01 Mar 2021 13:31:02
Sheff Utd will be looking for revenge for the goal tat never was a goal.
Hopefully the team will have got the monkey off their backs having won without Jack.
I actually don't think he was missed too much as some of the players "owned" the ball. They looked for it and wanted the ball. For too long we have said give the ball to Jack when problems arose.
Against LU the team looked to have a balance that we have not had as the Jack influence takes over.
Defensively the unit worked really well, clearing the ball while not looking for Jack. Sometimes putting the ball out of play is a good play.
Dont think for one moment that I want to see Jack go elsewhere, I want him to use the pitch, all of the pitch to make the opposition look for him.
The challengers for his national place are much more mobile so if Jack adds this to his game he will be untouchable.
01 Mar 2021 15:13:37
Yes Oldvillan, I am with you all the way mate.
Strangely we didn`t appear to miss him that much, we may have missed the some of the possession side side of the game he gives us.
Jacks name would always be on the team sheet, but for me his roll would be that of a free spirit, Jack the pitch is yours, go and do your thing.
I think he is probably the only player in our leagues, you could entrust with a roll like that, to counter it teams would be forced to adjust.
01 Mar 2021 18:23:46
Oldvillain and dave. I agree 100%. If he's allowed to roam it would make it much harder to double up on him. One on one he'd be unstoppable.
{Ed077's Note - he would definitely have more grass to roll over on😜
01 Mar 2021 18:31:41
Come on Ed, are you a Leeds fan. 😂😂.
{Ed077's Note - no dave. The much better United. Do you guys not think Grealish is a bit of a diver?}
01 Mar 2021 18:45:09
You're thinking of Tom Daly Ed 😠it is rife in the game now tho as is the new craze of feigning a head injury to get the game stopped.
{Ed077's Note - agreed that diving has unfortunately become a huge part of the game however much might most of us spectators hate it. I am aware of many people (non fans) being put off football exclusively due to the play acting/diving antics.
I dread to see a day when a player who suffered a head injury goes unattended for some time because everybody thought they were just feigning it. Something like the story "The boy who cried wolf"}
01 Mar 2021 18:56:34
He's only outright dived a couple of times. He may go down easily but we've missed out before by being too honest, why give other teams an advantage to stand on a pedestal nobody that matters pays attention to?
Nothing against you personally Ed but it's a bit rich to call out Grealish when you support United no?
{Ed077's Note - not really. Most players dive. It's s sad state of affairs. But saying Grealish has only outright dived a couple of times, really? Its a hard disagree. I would love for the day when people are calling out any player regardless of which Jersey they put on for stuff like diving. }
01 Mar 2021 19:05:16
Exactly, used to be a man's game now just full of prima donnas who go over at the slightest touch. I personally don't think ref's help either by giving fouls and cards out for hard but fair tackles, a prime example being Nakamba in last years league Cup final. I was applauding the ref gave a yellow 🙄.
{Ed077's Note - even bigger issue is players not getting decisions until and unless they go down. }
01 Mar 2021 19:11:15
Yes I do Ed, and I agree he goes down very easy at times.
I have seen him go down when it appears he would benefit, by staying on his feet.
He does take plenty of knocks, its the only way some players can neutralise him, so its a bit of both to be fair.
01 Mar 2021 19:16:18
Hi Ed
What do you think about Lorentes fall last Saturday?
He looked like his leg was broken but when Watkins tried to get him up he performed some sort of off the cuff dance and looked as if he wanted a fight.
He was trying to get a player sent off, a la Bamford, and should have been sent off for trying to con the ref.
A few years back in the final game of the season against Man City Joey Barton was openly trying to start a fight to get a player sent off. Could the ref have sent him off?
Yes Jack does fall over a lot usually because of a mistake by the opposition who know he will fall over if touched.
Not happy about it but as they say now "its part of the game. "
{Ed077's Note - sorry mate didn't watch the game so can't comment.
01 Mar 2021 20:14:18
Jack has a way about him he’s just to quick moving the ball, opposing players always catch him, jack wins a lot of frees but very rare he got us a peno cause players won’t tackle him in the box, he’s the most fouled player in the league by a mile, if he was diving that often it would be noticed by refs and he would get booked regularly. ED go on google, look up Aston Villa fixtures, go back through the thread to last year and look at the highlights from the Crystal Palace game, Lansbury scores a goal from a jack lay off, I think it was Cahill that tackled jack right as he was laying it off and the ref blew for a free out cause he said jack dived for a peno, absolute rubbish decision not only did Cahill put in a strong tackle but jack was on the ground for a split second he never once looked for a peno he was, he passed, went down and got up in the blink of an eye but we lost a perfectly good goal. to top it off VAR couldn’t intervene cause the ref blew his whistle before the ball hit the net, I won’t even say 9/ 10 times it’s more like 29/ 30 times when jack go’s down there is contact be it big or small. what did u think of Bruno last year standing on konsa’s leg and getting a peno? Or pogba this year tripping himself with his other leg with Douglas luiz beside him hustling him and that’s also a peno? Not getting in a dig, we are over it at this point but in your opinion we’re they penalties?
{Ed077's Note - that Bruno pen was a foul the other way around. The Pogba pen was a very soft one. You couldn't have complained much if the ref ignored it. One of those that makes you feel lucky to have been given in your favour.}
02 Mar 2021 06:30:02
Yes Ed, really. Contact is contact and while it's not always enough to send someone flying that isn't in the definition of a foul.
He has a right to take the free kick. I'm not a fan of some of the antics but we have to be able to put ourselves on a level playing field without being singled out.
Fernandes, Pogba, Martial all are at least as guilty as Grealish for it (more so in my opinion) and are far less inconspicuous with it to everyone but the refs it seems.
{Ed077's Note - VAR should have been able to help out in that matter, simulation and diving but it seems to only complicate things more}
02 Mar 2021 10:07:05
That's another story though. VAR should be allowed to intervene but is still hiding under the subjective banner and only gets used for reds and penalties.
If a dive leads to a free kick that leads to a goal the original decision doesn't get looked at which I find is poor management of the system. Same with corners and throw ins, they're not subjective so why can't it be used.
02 Mar 2021 16:50:40
Some very good points made there rk, spot on mate.