Jezzard

Yes, but if Klose gets the free kick then Shearer doesn’t get the opportunity to comment on the defence as this probably won’t make the highlights (like when Jerome was clean through at 2-0 and incorrectly given offside). I’d say that this wouldn’t be a free kick in the 1980s or in a Sunday league match, but this is what referees are told to look out for. It’s why they give Vardy penalties when he runs in to the man when he could just go for the ball (e.g. the Bassong one in October). However, this one actually occurred naturally – Klose about to come away with the ball and Moses goes through him. Just think that 19 other teams in the league would have reacted very differently if there’s even a possibility to influence the referee for his next decision. Sam Allardyce’s post match press conference would be solely focused on this and often his team would get the decisions next match.

Watching this live, I couldn''t believe that we weren''t awarded a free kick for Moses'' foul on Klose following Brady''s tackle, but more surprised at the lack of complaints from our team. Ruddy seemed to start an appeal then got set for Payet''s follow up then seemingly forgot to appeal in the aftermath. Moses seemed pissed off to get tackled so just thought I''ll throw myself at this and try to come away with the ball. He did that, but after going through Klose, not dangerously but crucially. It was one that a defender may get away with cos the referee doesn''t want to award a penalty, but I''d expect the defending team to be given it almost always. But the lack of appeals once more was unbelievable. Most teams dispute a decision on a goal when it''s only 10% in their favour.... not watched any punditry....was this just my eyes?

I don’t think so. And by good I mean good: an top goal keeper who makes match winning saves; a premier league regular. I’m not saying he’s bad. But having watched nearly every minute of his NCFC career, I just don’t know why he ever got an England cap or has never been close to being dropped. Just watch the 2010/11 review DVD to see his catalogue of mistakes in the first half of that season. Once he improved a little we hardly lost a match. In the premier league his inability to make distance with his dives means anything within 30 cm of the inside of the posts along the ground invariably led to a goal. That explains nearly all of Luis Suarez’s strikes. Twice a season you come across a goalkeeper that becomes an octopus that means a definite win becomes a defeat or draw. We’ve had that with Jack Buckland this season and Feb of 2014 we had this twice in a few weeks with Adrian at West Ham followed by Marshall at Swansea (4 points would sent us top half and kept us up). Can you honestly ever remember Ruddy doing that? Have we ever secured a ‘lucky’ win in the Prem when the other team have dominated us? No – all of our wins have been when we’ve been the better side. There is the probable exception of the draw an Anfield in 2011, but even then Ruddy dropped the ball in the last minute from a corner and a defender saved our point. I actually though Mark Bunn did as well, if not better than Ruddy – he made great distance on his dives (Spurs at home last minute). For me Ruddy’s strength isn’t his agility but doing the ‘simple’ things right; collecting crosses etc. But now this has failed him – West Ham, Man City and lots of other goals from headers (Newcastle, West Brom) as he now doesn’t seem confident to collect or punch. I also think he should have saved Otamendi’s bullet header into not the corner of the net – he got no distance on his dive; same for Bournemouth’s consolation. I really can’t see any merit in not playing Declan Rudd on Saturday. Over the course of a season I think he’ll get us one or two ‘lucky’ wins and the other ten on the field can win another six on merit.

Revisit this with a couple of incidents involving Milner in the first half. Correctly yellow carded for a cynical foul after about five mins, two mins later dives then appeals for a penalty. Ref correctly doesn''t give penalty; incorrectly ignores the obvious yellow card for diving. His appeal for a penalty proves simulation. No red card, no discussion on MotD. So Whitaker was very unlucky, not brainless, not stupid. 99% of the time the referee applies common sense and attempts to keep 22 players on the field for minor, non dangerous and not too advantageous incidents (though it must be said conning yourself a penalty is very advantageous. Risking at 1% isn''t brainless, and you can consider yourself unlucky.

Anyone else downloaded the proud official mobile game partner of NCFC, you know the one that''s stencilled on the seats in the dugouts? The NCFC demographic is I think mainly male, aged 6 to 86. Of that not everyone under 14 owns a phone. So this must match Best Fiends'' target market. Well I played it for 20 seconds then got bored. It didn''t seem so NCFC correlated. Perhaps they''ve had to remove the Bradley Johnson character. Anyone else enjoyed it more than me?

Agree with OP that it was a poor referring display. By the letter of the law, both were yellow cards, albeit very marginal. The second one was very very harsh as Tadic could be said to have engineered the contact. I wouldn''t mind this if he''d then applied every decision to the letter of the law. That is each time Bassong and Pelle clashed in the area if should have been a penalty or a free kick. But no, both were fouling so he applied common sense, while ignoring the laws (first foul should be penalised) . Pelle dives in the box in the first half. Yellow card? But no. Second half, identical to first half Soton player obstructs Wisdom trying to take a throw in, Wisdon retaliates. Should be a yellow card. And worst of all, first half in frustration at losing ball Davies commits a nasty deliberate foul - worst of the game and a definite yellow. But Jon Moss doesn''t book him. He knows that won''t make MotD2 highlights but his ''brave'' two yellow cards will. When all he has done is to prevent a footballer from playing football for two thirds of the game for two inconsequential and non dangerous incidents. Pathetic oh look at me performance. I think were two yellow cards all match......

So you pay a premium to get a stronger team out for a significant part of the season when there are winnable games. Bet it didn''t cross the analysts'' mind that there are 5 matches this August compared to I think 3 in 2013/14

I''m quite a mild mannered, cool tempered individual. But when I''m playing football and the referee bottles giving me penalty I lose it. Was anyone else surprised at Cameron Jerome''s mild mannered reaction to having his wonder-goal ruled out? There was some mild shouting at the referee, but Chelsea or Man Utd. would have surrounded the referee. They are told to by their managers to do so. He won''t change his mind we''re told - no, he won''t. But he''d sure as hell give them a penalty when their centre back is bundled over in the box in the last minute. Likewise when Glenn Murray should have been red-carded for his assault on Dorans (?), he didn''t stay down for long. We didn''t argue much. A few minutes later their full back does seven rolls and gets Tettey booked. Do we never learn? New Year''s Day 2014, Selhurst Park. Chamot strikes Wes'' face in front of the referee. Definite red card. Wes gets up immedaiately and shakes hands. Yellow card. And what do we get for our honesty? Two minutes later a penalty against us after a Jedinak dive at a corner. We could go back to Andy Johnson. And I''m only using examples from one fixture (incidentally given all these decisions Palace get against us, it''s amazing that Saturday was our first Premier League defeat against them). I don''t want to see our players diving, but can we not let the referee know more vociferously when he''s made a howler? Surely our players are told this?

Tottenham do it every year. Save themselves around £4m by holding out and not signing players until late into the evening of August 31st. Daniel Levy takes the plaudits, without seeming to acknowledge that by saving £4m, his team have played over 10% of the season with a weaker team than is necessary. Tottenham usually miss out on the champions league by a few points. This year we seem to be doing it too. There are 5 games in August. That is 13% of the season. Not only that, all five of these games are winnable (Soton away is a stretch but does follow European action for them). I''d say this represents around 20% of our likely points acquisitions. To save, for us, about £2m. How much would we get for staying up this year? Not only that, as all managers state how important formations, integration and pre-season is, which makes it more foolish. Crystal Palace were there for the taking. Sunderland are too. Okay, so what can you do when the referee isn''t brave enough to allow a certain goal or award a definite last minute penalty for ''little Norwich'' at home to ''big'' Premier League regulars Crystal Palace (ffs). Not a great deal, but not being 2-0 down at some stage because your striker isn''t deadly enough from 5 yards may help. 13% of the season....to save £2m....

Hey can anyone help me on the new kit sizes? I live overseas so am getting it sent over. I usually take a medium but may consider a large. Can anyone tell me if the shirts are on the small side or large side at all? I recall 12/13 medium was quite large whereas 13/14 medium was bang on. Just wondering if there''s a downward trend as I don''t think I''m getting fatter. Ta

Yeah, they mentioned the shirt had gone up by a small percentage...but the Premier League badge increased by 100% - ₤3.50 in 2013, ₤7 now!

I’m sorry, these guys can just do one. It’s bad enough when a club goes in to administration, practically writing off hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money to the police and ambulance services, and also to small businesses. It is even worse when these clubs inevitably survive (administration should not apply to football as it differs from other industries) and then get rich again and refuse to pay any of it back as gesture of good will. It’s even worse when these clubs then become darlings of the media like Southampton and Palace (Palace for their great support -12,000 fans a few years back?). It’s even worse when teams then use their new money to ‘invest’ sinking costs into huge weekly wages into players, without making any improvements to their infrastructure – that would actually be real investment. Here I mean QPR with no running water in the toilets and that disgrace of a ground in South London. The Premier League should not allow teams to play at grounds like Loftus road or Selhurst Park in the Premier League. Palace have been up three years now, spent loads of players and not invested in their ground. So when they inevitably go back down in a year or so, they’ll become a poor club with a shit ground and be back in administration without investing any of the income from the good times into something long-lasting. Of course a club will claim it will invest in the future, but this just indefinitely postpone development. So how should the Premier league incentivise development in a market-orientated manner? Easy. An inspection at the start of each season. If a club has a sub-standard stand (which will inevitably be the away end), it should only be allowed to charge say £30, £20 or even £10 in extreme Selhurst Park cases. That would soon make a club invest in the stadium. Will the Premier League do this? Will they my left testicle.

Anyone any idea when these will be confirmed for current players? Last year was July 1st but earlier start. Wanna get Odjidja-ofoe on the back of my shirt but expecting he''ll get an upgrade from number 39.

£50 that shirt cost me

I don''t believe in karma or anything, but this is interesting. Middlesbrough''s cynical performance at Carrow Road put the division''s best team into the play-offs. And injured their best player. If they''d have lost, we''d have gone up as champions and they''d have had a better chance against Watford or Bournemouth.

Hey guys, did The Fox get a stream? Did it work or keep cutting out? Many NCFC fans there? May be down on Sat.

Totally unfair - and I thought that when we beat Wolves. 46 matches over all conditions and managing injuries,suspensions and refereeing decisions reduced to 180 then 90 minutes of chaos in a low scoring sport. Premier League wouldn''t back this for deciding champions league places so don''t know why we have to put up with it. And even after nearly 30 years no one at the football league has the imagination or intelligence to try out a system given advantage to teams in higher positions eg: no away legs for these guys; IPL style 3v4; winner to final loser plays winner of 5v6. etc. In summary - not a fan.

I think the problem may be not the Fox and other bars won’t want to show it, but that I don’t think it is being broadcast in NZ. Sommet Sports held rights to Championship until it went bust in November, and no one else has picked up the rights. I have read that ESPN have rights them but last time I checked their schedules there was no Championship fixtures (had to watch Boro game online on a stream). Hope I’m wrong or that some bars have Australian subscription. Please tell me I’m wrong – it’s not the worst time to watch a match in NZ! Better than the 2am Tuesday morning final that we’ll definitely get to.

Does anyone know the likely kick off time for this match? The fixture is on Braga''s website, but no mention of KO time there either? Ta