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Are we a bit of a soft touch?


Benwell Lad

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Guest BooBoo

OP makes a very good point. We're a team of pretty much shrinking violets without a natural leader. Having a Colo, who leads by example is all very well but I do like having someone who will stand up to refs and other players. We have a few "hard men" but very few figures of authority.

 

The incident last night where we were in a brek and kicked it out because they had a player down was ludicrous. FFS did Arsenal show such sportsmanship?

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Prime example.

 

1st half we had a great chance to get at their 18 yard box but stopped and put the ball out of play because of their players was injured on the halfway line.

 

Injury time Danny Simpson gets fouled and is injured and they go forward and score.

 

EDIT :

 

Jonas did the exact same thing when we were in against WBA as well before christmas.

 

It's very sporting but also s****.

 

We were complaining about this at the match last night.  Arsenal continuing to play when we had a man down and us putting the ball when they had a man down.

 

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Guest Howaythetoon

We've always been a soft touch but if I'm honest I'd rather we keep away from the histrionics and cuntery that others get up to or into. In all my time supporting NUFC we've largely been a fair and honest side character wise. I cannot remember real nastiness. Its one of my pet peeves regarding the game. Grown men getting into mellees, surrounding the ref and even abusing the linesmen, diving, wanting to get others sent off etc.

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Guest BooBoo

Whether we like it or not, it's part of the game nowadays.

 

I'd like to see a few more voices in the team, we're meek as kittens when it comes to appealing decisions.

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There was a bit in the 2nd half when Vermaelen was injured after Ben Arfa caught him, Arsenal had the ball yet they never put it out, he got up a little while later and was suddenly fine to boot it away BUT I bet if we ended up getting possession of the ball we would have kicked it out even though his own team did not give a crap

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I think Simpson was soft yesterday, seemed to rush the throw in when the crowd started booing. Shouldn't let stuff like that effect you.

 

Simpson often seems to lack initiative.

 

On the wider point about injuries, there needs to be more clarity about what's expected from refs, linesmen and players. If a player goes down clutching his leg or a muscle then there's no need to stop play. It's only when there seems to be a head injury that play should stop. Otherwise play would stop every time a player goes down.

 

I thought it was going to be made clearer as well that refs should decide when to stop play, not the players. With instant communication with linesmen and the fourth official, it should be easy for the ref to be quickly alerted to any serious injuries.

 

I thought Tiote was being too generous on Monday.

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I sort of agree that there's no need to put ball out unless ref blows whistle, there's no need, I'd make an exception if the ref is a while away and the player has seen it's a real nasty injury first.

 

I however am not really sure we want to develop a mean streak, it can help some teams for sure, but we seem to have a pretty likeable bunch of players who don't whinge too much and it seems to contribute to team spirit etc. Cabaye has a bit of a mean streak already anyway and I worry about it cos it gets him in danger of red cards without benefit. I wince when I see suggestions to injure other teams players, that's not us.

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I sort of agree that there's no need to put ball out unless ref blows whistle, there's no need, I'd make an exception if the ref is a while away and the player has seen it's a real nasty injury first.

 

I however am not really sure we want to develop a mean streak, it can help some teams for sure, but we seem to have a pretty likeable bunch of players who don't whinge too much and it seems to contribute to team spirit etc. Cabaye has a bit of a mean streak already anyway and I worry about it cos it gets him in danger of red cards without benefit. I wince when I see suggestions to injure other teams players, that's not us.

 

I don't think we lack much on the physical side, the point is we seem to lack a certain mental meanness or "cuteness" that other teams use and display.

We need stronger characters to stand up to opposition players, lobby referees and use gamesmanship to see us through games when necessary.

We have a fantastic squad character wise, but perhaps we lack a bit of what Nolan,Barton or even Shearer gave us - a streetwise attitude where we would not be pushed around or accept bad decisions easily.

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No, Arsenal are probably the worst case of diving cheats. They go down under every challenge or every time they lose possession in order to gain possession back which results in any attack against them coming to a halt. We would never be given as many decisions or easy decision the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Man Utd, Chelsea etc are given week in week out. It only works if the referee is on your side..

 

Should we appeal more?, whats the point? Last season we were shown that all appealing does if your not one of those big teams is give you a bad fair play report.

 

We should though stop being more sporting, Never do I want to see us hand possession back to the other team if their man is down without the referee having ordered it.

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Such a soft touch we're bottom of the fair play league. Our players are just thick bar one or two unfortunately. It's not about being 'hard' or 'not soft' or whatever it's about being clever.

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