English football 2023-24

[sussexpob]

Weird Timing. Be sad to see him go but I guess he has a big job lined up somewhere?

Was my thought, but he says he is burned out with the job, so like Pep when he left Barcelona, he will probably take some time off.

[Durhamfootman]

That's made my morning, tbh.

hopefully his next job will be a million miles away from the PL

Not a fan?

I like him. he has been a tad grumpy of late but on the whole gave us a team which was as good as anything that we have had to watch in this country.

Not in recent years. I keep hearing pundits and former players talking about his passion, but I think they are confusing passion with ranting, aggression and intimidation towards officials. He isn't alone in that, btw. Last year when he tore his hamstring in his haste to confront the 4th official over something he wasn't happy with was a bit of poetic justice to my mind.

[Durhamfootman]

Comfortable enough win tonight for Newcastle, despite being the poorer of the two teams for large parts of it. The goal against the run of play in the first half, after being under the cosh for half an hour, settled them down a bit and then the second goal, also against the run of play, on the hour mark pretty much knocked the stuffing out of Fulham. Newcastle controlled the game really well over the last 20 minutes or so.

Not at their best, but Newcastle march on

[mikesiva]

West Bromwich vs Wolverhampton disrupted with visitors leading 2-0 in their FA Cup match.

A throwback to the bad old days?

[Durhamfootman]

Good to see Newcastle get back to winning ways last night.

The 3-1 defeat over Villa was only their second away win this season. Not sure that Emery got his tactics right, because they continued to play high up the pitch and Newcastle kept getting in behind them. They played to Newcastle's strengths really. Last 3 times Newcastle have played Villa they've won, 4-0, 5-1 and then 3-1.

Newcastle's only fit striker limped off just before half time, so that's yet another worry ahead of a run of 3 games against Luton (H), Forest (A) and Bournemouth (H). On paper they are games Newcastle should win, but they've lost to all 3 this season, so no longer a foregone conclusion. Hopefully two away wins in the last 4 days is evidence that they are returning to a bit of form.

[mikesiva]

Arsenal 3-1 Liverpool

What a game!

[Durhamfootman]

A Newcastle win!

rarer than hens teeth these days

36 points..... at least they're safe.....can they get themselves in the minor European places by the end of the season? One thing they do have going for them; once they've played Arsenal in a couple of weeks time they have a run of very winnable games all the way to the end of the season, if they can get players back on the pitch

[Durhamfootman]

An absolute battering off Arsenal. Newcastle only managed 3 shots in the entire game. Karius conceded 4 goals and was voted Newcastle's second best player behind the late sub who scored a consolation goal. A change of personnel at LB, in an attempt to stop us being repeatedly skinned down that side, but we still kept getting skinned down the left.

However, as I said earlier, we've played all the top 4 twice now. There are points to be had in every remaining game, even with Spurs (H) and Man Utd (A) still to play, but Howe needs to find a way to stop us being opened up down the left hand side, because every team is doing it to us now, even the bottom quarter of the table teams. Hard to believe that last year the same players, were all part of the meanest defence in the league. I've come to the conclusion that it's the absence of Joelinton, because this profligate defensive run coincides with his injury and he normally dominates that side of midfield and breaks up attacks before they develop. Since his injury Burn's lack of pace has been totally exposed. Hell of a player, Joelinton and when the fat lad first got conned into paying £40m for him I never thought I'd say that. He's worth every penny of that money now

[mikesiva]

Liverpool beat Chelsea 1-0 to win the League Cup.

[Durhamfootman]

a first home win of the year for Newcastle. I find it astonishing that I'm saying that, tbh.

A clean sheet too for the first time in ages. Gone was the ultra high paced press that saw them being caught out defensively in recent weeks. Instead Newcastle sat back a little more, allowed Wolves to have a bit of possession, sucked them forward and then used the pace to hit them hard on the counter. Worked a treat yesterday

[Durhamfootman]

Forest are up in arms after the ref stopped play for a Liverpool player down in his own box in the last moments of time added on, while Forest were in possession and attacking the Liverpool goal, only for the ref to then restart the game by giving the ball to Liverpool's keeper who kicked it forward and from the resulting attack Liverpool got the corner that they scored the only goal of the game from.

I mean... what are the chances of that happening?

instead of the Liverpool player being instructed to play the ball back to his keeper, he should have been instructed to play the ball back to a Forest player and with only a minute or so left in the game, Forest would almost certainly have got the point they'd worked so hard for and Liverpool would not now be 4 points clear at the top

I can't see how the ref can defend that decision at all

[Durhamfootman]

but it doesn't surprise me one bit

[Gingerfinch]

Forest are up in arms after the ref stopped play for a Liverpool player down in his own box in the last moments of time added on, while Forest were in possession and attacking the Liverpool goal, only for the ref to then restart the game by giving the ball to Liverpool's keeper who kicked it forward and from the resulting attack Liverpool got the corner that they scored the only goal of the game from.

I mean... what are the chances of that happening?

instead of the Liverpool player being instructed to play the ball back to his keeper, he should have been instructed to play the ball back to a Forest player and with only a minute or so left in the game, Forest would almost certainly have got the point they'd worked so hard for and Liverpool would not now be 4 points clear at the top

I can't see how the ref can defend that decision at all

By the rules, Forest should have received the ball back.

[Durhamfootman]

I understand there was some confusion, because VAR was looking at a possible Forest penalty at the time. So not only does VAR get an unacceptable percentage of their decisions wrong, but they interrupt the thought processes of the officials leading to them making mistakes as well.

One of the few good things about Newcastle's game at Blackburn (apart from the win) was the absence of VAR sticking its beak in

[sussexpob]

I understand there was some confusion, because VAR was looking at a possible Forest penalty at the time

Ryan Yates of Forest came in with a reckless high tackle that missed all the Liverpool players, but Konate reacted to it by trying to win the free-kick pretending he had been hit. The angle facing the goal proves that he was not hit, and the referee obviously seen this clearly, because if there was any question Yates hit Konate he gets a red card and its a free kick. I dont think the ref checked VAR as there was no pause in the game, maybe a possibility he asked very quickly if Yates had missed or hit and was told the former instantly.

That's where this gets very fishy though. If the referee clearly saw Konate was not hit, then he also knows Konate is play acting by pretending to be injured. The angle from the other side that stays on Konate shows him actually go to the ground to try to win the foul, when it isn't given he goes to get up, realises that the ball has been won by Forest and Hudson-Odoi is about to throw in another cross he has no chance of getting towards, he smacks the turf with his fist in frustration, then decides to play dead. The referee looking at him through all of this then blows after he throws himself back to the turf.

The referee must have 100% known he was not injured. (a) because he seen Konate get up and then dive. (b) Because he didn't give the foul knowing he had not been contacted.

He then shut down a Forest attack which had followed an increased period of pressure where Liverpool looked on the ropes, and gave Liverpool the ball.

If this wasn't Liverpool, he'd never have done this. Once again I am left in no doubt this"accident" is very much not an accident.

Sets a horrible precedent too. I imagine in the coming weeks we will see a lot of defenders go down clutching their heads when it appears they are under the cosh.