tajjuk

Shocking really, the exact sort of thing that shouldn't happen now with VAR. Problem is we have too many bad refs making bad mistakes, and then those same bad refs are in charge of VAR and seemingly won't or can't correct their colleagues mistakes even with multiple angles, replays and time to look at it. Nothing wrong with VAR in principle or most of the technology (though something needs deciding around close offsides as these are silly) but any system is as usual let down by the incompetence of its human operators. Most watched league in the world, TV deals worth billions, players being paid £100k a week, can we seriously not spend a little more money to say have a group of independent former players in charge of VAR where you have 3 of them on each game, with no ties to the teams involved who get to feedback to the ref? What would you need, like a group of about 30-40 of them available each weekend and then allocated to each game for a few hours work? Surely in the billions flowing through the PL some money could be found for that?

It's part of the dark arts of football, it's hardly like we don't do it ourselves, even one of the 'purest' football teams in the world that play some beautiful football under Pepe, still purposely leg people up to prevent counters. JWP spent a whole evening winding Zaha up and eventually got him sent off. Kane is amazing at buying free kicks, he backs into defenders and then falls over. Just all part of the game really and been going on for years. But with VAR there is really no excuse for Refs not to get the right decision, and yet again they showed how flawed the system is because they seem determined not to overturn poor decisions and embarrass their mates, so what we have is VAR basically confirming bad decisions, instead of correcting blatant mistakes, as that decisions was last night. Pretty much universally its been said that wasn't a red card and doubtful you could even claim its a card, he got the ball, wasn't over the top, wasn't out of control and got there before the attacker did, clearly prodding the ball back to McCarthy making it very unlikely Vardy would have got near the ball. But we are currently living in a situation where Refs are giving red cards for players kicking the ball. Showing the problem is not VAR, its the Refs themselves making poor decision after poor decision, and they are then also in the VAR box backing up those poor decisions. It just seems at the moment that if a player gets hit and goes down rolling on the floor, the refs are looking to give the foul regardless of the context or the defender getting the ball. That is their first instinct, I mean Son's red card against Silva is a great example, a horrible unfortunate injury yes, but Son literally got tripped up by another player and fell into Silva, but the red comes out almost automatically. That Balbuenna red, just completely shocking, the guy clears the ball, literally a clean kick and the opposition player runs into his follow through, red comes out straight away. I remember a pen Mane 'won' against Spurs, where the defender is kicking the ball and Mane comes from the blindside and just sticks his leg in the way, doesn't try to get the ball just puts his leg in the way and gets a pen, complete joke, but the refs have no real clue. It's similar to the stupid handballs they give, people blasting the ball at defenders from 3 yards with the arms to side, it's expecting defenders to basically have no arms and these red cards they seem to expect momentum and physics not to exist, its near impossible to kick a ball without a follow through and some momentum. IMO they need to do something about the Refs generally as many of them are poor, some need clear retiring (Dean) or demoting, and others need more training or instruction. BUT the biggest thing they need to do is take VAR away from the refs, it needs to go to an independent panel of probably a group of ex players.

Wout Weghorst, not sure we'd get for £15 million, but maybe around 20. He's 28, in peak years, works very hard, not the quickest, 6' 4", and has a better than 1 in 2 in the Bundesliga for Wolfsburg over the last 3 seasons. Wolsfburg are currently sitting 3rd in the Bundesliga so on for a Champs League place, so if they get that maybe no potential but if they dropped out might be a chance, I mean we have recruited from BM before and they are similar sort of level to Wolfsburg, i.e below the sort of top 2-3 clubs.

Apparently the government is looking to basically have the PL TV deals roll over at current prices without having the rights auction, which hopefully should provide some stability for potential investors as there was a worry that a renewed deal (due I think in 2022) would be at a lower rate, which would basically devalue all PL clubs.

I've voted for him, he was a great player, greatest ever Saint. Yeh he's acted like a complete twit for the last 6 months or so, but hopefully he can get over these brain worms he seems to be currently suffering from, but I don't think 6 months of stupid (and frankly dangerous) comments and some pure ignorance/stubbornness should ruin his footballing legacy, just yet.

I can only presume it would have to be some sort of government back share scheme or something, like where the goverment aids the fans or provides some sort of loan that the clubs pay back over a long time with no interest. I presume members in German clubs pay some sort of fee per year? I suppose if they make it law that they can't play in the league without it then the owners don't have much choice, what is a football club worth if it is not able to make any money.

This is the problem, we need more quality depth and players suited to playing Ralph's style because we know when we have that we are very good. Unfortunately only about 6 or 7 of our starters are actually both of these things, good and able to play his style, and they also obviously get knackered. I would say we need - Probably a replacement for Ings as I reckon he's going but hopefully not, plus one other striker because Redmond, N'dulu, Long, Obafemi are not good enough, so we need 3 decent strikers for two spots, either Ings and Adams +1, or Adams +2 and one of those needs to be good. A new no 10, this should be a priority and where the most investment goes IMO, Armstrong is excellent but tends to fade, everyone else here has flattered to deceive Djenepo, Redmond, Minamino, Wallcott, all offer something on their day, but their day is too infrequent. Tella is a good prospect here and should be 4th choice for this position to continue his development and hopefully pushes to start with continued improvement (but we have to wary he could be another Sims who has the odd flash game but never kicks on). I'd probably look to sell Redmond and Djenepo to raise funds, seems likely Walcott will sign, so I think sign a quality starter, and have Walcott and Tella as the other options is probably the best we can do here given finances (but ideally I'd like to see two new players here to improve the team). A new first choice left back. Whether Bertrand goes or not I think he is declining and at 32 and the way we play we need someone with really pace and an engine who gets up and down all day, I don't think Bertrand is this now. Brandon Williams to provide quality cover for both sides. He's never going to get into that Man Utd team with the way Shaw is playing and Wan Bissaka, plus they have Telles now as well. I would imagine he wants out even more seeing as he was denied moving to us on loan (and he would have been really useful) in Jan and then has barely played a minute. I reckon a loan to buy and he can provide good competition to both sides. A 4th centre-mid would be great, but might be stretching what we have to work with. Diallo I think is a good player and will improve, started very well just gone off form and with Romeu being injured we have little choice to keep playing him. Jankevitz could be this player, he is highly rated but Ralph doesn't seem to trust him so maybe cash in on him and get someone else in. Centre-backs are fine unless Vestergaard goes. Bednerak is solid mid table ish centre-back, Vestergaard is good, and Salisu has potential to be very good I think and Stephens is a solid enough squad option (though may want more game time). Keepers I'd love to upgrade because I don't think any of them are good enough, but they are not terrible either so I reckon we'll still have McCarthy and Forster battling it out next season and once Forsters contract has run down then we'll get a new keeper I reckon. (or Gunn finds his potential) So priorities IMO - No. 10, Striker, left back, squad right back/left back option. If we can push it then - centre-mid, another striker. Ideal/dream options - another no. 10 and new no. 1 GK. Those options are then have to flexible depending on Vestergaard and Ings contract situations. I mean if we went into next season with - Forster/McCarthy KWP, Vestergaard (with new contract), Salisu/Bednerak, new quality LB (+ Williams to back up both sides) Armstrong, JWP, Romeu, New quality no.10/winger (+ Tella & Wallcott) Ings (with new contract), new striker (+ Adams) Then I'd be pretty damn happy and think we'd have a chance of challenging top 8 ish.

So the Government review on football is considering the 50+1 rule that the Germans have, which could presumably then impact our sale (or maybe speed it up so Gao gets out before it happens) no idea how the Government etc. would enforce it though and make those current owners give up 51% of the clubs they own. Presumably it wouldn't really help us as likely it would really maintain the status quo more than anything as the bigger clubs would have the larger finances.

Apparently less than half of the 12 clubs are 'fanatics' of the plan, the others have basically joined to not miss out.

Aren't Real and Barca basically member owned? Couldn't their fans basically stop this dead?

Well this is the thing, you want more people to watch Serie A, La Liga, the Bundesliga etc. and more Champions league group games, then they have to get better at the sharing the money around, to increase the level of competition. People are bored of those leagues because the same 1-3 teams always win it and win almost every game, even in their poor years as Barca and Real are the moment, they are still winning the league. Money also has to go into those lesser leagues (Holland, Belgium, Portugal, etc.), not just to the top teams, so that you don't get situations like Celtic/Rangers/Ajax etc. winning every year because they qualify for the champions league and then have more budget than anyone else in their league. IIRC When Ajax got the semi-final of the CL, their turnover was 20 times the bottom place team in their league, 20 times, that is how much the CL money distorts these lower teams. What they continue to not get is the world watches the PL because it's more competitive than most other major leagues across the world, because there are multiple big clubs but also because the money gets spread out fairly throughout all 20 teams. Its actually the CL money that further distorts our league because it gives those clubs in it like another like £50-60 million plus and more profile (so more money) over other PL teams. Sharing the money out more and having less of it concentrated at the top (and this counts for the PL and the leagues below as well), creates more competition and better quality. PL teams are more tested every week than Barca or Real or Juve are, because they bottom placed team in our league gets handed like £100 million in TV money, whereas the bottom placed team in Spain or whatever probably has like a 10th of the budget of Real or Barca. But they don't really want more quality, if they did they Spurs and Arsenal wouldn't have been invited in, they are midtable level teams at the moment quality wise and Arsenal have been that for like 3 seasons and neither is going to turn into clubs able to challenge the Bayerns or Man Citys for ages, Arsenal would lose almost every game in this new league.

Thanks So interesting that the big money backed Man City and PSG, that all the other 'traditional' big clubs hate, haven't gone for this. So it's Juve, Inter, Milan, Barca, Real, Atletico, Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, and Arsenal. Kind of hilarious that the last 2 are barely mid table clubs at the moment, and nowhere near the levels of Bayern, PSG, and Man City, but think they should be part of a 'super league'.

Who's the missing big 6 English club then?

Losing the header is one thing, it's actually how he did it that was concerning because he didn't actually go for the header, he seemed caught between trying to oddly get his foot up there and going for the header. He also again seemed more interested in wrestling Wood than being committed going for the ball. I think a confident Bednerak there would have just gone aggressively for the ball and either won it or at worse given away a foul in a position that is not that dangerous. It was Bedenerak's fault IMO, it was simple chipped forward ball that should be meat and drink to a player like him and he should have just headed it away, instead he tried to hook his leg around and just allowed Wood to cushion the flick on right into Vydra's path, I don't think there is much Vestergaard could have done, especially as Vydra took the shot so early (which also caught Forster out), maybe he could have been closer to his man and put him off, maybe Forster could have got his feet in the right place earlier to save it, but when a long ball is punted forward and one of your centre-backs instead of just aggressively heading the ball away tried to weirdly hook it away with his foot ay like shoulder height around the striker, its clear where the fault lies. Then you have to remember later on he was extremely lucky not to give away a penalty that would have given Burnley a draw probably and an undeserved one as we basically battered them for most of the game, again instead of trying to win the ball or use his strength to prevent Wood getting the header he just pulled his shirt back and it was a stone wall pen IMO. IMO he is making poor decisions and those poor decisions are costing us.

Agree, he is not a bad player and has generally been improving for us year on year IMO, he was very solid and very good for the first half the season but is clearly not playing at his best and I think that Utd game really impacted him. As you say he was shocking against Wood and almost cost us the game, the sort of player who you would think our centre-backs would be more comfortable playing against rather than a quicker more tricky forward. Some time out of the team would do him good IMO and I think Salisu looks very promising and needs games himself.

If he does get backed with say 3-4 players in then I think next season will be the true test of Ralph and how good he actually is, I know he has his critics but I think some of our worst performances have stemmed from a lack of depth and him not having a squad that is truly his and having to 'make do and med' with a squad that had seen years of decline and poor signings. But with 3-4 players coming in that I presume he would sing off on and no significant players leaving there will be no excuses.

Quite amazing that Bayern Munich's back up striker is a Stoke reject.

Exactly, we have 3 good centre mids and one promising one, we are not in Europe either, so I am not sure why having a promising young player as 4th choice is much of a problem. Stephens is currently 4th choice centre-back and is probably on £50-60k whilst getting very little game time so we are getting little value from that and the player is probably getting restless. If we sign another centre-mid it either displaces one of the current 3 into 4th choice or we sign a player to barely play, and push a promising young player who want opportunities further down the pecking order. We are not Man Utd or Man City who can afford to have internationals sitting on the bench getting 5 minutes here and there all season.

To be fair I don't think anyone predicted he would come out with this run of form, I doubt even West Ham fans would have, he was very poor at Utd and had been for a while. Shows what confidence can do for a player though. I still personally think this is a purple patch rather than his true ability, but he is probably not as bad as many make out but we'll see if this form lasts. I mean fair play, both Moyes and Lingaard are currently proving a lot of people wrong who had written them off.

No idea, just a possibility if there are several groups interested then his could be one of them. From reading further he did ok at Roma with multiple 2nd place finishes but it then ended in controversy with a lot of star players (like Allison to pool) being sold.

Former Roma co-owner and US Billionaire James Pallotta has expressed interest in buying a PL club, though he has specifically name dropped Newcastle.

The Walcott assist was the right decision but poor execution, the cross was hip high and behind Redmond, his excellent controlled finish made it look a lot better.

Hopefully with a week's rest, full training with the whole squad and the people coming back from injury with a match under their belts we should have a bit of a sharper start. If we player like we did for the rest of the game past the first 30 mins we should beat them easily. Yes they had a good result against a 10 man Chelsea who seemed very complacent, but this is still a team that has only won 4 times this season and only scored 25 even WITH that 5. IMO Bednerak out of the firing line, said it another thread but he seems shot from the 9-0 to Utd, he was poor against Burnley and was poor against England, seems to want to wrestle the man he is marking rather than go for the ball and we were lucky he didn't give away a pen, as it was a clear pen.

Pope probably should have saved Armstrongs but I think both shots were very powerfully hit and were hit early so caught the keepers out, didn't really see much punditry or commentary saying that either was much of a mistake.

Mike Dean favouring Man Utd again, what a shock. You could see it was a pen from Maguire's reaction, he knew he'd fouled him.