So, 4 EPL v La Liga matchups in CL this week! Not a good start for the Spanish sides. And today its Liverpool x Atletico.
LPB supporters act like total b!tches about officiating. But then, LPB leads the world in PKs given; it is widely known that the xG for a PK >>>>>> the xG for a Red Card given to an opponent. IOW, a PK is pretty much a "free goal," whereas a Red against an opponent still requires your team to go EARN a goal. That 2nd PK was indeed a joke. WTF was the defender supposed to do with his arm? And what goalscoring chance did it prevent? That has to be looked at, because there has to be some nuance within The Laws, and there isn't any right now.
It also deflected off a part of the player's body first as well. To be fair though, that red card they got in the last La Liga was technically BS. As cynical as the foul was.
Agreed on the deflection on that PK; I'd forgotten to mention that. And also agreed on that Red Card, in that again that was a call where nuance should have ruled. By the letter of The Laws, yeah, it was a DOGSO Red Card. But with some nuance applied, that forward was not fast enough to outrun both of LPB's defenders. If it had been that foul with a pacier player, such as Yamal or Raphinha as the attacker, 200% a red card, both by letter of The Laws, and with nuance applied.
Well … if refing a game isn’t already complicated enough , judging a players speed against a defender would make it even more in these cases. So the rule can’t have that variable in it if that’s what’s you’re saying .
Well, I think that I, a middle-aged former mediocre amateur player could outrun Balde.... ....if given a 30 yard head start. In the same way, the relative positions of the players on the pitch and relative abilities of the players in question have to be part of nuance as well, when making that call. After all, a young Pique could have dealt with Mbappe, but an elderly Pique had to grab Mbappe by the shirt to keep him from running past him.
Link? I would think it depends a lot on what minute the red card occurs. But to me, any red card in the first 45 minutes feels worse than a PK. Depends on the scoreline and context though. For e.g. in that second leg V PSG 2 seasons ago, I would have taken a PSG goal over that Araujo red card, never mind a penalty. Any Atletico out of it after 7 minutes. This is embarrassing.
Here. And here. A PK is an xG of 0.76. IOW, you'd have to screw up the kick to not score. A red card, OTOH, does not have a fixed xG, but rather reduces the carded team's xg by a multiple of how many minutes remaining * 65% reduction of their "11 v 11" xg. IOW, the team with a man advantage still have to break down the opponent. So yeah, in general, it's better to get the pk tha the red card, but other factors can sway it the other way. Yeah, Xavi depending on Cancelo and a just back from injury Pedri to defend a lead was a bad call on his part. They needed to have more courage in that game.
Inverted reverse jinx. Unbelievable how many stoppage time winners Liverluck have this season already. Not just stoppage time, but last 1-2 minutes of stoppage time. And Simeone getting baited by the fans.
Congrats to Dembele for growing his ass up enough to win BdO, well deserved. For me, though, watching LPB douchery at Yamal finishing 2nd is laughable. All of one year ago, those douches applauded their club for wussing out of last year's ceremonies. Credit to Yamal for being man enough to show up. Further credit to the young man for being a sportsman to congratulate his rival.
Dembélé's Balon d'Or acceptance speech: "I have achieved my dream of playing for Barcelona club, I played with big names like Lionel Messi and Andrés Iniesta, and I learned many things from them." Happy for Dembouz but kinda a lazy vote that reinforces how the BdO is sometimes determined by vibes more than actual performance over the previous 12 months - he was simply the most recognizable name on the UCL-winning team. In fact, Luis Enrique benched Dembele for having bad discipline vs. Arsenal in the UCL first round, which had the new Coach of the Year under fire lol. Had PSG been the team that eliminated us, this choice would've made somewhat more sense.
Tbf, he was in amazing form for 2-3 months at the time of the season when it mattered. I've seen players win this trophy based on shorter periods of dominance.
Come on, Atleti! Sorloth fvkxed up. Mcmanamamamamman is an annoying LPB cheerleader on ESPN, its unprofessional and annoying for him to act the way he does when announcing LPB games. Half of the issue is ESPN choosing an LPB cheerleader to announce their games. The other half is that mcmanamamamamman is a fvkcing turd.
Don't despair, brother. Its not even October yet. But yeah, Atleti invited disaster by not taking their chances. Still plenty of time in this match. Just don't give LPB a penal, and hit your chances, Atleti.