Home Mailbox Another ‘idiotic decision’ from Man Utd while ‘slack’ Liverpool are gifted ‘joke’ injury time…
Date published: Thursday 1st September 2022 6:26 - Editor F365
Liverpool were gifted a ‘joke’ amount of injury time in their 2-1 win over Newcastle on Wednesday night, while Man Utd make themselves look like idiots again…
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Liverpool at the death You’ve got Gomez and Fabinho shooting from outside the box, Trent blazing in cross after cross nowhere near any actual red shirts and the team waiting to concede before trying to actually force the game and show any interest in trying to force the game.
F**k it though. Let’s win them every week in the 98th minute. We aren’t looking good but at least it was kind of fun viewing today.
Commiserations to Newcastle. At least they can ride the bus home wondering if all their faking injuries was the reason the ref added so much time on. Minty, LFC
8th minute of added time. At Anfield. Of course it was. Can you imagine the comments if it was the other way around at St James’ Park? Badwolf
Ok yes lovely win for Liverpool, isn’t it nice that Elliot and Carvalho stolen from us look like such great players yes wonderful.
Ok yes Isak had a dream debut and looks every inch the elite player I was doubtful he would be.
It’s all pointless until Kyle Reese is sent back from the future to kill Haaland because that terminator will not stop, ever, until we are all dead. Tim Sutton (give them back you Scouse gits)
Going through twitter I can see that certain people do not understand the concept of injury time and the way that it currently works, therefore I would like to educate those people and use the Liverpool v Newcastle game as an example.
The fourth official raises his board, in this instance 5 minutes were displayed. Note that this is a minimum of 5 minutes. I rewatched injury time in this game and used a secondary stopwatch to monitor the “injuries” in injury time. There was one major incident after injury time was announced where approximately 1 minute and 35 seconds needed to be re-added. After deducting this time from the live clock, Salah’s blocked shot came at approx 5.07 into injury time (see the note above on minimum of 5 minutes). Typically referees very rarely blow full time after awarding a corner, especially with the game in the balance. The goal came after approx 5.35 into injury time (still noting the minimum of 5 minutes allowance). Essentially the game was over following the restart and the referee blew the final whistle.
Another point that I would like to make is that Jordan Henderson took aprox 1.10 to get his ass off the pitch so it was not all on Newcastle, but what can you do… Cry more…. Cian, LFC
One of those last second goals that leaves you a bit shellshocked.
Football is a beautiful/horrific game depending on what side of the tiniest line you fall on.
Liverpool dripped onto the right side tonight but, fk me, Newcastle are very well drilled and their press will trouble many. Aidan, Lfc (‘phew’ is an understatement)
Let’s start this by saying Newcastle were amazing. They pressed, they pushed and they had more going forward against us than any other team I have seen recently.
But let’s not kid ourselves. 5 minutes added on was a joke. I watched with my wife (who watches for fantasy reasons) and I said at least 6 if not 7 minutes added time because I don’t remember a moment in the game when not a single Newcastle player was on the ground. One even getting up when realising that the ball was not going out of play or anyone was paying attention. It was a weird combination of a performance I highly respect and one where I was yelling ‘Here we go again’.
Newcastle look the business and injuries prohibiting will be challenging anyone.
Thank you Diaz, Elliott and Carvalho. If this doesn’t cement your places in the first 11 I don’t know what will. Firmino also back to his absolute best, I hope it lasts! Nik (ecstatic about the win, would’ve taken a draw at 60), Munich
Team in red, wildly celebrating a hard fought win after coming from a goal down.
Wait til Keys-eys-ey and his pals hear about this… Gary (come and see me notch a late equaliser in the garden vs my 7 year old, you want over celebrating?), AFC.
More Liverpool v Newcastle thoughts… In no particular order:
Not sure where the ref found the added added time. Feel bad for Newcastle but glad he did.
What a player Harvey Elliot is. The heart of everything good about Liverpool tonight.
Hopefully the win and assists get Mo going. He’s been a shadow of himself. Not saying it’s the contract or anything…
Another game in which Liverpool went behind. Wish I knew what Alexander-Arnold was doing with that pass and Henderson with that touch to Longstaff. There is a weird slackness about Liverpool sometimes.
Robertson, while still not at his best, was better.
Delighted for Bobby! I thought he was done, or getting there. Hopefully he continues to be effective.
Newcastle are going to be a big problem problem for everyone. Isaak looks fantastic and alongside Saint-Maximin will cause every team plenty of bother.
Hopefully the derby at the weekend sticks a firework up some arses and Liverpool actually score first. Alan
My thoughts on Liverpool v Newcastle/football in general.
Unless you can prove that your team has never engaged in time wasting in whatever form then you shouldn’t be able to complain about it. All teams do it, so please stop gurning.
If you do engage in time wasting you can’t complain if the referee adds on more injury time.
The injury time announced is a minimum. Again you can’t complain if more is played especially when it’s your own fault.
He seems to get away with it but the touchline antics of Jürgen Klopp are as bad as Mourinho, Simeone or any other manager you care to mention. He really is tiresome but the press seems to love him. Sam, Newtownabbey
Arsenal vs Aston Villa Dear Ed,
A few quick reflections on Arsenal Villa as I watch the end of Newcastle Liverpool. Overall, Arsenal by far the better team. Martinelli was as handle able as an electric eel and that volley would’ve taken the roof off. Talking of which , what a great atmosphere- whether it was the way it was broadcast it seemed raucous in N5 tonight. Saka can’t catch a break at the moment what with the shirt pull then being lifted off his feet by Mings, then the half volley he really should have put away. We should bear in mind that both goals were as a result of goalkeeping error. Quite how EMI Martinez shovelled it to Jesus from there defies physics and he completely mistimed the swipe with his trailing arm for the winner. This won’t happen every week.
The equaliser was a bit of a freak; credit to Villa for having a plan to disrupt Ramsdale at corners but quite how this was allowed but a later challenge penalised (good firm punch out by Ramsdale) is puzzling to say the least. Bailey provided threat and pace down the right, Watkins held the ball up well and brought others into play. Gerrard had his men up for it to say the least with Arsenal’s back line having their poise on the ball disturbed. Completely fair enough, but it seemed more energy based than a deliberately coached tactic and didn’t last too long. The same aggression continued with a foul on Ödegaard being particularly nasty (McGinn possibly?) I do wonder about this interpretation being used this season. I’ve no problem with players using strength and huddle in the manner of Jesus, Watkins, Kamara and Martinelli but these sort of out of control lunges with a straight leg cause injuries and shouldn’t be tolerated by referees in my view.
I know we’ve had a relatively easy start, but we’ve won them all at least!
Can you let us know if it’s ok to celebrate this one? (Sod off Keys you joyless git)
Tottenham… Spurs have been a hard watch tonight. Wouldn’t have been surprised or too upset if West Ham had nicked it. Rather than dwell to much on that, I’m looking forward to dreamily looking at Haaland on Match of the Day this evening. My word. Jon (Hugo still makes me nervous), Lincoln
Antony, the Glazers and financial mismanagement Seeing the Antony deal confirmed yesterday, I guess at the request of the manager, a neutral fan might fairly ask, why I, as a Man Utd fan, am unhappy both with the transfer and the Glazers. To echo some of the points Aman made, it’s entirely symptomatic of the directionless transfer policy and financial mismanagement of the club since David Gill left as CEO. Blowing £80.6m on a player that has played 2 seasons in the Eredivisie, was neither top scorer nor top assister, to play in a position we spent £72.9m on Sancho to play the summer before seems like the kind of idiotic decision that characterises the Glazers reign at Manchester United. It’s an awful lot of money on a player that is unproven at the highest level, concerns which are shared by both van Basten and van Marwijk. It’s a ludicrous amount of money full stop. It’s almost as much as we paid for Pogba who had frankly better numbers than Antony in a better league (although similarly uncompetitive at the time).
Antony could be a very good player and a massive success at Man Utd, I’m not saying not saying otherwise or that we shouldn’t have gone in for him. Rather, I think that we should not have allowed ourselves to pay through the nose for a player that no other club was interested in for that kind of money. He’s clearly Ten Haag’s choice and I guess I’ll have to trust that he knows him well, but it’s a big gamble, especially when Memphis Depay was available on a free transfer/nominal fee; the same Memphis who had flashes of brilliance amidst inconsistency at Man Utd before, before he matured and did very well at Lyon and in an unfancied Barcelona side. Frankly, even if we paid £20m for Depay (and bearing in mind that Barcelona are looking to offload him for nothing), I’d still think that was a better deal – a proven, established player for one quarter of the price.
And this leads me to my gripe with the Glazers. WTF is the transfer policy? Where is the value we’re looking for in our deals? Who is leading transfers – the director of sport, whom Ronaldo didn’t even seem to be aware of, or the manager? Do we even have a scouting department since it seems like our transfer policy this summer has been simply Ten Haag’s Eredivisie Top 5 wishlist? The whole ducking club is completely rudderless and this starts at the top with the Glazers. It’s one thing being hands-off – if it were just that it’d maybe be commendable leaving the football decisions to football people. But it’s not just being hands-off, it’s absentee-landlord-ism. They leave the running of the club to people they’ve put in place, on the basis of their money making decisions, and when they’re underperforming, when the manager is underperforming, when the club is underperforming, when the team is underperforming they do nothing. They don’t intervene to make changes, set new direction, or offer insight. It’s a complete absence of leadership.
And so we’re left with the board throwing good money after bad on transfers without any discernible strategy or identity. So much for targeting young, hungry prospects on the cheap to grow into world beaters which other clubs seem to do so well. We’ve signed some potentially good players for a lot of money. Martinez, young and hungry he might be, but cost us £46m. Casemiro is undoubtedly a good player, but he’s also 30, signed on big money. Antony, to bring the email back to point, is almost completely unproven and yet he’s become the 4th most expensive transfer in Premier League history. As I’ve said many, many times, the club is an absolute shambles from top to bottom, and until we can sort out the ownership everything else will continue to languish in the doldrums since the changes the club need necessarily must come from the top. This includes appointing a CEO based not just on their ability to market tractor partners, giving them the authority they need (if you want to be hands off) to sack underperforming managers before gaps become too big, putting into place a club identity and structure so that we know that the football director is in charge, ultimately, of transfers, or the manager (in which case why bother with the football director?). It may require an overhaul of how transfers are conducted and how money is spent. It absolutely needs to involve an overhaul of the scouting department which seems completely useless.
All of this has been neglected under the Glazers as they’ve skimmed from the top to put in their bank accounts and so it’s no doubt that the club has become a shambles. Just like Old Trafford, which becomes a useful metaphor for the club, it was once the biggest and best stadium in the UK. Now it’s not even the biggest, it’s in disrepair and probably a bit of a laughing stock when you consider the Etihad, White Hart Lane and the Emirates. Again, this lack of investment is symptomatic of the Glazers’ approach and as the Antony fee shows, it’s not due to lack of money at the club. This is why fans are rightly unhappy with their ownership, even when we win. This is why despite the money spent this summer I’m still unhappy with their ownership. There are systemic issues at the club that throwing money at transfers won’t fix, and indeed, is part of the problem. Daniel (/rant) Cambridge
Time wasting… Well, I had the fortune of spending my hard-earned money to go and watch a game of football on Tuesday night. And for a good chunk of the 90 minutes, I instead spent my time watching Jordan Pickford practice his goal kick run ups while a procession of pricks in pink kicked the ball away and rolled around. Great that. Especially when football is so expensive, and there’s a cost of living crisis on.
I get home just after midnight, to read this.
“Some Leeds fans are already talking about anti-football but that sort of conversation is for the bitter”
Ah. It’s bitterness to complain about not getting to watch football at a football match.
If I paid £40 for a meal, and the waiter took a fifth of it and spent half the evening pretending to throw it back to the chef, that’d be fine? No room to complain? Just bitter?
If I paid £40 for gig tickets, and the band stopped every other song to spend three minutes pretending to tune up in silence, well that’s me being bitter and not a shit gig?
Or what if I pay £40 to take the wife to the cinema, and 20 minutes of the blockbuster film is just Tom Cruise smirking to the camera while he pretends to tie his shoelaces? Surely only the bitterest of men wouldn’t find that Oscar-worthy.
I go to football to be entertained. If I wanted to watch a team win, I wouldn’t go to Elland Road, I’d support City or Liverpool or Melchester Rovers. Goals are entertaining. Tackles are entertaining. Your own centre half forgetting how his legs work and letting Everton sneak in and score is – while infuriating – still entertaining. Watching a procession of lazy throw-ins and lazier goal kicks isn’t entertaining in the slightest.
That’s not bitterness. That’s a fact. That’s why we have goal of the month, or Richarlison juggling the ball doing the rounds on Twitter.
Maybe I’m just bitter. But I bet we won’t see F365 doing an article on superb time-wasting goal kicks any time soon. Andy. Leeds fan in Salford
World Cup glory? Is it too early to sound the alarm?
Look at that starting line-up for the Euros final, just over a year ago.
Pickford; Walker, Stones, Maguire; Trippier, Rice, Phillips, Shaw; Mount, Sterling; Kane
I make it that only two or three of those players are playing anywhere near their potential and half of them are at risk of falling of the map completely through injury, poor form or competition for places.
It’s not good. Gallagher and Grealish now seem to have painted themselves into a corner at their respective clubs. Mings is barely playing whether on or off the pitch and I don’t even want to mention the Nations League debacle.
Foden looks like the player, but is he doomed to be another Scholes with all the skill in the world drifting around in the wrong places on the pitch?
Perhaps it’s not a disaster yet. Saka and Bellingham seem to be doing OK I suppose. Pickford, Maguire and Stones rarely let England down. It’s great for the likes of Gordon, Eze and anyone else who has a real shot of freshening up the squad. But you don’t want to be integrating half a dozen players weeks before what should be a great chance to bring football home (or ‘keep it home’. Whatever. Don’t write in saying I’m sexist).
I’m not optimistic and Southgate will have to earn his money before we even take into account the inevitable late crockings that would give the Springfield Nuclear Plant team palpitations plus ‘The Crappening’ where overpaid, oversexed, under pressure or simply overhyped young English footballers – see Barkley, Dele Alli, Bentley etc – seemingly lose the will to compete. Bowen next?
Hopefully they’re all just timing their run for World Cup glory…? Quarantino, ITFC, Chairman of the Bored
As the bellend that picked Turkey as dark horses at the Euros I don’t want to stick my neck out too far but that Uruguay squad has enough talent to trouble anyone.
Richarlison deserves what he gets About halfway through Ian Kings article I had this nagging feeling, I was agreeing with pretty much all of it but I still felt opposed. Then I remembered what a shit Richarlison is when things aren’t going his way, since snapping Thiago in the derby he seems to make it his mission to injure a red every time they played, if you can’t win the game you can snap your opponents leg and at least the fans will appreciate the passion.
He’s a genuinely nasty shit and while I’m glad he isn’t at Everton anymore, and therefore less likely to be on a one man crusade against our boys and their health, I already pity the gooners who can expect him to try and remove one of Odegaard or Jesus for the remainder of the season. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke, we never want to see a bad injury (and unlike the fights I think we mostly all mean that) but if that twat had to be stretchered off then I would’ve watched it with a smile.
In summary I guess I disagree with sky and their hand wringing over a bit of showboating, but strongly maintain that Richarlison is the most deserving player in the league of a challenge like that. Any other mailboxes got a footballer you genuinely hate? I know it’s irrational and a waste of energy but I can’t be alone in genuinely despising a player I’ve never had any interaction with… Manjo, LFC
Imagine 2 commentators, commentating on a game having an opinion. An actual personal opinion on something related to the game. They should have bloody consulted the “Football Fans Socially Acceptable Non-Triggering Viewpoint Manual” like Ian King. Hopefully Martin Tyler and Carragher will stick to empty platitudes like “its a game of two halves” and “he wont be happy with that will he”.
Richarlison acted the maggot, its was cheeky, it was insulting to Forest and it got a nice meaty tackle to shake him up. Nobody died. We all got a bit of comic entertainment. The comedy villain got his comeuppance. The pub got some extra conversations. Ian King got his article. I got my silly little email that you are now reading.
Thats what we want isn’t it? For stuff to actually happen on a football pitch. Sometimes stuff that isn’t pre-ordained? Its almost as if football is played by humans who have flaws and emotions and make mistakes sometimes.
What does Ian want out of football? For the ref to blow the whistle, everyone to be nice to each other, no bending or breaking of the rules, big cuddles at the final whistle and a nice 0-0 draw that doesn’t upset anyone?
Ian goes on to question the “let it go” policy. A policy that has meant more free flowing football and added excitement to the game. Too much excitement for Ian. DOWN WITH THIS SORT OF THING as Father Ted would say. Lets wrap all of our little pampered millionaires in cotton wool, hit “like” on all their AWESOME instagram posts, and give them an extra 10 mil a year #bekind.
Yeah we all remember Liverpools miraculous 3-3 comeback, Solksjaers last minute winner V Bayern etc etc, but we also remember Zidanes head butt, Cantonas Kung Fu Kick, Di Canio pushing the ref over (Ian may have PTSD from this one), Maradonnas coked up celebration in USA 94 and Boban fighting the police. In these moments we are reminded that footballers are humans, flawed messy humans like the rest of us. Cheers to that! Shz
Just a thought on the Richarlison vs Johnson ding-dong. Surely teams are now going to be targeting Brennan Johnson as easily riled, given that he reacted to extremely minor provocation with all the emotional control of a hormonal, self-entitled, overly aggressive teenager who’s just had their copies of FHM confiscated? Any rival manager worth their salt will now be telling teams facing Forest to give him a bit of needle, wind him up, and watch the red card arrive and with it a one-man advantage. Revealing a major weakness to the rest of the league four games into the season isn’t smart.
And a question for Johnson, plus the various pundits and players calling Richarlison’s three keepy-uppies disrespectful – where is the line, exactly, of respecting your opponent? Should any player who gets nutmegged be allowed to lunge into a tackle to avenge their honour? What about attempting an overhead kick when a header would suffice? Maybe it’s best to just ban anything entertaining, imaginative or skilful on the football pitch, in case an opposing player gets a bit upset and has to console themselves with a bit of therapeutic violence.
Happy, yet troubled times As an Arsenal fan, I’m clearly going to be happy right now. Top. Of; The. League. etc. However, I think that this Haaland fella I’ve heard talked about might be quite good.
Can we get him before the window ‘slams shut? Worried Gooner in France
St Mary’s pitch Just as a side observation how bad is the saints pitch. In the driest summer since ‘76 and the pitch looked an absolute mess. It has a touch of the baseball ground about it.
That pitch has won many awards, but has it been done deliberately? Looking at them Hassenhuttl seems to have gone all Burnley, long ball, long throw and no playing out from the back. There may be a route back for Sean Dyche. P Didi
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