Russia World Cup 18

[Brownie]

The point is we really shouldn't be seeing that penalty given today with VAR, it was very clearly not a penalty and nobody nowhere could argue with a straight face that it was intentional handball, or even that his arm was in an "unnatural" position as it was simply attached to his torso.

 

But you see those given by refs in games during the season as well. I actually think that referees in general don't seem to understand the fucking rule. It doesn't matter what technology you use, if a referee doesn't understand a rule then you're fucked.

 

Addressing the point though, VAR was never going to eradicate even shit errors like that one, if you were expecting it to then more fool you. It's still humans making decisions.

 

As I said earlier I could list loads of decisions it has fixed which we'd all agree with. So let's bin it off for the bad one vs the 10 good ones? Not for me.

[Moo]

But you see those given by refs in games during the season as well. I actually think that referees in general don't seem to understand the fucking rule. It doesn't matter what technology you use, if a referee doesn't understand a rule then you're fucked.

 

Addressing the point though, VAR was never going to eradicate even shit errors like that one, if you were expecting it to then more fool you. It's still humans making decisions.

 

As I said earlier I could list loads of decisions it has fixed which we'd all agree with. So let's bin it off for the bad one vs the 10 good ones? Not for me.

VAR should be capable of eradicating obvious incorrect decisions where the rules are clear, such as handball decisions. I accept that not all the rules are clear and that in itself is a problem, but if it's incapable of correcting major obvious injustices when necessary then it's probably not worth the bother as referees will just go on shafting and bottling as the mood, or bias, takes them.

[Brownie]

VAR should be capable of eradicating obvious incorrect decisions where the rules are clear, such as handball decisions. I accept that not all the rules are clear and that in itself is a problem, but if it's incapable of correcting major obvious injustices when necessary then it's probably not worth the bother as referees will just go on shafting and bottling as the mood, or bias, takes them.

 

I refer back to my point about the rules. The refs don't understand the handball rule, they can't. There are too many poor decisions made regarding handballs, with or without VAR.

 

I also refer back to another point I made earlier, why bin it all off when it fucks up a low percentage of decisions compared to what it's fixed? That makes no sense.

[Numero Veinticinco]

The point is we really shouldn't be seeing that penalty given today with VAR, it was very clearly not a penalty and nobody nowhere could argue with a straight face that it was intentional handball, or even that his arm was in an "unnatural" position as it was simply attached to his torso.

The problem in that situation is that the referee was a fucking moron. The replay clearly showed it wasn’t a handball. VAR showed it, the ref fucked it.

[sir roger]

One good thing about FIFA as opposed to Mike Riley's mob is that if you are a poor ref you don't get endlessly indulged & have your mistakes covered up. FIFA have been quite ruthless in previous tournaments & I would expect the likes of the clown who had the Egypt/Saudi game to be on his way home on Friday.

[A_S]

Australia 1-1 with VAR decisions (we got very lucky with the Denmark one). 

 

Given Australia need to win and Peru have been going for it anyway, I'd be amazed if it doesn't impact this game at some stage. 

[Moo]

I refer back to my point about the rules. The refs don't understand the handball rule, they can't. There are too many poor decisions made regarding handballs, with or without VAR.

 

I also refer back to another point I made earlier, why bin it all off when it fucks up a low percentage of decisions compared to what it's fixed? That makes no sense.

The main reason I'm in favour of VAR is because I believed it would help LFC, we do seem to be on the wrong end of bad decisions often and I hoped that VAR would eradicate obvious injustices and there is no legitimate reason it shouldn't. Referees should know the rules, the VAR people should know the rules, and they should be implemented without exception when clear enough.

However if excuses are still going to be made, if referees and VAR are still "allowed" to make shocking mistakes then for me it's not worth the hassle and what it's doing to the game as a spectacle, though I accept there's much room for improvement there.

You say it's getting most things right, I say there's a much higher number of contested decisions due to VAR and in this World Cup were still seeing as many incorrect decisions game on game as we would have before VAR, penalties that should have been given, penalties that shouldn't have been given, players that should have been sent off etc. In fact at times it's seemed worse.

[Mr T]

We aren't seeing more bad decisions. What rubbish. VAR has got most things right.

 

What we are seeing is players and managers gaming it and asking for VAR increasingly for non borderline decisions. Unfortunately that takes away some of the purity of the game and it is quite ugly to see players constantly doing those lame box signals on the pitch. I imagine the next iteration would be a limited number of challenges per team.

[Anny Road]

This idea that the arm if in an unnatural position is not in the law itself.

Admittedly there is small scope for interpretation but the law states

 

Handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with the hand or arm.

The following must be considered:

• the movement of the hand towards the ball (not the ball towards the hand)
• the distance between the opponent and the ball (unexpected ball)
• the position of the hand does not necessarily mean that there is an offence
• touching the ball with an object held in the hand (clothing, shinguard, etc.) is an offence
• hitting the ball with a thrown object (boot, shinguard, etc.) is an offence

[skend04]

I love listening to ex-players complaining about players rolling about, as if none of them had ever done it when they were playing.

It wasn't just me that saw the irony/funny side of Zabaletta talking about histrionics whilst Drogba was sat next to him?

[Trumo]

Any running stats from Russia?

 

Wouldn’t surprise me to see them purposefully run less today to make the doping accusation seem less credible.

 

They are definitely doping. The running stats are well out of normal range. They’ll hide behind the ‘no positive results’ thing because we all know that they are capable of engineering a way to beat the tests, so it means nothing.

 

I have a feeling that the Russians eased up in their last game to ensure they remain in Moscow. The game against Group B winners Spain is at the Luzhniki. Other than a trip to Sochi for the quarter final, the winners of the Russia-Spain game would play all their remaining games at Luzhniki right the way up to the final, should they make it that far.

 

Same scenario for the runners-up in England's group. Any progress to the final would see all bar the quarter final (in Samara) being played in Moscow.

[House of Dirk]

Shearer sounding like somebody on holiday complaining because his menu isn’t in English and doesn’t have pictures.

 

 

He only eats chicken and beans anyway

[Stickman]

Love the way on Sky they've mapped out England's route to the semi if they finish second in the group as they will play either Colombia , Senegal or Japan and after they've dispatched them with the minimum of fuss they can breeze past Switzerland or Mexico.

I hope people on here get as giddy next time we beat no wallop the equivalent of a lower or worse championship side.  

I'm wondering who to place a bet on as to who the whipping boy will be when England go crashing out....Sterling is certainly favourite at the minute but a misplaced back pass from Henderson or a Pickford fumble could see them come up on the rails.

[El Rojo]

Quaresma still knocking in astonishing goals even now.

 

Code72 was a visionary. Bring him back.

[Paulie Dangerously]

Still amazes me watching Harry Kane's hat trick goal against Panama.

 

The ball cannons off his heel and goes in.  So confident are they that he isn't going to turn round to Loftus Cheek and go "that's yours mate" all the England players rush over to Kane.  Not a hint of embarrassment. 

[Jose Jones]

Love the way on Sky they've mapped out England's route to the semi if they finish second in the group as they will play either Colombia , Senegal or Japan and after they've dispatched them with the minimum of fuss they can breeze past Switzerland or Mexico.

I hope people on here get as giddy next time we beat no wallop the equivalent of a lower or worse championship side.

I'm wondering who to place a bet on as to who the whipping boy will be when England go crashing out....Sterling is certainly favourite at the minute but a misplaced back pass from Henderson or a Pickford fumble could see them come up on the rails.

To be fair those teams are probably doing the same.

That one side of the draw is way easy compared to the other one, so it makes complete sense to point it out.

[Tony Moanero]

Still amazes me watching Harry Kane's hat trick goal against Panama.

 

The ball cannons off his heel and goes in. So confident are they that he isn't going to turn round to Loftus Cheek and go "that's yours mate" all the England players rush over to Kane. Not a hint of embarrassment.

To be fair, I can’t remember ever seeing a centre-forward not claim a goal when they’ve had the last touch, no matter how fortuitous or unintentional, especially when they’ve been on a hat-trick. It’s not like he overdid his celebration either.

[Gym Beglin]

I have a feeling that the Russians eased up in their last game to ensure they remain in Moscow. The game against Group B winners Spain is at the Luzhniki. Other than a trip to Sochi for the quarter final, the winners of the Russia-Spain game would play all their remaining games at Luzhniki right the way up to the final, should they make it that far.

 

Same scenario for the runners-up in England's group. Any progress to the final would see all bar the quarter final (in Samara) being played in Moscow.

 

Had a look at the stats for yesterday.

 

Have to caveat that they had a man sent off, but the total distances covered in metres for the 3 group games =

 

v Saudi - 117,963m (top runner - 12,706)

v Egypt - 115,220m (top runner - 12, 470)

v Uruguay - 98,080 (top runner - 10,444)

 

https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/teams/team/43965/

 

They've got Spain coming up next, and Spain's distances covered in the last 3 games were:

v Portugal - 102,935

v Iran - 105,328

v Morocco - 103,467

 

In short, the average for Spain is 103,900m and the average for Russia is around 116,591 when you base it on the two games where they had 11 men on the field.

 

A discrepency of 13,000m is insane, it's not only an extra man, it's the fittest man on the field, extra.

 

Spain's top runner so far has been Koke, who ran 11,757m in the first game. No other Spanish player has come close to that in the last 2 games.

Russia, on the other hand, have had Golovin run 12,706m in their first game, and that was followed up in the 2nd game with 12,470m.

 

Bet against Russia at your peril.

[Paulie Dangerously]

To be fair, I can’t remember ever seeing a centre-forward not claim a goal when they’ve had the last touch, no matter how fortuitous or unintentional, especially when they’ve been on a hat-trick. It’s not like he overdid his celebration either.

 

Good points aside Negged for defending Harry Kane. 

[Brownie]

 

 

This idea that the arm if in an unnatural position is not in the law itself.

Admittedly there is small scope for interpretation but the law states

 

Handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with the hand or arm.

 

The following must be considered:

• the movement of the hand towards the ball (not the ball towards the hand)
• the distance between the opponent and the ball (unexpected ball)
• the position of the hand does not necessarily mean that there is an offence
• touching the ball with an object held in the hand (clothing, shinguard, etc.) is an offence
• hitting the ball with a thrown object (boot, shinguard, etc.) is an offence

When you look at that, it’s absolutely ridiculous that the pen was given against Portugal last night.

 

As I say, some refs clearly don’t understand som of the rules and that needs to be one of the big takeaways from this.

[Paulie Dangerously]

 

This idea that the arm if in an unnatural position is not in the law itself.

Admittedly there is small scope for interpretation but the law states

 

Handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact with the ball with the hand or arm.

 

The following must be considered:

• the movement of the hand towards the ball (not the ball towards the hand)
• the distance between the opponent and the ball (unexpected ball)
• the position of the hand does not necessarily mean that there is an offence
• touching the ball with an object held in the hand (clothing, shinguard, etc.) is an offence
• hitting the ball with a thrown object (boot, shinguard, etc.) is an offence

 

 

This would be ace if it happened again Inglund.  Ronaldo in the 94th minute, trips over and his boot comes off as the ball from Quaresma comes in, in desperation he throws it at the ball with such force the ball squeezes in off the post.  Pickford looks gormless, Kane slurs at the ref who checks VAR......GIVEN!

 

Portugal win the World Cup and Inglund bemoan the Boot of Ron forever.  

[El Rojo]

This headline is so awful and makes so little sense that it's actually a work of rare genius.

 

 

[setreal]

"You expect me to walk..

 

through your defence?"

 

"No, Mr. Rodriguez, I expect you to dive."

[Moctezuma]

Picked the wrong team there Paulie, Uruguay with Suarez would cause maximum fume.

 

I'm hoping he knocks England out with a goal off his bum in the 121st minute of extra time while in a an offside position.

[Trumo]

Carillo puts Peru 1-0 up against Australia. First-time volley low into the far corner.