De Zerbi slammed for one baffling decision in Spurs defeat – ‘please could somebody tell me’

It turns out ‘you have to show a bit of intent’ to win games of football, and Roberto De Zerbi fell well short of that for Spurs at Leeds.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.

Maddison avenue
Afternoon all

Please could somebody tell me how James Maddison hasn’t played a single minute of the game at Elland Road. Pleeeeeeeaase.

Always going to be tight. Leeds disciplined and aggressive and our moribund frontline were always likely to struggle to create much. But with that midfield three behind them, all those problems are only going to be exacerbated. Surely.

To win footy matches you have to show a bit of intent. De Zerbi frequently isn’t showing enough. You’ve been given your £200m pivot. Do us all a favour and play a No 10 in front of it you bell end. That doesn’t mean playing Archie Gray, as much as I love him, because you feel bad after last week’s half time hook.

Cheers then,
Andrew Woodford Green.

Both reds but not the same at all
Genuinely bemused by the start of Matt Stead’s piece on Leeds/Spurs game, where he says a ‘clumsy accidental tread’ is a red one game and not even a booking the next.  Mateta did not tread on Micky Van De Ven’s ankle.  He slid with his studs raised, and even took out a second player for good measure.  The incidents are not remotely the same, but that doesn’t change the fact that both were very clear red cards.

The Bogle incident probably does meet Matt’s definition, but firstly intent is impossible to prove and secondly it’s irrelevant.  It was a reckless, dangerous challenge, nowhere near the ball, and meets every criteria for a red card referees are given.  It was extraordinary incompetence both from the ref to initially not even give a booking, and even more so for the VAR to watch a challenge about 20 times that so clearly meets the criteria he is given and take 4 mins to decide to bottle it completely.

None of that excuses spurs’ dreadful second half performance but yet another stunning failure from VAR that again shows the biggest issue with it isn’t the concept but the rank incompetence of the people tasked with officiating it.
Phil, London 

1-0 to the Arsenal
If the Premier League wants to crack down on moody TV sticks, they just need to show reruns of Arsenal v Hull as a reminder of the horrific and disturbing footage people risk exposing themselves to. Obviously the Gooner gobsh*tes of this parish will keep schtum about the Havertz penalty too, given they were so understanding about this Isak one last week.

El Monotone having a meltdown because Eze gave away a foul in a dangerous area in the closing moments was instructive – a squad that deep/talented and you’re hanging on at home for one nil against a promoted side? That’s not on Eze Mikel, that’s on you and your manifold shortcomings.
RHT/TS x (Can a proper team/manager rescue Rice so we can see if he has the ability/drive to ACTUALLY surpass Stevie Me/Lampard?)

A Coventry fan gets in touch
With recent decisions, it’s difficult to defend the accusation that the Premier league is corrupt, at the moment.

Regards
A fan.

An Everton fan does too
I had, yet again,  written a long email about VAR’s and incompetence following the Everton game but didn’t send it as I knew there would be more to add after the rest of the games.  There was a modicum of sympathy included but I’ve thought better of it!

There is a bit of paraphrasing here and I may not have understood it completely correctly but here goes….

Mike Dean, my personal favourite, says that the non award of a penalty to Arsenal was incorrect. Havertz cannot be offside as he is so far away from the ball that he is not looking to “impact the play”, HOWEVER, the shirt pull is a foul and therefore a penalty as IT PREVENTS HIM FROM IMPACTING THE PLAY??????

Back to Everton and the referee does not award Coventry a free kick or penalty following a “coming together”, the VAR looks at it (this is as per the commentary team who have a link) and in his/their opinion, there is a foul, but because they then decide this takes place outside the area and therefore cannot advise a review as they don’t have the authority to recommended a foul EVEN THOUGH, in their opinion, THERE IS A FOUL.  This is because they can’t interfere and be seen to be re reffing the game.

Unless of course, a corner kick is incorrectly awarded and then they can re ref the game!

Finally, the VAR who  failed to apply the laws correctly at the Emirates was, Michael “the best in the business” Oliver, seems he’s not anti Liverpool or anti Arsenal, he’s just not a very good referee and an even worse VAR, cough, Doku!  He may still be pro Man City though.

Wonder what Sunday will bring.
Howard (looking forward to the comedy that is Dermot) Jones 

Load of Goldenballs
Over the last few days, I’ve seen various clips, tweets etc talking about the rumours of David Beckham taking over the ownership of Man Utd.

Can you imagine how unbearable that would be? The celebrity nonsense that would inevitably follow would be excruciating.

Trying to watch a match where Wrexham are involved is bad enough, due to the cameras being constantly focused on Ryan Reynolds, but This Is Manchester United Football Club We’re Talking About.

When United are good, it’s a story, when United are shit, which we currently are and have been for ages, it’s a story, so can you imagine the circus if one of its most iconic players and one of the most famous people on the planet were to own the club?

His new celebrity chums like Tom Cruise would be in the stands at first then eventually Sky would do anything to get him into the studio at half time, where he’d be all excited and pretending to understand the first half of soccer ball he’s watched, and jumping all around the studio making a fool of himself, while Micah Richards laughs, Roy Keane sits there scowling and while Jamie Redknapp just sits there with a vice like grip on his chair, with a vacant look on his face wondering what’s going on..

The worst thing however, would be Gary Neville. He’s already unbearable enough on commentary, Sky Sports in general, and his podcasts. He’s spent years rightly tearing into the current ownership whenever things go wrong, but what happens when United are still shit under his actual best mate? Is Gary going to hold ‘Becks’ to the same scrutiny? No f**king chance.

The Man Utd DNA shite would be put into overdrive, constantly harping back to the good old days of the Class of 92 and the success under Sir Alex, but those days have gone. Long gone.

United desperately need new owners, but we also need to cut every last link to that era and move in a completely new direction.
Ant MUFC (I’m getting wound up about something that will never happen)

Keepers
Hello,

While I don’t disagree with the point that Dan McG is making regarding keepers raising their knee to protect themselves (in light of the tragic death of Jesus de Miguel). I find a few of the terms used a bit over the line. In particular ‘apex predator’ and ‘heavily armoured’ feel a bit more accusatory than is needed. I am certain that Owono is really really struggling right now and while I am fairly certain he isn’t reading the F365 mailbox I think the overall discourse, especially online, needs to be considered. To be clear, and I believe in agreement with Dan McG’s email, this is a tragic accident and while Owono was reckless I don’t think this was abnormal behaviour.

In terms of why keepers might raise their knee I think in the case of a static jump (like catching a corner) this is because they want to avoid players knocking into their legs at the height of their jump and flip them over. Harry Kane was one who used to do this all the time to centre backs and it could easily have resulted in broken necks. For a keeper the centre of gravity will be higher because (1) they are typically taller and (2) they have their arms reaching upwards to catch the ball; so it is easier to flip over. In addition their arms reaching up like this make it harder to protect themselves if they are flipped over.

Agree that this habit of raising the knee is not ok when coming out of goal or on the move as the case is here and that needs to be looked at, as per Dan McG’s email.

Nice one,
James

Dear Ed,

IFAB LAW AMENDMENT PROPOSAL
LAW 12: FOULS AND MISCONDUCT
Section 1: Direct Free Kick

Proposed Amendment Overview
The proposal amends Law 12 to explicitly penalize players who project a rigid, raised knee forward or upward into an opponent during an airborne challenge. It also introduces a mandatory sending-off offense under “Serious Foul Play” for players who leave their feet outside the penalty area and impact an opponent’s torso, neck, or head with an extended knee, dismissing claims of natural reflexes as a defense.

Key Enforcement Guidelines for Referees
Universal Application: The rule applies equally to goalkeepers and outfield players operating outside their penalty area.
Distinguishing Form: Referees must differentiate between a fluid running stride and a locked, rigid knee used as an intentional barrier or intimidation tactic.
Ball-First Contact: Making contact with the ball first does not excuse a dangerous high-knee follow-through into an opponent.

Thought this might be useful regarding the Jesus de Miguel and Jesus Owono lethal encounter.

Regards
Dan McG LFC 

Crist alive
I didn’t read C. Ronaldo’s 856 word goodbye.

Presumably it was just the word “me” 854 times then, “love Christiano”?
JT

His name is Geoff
Just to say I agree with Geoff, but I don’t mind any anti-Arsenal bias.
Tom (text in brackets) 

Lancashire media?
I’m not entirely sure who Jonno was referring to as ‘the Lancashire media’ in his mail, but he does mention two games which finished 3-2, so I guess he was referring to Man Utd v Roma and Fenerbahçe v Liverpool.

Given that Merseyside and Greater Manchester, where the home grounds of the two English clubs involved are located, were both created in 1974 I’m not sure what he is talking about!

Either Jonno doesn’t realise or recognise the existence of these two ‘new’ counties, doesn’t know geography very well, there were some Lancashire born people media people working on either of the games he watched or he’s just full of shit.

He only specifically mentions Carragher who was born in Bootle (Merseyside) in 1978 after the county was created.
A, LFC, Montreal.