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Agree with this, I’m unsure too. Maybe the backpass law is relevant as a precedent for a tackle not being a deliberate act - but of course he clearly is onside if Valverde doesn’t touch the ball.

I might be getting this wrong, but I just don’t see him being that late - it seems a split second thing even in slow-mo. He’s also running pretty much at right angles to the keeper so it’s going to be tough for him to judge out of the corner of his eye whether he’s going to get to the ball first...

Can a careless challenge become reckless because of the force the other player puts in? (Genuine question - not sure.) Take the point about later mistakes, but if you’re confident that it’s just an unfortunate collision then leaving the game 11 v 10 to try to avoid a bad decision later doesn’t...

No card for me. Meslier gets there first but with the angle they’re running at I’m not sure what Jiménez is supposed to do differently. It may be at high speed but it’s a fair challenge for the ball and most of the force in the collision is coming from Meslier.

Someone more in the know than me - is there any protocol for what the referee and VAR actually say to each other? When incidents like the Havertz elbow happen in rugby, the conversations themselves (which are broadcast) are clear and systematic: “what I’m seeing is direct contact to the head...

Also thought this was interesting - again for full disclosure I’m a Newcastle fan. I don’t think there’s much intent from Havertz, but he has elbowed a player in the face with force. I think it’s clearly endangering an opponent and more red than yellow, but can also understand the VAR call not...

100% correct decision - the other aspect of this is that if this isn’t two yellows, a player who knows they’re likely to be booked after an advantage has a “free play” to commit any YC offence they like.

Any chance Pawson was influenced by his VAR mistake with Ederson on Fraser in the Newcastle-Man City game? Would usually avoid that kind of lazy analysis, but there must’ve been a number of people telling him how awful that decision was, and this was an incident in the same category but way...

Ah thanks for the quick reply, that’s great and makes sense. Assuming a hold can still be SFP if it endangers the safety of an opponent though? Not saying that was the case with Chiellini and aware we don’t just borrow laws from rugby, but if Saka had landed on his head I’d say that’s a red.

This is in the context of Chiellini yesterday - I’m right in thinking that both in practice and in law, a tackle meeting both of these criteria is just a yellow? Or is it just in practice, and could technically be two yellows in theory? It’s not obvious to me just by reading Law 12, but am...

Valencia had to retake their first penalty today after it was saved and an encroaching player scored the rebound. I thought this was an IDFK. I know the law is “if the ball enters the goal” the kick is retaken, but I thought that referred only to the original penalty. Seems unfair on the keeper...

Clearly a backpass at 4:37 in the YouTube clip, but why is the IDFK taken from right on the goal line (in fact, slightly inside the six yard box)? Surely it should've been from the point on the goal area line closest to the incident parallel to the goal line, which would have been a much...