Crystal Palace v Aston Villa post match thread

[villadelph]

You could tell it was a foul as Cahill pretends to be injured. I was also directly in line and I felt he'd given a penalty first too.

100%

He rolls on the ground clutching his leg essentially admitting contact.. balls already away at that point. I just don’t see the rationale of VAR protecting the referee.

I’m mad as hell and trying to be rationale but it just seems like we’ll be given a “get over it” by the FA. Meanwhile Friend sleeps like a baby tonight.

[danno]

The referee was poor, but we weren't great either.

I worry we are too small as a side and our midfield is just not getting enough of the ball or keeping it well enough.

I'd like to see Hourihane and Luiz sitting with Grealish McGinn and either Trezegeut or Jota behind Wesley. Other than the Bournemouth game it seems like we've constantly been the team defending and that just isn't sustainable. I think 3 points from 12 is a good enough reason to try something slightly different.

Thought Davis looked good when he came on, won the ball quite a few times in their half and held it up superbly.

[charleeco7]

We do seem to get bullied in midfield.

[sirlordbaltimore]

We do seem to get bullied in midfield.

The midfield three isn't working at all to my eyes this season.

[LukeJames]

The worst thing is you can guarantee some ****** with generic 'opinions' are going to use the old well he deserves it for all his previous dives bollocks.

[Toronto Villa]

I can't believe var even looked at the incident and said, Yes, definite dive.

The thing is do we know that? Maybe VAR was and the ref on the pitch decided not to use it. VAR is just a human or group of humans with a bunch of monitors at different angles specifically tasked with helping the three officials on the pitch. Frankly I’m astonished that neither assistant didn’t catch it. Friend is directly behind both fouls as they happened. That’s fucking gross incompetence on its own. But had he gone to VAR he may well have been told it wasn’t a dive but he seemingly chose not to use it.

[rougegorge]

...and Selhurst Park has to be the worst ground in the Prem. Considering they have been in the top flight for a good few years, it's just incredible that it's still stuck in the 80s in every aspect.

[Villa75]

The problem with VAR is that now we have the facility, we want all contentious decisions reviewed regardless of where they happen, whereas IFAB want to limit it to make only decisions which could decide a game like a penalty or a red card. Clearly, in this case, you want VAR to review this period of action but it's not there for that under current regulations. Trouble is, where does a decision not become contentious? In midfield? You might get into a situation where all decisions beyond the eighteen yard line get looked at, which is ridiculous but would have sorted the one today.

But in short, VAR couldn't actually have done anything for us. What should have happened, and where we were cheated, was that Kevin Friend should have kept his whistle out of his mouth, played advantage like a proper referee and if he wasn't sure, consulted with his assistants after the goal went in. So instead of seminars on technology, maybe IFAB should be reminding referees how to use a fucking whistle.

It was either a penalty or a goal, and in the penalty area, isn't that what VAR is all about?

Nope. The ref was wrong to blow, but the nudge/trip/fall that he blew for started outside the box.

It would be interesting to see where they took there free-kick from.

[villadelph]

Is there any course of action the club can take at this point?

[Behind Bluenose Lines]

Feels to me that the ref had decided jack is a diver and took it upon himself to be a Johnny big bollocks about it, putting himself front and centre. Absolutely the opposite of how a good, professional ref should be approaching a game.

I was thinking that myself earlier. It's so annoying when refs make it all about them ( even though we sounded crap today)!

[Legion]

https://www.skysports.com/football/c-palace-vs-a-villa/408014

[Toronto Villa]

Feels to me that the ref had decided jack is a diver and took it upon himself to be a Johnny big bollocks about it, putting himself front and centre. Absolutely the opposite of how a good, professional ref should be approaching a game.

I was thinking that myself earlier. It's so annoying when refs make it all about them ( even though we sounded crap today)!

We were crap and had we lost 3-0 it wouldn’t have been an unfair result. That said, and we’ve been there, it’s not how it works and in the end we were denied a chance to level the game from a free kick if it was Zaha that was adjudged to have fouled Jack, or a penalty if the foul was deemed to be against Cahill or just having the goal from Lansbury stand. Instead we lost the game and picked up yellow card number 6 or whatever the fuck number it was.

[john2710]

Friend was the 4th official in the Play off vs Fulham looking straight at Fredricks stamp on Grealish.

He didn't ref another Villa game for 2 years after the Chelsea game when Lambert reporting his performance to Mike Riley.

[AsTallAsLions]

Friend was the 4th official in the Play off vs Fulham looking straight at Fredricks stamp on Grealish.

He didn't ref another Villa game for 2 years after the Chelsea game when Lambert reporting his performance to Mike Riley.

Jesus.

Hope Dean knows all this. Seemed disinclined to make an issue of it in the interview. Was asked if he spoke to the ref after, he said what's the point?

[lukey27]

It's an utterly inept decision and he shouldn't be in the game if he sees that as a dive.

I'm terms of the game we were poor bar the opening 5 minutes of either half. I have massive concerns about persisting with two wide players away from home particularly when they're so ineffective. Jota looks like a luxury we can't afford when we don't have a lot of the ball.

Douglas Luiz wasn't deep enough against Everton and he was too deep today, I think we need to sacrifice one of the wide players and get the three guys in the middle a little bit of assistance. Hourihane is limited but he'd of been a better option than Jota today considering how little threat we carried wide.