Kenny Dalglish Won't Be Delivering the Module: English Premiership 2011-12

The ref's been reading his Twitter. He likes the Field Mice, there's no way he could be involved in any trouble.

No one's signing Barton now, he's waiting out his contract at Newcastle.

Those decisions were all correct, although Barton is a terrible person

two games at st james park - two unjust sending offs for joey being a dick.

how does barton not get a red for that?

he's just picked a man up and shouted at him cos he done a dive ain't he

he manhandled him and pushed him about - i've seen reds for a lot less

With Mp4xA, gervinho raises his hands therefore needs to go, Barton probably guilty of Ungentlemanly Conduct in pulling him up so yellow?

he pulled him up pretty violently and was getting well into it, isn't there a rule for provocation?

what arsenal have lacked in continuity inside the box, they have up for it with interesting hairstyles

two games at st james park - two unjust sending offs for joey being a dick

Oh come on, you'll be telling us that's why it ended 4-4 next.

Yanked him by the collar too violently to be just 'ungentlemanly conduct' for me.

Yeah, going on a (possibly imagined) distinction between grabbing a guy above or below the neck - without anyone going nucular and touching the face there that gets dismissed as "handbags" and the ref gets praised for having common sense and not being tempted to send anyone off. Barton aggravating it and being an obvious dick complicates it and makes it seem unfair, but enh

Happy to be blown away by Caek Referee Veracity when the time comes though

The greatest trick Joey Barton ever pulled was distracting everyone from the fact he's been awful as an actual player today.

Barton will definitely give a perplexed, faux-angelic post match interview, if Newcastle let him

Barton's scowling Bickle face on the MOTD big screen as Shearer disapprovingly says "Jooey's a very lookee boy thur"

I dunno, none of it would have happened if he didn't PICK THE GUY UP TO FUCK WITH HIM. That isn't just handbags imo.

Our backline, keeper, Song, Rosicky and Gervinho been v good today, the rest have been gash and unfortunately the rest is where games are won. Wilshere and Theo for Ramsey and Arshavin and we will look a hell of a lot better. Gibbs's crossing in this one game >>> Clichy's Arsenal crossing career.

just discovered that theo walcott has the same number of club goals as his predecessor franny jeffers (36, fwiw)

imo should have been three red cards: Song, then Barton and Gervinho

Seriously, Barton's picking up of Gervinho was a much more aggressive move than the pathetic tap he received in return. The ostentatious shaking of everyone's hand at the end was sickening too

joey barton 'is' 'a legend'

Apparently nowhere in FIFA's Laws of the Game does it say that raised hands = automatic red card.

Much like "last defender, he's got to go"

Or "he got the ball first"

"lost control of the ball"

Just checked the laws and indeed no mention of raised hands = automatic red. Where the fuck did that come from?

Anything about raised eyebrows?

Nothing I'm afraid.

The laws of the game are pretty vague and there are a lot of generally agreed customs on how they should be interpreted

some of them seem to be pretty enshrined, eg the "raising the hands to the face = red, below the neck = yellow" thing seems to be a fairly accurate model for how refs react to those kind of things; some of them are just imaginary shit, like how a defender "getting the ball" leads to pundits wrongly claiming a bad tackle was fair 10 times a match

arbitrary rules are awes fuiud

yeah i think the hand raised to the face is almost always interpreted as "violent conduct". the "last man back" is usually shorthand for saying "denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity" and in 95 percent of situations where a foul stops a player being one on one with the keeper that seems fair enough.

can be trumped by "heading away from goal" though, like Richardson on Suarez today

If only that were true of penalty decisions in the box as well Eboue wouldn't have conceded one against Lucas in the 1-1 late last season.

a foul is a foul is a foul, that's different to whether or not a particular challenge merits a red or a yellow

Flanno's been impressive but I don't know why Kelly didn't start.

Aquilani is surely off. In a way I'll be glad cos I'm bored of this now.

Why did we look so unfit in the 2nd half? Ok match sharpness mightn't have been totally there but there's no excuse for not actually being able to move around the pitch.

Dirk's an absolute legend.

Downing looked good.

Enrique looked like he'd been playing for us for years, really excited about him.

Might've been harsh on Carroll earlier.

So Carragher remains a 1st choice CB this season by the look of it - bye bye playing a high defensive line, hello massive gap between the back 4 and launching long balls to Carroll.

said before i'd be worried by playing to Carroll's strengths. Carra as 1st choice is a bit of a joke tbh (but fuck we started Berra today). Downing will prove to be the best signing you've made this close season.

downing is a good player but customatily overpriced

enrique is also a good player but at a good price

-arily

what formation were liverpool playing today, was adam played on the wing

carragher should have walked.

ref right about barton/gervinho imo. Would have preferred two yellows for gervinho for dive, but slap to face always accepted as a red. Talk about barton red for 'violently' picking him up is, frankly, embarrassing.

Hope song gets banned.

Walcott was shit when he came on, dunno what match i was watching tbh????.

ya walcott looked pretty much like walcott so

4-4-1-1 I'd say - Lucas and Adam in the middle, Henderson on the right, Downing on the left. Carroll seemed to drop deep a lot and linked up quite well in the 1st half, think Lucas and Adam supported the attacks well - was willing that shot from Lucas to go in. Henderson was quiet from what I can remember. Easy in hindsight but surprised that Kuyt didn't start. Love Dirk.

Waddle's still saying peLanty isn't he.

I liked a lot about Liverpool today, the fluidity has been carried over from last season which is nice especially as so much of the team is new. But within that Carragher really sticks out for immobility. It knocks on to Agger too, who looks about to be caught in possession at times because Carragher standing still takes an option away from him. Flanagan got caught out a few times but will get better. Suarez' obvious vast superiority to everyone, bar conceivably Downing, worries me a bit, because a title-pushing side needs five players of that quality and noone's close.

Carroll just troubles me, I can't see where he fits here.

title pushing

carroll doesn't need to fit in but as an end point, imo. Crouch could be useful if redknapp/himself cultivated that view. Same with d bent. Everyone do their job, he'll do his.

Yeah, you know what I mean - how many years is it going to take to get to that place?

henderson, kuyt, neither rly gonna be rw but i suppose if they can work an overlap w/johnson then it'll look better in time

The utter shite 2nd half has somehow erased the 1st half from my memory; will have to watch it again.

Henderson ever play RW for Sunderland? Not that he can't learn the position or adapt, just wondering. Don't remember much about him from last season tbh.

Also, people who flick through their programme at the footy during the match are truly awful and shouldn't be anywhere near a football ground.

Barton startin'

― MPx4A, Saturday, August 13, 2011 4:44 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

Another prophetic post by me there, by the way

dmac yeah theo was shit today.