DaveT

Michael Oliver? Giving a flakey penalty to City? The same Michael Oliver who inexplicably failed to send off City’s Kovacic at Arsenal? The same Michael Oliver who had a lucrative payday in the UAE recently? Nothing to see here, move along If that penalty last week is the new benchmark, we should expect to see several every match this weekend.

There’s no escaping the cunt.

Sky reporting that Taylor has been demoted this weekend because of his awful penalty decision for Newcastle last week. To be fair to Taylor(not that the cunt deserves it), he only saw the incident once. VAR saw if from multiple angles, all of which showed it to be a bad call, and still failed to question it.

Anthony fucking Taylor. Joke.

Wolves deservedly level, by far thd more dangerous looking team. If Trent had the first half Trippier is having, he’d get slaughtered.

A comprehensive 5-1 win and all the media and bantz merchants want to talk about is the Darwin miss. Of course he should have scored but at least there was a smidge of difficulty as he was on the run, away from goal. The misses by Diver Gordon and that Burnley lad last weekend were way, way worse. Agree about Kelleher. I’ve been thinking for some time that his shit-stopping isn’t that good and one v one situations, he’s quite poor. Still better than that kid Burnley bought from City for a small fortune.

Can’t say I’ve ever noticed him much. Whenever I’ve watched, they’ve had Tah and Tapsoba playing. Tapsoba looked really good when he broke through but looks to me as if he wouldn’t have the physicality to do well in the PL.

Who is this Thiago I keep seeing gettting mentioned?

Diaby was outstanding for Leverkusen last season, quite a coup for Villa to get him. Next names to leave Leverkusen will probably be Wirtz and Frimpong. Could be quite tasty if we come up against Xabi and his high flying Leverkusen in the EL later on.

Or Rodri at the Etihad last season, stopping what genuinely was a promising attack. Barely a peep about that. Simon Hooper IIRC. 8 years between players getting sent off for a 2nd yellow against us.

People see what they want to (or even stuff that didn’t actually happen!). It’s the thing that’s not acknowledged in this country….. everyone in football has an agenda and/or an allegiance - including pundits, and referees. Look at the way Jenas completely lost his shit when a decision didn’t go Tottenham’s way. Thd narrative over the Konate thing is batshit crazy…….and cynical.

The Tarkowski foul on Jota was the very definition of a foul to stop a ‘promising attack’ - edge of the box, defender left for dead, forward in control of the ball. Only an idiot, someone looking to deflect, or someone looking to contrive controversy would consider the Konate challenge prevented a promising attack .

The word’s gone out. Total pile on in the media re the Konate thing. Dopey Dermot, aided and abetted by Stephen Warnock, declaring he should have seen a second yellow….. with no reference to which law/guideline that view is based on, just that it was ‘cynical’. I’ve seen it suggested that it stopped a ‘promising’ attack. I guess, if you think that a donkey like Beto, 65 yards from goal, nobody in support, ball yards away, Virgil about to pounce, has a chance of a ‘promising attack’, then fair enough.

This was one of thd better refereeing performances I’ve seen this season. Got most of the big calls right, failed to give a clear penalty for the foul on Diaz. The confected sense of grievance from the Bitters is about masking their own ineptitude, and the contrived narrative of controversy by the media is all about making a fairly dull match more interesting than it was.

Agree. Jones was only intent on winning the ball. Thd Palmer (and Kovacic) tackles were nasty shithouse challenges, ball nowhere to be seen.

Just watched YouTube highlights of Uruguay Brazil. Eight minutes of mostly fouls, most given, some not, interspersed with a few bits of goalmouth action. As feisty as it was, neither side was penalised as much as Anthony Taylor does to us in even a run of the mill PL match.

Amen to that

And Luke Chambers, back up to the back up left back, injured in training with England u20s. Don’t you just love international football.

England u21s live on Youtube, Harvey Elliott, if anyone's interested.....

Yeah, I said in my post that it’s on Sky, it was originally booked for their 5.30 slot. And, yeah, the Manc police should be told to just do their job.

I don’t think there’s anything sinister in this, it’s just that we draw the biggest audiences and BT/TNT want to maximise their viewing figures. (Although I believe this latest change is at the behest of the counting Manc police and is on Sky). Doesn’t alter the fact that we are disadvantaged far more than any other team and that these fixtures are typically away games for us. As if we haven’t got enough to put up with, with a cabal of referees trying to fuck us over at every opportunity. It’s such a shit time for a football match anyway, whether you’re attending or watching on tv.

Being a bit anal on this stuff, and also retired, I did a bit of a mini-Tompkins. Here's a bit of data..... This season so far, Anthony Taylor has reff'd 7 games. The average number of fouls he's awarded against all teams not called Liverpool is 9.25. Average number of fouls given against Liverpool (2 matches) is 16.5. Small sample, of course. Since the start of last season to date (7 matches), Taylor has awarded an average of 14 fouls per game against us - and 7.1 against our opponents i.e. we commit twice as many fouls as our opponents, despite typical having 60+% possession. In our games so far this season with other referees, an average of 11 fouls have been given against us per game, and 11.6 against our opponents. This includes 17 given against us by Hooper in the Spurs match, quite a few of which were an utter nonsense, but influence the average. Across the whole of last season, in Liverpool matches not refereed by Taylor (33), an average of 10.3 fouls were given against Lverpool. An average of 9.4 fouls were given against our opponents on the day. Pretty even, across a whole season. So, either we suddenly become a much dirtier team when we see that Taylor is refereeing. Or he's a biased cunt. He does tend to referee us more away from home, and also in bigger games. Doesn't seem to matter much, though either way - 19 fouls against us at home to Brentford in May, mostly for their players throwing themselves down when someone like Mo was within 5 yards. And he's also been overturned by VAR a couple of times...... the one - or was it three? - blatant fouls he managed to miss in the build up to the Haaland goal, disallowed by VAR. A Mane goal at home to Wolves, which he ruled out for a handball by Lallana in the build up. Except he couldn't possibly see it as he was behind Lallana who brought it down cleanly on his chest. Correctly overturned by VAR. There's plenty more anecdotal stuff (THAT Kompany 'tackle') but you get the gist. Yes, he's a biased, cheating cunt.

Nailed it, as usual. I said at the time on the Other Football thread during the Arse/City match that if anyone still thinks that the goings on at Spurs, then at the Emirates is donw to 'mere' incompetence, then they need serious help. The feeling of impotence whilst these cunts gleefully shaft us week after week, whilst aiding and abetting City's cheating is bad enough. The utter frustration of seeing the media wilfully overlook the straight line between the events of the last 2 weekends and the fingerprints of City's owners makes it all a whole lot worse. Even if they refuse to acknowledge the merest hint of bias or corruption, you'd think they might look at a bigger picture, whcih is an utter colossal officiating shitshow which to my knowledge is not being replicated in any other major league. But the media are complicit because they have a vested interest and are therefore part of the problem. Giving the job of 'interrogating' Webb to little Micahel Owen instead of someone who would take a baseball bat to Webb's lies, dissembling and obfuscation is an example of this. Some of the refereeing last weekend, jeez - the inconsistency around the imaginary yellow card - the blatant foul on Watkins - as I say, utter shitshow.

Sorry, Scott, it’s Webb who’s indulging in cakeism. Hiding behind the rules when it suits them - ‘can’t stop the game after it’s re-started’ (although they did just that at Burnley apparently) - but ignoring them when it doesn’t fit an agenda, or backhander, (Kovacic). That’s not to mention the zero tolerance for the imaginary card (except sometimes!). Or teams grabbing 15/20 yards on throws and free kicks - we don’t even bother trying as we know the reaction from the Taylors and Tierneys. They apply the rules they want, when they want to, and for/against whoever they want.

I shouldn’t have watched that programme last night, all it’s done is wind me up all over again. ‘Nobody will be more disappointed than those officials…’ over the Diaz error. YOU’RE FUCKING WRONG, THERE, HOWARD YOU SLIMY CUNT. What a wasted opportunity that was, timid little Michael Owen providing zero challenge, turning it into a party political broadcast on behalf of the Incompetent & Corrupt Party. No mention of the UAE payday, no mention of the Jota red or the generally appalling 2nd half by Hooper. He wasn’t apparently told about the Diaz blunder until after the match, apparently. Maybe he should have been, then he may not have doubled down on the gross ineptitude in the 2nd half. Webb’s clarifications as to why the Gusto and Kovacic tackles were different were utterly laughable. And of course the Gross foul on Don didn’t get a mention - we’re never going to hear the audio of Taylor choosing to penalise the wrong tackle. What a fucking waste of time.