My team Newcastle are going down and I’m going to laugh all the way. They handled Rafa horribly. Shite team. But maybe they can play Sunderland next year!
That new rule about 'A goal resulting from having been set up by a ball off an arm (whether deliberate or not) will be disallowed"…IS UTTER SHIT. It creates this bizarre quantum-realm where a foul is only a foul if a goal results from it. And what constitutes ‘set-up’?
Here’s a rule Q: Does a foul or yellow card as a result of improper celebrating still count if VAR disallows the goal??
So, this is interesting because the Premier League website quotes the rule change differently than the actual Laws of the Game.
The LOTG says that for it to be a handball it has to be 1) deliberate or 2) a goal scored directly from the handball or 3) the handling player gains possession or control and then scores/assists. So basically if the ball hits your arm and falls to your feet, you can’t score or assist.
The Premier League website says it like you quoted, omitting the part about the offending player gaining control/possession. The former sounds much more reasonable than the latter.
Liverpool have started with two reasonably comfortable wins, although a real boner of a play by Adrian made last week’s game against Southampton closer than it should have been.
Totally thrown off now by two frizzy-haired Gunners.
(Always thought Luiz woulda retired with Chelsea)
The game was barely in Liverpool’s half in the first half yesterday.
I thought Luiz pulled enough jersey for that penalty.
Still almost a full half to go - Antoine Griezmann has potted two fine and dandy goals - couldn’t even wait till end of game to report the Frenchman’s awesomeness.
Did poorly give the ball away that led to the second Betis goal, but yeah, incredible game from him. I think it was probably a better performance than any Coutinho had.
I don’t know what Barcelona should do with a full lineup, especially if they get Neymar. If I was the coach I’d sit Suarez and play Dembele - Griezmann - Messi, but I doubt that will happen. 4-2-3-1 with Busquets and de Jong as the pivots?
EPL wise I think Man City wins the league somewhat easily. They’re just phenomenal and Liverpool over performed last year somewhat (going by xG for vs against).
Yes, that was an excellent win for the Maggies, as was Palace’s at Old Trafford. At the end, though, I think they’ll be one of a half dozen clubs with 20-some points heading into April, which always makes for a fun time.
From what I’ve seen of the three promoted clubs, they impress me more than last season’s batch newly up from the Championship.
It was almost like one of those cartoons, where the mouse is trying to get away but the cat’s got his tail. What was even more hilarious was the way that Luiz actually had the balls to complain when the penalty was given. BBC commentator Jonathan Pearce said, in calling the match, “How can he protest to the referee he was doing no wrong?” Although he wasn’t the only one. Unai Emery also whined about it.
I’ve always disliked Luiz, and it was really nice to see Salah leave him in the dust on the way to Liverpool’s third goal.
Newcastle played really well on the weekend. On the one hand, I thought they were a couple of goals better than Spurs, and could have won much more easily; on the other hand, they were lucky to get away with the win after Harry Kane was clearly fouled in the box with about 10 minutes to go. I couldn’t believe that no penalty was given for that.
Love seeing ManU get beaten, and Palace did well to weather the sustained pressure that United put on them for the first half hour or so. When Ayew scored, it was totally against the general run of play up to that point.
I agree with you about the promoted clubs. I haven’t seen Villa play yet, but Sheffield United have had a good start, and Norwich might have lost 2, but they looked good for long stretches against Man City on the weekend. Plenty of good teams give up more than 3 goals to City. I really like the look of Teemu Pukki, and there’s something fun about hearing the commentators calling his name too. Pooooookey!!!
Pretty nice Champion’s league draw for all the English teams, all four should advance and probably 3 of them will win their groups. For the rest of the teams, only group F should see a big team be eliminated and my money is on Inter.
Indeed, quite the nailbiter as MC drew to within a goal near the end.
Newly promoted and injury-laden Canaries pull it off against the Prem champs. Cool.
Normally I wouldn’t say a 5-point hole is much of a big deal for a team the quality of Man City, but Liverpool are pretty damn good themselves. I still think City will win the league, but my confidence in that prediction has taken a big hit.
Fifa best XI was just announced. Modric, Ramos, and Marcelo being in is a disgrace. de Jong, de Ligt, and Hazard could probably be argued against as well. Robertson, Kimmich/Alexander-Arnold, and Bernardo Silva have legit complaints.
Messi over VVD will probably be a bit controversial too, but I’m fine with it. Messi did have a monster year.
Still think Newcastle are going down, but Manu look like they’re playing with their U-23s
Meanwhile Newcastle play two young brothers (Longstaffs), a guy (Allan Saint Maximon) who looks like he’s audtioning for A Chorus Line with all the stepovers and a diving **** (Almiron)
