Toni Kroos??

The rat/weasel has played pretty well so far, I must say.

8 hours ago, RMH said:

He did not obstruct ade Gea's view at all. Did you see how De Gea followed the ball first with his head to his right and then to his left after the deflection? That is a clear sign that he was not obstructed in his view of the ball. Sorry, another cheating Manchester ref helping a Manchester team.

MotD thought the decision to rule him offside was correct, but Jenas pointed out that the reason he ended up on the ground in front of De Gea was because he'd been tripped in a late tackle by Wan Bissaka, just after getting his shot in.

So the player who ends up costing his team a goal was in that position because he'd been fouled by a Man U player. Exactly as happened with Azpi, who was shoved by Fred, and caused Zouma's goal to be ruled out.

And the ref and VAR ignored both of the Man U fouls. Kavanagh was the ref today and the VAR official in our game. He's from Manchester.

What a strange set of coincidences.

I don't really blame Kavanagh because he was fully prepared to give the goal, it was the VAR officials who ruled it out.

Well at least Solskjaer has managed to restore one aspect of the Fergie years...

5 hours ago, Stim said:

I don't really blame Kavanagh because he was fully prepared to give the goal, it was the VAR officials who ruled it out.

He overlooked the foul that put Sigurvidsson on his arse. Just as he ignored the foul by Fred on Azpi in the build up to Zouma's goal. 

I'm pretty sure the tradition of Utd and Liverpool makes the refs less likely to take action against them.

We sometimes get a similar thing in the past against smaller teams.

I was pleasantly shocked a season or so go ago when the ref sent off Herera for the umpteenth foul against  Hazard.

Imagine the whole season gets canceled cause of the corona virus and Liverpool doesn't win sh*t 

Play up Pompey!

I gotta say, the Portsmouth fans have been proper pricks tonight. It was a great tackle from their player, and Torreira was unfortunate to get injured, but their fans cheering when he got injured and acting scummy all night doesn't make them look good.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/51698150

A record number of footballers, clubs and agents in England are being investigated over tax payments.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is investigating the tax affairs of 330 footballers, 55 clubs and 80 agents, up from 173 players, 40 clubs and 38 agents in January 2019.

HMRC said it had recovered £396m from the industry since 2015.

The department said it expected "more compliance than previous years" after its "proactive handling of tax risks".

It said it "looked forward to continued co-operation with clubs and players throughout 2020".

HMRC had previously said it was making enquires into "tax risks", including image rights, agents' fees and dual representation - an agent representing both the club and player during a contract or transfer negotiation.

"We're clear that everyone must pay what they owe under the law - regardless of their wealth or status," the department said.

"HMRC have been investigating players and clubs over image rights for some time," said football finance specialist Kieran Maguire, from the University of Liverpool.

"Image rights are a legitimate means of paying a player for off-field activities.

"Payments are usually made to a separate company set up to manage the rights.

"If HMRC feel that too much of the player's pay has been diverted into this area [on which a player owning their image rights company would be due to pay Corporation Tax at 19%] they may decide that the money should be treated as wages [which would be subject to PAYE tax]."

HMRC is also investigating issues relating to VAT, agents based offshore if there is a suspicion of malpractice and payments to other parties, including when an agent may not receive or keep the entire fee from a player transfer, and instead a number of agents are paid.

Although clubs in England are obliged to send the Football Association details of all payments made to agents, this does not include payments to sub-agents.

HMRC began a dedicated "football compliance project" in 2017. Since then, £65m in tax has been repaid by clubs.

The amounts recouped from players and agents totalled £18m and £7m respectively from 2017-18 to the end of September 2019, the BBC found under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI).

Separate to these inquiries including into image rights and agents' fees, HMRC has pursued winding-up petitions against clubs including Macclesfield Town,Southend United,Birmingham City,Oldham Athletic,Notts County and expelled English Football League club Bury.

The department said its figures for repayments released under FOI did not consider its work "where tax is paid in full or known to be owed and paid late, for example its debt recovery work and court cases".

Dr Rob Wilson, a sport finance specialist at Sheffield Hallam University, said "nine out of 10 times" winding-up petitions followed when clubs were paying players' wages, but withholding National Insurance contributions (NICs) from the taxman to help with their cash flow.

He said winding-up petitions were so HMRC could pursue clubs normally for unpaid NICs.

"It's not uncommon to do that in a small trader business because you tend to pay NICs at the end of the year," Dr Wilson said.

"Because HMRC are down the list of football creditors [if a club were to go into administration] they tend to pursue winding-up petitions to make sure HMRC is paid.

"They are also making a statement to football clubs and the industry to have a deterrent effect.

"It's to say 'we're looking at you, don't do anything that breaches the regulations more broadly'."

Accountancy firm and football business analysts Deloitte's own figures suggested Premier League and English Football League clubs had both, however, been paying an increasing sum of VAT on matchday income and other employment taxes such as National Insurance Contributions and PAYE on wages every year for the past decade.

HMRC was unable to name the clubs, players and agents making repayments because of its duty of confidentiality to not identify any "persons" - the term "person" includes legal entities such as companies, trusts, charities and living individuals - under the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005.

Interesting now to see how 'Pool handle the set backs after running away with the League.

Bournemouth at home and then Atletico at home.

Still think they will win the League yet Anfield will be scratching their collective heads after tonight. 

On 02/03/2020 at 21:16, Scott Harris said:

I gotta say, the Portsmouth fans have been proper pricks tonight. It was a great tackle from their player, and Torreira was unfortunate to get injured, but their fans cheering when he got injured and acting scummy all night doesn't make them look good.

Oi you cheeky little f**ker! Don’t go bad mouthing Pompey fans! I grew up around them, a lot are my mates and while they might all be complete pricks and act like total f**ktards most of the time... I’ve forgotten my point. 

Coming back from matches away up North we often used to bump into Pompey fans.

Never saw any trouble though they looked total alcoholics.

9 hours ago, Munkworth said:

Oi you cheeky little f**ker! Don’t go bad mouthing Pompey fans! I grew up around them, a lot are my mates and while they might all be complete pricks and act like total f**ktards most of the time... I’ve forgotten my point. 

I lived down there for a few years, just round the corner from Fratton.  Bunch of aggressive idiots that would do anything for their mates, their mates' mates and anyone who took the piss in a well-meaning and witty way.  Oh what japes we had.

Edited March 4, 20206 yr by yorkleyblue

1 hour ago, yorkleyblue said:

I lived down there for a few years, just round the corner from Fratton.  Bunch of aggressive idiots that would do anything for their mates, their mates' mates and anyone who took the piss in a well-meaning and witty way.  Oh what japes we had.

Is that what turned you in to the bitter twisted old bugger we know today? 

33 minutes ago, Munkworth said:

Is that what turned you in to the bitter twisted old bugger we know today? 

You know I'm just a sweety and you love me really.

Oh that Man City away kit, it seems to get more awful every match.

Spurs Lead. Could we get another meeting with Jose in the next round?

So what do we think? Can Sheff Wednesday use home advantage to beat City who picked their first team -Ederson? Set themselves up a Q/F with the Blades?

Can The Blue Brummies see off the Foxes and set themselves up with a Q/F with the True Blues? ?

Edited March 4, 20206 yr by axman2526

City look rather ordinary just now.

1 hour ago, Strider6003 said:

City look rather ordinary just now.

Them And the Foxes heading through, Spurs and Norwich tied.

1-0 spurs on pens after round 1

1-1 after round 2