Rival Watch

[Stranded]

I think the issue with the penalty for Colin is the ref, who was quite close to it, originally gave a corner before deferring to the linesman. It was a very soft penalty though, and not the first given to Steve "son of a referee" Cooper's side this week, let alone this season.

Don't like Ayew's run up either. I though you weren't allowed to do that sort of stuttering run up. <EDIT> the law actually says you can't stutter or feint in the kicking stride so technically his run up is perfectly legal. I have noticed that he tends to send his penalties more or less down the middle so I don't know why keepers don't just stand up to him.

Because as a keeper if you just stayed still and then the taker put it to either side you’d be absolutely slaughtered.

Agreed though if it was me and I studied him and 9/10 of his pens went down the middle, it’s the logical thing to do!

Yeah I reckon keepers don't want to look silly. Isn't there some stat that shows the highest percentage of penalties scored are taken straight down the middle?

Sorry, to clarify, highest conversion rate of penalties are the ones taken down the middle.

Yep middle is best - this article breaks it down pretty well - is 5 years old now but doubt much has changed:

https://www.thestatszone.com/archive/st ... alty-13886

[Mid Sussex Royal]

I think the issue with the penalty for Colin is the ref, who was quite close to it, originally gave a corner before deferring to the linesman. It was a very soft penalty though, and not the first given to Steve "son of a referee" Cooper's side this week, let alone this season.

Don't like Ayew's run up either. I though you weren't allowed to do that sort of stuttering run up. <EDIT> the law actually says you can't stutter or feint in the kicking stride so technically his run up is perfectly legal. I have noticed that he tends to send his penalties more or less down the middle so I don't know why keepers don't just stand up to him.

Because as a keeper if you just stayed still and then the taker put it to either side you’d be absolutely slaughtered.

Agreed though if it was me and I studied him and 9/10 of his pens went down the middle, it’s the logical thing to do!

Yeah I reckon keepers don't want to look silly. Isn't there some stat that shows the highest percentage of penalties scored are taken straight down the middle?

Sorry, to clarify, highest conversion rate of penalties are the ones taken down the middle.

Yeh - the Troy Deeney way is best - he rarely misses

[WestYorksRoyal]

I think the issue with the penalty for Colin is the ref, who was quite close to it, originally gave a corner before deferring to the linesman. It was a very soft penalty though, and not the first given to Steve "son of a referee" Cooper's side this week, let alone this season.

Don't like Ayew's run up either. I though you weren't allowed to do that sort of stuttering run up. <EDIT> the law actually says you can't stutter or feint in the kicking stride so technically his run up is perfectly legal. I have noticed that he tends to send his penalties more or less down the middle so I don't know why keepers don't just stand up to him.

I think the rules should be amended that if the penalty taker dummies, the keeper is allowed off his line without being penalised. If you want the keeper to stay on his spot, do a straight run up, otherwise run the risk of him rushing out and smothering your penalty

[linkenholtroyal]

I think the issue with the penalty for Colin is the ref, who was quite close to it, originally gave a corner before deferring to the linesman. It was a very soft penalty though, and not the first given to Steve "son of a referee" Cooper's side this week, let alone this season.

Don't like Ayew's run up either. I though you weren't allowed to do that sort of stuttering run up. <EDIT> the law actually says you can't stutter or feint in the kicking stride so technically his run up is perfectly legal. I have noticed that he tends to send his penalties more or less down the middle so I don't know why keepers don't just stand up to him.

I think the rules should be amended that if the penalty taker dummies, the keeper is allowed off his line without being penalised. If you want the keeper to stay on his spot, do a straight run up, otherwise run the risk of him rushing out and smothering your penalty

Bit like in rugby once the kicker starts the run up for a conversion the players can run at him from the try line. similar concept the longer you take in your run up the closer the keeper can get. would be much more interesting and get rid of all the fannying about by penalty takers.

[Hound]

Unpopular opinion coming I know but it was a penalty. Just watched it a few times and it seems clear the Swansea player gets to the ball milliseconds before the defender. I hate it but correct call imo.

have you seen the view behind the goal. I can't see how the Swansea player even touched it. But then I might be seeing what I want to see

Looks to me like he kicked the boo players foot onto the ball

[URZZZZ]

Unpopular opinion coming I know but it was a penalty. Just watched it a few times and it seems clear the Swansea player gets to the ball milliseconds before the defender. I hate it but correct call imo.

have you seen the view behind the goal. I can't see how the Swansea player even touched it. But then I might be seeing what I want to see

Looks to me like he kicked the boo players foot onto the ball

I don’t think it’s particularly clear cut either way but given that (A) He had already disallowed a perfectly good goal from Boro and (B) Swansea were awarded an extremely contentious penalty just 3 days before in the last minute of the game, I’m surprised he gave it

Still, on the upside, it’s most likely knocked Boro out the top 6 race barring an extremely strong ending to the season

[Hound]

Unpopular opinion coming I know but it was a penalty. Just watched it a few times and it seems clear the Swansea player gets to the ball milliseconds before the defender. I hate it but correct call imo.

have you seen the view behind the goal. I can't see how the Swansea player even touched it. But then I might be seeing what I want to see

Looks to me like he kicked the boo players foot onto the ball

I don’t think it’s particularly clear cut either way but given that (A) He had already disallowed a perfectly good goal from Boro and (B) Swansea were awarded an extremely contentious penalty just 3 days before in the last minute of the game, I’m surprised he gave it

Still, on the upside, it’s most likely knocked Boro out the top 6 race barring an extremely strong ending to the season

yep, Boro being 10 points behind really should put paid to them going above us. Or if they did, it'd be because we'd have completely collapsed and dropped out of the top 6 anyway. Putting together 4 more wins than us in the last 11 games would be a very tall order

[Stranded]

Unpopular opinion coming I know but it was a penalty. Just watched it a few times and it seems clear the Swansea player gets to the ball milliseconds before the defender. I hate it but correct call imo.

Not really got an issue with the penalty, the disallowed Boro goal on the other hand was nuts.

Just seen the disallowed goal and not got too much of an issue with it - the whistle had clearly gone before Bola hit the ball. I can see why the ref may have thought it was a foul on Fulton but everyone stopped on the whistle before the ball was even hit, Even the keeper paused and then did a half arsed dive towards the ball out of instinct more than anything. Not sure he would have scored if the whistle hadn't have gone.

[URZZZZ]

We could have a fair lead over Bournemouth before the close of the international break - as their games before it are against two top 6 sides (Barnsley and Swansea). Two draws there would be preferable as it would really give us a chance to open the gap - especially with them not having a game on the 20th due to FA Cup involvement

If we really have any aspiration to get top 2, we’ve probably got to be looking at 9 points (7 minimum) from this next week and hope Swansea drop points who have a fairly hard run on in their next few games. Unlikely to snatch second given the amount of teams ahead of us but all we can do is win our games and see what’s what

Stolen from Twitter but everyone in the top 8 has at least 3 games left against the others in the top 8. Watford and us have the most games left with 5 - Brentford and Barnsley both just 3.

League table for the top 8 is as follows:

Norwich P 10 Pts 19
Swansea P 10 Pts 19
Brentford P 11 Pts 19
Bournemouth P 10 Pts 15
Reading P 9 Pts 13
Cardiff P10 Pts 11
Watford P 9 Pts 8
Barnsley P 11 Pts 7

Interestingly* win our game(s) in hand and our record against the top sides stands up against the other sides around us.

So from that, Barnsley really struggle against the top sides and Watford are a real surprise struggler. 4 of their last 6 games, starting with our game on GW41 are against the other sides in the current top 5 - last 2 games are Brentford (a) and Swansea (H).

Shows that if we can be withing striking distance going into the last 2 or 3 games, we could still hit the top 2.

9 of those first 13 points were in the first four games of the season when form/standings doesn’t have much of an impact but nonetheless they were still good wins

Should be an interesting last few weeks, shame there’s no fans there!

[South Coast Royal]

Unpopular opinion coming I know but it was a penalty. Just watched it a few times and it seems clear the Swansea player gets to the ball milliseconds before the defender. I hate it but correct call imo.

have you seen the view behind the goal. I can't see how the Swansea player even touched it. But then I might be seeing what I want to see

Looks to me like he kicked the boo players foot onto the ball

If you think that this penalty was soft you ought to have seen the one in midweek.

[Hound]

Unpopular opinion coming I know but it was a penalty. Just watched it a few times and it seems clear the Swansea player gets to the ball milliseconds before the defender. I hate it but correct call imo.

have you seen the view behind the goal. I can't see how the Swansea player even touched it. But then I might be seeing what I want to see

Looks to me like he kicked the boo players foot onto the ball

If you think that this penalty was soft you ought to have seen the one in midweek.

I did

Just hope they are using up their luck (know that isnt actually a thing but anyway)

[South Coast Royal]

have you seen the view behind the goal. I can't see how the Swansea player even touched it. But then I might be seeing what I want to see

Looks to me like he kicked the boo players foot onto the ball

If you think that this penalty was soft you ought to have seen the one in midweek.

I did

Just hope they are using up their luck (know that isnt actually a thing but anyway)

Wasn't the irony that both penalties were awarded in something like the 97th minute?

[Zip]

Unpopular opinion coming I know but it was a penalty. Just watched it a few times and it seems clear the Swansea player gets to the ball milliseconds before the defender. I hate it but correct call imo.

It was a silly challenge by the Boro player and no problem with the pen but Boro had a perfectly good goal disallowed and were clearly the better side.
I’ve always liked Swansea....until this season.

[Hound]

If you think that this penalty was soft you ought to have seen the one in midweek.

I did

Just hope they are using up their luck (know that isnt actually a thing but anyway)

Wasn't the irony that both penalties were awarded in something like the 97th minute?

yep 2 last minute ridiculous decisions to give them the 3 points. Gits.

[Hound]

Unpopular opinion coming I know but it was a penalty. Just watched it a few times and it seems clear the Swansea player gets to the ball milliseconds before the defender. I hate it but correct call imo.

It was a silly challenge by the Boro player and no problem with the pen but Boro had a perfectly good goal disallowed and were clearly the better side.
I’ve always liked Swansea....until this season.

have you seen the SSN highlights on the pen? Taking that angle from behind the goal, can you explain what constitutes a penalty there? Coz I'm stuck on that one

[NewCorkSeth]

Unpopular opinion coming I know but it was a penalty. Just watched it a few times and it seems clear the Swansea player gets to the ball milliseconds before the defender. I hate it but correct call imo.

have you seen the view behind the goal. I can't see how the Swansea player even touched it. But then I might be seeing what I want to see

Looks to me like he kicked the boo players foot onto the ball

Direction ball travels at told me the Boro player didn't touch it until after Swansea player had toe poked it.

[Zip]

Unpopular opinion coming I know but it was a penalty. Just watched it a few times and it seems clear the Swansea player gets to the ball milliseconds before the defender. I hate it but correct call imo.

It was a silly challenge by the Boro player and no problem with the pen but Boro had a perfectly good goal disallowed and were clearly the better side.
I’ve always liked Swansea....until this season.

have you seen the SSN highlights on the pen? Taking that angle from behind the goal, can you explain what constitutes a penalty there? Coz I'm stuck on that one

I thought the Swansea player got to the ball first and was then brought to ground by the challenge. It was very close but no problem with the pen being awarded. The pen in midweek was a joke.

[Zip]

Unpopular opinion coming I know but it was a penalty. Just watched it a few times and it seems clear the Swansea player gets to the ball milliseconds before the defender. I hate it but correct call imo.

have you seen the view behind the goal. I can't see how the Swansea player even touched it. But then I might be seeing what I want to see

Looks to me like he kicked the boo players foot onto the ball

Direction ball travels at told me the Boro player didn't touch it until after Swansea player had toe poked it.

That’s how I saw it.

[Hound]

have you seen the view behind the goal. I can't see how the Swansea player even touched it. But then I might be seeing what I want to see

Looks to me like he kicked the boo players foot onto the ball

Direction ball travels at told me the Boro player didn't touch it until after Swansea player had toe poked it.

That’s how I saw it.

View looks very much like the player has kicked the Boro players foot onto the ball to me. Can’t see how the Swansea player could have touched it first from that angle

Would have to have been a huge amount of guesswork to deduce the swans player got the first touch

Anyway irrelevant now I suppose.

[NewCorkSeth]

Direction ball travels at told me the Boro player didn't touch it until after Swansea player had toe poked it.

That’s how I saw it.

View looks very much like the player has kicked the Boro players foot onto the ball to me. Can’t see how the Swansea player could have touched it first from that angle

Would have to have been a huge amount of guesswork to deduce the swans player got the first touch

Anyway irrelevant now I suppose.

Not that I'm trying to convince you but for clarity my opinion is based on the fact that the dudes leg is attached on one side meaning that if the Swansea player had kicked his foot into it the leg, being in the air would have moved in an arc and the ball would have followed that trajectory. Given that the ball moved in a direction at a speed that wouldn't be possible if the impact had come from the situation you described I presumed that the Swansea player must have gotten a toe to it as that is the only thing that explains it moving that way.