The Voice - Match preview #7: Bradford City vs AFC Wimbledon Saturday 21st September 2024 3:00pm

Better than looking like Jim Carey!

 

Kinda... in the NFL the yellow towels/flags are to mark where a foul has been spotted anywhere on the field. The chains on the side are to track where the play ended or the ball goes out of play to mark the next set of downs. There's a line ref on each side that marks 10 yards per play and there's a pole that marks where the ball exactly went out or was stopped up.

But the NFL also has 7 refs per game and video refs monitoring too. Easier to do that kind of exact management with so many officials. Some would say it would just slow the game down? You'd certainly need 2 more linos per game.

 

Tuesday's game was a much easier game to referee as it was bascially a friendly, this was a fully competitive league match. I get why people are complaining about the referee but another a referee on another day would've sent off Smallwood for the challenge that led to the brawl as it was a very poor tackle then that's him out for 3 matches and we would be in a lot of trouble. It was such a needless and stupid tackle then Cook picks up another needless yellow card for mouthing off so he's now only 2 off a ban, how Oliver escaped a yellow card I've no idea. We are becoming such an easy side to wind up and make the game into a fight, Walsall did it last week and yesterday Wimbledon did it.

 

Nobody would really want that and it would only slow the game down more.
As others have said would require more officials and there's no way 2 assistant referees could do. Then the question is where do all these new officials from and who's paying them?
Ever team does it including us, nobody wants every free kick and throw in being taken from exactly the correct spot as it would only slow the game down.
Something like this would require IFAB to authorise it to bring it into the laws of the game, there are much bigger things for them to sort out than a full back picking up a few extra yards from a throw in.

 

Refs need to show more bottle for me. If the gaining of 5/10/15 yards per throw in gets to a point where the powers that be decide action is needed, refs should show an instant yellow if players start taking the piss with it. Only way to stop it without hiring more linos. There's no real way 2 linos could enforce or help either as they only track 50 yards down one side.

 

The big difference was Walsall wanted to win the game, and as you know after watching the game Walsall were exactly the opposite to Wimbledon, their winning goal a perfect example of getting the ball moved quickly and caught us cold.

 

The ref was alright yesterday. There's a number of posters on here who seem to buy into the hysteria of a referee sometimes giving borderline calls to the other team. Since the ref is neutral and is not inclined as we are to give every decision our way then these referee meltdowns will be a mainstay of football support for as long as a ball is kicked.

Smallwood was lucky to avoid a red. It was a stupid and emotional challenge where he flew in against a opponent who was basically already on the ground. The Adams incident was never a penalty in a million years. The usual suspects won't admit it but if that's a penalty against us we'd be seething. It's astonishing that anyone thought the ref would give it. Not for a second did I expect a penalty for two players basically running into each other. Show a neutral that incident and they'll laugh at you for saying it's a pen.

The holding is a problematic one. If you watch league football regularly the referees don't get involved because it's usually both players engaging in it. It's part and parcel of the game and unless it's absolutely blatant and a player is stopped from gaining a significant advantage they tend to leave it alone as both players feel the decision should go their way. Every time Cook has his shirt grabbed its preceded by him pinning his arm against the defenders upper chest and driving his full body weight back into the defender. The refs just leave it be.

Every single forum is full of people bleating about how their team always get cheated,their team never get decisions, their team need to be 'smarter' like everyone else etc.

I now it's not a popular view but I know I'm right. I'm not saying referees don't make mistakes but a lot of the content on here about referees is incredibly juvenile.

As for the ref on Tuesday, he was fortunate to referee a game where there weren't any contentious incidents or appeals. Sure enough he'll be back at VP one day in a game where there's a tight call go the other way and he'll be slaughtered on here.

 

If your example of high home attendances was correct Manchester United would have a great home record, I'd actually argue having 16,000 in attendance does influence officials, them not being swayed by big crowds for league two game.

 

There is definitely a correlation between us winning and refs rated highly on here, I've seen it happen before. Yesterday was as tough a game as you'll get to ref, physical direct football always is with contentious shirt pulling and wrestling.

 

And back in the day he did a very good impression of Muhammad Ali hence he will always be known as "Cass" to me.

 

Saw what you did there .

 

You know how a forum works don't you people go to the same game and have a different take on what they actually saw, and long may it continue.

 

I said similar after last week that there's a culture in football to blame the referee to distract from the team, it happens with every club and the reality is it will never change. I do have to laugh at the lack of self awareness of fans when I hear fans call a referee bias when fans are the most bias people in the stadium.
Ultimately the referee wasn't the reason we only made their keeper make 1 real save. I don't know if Alexander is trying to create the 'world against us' mentality or putting pressure on the officials or trying to distract the fans from the performance or a mixture of all 3 but it will only work for so long. The next 2 games are ones we really need to be winning and excuses of blaming the officials won't work.

 

I've followed this thread after yesterday's game and read various replies with regards Mr Hunts performance and nowhere have I seen or read a post blaming the referee for yesterday's result. Some thought the referee should have nipped the Wimbledon antics in the bud early doors unfortunately he didn't then wondered why tempers ran high towards the end of the game.

 

I just love reading all these pompous posts that refer to other posters as being wrong and they are right, and referring to their view as juvenile or hysterical, both are undermining. So only men who agree can be regarded as worthy. I don’t have a problem with ppl disagreeing with me, there is no need for insults.

 

I'm just talking in general across football not 1 specific game

 

If we were talking about the kind of grappling that goes on at corners and free kicks then I’d agree with you - it’s usually six of one and half a dozen of the other and the refs often let it go. But that isn’t what we were talking about in yesterday’s game.
At least half a dozen times in the first 20 minutes we saw Wimbledon players, in open play, grab City players’ shirts or their arms to pull them back or slow them down as they ran with the ball. This was repeatedly happening in midfield in full view of the officials and they just let it go on unpunished, so Wimbledon just kept doing it some more. There was no reciprocity here - it was clearly a premeditated tactic to slow us down and it worked. I was talking to friends in the concourse at half time and we were all of the same opinion that Wimbledon were being allowed to get away with their spoiling tactics with impunity.

You could see our players getting increasingly frustrated and wound up by the referee’s inaction. What are they supposed to do when their attacking intent is repeatedly impaired by unlawful means but the officials don’t act? I’m sure that Smallwood’s reckless challenge (that probably should have seen him walk tbf) was the culmination of a match full of exasperation at the referee’s deeply ineffectual handling of the game.

I’m not someone who habitually moans about referees, and I often agree with your posts defending officials, but I felt yesterday’s officiating was some of the worse I’ve seen at VP for years.

 

Anyone a bit worried about Pointon so far this season? Has had a few chances to claim a shirt, but hasn't really taken them as of yet. Like, he'll have a 10/15 min cameo and be bright but once he starts he doesn't seem to get a rhythm going?

Might be me hoping he becomes a big player because academy risers are incredible to see, but it just feels like that next step from squad option to first teamer isn't coming easy so far this year.