Weekend Football

[Hendo]

Is Declan Rice good?

A friend of mine, who is a West Ham season ticket holder, rates him very very highly.

[tmesis]

For me the problem is that it's also still a matter of opinion and so even on review it comes down to what that official thinks at that moment in time.

That's the nuance I was trying to pull out. In cricket, the umpire gives his opinion, and if technology says it's a close call, it stays with his on-field decision. That's the bit that football fans can't get their heads around - VAR isn't and wasn't ever designed to be used to adjudge the minutest of fouls or barely detectable simulation, but to correct obvious mistakes.

You're right - even on review, if it's a marginal call it stays with what the official thought at that moment in time. That's how it should be.
I don't see why that is a problem. The argument seems to be that because technology can't help with subjective decisions, it shouldn't help with objective ones.

Talking to a Turkish lad the other day (he runs the local paper shop and is a fan of Galatasaray and played both football and basketball for them but not at the very top level) his gripe is that the ref decides whether to refer to VAR (they have VAR in Turkey for all games).

He admits to looking at things through RTGs but is convinced that the refs have it in for his team and hardly ever refer when it might be to Galatasaray's advantage.
In his opinion the top Turkish ref (the one we see in European games with the very dark hair flattened by overuse of brylcream-can't think of his name) is the worst culprit of all and seemingly never refers to VAR if the decision could favour Galatasaray.

I would guess his "never" isn't actually never.

Judging by the reaction of Galatasaray fans at the game I went to, if a Galatasaray played came onto the pitch with an axe and sliced an opposition player in two, Galatasaray fans would be furious, and screaming about bias, if the ref didn't give the decision in their favour.

[John Smith]

.

Been a while since we did any predictions. Few corkers this weekend which are nigh on impossible to call:

Bournemouth v West Ham
Plymouth v Coventry
Aldershot v Chesterfield
Bath City v Torquay

[Old Man Andrews]

.

Been a while since we did any predictions. Few corkers this weekend which are nigh on impossible to call:

Bournemouth v West Ham
Plymouth v Coventry
Aldershot v Chesterfield
Bath City v Torquay

Bournemouth V West Ham - Bournemouth are in a horrible run of form right now and really need to stop the slide. West Ham picked up a decent win last time out against Arsenal. West Ham are really inconsistent though and I can see Bournemouth picking up a win here. 2-1 Bournemouth win

Plymouth v Coventry - Plymouth in 23rd place and Coventry riding high up in 8th. Plymouth have won their last two games where as Coventry have had patchy form as of late. Going to say Plymouth will pick up a third win on the spin here. 1-0 Plymouth

Aldershit v Chesterfield - Obviously we would all like an away win here. Problem with that is Chesterfield are a basket case club who are heading towards another relegation. Aldershot are having an equally bad time of things and sit one place above Chesterfield. Both sides with no wins in their last 5. Going for a draw here, 2-2.

Bath City v Torquay - This one should be a good game. Both sides flying at the top of the National League South with Bath in 4th and Torquay top of the league winning their last 5 on the spin. Will be a close game but I see Torquay winning their 6th game in a row. 1-3 Torquay

[John Smith]

Can't stop thinking about Aldershot v Chesterfield. I might have to knock Pride Park on the head and go down to watch it I'm that excited!

[Old Man Andrews]

Can't stop thinking about Aldershot v Chesterfield. I might have to knock Pride Park on the head and go down to watch it I'm that excited!

John I use my extensive football knowledge to provide you with detailed and accurate predictions. No need to take the piss.

[Sanguine]

http://www.myfootballfacts.com/Premier_ ... stics.html

Found this link interesting. A statistical breakdown of Premier League penalties since 1992, correct up to the end of last season. A few striking trends in there.

- general increase in the number of penalties awarded, only once more than 80 for the season until 2004-05, and not less than 80 since.

- huge increase in the number of penalties saved by goalkeepers; in the first Premier League season, keepers saved just 2 of 61 penalties awarded, and that pitiful number continued for a few years. But there's been an upward trend since the late 90s and last season over 25% of penalties were saved. That number has been around 15-20% since 2005 - did something change then?

- 'big clubs get more penalties' is borne out by the stats, albeit they spend more time attacking.

- Swansea are great from the spot. 21 penalties awarded in the Premier League, and 20 scored. West Brom are/were statistically the worst from the spot, 14 of 38 (37%) were missed or saved up to their relegation last season.

- 12 of the 72 penalties awarded in 2004-05 (16%) went to Crystal Palace.

[John Smith]

Interesting stuff.

- 12 of the 72 penalties awarded in 2004-05 (16%) went to Crystal Palace.

Andy Johnson diving expert

[sandman]

Millwall on the telly which means they get to do their tribute to Jim Carrey in front of a national audience.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0cVlTeIATBs

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Fair fukks to Millwall.

Oh for a proper solid defence and a team that does good set pieces.....

[sandman]

We could have had part of that solid defence if a certain someone had shown some faith in Cooper and tried to develop him.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Fair dooos to Millwall..and of course Cooper scored

[Snowflake Royal]

Everton were dreadful.

Nice to see three Reading Academy lads doing pretty well still.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Side-show LOL @ Wet Sham

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Lovely to see West Ham go out

And I must be the only person to think that wasn't the blatant handball from Cooper that the commentators reckon it was. Don't think he really moved his arm towards the ball, I actually think his arm moves after the ball has hit him

[AthleticoSpizz]

Twas never a handball...the ref said so

Get used to it Premier teams....that’s how it is

[BR0B0T]

How did you lads get on today?

[Sutekh]

I see we get chelsea reserves v Sheff we’d on tv today. Why, exactly? We already get every ManU cup game on tv irrespective of how irrelevant the game is so are Chelsea about to join that collective?

Wolves’ trip to Shrewsbury would have been a better game to have.

Also they obviously don’t give a tuppenny about the away supporters. 6pm on a Sunday!

[6ft Kerplunk]

That number has been around 15-20% since 2005 - did something change then?

Was that they changed the laws so that keepers could move along the line before the ball is kicked?

[Duffy]

I see we get chelsea reserves v Sheff we’d on tv today. Why, exactly? We already get every ManU cup game on tv irrespective of how irrelevant the game is so are Chelsea about to join that collective?

Wolves’ trip to Shrewsbury would have been a better game to have.

Also they obviously don’t give a tuppenny about the away supporters. 6pm on a Sunday!

Viewing figures. But yes, shambles being a 6pm kick off time especially for those Owls fans.