BlackandWhite

Usual fucking of us in the arse from the match officials then. Standard of refereeing in the country is beyond pathetic.

If Rotherham can get out of that league at the first try then anybody can. It is awful.

Some of the reds shown already this season are really disheartening to me. It is fast becoming a contactless sport. Soon any form of slide tackle will be subject to a red. I am a big fan of a good slide tackle but they are dying a slow death it is sad to say.

Completely forgot these pricks were even playing today. They have truly become irrelevant.

Everyone (outside of Nufc fans) keeps mentioning that 144m interest free loan while ignoring the hundreds of millions of pounds worth of free advertising he’s got for sports direct down the years. Just look at our stadium. Sports direct is plastered everywhere ffs he even named the stadium after his company for a year. Unbelievable. But it shows that he can be gotten to though as that action cleared pissed him off.

Nevertheless it isn’t the most convincing win ever. Needing a last minute winner against half of a league one team given they are missing half their squad.

Was bound to happen.

Mega harsh pen. The law says deliberate handball. How has he deliberately struck the ball with his hand there? 5 twats in the studio and 4 on the field and they can’t make the fair and correct decision. And then Griezman with a blatant dive for the first goal, too. Where was VAR there? Embarrassing.

He is getting more credit than what is due because of a very favorable World Cup that has been kind in my opinion. Had the Belgium result been reversed it would have been bye bye after playing Brazil imo. Only really played 3 decent teams in the tournament lost 2 and scraped past the other on penos.

The laws also say the keeper can't hold the ball for more than 6 seconds. And that keepers are only allowed move side to side on exactly the goal line (and not an inch further forward until the exact moment the ball is struck) from penalties. But let's be honest. Some of these so called 'laws' like that are really just principles.

Him throwing himself to the ground is technically nothing to do with it. He was being held with both hands. It’s shit but it’s the laws of the game. It is nonsense. If somebody is leaning into you like Nigeria player was to him obviously you want to keep him away from you. The same way a basic trip where the player stays on his feet is technically a foul but never given as a peno a player having his hands on somebody leaning into him shouldn't be penalized in the box either. It encourages strikers to deliberately wind defenders up and look for the opportunity to throw themselves to the ground and get a harsh peno. You don't want to see unsportsmanlike that and we should want to discourage it.

Agree the player threw himself to the ground. VAR has only made match officials an ever bigger laughing stock.

A clear onside for Spain but that is the thing it is so inconsistent. When Spain needed it, it was used. When Morocco did, it wasn’t. Pique seems to be VAR proof as he got away with a two foot off the ground tackle and a blatant handball just outside the penalty area. VAR is inconsistent and slows the game down too much. A good 10 minutes of that Portugal game was taken up by VAR. Sure it sucks when refs get things but they are human not robots it will just have to be accepted. Besides they don’t get that many decisions wrong when it comes to the big games. A few ones like the infamous Lampard one of 2010 but not that many.

Hahaha. Been owned by Wigan fans and players! They’re a true laughing stock.

But I would not want a situation where English football has become a monopoly where only a select 3 or four teams are capable of achieving the title due to financial might and another 2 or 3 always get the euro spots with smaller clubs like Burnley seeing their dreams of European football becoming a mere pipe dream. The reason why EPL is considered the best in the is not necessarily because its team are the best. Spain clearly has the best teams around you just need to look at their dominance of European Trophies since 2014 to see that. It’s how competitive the league is that is the big appeal. Dreams do come through in the EPL. A Leicster can win the league, a Burnley can qualify for Europe. Very slim chance of something similar happening to a small club in Spain. If you make the rich richer you run the risk only they can afford quality players and in the long run the competitiveness of the premier leagues that makes it the best in the world is under threat.

Who their next messiah going to be after the Chinese doctor failed? Good riddance to them. Villa vs Sunderland soon a league one fixture to be.

Never admit because there is nothing to admit. Why the fuck would you take being a shite league one team who are still going to occur significant financial loses this year over being a top ten premier league side regardless of who your shite owner is. Ashley will always see to it that another relegation is inevitable within a few years, but even so it is very unlikely we’ll be any worst off than Sunderland at any point over the next decade.

Well last two pre seasons in Ireland beating Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers have been followed through with good seasons (albeit in the championship). Here’s hoping it bring luck for a year in the Premier this time.

Can only think a man that rich is only interested in the losses Sunderland will make financially this year so he can get a little benefit from it with the right structure in place and use it against the profits of his company in the consortium group. Maybe there is a clause where he can increase his shareholding significantly if the scruffs ever do get back to the big time as well. Who knows.

Can see it now. Last game of the season Coventry and Bristol Rovers playing one another needing a point to stay up if Sunderland lose. A fan breaks through news of Sunderland’s defeat at home to first place Accrington Stanley and Coventry and Bristol call a truce to relegate the mackems to league two.

The importance of Goalkeepers doesn't get stated enough these days. We were third bottom and possibly heading for relegation before we gave a decent goalie his debut. And Liverpool’s almost literally threw their chance of being champions of Europe away tonight. Madrid weren’t at their best by any means and it was a really even game if you don’t count the two holwers.

Said more or less the same thing about Grayson last year mind, but he's the best option they could have realistically gone with given their circumstances.

We’ll just have to agree to disagree then. My personal belief is that if you are a big club bigger standards come with that and as a fan you should be proud of those higher standards and only celebrate having those standards achieved. For Villa promotion has got to be the absolute minimum. Not qualifying for simply the chance to go up in a once off game.

Well I would agrue that there is a approiate level of celebration given the context of the victory and the size of the clubs involved. Imagine if we celebrated beating Luton in the FA cup third round like we just won the league for example. Very embarrassing and inapproiate. The Sammy thing is different as that was a blatant piss take. Villa are still a big club too and the standard have to be higher than that for them. They should be celebrating finishing 1st not qualifying for a once of game for a shot at going up.

I am okay with fans running onto the pitch celebrating when the club has actually achieved something. But a bunch of twats who haven’t bothered to show up to a game in over a year running onto a pitch to celebrate a semi-final win that could mean fuck all in just over a week is stupid.