Other matches, FA Cup 3rd round, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th January

PrestonHammer

chicagohammer said:

During the Arsenal game they showed Bob Wilson and I thought, “my he looks old,” and then I looked in the mirror 😀

Bob Wilson looked old on Grandstand, he fact he looked old in goal for Arsenal hahaha

buffybegood

Should we get through the replay, we're home to Forest or Blackpool in the 4th round.

buffybegood

Spurs at home to Man City.

claretandbluesky

It's a good draw with City vs Spurs, Chelsea Vs Villa and Newcastle Vs Fulham all taking decent sides out of the comp. I think Moyes will let it go now however and can't see him risking the big players again even if fit.

buffybegood

The Man Utd penalty last night is another that would go on my showreel of "penalties you won't be getting next season". Yes there's the slightest of contacts, but did it make him fall over? Definitely not. Did he make any effort to stay on his feet? Absolutely not. Referees should look at any decision they give on a pitchside monitor (they're being checked by VAR anyway) and ask themselves those 2 questions. If the answer is no, then they should call it what it is, a dive.

No surprise the cheat was Fernandes, horrible sneak of a player. His weight was on his left foot, there's slight contact on his right foot and yet for no reason he suddenly can't stand on his left foot.

We need to get away from the "there's contact therefore he's 'entitled' to go down" mentality of players, commentators and referees. The game will be so much better for it. Referees need to be so much braver and use their heads to actually assess what's happened, rather than just saying, "there's contact, I can give it". How about, "there's contact, should it make the player fall over?".

Bazshuayi

I seem to remember a comment from Rashford a while back basically saying that Ronaldo was showing/teraching th younger players how to feel for the contavt and go down from it. I think these days they see it as an extra string to their bow to be able to sneak a penalty.

Its pretty alien to me. I played for many, many years and can only once recall getting a penalty and I was basiclly wiped out by a poorly timed slide tackle. When through into the penalty area I never dreamed of going down, just wanted to shoot/score

alderz

Bazshuayi said:

I seem to remember a comment from Rashford a while back basically saying that Ronaldo was showing/teraching th younger players how to feel for the contavt and go down from it. I think these days they see it as an extra string to their bow to be able to sneak a penalty.

Its pretty alien to me. I played for many, many years and can only once recall getting a penalty and I was basiclly wiped out by a poorly timed slide tackle. When through into the penalty area I never dreamed of going down, just wanted to shoot/score

Whilst I get the sentiment of what you’re saying, I’m assuming that you going down or not didn’t potentially have huge ramifications for an enormous company. We still see players that are blatantly fouled and forced off balance who stay on their feet and get nothing as a result. If refs started giving penalties when players stay on their feet, they might stay on them.

chicagohammer

Changing topic and competition- watched Chelsea struggle against Middlesbourgh and was impressed how Boro played.

To be fair, Chelsea missed a couple of sitters but Boro played with passion and discipline, I frankly do not see them holding out for 90mins at the Bridge but their set up was not so different to how we play, against demonstrably stronger competition they played the solid defence and counter strategy and were principally hamstrung by the slowest striker I have seen since Iain Dowie.

This may be the romantic in me, but if we were looking for a young manager who appears to view the game with a similar pair of eyes and could learn from the experience that DM brings, would an approach for Michael Carrick be so far off base.

Just me getting all misty eyed 😀

Bazshuayi

Ughhhh not another Moyes! I'm hoping Carrick has a plan B and his tactics were because it was vs Chelsea!

ASLEFshrugged

Carrick's only been Boro's manager for 14 and a half months but he's doing a great job, last season taking them from the relegation zone to the playoffs and they're only 4pts behind the playoff places this season

Give him another season to see if he can keep it up

claretandbluesky

Carrick is an interesting one when trying to understand West Ham fan mentality as people tend still view him fondly and as West Ham, yet he is a Geordie, but more than that left us for Spurs and then went to Man Utd. He gets a cheer yet Rice gets a boo.

chicagohammer

Like in everything, I can only influence me, and for me, I cannot imagine myself thinking ill of Rice, he simply has done absolutely nothing to deserve it, (although I was praying that he wouldn’t kiss their badge when he scored his first goal for them, thankfully he didn't), 😀

As for Carrick, although he was part of the team that shouldn’t have gone down, we all knew that he was a special player and was simply class.

In all honesty, I struggle why people denigrate players who leave, if someone bad mouths us or acts unprofessionallly when with us or after leaving, that may be understandable but neither Rice or Carrick fit that bill.

alderz

Personally I don’t get booing people. Even Lampard I never understood as it felt like giving a mushroom to Mario. I don’t really see who it benefits.

That said, I also don’t really care that much usually.

claretandbluesky

I have been able to understand the Ince booing and I can certainly understand the Sol Campbell Arsenal transfer generating a boo or two, but most I can't understand at all.

It's like certain fans fail to understand the nature of football transfers and would like the rules to include that a player must remain playing for his first club until retirement.. Rice should get a huge cheer in my book.

EXETERHAMMER

I can remember booing David Beckham once when he was playing against West Ham at Old Trafford back in 2001. I actually am quite embarrassed at myself now.
I guess we all grow up at some point.

buffybegood

EXETERHAMMER said:

I guess we all grow up at some point.

Speak for yourself 😂🤣😂

Bazshuayi

You can never underestimate the intelligence and ignorance of some 'fans'. Perhaps its beyond them that just supporters of the team have a loyalty and emotional attachment but precious few players will have the same feelings.

I've never been negative about Carrick, Lampard etc. Players leave and you either have an affinity with them or you dont but there are a minute number who should provoke any negative thoughts.

I dont bear any hrd feelings toward Ince either. He's a West Ham boy and has said on more than one ocassion that he regrets what he did. Thats fair enough for me. We were all young once and some of us got influenced and did things that in hindsight we regret.

chicagohammer

It can sometimes is driven by who they join, with Joe Cole and Frank, I never harbored any animosity towards them as individuals but joining Chelsea, there was always that silent prayer that they would fall flat on their face 😀

Full transparency, of all the other London sides, I have always had a soft spot for the Gooners so I am comfortable wishing Rice well

MunichHammer

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Defoe on here so far.
Living in Germany don't go to live games but if the players leave I don't think I bear them any ill feelings. Yes, it hurt seeing Arsenal supporters on the tube bearing Rice 41 shirts but for me that shows how much I appreciated Rice rather than that I hate him now although I did have to laugh when he gave away the penalty.

ASLEFshrugged

Ince is the only player I had/have a problem with, he did an interview with Talksport in November and he's still blaming his agent for that photo