Back from the Everton (H) game

[ZacNaloen]

No, no free kick was given.

And tbf in all the highlights I'm struggling to see much contact although he does miss the ball by a fair margin, but I can understand why the ref may think there was either no contact or what contact there was was not enough to cause the player to fall over like that suggesting simulation. If not sure either way make no decision.

[Jano]

Missed that one then, certainly struggling to see a second "blatant" penalty, not that I thought Morrison's handball was a penalty either.

[Royal91]

Who gives a shit what Everton think. The refereeing in this league is no better than the championship, its bloody woeful. I can certainly say that our 80% of points tally thus far has been dictated by the incompetent refs.

Going back to the Spurs match, we played awful but we had two stone wall penalties in that game denied. Had we got the handball in the first half and scored anything could of happened.

Chelsea and Newcastle arguably could have been 6 points.

Maybe Moyes should tell his players to complain, moan and surround the ref more.

[Big Ern]

Missed that one then, certainly struggling to see a second "blatant" penalty, not that I thought Morrison's handball was a penalty either.

Are you aware that Morrison was not playing in goal?

Subjectivity taken to new levels.

[Jano]

Having only seen it live from pretty much behind the goal, and not having the advantage of seeing replays on TV, I couldn't see this blatant handball no. Not saying it wasn't a penalty, just that I couldn't see it.

[Big Ern]

Having only seen it live from pretty much behind the goal, and not having the advantage of seeing replays on TV, I couldn't see this blatant handball no. Not saying it wasn't a penalty, just that I couldn't see it.

Watch a replay mate, Feds would have been proud of a save like that.

[If you still hate Futcher]

Who knows what Federici was doing for the first goal, just shows why he shouldn't be in the team.

The only thing he could've done differently was come to claim the ball instead of leaving it to Gorkss to head where ended up going to Jelavic to cross but the second part of your statement is stretching it a bit.

Before that point he'd already made a point blank save to deny Jagielka and soon afterward made another superb stop from Osman both of which kept us in the game and meant we were in a position to mount a come back

Regarding the 2 penalties - from the upper reaches of B15 it looked like Naismith had been keeping too close an eye on the antics of a certain forward who plays for the red side of their city but the 2nd Morrison's hand/arm was defo raised and moved toward the ball so should've been given (especially given the view the ref had)

[Alexander Litvinenko]

Who knows what Federici was doing for the first goal, just shows why he shouldn't be in the team.

The only thing he could've done differently was come to claim the ball instead of leaving it to Gorkss to head where ended up going to Jelavic to cross but the second part of your statement is stretching it a bit.

Before that point he'd already made a point blank save to deny Jagielka and soon afterward made another superb stop from Osman both of which kept us in the game and meant we were in a position to mount a come back

Just really showed a complete lack of authority over the box. There's no excuse for everyone dithering and leaving the others to attack the ball.

[If you still hate Futcher]

Yep can't really argue about the lack of authority but since when has Fed been any different

I don't agree the whole "shouldn't be in the team" thing considering McCarthy's injury and several good saves made by Fed

His positioning was absolutely spot on in the 2nd half to get the rebound of the post from Fellaini's header

[Alexander Litvinenko]

....

His positioning was absolutely spot on in the 2nd half to get the rebound of the post from Fellaini's header

'Greed - but if it hadn't been then really serious questions would have been asked about him - that was bread and butter stuff.

He did have a pretty good game, with no major mistakes, but it does worry me the number of times he saves shots and just parries a ball so the rebound is still in play - there were a couple on Saturday, including one where he parried the ball into the path of an (offside) attacker so he got away with it.

[If you still hate Futcher]

Yes, he's obviously still worried about the ball moving in the air after his early season misjudgements - the look on his face after he pushed the shot straight back out past the onrushing Jelavic showed how glad he was just to get something on it.

But at least he did instead of letting it go through/under/around him against Stoke, Chelsea....etc

PS I was joking about the positioning on the header - the fact the ball came off the post and bounced straight into his arms made me believe that it was going to be our day.

[Franchise FC]

Yes, he's obviously still worried about the ball moving in the air after his early season misjudgements - the look on his face after he pushed the shot straight back out past the onrushing Jelavic showed how glad he was just to get something on it.

But at least he did instead of letting it go through/under/around him against Stoke, Chelsea....etc

PS I was joking about the positioning on the header - the fact the ball came off the post and bounced straight into his arms made me believe that it was going to be our day.

Incredibly, the fact that he didn't attempt to dive for the original header worked in our favour. Had he done so it would have been touch and go whether Shorey or Naismith would have been first to it.

[Royal With Cheese]

Missed that one then, certainly struggling to see a second "blatant" penalty, not that I thought Morrison's handball was a penalty either.

Are you aware that Morrison was not playing in goal?

Subjectivity taken to new levels.

And if you freeze frame you can see that he was trying to block the shot with his foot - not his hand - and what I mean is that he was moving his leg towards where he thought the ball was going. He was leaning backwards and it's a bit difficult to contrive deliberately handling the ball while travelling at considerable speed leaning backwards.

Interestingly on Goals on Sunday they more or less admitted that 90% of handballs in the box were not deliberate. I'd agree with this. Until the laws are changed to reflect this obstruction (for want of a better word) we're just going to have to put up with it.

Anyway - we've had some really shit decisions gone against us this season so I think we're still owed another 4 points.

[HoneyRoastHoax]

[MouldyRoyal]

And the Chelsea offside.

[Ian Royal]

Was a bit concerned about this quote from Morrison post match.

"We tried to keep our shape and they had a lot of the ball - there was a point in the first half where I couldn't actually breathe because we were under so much pressure.'

Wasn't that just after the ball hit him in the chest as he flew across the area blocking a shot.

[madreadingfan]

Hate having to sit for a penalty, people behind go flipping mental if I stand...

This annoys me as well. It's a football match for goodness sake. Just stand and block their view.

I'm in the north stand and everyone in front of me is sitting but I stand up which makes everyone have to stand up behind me. Just look overly excited and they don't wanna spoil your "excitement"

[RoyalBlue]

....

His positioning was absolutely spot on in the 2nd half to get the rebound of the post from Fellaini's header

'Greed - but if it hadn't been then really serious questions would have been asked about him - that was bread and butter stuff.

He did have a pretty good game, with no major mistakes, but it does worry me the number of times he saves shots and just parries a ball so the rebound is still in play - there were a couple on Saturday, including one where he parried the ball into the path of an (offside) attacker so he got away with it.

Tbf that shot was hit with such ferocity that he did well to even get his hands up into position in time. I wager most, if not every keeper (including McCarthy) would either have ended up pushing it back into that area or not getting their hands to it properly in the first place and seeing it spin off into their goal.

Your criticism about not exerting authority in his area in the build up to their goal is also harsh. He can scream at his defenders all he likes and if they ignore him there is not much else he can do other than grab them by the scruff of the necks there and then or bollock them after the event. I'm pretty sure that having opted not to come for the ball he would have been screaming 'Away' at them.

On the plus side, his kicked distribution is considerably better than McCarthy's and at long last he is finally taking the opportunity to throw the ball out when that option is on.

[melonhead]

commanding his area isnt about shouting, its about coming out and clattering anyone in his way to smother/catch that ball

[RoyalBlue]

commanding his area isnt about shouting, its about coming out and clattering anyone in his way to smother/catch that ball

Which he did at another point. And that wasn't the context in which I believe Dirk used the term. If it was, then it was a crazy assessment of that particular situation, as no keeper in their right mind would have opted to come for those balls when their defenders were ideally positioned to deal with the threat. Had he come out and wiped them out, leading to the goal being conceded, then everyone would rightly have been criticising him for that. I was sat watching with two very capable goalkeepers next to me (one who particularly loves to come and clatter everyone) and both were highly critical of the way the way his defenders failed to deal with the situation. The way they saw it, Feds was not at fault.