The Football.....

[Accy cyclist]

Accy Stanley play Barrow this afternoon. I'd like to go, but if it's going to be as cold as Christmas Day, due to that 'beast from the north east' wind, I might give it a miss.🙄 I could watch the game from the impressive new bar, with a full view of the pitch, but is watching football matches while not braving the elements a bit wimpish?🤔 I read that many football fans now watch their team on tv's, while drinking at bars provided in the stadiums, with some hardly ever sitting in their paid for seats to watch the action.

 

[AndyRM]

Accy Stanley play Barrow this afternoon. I'd like to go, but if it's going to be as cold as Christmas Day, due to that 'beast from the north east' wind, I might give it a miss.🙄 I could watch the game from the impressive new bar, with a full view of the pitch, but is watching football matches while not braving the elements a bit wimpish?🤔 I read that many football fans now watch their team on tv's, while drinking at bars provided in the stadiums, with some hardly ever sitting in their paid for seats to watch the action.

What's wimpish about it? You're still giving money to the club (assuming they own the bar) and there are plenty of reasons not to fancy "braving the elements".

If went I'd like a full report on big Innes Cameron who left us (Killie) for Barrow in summer, assuming he got a game.

Edit: I've just seen the match report. Not even on the bench. We could use a lump like him right now.

 

[AndyRM]

I paid my second Boxing Day visit to stand at the Bucks Head and cheer Telford on to a fine victory against Chester. Particularly pleasing was seeing fan favourite Matty Stenson scored twice on his 100th appearance for the club and being close enough to say that he had to come off after 70 off minutes because "I'm utterly f*cked."

He did actually have the ball in the net three times but his third goal was (wrongly) chalked off for offside*.

I'm clearly a good luck charm for The Mighty Bucks as I've now seen them live 3 times with an aggregate score of 12 - 1. Hopefully this will continue when I see them at Spennymoor on January 3, who will be feeling a bit glum after getting walloped 6 - 0 by South Shields.

*I got confused about this, that was a different goal. Matty was judged to have knocked the ball out of the 'keepers hand for his third (bias dictates that he didn't but he probably did).

 

[Accy cyclist]

5,337 watched Bury AFC beat my nearest none league side Clitheroe FC 2-0 at Gigg Lane yesterday. That's one hell of an attendance for a club 3 levels below the top level, none league division!

https://www.burytimes.co.uk/sport/f...roe-shakers-see-off-blues-front-bumper-crowd/

 

[Vapin' Joe]

Not scorelines you see any more, I reckon more than a few players celebrated Christmas not wisely, but too well.
I was at that bloody West Ham match

 

[No Ta Doctor]

All this "Playing out from the back" stuff is making the game very dull. The laughable thing is only the very best sides have players with the ability to do it. How many times do you see more ordinary teams either get themselves into trouble by losing the ball or end up desperately passing it back to the keeper who is forced to hump it upfield anyway?

Wherever there are tactics there are counter-tactics. Going long is an obvious counter-tactic to high press. Playing out from the back is not just about ball retention, it's about inviting that press in order to create space behind it. When Arsenal first started playing out from the back we were awful, got caught in possession load of times and leaked goals. Then we weren't and we got an advantage. Now hardly anyone presses us and we have to break down a low block instead.

Game needs a law that a shot has to taken after a specific nunbers of passes. Also one banning coaching of players while one is receiving attention.

Rules seeking a problem to solve imo.

No substitutes after 80 minutes. Managers to stay in their dugout for the whole game, grabbing hold of an opponents shirt, arm or in anyway using your hands to impede a player automatic red card. Only the captain allowed to speak to the referee.

The first is madness, that's when tired players need a break or when a manager might throw caution to the wind and bring on an extra attacker. While I think that wrestling has really crept into the game the last decade or so, direct red cards here would be ridiculous - it's usually 50-50 and there are loads of occasions where you see an attacker pull an arm into him to make it look like he's being grabbed - often successfully gaining a free kick. Upping the stakes for referees to get it right here would be terrible.

I think I've written loads already about why "only the captain allowed to speak to the ref" is a bad idea already, I won't rehash.

 

[StuAff]

View attachment 796281

Not scorelines you see any more, I reckon more than a few players celebrated Christmas not wisely, but too well.
I was at that bloody West Ham match

Well, there's been one PL match with eleven goals scored (I did enjoy watching the highlights of that one!), five with ten scored, and 25 with nine scored. Granted, nothing like that on one match day though!

 

[No Ta Doctor]

5,337 watched Bury AFC beat my nearest none league side Clitheroe FC 2-0 at Gigg Lane yesterday. That's one hell of an attendance for a club 3 levels below the top level, none league division!

View attachment 796270
https://www.burytimes.co.uk/sport/f...roe-shakers-see-off-blues-front-bumper-crowd/

The celebration there is definitely the Bury players demonstrating they know how to find ...err... Clitheroe

 

[Accy cyclist]

View attachment 796281

Not scorelines you see any more, I reckon more than a few players celebrated Christmas not wisely, but too well.
I was at that bloody West Ham match

I remember the former Rovers and England player Bryan Douglas mentioning that 2-8 scoreline to me, when we wet in hospital 18 years ago.😉 As for the other scores, it looks like the Man Utd and the Ipswich players didn't observe the 'only have one or wo drinks on Christmas Day' rule!!😁

 

[PaulSB]

View attachment 796281

Not scorelines you see any more, I reckon more than a few players celebrated Christmas not wisely, but too well.
I was at that bloody West Ham match

.......and two days later West Ham won 1 - 3 at Ewood...........

 

[Alex321]

View attachment 796281

Not scorelines you see any more, I reckon more than a few players celebrated Christmas not wisely, but too well.
I was at that bloody West Ham match

You certainly don't see a whole day made up of that many high scores, but there have been a 9-0 and a couple of 8-0 results in the last 2-3 years, and there was a 5-4 win for Man City v Fulham at the start of the month, and a 4-4 draw (Man Utd v Bournemouth) just a week or two ago.

 

[YMFB]

I have to be honest I wasn’t expecting that, Chelsea 1 Villa 2, still winning, another scalp, just maybe…..

Squad depth is going to be key, can they attract a few key players in to keep the momentum.

Gunners next and they are still smarting from the match at VP a few weeks ago.

 

[Mike_P]

Must have been a rule change since the 1970s re fouls in the penalty box. Watching a c 1978 Big Match on YouTube there was an free kick awarded in the penalty box. The other obvious thing was the lack of grass on much of a pitch.

 

[PaulSB]

Must have been a rule change since the 1970s re fouls in the penalty box. Watching a c 1978 Big Match on YouTube there was an free kick awarded in the penalty box. The other obvious thing was the lack of grass on much of a pitch.

An indirect free kick can be awarded against the goalkeeper for double handling the ball, dropping it and then picking up again. Also for catching the ball directly from a defensive throw in. I haven't seen one in a very long time, probably not this century

 

[Pblakeney]

An indirect free kick can be awarded against the goalkeeper for double handling the ball, dropping it and then picking up again.

Eh? I've seen many a keeper bounce the ball so completely unaware of this rule.