That’s an interesting criticism to me for two reasons:
US players are criticized more for being tactically naive than technically or athletically lacking (although they certainly are also not top tier technically)
The game is becoming more tactical in general I think.
You can always go too far in a direction though.
Interesting Barca vs Atletico game ongoing. Real Madrid lost earlier today so a Barca win would put them up by 7 pts with 8 games left. Barca and Atletico meet next week for the UCL and this is getting chippy, interesting what mind games get played in the second half.
Hmm, so like 30s into the second half Gerard Martin on Barcelona got a red that was overturned on review. The announcers are shocked, which I don’t quite get. It was a completely normal 50/50 challenge; didn’t leave his feet, didn’t lead with his cleats, but kicked hard and the follow-through hits the opposing guy’s leg with the cleats. Freeze frame looks really bad.
really leaves a lot of interpretation to disagree over, doesn’t it?
The usual shouting and waving his arms like a windmill, leaving the coaching zone and stepping into the pitch, nothing new. His assistant got a red card, he did not.
The abridged version I saw (very abridged, DAZN on YouTube) was of the game, not of Simeone’s antics. I guess there is a best of that on the net too, but, frankly, who cares by now?
The next two games against Barça (Champions League quarter finals) are going to be a mind game, and that was part of that already.
Atlético were setting the stage to ramp up the tension ahead of the Champions League clash.
Even Diego Simeone took part in the ‘performance’, putting pressure on the referees – one of his assistants was sent off – and even berating some of the Barça players. In fact, he had an altercation with Ferran Torres, which was defused by the swift intervention of his teammates. The clear intention was to provoke and rile up the Barça players. DeepL(com) again, they are getting pretty good. Must seldom corrent anything.
Haven’t had a lot of Southampton news to share recently but Saints knocked Arsenal out of the FA Cup yesterday, are riding something like a 15-game unbeaten streak and trail Wrexham by a single point for the last playoff spot, with a game in hand. It’s been quite the turnaround.
Bayern and RM went at it today at the Bernabeu, and both looked tired at various times. Bayern will take the 1-2 away win, but they’re lucky Neuer had one of his best games in goal in a long time.
Barca seemed to be in good control until that red. And that red was hard for me to see (visually), it looked like he caught him with his knee as he tried to go around him, but in any case, clumsy, and Simeone is going down with most any contact.
Personally I think Simeone threw his leg out specifically to draw contact. I’m very much biased on this, but I kinda don’t even think that should be a foul.
I would have to look at it again, but from what I saw in the Youtube highlights it looked like Cubarsi sort of collided with Simeone’s leg, not necessarily intentionally but a foul nonetheless, and if it’s a foul then it’s a red card because Simeone was going for goal without any other defenders in front.
I rewatched it, looking at whether Simeone’s running action is natural (pretending he’s alone), and I do believe it is - he’s running really hard and his legs are going to go back like that. It just happens that as Cubarsi is trying to go around his right side that leg is going up. Clumsy defending, but defending at speed is always hard, and as a defender you’re not going to just pull up.
I think the problem I have with it is that Simeone doesn’t have possession of the ball yet. I know the rule says that if he “might get possession” it can also be a DOGSO red, but for me that’s a lot to ask for a pass that was behind him.
It looked to me like Simeone stuck his leg back in an attempt to control the ball and that is what collided with Cubarsi.
I don’t really care one way or the other, but I’d much rather see red cards for dangerous play than sending off a player before halftime for accidental contact on a ball the attacker didn’t even have possession of yet.
I’m not sure - I think the trailing leg was extended to try to control the pass that was headed for his backside.
Look at it here and tell me Simeone didn’t stick his left leg behind him to attempt to control the ball? Or that he had enough of a chance of getting possession to make that a DOGSO?
Yeah, that slower replay makes it clear he’s trying to control a ball he’s overrun, I missed that at speed. I think the original yellow + free kick was reasonable. ETA that is not DOGSO, even though the referee has some latitude in determining that.
I think that’s my problem - the referee used his discretion and decided it wasn’t a DOGSO (correctly, IMO).
But then VAR felt like they had to have him look at the monitor. I have no idea why. Clearly the ref knew that Cubarsi was the last defender, and knew that contact was made - hence the foul and the yellow. So what is he supposed to be looking at?
I don’t have a dog in this particular fight - not a fan of either team. But I think football has an issue with a few of their rules that produce “bad” results (bad in the sense that it affects the quality of the game). PKs for slight contact in the box when the attacker isn’t likely to score and DOGSO red cards are two of them. And I don’t think VAR helps in either case.
