Falling over with merest contact

[Alex Cheeseright]

Are we going to rue not playing the buying fouls game?

 

[Houston_Blade]

Absolute set of cunts their players and that referee and the blind cunt linesman near the SS bought it every time. I think Osula has fucked the ref’s Mrs.

 

[SheepdipBlade]

Wasn't all the talk around the Charity Shield that this season the rules were going to be interpreted to allow more robust contact? They were saying that decisions were going to be wildly inconsistent at the start of the season until the new interpretation settles out.

Guess we'll find out over the next six weeks or so - but personally I'd like to see it become a contact sport again and see divers booked straight off.

 

[BettingBlade]

Tbh, I’d try signing some players that can get us up the pitch first

 

[A Storm of Blades]

We were awful, and deserved to lose but the referee was extremely inconsistent in their favour to say the least. We couldn’t bridge the quality gap through increased physicality because apparently we’re still in a league that rewards going to ground for the slightest touch. And they got away we at least 2 bookings for diving, when free kicks weren’t given.

 

[A Storm of Blades]

Whilst I’m at it, if they’re so concerned with how little time the ball is in play, then why not start with proper punishment for teams that blatantly shithouse, retrospectively if necessary. Nobody wants 100 minute games, whilst players, teams and managers still get away with twatting about.

Time wasting tactics aren’t only used to run down the clock, but also to kill a side’s momentum, stop a game’s flow, cause frustration, provoke teams etc. Adding an extra 5 minutes at the end of the game does the square root of fuck all to stop that.

 

[ReeceofBDTBL]

Even by 2023 standards, the microscopic levels of contact the referee was blowing for was staggering. Sometimes refs are good, sometimes they're bad, todays was a fucking joke

 

[Stretch]

They can change, tweak, update the rules as much as they want in this sport. It won't make the slightest fucking difference as long as the blokes who are supposed to enforce them, either don't understand them, or can't/won't do it consistently for both teams.

His bias today was outrageous.

 

[A Storm of Blades]

They can change, tweak, update the rules as much as they want in this sport. It won't make the slightest fucking difference as long as the blokes who are supposed to enforce them, either don't understand them, or can't/won't do it consistently for both teams.

His bias today was outrageous.

It really was

 

[mattbianco1]

Are we going to rue not playing the buying fouls game?

Biggest thing I'd forgotten I despise the PL for.

 

[Alex Cheeseright]

Biggest thing I'd forgotten I despise the PL for.

Me too, beyond frustrating

 

[Karaoke Blade]

You wait for Bournemouth to come. Those cunts take cheating to another level.

 

[Rudders]

Hodgson should be ashamed of his side. Mind you he helped set up the Sir Wilfred Zaha Diving Academy.
Some of the greatest cheats in English football since Gerrard and Shearer have dived out of that place.

 

[The Hobott]

After 60 minutes he stopped giving the bullshit ones - either he didn't want to give red cards or he'd been cowed by the abuse.

 

[Houston_Blade]

You wait for Bournemouth to come. Those cunts take cheating to another level.

Lerma was probably one of the best players and also one of the biggest cunts today. He played proper Bournemouth Ball.

 

[knowsnowt]

This is me on Stella. I'm fine with other lagers.

 

[Rudders]

Lerma was probably one of the best players and also one of the biggest cunts today. He played proper Bournemouth Ball.

I will never forget when Bournemouth had the Welsh Wilson the cheat playing for them and one gentle challenge sent him screaming to the floor.
Its interesting that feted English managers Hodgson and Eddie Howe grew such teams of absolutely sh!thousers, that make you want to puke sometimes

 

[moody1889]

Eze and Ayew were infuriating cheating barstewards.

 

[ForgeBlade]

Referee was fucking atrocious. Not that I think it massively influenced the result...we were basically nonexistant in midfield and they won without getting out of 3rd gear, but fuckinghell that twat in the middle couldn't have given them more if he'd tried.

Possibly the most laughable was the theatrical dive from one of theirs down near the south stand/kop corner in the 2nd half. No free kick given, but surely then he has to be booked for the blatant theatrics?

 

[Houston_Blade]

Eze and Ayew were infuriating cheating barstewards.

I wish they played for us though

 

[Need4speed]

I don’t care what the refs do, whether they allow more contact or they don’t But which ever they decide it has to be consistent. Consistent from team to team , match to match, week to week throughout the season Well the ref today was not consistent and I suspect all these new rule/guidance will last for three weeks before they revert to rewarding falling over and rolling around. That will unfortunately be to our disadvantage

 

[1889]

Slimane got booked for a great tackle where he clearly won the ball.

I wonder if the new signings will find their lifetime ambition of playing in the EPL, as frustrating as watching it?

 

[Slug]

If they are supposedly clamping down on cheating then Eze could have been sent off. Once for a blatant dive in the box in the first half and then later on he went down again with no contact at all and grabbed the ball so should have been a 2nd yellow for handball but obviously the ref bought it and give him the free kick. Fantastic player but a cheating cunt.

 

[G.H. Lawrence]

The OP's question is, for me, very relevant.
I, as I imagine the vast majority of football fans, hate the 'professionalism' in the game we all love. I would ideally like to completely stop my consumption of football, but love of The Blades, and the general drama of the sport in general (OK, so I'm a weak-willed, lily-livered individual, which would also explain why I am still smoking and several stone overweight!).
I went today with my brother, and I'd like to think, as we all probably do, thick we are both fairly objective on how things transpire on the pitch (although I seem virtually incapable of adult reaction and behaviour during the game, even when there are younger fans around!
So all football, but especially at the highest level in this country (Premier League, but also the rest of Europe and further afield, from what I have seen), is a sport/game, where the sort of behaviour of players eluded to in the previous posts, has not only become common practice, but is an integral part of each and every match.
As far as my viewing experience (PL& EPL) for many years already, it is most evident in the PL. I've hated it for years. But not had as much emotional vested interest for most of that time.
Every player for every team, drop to the floor at the slightest touch, often without even the slightest touch. My impression is that virtually every time they do, the referee immediately awards a free kick.
I remember watching our game away at Luton, early on last season, where their players dropped to the floor after every opportunity. They also would tackle/foul are players equally at every opportunity. We consequently, struggled to get a result down there. I remember thinking afterwards that they were a 'nasty' team that used all the so-called dark arts. I was really disappointed when they were promoted!
As well as the above, I have seen enough football, and have played enough of my own sport, field hockey, at a decent level, to know that officials regularly tend to favour the supposed 'better' team. I have been on either side of this situation too many times.
I have also refereed/umpired games myself and have some experience how difficult it is, in the split-second that you have to make your decision.
I have still not mentioned the most prevalent factor; the vast amounts of money that are at stake in the PL.
I have the utmost respect for Hecky, his staff, and his standpoint regarding this 'plague'.
Apologies for the drunken monologue, but in answer to the original poster's question, the answer is YES, we will rue, and will struggle to compete, regardless of our recruitment and good team coaching/team management, if we don't play the same game. It is unfortunately up to the officiators of the Pl, EPL, and further afield, to clamp down on it. I cannot see that happening. There is too much money involved. And controversy in games is a major driver in the column inches, on-line forums and TV coverage. Just watch Match-of the-Day and take a note of how much time Lineker, et al, devote to debateable decisions.

 

[loyalblade95]

They can change, tweak, update the rules as much as they want in this sport. It won't make the slightest fucking difference as long as the blokes who are supposed to enforce them, either don't understand them, or can't/won't do it consistently for both teams.

His bias today was outrageous.

A few yellow cards out for our players today, Osula one was for kicking the ball away but I can't recall Palace getting a single yellow card.

 

[PaulHalfway]

It’s the PL, not the Championship
Looking for fouls, conning the refs, sticking legs out to get contact, backing into players then falling forward
That’s what they do unfortunately

 

[loyalblade95]

It’s the PL, not the Championship
Looking for fouls, conning the refs, sticking legs out to get contact, backing into players then falling forward
That’s what they do unfortunately

Makes you wonder if some academies, youth team coaches are coaching it into the young players these days, especially in the top academies.

 

[Inter_blade83]

Leno foul by Tarkowski... hmmm. Player didn't know keeper was coming, keeper fumbles ball as he goes over the player... foul, apparently.

 

[diplomat]

We were awful, and deserved to lose but the referee was extremely inconsistent in their favour to say the least. We couldn’t bridge the quality gap through increased physicality because apparently we’re still in a league that rewards going to ground for the slightest touch. And they got away we at least 2 bookings for diving, when free kicks weren’t given.

Booking Slimane for his first tackle, which you could easily say won the ball, and then ignoring Eze throwing someone to the ground in a toddler tantrum pissed me off. As well as saying literally anything Osula did was a foul.