The Voice - Match preview #12: Bradford City vs Barnsley Saturday 18th October 2025 3:00pm

A blatant arm across the face Dave - a forearm smash in wrestling terms!! Clear as day from top of the kop!!

 

They're probably accurate but completely meaningless and shouldn't really be used as a metric in something like the BBCs stats.

Maybe possession in the final 3rd might be better if they were desperate to include a possession statement.

 

Arsenal were at it for a large part of the game at Fulham yesterday, keeper rolling it under his foot and slowly moving towards the halfway line and then the 3 backs just passing the ball endlessly between themselves.
Compare that to the all action 90+ minutes at VP yesterday ...

 

One is proper football, I’d love to think we had the better. It was the best to/fro game we have seen for a long long time .

 

Possesion is all amazing if you actually make it count and how many times under Hughes did we really hurt a team time after time with more possesion ???????? Wouldnt be that many times was it ???????
It was in a nutshell on the whole fooking boring unlike now with i gather less possesion we actually look more dangerous then i would say in a hell of a long time.................

 

People don't like change for the sake of change, the powers that be for some reason want to make the game more difficult to follow, the off side law being a perfect example, and just watching the Spurs/Villa game Spurs took a free kick that hit referee Simon Hooper deflecting to a Spurs player who crossed the ball and should have scored yet Hooper didn't blow up, yet were told if the ball strikes the referee he stops the game and its a dropped ball.

 

Times when i wish they would fook off an create there European super league so we dont have to put up with dull as dish football week after week

 

It's even more bizarre how some folks get so excited by it.

 

Yes I think I've got the wrong incident, there was one where the ball was crossed into the area and the keeper misjudged it completely taking out our player Wright ? and the referee waved our claims away.

 

Yep, totally agree. There was one in the 85th minute too for a fan who had sadly passed away.

Personally I think just keep it to one time each year for all fans etc, again just a personal opinion but I would do it at start of each season so it is seperate to the one for the 56 at last home game

 

Think the police like it there as the beer garden is round the back out of the way, easy to keep them herded in and then walk them down on mass to the ground just before kick off rather than a long walk through/across town

 

That's not correct.

Play only stops if it disadvantages the team in possession. I'm pretty sure it was going to their player anyway.

 

I think it's Opta.

 

If a ball hits a referee during a game, the general rule is that play is halted, and a drop ball is awarded to the team that was in possession of the ball at the time the referee was hit. However, if the referee is hit while inside a penalty area, play simply restarts with an uncontested drop ball given to the goalkeeper of the defending team. This rule is outlined in FIFA Law No. 9, which states that the ball is out of play when it touches a match official and remains on the field of play.

The point I was making is that before the rule change the referee was deemed as being part of the game/play and if the ball hit him the game continued, hence why in jest posters have said in the past I don't care if we win with the ball coming off the referees arse.

 

There's a few more caveats not included in your link.

https://www.givemesport.com/why-simon-hooper-did-not-stop-tottenham-vs-aston-villa-after-ball-hit-referee/

 

If Spurs had scored from that free kick (which they should have done) the ball took a deflection that assisted Spurs to cross the ball, so in that particular case the situation it's no different to the old rule that the referee is a part of the game and if the ball hits him its deemed to be still in play which is IMO an easier rule to follow for the fan, hence the controversy amongst fans and co-commentators.

 

God sakes....the early "altercations" were much of nowt. Credit to the WPC whom I know, difficult situation handled well

 

A 15 year old kid getting spending money from a stats clearing house , which is then sold to media outlets

 

Possibly. He bossed the show for us when he came on and personally I think he should be starting. technically however, I’d say the Barnsley lad is a different class. Both destined for at least championship football in their careers