A few things yesterday confirmed my view that the club as a whole is naive

When it comes to "playing the game".

The Ayling assault on Rashica. Rashica should have made more of it, and every player and staff member should have been on it. Crowd the ref. Gesticulate. Yell for the red. Because it was a terrible tackle and a red.

What we got instead was a couple of players half heartedly putting their hands up, politely asking the ref what he thought. A few shrugs from the staff. What was that ref? I'm totally convinced that another club - Burnley, Watford - would have been much more effective in pressuring the ref into thinking "this is major, i'm going to need to see this", whereas we did nothing of the sort.

The boot into Max's groin. The lad knew EXACTLY what he was doing, no doubt. Again. Max simply got up and got on with it. Might have looked over to the ref. But not great fuss, no wider involvement from team or bench.

You just know that had ANY of those incidents been the other way, it would have been carnage. Every Leeds player yelling and hounding the ref. And the ref would have been under HUGE pressure to act, and most likely would have.

Compare and contrast that with that s**t head Pearson, getting Dimi sent off vs Bournemouth. Went down screaming like he'd been "done" when he really hadnt. Loads of Bournemouth lads straight on the ref....thats a red ref, over the ball, he's done him, sort it out. Result - red card, and Bournemouth won the game. Would the outcome have been the same the other way round? Of course not.

Compare and contrast with Burnley getting Emi sent off. They were just waiting for it, and as soon as Emi did something stupid, it was Hollywood style acting. Everyone instantly on the ref, the bench was up, Dyche was yapping at the ref, the fourth official. Result - red card, and Burnley won the game.

In particular in a world of VAR, this is what you NEED to do. Otherwise the VAR ref will just sit on their arse. Well nobody seems to be protesting much, so let's just crack on yeah, looks like its been dealt with on the field. Pass the crisps.

It is a fact that building pressure on the ref is part of the game. All the established, hardened Premier League teams do it, many of them to great effect. We are useless at it.

I posted something like this yesterday during the game. It's yet another thing that I'm infuriated by - our child like innocence, while meekly stumbling to another 20th place finish. I get that it's very noble - Corinthian spirit and all that - but surely drawing appropriate attention to clear and obvious nasty foul play is a small, necessary evil?

Posted By: Under soil heating on March 14th 2022 at 10:12:32

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