Dandy Man

This has been a cracking match tbf

I agree it's basically impossible to turn offsides into an exact science and a bit of a buffer zone where if it is a centimetre or two either way then it goes with the lino's decision would be good but issue is that linesman are increasingly not flagging and leaving it to VAR if it is marginal

Good to see the lesser team pushing up and being positive anyway

Looks like they've managed to make the VAR offside system even worse, some effort

One made out of shipping containers is going to be shipped out to Uruguay and reassembled if they get the joint bid for 2030

Keeper had dived out of the way before Messi had even lifted his foot to strike it

Peter Walton agrees with the decision, could not have seen that coming

Yeah no amount of bribery is going to help this Qatari team

I mean yeah that's obviously the logical conclusion but this is not really a logical World Cup and I can honestly see it happening, they're going to be best acclimatised to conditions and are pretty much guaranteed sympathetic referees

I have a sneaking suspicion that circumstance will conspire for Qatar to somehow qualify from their group to be honest, hope I'm wrong and would prefer to see them get hammered by Ecuador now but Ecuador don't really do hammerings

For the Trippier one, I think there was negligible money involved anyway, according to reports at the time one of biggest bets was one of his friends who had 300 on at 4/11 so little over 100 profit, bookies will only lay small bets in these markets for obvious reasons.

Trippier had supposedly sent messages telling his mates that he was going to Atletico and they could "lump on". Whether or not he should have faced any sanction is debatable but it is inside information that was clearly provable in via messages so it is probably fair enough. Still think it's only the careless/stupid that get pulled up on these things and any player who even makes half an effort to not get caught won't get caught - unless it is actual fixing and there is a ton of money going down in obscure markets that would obviously raise some red flags (proving any direct connection would be another matter though).

Think it was Le Tissier who subsequently admitted to attempting something like that. Merson just bet on everything.

Given how many footballers gamble and how prominent football is as a betting product, should gambling firms restrict a customers access to football betting products if the customer is known to be a professional footballer? Obviously can still just bet via an intermediary but given the effort firms now put into monitoring and verifying customers identities it seems like would be fairly easy to do.

Is there any actual proof he has bet on matches involving himself (and on himself to get a red card) - other than coincidence of dates? I assumed he was casually punting on football, if a player really wanted to get into spot fixing for profit then it would not be too hard to cover your tracks with just minimal effort.

Probably more of a self confidence thing but still needing a translator after 3 years in MLS and 3 years here is slightly mad

Mi hijo

2nd favourites to win the thing now, get it ready

Take it. Not sure when I last watched a league cup draw to be honest.

Always said Emery was the man we needed to organise us defensively

Emery switching up the left back in reply to going behind, Pards approves

Was not a totally serious comment and I do agree in general, the whole situation felt bit absurd though - was 100% confident he was going to score when he stepped up and then that happened - but shit happens. I am just thankful it wasn't ASM that did it to be honest, would have been crucified.

We are favourites to win the match and according to the betting odds we are more likely then Chelsea to finish in the top 4, hard to believe but this is where we are, still don't feel confident mind

If you're going to do something overplayed and non standard then you've got to be successful, these are the rules

According to the stats he only ever took one for Lyon (which he scored) and having checked the Youtube video for the match he also did a similar stutter run up, not sure why I checked this but hopefully it helps