Presumably most of us have never seen Sheridan play except maybe a couple of minutes. It seems to me that a promotion for Sheridan is to the bench. Therefore I'll take a punt at Al-Taay starting and Sheridan getting some minutes off the bench (on par with Chiefy's management style).
2023-24 General Discussions Thread
Presumably most of us have never seen Sheridan play except maybe a couple of minutes. It seems to me that a promotion for Sheridan is to the bench. Therefore I'll take a punt at Al-Taay starting and Sheridan getting some minutes off the bench (on par with Chiefy's management style).
From a Buffon to a buffoon.
Fornaroli is as Australian as Phar Lap.
He is as Australian as Dura is a New Zealander.
Alireza Faghani favours home teams, and teams such as Sydney (9-3-4 with him as ref) and wanderers and victory have better records with Faghani as ref in comparison to other referees.
There is no doubt he has a natural bias towards home teams and also the “bigger teams” in the comp. Just the way he refs seems to side with the so called better teams in games.
The last time an away team won under him as the ref, was 13 games he reffed ago, when WE lost 2-1 to victory last season at sky stadium.
Not including us at home, the last time an away team won under him as ref, 20 games ago, Sydney beating Victory 2-1 in big blue, in Melbourne.
I just can already feel it coming, we make a massive finals game and refereeing allows other team to foul us and we get unfavourable calls.
Excluding sydney and Melbourne derbies, 5 out of 79 games has the away team won under his control. (6.3%)
Compared to Alex king, 36/133 games he has refereed the away team has won (27%)
Compared to Shaun Evans, 41/164 (25%) away team has won.
Compared to Chris Beath, 65/231 (28.1%) away team has won.
*data from ultimate A league.com
?? Is this just me, or is this very interesting?
Home playoff starting to look likely...
I wouldn't even talk about that...
I'm certainly thinking it, but man that's still only a few rough games between first and 7th.
I am hopeful, but wary.
I agree the wheels need to come off badly, but it is possible.
With how even the league is this year, and points so evenly shared, I imagine 40 points will likely secure a top 4 spot.
2nd place usually is secured around 45 points.
A bit tough on Old but his impact off the bench has been game changing. Plus you can always rotate him, Nico and Youstin depending on the opposition.
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but top 4 doesn't mean home finals, only top 2, right?
We really need a home final otherwise we'll get knocked out of the first game as we (almost) always do...
4th hosts 5th place
These are elimination finals, the winners advance to semi finals.
Semi finals
Leg 1: lowest ranked winner vs 1st, 2nd lowest ranked winner vs 2nd
Leg 2: 1st vs lowest ranked winner, 2nd vs 2nd lowest ranked winner.
Top 4 guarantees at least 1 home finals game.
If you place 3rd or 4th, and you win Elimination final, guarantees 2 home finals.
If you place 1st or 2nd, you host leg 2 of a semi final, and if you win, the grand final is hosted by the highest ranked team that advances.
Alireza Faghani favours home teams, and teams such as Sydney (9-3-4 with him as ref) and wanderers and victory have better records with Faghani as ref in comparison to other referees.
There is no doubt he has a natural bias towards home teams and also the “bigger teams” in the comp. Just the way he refs seems to side with the so called better teams in games.
The last time an away team won under him as the ref, was 13 games he reffed ago, when WE lost 2-1 to victory last season at sky stadium.
Not including us at home, the last time an away team won under him as ref, 20 games ago, Sydney beating Victory 2-1 in big blue, in Melbourne.
I just can already feel it coming, we make a massive finals game and refereeing allows other team to foul us and we get unfavourable calls.
Excluding sydney and Melbourne derbies, 5 out of 79 games has the away team won under his control. (6.3%)
Compared to Alex king, 36/133 games he has refereed the away team has won (27%)
Compared to Shaun Evans, 41/164 (25%) away team has won.
Compared to Chris Beath, 65/231 (28.1%) away team has won.
*data from ultimate A league.com
?? Is this just me, or is this very interesting?
I think the ill feeling towards Irani Faghani in Iraq right now, will surpass anything he evers cops in the tranquil world of the ALM!! 550K comments on Insta wow. Most unfavourable I imagine.
A-Leagues referee Alireza Faghani was at the heart of controversy overnight after brandishing a second yellow card to Iraq's Aymen Hussein for a celebration.
— Tom Williams (@TomWilliamsPol) January 29, 2024
Jordan then went on to score two goals and send Iraq home. An Instagram post about Faghani now has over 550,000 comments.
What's the charge referee, pretending to eat a meal? A succulent Jordanian meal? pic.twitter.com/aQHoyRQuDP
— Paul Watson (@paul_c_watson) January 29, 2024
Alireza Faghani favours home teams, and teams such as Sydney (9-3-4 with him as ref) and wanderers and victory have better records with Faghani as ref in comparison to other referees.
There is no doubt he has a natural bias towards home teams and also the “bigger teams” in the comp. Just the way he refs seems to side with the so called better teams in games.
The last time an away team won under him as the ref, was 13 games he reffed ago, when WE lost 2-1 to victory last season at sky stadium.
Not including us at home, the last time an away team won under him as ref, 20 games ago, Sydney beating Victory 2-1 in big blue, in Melbourne.
I just can already feel it coming, we make a massive finals game and refereeing allows other team to foul us and we get unfavourable calls.
Excluding sydney and Melbourne derbies, 5 out of 79 games has the away team won under his control. (6.3%)
Compared to Alex king, 36/133 games he has refereed the away team has won (27%)
Compared to Shaun Evans, 41/164 (25%) away team has won.
Compared to Chris Beath, 65/231 (28.1%) away team has won.
*data from ultimate A league.com
?? Is this just me, or is this very interesting?
I think the ill feeling towards Irani Faghani in Iraq right now, will surpass anything he evers cops in the tranquil world of the ALM!! 550K comments on Insta wow. Most unfavourable I imagine.
A-Leagues referee Alireza Faghani was at the heart of controversy overnight after brandishing a second yellow card to Iraq's Aymen Hussein for a celebration.
— Tom Williams (@TomWilliamsPol) January 29, 2024
Jordan then went on to score two goals and send Iraq home. An Instagram post about Faghani now has over 550,000 comments.
What's the charge referee, pretending to eat a meal? A succulent Jordanian meal? pic.twitter.com/aQHoyRQuDP
— Paul Watson (@paul_c_watson) January 29, 2024
A genuinely fantastic tweet
https://www.change.org/p/suspend-referee-alireza-faghani-for-unfair-actions-in-iraq-vs-jordan-match-e445283a-d814-40b1-acb2-bac2fc473508
Meanwhile, a petition with 400K + signatures wanting to ban him!!
While I can’t seem to find the celebration online, did it warrant a yellow card. Was it racist? Is it even for a ‘neutral’ referee to decide that a celebration is offensive? Perhaps a referee not of Alireza’s descent (Iranian) may not understand what his celebration may have meant (if malicious).
as a neutral, it is hard to comment on the matter and does seem, from the surface, a rash decision, but need to hear from the referees panel themselves why specifically the card was given.
I still defenitely do not want the guy refereeing us in the finals, and if he is, say goodbye to title.
Alireza Faghani favours home teams, and teams such as Sydney (9-3-4 with him as ref) and wanderers and victory have better records with Faghani as ref in comparison to other referees.
There is no doubt he has a natural bias towards home teams and also the “bigger teams” in the comp. Just the way he refs seems to side with the so called better teams in games.
The last time an away team won under him as the ref, was 13 games he reffed ago, when WE lost 2-1 to victory last season at sky stadium.
Not including us at home, the last time an away team won under him as ref, 20 games ago, Sydney beating Victory 2-1 in big blue, in Melbourne.
I just can already feel it coming, we make a massive finals game and refereeing allows other team to foul us and we get unfavourable calls.
Excluding sydney and Melbourne derbies, 5 out of 79 games has the away team won under his control. (6.3%)
Compared to Alex king, 36/133 games he has refereed the away team has won (27%)
Compared to Shaun Evans, 41/164 (25%) away team has won.
Compared to Chris Beath, 65/231 (28.1%) away team has won.
*data from ultimate A league.com
?? Is this just me, or is this very interesting?
I think the ill feeling towards Irani Faghani in Iraq right now, will surpass anything he evers cops in the tranquil world of the ALM!! 550K comments on Insta wow. Most unfavourable I imagine.
A-Leagues referee Alireza Faghani was at the heart of controversy overnight after brandishing a second yellow card to Iraq's Aymen Hussein for a celebration.
— Tom Williams (@TomWilliamsPol) January 29, 2024
Jordan then went on to score two goals and send Iraq home. An Instagram post about Faghani now has over 550,000 comments.
What's the charge referee, pretending to eat a meal? A succulent Jordanian meal? pic.twitter.com/aQHoyRQuDP
— Paul Watson (@paul_c_watson) January 29, 2024
A genuinely fantastic tweet
I'm a huge Paul Watson fan. I read his "Up Pohnpei" book (where he tries to become the youngest manager in International football by managing one of the Federated States of Micronesia's teams and follow "The Sweeper" podcast religiously. Worth checking out.
Yes, it impacted the game, but that game was still in their control at 2-1, and they lost it themselves at 3-2.
We need to hear from the AFC referees panel as to what the second yellow card was for exactly, because I can’t wrap my head around it.
1: You can’t give a yellow card for someone taking too long to celebrate, just add time on the clock!! It’s a big moment, let them celebrate!!
2: If Alireza believed that a offensive celebration happened, it is not the refs place to determine if that is offensive or not, as just say it was a European referee they are unlikely to notice this, as Alireza is Iranian he might know gestures the European wouldn’t.
In that case, if it is for any of those two reasons, I myself would be unhappy to say the least if that happened to me, as I said, it is not a referees place to make that call, as it is not consistent with what other referees would call.
As a young ref myself who is getting towards pro level in the future, I now know, not to referee at Asian international tournaments (in the 0.1% chance I get there) because this type of behaviour from fans is unacceptable and would not go so far if say it was in Europe.
I agree that referees need to be held accountable to decisions, and this requires the referee panel to speak up and state what the offense was, whether it was the “correct” call or not. However preaching death and suffering for someone is too far.
Kiwi ref Matthew Conger ruled out a late French equaliser against Tunisia at the Qatar WC. France lost 1-0, and the French football federation filed a complaint with FIFA. But I don't remember Conger getting any death threats, or his effigy dangling from the Arc de Triomphe.
But fan emotions can run high with controversial ref calls. In the days well before Insta there was that Indonesian ref pelted with a can by a AWs young fan at Mt Smart after giving Kuwait a couple of soft penalties, 1982 WC qualifying campaign. Charlie Dempsey had to persuade him not to call off the game. That bloke probably thinks NZ is a highly dangerous place to referee in, ultras on every street corner.
If anything I think Al-Taay would be the one to drop out of the midfield 3 once Salas is established.
If anything I think Al-Taay would be the one to drop out of the midfield 3 once Salas is established.
The FB group. Why would you even go there. Stay here with your kin.
Rufer is in career best form, Pennington has been outstanding, Al-Taay has been really good, Old has shifted into the Garbett style box to box role and flourished, Conchie has bags of talent and is waiting in the wings, and now Salas has arrived.
I’m feeling very optimistic and am seriously considering proposing to Chief.
I miss Vinnie Lia
and Tim Brown
I miss Vinnie Lia
and Tim Brown
This is A-Rod erasure
Rufer is in career best form, Pennington has been outstanding, Al-Taay has been really good, Old has shifted into the Garbett style box to box role and flourished, Conchie has bags of talent and is waiting in the wings, and now Salas has arrived.
I’m feeling very optimistic and am seriously considering proposing to Chief.
Very rarely has a Nix team had as much depth and quality as this one. A starting midfield trio of Rufer, Nico and Salas (likely) with Old, Al-Taay and Conchie as backup is superb. Old and Al-Taay have both been very good this season while Conchie has stood out for the reserves and NZ U20