The Mailbox questions City, VAR and Harry Kane…

If you have anything to say on any subject, mail us at theeditor@football365.com

 

Are Man City too good to truly triumph?
Can’t help but getting that groundhog day feeling. Pep’s teams, year after year since 2013, seem to have developed an awful habit of being incredible in the autumn, entering cruise control during spring and then being caught on the hop during a two-legged affair when the going gets tough in the Champions League.

Anyone who has watched City over the last two months would know that they have been the epitomy of controlled brilliance – a few moments of incisive football, and pure control thereafter. Match after match they’ve kept their opponents at arm’s length. But it appears that the net result is they suffer from what some might term ‘PSG syndrome’, i.e. an inability to up the intensity on demand when faced with a more obstinate opponent.

Granted, they’ll probably won’t by three and prove me wrong next week, but it was strange seeing them so neutered last night. (Also, that puts paid to the silly notion the Poch can’t win big games)
Jamie

 

VAR from perfect
Just got home from our magnificent new stadium, and totally happy with a great result, I would’ve settled for 0-0 at kick off.

My only complaint is VAR. For the City penalty, from what I saw, not a single City player appealed, and whilst the referee and the TMO, and of course the audiences at home, got to see the incident from any number of angles, the people who actually paid to attend the match saw nothing. This is preposterous.

The fans who actually attend matches are shoved around willy nilly by TV and the clubs, and are treated as extras who pay for the privilege of being present. Yet when major decisions are taken we’re not allowed to see what is the issue.

We are reliant on texts from friends or using our phones to see what has occurred. This has to change, I’d love to say whether I felt the decision was right or not, but I am one of the mugs actually at the game, and we are the last people anyone is interested in keeping informed.

It should be the same as rugby, the fans get to see what the referee is watching, or it should be scrapped.
Jim French (Spurs since ’59) Herts

 

…Really sad that what should of the been one of my most enjoyable nights as a spurs fan was ruined by VAR.

The penalty honestly felt awarded out of nowhere, no one around me knew what on earth was going on just saw the referee point to the spot, no replays in the stadium just sheer confusion for the next five minutes.

Similarly with the goal. Sheer euphoria then hampered by a pause of “will it be allowed”. I’m in favour of technology in the game but not when it ruins the moments that make football worthwhile like it did tonight.
Dom, Spurs (Still love Sterling)

 

…Sorry to add to the undoubted pile of VAR emails this morning…but the one thing that stands out from reviews in both matches is the lack of appeal from the apparently ‘wronged’ player, it just makes it farcical!

Sterling didn’t even slightly appeal on the penalty it’s like being told you’ve won the lottery and you didn’t even realise you had a ticket.

I think we need a Hawkeye of biomechanics to be able to decide what is a natural movement and what isn’t…as arms clearly don’t just stay glued to your side when you throw your body at something. The movement from Rose looked pretty natural to me, zero intent and not deliberately making himself bigger just a by product of having arms really.
Mark LFC

 

Oh Danny boy…
Don’t get me wrong, I’m as glad as the next person that Man City lost, but I am still flabbergasted that the so-called “experts” don’t understand that a handball when you are deliberately putting your hand in a area where the ball is likely to go is “handball”. They even seem to believe themselves when they say anyone who’d played the game could never understand how that penalty would be given. Err, maybe it’s because when you run you pump your arms, bent at the elbow, not waving them above your head like the Queen. Try it, running exactly like Rose did, and confirm for yourself that there is no invisible force raising his arm for him. It naturally stays down by the side.

I wonder if perhaps it was raised because he thought if the ball was hit high he might accidentally, inadvertently, deflect it with his arm? That would be novel wouldn’t it? What a good idea. If only someone had thought of that before…
M Collins, Farnborough (of all places)

 

Football will have to adapt…again
There are two important points of historical context about the Rose and Kimpebe (and Alexander-Arnold?) penalty debates, neither of which seem to get enough attention.

The first is that the majority of major law changes in recent times have been to either promote attacking play (ie more goals) or player safety. Clearly the stricter enforcement of handball falls into the former camp, as do countless others (from clamping down on wrestling at corners at the World Cup all the way back to the back-pass rule). The attack-promoting changes became necessary because of the strides forward in physical fitness and tactical coaching over the last 20-30 years – the task of stopping a goal is much more physical and positional than the task of scoring one, which has a bigger element of precision. The size of the goals and pitches can’t be changed, so the custodians of the game have changed the laws to make sure we don’t get defence dominated, stultifying football (as an aside, followers of rugby union will recognise exactly the same themes and types of law change in their game post-professionalism, with an even bigger emphasis on safety).

The second point is that players adapt – they have to, otherwise they end up costing their teams goals and points. Eventually most people forget that a rule change was ever controversial. A really good example is when red cards started to become common for elbows to faces during aerial challenges – at that time, it was very common to hear pundits ask ‘how are you supposed to jump without using your arms? It’s unnatural’. But now you very rarely see such an elbow in the air, because these gifted and well-coached athletes have adapted (and yet still we get decent battles involving Rondon, Mitrovic, Barnes etc). The same is true of the back-pass rule (here’s a good read about it, including Andy Gray claiming it wouldn’t make the game better, back when he was spouting rubbish on Sky instead of BeIN). Goalkeepers have learned to use their feet, strikers have learned not to elbow in the air, defenders have learned to avoid even the appearance of a foul when they are the last man and most now keep their behind their back when blocking a shot/cross in a standing position. Soon they will learn to slide and jump with their hands by their sides and the ones that don’t will hear pundits say ‘he’s a bit unlucky, but he’s given the referee a decision to make and you just can’t do that’, just as pundits already do about actions that used to be completely run of the mill.

We’ve had all these changes over a couple of decades, most of which faced some sort of opposition from pundits and managers. And yet the spectacle is as good as or better than it’s ever been (not to mention the fact we see fewer broken cheekbones).
Shappo

 

Blaming Harry
I am neither a City or Totteningham fan but I am getting annoyed by all this Delph blaming. I see that the incident looks quite different from different angles but it is still quite clear that it was Kane that charged in on Delph. It wasn’t even a 50/50 ball, Delph had kicked it away before Kane aggressively came in with a fairly pointless challenge on the sideline next to the dugout. I disagree with Poch, to me it looked like Kane was trying to purposefully rough up Delph. Yellow card Kane. But he shoved his ankle under Delph’s foot instead.

I hope he recovers soon because he has been a great to watch this season, coming deep and involved in the play so much. Not just a finisher as his simple stats from previous years would have us believe.
However, don’t charge in aggressively in not so important areas and get yourself hurt!
Rob, of Sweden (I still can’t work out why Totteningham, as they seem to be known here, have suddenly become so popular here… Marketing marketing marketing).

 

Envy
Bloody hell I’d have Son. What a brilliant player.
Matthew (LFC) Washington DC

 

Pep’s mistake
Pep made the same mistake last year and the whole time he was at Bayern Munich.

It gets to this stage of the competition and he doesn’t pick Messi. I don’t get it – in the past when he picked him – he always won.
Johnno

 

On the ridiculousness of City fan banter
I know I’ve probably picked a bad day to try and make the mailbox, with Delph and Kane likely to fill the majority of it, however after again seeing it raised last night I wanted to touch on the bizarre and seemingly never-ending source of ‘banter’ (shudder) that is Man City’s attendances.

Now I understand that the majority of this takes place on social media, fuelled by a desperation for oneupmanship, with Sky Sports and betting companies fanning the flames, however in recent weeks there seems to be a constant disgust/righteousness about this from fans of other clubs.

As an Arsenal fan who has stood in the away end at City many times recently with what looks to be the cast of 24 hours in police custody singing ‘City tearing Cockneys apart again’ I definitely have no love for them, however feel inclined to defend them on this matter.

City’s success has come quicker than expected and quicker than it ever could have without the huge investment, that is a fact. While this means instant glory, this does not guarantee an instant fan base increase, particular in a city which has been dominated by one club for years. Many fans at football attending age in the area will have made their choice before this era, with kids now choosing to support City possibly even having United supporting parents or not being old enough to attend matches. This isn’t even taking into account social factors in underprivileged areas near the Etihad as that is a much wider discussion.

As a team playing in an above average size stadium which historically their attendances wouldn’t fill, this means two options:

1) empty seats – with fans of other teams posting ‘hilarious’ memes about how they can’t fill it despite being champions.

2) increased attendance through new and foreign fans – with fans of other clubs laughing about ‘plastics’ and ‘ ‘glory supporters’ who don’t live in Manchester.

It’s a double-edged sword and should City’s success continue, the next generation of fans will more than likely include a greater number of supporters for them. Will the same people obsessed by this now be praising their work increasing the fan base or be instead mocking the ‘glory hunters who threw away their Chelsea shirts’?

As an Arsenal fan who travels all over the country I have seen the differences success makes, with struggles for tickets we once would have got without effort, to the increase in day trippers and tourists at the ground, excitedly photographing Rooney as he scores against us again.

The majority of this criticism levelled at City is actually by supporters of other clubs on twitter who are often from abroad or from the sort of people who go to the Etihad to chant ‘where were you when you were shit? all match.

So to them I would ask what their actual point is and to City fans I would say enjoy it, as you bag cup final tickets while fans of our clubs battle away for a spare for Leicester away!
LD (wait until City fan tv takes off too!)

 

Klopp nailed it
Klopp got the midfield spot on today. It was clear that Gini needed a rest and Keita seems to be turning into himself again so it’s good to get more games in his legs and to let him find form. Whilst all three were brilliant, Keita got caught by the Porto press a couple times whilst Fabinho went to ground and missed a few challenges but Hendo didn’t miss a beat anywhere. His passing was superb, his pressing was amazing and even the way he broke up play was leaving me in a very happy place.

Some say that Salah was better last season but this year he’s much more interesting. Absolutely world class right up to the final third and then leaves you with this impending sense of doom the moment he gets close to goal. Someone should check his boots don’t have magnets in them because it’s like he loses control of his limbs once in the box.

I love Firmino, is he possibly the least Brazilian Brazilian number 9 to ever play football? Totally selfless, totally aware (unagi?). I have never really seen a player anything like him at another team.

The only complaint I have is that Klopp wasted his third substitute. At 2-0 with ten minutes to go he could’ve replaced both Firmino and Keita to give a bit more recovery time to both ahead of Chelsea. Shaqiri would’ve benefited a lot from the minutes on the pitch as well.

The Man City result is also perfect for us. Hopefully their players will be distracted this weekend with one eye on the next Spurs game. Just need to pray Zaha is in form and does us a favour!
Minty, LFC

 

Hailing the Macc lads
All the talk from last night will be about the Champions League, however credit where credit’s due, Sol Campbell was ridiculed when he took over at Macclesfield back in November, they were seven points adrift at the bottom of League 2 and gained only 10 points from 19 Games, last night they beat a play-off chasing Exeter to climb out of the bottom two, if Sol does succeed in keeping them up I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get manager of the year for League 2, fully deserved.
Mikey, CFC