Premier League 2020-21 (Part III)

spintheblackcircle

incoming!!!
Mar 1, 2002
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I reffed soccer games in middle and high school and it was one of the worst jobs ever. The pay(for that age) really isn't too bad, but getting berated by parents who have no clue what they're talking about week after week gets pretty old.

My first job out of college 30 years ago (shit) was in a building where a 40-something German ex-pat ran the cafe. 30 years ago, not much soccer, even in the Bay Area. He reffed all the time, youngsters, adult, high school, college. ""The parents are always awful, I rarely have issues with the young players."

He still made the best tuna melt I have ever had.
 
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Aladyyn

they praying for the death of a rockstar
Apr 6, 2015
18,116
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What are your most irritable 1st team?
Here's mine.

Striker:
Harry Kane
Dirty trickster, He even has his own trademark foul where he waits for the ball in the air and go down to the player knees to draw a foul. Also strong as an ox except when in a scoring position now he drops down easily.

Left wing:
Jack Grealish
Impossible to not have him on this team. He is the most fouled player in premier league history after all. He is always either holding on too long on the ball or on the floor to draw a foul. No in between.

AMC:
Bruno Fernandes.
The guy is very talented but man the guy antic when he goes down is downright brutal. He will give a hearful to the referee everytime he goes down and the closer the game (or when Manchester United are losing) it is the worst it get. He even look like crying when he goes down. I am shocked he has never been booked by any referee. If I was a referee I would instant book him the moment he comes to me talk with me or at least get a caution.

Right winger:
Mohamed Salah.
The worst diver in premier league history? The guy has zero acting skill. When he goes down for a foul with his arms up in the air it is impossible to call a foul. It looks so ridiculous and deliberate. I am astonished he has not learned over the years that it makes him look ridiculous.

Midfielder:
Fernandinho.
The king of cynical fouling. You have a chance to get the ball and go on a counter attack..not with him on the field. He will get the instant cynical foul. He has mastered that skill and he is possibly the best at it in all football.

Conor Gallagher.
He is the best player on an awful team but he also has the worst antic on that team. He will always try to draw fouls. If his team is winning (that does not happen often) he will make sure to waste as much time possible with fake injuries.

Left back.
Lucas Digne,
Another player that like to give a hearful to the ref when he disagree with a call. I am not sure if it's his french origins but he cannot keep his mouth shut. Even the smallest no call or unimpactful decision he will have to say something to the referee.

Center back:
Harry Maguire.
The second Harry on the list and another obvious one. He is a very dirty player in nature but he somehow never get called for it. By example his foul on Batshuayi that deserved a red or his foul on Azpilicueta that deserved a penalty. But what about the audacity to call out a referee in post match interview when he does not get a call his way.

David Luiz.
He is a bit like Fernandinho with his cynical fouling but unlike Fernandinho he is so bad to get away with it. In term of timing, he will more often than not get red carded for it or leak penalties.

Right back:
Probably the toughest position to identify a player so I will give it to my guy TAA.
He is bad in his timing and will always give bad fouls or penalties. He can be sometime be over agressive and other time way too passive. A very frustrating player to watch.

Goalkeeper:
Jordan Pickford.
He is the Tim Thomas of the premier league. He will be very agressive with his tackles/punching. Surprisingly, he has not yet be called on a red card. It is bound to happen at somepoint.

Honorable mention to : Vardy, Richarlison, Zaha, Martial, Shaw, Walker, Maddison, Xhaka, Dier.
What the heck did Shaw do to get a honorable mention??
 

KingLB

Registered User
Oct 29, 2008
9,035
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I am becoming an official in a different sport I will not, never will name so as not to lose my anonymity. But it starts as a love for the sport and then for some people turns into something different. Unfortunately the other problem is that hardly anyone wants to do it and that's why we have this situation.

Hey you wanna do a job for crappy pay where someone is gonna be super pissed at you no matter what decision you make?

I reffed soccer games in middle and high school and it was one of the worst jobs ever. The pay(for that age) really isn't too bad, but getting berated by parents who have no clue what they're talking about week after week gets pretty old.

So I reffed hockey locally for about 10 yrs over a 15 year period. The morons you have to deal with is unbelievable wether parents or players. So much so, that some of the schedulers knew NHL guys, and during the off-season for fun they would drop into adult games.

Even then, morons that need their stick to even skate would tear into them about every little thing.

Basically this is the long way of getting around to saying. I wouldn’t be surprised if most professional refs are complete tools. As the road it takes to get there, weeds out all the genuine/nice/sympathetic refs as you get burnt to shit cause you have a dad threatening you cause his 8 year old was run into by another 8 year old. All before you are even legally old enough to drive.
 

Live in the Now

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Dec 17, 2005
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So I reffed hockey locally for about 10 yrs over a 15 year period. The morons you have to deal with is unbelievable wether parents or players. So much so, that some of the schedulers knew NHL guys, and during the off-season for fun they would drop into adult games.

Even then, morons that need their stick to even skate would tear into them about every little thing.

Basically this is the long way of getting around to saying. I wouldn’t be surprised if most professional refs are complete tools. As the road it takes to get there, weeds out all the genuine/nice/sympathetic refs as you get burnt to shit cause you have a dad threatening you cause his 8 year old was run into by another 8 year old. All before you are even legally old enough to drive.

I was...at a thing where someone took an ice chest, opened it, and threw the contents of it in an official's face cause they didn't like what happened to their kid.

Yeah I meant as a pro too. I can't get into specifics but if people saw most of the kinds of people who try to do this professionally, at the stage of whether you get to do it or not? They would just laugh. There's barely anyone because of people like that. Even not considering other people, from my own perspective it's also a huge grind the likes of which someone who becomes a pro player or athlete also has to deal with. Just to be in a position to officiate professionally you have to sacrifice a lot of shit.

Fortunately in the sport I'm in, the athletes aren't bad. It's everyone else. I do it because I missed being involved in sports and for me anyway its been worthwhile.
 
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Savant

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Is it luck? Or does Klopp not rotating early on play a roll in how injured and fatigued his players are?
Klopp rotated more than you think. The injuries took the rotation away. Diogo Jota, Milner and Tsimikas off the top of my head were all injured in games they were rotated into
 

Live in the Now

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Dec 17, 2005
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Is it luck? Or does Klopp not rotating early on play a roll in how injured and fatigued his players are?

They didn't have anyone to rotate in midfield or defense after the fifth league game. It's bad luck but I bet if van Dijk didn't get hurt we wouldn't be having this conversation in this context.
 

Savant

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They didn't have anyone to rotate in midfield or defense after the fifth league game. It's bad luck but I bet if van Dijk didn't get hurt we wouldn't be having this conversation in this context.
Klopp also regularly used three subs early in the season. Used all six subs in all but one CL group stage game. Everyone jumped one him because he didn’t sub against Man City but looking at the season as a whole, it’s a false narrative.
 

Evilo

Registered User
Mar 17, 2002
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Klopp didn't rotate much for 3 straight seasons. And miraculously had very little injuries.

Anyway, Liverpool is virtually 9th behind Spurs and Villa, potentially 3 points over Arsenal and 5 over Leeds.
 

Blender

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Dec 2, 2009
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Klopp also regularly used three subs early in the season. Used all six subs in all but one CL group stage game. Everyone jumped one him because he didn’t sub against Man City but looking at the season as a whole, it’s a false narrative.
Please, he was jumped on because he didn't use his subs during the game and proceeding to complain in the post game press conference that he needed 5 subs for player safety reasons.
 

Savant

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Please, he was jumped on because he didn't use his subs during the game and proceeding to complain in the post game press conference that he needed 5 subs for player safety reasons.
You need to get your facts right. Yes he asked for more subs, but he used 3 subs in 22 out of 27 PL games this season. only one of those games where he used less than 2 subs in. He has been using his subs. He has been rotating. About as much as anyone else. Of course the media jumped on him for one of the only games he didn’t sub but that’s what the media does
 

Blender

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Dec 2, 2009
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You need to get your facts right. Yes he asked for more subs, but he used 3 subs in 22 out of 27 PL games this season. only one of those games where he used less than 2 subs in. He has been using his subs. He has been rotating. About as much as anyone else. Of course the media jumped on him for one of the only games he didn’t sub but that’s what the media does
He didn't use 3 subs in the Manchester City game, after the Manchester City game he complained that he didn't have enough subs, people called him out for his hypocrisy.

Rotating also doesn't just mean using subs, it's changing the starters. We already went through a few weeks ago that Liverpool has started the same group more than anyone else in the league. Yes they have a ton of injuries and that is the reason because they want to win, but you can't claim your top priority is player safety while running your starters into the ground to try and win games.
 

Savant

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He didn't use 3 subs in the Manchester City game, after the Manchester City game he complained that he didn't have enough subs, people called him out for his hypocrisy.

Rotating also doesn't just mean using subs, it's changing the starters. We already went through a few weeks ago that Liverpool has started the same group more than anyone else in the league. Yes they have a ton of injuries and that is the reason because they want to win, but you can't claim your top priority is player safety while running your starters into the ground to try and win games.
Pep used less subs than Klopp did in that game. Does Pep care less than Klopp about player safety?

Starters were changed too. This is another false narrative. Go back and look for yourself. They used the same group because they have had to. They have also had 20 different CB pairs. The forwards were rotated until Diogo Jota got hurt. The midfielders were rotated until midfielders had to play centerback. It’s not as simple as you are trying to make it.
 

Blender

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Dec 2, 2009
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Pep used less subs than Klopp did in that game. Does Pep care less than Klopp about player safety?

Starters were changed too. This is another false narrative. Go back and look for yourself. They used the same group because they have had to. They have also had 20 different CB pairs. The forwards were rotated until Diogo Jota got hurt. The midfielders were rotated until midfielders had to play centerback. It’s not as simple as you are trying to make it.
Pep also complained after that game that he didn't have 5 subs and was also called out for his hypocrisy. Pep has not white knighted about how much he cares about player safety like Klopp has though.
 

Savant

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Pep also complained after that game that he didn't have 5 subs and was also called out for his hypocrisy. Pep has not white knighted about how much he cares about player safety like Klopp has though.
Sure he was. Man City just doesn’t get the attention that LFC does so Klopp is more of a lightning rod. Also City aren’t sympathetic when they have the most resources.
 

Jussi

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Feb 28, 2002
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According to the The Telegraph, Rashford's left shoulder is so bad that he needs surgery but won't have one until after the Euro 21. Supposedly his team mates are wondering how he is able to play at all considering how much in pain he is.
 

The Abusement Park

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According to the The Telegraph, Rashford's left shoulder is so bad that he needs surgery but won't have one until after the Euro 21. Supposedly his team mates are wondering how he is able to play at all considering how much in pain he is.
On one hand I commend him for playing through the pain. On the other I really hope he doesn’t do anything that will affect him long term by playing on it like this.
 

hatterson

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Apr 12, 2010
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On one hand I commend him for playing through the pain. On the other I really hope he doesn’t do anything that will affect him long term by playing on it like this.

As time goes on he unfortunately seems like the type of player that will have his career end at a time that feels too early.

He’s 23 and he’s got something crazy like 250 games for club and country and you’re seeing a couple more nagging injuries pop up.

Hopefully I’m wrong though.
 

The Abusement Park

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As time goes on he unfortunately seems like the type of player that will have his career end at a time that feels too early.

He’s 23 and he’s got something crazy like 250 games for club and country and you’re seeing a couple more nagging injuries pop up.

Hopefully I’m wrong though.
Definitely Rooney like. Lots of games at a young age will definitely affect him long term. Now granted he seemingly takes better care of himself Wazza and has a much better body type, but all the games will add up regardless.
 

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