BFTG - Burnley

[MR. CYNICAL]

As for yesterdays game, thought Burnley were there for the taking, forget their league position, they looked poor on the day and we failed to take advantage.
Much worse than last week, no tempo, no goal threat from us, the fact Al Habsi was again MOTM says it all.
People must be easily pleased if they thought that was an improvement!

[AthleticoSpizz]

.....don't really want to subscribe to your cynicism Mr C......but

Burnley were far better opposition than Wolves........that's why it was better maybe?


......for some of the cocks on here......can we now put the goalkeeping concerns to bed?

[3points]

It feels like Norwood has been here forever. Is this really only his second season?

It felt like (and I'm sure the stats say otherwise) that our results were just as good, if not better, when we had a massive injury list at the start of one Adkins' seasons and we had to rely more on our academy players like Jake Taylor and Aaron Kuhl

At the end of Adkins first (and only) season in the Champ we ended 7th missing out by a point to Brighton (we can blame that on Gunter's own goal away to them - lol). Since then things have been a lot worse in terms of table position, despite the amount of money spent.

Norwood joined summer 2014 IIRC - his initial play was great from memory, great long passes, etc. But lately it doesn't seem to work, and yesterday he was poor.

I can see both him and Williams going this summer - good players, but not really working for us at the moment. If the money comes in and it gets the wages down then I can see the club going for it. Evans is there long term, and Tish (if he can stay fit). Quinn can do left or centre. This season is pretty much a write off - once we're safe(ish) I can see the loanees being benched in preference to next years squad (I think we are seeing that with Cooper v Ferdinand already).

Norwood was a potential PotS after his first six months here, and is a strong contender for PotS this season as well.

He's had a couple of off games recently. Hopefully it's not a sign of only being able to perform in the first half the season when there appears something to play for.

We'd definitely miss him.

I disagree. Our miserable run of form in the past season and a half have coincided with Norwood being a virtual ever present in the team. On the contrary the midfield against Everton looked quite proficient and it didn't contain Norwood

[Flyingkiwi]

......for some of the cocks on here......can we now put the goalkeeping concerns to bed?

AAH is a good shot-stopper but his aimless wandering around the box worries me as he gets caught out of position far too easily. His distribution isn't the best, either.

However: RFC's biggest problem is the lack of an out-and-out striker. We were toothless in front of goal on staurday. We need someone who's not afraid to shoot and can get imto the box and challange for the ball in the air.

[Hoop Blah]

However: RFC's biggest problem is the lack of an out-and-out striker. We were toothless in front of goal on staurday. We need someone who's not afraid to shoot and can get imto the box and challange for the ball in the air.

I disagree (sorry sandman), our biggest problem isn't with the lack of any single player, or even a weakness in a specific department. It's much more to do with getting the players we have to perform anywhere near the maximum of their ability and within an effective pattern of play.

[John Smith]

To those asking what the hell it meant. I was told , by a referee, that there doesn't have to be contact for it to be a foil. If the defender's actions would have tripped the player had he not leapt over the top ( or dived over the top) then it is still a foul (hence the 'intent' issue). However I can't see how that could have been a pen in this case.

Yes, this is unfortunately correct. Anyone remember Steven Gerrard at Sheffield United in 2007(?), yellow kit. Skipped over the defenders leg but still went down and won a pen. I don't agree with it and Warnock certainly didn't either.

* I thought Robson-Kanu was useful and creative and has looked a lot better this season
* Cooper was 'doing a Stones' and nearly got caught out. Looked good in the air but Gray was always winning the foot race. Good job they didn't play it on the deck.
* Justice was done for the pen
* Kermorgant won every header and looked useful

[tidus_mi2]

With regards to diving, especially relevant with regards to this game, my suggestion would be as follows:

Remove the law stating that simulation is a yellow card offence, frankly players have gotten so good at it that I empathise with referees when it comes to differentiating between a dive and a foul.

Have the referee record all suspected incidents of diving and after the game have the incidents independently reviewed, if the players is proven to have committed an act of simulation, the player in question should get a ban to the following degree:

First offence: 1 game ban
Second offence: 2 game ban
Any further offence: 3 game ban

That would instantly snuff it out.

[NeilD]

With regards to diving, especially relevant with regards to this game, my suggestion would be as follows:

Remove the law stating that simulation is a yellow card offence, frankly players have gotten so good at it that I empathise with referees when it comes to differentiating between a dive and a foul.

Have the referee record all suspected incidents of diving and after the game have the incidents independently reviewed, if the players is proven to have committed an act of simulation, the player in question should get a ban to the following degree:

First offence: 1 game ban
Second offence: 2 game ban
Any further offence: 3 game ban

That would instantly snuff it out.

A decision committee afterwards would go against all principles that the referee is the authority on the pitch. Would you then want a committee to review all shirt pulling at a corner?

How would you have him record a suspected dive? make a note in his book of player and time whenever it happened?

The committee wouldn't benefit the opposition on the day as a caution/red card does.

From what I have read (wasn't at the game) it was not an issue with the laws of the game being weak but a referee needing to be strong and not be swayed by the player's performance.

[Jano]

Only skipped through a few posts here but a few of our thoughts from the game. We thought today, and against Wolves actually, that our defence looks much worse than it did when Ferdinand was in the team, I thought McShane was pretty poor and was dithering about a lot, got caught on the ball on several occasions and caused a few issues that should have been dealt with very easily, Cooper also hasn't looked as comfortable since McShane came back in. Saying that however it's two clean sheets on the bounce so I'm almost certainly in the wrong and missing something.

I thought Norwood was particularly poor today and that was a continuation from the Wolves game. I'd put his poor passing down to the wind last week, but can't do the same this time, he's just gone off the boil at the moment. Robson-Kanu should have been dragged off in the 70th minute, which is when he stopped running in behind. Ola John should have been brought on and McCleary put on the right as he is clearly not a left winger. Rakels again impressed, I just wish he'd been brought on earlier.

Other than I'm sure id be reiterating what most are saying, ref was poor, never a penalty, how they didn't have a few players sent off I will never know. All in all a fun game though.

[Dr_Hfuhruhurr]

From what I have read (wasn't at the game) it was not an issue with the laws of the game being weak but a referee needing to be strong and not be swayed by the player's performance.

Sort of. By the time the penalty had come around, the players were in charge. The ref was very much a 'talk to the players' type of ref. He'd basically lost control. If he has been in control, then the penalty shout could have just been dismissed as a moment of misjudgement - certainly my first impression was that it was a penalty. But by that stage some of the players were clearly rattled by the game, AAH went radio, Hal dug up the spot and it took an age for the kick to be taken as the Ref slowly walked behind Hal with his card out for a minute. None of that needed to happen.

However, I still think Gray would have gone down if the ref had booked him for kicking somebody up the arse in the first half. It was one of those attacking moments.

I realised I spent a lot of the game on Saturday watching the ref speaking to somebody - the refs are far more efficient in the Prem.

[Forbury Lion]

re: Norwood, twice the crowd had to shout Man On and twice he was dispossessed by that man. When that happens, you know you've had a bad game and need to be subbed.

Not having awareness of the "man on" suggests lack of concentration, possible causes - off the field issues, illness or tiredness. For any of these and more the answer may be to rest the player.

Still a contender for player of the season though, especially with Blackman having left & no longer scoring goals for us .

[JIM]

What happened at half time with thug BARTON in the tunnel please.

[Platypuss]

It's almost as if Norwood's got something big planned for the summer and is just going through the motions until then.

[RG7Fan]

What happened at half time with thug BARTON in the tunnel please.

Pushed Quinn down the steps and tried to start a fight apparently. Shouldnt be allowed on a football pitch.

[Crowbar6753]

It's almost as if Norwood's got something big planned for the summer and is just going through the motions until then.

Wouldn't be surprised to see them both leave in the summer, we should get some decent cash for them both, and with Evans and Tishbola waiting in the wings plus one with the money recouped i have no problem with this. Williams is good but not great, and Norwood blows hot and cold.
From all reports and glowing references from Veira, Evans seems to be a great prospect, and Tish ain't half bad either!!!

[Lower West]

From all reports and glowing references from Veira, Evans seems to be a great prospect, and Tish ain't half bad either!!!

If they gel as a partnership they will be a formidable pairing. Can then afford to play a more creative/lightweight front 4.

[Nameless]

To those asking what the hell it meant. I was told , by a referee, that there doesn't have to be contact for it to be a foil. If the defender's actions would have tripped the player had he not leapt over the top ( or dived over the top) then it is still a foul (hence the 'intent' issue). However I can't see how that could have been a pen in this case.

Yes, this is unfortunately correct. Anyone remember Steven Gerrard at Sheffield United in 2007(?), yellow kit. Skipped over the defenders leg but still went down and won a pen. I don't agree with it and Warnock certainly didn't either.

There doesn't HAVE to be contact for it to be a foul. The offence is tripping OR attempting to trip. But that doesn't mean that you can dive over a player and get a penalty. There obviously has to be intent on the part of the defender or else they are not 'attempting' to trip. If a defender is attempting to play the ball and the defender avoids contact by diving over the top then there is no foul. The law is there to penalise the player who tries to deliberately trip an opponent but fails, not to allow players to manufacture non existent fouls.

[Royalwaster]

One excuse for Norwood would be that there was very often no decent options available for him - the way we played with just one striker, often meant that going forward there just wasn't much on. I also thought Kermorgant did well, but his headers didn't really get us anywhere as there was no-one to pick up the ball ... I guess though overall the formation worked as we managed to make a very good Burnley side look fairly ordinary most of the time. Although of course Gray should and could have easily scored 3 goals .... but apart from that, they really had no particularly good chances and we missed a few too.

[Maneki Neko]

Our other attacking players need to get around Kermorgant when the balls in the air, ready for a flick on.
Won so many, but no one was ready for them

[Royal Ginger]

Our other attacking players need to get around Kermorgant when the balls in the air, ready for a flick on.
Won so many, but no one was ready for them

Precisely this.