CL 2019-20

[Diable Rouge]

And Insigne responds, literally instantly.

[ursus arctos]

Big win for Inter against Dortmund.

Perhaps ms ursus' presence in the city (if not the ground), brought them luck.

[Diable Rouge]

Lopes with a massive blunder against Benfica:

https://twitter.com/RaulMunozMX/status/1187109328714698753

[anton pulisov]

Hmmm, it seems that Chelsea have friends in high places at UEFA.

Firstly, any kind of handball in the box is now a penalty, except when it is a Chelsea defender.

Secondly, Ajax had a goal disallowed for offside, with Promes' big toe judged to have been two centimetres offside by the super duper UEFA technology. Fair cop, what can you do. Except, they didn't freeze the image exactly when the ball was played, but a tiny bit afterwards. If they freeze the image 1/100th of a second earlier, Promes is onside. So the law is, when in doubt, rule in favour of Chelsea.

[anton pulisov]

https://twitter.com/keeskwakman14/status/1187063677129842692/photo/1

So, the image on the right was shown for the UEFA VAR ruling. It doesn't show if it is frozen at the time of the ball being crossed. Promes' right leg does look offside. So, some Ajax fans who recorded the match went back and found the exact moment when the ball was crossed. That's the image above on the left. There, Promes' right leg hasn't strode forward yet. So he'd be onside.

So, some Ajax lads rolled the tape forward until Promes' right leg appears exactly how it does in the UEFA VAR ruling:

https://twitter.com/RonaldMol1986/status/1187078807565537280https://twitter.com/RonaldMol1986/status/1187078807565537280https://twitter.com/RonaldMol1986/status/1187078807565537280

The cross is already well underway.

Well done, UEFA.

[Nocturnal Submission]

UEFA are always helping us out.

[Lang Spoon]

Fucking VAR is a shitshow.

[seand]

It's absolute cock. One of the selling points of VAR was that it'd sort out non-contentious factual stuff like offside, but the technology isn't there to get the angles or the timing correct to the centimetre and millisecond, like the goals for Ajax and Genk last night. And if we're looking at centimetres we now have the issue of precisely when the ball is played, is it when contact with the ball is made, or when the ball leaves contact with the passer?

(For example if you look at Sterling's pass to David Silva for City's second goal v Palace at the weekend the ball was in touch with his foot for perhaps half a second while he scooped it up and over the defender. That's enough time for players to move metres. So when was the pass played- when Sterling makes contact or when the ball leaves his foot? I don't think offside was an issue in this case but it's a good example of a ball being played for an extended period of time)

[Ray de Galles]

Going to Bruges tomorrow - again managing to miss a CL home game by a day or two at another ground I would like to visit.

Haven't really planned this trip very well.

Not as bad as these chaps ;

Liverpool fans miss Champions League win by going to Gent, not Genk

[Snake Plissken]

https://www.theguardian.com/football...ent-by-mistake

Two Liverpool fans missed the game after travelling to Gent instead of Genk. To be fair, Gent have invited them to tonights game against Wolfsburg but a part of me is thinking "Fuck em, you should learn to read a map".

[Capybara]

I've never understood the mentality of getting yourself in the media to advertise your own stupidity unless you personally find it funny which, from the picture, it doesn't appear they did.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

It's absolute cock. One of the selling points of VAR was that it'd sort out non-contentious factual stuff like offside, but the technology isn't there to get the angles or the timing correct to the centimetre and millisecond, like the goals for Ajax and Genk last night. And if we're looking at centimetres we now have the issue of precisely when the ball is played, is it when contact with the ball is made, or when the ball leaves contact with the passer?

(For example if you look at Sterling's pass to David Silva for City's second goal v Palace at the weekend the ball was in touch with his foot for perhaps half a second while he scooped it up and over the defender. That's enough time for players to move metres. So when was the pass played- when Sterling makes contact or when the ball leaves his foot? I don't think offside was an issue in this case but it's a good example of a ball being played for an extended period of time)

This. VAR was only ever going to expose the limits of the technology (and how to interpret it). The "when the ball was played" is hardly ever analysed properly. It needs to go back to a reasonable use of "clearly offside" and if VAR can't demonstrate that then goals should stand.

[Jah Womble]

Not as bad as these chaps ;

Liverpool fans miss Champions League win by going to Gent, not Genk

I note that the author of that piece has compounded their misery by suggesting that Liverpool managed a fifth goal...

[Tony C]

Not as bad as these chaps ;

Liverpool fans miss Champions League win by going to Gent, not Genk

Ha. Actually in Gent now. Leaving at 6.00pm so will miss the Gent - Wolfsburg EL game that I would have gone to. That's three near misses.

[Tony C]

On a non-football related note Gent is very pleasant.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I wish the blokes who can't read a map had made it, but the blokes with the homemade banner of Divock Origi's face on a nude black porn star's body hadn't. That happy little gang have some serious questions to ask about themselves, I reckon, not just about race issues but their own sexuality.

[Wouter D]

On a non-football related note Gent is very pleasant.

I had the good fortune of getting a job and living there for eleven months. It is indeed very pleasant. We keep that quiet, so that all the tourists stay in Brugge.

[elguapo4]

Was there for a European game with Bohs in 2006,loved the place, met some great home fans as well.

[anton pulisov]

Currently Chelsea 1, Ajax 4

[Ray de Galles]

There's been some bad luck for Chelsea (two own goals, one off the post and rebounding in off the keeper's face) but they are being roundly outplayed.

[Ray de Galles]

Earlier, Barca were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Slavia Prague.

[anton pulisov]

Ziyech is strolling around like he owns the place. Three assists. One for Promes, one for Van de Beek, one for Kepa (which was a phenomenal free kick).

The pass to Van de Beek just now was hit like a bullet straight at Van de Beek's foot. Van de Beek controlled it instantly and fired it in. The Chelsea defenders didn't even have time to react. Talk about two players on the same wavelength, unbelievable.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Chelsea got the bounce of the ball in the last game, with Ajax having the first goal ruled out, but tonight Ajax have scored four goals from two shots on target. I think the bounce of the ball has gone against them tonight

[anton pulisov]

Hmm, this could end 4-4 yet.

[anton pulisov]

Chelsea got the bounce of the ball in the last game, with Ajax having the first goal ruled out, but tonight Ajax have scored four goals from two shots on target. I think the bounce of the ball has gone against them tonight

Yeah, because the inside of the post doest count as on target.