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Original poster

The Rolling Football Thread: Season 2025/26 - thread 3

1000 replies

DuncinToffee · 25/01/2026 12:16

Previous thread

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/sports/5429011-the-rolling-football-thread-season-202526-thread-2?page=40&reply=150096583

OP posts:
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27
Brefugee · 07/02/2026 20:48

I am ok with football today - Gladbach actually turned up and actually played actual football so much they scored in the first 10 minutes. Of course 2nd half wasn't fab, but managed to hold them to a 1-1 draw. Did not leave early.

And the results went the right way for my Boro supporter so if they win on Monday (and the match is being shown on German Sky) they will be top of the league.

I am not talking about Wednesday who are bound to lose tomorrow.

Kirbert2 · 07/02/2026 20:57

Brefugee · 07/02/2026 20:48

I am ok with football today - Gladbach actually turned up and actually played actual football so much they scored in the first 10 minutes. Of course 2nd half wasn't fab, but managed to hold them to a 1-1 draw. Did not leave early.

And the results went the right way for my Boro supporter so if they win on Monday (and the match is being shown on German Sky) they will be top of the league.

I am not talking about Wednesday who are bound to lose tomorrow.

How is Leo Castledine getting on at Boro so far? Never fall in love with a loan player they say but was gutted when he got recalled and then sold.

Brefugee · 07/02/2026 21:13

he's injured afaik, so no opinion yet from the boro fan (but to be fair, we rarely get to actually see the matches)

Brefugee · 08/02/2026 11:05

gosh, that's an emotional clip.

MrsMitford3 · 08/02/2026 13:57

@Brefugee It reminds my why I love sport so much...

burblish · 08/02/2026 18:52

Well done, VAR: a decision that neither side were happy with, that wouldn't have altered the result of the match, and leaves us without our best player of the season for our next game. Great work, there.

Original poster
DuncinToffee · 08/02/2026 19:22

I haven't seen the incident but going by comments online it was the weirdest VAR decision

Better to lose 3-1 than losing your best player.

OP posts:
Tiswa · 08/02/2026 19:27

There is just no consistency between games even in games anymore - I mean he was sent off for denying a goal scoring opportunity (that they then scored from and was ruled out for a foul) even though Marc guehi wasnt? I mean who can explain that!

the game has gone a little I have to say. The drive for consistency and fairness has for me made it even less so

Brefugee · 08/02/2026 19:47

it was absolutely batshit. German comentators were saying that if they hadn't given the Liverpool player the red card they would have had to book Haarland for also pulling.

But for me: the red card was for pulling the last man in an attempt to stop a goal - which he didn't stop. Literally played the advantage. It was utterly bonkers and unnecessary.

the game has gone a little I have to say. The drive for consistency and fairness has for me made it even less so

but there is no consistency. We see it game after game after game - ref doesn't blow something up, then 10 minutes later blows the same thing up for the other team. Constantly. Or there is pulling and pulling and pulling and then at some point the ref decides, completely arbitrarily that he's had it up to here with all the pulling and blows up that which has been going on all match without a peep from him.

Tiswa · 08/02/2026 19:57

Brefugee · 08/02/2026 19:47

it was absolutely batshit. German comentators were saying that if they hadn't given the Liverpool player the red card they would have had to book Haarland for also pulling.

But for me: the red card was for pulling the last man in an attempt to stop a goal - which he didn't stop. Literally played the advantage. It was utterly bonkers and unnecessary.

the game has gone a little I have to say. The drive for consistency and fairness has for me made it even less so

but there is no consistency. We see it game after game after game - ref doesn't blow something up, then 10 minutes later blows the same thing up for the other team. Constantly. Or there is pulling and pulling and pulling and then at some point the ref decides, completely arbitrarily that he's had it up to here with all the pulling and blows up that which has been going on all match without a peep from him.

Edited

Yes exactly the VAR drive for trying to get consistency has made it less consistent than it was before

LlynTegid · 08/02/2026 20:01

Just scrap VAR, have only something to determine if a ball has crossed the line, and perhaps reviews of off the ball incidents the referee cannot have seen, nothing else.

The FA Cup third round proved once and for all how much better the game would be without it.

TheBabyFatmoss · 08/02/2026 22:32

A WIN ! I’d forgotten what it felt like. And against Brighton which made it even sweeter.

Scoobydoobydoo19 · 08/02/2026 22:43

I was out this evening. What happened on the City v Liverpool game?

GasPanic · 09/02/2026 11:52

VAR has just moved the goalposts a bit. Rather than getting 30 wrong decisions a season there are now maybe 10. And some waiting around.

Fans will always moan about something. If VAR is not in their favour they will moan about it, but they never complain when it is.

I think on balance it is good for the game. But maybe they should introduce some sort of time limit on how long a VAR review can take place. For example, if they can't make a decision in 2 minutes then the original decision stands.

The problem is there is huge pressure on them to get the decision right, and that means they often take a long time to make a decision to be really careful.

There are also some really awful rules in the game that need to be tidied up. Tidy up the bad rules and the VAR decisions get better. Rules should be objective not subjective.

The whole process is in its infancy and is going to take time to develop and work through. It should get better over time.

burblish · 09/02/2026 11:58

@Scoobydoobydoo19 Honestly, it's almost too depressing a shitshow to recap! Probably a technically correct decision by the letter of the law, but felt by all to be completely against the spirit of the game. VAR basically unwound a goal scored at the end of injury time by City to disallow the goal because Haaland fouled Szoboszlai in the box (who would have otherwise cleared the ball off the line), but then also sent off Szoboszlai because he fouled Haaland by pulling him back just outside the box before that (the ball was goal bound anyway (would have been credited to Cherki but Haaland would have made sure of it as he had overtaken Szoboszlai in chasing after it)). Both teams would have preferred for the goal to stand and Szoboszlai not to be penalised.

City were 2-1 up at that point anyway, so it wouldn't have changed the outcome of the match, but from City's perspective it impacts their goal difference, while Liverpool are now without their best player this season for our next match (v Sunderland on Wednesday). More than that, it really marred what had otherwise been a cracking football match. Another issue it exposed was lack of consistency: VAR looked at a Mark Guehi incident earlier in the match and decided it wasn't DOGSO, so he only got a yellow. Admittedly, the Szobo incident was a clearer example of DOGSO (except that Haaland's subsequent foul on him meant the ball did go into the net so, yanno, no actual denial of a goalscoring opportunity), but the inconsistency within the same match wasn't good. It's quite rare for both sides to be equally unhappy with a VAR decision, which tells you everything!

burblish · 09/02/2026 12:10

On a separate note, am I the only one who hates all the short sighted calls by social media scrotes and bottom-feeding journalists to sack managers every time teams don't meet expectations for even short periods? Everything seems to be about instant results, what has happened in the past few weeks only, unrealistic expectations, no credit at all for recent past work. E.g., calls to sack Arteta if Arsenal don't win the league even though he has made the club consistent contenders over recent seasons and 19 other Prem clubs also won't win it; sack Slot even though he won the league just last season (but apparently turned clueless overnight?) and is still in the Champions League; sack Howe who has turned Newcastle around completely since he joined them; even sack Rosenior who has only been there a month! Maybe it's because I'm an old gimmer, but when did fans' expectations become so short term and inflated?

Scoobydoobydoo19 · 09/02/2026 13:01

burblish · 09/02/2026 11:58

@Scoobydoobydoo19 Honestly, it's almost too depressing a shitshow to recap! Probably a technically correct decision by the letter of the law, but felt by all to be completely against the spirit of the game. VAR basically unwound a goal scored at the end of injury time by City to disallow the goal because Haaland fouled Szoboszlai in the box (who would have otherwise cleared the ball off the line), but then also sent off Szoboszlai because he fouled Haaland by pulling him back just outside the box before that (the ball was goal bound anyway (would have been credited to Cherki but Haaland would have made sure of it as he had overtaken Szoboszlai in chasing after it)). Both teams would have preferred for the goal to stand and Szoboszlai not to be penalised.

City were 2-1 up at that point anyway, so it wouldn't have changed the outcome of the match, but from City's perspective it impacts their goal difference, while Liverpool are now without their best player this season for our next match (v Sunderland on Wednesday). More than that, it really marred what had otherwise been a cracking football match. Another issue it exposed was lack of consistency: VAR looked at a Mark Guehi incident earlier in the match and decided it wasn't DOGSO, so he only got a yellow. Admittedly, the Szobo incident was a clearer example of DOGSO (except that Haaland's subsequent foul on him meant the ball did go into the net so, yanno, no actual denial of a goalscoring opportunity), but the inconsistency within the same match wasn't good. It's quite rare for both sides to be equally unhappy with a VAR decision, which tells you everything!

Thank you for explaining! I've seen loads of people talk about it but I've had no idea what they're actually talking about!

Brefugee · 09/02/2026 13:06

Fans will always moan about something. If VAR is not in their favour they will moan about it, but they never complain when it is.

5 minutes a couple of weeks ago to decide on a goal for Gladbach. I am still complaining about VAR. It is not needed. And it makes refs scared of making a decision.

ETA to agree with @Scoobydoobydoo19 that the Liverpool decision was absolutely not in the spirit of the game. It's making me irrationally cross because i have an antipathy to both clubs and would like them both to lose 😜But now i feel as though i have to be on both their sides because that decision was batshit.

Kirbert2 · 09/02/2026 13:10

As awful as the refereeing can be in league 1, I'm glad there isn't VAR.

MeouwKing · 09/02/2026 13:22

I went to a non-league game Saturday, plenty of dodgy reffing.

Tiswa · 09/02/2026 14:01

yeah but for me if VAR doesn’t get rid of dodgy refereeing and instead actually ruins the flow of the game what is the point of it

goal line yes offside yes (within reason if you can’t decide within a minute either on side decision or favour the attacker

Brefugee · 09/02/2026 17:10

VAR just adds a whole other layer of batshittery though - even down to when it intervenes and when not. It often feels that they feel the need to investigate every single goal because they are petrified of the clubs making a big fuss.

TheSleepingGiant · 09/02/2026 19:23

burblish · 09/02/2026 12:10

On a separate note, am I the only one who hates all the short sighted calls by social media scrotes and bottom-feeding journalists to sack managers every time teams don't meet expectations for even short periods? Everything seems to be about instant results, what has happened in the past few weeks only, unrealistic expectations, no credit at all for recent past work. E.g., calls to sack Arteta if Arsenal don't win the league even though he has made the club consistent contenders over recent seasons and 19 other Prem clubs also won't win it; sack Slot even though he won the league just last season (but apparently turned clueless overnight?) and is still in the Champions League; sack Howe who has turned Newcastle around completely since he joined them; even sack Rosenior who has only been there a month! Maybe it's because I'm an old gimmer, but when did fans' expectations become so short term and inflated?

It is one of my hates too, I've just finished watching the local South East news and they have run a piece on Hurzler (sp?) I know Brighton haven't been great recently and losing to Palace is always a tough one to swallow but come on?! 2 wins and they are back into the top 10. Then they will pick on the next poor sod...

TheNewGaard · 10/02/2026 19:22

Just seen the Arseblogger referring to tonight's clash between Sp*rs and Newcastle as "the stoppable force meets the moveable object"!

🤣🤣🤣

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