Belgium v Slovakia - Mon 17th June, 17:00 | Euro 2024 Group E

[GaudinoMotors]

Well done ITV on finding an expert FIFA referee, who will have officiated many games at this level.
What does Joleon Lescott know.

 

[stan bowles]

jfc so much paranoia here. the rules are stupid but they exist, they haven’t been invented an hour ago to mess with belgium. i’ve seen many idiotic handball decisions because the rulee are idiotic.

belgium should have wiped the floor with slovakia, why did tedesco wait so long to make subs.

Not arsed if was Belgium or the Belgian Congo that was playing. Two players running at speed and an apparent goal gets chalked off because some twat with a microscope sees it brushed the attacker's fingernail.

 

[bluemoon32]

Great stuff, Belgium choke yet again.

 

[heslops barnet]

Subs are now taken out rather than off. Subs are now put in rather than on. More Yank style graphics.

More yank $$$ coming over as well

 

[PragueBlue]

A surprise result that I wasn't expecting. I thought Slovakia would get battered and so that result has cheered me right up.

 

[northendenton]

Not arsed if was Belgium or the Belgian Congo that was playing. Two players running at speed and an apparent goal gets chalked off because some twat with a microscope sees it brushed the attacker's fingernail.

But it was such a clear and obvious mistake that it took the Hubble Space Telescope to fkn see it

 

[vanchi]

kdb now shares the first place for big chances created in euros, 9 before this game, 10 now.

 

[jjctid]

Well put. My frustration with the handball rule is that they have always had it in the laws of the game that the spirit is it needs to be “deliberate”.

Let’s be honest how often do you see an actual deliberate handball? Basically never with a few notable exceptions (e.g. Suarez).

Yes, you see some players extend their bodies to make themselves bigger and block the ball and that’s a grey area when the clear intention is to block a shot unfairly.

But the standard for me is way way way too low. It never used to be that way. I said a few weeks ago if you go and watch the Gillingham 99 highlights, in the first minute of the game the Gills defender handballs it and nobody even appeals… but today that would be given 100% of the time.

If it were up to me I’d probably blow for a handball about once every 50 games or something because the incidence of actual deliberate actions is incredibly low. It ruins the game because the penalty is often massively disproportionate to the offence.

If you want to see a "deliberate" handball leading to a goal you only have to go back to Arsenal's last game of the PL season versus Everton. Gabriel Jesus virtually "batted" the ball down in the build-up to Kai Havertz' goal. How that was allowed to stand was unbelievable.

 

[Eric Hitchmough]

One more defeat and KDB and Jezza get a much-needed break

 

[bluemoon32]

One more defeat and KDB and Jezza get a much-needed break

Here's hoping