Premier League Round Up (Jan 31 - Feb 4 2021)

[tlw content 12,236]

Lots to get through, very little of it is enjoyable so I’ll just grit my teeth and dive straight in.

 

City beat Sheffield United and I have nothing to say about it as I’m still boycotting all of their games until further notice.

 

So I’ll start at Goodison where under pressure Steve Bruce picked up a much needed three points against the Blueshite. The Geordies really seem to have it in for ol’ Brucey but has he really been that bad? They were doing ok this season until Covid hit them and they lost some key players.

 

They’re getting everyone fully fit again now so I expect their results to pick up. They’ve got some good players there in attack but Bruce clearly doesn’t trust the defence and midfield enough to open up. So they play negatively and look to hit on the break. With Saint-Maximin on the pitch they can do that. Take him away and they lose an awful lot.

 

Wilson’s a good striker and he ran Everton ragged. He hit the bar with a powerful header, hit the post with a little clipped shot, shot just wide after a boss counter attack and then scored two late goals to win the game.

 

As for Everton, I’ve been telling you all season they’re fucking shit. Because they are. The league table is lying it’s bollocks off at the moment but come May they’ll be 8th or 9th where they belong.

 

Bad week for Southampton. They lost to Villa in contentious circumstances and then had their pants pulled down at Old Trafford. A key element of both losses was VAR.

 

They were denied a penalty against Villa when Cash blocked a goalbound shot from Armstrong with his arm. The set up from Ings was spectacular and that deserved a goal. It didn’t get one because Cash stopped it with his arm. It wasn’t given because the ball brushed off his thigh first. This isn’t what that rule was brought in for. That has to be a penalty, surely? 

 

Villa went ahead with a Barkley header after a superb Grealish cross but Southampton peppered their goal after that but just couldn’t score. Eventually they did, in stoppage time, but VAR gave it offside. Another one of those horrific ones that they could just as easily have given as a goal if they moved the line another inch or two the other way. Fuck this shit. Nobody wants a world in which that is offside.

 

Say what you like about Grealish (and God knows I have) but he’s exactly the kind of player you want to unlock a packed defence. He can beat people, he can pass, he can cross, he can shoot, he can win free-kicks and pens (ok, he wouldn’t be able to do that if he played for us), he’s just developed into a top class player. He’d be incredible in our team, but even if we wanted him we couldn’t afford him now.

 

Chalk this one down as another game completely fucking ruined by VAR though. Of all the shitty things VAR has brought to the game one of the worst has to be the way it has led to all common sense being removed from the game. So many decisions you see that are technically correct but morally just fucking shambolic and not in the spirit the game was intended to be.

 

That was a penalty and it wasn’t offside. Stick your fucking rewritten rulebook up your hoop, anyone who knows football knows those decision were a joke. The fact they were correct tells you that the game is completely broken right now.

 

It turns out that having every decision correct by the letter of the law actually kills the game. It’s not what the game needs and there has to be room for some interpretation and common sense on certain decisions. It’s not a black and white game like, say, tennis or golf. There are grey areas. Or at least there should be.

 

 

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[alles ist gut 3,900]

Top, top PGMOL analysis there, Dave.

[Manny 1,365]

The Luiz and Bednarek decisions were both an absolute disgrace but it's a good illustration of why fuck all is done. The FA/Premier League/PGMOL never get shit off more than one fanbase at a time. Arsenal fans were probably laughing their cocks off when we got shafted at Goodison, Southampton fans were probably telling us to "cry more" when Walker-Peters swiped away Mane's legs the other week. Fast forward to now and they're on the receiving end of it, but the majority of football fans are just laughing at "banter club" Arsenal and they'll be the only ones kicking off about it.

 

So nothing'll happen as it'll be someone else's turn to get screwed next week. Apart from the mancs, of course, and we get screwed largely every week, but beyond that? Take it in turns, divide and rule. Fucking shit sport.

[aws 6,786]

2 hours ago, alles ist gut said:

Top, top PGMOL analysis there, Dave.

Top, top High School canteen analysis too. 

 

 

[Redlewie 52]

Fabio Silva, a costly geek. Gave me a laugh!

 

There needs to be a major review of all the shit VAR assisted decisions at the end of the season, it just has to be looked at. Who knows how many there's been already.

 

Won't hold my breath though.

[sir roger 6,001]

I am still sticking to my one about them buying Silva from a Ramones tribute band.

[Frank Dacey 296]

I think Dean was the VAR who shafted Southampton in the Villa game and then the onfield ref who did for them at Old Trafford. It's surely unusual for one ref to be involved in officiating consecutive games for the same team?

[Ipplfc 56]

So,just what the actual fuck was Leno doing?

[johnsusername 2,217]

Dave - instead of writing a report for the Man City game, please pen a story for an American teen drama set in a high school - you've clearly got talent for it. 

[StevieMax 102]

Regarding the sending off of Luiz - I thought that the rule had been changed regarding the double jeopardy of a penalty plus a red card unless it was serious foul play? Or did I dream it? In any case it was not a red card and how Arsenal's appeal was knocked back just shows how fucked the referees cartel is.

[dave u 6,019]

1 hour ago, StevieMax said:

Regarding the sending off of Luiz - I thought that the rule had been changed regarding the double jeopardy of a penalty plus a red card unless it was serious foul play? Or did I dream it? In any case it was not a red card and how Arsenal's appeal was knocked back just shows how fucked the referees cartel is.

 

Yeah I also thought you couldn't send them off if a penalty was given. 

 

I'm proper wound up about that decision. It was just an absolute fucking disgrace but it's one where they can hide behind 'the letter of the law'. They couldn't do that on the Martial one because the lad didn't actually make any contact with him.

[dave u 6,019]

2 hours ago, Ipplfc said:

So,just what the actual fuck was Leno doing?

 

It was crazy. It didn't even look like he needed to handle as it wasn't away from his body.

[MegadriveMan 813]

1 hour ago, StevieMax said:

Regarding the sending off of Luiz - I thought that the rule had been changed regarding the double jeopardy of a penalty plus a red card unless it was serious foul play? Or did I dream it? In any case it was not a red card and how Arsenal's appeal was knocked back just shows how fucked the referees cartel is.

I genuinely have no idea about so many of the changes in the rules now and the slight differences between what is and isn't a red card or yellow card in these type of situations. 

 

 

[sir roger 6,001]

5 minutes ago, MegadriveMan said:

I genuinely have no idea about so many of the changes in the rules now and the slight differences between what is and isn't a red card or yellow card in these type of situations. 

 

 

The way they explained it on BBC  was that once the penalty is given , it depends on whether the foul was considered intentional or unintentional whether it is red or yellow. I don't think that was intentional in any way but as Dave says , the referees love rules which are down to interpretation as it means they can always claim to be correct within the rules , see Bobbys handball last week for instance.

[Josef Svejk 4,733]

12 hours ago, johnsusername said:

Dave - instead of writing a report for the Man City game, please pen a story for an American teen drama set in a high school - you've clearly got talent for it. 

The problem is the soundtrack would be shit. 

[Bobby Hundreds 8,272]

I agree on grealish he'd be perfect in our side. Works hard and has all the skill needed. Bound to end up at either united, City or Chelsea. The teams who can actually spend like big clubs.

[Frank Dacey 296]

A lot of these new interpretations are the work of IFAB and bear the fingerprints of David Elleray, a man who always appeared to be sure of his decision-making, despite a considerable body of evidence that suggested otherwise. The changes he's been behind have made things worse rather than better and made the refs job more difficult.