Featured: That was the Week that Was (Aug 28 - Sep 1 2023)

[tlw content]

 

Monday Aug 28:

 

Nothing better than the morning after, basking in the glory of a win like that one yesterday. Soaking up as much content as possible, watching the game back without the stress of how it felt in the moment. There’s lots to unpack from it. The first thing is that the officiating was even worse than I thought it was at the time. I knew it was bad, but usually watching it back without the emotion make me see things a bit more neutrally. Watching this back it’s even worse though.

 

Brooks didn’t miss the push in the back on Trent. I looked at his positioning and he’s looking right at it. He 100% saw it, he just didn’t give a foul, which is criminal really. Then of course he booked Trent for throwing the ball back onto the pitch instead of handing it to Burn to take the throw. Ok, he’s entitled to do that under the laws of the game and he’s been empowered to do it by Webb. Yet 30 seconds later Gordon commits another foul (this one was given) and as Trent goes to take the free-kick Gordon kicks the ball away. All while Jon Brooks watches on. No yellow card. He did book Darwin later on for doing the exact same thing Gordon did though.

 

Then when he shits out of booking Trent for a second time, he ignores Joelinton waving an imaginary card in his face. He did it again when Virgil fouled Isak too. That’s supposed to be an automatic card now, but this is the thing with all of these little instructions Webb is giving them, it’s completely arbitrary and used only to punish the players/teams they want to punish. Had one of our lads been waving a card in Brooks’ face they’d have been booked. We all know it. And we’d be the only ones pointing out the injustice of it, while all the pundits would be saying “well you can’t do that, we were told by Howard Webb they would be clamping down on that this season”. Just like they did with the Trent booking while not fucking mentioning Gordon doing the same thing immediately after. I can accept refs being shit, but at least be consistently shit otherwise it just looks like something else.

 

As long as the pundits don’t draw attention to these inconsistencies and clear incidents of bias, they’ll be able to continue to do it without any comeback. Webb is doing the rounds on TV and radio, giving them lots of content and pretending to be completely transparent about all this shit though, so as long as that’s happening they’ll all be talking about what he’s “trying to do” rather than what he is doing, which is exactly what he did when he was the most biased ref in the entire league. He does his little guest slot on MNF, or he shows up with White and Jordan, and he talks a good game and nobody sees through the cunt. Other than oil states and oligarchs, this bald twat has done more damage to football than anybody I can think of. I think I hate Howard Webb more than I hate anybody else in football, even Richarlison.

 

Anyway, back to my rewatching of the game. I didn’t agree with the Van Dijk sending off at the time and I still don’t now. The ref is entitled to make that call though as it’s entirely subjective and there is no clear right or wrong. A yellow card wouldn’t have been wrong, and if he’d given nothing that would have been understandable too considering that it took several replays to find the angle that conclusively showed Virgil going through Isak’s ankle a split second before he got the ball.

 

It’s a foul, but as Micah Richards said on MOTD2 last night, he needed 50 replays until he was absolutely sure. Now fair enough, he’s not the brightest bulb in the box, but it’s a valid point. It was a good few replays before it was clear what happened, and even then it was when they zoomed in and showed the moment of contact. Yet the ref was so ‘eagle eyed’ he saw that marginal foul at normal speed and was sure enough that it was a red card. Wow, what incredible eyesight and judgement he had. Yet this is same ref that ‘missed’ Gordon’s shove on Trent. Ok, seems legit.

 

On the more positive side of things, I can’t get enough of watching Darwin’s goals and his celebration. The videos from the away end are especially good, but the best bit is definitely when Darwin has finished looking up to the Reds in the top tier and yelling “VAMOS!!” and he notices the Geordies giving him shit and he just smiles, winks and blows a little kiss. Is fucking right lad.

 

This video made me laugh too….

 

 

 

Money can’t buy you love pic.twitter.com/chx5RqX20x

— dave watson (@davewat81575132) August 30, 2023

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[Peter Cormack]

The tacticsl fouling by Joe Linton and the rest of their midfield was so blanent even the dullard who’s replaced Tyler noticed it……yet no card or action from the ref. The only way we will get fair play from Webb and his cohorts is if the club issue a statement praising and thanking South Yorkshire Police for their efforts at Hillsborough.

[Peter Cormack]

1 minute ago, Peter Cormack said:

The tacticsl fouling by Joe Linton and the rest of their midfield was so blanent even the dullard who’s replaced Tyler noticed it……yet no card or action from the ref. The only way we will get fair play from Webb and his cohorts is if the club issue a statement praising and thanking South Yorkshire Police for their efforts at Hillsborough.

Sorry about the typos fff syndrome

[Frank Dacey]

Like you, I'm still furious about that game at Old Trafford when Steve Bennett sent off Mascherano, who'd complained, ntirely reasonably that the United players had been booting Torres all over the place. I recall that the the 'Respect' campaign had come about after Mike Riley had been given dog's abuse by Chelsea players in a game at Tottenham. No one questioned why Riley was so weak and feeble that he hadn't taken action against the dissent. Of course, Riley's reward for being useless was to be given the top job.

Meanwhile, imagine Howard Webb as Aretha, with the likes of Tierney and Brooks as the backing singers.

 

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=aretha+franklin+respect#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:d92de1d8,vid:L2v6ZEU4SLU

[Chocoholic]

Coutinho was wearing your shoes, Dave? No wonder he was so shite.

[Arnaud]

Great diary as always, Dave.

 

Great tactical analysis by the Georgie lad. First time I can actually understand someone from Newcastle !

[Dave D]

Got me thinking about Suarez- what a player....

 

 

Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2005–2006	Nacional	27	(10)
2006–2007	Groningen	29	(10)
2007–2011	Ajax	110	(81)
2011–2014	Liverpool	110	(69)
2014–2020	Barcelona	191	(147)
2020–2022	Atlético Madrid	67	(32)
2022	Nacional	14	(8)
2023–	Grêmio	24	(11

[Captain Turdseye]

Giving Darwin the Suarez song is a great shout. 
 

I’m not so sure I like the adaptation of the Torres song to Jota. I’ll still sing it, like, but it’s forever gonna be the Torres bounce.