*** City vs. Leicester official match thread ***

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

We are crawling to get into CL but luckily we seem to be getting there. To be honest I was very delighted to actually see us grind a result.

[Mikhail Chigorin]

We are crawling to get into CL but luckily we seem to be getting there. To be honest I was very delighted to actually see us grind a result.

It certainly is a relief to grind out a result but, in such instances, I just wish we could grind a little more smoothly.

[PeterParker]

On the penalty it's a clear cut rule. Willy appealed immediately. It looked to me as if the second touch altered the direction of the ball so it might have been saved.

1. It is very clearly stated in the rules that a player only is allowed to touch the ball once after a dead ball, i.e. a free kick, at knock-off etc. Mahrez knew it and couldn't protest once he realised that Madley wasn't going to bottle it.

Cheers lads.

But couldn't Mahrez retake the kick? Or is clear rule: you do that, the pen is canceled?

[Mikhail Chigorin]

On the penalty it's a clear cut rule. Willy appealed immediately. It looked to me as if the second touch altered the direction of the ball so it might have been saved.

1. It is very clearly stated in the rules that a player only is allowed to touch the ball once after a dead ball, i.e. a free kick, at knock-off etc. Mahrez knew it and couldn't protest once he realised that Madley wasn't going to bottle it.

Cheers lads.

But couldn't Mahrez retake the kick? Or is clear rule: you do that, the pen is canceled?

By touching it twice, it constituted a foul.

[Original Dub]

1. It is very clearly stated in the rules that a player only is allowed to touch the ball once after a dead ball, i.e. a free kick, at knock-off etc. Mahrez knew it and couldn't protest once he realised that Madley wasn't going to bottle it.

2. Yaya gave it to him. Don't know why.

3. He tried to hit it, which could be interpreted as interfering in the situation. Kaspar also stopped moving towards the ball and raised as soon as Sterling made a move towards it (not that he would have been able to catch it anyway).

One of the commentators or pundits mentioned about kasper stopping and raising his hand.

It's bullshit. He had no clue sterling was offside from his angle. If anything, he should have been throwing himself in front of sterling.

He raised the offside after he saw his defenders raising it. And after the ball had hit the net.

Anyway, it was a photo finish offside. I miss the days when you had to have daylight between the players. Why the fuck did they rid of that rule? Now we're back to bullshit like
"His toe is clearly offside"

It's ridiculous

[PeterParker]

On the penalty it's a clear cut rule. Willy appealed immediately. It looked to me as if the second touch altered the direction of the ball so it might have been saved.

1. It is very clearly stated in the rules that a player only is allowed to touch the ball once after a dead ball, i.e. a free kick, at knock-off etc. Mahrez knew it and couldn't protest once he realised that Madley wasn't going to bottle it.

Cheers lads.

But couldn't Mahrez retake the kick? Or is clear rule: you do that, the pen is canceled?

By touching it twice, it constituted a foul.

Cheers, pal

Always to the rescue!

[South Stand Balti]

A few observation today:
1.its no wonder the hoards leave early. It took me over 1.5 hours to drive home and I'm only 30 odd miles away.
2. Sterling seems to be hiding. He seems to stand in positions where he knows he can't receive the ball. He showed a lot of promise early this season but I wonder if he really enjoys or even wants to play football.
3. The ref was useless but he wasn't bent. He could have ignored our peno claim and he could have chosen to cheat when their peno went in. Other refs would have.
4. That was one difficult game against a good side in good form. It's nice to feel lucky for once and to have had the character to grind it out.
5. We are going to miss Yaya.

[Justified logic]

And 30 points in the predictor league!

Likewise.

You'll never get past me!

That makes 3 of us, I guess you're "master of the minus ten"?

Master? I'm the fucking expert!

[aaron bond]

1. It is very clearly stated in the rules that a player only is allowed to touch the ball once after a dead ball, i.e. a free kick, at knock-off etc. Mahrez knew it and couldn't protest once he realised that Madley wasn't going to bottle it.

2. Yaya gave it to him. Don't know why.

3. He tried to hit it, which could be interpreted as interfering in the situation. Kaspar also stopped moving towards the ball and raised as soon as Sterling made a move towards it (not that he would have been able to catch it anyway).

One of the commentators or pundits mentioned about kasper stopping and raising his hand.

It's bullshit. He had no clue sterling was offside from his angle. If anything, he should have been throwing himself in front of sterling.

He raised the offside after he saw his defenders raising it. And after the ball had hit the net.

Anyway, it was a photo finish offside. I miss the days when you had to have daylight between the players. Why the fuck did they rid of that rule? Now we're back to bullshit like
"His toe is clearly offside"

It's ridiculous

The daylight rule was stupid. Although good in theory, it is impossible for a linesman to 100% know if there is clear daylight between a defender and an attacker in real time. Things happen so quickly in a match the linesmen cannot always know.

By getting rid of the rule, it ensures the linesmen can be right more often if just a part of the player's body is offside. Ignoring any potential bias or corruption issues, that makes more sense if we are expecting linesmen to get every decision correct which is obviously very difficult.

Regarding the Sterling decision today, he could have been called offside based on his position. He made an attempt for the ball but I don't think he impeded the defender or goalkeeper so it's understandable why the goal was allowed.

[dick dastardley]

After being at the game here's my ten penneth
Clichy fucking shite all season, costs us points week in week out
Sterling needs a rocket up his arse, and take off his black specs and white stick, runs into trouble more often than not!!
Sane drifts in/out of games but when he runs at defenders scares the shit out them.
KDB having a poor last ball spoils all his hard work.
Silva is just a wonderful player too watch best I've seen in my era
Sooner these guys get on the beach have a long rest get rid of dead wood and strengthen and then next season show the FA we won't be bullied.

[john@staustell]

After being at the game here's my ten penneth
Clichy fucking shite all season, costs us points week in week out
Sterling needs a rocket up his arse, and take off his black specs and white stick, runs into trouble more often than not!!
Sane drifts in/out of games but when he runs at defenders scares the shit out them.
KDB having a poor last ball spoils all his hard work.
Silva is just a wonderful player too watch best I've seen in my era
Sooner these guys get on the beach have a long rest get rid of dead wood and strengthen and then next season show the FA we won't be bullied.

Agree with all that except that with kdb you pay the price for him being just about the best crosser/assister in the league with all the "attempts"

[Original Dub]

1. It is very clearly stated in the rules that a player only is allowed to touch the ball once after a dead ball, i.e. a free kick, at knock-off etc. Mahrez knew it and couldn't protest once he realised that Madley wasn't going to bottle it.

2. Yaya gave it to him. Don't know why.

3. He tried to hit it, which could be interpreted as interfering in the situation. Kaspar also stopped moving towards the ball and raised as soon as Sterling made a move towards it (not that he would have been able to catch it anyway).

One of the commentators or pundits mentioned about kasper stopping and raising his hand.

It's bullshit. He had no clue sterling was offside from his angle. If anything, he should have been throwing himself in front of sterling.

He raised the offside after he saw his defenders raising it. And after the ball had hit the net.

Anyway, it was a photo finish offside. I miss the days when you had to have daylight between the players. Why the fuck did they rid of that rule? Now we're back to bullshit like
"His toe is clearly offside"

It's ridiculous

The daylight rule was stupid. Although good in theory, it is impossible for a linesman to 100% know if there is clear daylight between a defender and an attacker in real time. Things happen so quickly in a match the linesmen cannot always know.

By getting rid of the rule, it ensures the linesmen can be right more often if just a part of the player's body is offside. Ignoring any potential bias or corruption issues, that makes more sense if we are expecting linesmen to get every decision correct which is obviously very difficult.

Regarding the Sterling decision today, he could have been called offside based on his position. He made an attempt for the ball but I don't think he impeded the defender or goalkeeper so it's understandable why the goal was allowed.

It's a valid point but daylight also meant the attacker was clearly further in front, which automatically gives him benefit of the doubt, as opposed to everyone banging on about the attacker getting benefit of the doubt yet it rarely happening.

Also, with VAR on the horizon, the daylight rule would work far better.

No matter what, it's silly talking about a toe being offside. We all know why the offside rule exists, but that is miles away from the reason it was brought in imo.

[freshie]

Sterling....this is why he will never be more than just a good player.Decision making and shots at goal are average at best.

I think this current front 5 is what we'll see next season.

Aguero

Jesus Silva KDB Sane

That's our best front 5

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

1. It is very clearly stated in the rules that a player only is allowed to touch the ball once after a dead ball, i.e. a free kick, at knock-off etc. Mahrez knew it and couldn't protest once he realised that Madley wasn't going to bottle it.

2. Yaya gave it to him. Don't know why.

3. He tried to hit it, which could be interpreted as interfering in the situation. Kaspar also stopped moving towards the ball and raised as soon as Sterling made a move towards it (not that he would have been able to catch it anyway).

One of the commentators or pundits mentioned about kasper stopping and raising his hand.

It's bullshit. He had no clue sterling was offside from his angle. If anything, he should have been throwing himself in front of sterling.

He raised the offside after he saw his defenders raising it. And after the ball had hit the net.

Anyway, it was a photo finish offside. I miss the days when you had to have daylight between the players. Why the fuck did they rid of that rule? Now we're back to bullshit like
"His toe is clearly offside"

It's ridiculous

The daylight rule was stupid. Although good in theory, it is impossible for a linesman to 100% know if there is clear daylight between a defender and an attacker in real time. Things happen so quickly in a match the linesmen cannot always know.

By getting rid of the rule, it ensures the linesmen can be right more often if just a part of the player's body is offside. Ignoring any potential bias or corruption issues, that makes more sense if we are expecting linesmen to get every decision correct which is obviously very difficult.

Regarding the Sterling decision today, he could have been called offside based on his position. He made an attempt for the ball but I don't think he impeded the defender or goalkeeper so it's understandable why the goal was allowed.

The daylight rule was fucking abysmal for the sole reason that major football leagues represents roughly 0,0000001 % of football played on this planet. Professional linesmen could get it right ok but the lower you went in football pyramid the harder it got for the amateur linesmen to get it right. Anyone who has ever been a linesman knows that you can follow the line and see if someone crosses it, may it be by their toe or any other part of the body, but to judge whether there was "daylight" (whatever that means since games are played in all sorts of light) between players was nearly impossible.

The beauty of the game has always been that the game is played by same rules by people in some obscure Polynesian island, inuits, people in Brazilian favelas, sunday league players having a good hangover, people up in Tibet mountains and indeed in shiny lights of Premier League. The rules of the game should always serve that pyramid as a whole not just the very top.

[Mase]

Sterling is second top scorer for us with 10 and second on assists with 13 (3 behind KDB).

Shall we give the 22 year old a break?

[Mikhail Chigorin]

Sterling is second top scorer for us with 10 and second on assists with 13 (3 behind KDB).

Shall we give the 22 year old a break?

Good call Mase.

[blues2win]

I think a double hit penalty is like a foul throw in. It's tough. No retake.

[freshie]

Sterling is second top scorer for us with 10 and second on assists with 13 (3 behind KDB).

Shall we give the 22 year old a break?

Good point but he frustrates the life out of me a lot of the time. I always feel as though he bottles it in the big moments - maybe I'm too picky I don't know. Just think Sane is already a much better player than Sterling and will go on to be the better player

[Mase]

Sterling is second top scorer for us with 10 and second on assists with 13 (3 behind KDB).

Shall we give the 22 year old a break?

Good point but he frustrates the life out of me a lot of the time. I always feel as though he bottles it in the big moments - maybe I'm too picky I don't know. Just think Sane is already a much better player than Sterling and will go on to be the better player

We'll see mate. I'd personally have Sterling over Sanè. I agree Sterling's bottle does go sometimes, but last season he dragged us through the group stages of the Champs League, got in to the 'team of the group stages' and this season against Arsenal showed a bit of bottle by cutting in from the right, skinning a player, and scoring a belter with his weaker foot. He'll improve on his bottle and do that more often I'm hoping in the future.

[Dub City]

The Sky commentator was really willing Leicester to equalise.....he groaned a couple of times when they missed !! The bias against us rolls on

Thought he jizzed himself when Vardy pulled it wide of near post thinking it was in.