Per as the official waterboy. 😆

French showing silky skills on the ball but daftness off it

Not good by Benzema.

Benzema being as guileless as Giroud here

Klose dived. No way that was a penalty.

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

Pogba is very impressive.

Top baller.

I think Debuchy has had a good game.

I really, really, don't like Müller.

Clrnc wrote:

Klose dived.

Who cares? You can't grab someone's shirt and then whirl it around your hand when you're defending. By the letter of the law it's a penalty the second Debuchy starts tugging. A proper referee would have spotted it early.

There's tons of shirt pulling week in and week out in football. Very rarely do referees call it. Technically they should, but they don't. If we want that to change we need clear directives to referees from FIFA to clamp down on it and it has to be done consistently. It can't be just here and there.

or he was just savvy and hid it well.

There is a clear directive already. It's called rules. Whether they are applied consistently or not on a week to week basis doesn't change the fact that it's an obstruction. It was really obvious in this instance too.

Klaus wrote:
Clrnc wrote:

Klose dived.

Who cares? You can't grab someone's shirt and then whirl it around your hand when you're defending. By the letter of the law it's a penalty the second Debuchy starts tugging. A proper referee would have spotted it early.

If every time a defender pulled back or held a striker's shirt a pen was called, the game would be a travesty.

Klaus wrote:

There is a clear directive already. It's called rules. Whether they are applied consistently or not doesn't change the fact that it's an obstruction. It was really obvious in this instance too.

Technical rules and clear directives from FIFA on how they want refs to ref are two very different things. Just look at the clear directive this tournament to give out fewer cards. You can clearly see it in how referees are performing.

flobaba wrote:
Klaus wrote:

Who cares? You can't grab someone's shirt and then whirl it around your hand when you're defending. By the letter of the law it's a penalty the second Debuchy starts tugging. A proper referee would have spotted it early.

If every time a defender pulled back or held a striker's shirt a pen was called, the game would be a travesty.

If a penalty would be given every time a defender did that it's a lot more likely that we would see less shirt pulling rather than more penalties.

Not that it mattered but thought Klose wouldn't have got to the ball

flobaba wrote:
Klaus wrote:

Who cares? You can't grab someone's shirt and then whirl it around your hand when you're defending. By the letter of the law it's a penalty the second Debuchy starts tugging. A proper referee would have spotted it early.

If every time a defender pulled back or held a striker's shirt a pen was called, the game would be a travesty.

they don't like debuchy is all. kos, sagna, whoever do it all the time. it's good defending (knowing the tricks of the trade) if you can get away with it. no wonder cunts like klose, neymar, whoever behave the way they do, people want them rewarded for their ridiculous theatrics.