Jammy seals

[HawkingsHalfpint]

We finish 4th bottom, they miss the CL and wolves go down. I’d class that as a decent season currently

The stuff of dreams. 

And then Emery fucks off the day before the season starts.

[Midget In A Pinstripe Suit]

Emery looked like a bulldog chewing a wasp at the end.

[HawkingsHalfpint]

Emery looked like a bulldog chewing a wasp at the end.

With their luck it was probably one of those stingless ones.

[KRO]

What a lovely evening. SOTv

[Old Fart]

what makes it even better was that Newcastle won despite four or five blatant incorrect decisions in Villa's favour regarding penalties and offside goals.  VAR would have had Villa four or five down by the end.  A blind man could see their goal was offside. 

I've never accused a ref of being crooked but that performance tonight from him and the linesmen was abysmal and incompetent. 

Still,  one trophy gone, keep up the good work.

[ericlegrisly too]

what makes it even better was that Newcastle won despite four or five blatant incorrect decisions in Villa's favour regarding penalties and offside goals.  VAR would have had Villa four or five down by the end.  A blind man could see their goal was offside. 

I've never accused a ref of being crooked but that performance tonight from him and the linesmen was abysmal and incompetent. 

Still,  one trophy gone, keep up the good work.

We had the same conversation in our house watching MOTD.  There's bad refs and poor decisions and mistakes, but that looked positively bent tonight

Digne was a red but OK, maybe he hadn't seen it, the Villa goal was a foot offside but OK, that's on the Lino, but the Digne handball being considered outside the box was a piss take.

And they still didn't win the Brummie fuckpigs. Good.

[Jacko]

what makes it even better was that Newcastle won despite four or five blatant incorrect decisions in Villa's favour regarding penalties and offside goals.  VAR would have had Villa four or five down by the end.  A blind man could see their goal was offside. 

I've never accused a ref of being crooked but that performance tonight from him and the linesmen was abysmal and incompetent. 

Still,  one trophy gone, keep up the good work.

We had the same conversation in our house watching MOTD.  There's bad refs and poor decisions and mistakes, but that looked positively bent tonight

Digne was a red but OK, maybe he hadn't seen it, the Villa goal was a foot offside but OK, that's on the Lino, but the Digne handball being considered outside the box was a piss take.

And they still didn't win the Brummie fuckpigs. Good.

Almost makes you think there is a PGMOL agenda to shore up VAR.

The handball penalty was as bad as decision as I've seen.

One for the conspiracy theory thread.

[baggiebloke]

The handball is inexplicable. Very strange...

[CarlosCorbewrong]

It was lovely to watch except for “The last time Abrahsms scored for Villa was in the Play Off semis”. They didn’t mention who it was against but it still cut like a knife.

And some people still hate Wolves more?

[HawkingsHalfpint]

It was one of the worst refereeing displays you’ll ever see. If Newcastle hadn’t (rightly) won, just imagine how Eddie Howe would have reacted. It was a disgrace.

An interesting point, though: forget any home bias, talk of bungs etc. - is what we are seeing an offshoot of a decline in refereeing standards due to a) VAR (easy to give bad decisions when you’ve got Daddy upstairs to help), and b) the ever-growing rulebook? I can’t see what difference the latter makes given the decisions in point, but I’ve always worried that an unwanted consequence of too much VAR would lead to an overall decline in refereeing standards. Which - on the evidence of this game - it is.

Anyway I’m probably wrong and it’s probably just Villa being Villa. But an interesting point nonetheless.