Well, both penalties reduced the 2 goal lead but I think most us felt that our third goal had settled the game.
As for Kinsella, I am a great fan but that was probably his worst 15 minutes in a Walsall shirt. In retrospect, it was not a good substitution but I am sure that Flynn thought the game was over.
On that i agree. His fly hack was worse. Was trying to hard and had the opposite effect. Bit like Knowles sometimes . Both the perfect attitude but sometimes works against you.
Sums it up perfectly for me.
Hutchinson on the team of the week 2 weeks in a row!
What a Player we have best in the team x
We certainly struggle even more than usual when he doesn’t show up.
We can’t afford to have sentiment for the out of contract injured players. Ladabie and Wilkinson will be on decent money for us. 6 month contracts to prove themselves?
Agree we can’t afford it for another season Labadie must be getting on a bit now as well?
Labidie certainly not worth the risk of a new contract at his age .
And wilko although I like him not worth the risk either unless he really comes good without any more time sidelined between now and the end of the season.
Both top earners and disrupting our budget.
Sadly I’d release both Wilko and Labadie. We can’t risk another season for them to suffer another injury that could potentially be career ending and with the high wage they’re on.
Some insight here into the first pen against us, from ref Chris Foy Behind the Whistle: Chris Foy explains latest EFL decisions including Birmingham and Preston | Football News | Sky Sports
First time I’ve seen since it happened. I wasn’t convinced it was a penalty at the time and I’ve not changed my opinion.
In mitigation, the ref may have a better view of it but I think Chris Foy has it spot on. I don’t think there’s any doubt that White holds their player momentarily but, no more than happens on most occasions in the penalty box and I don’t think White does anything different to the norm. As is also the norm, their player throws himself to the floor to grab the attention of the referee and got a bite.
The ball was always running through to Evans and most referees would have just waved it away like most similar occurrences. The incident would have been forgotten in a few minutes.
Nevertheless, we still should have seen the game out.
I agree completely.
The referee did play a large part in the game. As others have said, if that first penalty was correct, we will see half a dozen in each game. I accept the second, although it was accidental, but I thought the award of a foul against Daniels after he was pushed over was incorrect and there was one of the most blatant handballs you will ever see not given, too.
Interesting. I think the referee was correct to give the penalty, it’s all the other times they aren’t given that he and his colleagues are incorrect. Why should pulling a shirt be OK in the area? Give a penalty (or a free kick to the defending team) every single time an incident like this happens and my guess would be that after a couple of months of chaos it would settle down and it would become rare.
We often see pulls and shoves ignored in the penalty area, and 20 seconds later a free kick is given on the halfway line for the same thing.
I see your point but referees should not just invent that in the middle of a game.
It would be good though to be more diligent in applying the rules. Centre forwards get pushed from behind every time the ball is played up to them. Defenders hold attackers at every corner. That is one reason. along with poor pitches, that League 2 does not lend itself to possession football.
Which is what I said, it was a correct decision in my opinion, it’s the times he doesn’t (and his colleagues don’t) give a pelanty that it is incorrect and it should be given every time.
I don’t entirely disagree with your sentiment. It winds me up rotten when you see some of the holding and pushing that goes on in the penalty box.
VAR was supposed to cut this out but appears to condone it rather than police it
Thus in the context of applying the rules as it stands, it was a poor decision.
I suppose so, in that it was a bit of an outlier. Consistency is probably what we need, and it would be better if refs were consistently harsh, and gave everything, rather than what they do now, which results in a frustrating mess where they give something every now and again.
I think if they gave fouls all the time, either in favour of the attackers or defenders, it would soon settle down and the regular shoving and pulling in the area would decrease, resulting in a better game to watch.
There are other rules they no longer apply with rigour, such as time wasting, kicking the ball away, and standing over a free-kick to stop it being taken.
Couldn’t agree more and as I said it winds me up rotten.
I remember when they introduced VAR it was said that all clubs under it’s scrutiny were forewarned that they would punish foul play in the penalty box. To be fair, they did initially and you could see defenders making an effort to avoid being penalised. It didn’t last long.
At the start of each season they seem to announce they are going to clamp down hard on something, whether it be timewasting, encroaching at free kicks, dissent or holding in the penalty box. It never lasts long and the norm always returns.
Wouldn’t even bother. Hardly pulled up trees before they were injured.
The amount those two have cost the club for nothing but a superb individual goal to draw 3 3
I reckon Flynn will try to keep Labadie though.
The inconsistency at different levels of the game, and even different continents is infuriating to me.
We all know it exists. We now have to differentiate what a foul in division 4 is against a foul in the Prem.