El Ghazi

[basil6345789]

El Ghazi was very lucky last night when he got off with clattering Lowton.
The video shows very clearly that he looked at him twice, not once, before hitting him.
It was no accident.

[randomclaret2]

Both he and Golden Boy Grealish should have gone

[TVC15]

Tarks with a perfectly good challenge on Grealish.
Grealish goes down theatrically
Referee incorrectly gives free kick
Grealish then lays his hands on Tarks and pushes him over right in front of the referee.
Referee does not even speak to him let alone caution Grealish.
Poor all round

[Woodleyclaret]

Grealish is a bigger media darling than diving Wilf at Palace.A gifted player with a mean streak he was close to tears as he went off yesterday. He gets away with murder with gullible refs like yesterday

[SammyBoy]

Can't remember the El Ghazi one but Grealish acted like an idiot after Tarkowski had the audacity to win the ball off him and send him flying for good measure.

[Zlatan]

Grealish is a bigger media darling than diving Wilf at Palace.A gifted player with a mean streak he was close to tears as he went off yesterday. He gets away with murder with gullible refs like yesterday

that was funny, the petulance of him too makes me laugh.

I also noticed that he often kept moving the ball forward on free kicks even when the ref rolled the ball back. I know our players do that too, but not as blatantly as he did. One free kick moved forward by about 2 yards with 5 or 6 pickup and reset of the ball, all done whilst the ref was counting out steps for the wall.

I honestly see no need for it

[warksclaret]

The tackle by Tarks on Grealish was the "outstanding" tackle of the night.Just pleased they did not score from the free kick

[AlargeClaret]

“El Khazi” is more suited to his finishing . Though imagine if we had a fast skilful player !

[nyclaret]

It was a perfect tackle from Tarks. Pathetic from Grealish.

[Ashingtonclaret46]

It was a perfect tackle from Tarks. Pathetic from Grealish.

Even more pathetic from the referee in giving the free kick and then ignoring Grealish's antics.
What about the great clearance from Ben that hit Watkins full in the face. Referee gives a free kick for dangerous play even though the players were one foot apart.

Back on topic, El Ghazi should have been cautioned for that challenge on Lowton because he made no attempt to play the ball.

I just don't know where the game is heading any more and you can rest assured that more Law changes and interpretation will creep in to change it further.

[DCWat]

Even more pathetic from the referee in giving the free kick and then ignoring Grealish's antics.
What about the great clearance from Ben that hit Watkins full in the face. Referee gives a free kick for dangerous play even though the players were one foot apart.

Back on topic, El Ghazi should have been cautioned for that challenge on Lowton because he made no attempt to play the ball.

I just don't know where the game is heading any more and you can rest assured that more Law changes and interpretation will creep in to change it further.

The Mee one was a free kick. His foot was too high going for that ball, it was dangerous.

[KRBFC]

No mention of Mcneils dive in the first half then, how Barnes fell over every time the ball was near him or the way Westwood fell against Arsenal? It’s just all Grealish cheating

[Ashingtonclaret46]

The Mee one was a free kick. His foot was too high going for that ball, it was dangerous.

So, any bicycle kick in the vicinity of a player who is one foot away from the player is dangerous? Bear in mind that this was not a bicycle kick but a defender making a clearance which he is entitled to do. When I was playing and officiating at semi-pro level there is no way that I or any other player or official would have expected a free kick be given, in fact, my manager,Jim Langley, would have gone through me like a dose of salts if I hadn't cleared or attempted to clear the ball.
Did Mee make contact with the player --no. Did the ball make contact with the player --yes.
Only in this ever more sterile game which we are being forced to watch these days would any of this be classed dangerous as my twice broken nose will confirm.

Is heading a ball dangerous ---yes according to the medics. Is tackling dangerous ---yes, because a player may suffer an injury.
Is jumping up to head a ball dangerous ---yes because you may catch an opponent with you arm as Benteke did the other day.
Is jumping into an opponent when not challenging for the ball dangerous ---yes, very much so --ask Lowton.

It would seem that the only way to stop anything being dangerous is to stop players kicking the ball if another player is in their vicinity. Stop tackling totally, stop players heading the ball and also jumping to head the ball because this is dangerous.
Let's go down the path that FIFA have been trying to force into the game for the last few seasons. Punish every bit of physical contact, ban heading which would eliminate needing to jump for the ball and we would finish up with the game that they want ---we could call it Passball and enjoy watching it while the paint dries.

[TVC15]

No mention of Mcneils dive in the first half then, how Barnes fell over every time the ball was near him or the way Westwood fell against Arsenal? It’s just all Grealish cheating

Yep cheating old Westy grabbing hold of his hands with his neck....could have broke a finger nail.

There’s plenty of mention of Barnes falling over on another thread.

Dwight dived did he ? I didn’t see that - you must be looking out for these things eh.

So you think it’s just Burnley fans who are critical of Grealish cheating ? No doubting he is a very good player indeed but he goes down way too easy and he dived on at least 2 occasions last night and then went over and pushed Tarks to the floor - and did not get spoken to by the referee for any of these.

But the general point is that if you want to see a message board that sticks up for Grealish go look on the Villa board not ours

[Vegas Claret]

I was delighted Grealish kept passing to him

[Dark Cloud]

What made me smile about the El Ghazi/Lowton incident was the ref clearly saying to the Burnley players immediately afterwards that El Ghazi only had eyes for the ball. He pointed to his eyes and you could lip read him saying "he was looking at the ball". That was clearly utter and absolute nonsense as he never once looks at the ball, but only at Lowton who he deliberately jumps into. Not hugely malicious and really not a red card imo, but still the ref was talking total bobbins!!
PS. And Grealish shoving Tarks over was definitely a yellow card.

[Jakubclaret]

No mention of Mcneils dive in the first half then, how Barnes fell over every time the ball was near him or the way Westwood fell against Arsenal? It’s just all Grealish cheating

I agree you need to be consistent with criticising it’s naive not to expect any bias on here regarding our own players misdemeanours, it’s embarrassing to a certain degree but nevertheless completely factual.

[Vegas Claret]

What made me smile about the El Ghazi/Lowton incident was the ref clearly saying to the Burnley players immediately afterwards that El Ghazi only had eyes for the ball. He pointed to his eyes and you could lip read him saying "he was looking at the ball". That was clearly utter and absolute nonsense as he never once looks at the ball, but only at Lowton who he deliberately jumps into. Not hugely malicious and really not a red card imo, but still the ref was talking total bobbins!!
PS. And Grealish shoving Tarks over was definitely a yellow card.

I though he was saying to El Ghazi "you haven't looked at the ball", and for me was an utterly nothing challenge. Anyone calling for that to be a booking never mind a red needs to give their head a wobble

[RalphCoatesComb]

How many times did El Ghazi pass-back to Nick Pope? These were within the 27 "shots" on target. He should have had a hat full. Pathetic finishing !

[superdimitri]

I was looking at some referee stats last night. Most refs average 11 fouls a game by us. The lowest Mike Dean was on 5. The highest was Pawson with 19.

[Devils_Advocate]

Tarks tackle looked horrible to me live. As I saw it he turned his body and went in sideways and with a real stamping motion. IMO it was dangerous and a little out of control as if Grealish would have got to the ball first Tarks couldnt have stopped himself and could have done some real damage.

I havent seen a replay so accept it might not have been quite that bad but if what I think I saw is true and he did indeed turn his body and make a stamping motion then I think the ref would have seen it as dangerous play (even though he got the ball) and therefore rightly give a freekick to villa.

[RalphCoatesComb]

I was looking at some referee stats last night. Most refs average 11 fouls a game by us. The lowest Mike Dean was on 5. The highest was Pawson with 19.

Was that against Arsenal ?

[northeastclaret]

No mention of Mcneils dive in the first half then, how Barnes fell over every time the ball was near him or the way Westwood fell against Arsenal? It’s just all Grealish cheating

I have never seen Barnes fall over without being pushed or dive, he doesn’t do that, seriously.
He tries to manoeuvre his body to receive the ball and control it and can back into a defender whilst doing it, this often leads to him getting pushed in the back. IMO he gets far less free kicks awarded than he should because of his style and reputation and defenders try to be more physical with him because of this .

[KRBFC]

I agree you need to be consistent with criticising it’s naive not to expect any bias on here regarding our own players misdemeanours, it’s embarrassing to a certain degree but nevertheless completely factual.

As a whole it’s so frustrating, modern day football is all diving around and “winning fouls”, every team in world football does it, the referees allow it. The referees collectively need to be told to let the games flow and stop with the minimal contact fouls and giving freekicks when the ball is won regardless of force.

The goalkeepers are way too overprotected, defenders near their own corner flag can hit the ground and gain a free kick for nothing.

I don’t blame the players, Westwood going down after his neck was touched highlights the contact to assist with Xhaka getting sent off. Players going down in the penalty highlights the contact and while penalties/freekicks are consistently given nothing will change.

This isn’t a Grealish/Burnley/Sterling problem, this is football as a wholes problem, slowly but surely the contact is being ripped from the game. I’m fine with Westwood going down once his necks touched but I then have to accept Grealish going down with minimal contact.

[KRBFC]

I have never seen Barnes fall over without being pushed or dive, he doesn’t do that, seriously.
He tries to manoeuvre his body to receive the ball and control it and can back into a defender whilst doing it, this often leads to him getting pushed in the back. IMO he gets far less free kicks awarded than he should because of his style and reputation and defenders try to be more physical with him because of this .

The problem is many see Sterling/Grealish fall over to win penalties and freekicks after contact and say “was that contact enough to make him fall over”, the answer in most cases is probably No but in modern football that doesn’t make it not a foul.

[elwaclaret]

The fact is no footballer should ‘fall over’ unless they cannot keep their feet, would you dive on the ground because someone brushed you at the bus stop.... so why should footballers? The momentum will mean they fall over, fine, otherwise stay on your bloody feet and make the referees earn their substantial money.

[Jakubclaret]

As a whole it’s so frustrating, modern day football is all diving around and “winning fouls”, every team in world football does it, the referees allow it. The referees collectively need to be told to let the games flow and stop with the minimal contact fouls and giving freekicks when the ball is won regardless of force.

The goalkeepers are way too overprotected, defenders near their own corner flag can hit the ground and gain a free kick for nothing.

I don’t blame the players, Westwood going down after his neck was touched highlights the contact to assist with Xhaka getting sent off. Players going down in the penalty highlights the contact and while penalties/freekicks are consistently given nothing will change.

This isn’t a Grealish/Burnley/Sterling problem, this is football as a wholes problem, slowly but surely the contact is being ripped from the game. I’m fine with Westwood going down once his necks touched but I then have to accept Grealish going down with minimal contact.

I agree there’s nothing nobody can do about it to completely eradicate it at best minimise, it’s too far ingrained within the modern game now at the highest level, no PL club can play the moral high card.