Gameweek 2 Gamethread

Senator Donut

post-Domer
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Apr 21, 2010
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Ronaldo’s debut had everything: two lead changes, CR7 knocking out the opposing keeper cold, and a goal given by tenchnology then taken away by VAR.
 

JimBoSox9

will you be my friend?
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Nov 1, 2005
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I'm an absolute huge huge Ozil fan, but I'm really not sure he fits Arsenal's new style of play.
Samesies. Did you see the Emery quote where he talked about midfielders having two flexible positions (a 6 and 8 or an 8 and 10)? That fits Ramsey, Torreria, Xhaka (kinda), or even MG, but Ozil is a 10-full stop. I don't mind him on the wing as a forward, but he's simply not a guy who forms an interchangeable spine with the 6 and 8. IMO they'd be better off in a middle-heavy 4-1-2-1-2 or 4-4-2 diamond than the 4-2-3-1 they show when moving forward.
 

Cellar-Door

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Aug 1, 2006
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West Ham defending, still atrocious. Leave up 1-0 and looking good, check in and we lot 2-1.
 

Kliq

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The first Brighton goal was very good; perfect quick cross, good run from Murray and a first-class finish to beat the keeper. The next two goals were more United’s fault imo; the inability to clear the ball off a corner and a terrible, unnecessary sliding challenge in the box really sealed their fate.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
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Brighton are not good. I watched them against Watford last week. Now Watford look better than expected so far but Brighton were far inferior that day; not a single shot on target.

United are bad, I think.
 

candylandriots

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I was just about to say I was really happy with the first half, but that Salah tripped over his own feet, and that’s the most charitable way of saying it.
 

SoxFanInCali

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I'm not going to say Salah made any effort to stay up, but there's not much question that Sakho stretched out a leg that impeded him.

I saw him give away that exact penalty a few times when he was wearing red. He just can't help sticking that leg out like that.
 

Dummy Hoy

Angry Pissbum
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Jul 22, 2006
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I thought it fit into that awful grey area that footy produces so often. There was contact, he threw himself on the ground. Goes either way.
 

candylandriots

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It just had that look that Salah thought about it. Whatever contact was there from Sakho, it wasn’t what brought Salah down.
 

Bosoxen

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I thought it fit into that awful grey area that footy produces so often. There was contact, he threw himself on the ground. Goes either way.
This sounds about right to me. This was the perfect illustration of what Sydney talked about in the "newbies" thread in the World Cup subforum. It's one of those weird instances where Salah has to make the decision to either attempt to stay up and risk losing the scoring chance or attempt to use Sakho's clumsy tackle against him. I bet in 100 instances that gets called about 50/50.
 

Dummy Hoy

Angry Pissbum
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Jul 22, 2006
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This sounds about right to me. This was the perfect illustration of what Sydney talked about in the "newbies" thread in the World Cup subforum. It's one of those weird instances where Salah has to make the decision to either attempt to stay up and risk losing the scoring chance or attempt to use Sakho's clumsy tackle against him. I bet in 100 instances that gets called about 50/50.
Exactly.

Although when it’s Sakho v Salah, i think we know which way that’s going.
 

SoxFanInCali

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It just had that look that Salah thought about it. Whatever contact was there from Sakho, it wasn’t what brought Salah down.
I'd agree with that. But the leg Sakho stuck out did keep Salah from taking a step to try and get a shot off. We all know the ref won't call it if he stays on his feet, so it pretty much forces him to go down or lose the chance.

Definitely in that gray area. In slo-mo it could go either way, but at real speed with Sakho's leg stuck out that far, it's not a surprise the call was made.
 

fletcherpost

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I'd agree with that. But the leg Sakho stuck out did keep Salah from taking a step to try and get a shot off. We all know the ref won't call it if he stays on his feet, so it pretty much forces him to go down or lose the chance.

Definitely in that gray area. In slo-mo it could go either way, but at real speed with Sakho's leg stuck out that far, it's not a surprise the call was made.
Fans of any team should cut and paste the first paragraph - and just substitute the name of hero and villain as required when required.
 

candylandriots

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This sounds about right to me. This was the perfect illustration of what Sydney talked about in the "newbies" thread in the World Cup subforum. It's one of those weird instances where Salah has to make the decision to either attempt to stay up and risk losing the scoring chance or attempt to use Sakho's clumsy tackle against him. I bet in 100 instances that gets called about 50/50.
That’s exactly what I thought about it too. @SydneySox did a really nice job laying that out. So I guess I agree with @SoxFanInCali too.

Oh what an opportunity on a cross by Townsend (and then the other way!)
 

candylandriots

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Aaron Wan-Bissaka is really good. He went from an emergency replacement to being a $20-25MM player in no time.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
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Jan 10, 2004
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I'd agree with that. But the leg Sakho stuck out did keep Salah from taking a step to try and get a shot off. We all know the ref won't call it if he stays on his feet, so it pretty much forces him to go down or lose the chance.

Definitely in that gray area. In slo-mo it could go either way, but at real speed with Sakho's leg stuck out that far, it's not a surprise the call was made.
I agree and I agree that it gets called a penalty most of the time, especially against a star player.

It was pretty soft, though.

But until they figure out a way to award half a shot and half a goal for a soft penalty, it's a binary decision.
 

SoxFanInCali

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I agree and I agree that it gets called a penalty most of the time, especially against a star player.

It was pretty soft, though.

But until they figure out a way to award half a shot and half a goal for a soft penalty, it's a binary decision.
Yup.

Obviously, I wanted Salah to get the call. But part of me didn't want Sakho getting the benefit of the doubt regardless of opponent because he pretty much never got away with it during his Liverpool tenure.