BFTG - Ipswich

[RoyalBlue]

I'd agree with that but other teams appear to be doing something that we aren't because season after season they get away with being overly physical whereas we don't appear to get the same. Also not sure I'd praise a ref who took the best part of a minute to spot a player lying on the floor with a head injury in the first half.

Players go down all the time clutching their.heads to stop the game.
He spotted it. He was simply ignoring it.

Not saying he was perfect
Just that it was noticeably better than most refs last season. In that I didn't leave wanting to kill him

Had the ref and his assistant been as observant as they should have been, they would have spotted that he had been brought down by a challenge (probably a foul) from an Ipswich player who then trod firmly on his head (accidental, I think, but with a fair bit of force as he tried to step over him). Good reason to clutch his head and very good reason for the ref to stop play at that point. What's more, nothing was really developing in terms of play at that point of the game so no one would have really minded.

And I think he clearly saw the head injury incident, but thought he'd just thrown himself to the floor and ignored it.

He obviously didn't clearly see the incident because he completely missed their player's left foot standing on his head!

[SydenhamRoyal]

Maybe I haven't made myself clear, but on a number of occasions, he was holding the ball OUTSIDE the box before kicking it.

Yeah you're right he was

[Platypuss]

I thoroughly enjoyed that - the players really did seem to be up for it. Have to mention Federici's goal kicks though - almost every time he took one, he still had the ball in his hand when his feet were out of the area - the lino didn't notice because he'd run on ahead, but if he keeps doing it, it will get noticed at some point and could cost us.

Was ALL of the ball beyond the edge of the white line while it was still in contact with his hands though?

[If you still hate Futcher]

^ Ready to be shot down but as I understand the rule it doesn't matter if it's in his hands or not if he's in the action of taking the kick

I noticed one in the first half when Federici's foot was on the 18 yard line and thought he was pushing it a bit. I'm surprised the Ipswich no 9, who was shadowing Feds, didn't appeal at least once if only to draw attention to it

[Nameless]

The laws just say that the keeper cannot touch the ball with his hand outside the area. I can't see anything that says it's ok in the act of kicking it.
However if there is marginal contact slightly outside the area as he releases the ball it's probably never going to be penalised. If it becomes really blatant the ref would probably have a word but given the slack players get with where they take throw ones what Feds does is at the very lowest end of what the officials will worry about.
Most infringements of the laws are not punished , luckily.

[If you still hate Futcher]

Maybe I was a bit ambiguous but what I meant was that it's still handball if he comes out of the area in the act of kicking the ball and I always rationalised this with the fact that you can't try and nick the ball away once the keeper has let go of it

[Platypuss]

Maybe I was a bit ambiguous but what I meant was that it's still handball if he comes out of the area in the act of kicking the ball and I always rationalised this with the fact that you can't try and nick the ball away once the keeper has let go of it

Still not sure what you mean. If he's not touching the ball with his hand (or arm) it's not handball, regardless of what he's doing with the rest of his body.

In fact the goalie can be totally outside the box (hands and all) but if any part of the ball is still inside the box at the time (line included) then it's not handball.

[ZacNaloen]

He chucks the ball up in the air and slightly forward while on or just behind the line and kicks it while outside the box, never seen anyone demonstrate satisfactorily that it's anymore than that.

[Schards#2]

The benefit gained by getting the last inch or so out of his kicks is pretty much non existant whereas the potential damage of conceding a free kick on the edge of the box could be huge. I vaguely recall us scoring in these circumstances 4-5 years back.

As such, he should give it a margin for error as, from where I'm sitting, it looks close to handball every time he kicks it out.

[John Madejski's Wallet]

The benefit gained by getting the last inch or so out of his kicks is pretty much non existant whereas the potential damage of conceding a free kick on the edge of the box could be huge. I vaguely recall us scoring in these circumstances 4-5 years back.

As such, he should give it a margin for error as, from where I'm sitting, it looks close to handball every time he kicks it out.

I sit fairly inline and he definately carries the ball beyond the line at times. Has always made a habit of it.

As Schards says, the benefits in no way outweigh the risks. Tw*t


//Feds, not Scards

[Jano]

Was interested to read this today, especially after the glowing comments from the radio after the game. We weren't convinced by the performance at all, but considering the team and the relatively inexperienced players a win is a win. A couple of notes we picked up on.

Up front Pog seemed to be playing in the position we were expecting Cox to play, running down the flanks. From our view in the first half especially, there were a couple of times he got the ball out wide and put a cross in and there wasn't anyone in the box, or anyone capable of even attempting to win it. He's also still not a target man and I have no idea why after two years of playing for us two managers still haven't worked that out and don't make sure we play it to his feet. Seems simple to me. Thought he played well enough though when the ball was at his feet.

Thought the Midfield was virtually nonexistant all game. Akpan especially was poor. Took far too long on the ball, passes were wayward at best and he just doesn't get involved enough for me. Also couldn't tell you one thing Jake Taylor did other than score, but that could just be my eyesight and the fact that Cox, Gunter and Taylor all look extremely similar at a distance and the new kits make it impossible to pick out numbers. Obita isn't good enough on the ball to be playing the deep playmaker role. Was really hoping to see an improved Blackman but he looked exactly the same as last season, out of his depth.

The main positive for me was the defence, much much better than I have seen for a long time although there were still too many hairy moments. Cummings did well enough, but it's still like playing Kelly at left back, its fine when we don't have the ball, but as soon as he has it he just does not have a left foot and it seriously limits us. A proper left back is an absolute necessity. Fed's looks steady enough but like others have mentioned his distribution seemed no better than McCarthy's which was disappointing.

One other thing I noticed, McCarthy warming up during half time seemed extremely laboured, looked suspiciously like he wasn't interested at all which really did seem to reinforce that he may well be off sooner rather than later.

[Platypuss]

He's also still not a target man and I have no idea why after two years of playing for us two managers still haven't worked that out and don't make sure we play it to his feet. Seems simple to me.

Thought the Midfield was virtually nonexistant all game.

These two observations might well be linked.

[melonhead]

the midfield was nonexistant.
cos we have no midfielders.

hence why feds was kicking more often. our strength was for the front players to hold up/flcik on while the midfielders ran on to support.
this pretty much worked.
but im sure as the midfielders return, the tactics will become more passy

[Jano]

Akpan was bought as a central midfield player. Obita claims to be a central midfield player. Jake Taylor is a central midfield player (albeit playing out of position). Nick Blackman claims to be a football player (unconvinced by this one, still). They are all professional footballers who play in midfield, we can't use the fact that other better midfielders are currently unavailable as an excuse, these guys should all be capable of having some impact on a game and should be able to string a couple of passes together between them.

[Royal Ginger]

By the same token it's the other midfield's and defence's jobs to disrupt that passing. I'd say both sets did a good job of nullifying the other's passing.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Akpan was bought as a central midfield player. Obita claims to be a central midfield player. Jake Taylor is a central midfield player (albeit playing out of position). Nick Blackman claims to be a football player (unconvinced by this one, still). They are all professional footballers who play in midfield, we can't use the fact that other better midfielders are currently unavailable as an excuse, these guys should all be capable of having some impact on a game and should be able to string a couple of passes together between them.

Obita doesn't claim to be a cm. He claims to be a number 10.

[ZacNaloen]

I had this conversation Re: Jake Taylor and what does he actually contribute before the game. So I did pay a little more attention to him than usual this game.

He does an awful lot of closing down and off the ball work doing the high press, wasn't that successful at actually getting the ball (although that's how he got his goal tbf) but he did a job of forcing Ipswich to go long. That is their game plan though so didn't hurt the much, but I'm sure his instructions were to try and force mistakes from the Ipswich defenders.

I don't think anyone did much great work on the ball yesterday, Obitas stats actually suggest he did alright though, and it wasn't a good footballing performance. Those will come with confidence, and a midfield to speak of. Lots of hard work, grit, determination and a mentality of we will not conceed which was pleasing to see.

[Jano]

I'm sure Taylor works hard, we just noticed that he never actually seemed to have the ball other than when he scored, not a bad thing I guess. Obita thinks he's a number 10? Really?

[Nameless]

The benefit gained by getting the last inch or so out of his kicks is pretty much non existant whereas the potential damage of conceding a free kick on the edge of the box could be huge. I vaguely recall us scoring in these circumstances 4-5 years back.

As such, he should give it a margin for error as, from where I'm sitting, it looks close to handball every time he kicks it out.

I doubt a keeper could be as precise as you suggest in judging where he releases the ball, and certainly the officials won't be attempting to judge it to the inch. I'd agree though that the downside of conceding a free kick far out weights any possible advantage from a tiny bit of extra distance on the kick.
But if he's always done it and never been pulled up the either he doesn't actually still have it in his hands when the ball leaves the area, or it's an area of the game that is not policed to any degree.
I bet he gets done for it against Huddersfield !!

[RoyalBlue]

He chucks the ball up in the air and slightly forward while on or just behind the line and kicks it while outside the box, never seen anyone demonstrate satisfactorily that it's anymore than that.

Think that sums up his, perfectly lawful, action extremely well.

Also, as Nameless mentioned, the officials tend to have a quiet word with the keeper if they think he is getting into an area where they might have to penalise him. I've certainly seen them (usually the lino) do that it games before.

. Fed's looks steady enough but like others have mentioned his distribution seemed no better than McCarthy's which was disappointing.

.

Absolutely staggered by that 'observation'

Have people already forgotten how bad McCarthy's distribution is, both from his hands and with the ball on the ground?! In contrast Feds was far quicker to release the ball, kicking from his hands and throwing, and on virtually every occasion it went straight to its intended target. Not once did it fly out of play or land with an opponent. His defenders looked far more comfortable bringing him into play with back passes and he always controlled the ball easily before playing it out to a teammate, even when he was being quickly closed down by a forward. Had McCarthy been left to take some of the free kicks out on the touchline which Feds did, the ball would have either gone out of play or down the throat of one of their players with an open goal to aim at. In contrast, the team didn't seem at all worried about letting Feds take them from that position.