I?m not buying the, no penalty analysis

[Pat Vegas]

Calafiori got in trouble over a new towel rule

I thought that was outlawed in the PL a few years ago to be honest.
Excellent housery as they say from Calafiori

[Maravilloso Marvo]

I thought that was outlawed in the PL a few years ago to be honest.
Excellent housery as they say from Calafiori

The rule was always that towels were either available for both teams or none.

But I thought they had outlawed it recently as I recall reading a thing that Arteta had found a loophole to exploit it. Apparently our ballboys were using towels to dry the balls before then placing them ontop of those little cones. So when the player comes over to take a throw-in, he ignores the ball that has been in play for the last 5 minutes on the wet grass and instead picks up the nice bone dry ball from the cone and throws that. I wonder whether the ball boys were instructed to only do this at the end Arsenal were attacking...

This kind of thing would never have worked a few years back. Eboue would have picked up the dry ball and the first thing he would have done is bounce it onto the wet grass and back into his hands...

[Rich]

I don't mind that so much. Favouritism towards one or other club is more or less a given in the league format of the national sport.

Same with pundits, everyone can be deemed to have a bias, however noncontiguous, but that doesn't necessarily mean they can't do the job.

Can you explain why we don't just fly the best referees in Europe in every weekend? The PL buy all the best players so why can't we buy the best refs too? Elimiates this potential bias too.

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

Can you explain why we don't just fly the best referees in Europe in every weekend? The PL buy all the best players so why can't we buy the best refs too? Elimiates this potential bias too.

I've long advocated this.

[redgunamo]

I've long advocated this.

You cannot eliminate bias in sport. It's impossible.

Presumably some of these non-biased officials of yours would hail from Germany, where in their completely non-biased way, they have seen fit to allow one club to win so many league titles that nobody can even name the team with the second most.

And our game is truly gone if we need to hire refs from Italy, France or Spain in a bid to conquer purported favouritism and prejudice.

[PSRB]

You cannot eliminate bias in sport. It's impossible.

Presumably some of these non-biased officials of yours would hail from Germany, where in their completely non-biased way, they have seen fit to allow one club to win so many league titles that nobody can even name the team with the second most.

And our game is truly gone if we need to hire refs from Italy, France or Spain in a bid to conquer purported favouritism and prejudice.

We just need better refs and someone other than Howard Webb in charge. The chap who reffed our Port Vale match was very good. Probably let a few tough challenges go that PL managers won't like but on the whole, decent.

[Peter]

We just need better refs and someone other than Howard Webb in charge. The chap who reffed our Port Vale match was very good. Probably let a few tough challenges go that PL managers won't like but on the whole, decent.

For me it is the total lack of accountability. Respect for referees does NOT extend to excusing and defending their mistakes.

When you watch Dermot Gallagher making pathetic excuses for the Gyokeres penalty incident ('foot was planted' - what the **** does that have to do with anything?) you can see the very culture that is creating the problem. Refs know best, they are and should be above criticism, and any accusation of error, incompetence or bias is met with closing ranks.

It is a historical problem with football. Referees are ****ers who like throwing their weight around. You don't see it in other sports.

[PSRB]

For me it is the total lack of accountability. Respect for referees does NOT extend to excusing and defending their mistakes.

When you watch Dermot Gallagher making pathetic excuses for the Gyokeres penalty incident ('foot was planted' - what the **** does that have to do with anything?) you can see the very culture that is creating the problem. Refs know best, they are and should be above criticism, and any accusation of error, incompetence or bias is met with closing ranks.

It is a historical problem with football. Referees are ****ers who like throwing their weight around. You don't see it in other sports.

Keith Hackett is very fair on X. He says it was a clear penalty.

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

You cannot eliminate bias in sport. It's impossible.

Presumably some of these non-biased officials of yours would hail from Germany, where in their completely non-biased way, they have seen fit to allow one club to win so many league titles that nobody can even name the team with the second most.

And our game is truly gone if we need to hire refs from Italy, France or Spain in a bid to conquer purported favouritism and prejudice.

I'd just like us to get the best refs from Europe. They wouldn't be part of the PGMOL club who want to make football all about them. They'd just get on with the job, knowing that if no-one notices them, they'll have done a decent job, no set of fans would be complaining and they'd get the contract for next year, too, where they'd earn twice as much as they do in France or Italy and ten times as much as in Latvia.

They big payday would mean more to them than being the star of the show. They earn as much as the PM, ffs.

[Ganpati's Goonerz--AFC's Aboriginal Fertility Cult]

For me it is the total lack of accountability. Respect for referees does NOT extend to excusing and defending their mistakes.

When you watch Dermot Gallagher making pathetic excuses for the Gyokeres penalty incident ('foot was planted' - what the **** does that have to do with anything?) you can see the very culture that is creating the problem. Refs know best, they are and should be above criticism, and any accusation of error, incompetence or bias is met with closing ranks.

It is a historical problem with football. Referees are ****ers who like throwing their weight around. You don't see it in other sports.

The foot was planted and didn't move but when Vik tried to skip over the leg, Pope raised his knee and took him out with that. It was deliberate.