terriersmad - Comments

Austin should be off. Simple. A pre-meditated, cowardly, scummy attack on our goalkeeper leaving him down injured. Knew what he was doing. Kick straight to the face, looks like it's broken Lössl's nose.

Disgraceful. That's not a ban. That's a fucking prison sentence.

If they can hang fire until after Boxing Day, that would be great.

We were owed some luck and got some with the first goal and penalty. Also got some horrendous luck as well in a clear example of things evening themselves out within a game - Hogg's sending off certainly wasn't, and it looks like Kachunga's done himself a serious injury. Shouldn't detract from the fact that we murdered a decent side and should have put more past them. Saw the second goal referred to as scrappy, with the media falling over themselves to not give us credit. In fact, it was a wonderful goal. Pass, move, pass, move, good ball and, yeah, scrappy finish, but had Barcelona scored it we'd be commenting on the quality of the build-up. Watch MOTD now say Watford were dreadful and not give us the credit we deserve.

Turns out we can still gegenpress. And in some style. How we didn't rattle in half-a-dozen against a Brighton side who we've obviously got a mental hold on at our place is a mystery (answered by the fact that despite gifting us the second goal, their keeper made some decent saves and that Ince just can't score despite playing very well). That second half was us at our free-flowing, dominant best. It was the definition of a 2-0 demolition.

If we didn't get bad luck and decisions we'd get no luck at all.

So frustrating.

Just for completeness' sake ahead of the inevitable grim defeat this afternoon, it's worth pointing out we actually played OK v Arsenal in midweek and were done by our own poor finishing and 3 minutes of complete madness.

3 minutes of madness against Walsall can punish you. 3 minutes of madness against Arsenal takes any game away from you completely and utterly when they wallop in 3 goals.

Be nice to score an away goal today, mind. None since the opening day for us - 7 games in all. Longest run without scoring away in quite a few years (can't be arsed looking up the actual stats).

Gutted. Deserved more. Man City created nothing of their own and for all their possession didn't look like scoring. Until Mr Pawson gifted them a penalty for what was probably a foul but definitely outside the box (until a little rat threw himself inside from minimal contact).

Man City are probably the most cynical side I've ever seen. Money might buy good players, but it certainly doesn't buy class or respect. They walked off without shaking hands (although considering how chaotic the end of the game was, I think there's an excuse there to be honest - Mr Pawson really covered himself in glory by mishandling a dead straightforward situation). Their play was punctuated by cynical fouls - De Bruyne lucky not to see more than one yellow card for a number of cynical fouls breaking up the play and the most cynical handball of the season so far to stop a break out, Walker somehow getting away with almost murdering Van La Parra, Delph not being booked for a cynical lunge on Ince. When VLP was down injured they made one of the most cynical moves I think I'll ever see - twice they motioned that they were going to put the ball out, only to bring it forward and play on 40 yards up the pitch.

The VLP red card is also a joke. Handbags. Nothing in it. It's a silly little push to the chest. But Pawson's mishandling was atrocious. Speak to them both or book them both. To book the instigator and send off someone for something that isn't a sending off is a joke. But then, that's refereeing at this level - biased to the big club. Mr Pawson is a cheat.

Thoughts on the Niasse decision? For me, slightly hard done to. Definitely exaggerated the contact, but Dann did step across him and there was contact blocking Niasse off. Not sure it's a penalty either, to be fair, and I can see why the FA concluded he did dive.

Wilson was offside. Not convinced it's a foul either, but then we can't expect that to go our way at the moment and I have more time for those errors than offside decisions - more human error/judgement. We played the offside trap perfectly. In any event, there are three in red and black offside. I'm mystified how the bloke who is there entirely to distract the defence can't be deemed to be interfering with play, and how a bloke who sticks the ball in the net from an offside position when the ball is played isn't offside (although there's every chance the two are linked, with the bloke also being there to distract the linesman). Whole law needs scrapping and starting again - I know I'm like a broken record but it really is a complete mess. If you're in an offside position when it's played in, you're offside. End of.

Daniels was lucky to be on the field. First view it was a definite yellow. Second view I'm leaning towards red, the way he dives in and traps Hadergjonaj's ankle. Such is life that Probert's view was obscured and the linesman was, at best, picking his nose and chewing it at the time. No idea how the linesman missed it. No excuses there. Stupid rule comes into operation that means Hadergjonaj can't defend the corner, we're punished doubly by the mistake. Serious criticism for Bournemouth for not even having the sporting nature to knock the ball out. I may be the last of a dying breed, but when an opponent is injured and you know about it, you knock it out of play and let them receive treatment, so long as it's obvious they're not taking the piss.

Anyway, it was our fault we eventually conceded 4. No excuses for Malone pissing about, no excuses for the 4th. We threw caution to the wind because of the circumstances and didn't break down a flat back 10 that broke with pace. We were playing 1-4-5 (because we had to) and didn't create any proper chances. We miss Kasey Palmer's invention and Kachunga looks out of his depth. We didn't get the ball in with real quality (recurring theme) and Depoitre and Mounié were starved of service. We cocked up taking off Williams and ended up horribly unbalanced. Next week we should at least have Schindler, Hogg and Palmer back, with Hefele and Stankovic close enough that Cranie might find himself back to being backup to the backup. In January we need a creative winger who can put a cross in, a central defender and a quality holding midfielder to operate alongside Mooy and Hogg/Williams. I think that covers it.

2-0 to the referee, 4-0 to our own suicidal defending. And our inability to put a bloody decent ball into the penalty area when we have 3 6'3" plus strikers waiting in there. One decent ball and it's a goal.

On the plus side, none of our players are going to be kneecapped by the bent Russian mafia man who owns them. Said it before, will say it again: fairytale my arse. Come back when they've got to this division like we have and without breaking FFP and human rights laws.

As I say that, Probert finally sends Francis off. After his mate the 4th official told him to. When he'd been looking straight at the obvious booking and decided that despite the fact he flew into VLP and got nowhere near the ball, that didn't quantify a foul. I've had more intelligent things come out of my arse than Lee Probert.

Mate, it's unbelievable. Every week. Kachunga has a good goal ruled out, costs us two points. Mounié nearly has his head taken off, not even a card never mind the straight red it should have been. Fer deliberately knees our keeper in the face when the ball's in his hands and only a booking. Offside goals given. Players cut down when clean through and nothing given. Martial only booked for a kick and a punch off the ball - Smith booked for being in the way, I assume. Schindler sent off for nothing. McLean only booked after sprinting 80 yards and two-footing Ince. No foul on Haderjonaj, offside for second goal. By my reckoning, they've been responsible for a 6-goal swing against us in the first 12 games of the season - at least 4 points. We've not had a single decision yet this season and we're a third of the way through. We'll lose this afternoon because the officials have fucked us over with both goals along with that frankly fucking stupid rule about players having to go off (same for all, I know). Probert does his job and it's 0-0 10 v 11. But no. That's too much to ask from these arrogant knobcheeses who are only interested in keeping the money men happy.

Welcome back to the Premier League. Another week, another shit ref costing us.

Haderjonaj fouled on halfway. No free-kick. Haderjonaj needs treatment. They play on (presumably exempt from actual fair play and sportsmanship, southern cunts) and win a corner. Haderjonaj has to go off, man who he would have marked scores. Cheers, Lee Probert, you pathetic little spunktrumpet.

Second ghoal - 3 offside. Fuclk off. Just fuck off.

What a win. All the more satisfying for beating Roger East as well as WBA. A more clueless, inept, one-eyed performance will not be seen anywhere in the country this season, aided and abetted by two chimpanzees running the line. One of the trained chimps managed to flag players offside from throw-ins twice. The other missed a deflection from a cross so large it diverted the ball 90 degrees when it happened less than 10 yards in front of him - and also managed to miss the foul on Schindler that somehow led to Schindler's first booking. I can't puzzle out how Schindler was booked in that situation, when the ref is 50 yards away and guessing and the linesman is less than 10 away and yet can't see a clear foul. His second yellow was, on another day, quite possibly a booking, but when the ref has already allowed Hal Robson-Kanu to commit identical fouls twice without censure there's no way his first foul of the match should have seen him picking up a second yellow.

It lent to a contest where Town were by far the better side but ended up having to hang on to a deserved three points. VLP's goal was a stunner. WBA may argue about the free-kick in the build-up - the only time a borderline decision went our way, but to be honest even if it wasn't a foul the ball had dropped to Mooy. The free-kick didn't actually matter in breaking up the play. To be fair to Pulis, who I expected to criticise the ref, he hasn't done that and I think he sees it more as a borderline decision that went our way. Which it was.

A word for James McLean, however: Get to fuck, you fucking disgrace. His tackle on Ince was a shocker and to then go and have a go at the Town fans is not on. How he only got a yellow (without the obvious explanation that the referee was Mr East) is just as baffling as Schindler's first booking.

Mick Wadsworth. Next.

Got what we deserved yesterday. Not enough ambition going forward, got punished.

Anfield has the worst atmosphere I've ever been in, mind. 50,000 tourists sat on their hands and then leaving 10 minutes before the end after not making a peep. Don't think I heard a single Scouse accent from anyone in the ground wearing a red scarf or shirt, only from the staff. Goodison when half empty had a better atmosphere when we were last there.

Chris Wilder is a Blade through and through, so won't leave Sheffield United, but why don't Everton go for someone like him? He's absolutely stormed the last 3-4 years.

But they are ex-Manchester United, which seems to be Everton's raison d'etre.

If you could defend like that on Saturday it would be great. I'll admit watching Match of the Day 2 and my eyes almost popping out of my head, it was that bad. Done by one ball so many times.

And if Coutinho, Firminho and Salah could all announce they're in negotiations with Barcelona and rule themselves out that would also be great.

What a performance. What a day. People didn't give us a prayer, but we've gone and beaten Manchester United. And deservedly - we were better than them. (That's a sentence I never thought I'd get to write). We didn't play expansive football, but we were compact and used the ball brilliantly. Carried a huge threat when we broke. Forced errors out of them time after time, gave them nowhere to go, contained them and controlled their threat brilliantly. Every man ran his heart out. The whole performance was summed up by Zanka's world class block in the 94th minute when Smalling looked certain to score - Zanka could hardly move in the second half, but he somehow produced a truly colossal performance, probably the best I've ever seen from a Town centre-back.

As for the atmosphere - I can still hardly hear a thing. My voice has gone. After over 20 years of supporting them this was an afternoon to savour. 9 years ago today we lost 5-3 to Hartlepool under Stan Ternent in League One. How times change.

First ban in English football for diving. For a lower league player. For something that very arguably wasn't a dive. While Premier League players get away with it.

I honestly wish I was surprised.

Seen the Fer challenge from a reverse angle. My God, it's a shocker. Ref blind side, to be fair to him, but the FA has to take some action - it's at least a 6-match ban. Fer's watching Lössl for the best part of 10 yards. Lössl picks the ball up with Fer quite a distance away. With Lössl having had the time to pick the ball up and gather it in, Fer then jumps into Lössl, raising his right knee into Lössl's face, some 4 feet off the ground. It's a completely disgraceful assault.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4zBScWOqEY From 1:31.

When you consider the outcry against Stephen Hunt when he broke Petr Cech's skull, you've got to consider this an order of magnitude worse. Unless you're called Paul Tierney.

I can understand how a referee watching at full speed got it wrong. I can understand that after 2 minutes they don't want to show a player a red where there's doubt. But when you see it again, that assault by Fer on Lössl is one of the worst challenges I've ever seen. He looks for his man, jumps needlessly and then quite intentionally smashes his hip into his face. It's incredibly dangerous, ridiculously forceful and absolutely deliberate. It's appalling. Compare it to the two Carroll challenges for which Carroll rightly received his marching orders - Fer actively looks for Lössl and deliberately hits him while Carroll, whilst leading with an arm dangerously, doesn't actually look away from the ball at any point. As I say, not something you see live, but on the replay it's absolutely clear.

The referee overall has had a shocker, though. There's that, then there's the foul for Ince which should further reduce Swansea's manpower. Ince is away before he's brought down. Olsson is the last man, in the centre of goal, 20 yards out, with Ince all but running free onto the clearance which is under his control. It's baffling how it's not given. One touch later, but for the foul, and the ball could be in the back of the net. We've had a few now where the opposition have benefited from dubious officiating, but nothing's gone our way in terms of game-changing decisions. To be on the wrong end of 3 in one match away at relegation rivals is galling to say the least.

And the goal is offside. Running back from an offside position, he steps over the ball as it runs through. Not sure how that's not interfering, being active or whatever. He's a striker 10 yards out, if he's not interfering what's he doing there, and how is he not creating an advantage when the next touch is in the back of the net? The offside law is a nonsense these days. Simple rule: if you're closer than fewer than two opponents, you're off. As it is, we can see things like that with a question mark over them. We can see players be offside for a whole move, get back on for the final pass and score - they get an advantage in positioning all along, it's bollocks is this active/passive thing. Benefit to the striker in terms of positioning, but I've seen strikers (Grant Holt) be 10-15 yards offside for a whole move before popping up to score. You see defenders intervening and playing in players who were off when the first ball was played, precisely because they know of the striker's presence and feel they need to make an intervention, only for the striker to not be off because it's in a 'different phase' which bears no relation to reality. It's rubbish. Absolute rubbish.

No urgency with getting back into the game. We're unlucky to be two down but haven't really bust a gut to get back into it. Not looked like scoring other than VLP's clip off the crossbar. Nothing going into the danger area. No incision in the passing.

Watch us turn Man United over next week now. They're due a stinker - we're due a goal.

As if playing against the referee was bad enough, we've just shot ourselves in the foot. Should be leading, but conceded a truly catastrophic goal through Lössl's individual error.

Need to up it. Swansea are there for the taking.

I have to add, I want to know how the fuck the man stood in the middle is onside. He steps over the fucking ball coming back from an offside position to leave it for Abraham. He's 8 yards out. It's offside. You can't argue otherwise. He's in the keeper's eyeline in front of goal, he's interfering. Fucking stupid linesman. Fucking stupid law.

And now it's two. Shite.

Nah, we're not that bad. And only spent £4.3m on our central defenders combined

To be fair, we didn't play badly. Just got overawed. We had a go and came up short - better to have a go trying to win than just sit back waiting to get beaten. It's a lesson Wagner will take on board - no doubt we'll see a different game plan against Manchester United in 3 weeks.

Pleased that we have done. I don't want to see us diving. We're better than that, and VLP needs to learn. I agree with Sean Dyche's assessment wholeheartedly. Now we can move on. Ref got it spot on, deserves praise for having the balls to do what no other official has done.

Fine VLP for that. Not on.

I've been well behaved to now

Frustrating yesterday. Better than Leicester in every department. Pressed them to death. Murdered them on and off the ball. Finally take the lead, then give away a sloppy penalty and have to settle for a draw. The offside decision... Well, it's one of those. His right toenails were probably offside. Benefit should go to the forward, but at the same time it's so tight. I'm disappointed it went against us, it's cost us two points. Much tighter than the multiple goals Man City were allowed when offside. That linesman didn't help his case by being a waste of oxygen all afternoon - missed blatant fouls and gave almost everything the wrong way.

My biggest refereeing complaint is why didn't he book Mahrez and Gray after their dives? We've seen it so many times already, players chucking themselves down under minimal pressure, and yet the officials do nothing about it. Zaha and Gayle escaped punishment against us, and now those two.