute, it does not break up the game like it does with the 'continuous play' soccer (I know, it's football, but it would be confusing if I wrote "football" there).   I think 4 maximum per match, two per team, sounds about right to me.

1 hour ago, Strider6003 said:

I heard someone suggest replace VAR as it stands with having two challenges per half by managers reviewed on VAR. Perhaps two challenges per game by a manager so four maximum in a match.

Would that work?

In theory it would work but we all know that coaches will use VAR challenges to break up the flow of the game especially at the end of the halves if they haven't used them up previously. Personally I would say intervene only when a clear and obvious mistake has been made. i.e a clear dive, a clear offside not miniscule.

Wilshere injured 

I still can't believe we had 4 games against this Arsenal team and didn't win once, they're AWFUL 

I get 1-5 feeling about this game. Missing Wilshire in that midfield. Xhaka average at best. 

Lilac lines, quite lovely. I would have gone for common orange, but that would probably clash with Cech's outfit. Those Arsenal groundsmen know what they're doing 

Mustafi is the most average defender I've ever seen, Arsenal love signing sh*te centrebacks.