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

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.

jonawils Jonathan Wilson
@cognoscentinovo Barton shd have gone for violent conduct: grabbing somebody by the shirt and hauling them to their feet is violent.
44 minutes ago

@cognoscentinovo
@jonawils so hauling somebody off the ground is an offence under the laws of the game?
41 minutes ago

jonawils Jonathan Wilson
@cognoscentinovo Violent conduct is; and that was, to me, violent. Thank you for actually saying what you disagree with.
39 minutes ago

jwilson full off shit

It's such a bullshit distinction though. Like, the tiny little tap that Barton got is somehow worse than him manhandling Gervinho which was what started the whole thing anyway?

cmon this is not something that jumped up on ppl today at 7pm

You could argue Song's unnoticed stamp started the whole thing, in that you can't expect someone as full of himself as Barton to, excuse the catchphrase, 'get on with the game' after that foul. But a more professional player could have.

someone calling themselves 'cognoscentinovo' rmde

He was just the interlocutor, not endorsing the preciousness of his handle or anything.

I enjoyed Obertan's couple of little moments in the sun today. Cult hero in the making i reckon.

Yeah he was good I thought, would play him and Ben Arfa/Marveaux as R/L wings ahead of Barton + Jonas.

Good day for the Utd castoffs actually, what with Wes Brown picking up a man of the match

that one obertan flick to cabaye was sweet

I didn't even know we'd sold Obertan until I sat down to watch the second half of that match.

Thought this was funny - maybe you're watching the wrong sport?

cognoscentinovo
Cognoscentinovo
In 7 years of martial arts training (black belt 1st dan) "picking somebody up" has never been, so far, a useful violent technique.
17 minutes ago

Hope you're sitting down NBS, we sold John O'Shea as well

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Please tell me we still have Bebe?

There's good news and bad news...

lol

Having not seen it earlier, that was a horrible dive by Suarez for the penalty

It was a penalty though. Maybe the theatrics influenced the ref to only give a yellow, in which case fair enough (even if hisnext touch would have been to pass the ball in).

Absolute letter of the law it's a penalty, but Richardson basically just just lays his hands on Suarez and he clips his legs together and swan dives. We all know he's a seasoned diver though so it's not a surprise.

Looking for a penalty + red card shouldn't be a more attractive option than just scoring, really.

thought richardson catches his back leg?

Not to my eyes and i just watched it multiple times on MOTD