Fulham (H) | PL | Post Match Thread

[Fordyboy46]

Happy shitty International break everyone, sigh!

 

[burning blue soul]

Akanji’s position and actions meant the keeper delayed his dive in case Akanji re-directed the ball.

The keeper knows the rules. If the City player touches the ball it is offside. He must go to save the 1 attempt which definitely isn't offside.
It's a lot like a striker being told to always expect the ball to come to you, no matter how many players are between the ball and him.
Moaning by Fulham and media cos they prefer to see the view that suits them. I'll choose the view that suits reality.... and thankfully the var guys saw that sense too.

 

[peter.evans]

The keeper knows the rules. If the City player touches the ball it is offside. He must go to save the 1 attempt which definitely isn't offside.
It's a lot like a striker being told to always expect the ball to come to you, no matter how many players are between the ball and him.
Moaning by Fulham and media cos they prefer to see the view that suits them. I'll choose the view that suits reality.... and thankfully the var guys saw that sense too.

Exactly ! Had Akanji touched it the goal would have been dis allowed.He jumped out of the way of the ball and was not in the keepers line of site from the header. That is the rule. Onside ! Rashford did not touch the ball but was running alongside it, therefore effectively playing the ball, therefore was offside.

 

[halfcenturyup]

It was offside, let's be honest we would all be seething if they had scored that against us. But it didn't change the game, we would have beaten them in the second half regardless imo.

Of course. The laws of the game for offside are fine. It's the referees who come up with half-arsed interpretations that fuck everything up. Of course the goalkeeper's ability to play the ball is affected by Akanji. There is no way on God's green earth he knows if there is a defender behind him somewhere. He has to wait to see how the ball moves before he saves it, the same as Ederson had to. The interpretation is a joke.

Karma maybe. But all bollocks. Also, I would prefer karma when playing Liverpool or United away, not Fulham at home FFS.

 

[makinghistory]

How is it "blatent intereference", referee gave goal, checked visually with assistant who gave a thumbs up, var checked it, and said goal.

Footballers, and football coaches moan too much, no great surprise there though.

So. VAR have been known to get it wrong you know. They did this time. BTW Haaland has also condemned the decision on social media. He said he would be fuming if it was the other way around. Good for him.

 

[Paladin]

Akanji’s position and actions meant the keeper delayed his dive in case Akanji re-directed the ball.

Valid point, debatable. But the officials that were appointed to judge on these debatable points decided that it wasn't offside. They might just as easily have decided it was offside. They weren't wrong though, they just applied a decision that matched their personal opinion, in the light of the Laws of the Game, of which they are knowledgeable.

Many are fuming about the decision, giving their own interpretations. That's fine, because it's a debatable decision. I'm happy to align my opinion with those who know best though.

Silva, with his "they have never played the game" nonsense, was lucky not to receive a fourth caution in as many games. He has never been a referee, an assistant referee or a VAR, so by his own logic, he has no right to criticise their professional performance.

 

[makinghistory]

Anybody moaning and feeling sorry for the Fulham fans about it being a poor goal for the 2nd goal needs to know it was the officials who fucked up and played by the rule book, you can be offside if you don't touch the ball and when Ake headed the ball the keeper could fully see the ball, so it's not interfering because the clear line of sight,

Yes, the rules are not clear about interfering and blocking the line of vision of the keeper, Does it stop the keeper from diving and interfering after Ake headed it NO, sorry move on because we have had our fair share of dodgy VARS and some have even been game changers

I agree with you on swings and roundabouts and we will get tough calls but no way was that a fair decision. You would go apeshit if it went against us. But entitled to your opinion as am I.

 

[Paladin]

I feel a bit better about the squad, thanks to Bobb, Lewis and Palmer at the end. Good quality team football from all of them. Pep seemingly does know how to use their strengths.

Palmer? [emoji846]

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

Some of the mental gymnastics in this thread is fucking hilarious.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

I can go even further back than that, which may be a sign that at my age I don't watch football so much as the ghost of seasons past! Gomez will never be another David but then it's hard to believe anyone will! I must say Kovacic reminds me much of the time as a Peter Reid style player - always there to receive and never any fuss. Going back even further Bernado sometimes has more than a hint of Bobby Johnson, a player I idolised, though that may just be the pull of the past! I have to say noone reminds me of our striking Viking who is simply unrivallable. We old codgers have seen some players though. "Isn't it great to be a blue!"

I think that Bernardo has never had a meal of chips 'n beer, and Bobby was perhaps 50% heavier than Bernardo but yer right about the style of play - always probing, always on the lookout for the killer pass, and can smack in a good few goals too!

 

[Asa's left peg]

On another issue - I can't understand why Oliver could apply certain things of the new rules and not the others that were implemented to protect him and his officials. He has to include in his match report all the histrionics and intimidation of the Fulham players on multiple occasions.

 

[East Level 2]

I think Ake's goal was offside as Akanji was close enough to the flight of the ball. However, Leno reacted to the header and I don't think he was distracted by Akanji, he was just slow to get down. - Or perhaps it was a bloody good header, but why praise Ake?
We need VAR officials to explain their decisions for subjective calls such as interfering with play and red card incidents. I know they often appear to get things wrong, hence the apologies, but at least they are qualified refs unlike Marco Silva and the vast majority of pundits.

 

[ZanteWeatherman]

Don't play the first half system again lol... Switched to what we'd been playing so far this season and were far superior 2nd half

Kova reverted to where he plays best.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

Maybe because he erected a statue of a peadophile outside their ground when he was in charge.

I asked Mrs Ewing in the week whether that statue was still at Fulham. She didn't know!

 

[East Level 2]

On another issue - I can't understand why Oliver could apply certain things of the new rules and not the others that were implemented to protect him and his officials. He has to include in his match report all the histrionics and intimidation of the Fulham players on multiple occasions.

I said he should have booked a few at the time, however having seen the incident I think he was cutting them a bit of slack due to the decision being so marginal.

 

[ZanteWeatherman]

Is Richard Keys still crying? LOL :)

Literally purple with rage. What a twat.

 

[Asa's left peg]

One last thing on the goal. If the position was reversed, I'd have accepted the goal because it's consistent of my interpretation of the rules based on what I have seen in the past.
I don't think comparisons to the Rashford /Diving cheat goal are correct. Rashford clearly moved towards the ball and shielded it - Manu tried to get out of the way.
In the cold light of the next day, we move on. As Pep would say 'It is what it is'.

 

[jimharri]

Fourth person to correct me. Should I correct the other three and tell them the error was pointed out to me within about thirty seconds? I mean, the guy did it with style, and got over 25 likes. I mean, that means, over 25 people corrected me before you. Still, I was grateful to be able to acknowledge my error and offer my correction before the likes came rolling in, in almost the very next post (4 likes, typical).

All I can really do is marvel at Bluemooners ability to say the same thing again, and again, and again.

Only 4? Jesus; count your blessings, you got off lightly. I remember a time when it would have been in the teens. It's certainly happened to me more than once.

 

[Prater70]

I didn't know till yesterday that there are no longer any Meat and Potato pies at the Etihad.

 

[Dave Ewing's Back 'eader]

I think Ake's goal was offside as Akanji was close enough to the flight of the ball. However, Leno reacted to the header and I don't think he was distracted by Akanji, he was just slow to get down. - Or perhaps it was a bloody good header, but why praise Ake?
We need VAR officials to explain their decisions for subjective calls such as interfering with play and red card incidents. I know they often appear to get things wrong, hence the apologies, but at least they are qualified refs unlike Marco Silva and the vast majority of pundits.

Yeah, I had a laugh last night waiting to get back on the road when Marco said that 'these people' (presumably the wankers in the VAR shed) had never played the game, as though that disqualified anyone from having a full understanding of the LotG. The issue with refs is not that they don't understand the LotG, even though the interpretation seems to change with each matchday, it's the consistent application that gets most folk.

Anyway, let's be under no illusion that had the Ake/Akanji combo goal been up the other end with a couple of Fulham players Marco would have laughed off his bollocks all the way back to The Cottage.