Good win for spurs. I know Chelsea are struggling but our record against them is dire. We've played 2 games more than the barcodes now but 4 points in front. I feel the pressure is on them now.
Chelsea are an absolute shambles at the back. They look as bad as us at the back end of last season
I just enjoyed the Paddy Power Cheltenham advert. Barry's last line is a cracker!!
My goosebumps have goosebumps, and it's only the Carabao Cup
Oh dear - we're not going to hear the end of this. ManU fans will be sprouting out from everywhere again.
After the last couple of times, at least we turned up.
And Karius played well, which as a member of the union I'm pleased about.
Could be the first of many….,.
Aren't you a Reading fan?
Either I don’t understand the offside rule or we were f***** by the VAR referees. We desperately need a decent striker though. Wilson is toothless and needs to go, and Isak needs a partner to play off.
Born and bred in Reading, but my mum's family are all from Wallsend and Walker and because of family issues when we were kids we lived up there for parts of my childhood. So while I'm a firm advocate of your home town team, I kind of have two home towns and it was actually Newcastle that my Grandad took me to as a lad. I only really started watching Reading once I was old enough to go on my own, so early 80's onwards.
Then I went to Uni in Durham and so got to see Newcastle in the late 80's again.
You can hardly call supporting either being a pot hunter!!
Either I don’t understand the offside rule or we were f***** by the VAR referees
You clearly don’t understand the offside rule, in that case. 😛
Not our best performance but a trophy is a trophy and it just seems like we’re on a roll with loads of players hitting peak form at the moment. That was top notch game management in the second half
The main thing is that this squad is absolutely unrecognisable from the utter shambles of last season and the one that started this season getting absolutely skinned by Brentford. Ten Hag has worked a miracle, but we’ve now got some real leaders on the pitch. Casemiro and Martinez have been unreal!
It’s all good! Cheers! 😃
Either I don’t understand the offside rule or we were f***** by the VAR referee
I do, but I still can't see how it's right. There were Man Utd players stood goalside of the defence, with no intent to go for the ball (so not 'active') but there to block the defenders from getting back, so hardly passive either.
That said, great delivery and header so not sure it made a difference.
Second was a shame, Karius has started to spread himself and couldn't adjust - I think it looked worse than it was. Glad he made two or three decent saves after then.
Newcastle just need a bit more support throughout, their first goal was lucky, was not a freekick and Rashford made a meal of it as well, but it wasn't offside by the rules, the ManU player who was offside wasn't 'interfering' with play, then again you have the argument that their move made defenders more and so on i guess.
Reality is that ManU are in form, Newcastle are a bit off form just now, sad for it to happen when they reach their first final since 1864 or whenever 😂
More importantly today, Celtic put the 'resurgent' rangers back in their place, that was the only real game today!
More importantly today, Celtic put the ‘resurgent’ rangers back in their place, that was the only real game today!
Oh good - I am contractually obliged to follow Celtic...and Reading of course.
Current version of offside is toss but, **** the Geordies!
Thank **** we got an early doors goal, otherwise it would have been Newcastle shite house tactics.
Shit faced but so happy even if it's the lowest rank trophy, community lower?
It’s rare that I’ll want to see Manure win a game but against this shower of sport-washed ****s? Absolutely. We’ll have years of their money bringing success, so happy to make the best of their not having won a trophy since the Industrial Revolution just going on another year or so. 😀
You clearly don’t understand the offside rule, in that case
The whole "passive" and "active" thing is utter nonsense.
A player on the pitch is "active" in someway all of the time.
The laws of the game should not be so subjective, it should be a matter of looking and counting.
Anyway, I'm not surprised. We only managed 2 shots on target all game, despite a lot of possession.
A player on the pitch is “active” in someway all of the time.
This, really, the number of instances where a player isn't 'active' but has drawn a defender out of position so that the 'active' players are now onside or have a gap open up for them.
The whole “passive” and “active” thing is utter nonsense.
I'm not going to argue against that. Its insane. It means that attacking players will now position themselves in offside positions, thus being 'inactive' so that they can essentially block defenders from making runs, who then can't challenge the players who are onside and thus 'active'. It is indeed a complete nonsense. I don't see how you can possibly be 'inactive' if you're in the mix in the box. But I don't make the rules.
But everyone knows this is the rule (for the time being) and sets themselves up accordingly at set pieces with this in mind. If it had been a set piece at the other end then the Newcastle player would have done (and did) set up exactly the same and the rule would have been applied just the same.
You can argue against it if its not being consistently applied, but it is. Its the rule itself thats nonsense. And don't get me started on late flags for offside
I get the intent, that we shouldn't penalise a player simply for being in an offside position.
Technically for example, a player beats the offside trap on the wing, pulls it back to a player in the middle (not offside because behind the ball) who scores. The winger is almost inevitably in an offside position, ahead of the ball, having beaten the trap by definition is now ahead of the defenders.... when the forward scores we don't want that disallowed because of the technical offside. Extreme example to make point.....
Then we have the players offside at the far post but the ball goes to the near post and an onside player scores.... they were trying to be part of play but because of how it went ended up not being. Most accept that should still be allowed.
But what we had at the weekend. Standing offside deliberately, knowing they will make no attempt to go for the ball but will be blocking runs by defenders.... coaches and setpiece coaches are constantly looking to 'bend' the rules to gain an advantage, but that's almost the definition of 'passive but interfering'.
For set pieces the who passive thing is just too problematic, you're allowing the attacking team an advantage in most instances, as playing an offside trap won't always work, and since VAR, assistant refs just let it go and wait for review if required, which makes them a bit pointless, as the game seems to be refereed from another location in these scenarios.
It's shit being a ref now, you have a panel of slo-mo experts second guessing your decisions, plus you are expected to instinctively make a judgement on active/inactive players while sprinting up and down the pitch.
By all means have VAR in the background looking for clear and obvious errors, but dissecting every bit of action frame by frame while fans wait to see if they can celebrate is just dire. And just revert to the old offside laws, which were easy to understand and enforce.
I don't remember the game being particularly unwatchable when wingers were getting flagged away from the ball.
By all means have VAR in the background looking for clear and obvious errors, but dissecting every bit of action frame by frame while fans wait to see if they can celebrate is just dire. And just revert to the old offside laws, which were easy to understand and enforce.
So much this - some of the offside decisions that have been made on the back of VAR showing an inline player being marginally offside by the merest of fractions have been absurd.
Oh, and surrounding the ref = automatic card. Captains can approach the ref for a chat, everyone else goes in the book. What other purpose does captaincy have, anyway?
I've said before but here's the manifesto again - do away with VAR, instead allow each team 3 appeals (number tbc) similar to what they have in cricket. Maybe kept if they are right to use again. Players generally know when they've been fouled, or know when they haven't given away a penalty. If they're so certain the decision's wrong they can appeal it and have it reviewed.
I'd be tempted to say via Captain, but equally I'd say allow anyone to call for an appeal - with the hope that someone yelling at the ref and burning an appeal over a pointless throw in would soon stop, as team mates or captain tell them to shut up.
I used to ref at local league level. A local team had a terrible reputation for constantly contesting decisions with refs and were just horrible to referee. The league couldn't find refs to do their games and they were in danger of being expelled. The club's committee were embarrassed by this and brought in a club rule - anyone booked for arguing, dissent, etc. - as well as the player getting an FA fine every single player on the pitch at the time would also be fined by the club for the same amount. The effect was that as soon as someone started on the ref, 10 others were telling him to shut up and get on with it!
Clearly money penalties wouldn't hurt pro players in the same way, but if pro teams were seeing their appeals disappearing and potentially losing games as a result I wonder if the same would happen.
2 goals in Fergie-time to get a win, despite not turning up for 70 minutes. Just like old times
And I had money on Spurs getting beat too.
Not a bad night 😃
Spurs were inept against a make shift Sheffield United. Absolutely woeful! How are they fourth in the league?
Absolutely woeful! How are they fourth in the league?
I’ve watched them all season and have asked that question every single time
They’re absolutely awful!
Its a reflection on just how bad teams like Liverpool and Chelsea have been, who you’d expect to be challenging for top four.
A proper FA Cup result for Grimsby tonight
Roy was on form tonight. I still can’t quite get used to him not absolutely slating United after every game. I’d got to the point where I found it weirdly comforting. Like a form of therapy
https://twitter.com/itvfootball/status/1631051817810370560?s=46&t=K1acHD8WIBEzMsxMbm-nIA
Hard to take the result, but the Hammers played quite well tonight. Ultimately undone by poor finishing and some individual defensive errors. Still, much better than the dross they've been serving up most of this season.
Hi, been a while! Just logging in to say what fun I am having at that Arsenal are still..... top of league! Speak soon!
What’s the inside of Emirates like recently?
I see FIFA once again has its finger on the pulse.
https://twitter.com/reuters/status/1631157412701896704?s=46&t=_5E_pUmuaPc-6mcB8vCqZw
They’ve clearly moved on from the days when Sepp Blatter said that the female players should wear shorter shorts.
No doubt the opening ceremony will involve a live reenactment of a Benny Hill sketch 🙄
We'll soon have Infantino doing another weird interview if folk keep picking FIFA up on their daftness 😂
Today I feel like a lingerie model…
It’d be funny laughing at just how completely detached from reality they are in their multimillionaire Swiss bunkers, but it really is just absolutely pathetic. It’s embarrassing.
Do you reckon any of them have ever actually watched any woman's football?
Actually… I think we all know the answer to that
Arsenal leave it late - very late - again!
Yes they did, they'll take more from it than an easy win though, that's the kind of result that gets players and fans thinking maybe this is the year, especially after last years Arsenal that capitulated at the end.
West Ham are still shocking, Declan Rice is being talked about at £120 million, not sure what games folk are watching to say that!
Moyes on thin ice eh? Over achieved last year and the signings to kick them on have been poor. Regarding Rice - if the player is English you can more or less double their price. See also Jack Grealish.
Brighton have a real shot at the top four!
Not the best result for Reading today, losing against a chemical plant. Not safe yet as we need to pick a few more points to secure a mid table position.
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Hi,Just logging in to say that phew, that was a close one. I saw grown men crying today at the end. Still….. top of league! Speak soon!
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Not the best result for Reading today, losing against a chemical plant. Not safe yet as we need to pick a few more points to secure a mid table position.
And a possible point deduction for still not meeting the EFL's stipulations
6 points off our current total would move us down from 15 to 21st, albeit still 6 points above 22nd and the drop. But on current form...... right in the shite
Spurs still being fourth is completely beyond comprehension
Great performance and result from us (Brighton) today. After Caicedo signing a new contract yesterday it was the perfect end to the week.
Would be fantastic to make Europe. I do wonder if our fixture backlog could cause us issues later in the season. If Mitoma, Caicedo, Dunk, Estupinan and Ali Mac can stay fit for rest of the season then we’ve got a shot at top 6
