Bruges v Aston Villa PMT.

[tomd2103]

It looked clear cut but did you watch the link someone posted earlier? An Arsenal player did the exact same thing in a CL match and no penalty was given.

And it should have been given. The referee in that game took a call that wasn't based on laws of the game but on not wanting to give a penalty for silliness, in essence.

Mings was silly. He shouldn't pick the ball up when it's in play. Penalty

I'm fine with it being given as a penalty, but what isn't acceptable is if it becomes about the referee's interpretation. 

I remember thinking at the time that Arsenal one should have been a penalty and still do, as the keeper had played the ball out and it was therefore live.

I don't know if there has been a rule change since the Arsenal one, which has made it clear cut, but you can't have a situation where one ref gives it and another doesn't.

[Risso]

The Arsenal ref got it wrong, the ref last night got it right, it really is simple as that.

[Dave]

The Arsenal ref got it wrong, the ref last night got it right, it really is simple as that.

IFAB 5.2 does give a bit of leeway though:

Decisions will be made to the best of the referee’s ability according to the Laws of the Game and the ‘spirit of the game’ and will be based on the opinion of the referee, who has the discretion to take appropriate action within the framework of the Laws of the Game.

So I think it can be argued that it's a reasonable decision last night and in the Arsenal - Bayern game. I'd have given a penalty for both, mind.

[Risso]

The Arsenal ref got it wrong, the ref last night got it right, it really is simple as that.

IFAB 5.2 does give a bit of leeway though:

Decisions will be made to the best of the referee’s ability according to the Laws of the Game and the ‘spirit of the game’ and will be based on the opinion of the referee, who has the discretion to take appropriate action within the framework of the Laws of the Game.

So I think it can be argued that it's a reasonable decision last night and in the Arsenal - Bayern game. I'd have given a penalty for both, mind.

I don't think that's what 'spirit of the game' means in this context. It's not an excuse to just ignore the very clear rules of football, otherwise every game would just be chaos.

[martyn ellis]

My take on the penalty. I'm not arguing for one moment that it should not have been a penalty. According to the 'rules' of the game it's clear cut. But I think that incidents of this nature go against the 'spirit' of the game. Look at it this way. From my vantage point, Mings just saw the ball rolling gently towards him, (I don't think he even realised that Emi had passed it to him, just thought it was a loose ball), believed the ball was not yet in play, was certainly not seeking to gain an advantage, was not wasting time, so picked up the ball to place it for the goal kick. Very unfortunate, but rules is rules. My not be relevant, but ironic when you look at the penalty not given when Sommer nearly took Merino's head off in the Arsenal game.

[Paul.S]

We've not been sussed out. We keep gifting the simplest of opportunities to the opposition. Last night, Spurs, Palace. If you're easy to score against, you will lose.

Simply put and 100% correct. Defensively we’ve been woeful.

[Sexual Ealing]

That time Dion Dublin snuck up on the goalie that didn't realise he was there, having been off the pitch, was as anti-'spirit of the laws' as you can get, and I thoroughly enjoyed it (despite it being for Coventry). Mings simply fucked up, unfortunately.

[VillaTim]

We've not been sussed out. We keep gifting the simplest of opportunities to the opposition. Last night, Spurs, Palace. If you're easy to score against, you will lose.

That’s exactly it, we are making basic errors and getting punished for them. You just cannot legislate for the type of brain freeze Tyrone suffered last night.

That's not just it though , there are basic errors yes, but we are also playing poorly , slow insipid football sidewayd sideways backwards , and our only penatrative moves the opposition has already sussed what our low dimensional plan is

[LeeB]

That time Dion Dublin snuck up on the goalie that didn't realise he was there, having been off the pitch, was as anti-'spirit of the laws' as you can get, and I thoroughly enjoyed it (despite it being for Coventry). Mings simply fucked up, unfortunately.

Me too, but that was between two players on the pitch, this was a mistake born of confusion and an issue between our players and the official, and as a result Brugge got a penalty and three points without having done anything to earn it

Dublin earned that goal, Brugge didn't and that irks me.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

The volume of fighting amongst ourselves last night was higher than usual. Put it down to the strong ale.

Some of our mates were on 22% strength lager in one of the bars before the game. Saft

I should imagine the Belgian Charlie was rife too.

[VillaTim]

We've not been sussed out. We keep gifting the simplest of opportunities to the opposition. Last night, Spurs, Palace. If you're easy to score against, you will lose.

Simply put and 100% correct. Defensively we’ve been woeful.

We've been easy to score against for 18 months , we were good at outscoring teams, that bit has stopped

[Paul.S]

We've not been sussed out. We keep gifting the simplest of opportunities to the opposition. Last night, Spurs, Palace. If you're easy to score against, you will lose.

Simply put and 100% correct. Defensively we’ve been woeful.

We've been easy to score against for 18 months , we were good at outscoring teams, that bit has stopped

17 goals in 10 league games isn’t horrendous and neither is 6 in the first 3 CL games.
Leaking goals like we are means we have to chase games and some of the goals we’ve shipped have been abysmal mistakes. Stop the mistakes at the back and we’ll be back to where we were.
There’s no panic, as we are seeing all teams go through bad patches. Good players don’t just turn to bad ones overnight.

[Ads]

The trains are shit. The traffic is shit. The weather is shit. Nice of Belgium to make me feel like I'm back home in the North West.

[TopDeck113]

After two years of mostly grudging respect, today I've been inundated with WhatsApp messages containing laughing emojis.  Thanks, Tyrone.

[jon collett]

Emi was trying to argue afterwards he was merely giving it to Mings to take the goal kick.

Apparently Villa defenders always take the goal kicks. Watching it back that is plausible,

I never know why they got rid of the law that the ball must leave the penalty area. No confusion then!