Inverted

I'm trying to tell myself that the problem must just seem worse because people are paying much more attention than before. But it really feels like there is consistently at least one - if not multiple - enormous, incomprehensible howler of a decision every week these days.

It seems to be a consistent thing with Arsenal where they start well and almost seem to surprise themselves, and then degenerate into trying desperately to slow the game down rather than just playing. For all the bluster, the weird thing is that it seems like, deep down, they don't actually back themselves.

That is literally like a basketball dribble by Odegaard, taking the ball right away from Salah's feet. That seems like a far more obvious penalty than the vast majority you see where the hand is static and the ball just hits it. Very confusing.

Saying that Chelsea need more signings is like trying to revive a drowning victim with a glass of water.

I was really thinking that Trippier might have been dropped for at least a game. Seems like one of those spells where you're just just making too mistakes to play yourself out of. Not that he's really done all that wrong today, but you wouldn't think that being left out to get skinned by Son repeatedly is going to do much for his confidence.

Building up a reasonable bit of momentum and some more positivity, only to go and have an absolute horror result like that is outstanding.

McSauce continuing to be United's best player. Standard.

Despite the last few years of performances from both sides making it objectively not that crazy, it still feels crazy that I can genuinely look at playing Germany in a tournament opener, in Germany, as a potentially winnable game.

The Man City players refused to play an advantage not long before in the 2nd half, so it's slightly hypocritical to then complain about the ref giving them a free kick at another point.

The weird thing with ETH is that he's somehow managed to not buy himself any good will in any sense. If there was one aspect of his coaching/managing that seemed promising I would be more inclined to say "it would be stupid to sack him now", but is there? If the results were crap but there was a clear style, or if he was re-shaping the squad, or changing the attitude of the team, or even if he was just likeable, that would be something. But he's chucked absolutely everything out the window in the hopes of scraping together enough results to save himself, and it doesn't seem to be working.

I know, it's one of those situations where it being soft doesn't really affect whether it's a foul or not. It stings on a common sense level (especially if you're on the wrong side of them) but as Stan says the refs are at least consistent with those, so nobody can be too aggrieved.

The foul on Alisson is soft but there's a hand on the shoulder at least, and when you see some of the fouls that Foden/Akanji were looking for you do think "fuck it" to a degree.

I feel like Liverpool have actually had enough decent opportunities in terms of being in and around the box, or getting runners against Man City with 3v3s. Just feels like they've been very indecisive. They're trying to make the absolute most of every attack, and hesitating, rather than just letting someone like Nunez or Szoboszlai just shoot. Man City generally try and carve you open but they also have a go every so often to mix it up.

Clear foul on Cucurella. The reason Cucurella is wrong side of Haaland is that he was pulled around by the arm. Surely a textbook case where VAR could help the ref by giving them some context on the situation?

Stuff like the Rashford comments further reinforce the feeling that ETH isn't actually about discipline and is more just about arbitrarily creating conflict for his own sake - trying to look authoritative, trying to make the players look worse, trying to create an impression that he's in control, whatever.

If you're going to play reactive long-ball football you might as well get a manager who's good at it.

It's cliche to say that a player has been made a scapegoat but this does seem to be what Ten Hag has done - in the actual, biblical sense of "putting all the group's failings on one goat and then sending them off into the wilderness to carry the guilt away from everyone else".

I'm always wary of any kind of moralistic explanation for football results but a big part of the problem at United does seem to be that the team is riddled with mentally/emotionally defective man-children.

I've got to say, this PL trend of top teams playing bang-average goalies becasue they've got latin names and little bit of a first touch does make things a lot more entertaining. Not everyone is Alisson/Ederson.

Betting on your own team's games is a fairly severe case, you would think. I fully sympathise but it feels somewhat unfair/cynical if a gambling addiction gets you a half or more reduction in your penalty. The point of addictions being diagnosable illnesses is to enable people to correct their behaviour and confront the consequences, not dodge them.

- Judas Iscariot, AD 33

You could argue neither in itself is a stonewaller but I've never seen as clear a case of an "orange" - ie. you're on thin ice/one more and you're off - followed by another pretty much orange.

Kovacic getting off with two ankle breakers in a row. Were the refs in the UAE again this week?

McTominay is wasted at United.

About a mile, not that I've been in years.