Feyenoord vs Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[brontebilly]

That dirty carthorse at the back for them that should have walked was in that god awful Sheff Utd team that we hammered so bad at Brammall Lane half their fans had left by half time.

He should of been sent off in the first half. He fouled Watkins then raised a leg the second time to make sure he went down. Inexplicable decision not to send him off.

I think the ref ruled Watkins had kicked the ball too close to the keeper and wouldn't have caught up beforehand. And I can see that reasoning.

He's definitely getting a shot off if not fouled. Whether it's a clear goalscoring opportunity for Ollie at that angle is a different matter. That's a red at Villa Park.

[Rigadon]

I was actually pleased the player wasn't sent off, as we would've had less room to maneuver (see the recent Sunderland as evidence).  I can't remember the last time we really took a side apart after they went down to 10 men. 

[cdbearsfan]

Club Brugge, March.

[paul_e]

Just realised that the ref blew for the foul after the goal was scored. So VAR couldn't intervene because of why? Just wondering as it feeds back to May.

VAR could intervene but if a player falls to the ground after contact and the ref deems it foul play what can VAR do? It was probably a harsh decision but the questionable bit is whether the contact was enough to be considered a foul and the ref has made a decision on that, VAR isn't there to make him change his mind on subjective calls, it's to highlight things he's missed. If Cash had actually tripped over his own feet and there was no contact VAR could've stepped in but once they can see the Feyenoord player nudge him their job is done.

I think that's his point. There's no real benefit in not giving the goal. Then if on review, it's a foul on Cash then VAR will reverse it.

Just like Rogers against Man Utd - give the goal, and if you need to chalk it off then fine. But at least give yourself the option.

I agree on the last bit completely, I was just pointing out why VAR didn't change the decision to disallow this one or send him to the screen, because it was out of the remit of the review system.

It's the opposite to our one at Man U in both ways because then the Ref blew early for no real reason and, if he hadn't but had then disallowed it, VAR would've been able to step in when it became clear that it was a perfectly legitimate tackle. The important bit though is that last night was VAR working, and being used, correctly (same for the yellow/red decision as well to be fair), our one last season was just really poor decision making from the ref to back himself into a corner where he had no options to fix his mistake.

[Brend'Watkins]

Everyone contributed with Bizot being very decent but the MOM for me was Maatsen.

[Rigadon]

Club Brugge, March.

I can't remember that at all, but my memory isn't all that great when it comes to football.

[Crown Hill]

Fantastic night with awesome support.

The downsides were being kept waiting so long before and after the match and being pissed on by our own supporters!

Team looked focussed and sharp. Some of the passing from the back was on a completely different level to Feyenoord which may be explained by salaries. But status winning front of a hostile crowd in an iconic stadium.

[SamTheMouse]

I reckon the referee ruled out their goal as he was still unsure he'd made the right call not to send off their player.

It was a properly weird officiating performance all round, really, and his hand signals repeatedly contradicted his actual decision.

[cdbearsfan]

Did he actually rescind the booking for the Watkins foul and, if so, is he allowed to so that?

[Brend'Watkins]

Agree about the referee. In his attempt to look authoritative he made himself look completely incompetent. A very strange refereeing performance.

[tomd2103]

I reckon the referee ruled out their goal as he was still unsure he'd made the right call not to send off their player.

It was a properly weird officiating performance all round, really, and his hand signals repeatedly contradicted his actual decision.

Still trying to work out what that two fists together hand gesture meant in relation to ruling their goal out. 

[paul_e]

Did he actually rescind the booking for the Watkins foul and, if so, is he allowed to so that?

That's the weird thing, he did rescind it, then he booked him again, that's what confused people.

[john e]

I was actually pleased the player wasn't sent off, as we would've had less room to maneuver (see the recent Sunderland as evidence).  I can't remember the last time we really took a side apart after they went down to 10 men. 

Absolutely this
They were quite open and attacking we had space to exploit and it was end to end stuff for a while  a sending off would’ve changed all that

[The Edge]

That dirty carthorse at the back for them that should have walked was in that god awful Sheff Utd team that we hammered so bad at Brammall Lane half their fans had left by half time.

He should of been sent off in the first half. He fouled Watkins then raised a leg the second time to make sure he went down. Inexplicable decision not to send him off.

I think the ref ruled Watkins had kicked the ball too close to the keeper and wouldn't have caught up beforehand. And I can see that reasoning.

I can't. It looks that way because Ollie was stopped in his tracks. If he hadn't been taken out like that I think Ollie definitely gets to the ball. The keeper also knew because he hadn't moved towards the ball when Ollie was brought down.

[Dave]

Did he actually rescind the booking for the Watkins foul and, if so, is he allowed to so that?

That's the weird thing, he did rescind it, then he booked him again, that's what confused people.

I think it was just the funny hand gestures that Sam mentions.

I watched the highlights again this morning, and it looks like he goes to the screen and then performatively tries to show "look, I've seen it again and I'm now waving this yellow card around to show everyone that it's still yellow, not more than that or less than that, both of which could have been possible outcomes of me seeing it again".

All the while thinking that he hasn't really been given the tools to clearly communicate it, given normally you're showing what you've changed your decision to in those circumstances.