They have to appoint someone with little experience at Prem level to the Premier League at some point. Otherwise you'd never get new referees.

comment by Spangles (U17289)
posted about 5 hours ago
Reading that the ref sent off Lemina because he ran aggressively towards him when complaining that he thought he had been fouled. Interesting explanation given the ref had his back to him as he approached
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I think Neves said the referee had told him that it was because Lemina was the third player. The referee was quite rightly criticised on MOTD by Shearer and Murphy, so it isn't just Wolves fans that think the whole thing was ridiculous.

comment by Spangles (U17289)
posted about 4 hours ago
Lots of things to be positive about with Lopetegui, none more so than the benefits he gets from using subs. We looked tighter defensively once Bueno came on and Traore and Gomes opened the doors to the comeback win. 3 points against Bournemouth next week and relegation will already seem like a distant nightmare
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I said at half time that I thought Lopetegui got it wrong with the first half set up. Meanwhile Nathan Jones had probably got it right with his.

The major difference between the two was how Lopetegui was able to recognise what wasn't working and change things. Once he did that, Jones had no idea how to react and we managed to build pressure.

I think that's what makes a great manager to be honest. They all make mistakes with their set up or can have another team set up against them in a way which completely nullifies their game plan. It's the ability to change in game to reverse that or even to change to nullify the opposition changes that makes one great.

Bruno was a poor manager (a bit like Jones) in that he couldn't react if his original plan was ineffective or make changes to change the flow of a game. Nuno was good in that he could set up a system, but even he struggled with a plan B (especially against physical teams that sat back). Julen is levels above both of them in this regard in my opinion.

comment by Tamwolf (U17286)
posted 4 hours, 50 minutes ago
It was worth the booking. It showed great team spirit.

Unfortunately, if you run across the pitch as a substitute then you are likely to get booked. Otherwise you'd set a precedent for substitutes entering the field of play.

He wouldn't have been booked if the celebration was in the opposite corner and he'd just ran down the sideline.
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This was a big thing at the world cup wasn't it. We saw players streaming from the bench onto the pitch countless times when goals were scored and nothing was ever done.

we are no longer the lowest scorers in the division

It’s good that we’ve got 5 goals in the last two games, a big step in the right direction. No goals from our strikers amongst those but hopefully Cunha and Sarabia will get on the mark soon, and Costa did ok when he came on this week. What’s encouraging is that other players are getting into scoring positions. Neves last week and Gomes this week driving into the box. Dawson getting one from close range last week and Hwang last week and Traore this week forcing own goals from close range. Teams don’t score many if they don’t get players into scoring positions and now we seeing much more going on in the danger area

I fancied us for 25 goals two games ago and that number is down to 20 already in two games. 16 games to go so it should be easy enough now, but yes, it would be nice to see a forward start scoring with some kind of regularity.

I know we're picking up points at a much better rate now but to say we just need to beat Bournemouth and forget about relegation seems very premature to me. We're still 15th, only two clubs between us and the relly zone and teams around us are still picking up points.

Hopefully Liverpool will do us another favour and keep Everton down there tomorrow night and yes 26 points from 23 games is a good position but there's still plenty of work to do.

Honestly would forget all about relegation. We are not going down. Probably end up in the mid 40s point wise.

Four wins and a few draws would be enough and we will do better than that.

Haha, greasy Jack throwing himself down in the box against Villa. Cheating khunt, love it.

How on earth did he fool the ref with that and win a pen? He should have won a yellow for simulation

Gem I trust yesterday gave you a well earned boost

Never know how many games to choose when looking at current form tables but I like the one that covers the last 4 games of every team in the Premier League which has us top. But whether you look at the last 6, 8 or 10 we’re in the top half in every one. Hope must be that this remains the case not just for the rest of this season but next season too

Ruben Diaz booked today, like Lemina yesterday, for being the third player to approach the referee to complain about a decision. Where has that rule come from?

I like the rule though there's no need to crowd the refs

Fair enough Tino but, as always with any rule, it needs to be enforced consistently.

2 so far this weekend one Vs against a top side and the other against man city

It's weird that it's the third player. Does that mean the fourth player gets away with it? What if two players tie for second? Surely that means you have two in second and then the next player is fourth, meaning no one gets booked.

How is the ref determining who is third? If he accidentally books the guy who is second, does that mean we can appeal it as mistaken identity?

Be much simpler if it was accepted only the captain could approach the ref

It would be much simpler if they came up with a rule that was easily and consistently enforceable and then properly communicated it before implementation. Instead, then have just randomly brought it in without anyone knowing what's going on.

I also don't think this will stop crowding of refs. In the heat of the moment, if a team thinks there has been an injustice then they are naturally going to react. I think we'll just see more yellow cards as referees try to cover their tracks for their mistakes.

Nevermind all that

What's the craic with these UFO's

The phanny at this gold is outrageous as well. I am going next year

*golf

Me and golf have fallen out

Oh, my bad, thought this was the NFL thread

It is a busy weekend here in Phoenix, big golf tourny, the rowdiest of the year and pretty entertaining and of course the superbowl.