What I don't like is when we go a goal down, regardless of it being offside or not, is the ability to completely collapse against this type of opposition. One goal often leads to two in quick succession. It's a bit of a problem and is the main reason why we always come up short when we play a top 6 side. We can go from being competitive to completely overrun in a matter of minutes. This is a mental thing and I'm not sure it's anything we can do anything about as it's been a problem for many seasons.
pep no need 2 say sorry, had gr8 chat and debait in pub after the van over beers and now onto club to see if dj will play no var by destines childd lol #beers
Yes, this has been a trait for several years now. Concede one and all focus goes - seems to happen against all levels of opposition where we go behind even slightly unjustly.
It doesn’t help in this regard that we didn’t have senior players such as Holebas, Cathcart & Deeney on the pitch.
Tedious trait to apologise for things for which you weren’t responsible. Blair was a pastmaster at this type of virtue signaling.
Journey back in a train carriage full of the global brand man city fans with all their merchandise - Denmark, USA, East Asia, and many more ... a couple even seemed surprised to see Watford colours ...weird
Yep, as frustrating as it is to go behind due to a poor decision, it doesn’t excuse that we let this happen time and time again, against all levels of opposition, but especially the bigger clubs. A lack of focus or belief after going behind is inexcusable. Good to see some changes today though. It wouldn’t surprise me if this lineup was decided up a while ago, and they’ve been drilling it in training for an extended period, such was the high level of execution and understanding amongst a group of players who haven’t been on the pitch much recently, let alone as a group. A similar setup and performance gives me hope of a shock result on our next trip to Manchester.
Amazing how the officials saw 2 different points in the match - the blatant handball and the first goal. So they either completely missed Silvas handball or decided not to penalise it. And completely ignored the massively offside Stirling. VAR would have Silva on a yellow and still 0-0 after Stirlings effort. Can only be a good thing for teams outside of the top 6 getting these atrocious decisions week In week out. In other positive news, bloody hilarious Everton result, and palace full strength team losing to Brighton keeps the pressure on them going into the cup game. Edit: oh and come on Burnley! Can see them eeking out a 0-0 if Dychey gets it right!
Another think that irks me is pundits slagging us of for negative tactics, as in Peter Schmeichel below, but many other examples: https://www.foxsports.com.au/footba...y/news-story/fd762e42df85787e34ce1e93c3654949 It sums up what’s wrong with the Premier league. Basically some teams are allowed/encouraged to have a massive financial advantage through being the plaything of a rich benefactor or a even a national state by proxy. Yet if the lesser teams try to use tactics to overcome the inequity they are criticised for not playing the same tactics as the big boys and and getting destroyed. I thought the first half was fascinating and the game was brilliantly poised from a neutral perspective until the refreree ruined it.
Quite agree, we got destroyed at Liverpool and every game we have played against city we have shipped goals when playing an attacking formation. Was actually pleased with our approach to the match.
And they all say at some point "the fans can't be happy with the way they came out?!" And we the fans all say, "you know what, we're actually ok with it." And we all rejoiced. For these pundits knew very little about anything they were saying.
Whilst on the subject of referees and Everton, how come Pickford didn't even get a yellow for his rugby tackle on Rondon. Or is that the double jeapody rule? And I like Rondon, he isn't a top six player, but better than any forward we have.
In mid week United played similar tactics to us and were praised. Try to stick in the game until the last 15 minutes then press on when the game opens up. Tactics could have worked if not for that shocking decision.
Double jeopardy would have stopped a direct red card, but Pickford didn't even get a yellow, which is wrong. Jon Moss was happy to send off Kabasele for a second yellow card and gave a penalty when we played Bournemouth earlier this season. Mind you, the way Pickford played I think had he been sent off it would have actually done Everton a favour. How the hell is that guy England's number one? Dreadful keeper.
Has no one complained that we dropped 7 first team players in favour for the FA Cup next week? Why haven't we been slaughtered for that? I think the media have missed a trick there......or maybe a story to say a club is favouring the FA Cup over the Premier League spoils their remit, so is quickly brushed under the carpet.
No it wouldn't. The double jeopardy only comes into play if the player makes a gentle attempt to play the ball. Rugby tackling someone when the ball is nowhere near wouldn't qualify. This sums up the quality of Premier League refs. Lee Mason sent off Kabasele against Spurs but allowed Pickford to stay on yesterday. https://twitter.com/BaitVic/status/1104413722909511680?s=19
El Faggo looks more like a spectacled Betty Stove than that poster girl. I feel so much better now,knowing Pep has apologised for the first goal. Perhaps he'll send us the 100m for Sancho in the post?
If I was him I'd be more concerned about the deeply unpleasant rumours circulating around Leicester regarding his son's behaviour, than worrying about little watford's tactics.
May I remind you if Higuain was a genuine top class forward and not one that collapses under pressure Argentina would have won the last two Copa America's and the 2014 World Cup. Three chances the likes of Crespo or Batistuta would have buried. Then this nonsense that Messi cannot win trophies with Argentina would be all over. May I also remind you that Barcelona minus Messi are significantly reduced and when he leaves for Newell's at some point they will have a period where they will struggle or have to buy two to three players to replace what he can do by himself.
You are correct, but clearly Lee Mason thought it was a genuine attempt to play the ball. He's a s*** referee so you have to expect him to make rubbish decisions when it comes to interpretation. My understanding is that if you give a penalty you cannot send off a player if you think the foul was a genuine attempt to play the ball, but you DO have to issue a yellow card, which he didn't do. So on a technical/factual basis he was wrong in what he did. https://www.skysports.com/football/...-softening-rules-on-fouls-in-the-penalty-area
They play Man City themselves soon - look forward to them using all out attacking tactics in that one. I think the real issue was not we weren't trying but Gray couldn't hold the ball up and we were sloppy in the rare possession we had. I mean we sat back against Leicester at home so surely they didn't expect us to go gung ho at Man City.
It is annoying. There was hope we’d improved this when coming back against Spurs but the seeming inevitability of suffering a pretty heavy defeat, certainly against Luverpool and City, gets a bit wearing. Problem is it seems to happen all the time against these two and other teams have found ways to be competitive even if City and Liverpool have beaten some convincingly as well. Don’t think we have quite such bad records against the other top 6 teams though. Maybe Man United in last 2-3 games (and likely again at the end of the month!).
I was happy with it too. We obviously need to play more defensively away to teams like city. 3 in midfield was a smart move. It was good Javi rotated before the cup, meaning he's gonna go full strength next week with the possible exception of Gomes. Only -2 for the goal difference as well. Massive game next week.
I think we've lost 15 of our last 16 against united!! We need to wise up and copy teams who get better results against the top 6. 8 defeats out of 9 this season.
Agree with your Pickford assessment. A clanger a week. I think if he makes no attempt to play the ball and denies a clear goal he can still be red carded. That should have been the case yesterday.
To give no card he presumably felt Pickford did not deny a clear goal scoring opportunity in wiping out Rondon.
Sadly, he's not the worst Premier League referee. Jon Moss is far worse. Having watched MotD it really underlines how poor British referees are. Not sure what the solution is, but there are so many bad decisions being made right across the board.
According to the Laws of the Game: "A player in an offside position receiving the ball from an opponent who deliberately plays the ball (except from a deliberate save by any opponent) is not considered to have gained an advantage." "challenging an opponent for the ball or clearly attempting to play a ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent." https://www.skysports.com/football/...aheem-sterling-opener-for-man-city-have-stood I think Paul Tierney saw the incident as an opportunity to make a name for himself (Michael Oliver style). He thought he'd spotted something which would make him stand out as a brilliant piece of officiating. If you overrule your linesman you have to be 100% correct. He's just tried to be clever and it didn't payoff. The thing is, you pick your moments to be "clever". You know you can do it in favour of City in a game against Watford. If you get it wrong, the outcry isn't too great. Everyone accepts City would probably have won anyway, so the fall-out isn't too big. Had he done that for a Watford goal and overruled the linesman, to give Watford the lead, all hell would have broke lose. The media attention on Tierney would have been intense had a controversial decision given Watford an unlikely win at City. This is why big clubs get these decisions and the smaller clubs do not. This is why football is not a level playing field. VAR would stop a lot of this involuntary cheating, as when you see it on a replay, it all becomes very clear as to what happened. If he makes the same decision after reviewing the replay, then it would become deliberate cheating.
