Premier League - 2022/23

It irritates me that refs/VAR are seemingly asked to judge if there is “enough of a pull/push” to constitute a foul. ANY pull/push etc. is a foul and should result in a penalty/free kick.

 

Careful, you are getting perilously close to the “…there was contact so he had the right to go down” mantra.

 

Surely by virtue of it only being a foul if its 'careless, reckless or dangerous' there's at least some subjective element? It can't be as black and white as you suggest. At least not in my view.

 

Not at all. I know it’s largely been taken out of the game but, in my opinion, the ref should be judging whether a foul is deliberate, not whether it causes a player to fall over (which of course they will do if they think it gets them an advantage). A shirt pull is never accidental.
Unfortunately no-one now wants to accept that the ref might make a wrong call, or one that they don’t agree with, so they have taken the discretion element out of it as much as possible. Just let the ref administer the decisions and respect him and them. Then you would not need VAR and all the convoluted rules we now have surrounding handball, offside etc.

 

Well I guess we disagree. I don't think deliberate or not deliberate comes into it. There are plenty of accidental fouls which are rightly penalised. I don't think a deliberate foul like a shirt pull should be penalised if it has no impact at all on a players movement. Every corner would be a penalty. I don't think "contact" whether deliberate or accidental should be penalised if it is insufficient to impact a players movement. I hate this idea that if there was contact a player is entitled to throw himself to the ground to get a penalty, whereas he wouldn't have got the decision if he just carried on running as he was perfectly able to do. That's just my view.

 

I absolutely agree with your latter point about players flinging themselves to the ground. ‘Contact’ is not the same as a foul in my book, but deliberate pulling/pushing at a corner should be penalised. The ‘ten penalties a game’ argument would not endure for long because defenders would stop doing it and if only attackers did it then free kicks would be given against them.

 

Really disappointed that Lamps didn’t get the job full time. I’m not sure what more he could have done. A promising English manager dumped in favour of another fancy Dan foreign manager.

 

His biggest issue is that he's a dreadful manager.

 

Chelsea should be relegated by handicap

 

...yes but they neutralised that handicap by appointing Lampard. Clever stuff.

 

Much as I hate that the PL allowed the Newcastle takeover, they have shown it is all about how you spend, not how much you spend... Chelsea...

 

If he truly has a gambling addiction then it is yet another failure by the companies. We've all seen the adverts - but the responsibility still lies with the customer to limit themselves. It's like they don't know what addiction means.

 

Hopefully Everton lose and Leeds win.

 

They do. It’s just that it’s part of their business model.

 

Jefferson Lerma joining Palace.

He knows what he is doing.

 

Luton Town Premier League? Your 'avin a larf

 

They don't have running water yet let alone electricity!

 

I’m expecting some drama, but Everton eventually winning narrowly (2-1?) to thwart the others.

 

Desperately want Everton to go down, but everything I’ve wanted to happen this season the complete opposite has happened. So no doubt Everton will survive and it will be Leeds and Leicester joining us in the championship.

 

This.