Our stop-start campaign continued with another worrying performance in a disappointing draw away to Olympiakos in the CL, a game in which we threw away a 2 goal lead for the second time this season. Between the lack of consistency and intensity from the players and the bizarre team selections and tactics from the manager, your guess is as good as mine as to the outcome at the King Power Stadium, but if we come up with the same kind of performance as in Greece, we are in for a hiding as Leicester are a quality side. It would appear Danny Rose and Serge Aurier will come back into the team as they were left out of the squad for the CL fixture, whilst Sessegnon, Lo Celso and Foyth remain out with injuries. Hopefully we will be more Palace than Olympiakos, but I'm not holding my breath (I don't even know what that expression means).
Well, we shouldn't be done for a lack of energy in midfield - this is a high tempo, fast team today. No Lloris is big though, step up Gazza. Gazzaniga Aurier - Alderweireld - Vertonghen - Rose Winks Sissoko -- Ndombele Lamela -------- Kane -------- Son Davies, Dier, Wanyama, Skipp, Moura, Eriksen, Whiteman That bench... We're in trouble if we get more than 4 injuries in centre midfield
What the f... the refs are doing is beyond me. Leicester opener correctly ruled out by VAR for offside, but it shouldn't have needed VAR at all. Sissoko given a yellow, could and should have been a red. Danny Rose not given the most obvious of all penalties, just unbelievable. No VAR on it, what the hell is it for?
I thought offside in the run of play. It's a fair call, but would never happen, or even be questioned prior to VAR. Tie to goes to the offense.
We let them stay in it, no nails in coffin early on and Leicester is too good to let them have belief.
Didn't watch, but I see from the report that both goals were surrendered after Wanyama came on for Sissoko - was that part of the problem?
Problems are numerous and too varied to mention, but the long and the short of it is that VAR, a system with human intervention and significant margin for error, determined an offside to the nearest mm. We were 2-0 up, no two ways about it. We won that game. VAR is a an absolute sham. It has to be changed, it just has to. The referee and assistants need to be miked up, give a decision on the field and ask if there is clear evidence that can be used to overturn it. The football equivalent of "umpire's call" for LBW in cricket - they accept the technology is not mm perfect BECAUSE IT ISN'T. I'm ********ing fuming, that game was total bullshit.
Here is the thing that suck about VAR - it is a new tool and they are trying to apply the LotG to a technology which is imperfect. They should go to how the NFL does it (as far as I know - I don't pay attention to the NFL anymore) as only overrule if there is clear evidence. Not marginal, but clear. Unfortunately, that will take some time to get that mentality into the decision-making process. There will be other ******** ups like today.
It's how they do it in rugby. The on field ref says something like "I think the ball was grounded before the player stepped into touch, can you give me a reason not to award the try?", or "I think the player stepped into touch before the ball was grounded, can you give me a reason to award the try?". You have the on-field decision, unless the TV pics conclusively prove otherwise that decision stands. Same with cricket. If the technology shows the ball just clipping the stumps, it's not considered conclusive and the on-field decision stands. Today the linesman should have the authority to state "I think that is offside" or "I think that is onside", and the tech should be used to check, with a pre-defined "referee's call" for anything shown as (e.g.) less than 100mm. Goal line tech tells us how far the ball is over the line because it can - it has a fixed frame of reference, 3k frames per second motion capture, and therefore margin for error can be reduced to very, very small. Not so offside where cameras are not in line and are the standard broadcast cameras (therefore the exact moment of the ball being played can be out by up to 0.02 seconds which matters). The tech today has told us Son was about 2mm offside and it CANNOT measure to that accuracy. The video ref has guessed, and it's a ********ing disgrace.
Level on points with Sheffield United. VAR giveth against City, VAR taketh away it’s why I wasn’t too bothered about the City fortune - it was only a matter of time before it was reversed.
Poch has earned the benefit of the doubt until the likes of Sessegnon and GLC return. If we're still playing like a mid table team after that, thanks for the memories, Poch and best of luck in your future endeavors.
VAR was correctly used against City, not comparing like for like. VAR can't determine intent, only whether a hand was used in scoring or creating a goal. Hence the rule being as it is*, a rule that was applied in that game. VAR was not correctly used today. *A rule I happen to disagree with.
the line between marginal and clear can never, and will never be, established. VAR sucks and will always suck - though I will concede that it could be made to suck less than it does now, as it's suckage at the moment seems almost intentional. But whatever. as it stands, it is killing the game as a spectacle. I'd gladly sacrifice any benefits we've been given - including v Citeh in the CL - to have it gone. I hate it that much. the pain of unimaginably horrific calls - i.e., the disallowed Mendes goal at Old Trafford - don't bother me nearly as much. I hate VAR so, so much. so to surmise: I hate it.
A player running at 30km/hr covers approx 16cms between frame captures on a standard broadcast TV camera. Therefore, if the actual moment the ball leaves the passing foot falls between frames, we have a + or - of 8cm; this could be magnified by the last defender doing the same speed in the opposing direction, so let's call it 15cm. Also factored in is the potential discrepancy from the human interaction which defines the furthest forward body part (attacker) and the furthest back body part (defender) in a defined still image; further still, the potential variance in the accuracy of the pitch lines drawn. There will be a spokesperson along any time now to present an image "proving" that the decision was correct because "he was offside by 6mm" or some other such bullshit. Anything below about 20cm is a total guess; VAR should be there to check offside, but if the images return an answer of less than that 20cms the on field decision should stand. "Referee's Call".
The genie of VAR is out of the bottle. To ever put it back would be a horrible misstep. NFL put video review away for a few years, but it came back, greatly revised. I do think that the call on the field should stand unless the evidence is clear to overturn. That's the theory of many video review concepts applied in leagues around the world. I'm somewhat fascinated that the FA went a different direction.
I never thought I would say this, but Poch has to go before it's too late. This week has been an utter shambles and we have been rubbish since the middle of February.
Disappointing team selection and tactics from the manager (again) and his poor substitutions didn't help. Eriksen on the bench? Why? This is madness. And then with a 1-0 lead, who does he bring on? Victor Wanyama, who last made a tackle 2 seasons ago. This is a guy we couldn't even unload to Brugges, with him on the pitch we may as well be playing with 10 men. And what about the tactics? Were there any? We were overrun for most of the game. The players deserve their share of the criticism as well, too many poor passes and giveaways from experienced internationals. We have now taken 19 points from our last 18 PL games, we have lost 10 of our last 15 away fixtures in all competitions, we have only taken 2 points from our last 9 away games in the PL, any way you look at it, we are trending down badly. I hate to say it, but Poch has lost his mojo, I think AVB may have stolen it.