08 Oct 2023 22:26:01
I watched the Arse/ Citeh game today and I have to say I don’t think Kovacic’s first tackle was a red. It’s a bad yellow all day long, an orange if you will.

Also the second foul probably was a yellow but I can understand a ref not giving it as we all want to see 11v11 so the bar is usually higher for a second yellow. It’s the way the game has always been.

Here’s my problem.

Kovacic’s tackle was MUCH more dangerous and premeditated than Curtis Jones’s was. He was nowhere near the ball and jumped into the tackle from distance. Jones’s was a yellow, he caught the guy but there was zero intent and zero force in the tackle. Plus he got the ball and the rest is incidental contact.

The second Kovacic tackle was MUCH more a yellow than Jota’s second yellow. Again he’s jumped in, nowhere near the ball and caught Rice on the foot. Jota slid in stupidly but pulled his leg away before contact was made and Udogie dived.

The worrying thing is that we appealed Jones’s red and were told no, that tackle constitutes a red card tackle. So there’s your bar.

So if the bar is set that low and confirmed by an appeal panel then how on earth has Kovacic not got a red card for that first tackle. Likewise if the bar is so low for a second yellow that intent without contact is a yellow card then how on earth has Kovacic not received a second yellow for the foul on Rice?

It’s things like this that make you question the integrity in the game. It’s things like this that suck the fun and enjoyment from the game.

I still feel really low after what I witnessed last week. Not so much because we lost a game so unfairly but more because I’ve loved football all my life and i can feel my enjoyment of the game waining. When officials can have such huge impacts on who wins and who loses then what’s the point?

I really hope I get my mojo back because football has been such a massive part of my life since I can remember. I am massively passionate about Liverpool FC and have had some of the best times of my life standing (yes I’m old) and sitting on the terraces in that wonderful stadium.

At the moment though the officials are completely ruining the game and it just doesn’t seem like a level playing field anymore.

1.) 08 Oct 2023
08 Oct 2023 23:51:11
Guimaraes was also very similar for Newcastle today, 90 seconds afer getting a yellow he was in late again and also stopping a counter attack. Earlier in the game, West Ham had a player booked for waving a card to the ref, Newcastle does the same thing shortly after and nothing.

2.) 08 Oct 2023
08 Oct 2023 23:53:39
I feel exactly the same, a way I never ever thought I would feel about football but its dying for me. No enjoyment from it anymore, too many questions about things, greedy people exploiting it for as much as they can and media coverage that creates a circus around every little detail.

It's not even a sport anymore in my eyes, just another transaction of life that drains your soul for becoming too involved in it.

3.) 09 Oct 2023
09 Oct 2023 01:45:47
I’m same boat as you GBB, lost a lot of passion for what was a great game.

4.) 09 Oct 2023
09 Oct 2023 09:04:40
It’s like it’s become over regulated like so much in our world today.

The officials just have too much power and the fact they they are trying to argue it was right to follow some protocol instead of stopping the game to give a goal that they had just confirmed as a legal goal speaks volumes.

If their priority is not to make sure the decisions they give are correct then why are they there? To make sure the games go the way they are told perhaps?

Maybe, maybe not but there is enough doubt for it to be a real possibility.

5.) 09 Oct 2023
09 Oct 2023 11:34:50
"Also the second foul probably was a yellow but I can understand a ref not giving it as we all want to see 11v11 so the bar is usually higher for a second yellow. It’s the way the game has always been. "

And this is the problem, @BP. The above is NOT part of any rule in football yet some refs are enforcing it as if it is. Same with the card waving and kicking the ball away nonsense. Those seem to get enforced when it suits the refs to do so as well hence, some teams get punished while other the teams get off, many times in the same game. Nobody cares about the integrity of the game anymore. Pathetic.