EPL Season 2017/2018

[mighty hounds]

Hazard is a straight up cheat

interesting wasn't it? gets a foot to the his foot which is mid air and that caused his grounded foot to collapse in like a pack of cards and then takes a penalty with his sore foot that he was clutching like it had broken 20 secs earlier.

not clumsy defender but as JTC would say, refs fault

[Jim05]

Hazard is a straight up cheat

Wilshire says hi!
Blatant dive and then scores

[johntheclaret]

Oh the irony, Wenger charged by the FA or questioning the referees integrity after he awarded a last minute penalty to West Brom.

Now that is a ******* joke

Another last minute lost JTC. How’d you cope with that one? Refs fault again?

Nah mate, we need to learn to play to the whistle.
Fair goal to Liverpool who didn’t need the ref’s assistance with a shite penalty, unlike someone I could mention

last time i looked being shoved in the back to the ground is a pen everyday of the week

Haha I’ve sneezed harder
As long as you have Mason as your ref you’ll do ok. The record still stands, the longest unbeaten record with the same ref in history.

[johntheclaret]

Hazard is a straight up cheat

interesting wasn't it? gets a foot to the his foot which is mid air and that caused his grounded foot to collapse in like a pack of cards and then takes a penalty with his sore foot that he was clutching like it had broken 20 secs earlier.

not clumsy defender but as JTC would say, refs fault

Maybe your view is different than mine. Maybe you are too young to remember real football before the cheats took over, or maybe you just choose to ignore reality.
Personally I don’t understand how a ref isn’t able to see or judge when player is “playing for a penalty or a free kick”. Today’s game it seems it is acceptable to do this and is part and partial to how, or rather what, the game has become. It is far more prevalent in the Premier league which is why the lower leagues are far more entertaining than the sanitized shit that the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal dish up.

Hazard is a cheat, he always has been a cheat and always will be, but only because he is a master of “winning the free”.
I know the ref must make snap decisions and because of what has now become the norm, by cheating and feigning contact, it is even harder for them to make those decisions but that is why the game is desperate for the 3rd Ref and retrospective action. I watch match of the day each week and I can see at least a dozen instances where the attacking player tries to “win” the penalty or the free kick. Not simply the blatant dive but the action of distorting their body, mainly their foot or leg position in order to ensure a contact is made that wouldn’t be there if they had maintained the natural position. The unnatural body movement is easy enough to spot because it is unnatural and has to be emphasized and whilst the ref might not always spot it because of his position or the speed it happens anyone watching the replay can tell straight away.

This unnatural movement of the leg or body toward the defender is not a free kick and should be penalised retrospectively, and not just for diving and not just for penalties although that would at least be a start. The player that leaves his trailing leg to make contact is cheating, the player who falls over because he feels any contact is cheating and if the ref can’t make those decision during the game then action should be taken after. Christ, it’s not like there aren’t enough camera angles to view from.

I sense the powers that be don’t want to introduce the 3rd Ref or post game analysis as they think the game has more attaraction by keeping the controversy, but the most regulated game on the planet, American Football, also has the Highest average attendances per game on the planet.

Most spectators just want to see a fair game. ( unless you are an Arsenal fan, then all you want is Lee Mason )

[johntheclaret]

Mark Hughes rests several key players against Chelsea who thrash Stoke 5-0
Apparently he rested them so Stoke would be fitter and stronger for the Newcastle game which he also lost.

I can remember when Burnley were fined by the FA for not fielding their strongest side against Chelsea, even though they won 4-0.

Whatever happened to the ‘field your best team rule’
What happens when Chelsea finish 4th ahead of Spurs on goal difference.
What happens when Stoke finish 18th on goal difference.

Surely Hughes is gone... 18th now with worst GD in the league, no passion on field from players and just not playing very good football.

Man U away next up and our GD could be -30 by the end of it!

Hughes was pretty blatant in his presser about not playing his best line up against Chelsea, no bones about it. No question he deserves a fine going by history and then he stormed out after the journo's pressed him on it.

if nothing changes then we could be Championship next term and getting back up is harder than staying up!

I have a feeling Butland might finally jump ship this month, he is better than where we are right now, Shawcross wouldn't surprise me too but he is a bit fickle and injury prone at the moment. We lack distinct quality, Allen is a real hard worker, Chuopo looks ok, Shaq is hit and miss, Ramadan is raw but has some skill on the ball, defensively lacking a bit.

not sure where any signings are going to come from either, who's gonna want to come to Stoke playing the way we are right now? discarded players only one would think and not the quality we need.

If they are going to remove Hughes then they need to do it now or it’ll be too late. But as he said himself, who else is going to do the job. That is their problem, getting a manager that can actually turn it around, secondly how would the new manager do any better at getting players to join.

You are right, Stoke don’t have a team of good players that simply aren’t playing well and might fair better under a new coach like at say Crystal Palace, Everton or West Ham.
Stoke seem more like West Brom where poor recruiting over the last couple of seasons has seen them become a mediocre team with mostly mediocre players.
Butland is ok but makes too many errors for me, Shaqiri is your best player by a mile and Crouch despite his age still gives good service along with maybe Shawcross but that’s about it. I would think a new manager would have about same affect as Pardew has at West Brom. I don’t know the set up at Stoke, is Hughes responsible for player recruitment or is that done further up the chain. I heard the owners decided on who they wanted and how much they pay and not the coach. If that’s the case, it isn’t Hughes’ fault the club is where it is.

Rumour is Pulis might be in line for a return

[johntheclaret]

Hazard is a straight up cheat

interesting wasn't it? gets a foot to the his foot which is mid air and that caused his grounded foot to collapse in like a pack of cards and then takes a penalty with his sore foot that he was clutching like it had broken 20 secs earlier.

not clumsy defender but as JTC would say, refs fault

From the BBC Website

Bad refereeing decisions cost us - Wenger
3 Jan 2018From the section Arsenal
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger claims incorrect refereeing decisions cost the Gunners three points after their 2-2 draw with rivals Chelsea.

[Wedgie]

2 cracking goals at Wembley!

[JK]

The "trailing leg" is so commonplace these days and imho such a blight on the game. All clubs and players are guilty of it, annoys me no end

[Jim05]

Battered Derby but took until the last few minutes to break them down. Jesse with a great hit and then Lukaku with a classy goal to finish up 2-0

[Jim05]

Barkley off to the Chavs for £15m

[johntheclaret]

Battered Derby but took until the last few minutes to break them down. Jesse with a great hit and then Lukaku with a classy goal to finish up 2-0

An almost City Reserves batter a full strength Clarets 4-1 coming from a goal down.

[nuggety goodness]

Stoke lose to league 2 Coventry...

Hooley dooley...

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[nuggety goodness]

And Hughes gets the sack...

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[Jim05]

Coutinho off to Barca for £142m

[JK]

Coutinho off to Barca for £142m

Sucks he couldn't see the season out .. imagine we'll go after Mahrez now

[Jim05]

Coutinho off to Barca for £142m

Sucks he couldn't see the season out .. imagine we'll go after Mahrez now

Heavily into Lemar from Monaco but he will cost a large chunk of the Coutinho money. For me Mahrez is a better player and at £45-50m compared to £95m he is a much better option

[JK]

Yeah seems we're going fairly hard at Lemar, but not sure we can get him this window, and if we did like you said he'd cost plenty of the Coutinho fee (I doubt Barca are paying it all up front too - Apparently they still owe us some on the Suarez deal too).

Guessing Lemar is CL tied too

[johntheclaret]

And Hughes gets the sack...

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That Coventry defeat was the last straw.

[mighty hounds]

Coutinho off to Barca for £142m

Sucks he couldn't see the season out .. imagine we'll go after Mahrez now

Heavily into Lemar from Monaco but he will cost a large chunk of the Coutinho money. For me Mahrez is a better player and at £45-50m compared to £95m he is a much better option

Lemar is 8-10 years younger than Mahrez. I’d be going after the potential 5-10 year player over the 2-3 year player. In saying that my mate in London said all the talk is about Mahrez to Liverpool

[JK]

Apparently LFC contacted Leicester to tell them they're not after Mahrez. Who knows though