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I wasn't defending their performance, it was dreadful considering the individual quality of the players on the field.
I was merely trying to stress that if Saturdays ref is the quality we can expect in the tournament in close games where we are going to struggle anyway i.e. not in a position to bury the opposition by half time, then games will hinge on the ref.
The continental sides specialise in diving, and rolling around like someones chainsawed their legs off, we see it time & time again and I just can't believe FIFA have done absolutely nothing about it.
"Oh it would interrupt the flow of the game" what worse than a shyte ref who blows up at the smallest hint of physical contact?
Ref has an earpiece, and the 4th official in the box looks at the replay and gives the decision, 10 seconds max.
If tennis can use technology when the umpire has a pretty good view anyway, why can't a ref who has absolutely no view in some cases (especially off the ball incidents)
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Completely agree about the 4th official and 10 second rule - the ref should play on if unsure and the 4th official could intervene if appropriate. It really would solve everything.
However I completely disagree with blaming the ref for the performance against Austria - on the balance of things, Owen won a dodgy penalty and the ref made amends by not giving a more obvious one - wrong i know but you can see some sort of justice there I suppose.
The issue I have with the performance is that we have class players who could win games in style but they are restricted by the manager (who learned his trade in Italy don't forget). I remember Heskey's last appearance in an England shirt. In Euro 2004 against France he came on as a sub. The thing that stuck in my mind was how we hadn't given away any set pieces in and around the area for like 87 minutes - did not make one mistake within 35 yards of our own goal and on comes Heskey and blunders Makele over giving Zidane the opportunity to score, which he did. Heskey then paid the price for not obeying orders and will never be seen again in an England shirt although to be fair, he is pretty
cr@p. The players are paranoid imo.
Also, you never really hear top sides like Brazil moaning about the refs do you?
I reckon Sven should have played a 3-5-2 on Sat with Cole (J) and SWP as wing-backs and Beckham, Lampard and Gerrard in the middle with Owen and Bent up front. All Crouch does is make us a bit of a laughing stock.
Anyway, for entertainment you can't beat the second half of the N Ireland v Wales match on Saturday which i was lucky enough to see - quality!