Today’s Football 25/26 Season

[witchdoc187]

Went to tackle, missed the ball, stood on his foot. Its a pen.

Not for me. Or the pro ref.

 

[Gilbert..]

Not for me. Or the pro ref.

Didnt we have a "pro" ref who thought punching the ball away in the box was fine lol.

 

[witchdoc187]

Didnt we have a "pro" ref who thought punching the ball away in the box was fine lol.

Haha allegedly pro

 

[sd_1992]

Yup - this kind of thing is against the spirit of the rule. It's a contact sport. Just because your toenail tips the shin of an opponent as you tackle for the ball does not mean a crime has been committed.

Diver's charter right now.

That should never ever be a penalty in a million years but the officiating is not consistent enough

Just stop giving these soft penalties and stop rewarding players for throwing themselves to the ground. A penalty for that sort of minimal contact is a nonsense. But it needs to be consistent too.

It’s the best example of media bias.

Big club “any contact is a penalty”

Any other club “not enough contact to make him go down”

 

[GoldenToffee]

What's the point of VAR If it's not going to ensure diving gets like Eze get away with flagrantly trying to cheat their way to penalties? Should be a yellow card and final warning every time. This goes back decades, to Gerrard doing it every game, through to Salah, Rashford and so many more.

Typically, one of the genuine non-divers played for Everton, Andrew Johnson, and he was the only one publicly called out and had his reputation destroyed for being fouled.

 

[GoldenToffee]

I find it bizarre VAR got involved to overturn it.

Its not exactly one where the player has conned the ref, no contact, and a massive dive.

I thought it was a clear referee mistake. The way Eze straightened out his left leg to ensure maximum contact was made confirmed he was trying to cheat.

 

[Nicodemus49]

If that was us, I would be fuming that isn't a pen.

Let me just confirm that you’d be fuming then….

Plus we’d have the man sent off and a six point deduction to boot.

 

[Nymzee]

So one penalty last night that should have been given and then a penalty the night before given that shouldn’t have been. Evens out.

 

[FCBarça]

Still baffled how we didn’t get a penalty against West Ham after all these pens given in the champions league

Depends on what shirt you are wearing

 

[hallamblue]

What's the point of VAR If it's not going to ensure diving gets like Eze get away with flagrantly trying to cheat their way to penalties? Should be a yellow card and final warning every time. This goes back decades, to Gerrard doing it every game, through to Salah, Rashford and so many more.

Typically, one of the genuine non-divers played for Everton, Andrew Johnson, and he was the only one publicly called out and had his reputation destroyed for being fouled.

To be fair Andy Johnson was a diver, but he was also fouled about 7 times that season in the box due to his pace and was even kicked up in the air on one occasion and we still didn't get a penalty.

 

[Alan Whittle]

Andy Johnson got his reputation as a "diver" after one particular penalty award in the 04/05 season in an almost bottom of the table six pointer for Palace at home to Norwich. Palace came from 1-3 down on the hour to draw 3-3, one of the goals being a Johnson penalty after he himself was fouled in the box.
There was a Delia like Norwich fan campaign on phone ins etc post game whinging about the decision and claiming Johnson was diver. Up until that point (April 05 from memory) no one once thought he dived despite something like 11 penalties that season. After the Norwich fans whining he was Diver Number One, and fans everywhere simply repeated it without checking the evidence.

 

[jerseytoffee]

To be fair Andy Johnson was a diver, but he was also fouled about 7 times that season in the box due to his pace and was even kicked up in the air on one occasion and we still didn't get a penalty.

His first season when he started really well. Arsene Wenger moaned about him getting a load of penalties for us and said he was going down too easy just before we played them, after that he was given nothing.

 

[kenada_blue]

And there you are! You're dead right. Players are encouraged to dive. That's the bit I struggle with. I just don't get the obsession with somebody making a reasonable attempt to play the ball, missing, touching an opponent and yer man goes over like he's shot when a goal isn't even on. And getting a penalty for that. Disproportionate. Yet you can pull and drag a fella and stop him reaching a ball to score and get away with it. It's all in the eye of the beholder. I'd leave it to the refs and get rid of VAR. That should be kept purely for goal-line technology. The nonsense of offside by a toenail has to stop too. It eliminates goals from the game for no good reason (because offside was only supposed to stop goal-hanging). But when you eliminate goals from the game, you need to find them elsewhere. Hence, soft penalties for minimal contact.

100%

Always said just to leave it to the ref and let him refer to VAR if he's unsure rather than other way around.

At the moment its not a tool the ref uses, its another ref of the game that supersedes him

 

[kenada_blue]

I thought it was a clear referee mistake. The way Eze straightened out his left leg to ensure maximum contact was made confirmed he was trying to cheat.

If the player never made an attempt for the ball, I'd agree. But he did. You can see how flat footed he was and makes the lunge and steps on him. Its clumsy.

How Eze rides, moves, or looks to "buy" it shouldn't really be taken into consideration as that comes into interpretation on the back of a foul.

You can dispute how Eze moves. But you can't dispute the defender making an attempt for the ball, missing, stamping on the attackers foot and stopping him from moving forward.

Its a foul anywhere on the pitch if hes in full flow.

 

[Rita_Poon]

Anger at FA over apparent denial of heading and brain injury link

Campaigners are disgusted the FA has apparently denied a link between heading the ball and brain injuries.

www.bbc.co.uk