Just back

Quoted from RoboCod

The game seemed to go on for some time after, with Townsend moaning and harrying the ref. We see much worse challenges week in week out, often unpunished but only in VAR games will these actually be punished, which seems to be bordering on a 2-tier refereeing system.
It's also worth noting that the early 'limiter' challenge is still popular, the crunching tackle/foul in the first 2 or 3 minutes that doesn't get a card as the ref (mostly) sees the game as in its early, settling down stages. Be interesting to see how VAR may handle that.

We just did !!!

i have no qualms about the red being correct today....but my issue is that again its only applied to a few games in the same competition which is then going to give one side an advantage to progress to the next round.  Today Palace got the benefit as Atkinson was only going to issue a yellow....there could have been an exact same tackle in any other cup game this weekend where the ref issued a yellow and without VAR it would have stood....giving an adantage to one side and disadvantage to the other.

It should be carpet use across every game or not at all IMO.

Quoted from Kennyh

Technically, it was a red card, but common sense should have prevailed. The referee should have determined that the game was only 90 seconds in and that it was one of Grimsby's biggest games in years, where the players were obviously fired up to give everything. Townsend going down like a sack of potatoes did not help. Sensible decision would have been yellow card with a stern warning.

Yes.

But the ref's don't use discretion any more do they - soon the Prem will be reffed by robots...however I wonder if the ref would have overruled the VAR if it had been a Palace player that went in high after 90 seconds...

If VAR wasn’t used in all the World Cup games Croatia would possibly be world champions

Well, it’s gone 1am and I’m just back home in Leeds, and boy am I proud. Proud of our fantastic support and even more proud of the players in black and white (plus one in yellow) on the pitch.

I said before the game that I felt it was a tough ask against a strong, Premier League lineup (even without a single centre half on the pitch) and that I’d be happy so long as we didn’t pull a Tranmere or lose to a late, undeserved goal as we did to Huddersfield a few years back. Sadly, the latter would transpire.

I missed Fox’s challenge at the time and haven’t seen it back, but given a red card was awarded via VAR and those who’ve seen it mostly seem to concur the decision was correct there’s not much of a case to argue.

It was a real shame as it took the wind out of the atmosphere for a while and clearly altered the shape of the game but I hold no ill feeling towards Fox - it’s early in the game, he’s likely nervous and full of adrenalin and no doubt will have been instructed to get stuck in early doors. In many ways VAR makes a lot of sense however it doesn’t afford any discretion for things like that. Is that right? I don’t know.

Two minutes in I was worried we might take a real hammering but as poor as Palace were for a top flight side, Town were out of this world. Absolutely no one stood out for Palace but I think we can ultimately take credit for that - we were brilliantly organised and wanted it more than they did.

What I will say about Palace though is that I thought their fans were fantastic. Individually, the ones I met were pleasant and respectful and they turned out in great numbers for a game that was equivalent (in terms of the gap in league places) to us playing an Evostik team. They made plenty of noise behind the goal and the way almost the entire lower tier of the Holmsdale End stayed behind to clap the Town players off the pitch showed real class.

A nod to Selhurst Park too. By no means state of the art, but a proper old school ground that has real charm. Maybe it’s just the nostalgia in me, but I loved it.

Anyway, for the first time in a long time I’m thoroughly enjoying being a Town fan and I can’t wait for Saturday.

I’ll say again: so, so proud tonight!

Does anyone else still feel cheated this morning? I certainly do. As much as I remain immensely proud of a team who really have shown that we are moving in the right direction in recent weeks, I also remain completely and utterly disgusted about how we were treated by officialdom in that game.

Let's begin with the sending off. As far as I am concerned, it cannot possibly qualify as a clear and obvious error. A clear and obvious error, in any sensible definition, is one of mistaken identity, a foul being given which wasn't or a player scoring from an offside position. If the original decision had stood, no-one would have batted an eyelid. Yet, because of some incompetent illegitimate sitting in a room nowhere near the play, we were left with a mountain to climb.

That mountain became ever steeper because of the plain and simple bias of Martin Atkinson. The Premier League referee gave every single little thing that he could to the Premier League side. If he is meant to be one of the better referees in this country, then it proves exactly why no English referees were selected to go to the World Cup last summer. He, and they, are simply not up to the task of officiating fairly and properly.

Quoted from EY Mariner

Does anyone else still feel cheated this morning? I certainly do. As much as I remain immensely proud of a team who really have shown that we are moving in the right direction in recent weeks, I also remain completely and utterly disgusted about how we were treated by officialdom in that game.

Let's begin with the sending off. As far as I am concerned, it cannot possibly qualify as a clear and obvious error. A clear and obvious error, in any sensible definition, is one of mistaken identity, a foul being given which wasn't or a player scoring from an offside position. If the original decision had stood, no-one would have batted an eyelid. Yet, because of some incompetent illegitimate sitting in a room nowhere near the play, we were left with a mountain to climb.

That mountain became ever steeper because of the plain and simple bias of Martin Atkinson. The Premier League referee gave every single little thing that he could to the Premier League side. If he is meant to be one of the better referees in this country, then it proves exactly why no English referees were selected to go to the World Cup last summer. He, and they, are simply not up to the task of officiating fairly and properly.

I totally agree with this and yes I do still feel cheated.

The most experienced referee in the Premier League saw the challenge which was about 5 yards away from him. He being the match official took into account that it was the very first meaningful tackle in the game; he took into account the conditions of a slick playing surface, the players intent and whether he tried to play the ball, or was just beaten by Townsend's skill (probably the most skilful player he has faced).  

Atkinson took all that into account and gave a yellow card and allowed play to continue.

I was annoyed with Fox because he shouldn't have put himself in that position, but a yellow would have sent the message to him and the others.

I am incredulous that the decision was overturned by Jon Moss, who is a less experienced official, because in the cold light of a replay it looked a dangerous tackle. I didn't even think VAR was designed for such incidents when the match referee had clearly seen the incident.

If VAR is introduced it will produce a stop start game which will be horrible to watch if every contentious decision is looked at.

2 referees. One thought it a yellow, one thought it a red.

Quoted from EY Mariner

Does anyone else still feel cheated this morning? I certainly do. As much as I remain immensely proud of a team who really have shown that we are moving in the right direction in recent weeks, I also remain completely and utterly disgusted about how we were treated by officialdom in that game.

Let's begin with the sending off. As far as I am concerned, it cannot possibly qualify as a clear and obvious error. A clear and obvious error, in any sensible definition, is one of mistaken identity, a foul being given which wasn't or a player scoring from an offside position. If the original decision had stood, no-one would have batted an eyelid. Yet, because of some incompetent illegitimate sitting in a room nowhere near the play, we were left with a mountain to climb.

That mountain became ever steeper because of the plain and simple bias of Martin Atkinson. The Premier League referee gave every single little thing that he could to the Premier League side. If he is meant to be one of the better referees in this country, then it proves exactly why no English referees were selected to go to the World Cup last summer. He, and they, are simply not up to the task of officiating fairly and properly.

I think any Premiership ref would have been similar in all honesty....players falling over at the slightest touch and doing several roll's is the norm to get a free kick.....they did as normal...the ref did as normal.....we were naive to it...what is a normal bit of contact in our daily practice resulted in free kicks for them.....we didnt fall over enough when we got the same and we didnt complain enough.
Prem players, prem ref, VAR all significant factors in the favour of Palace.
The players gave their all, showed resiliance and discipline to the defensive task and did us proud.

Thought they played the ref really well esp Zaha who has gone down massively in my opinion, Prem ref always seem to look after there own.

Great Town day out loved it, the players and fans were fantastic.

A big well done to all the fans who went, im proud of every one of you, unfortunate that I had to go to work. I watched it on the tv and even booed with you all when Townsend got the ball. I looked at Palace forum this morning and I just had to share this with you all, made me laugh,and proud at the same time.

      Noz  North Hampshire Today 9.57am

I think the reason Andros was trying his level best to score at every opportunity was the fact that 4 thousand people were calling him an "obscene hand gesturer" for 94 minutes, and he wanted to stick it to them.

I felt the ref gave them a lot but when I checked the BBC site this morning it was 11 fouls against Town and 10 against Palace