Collina acknowledged the 6-second rule for keepers getting rid of the ball is being badly abused, seemingly slightly worse every year. The problem is the punishment does not seem fair for the crime, as an indirect kick in the box is too much punishment for dallying a bit.

A fix that seems pretty easy would just be to give the keeper a caution and let them keep the ball. A keeper already on a caution should know not to waste time on the ball, just like is already the case for time wasting on goalkicks.

Denmark, up 0-2 at Kazakhstan, gave up 3 goals in the last 20 minutes to lose.

Collina acknowledged the 6-second rule for keepers getting rid of the ball is being badly abused, seemingly slightly worse every year.

arsenal         56
city            44

Chelsea have sacked manager Graham Potter, the London club said on Sunday with the team 11th in the Premier League.

“Graham has agreed to collaborate with the club to facilitate a smooth transition,” Chelsea said in a statement.

“Bruno Saltor will take charge of the team as interim head coach.”

I always thought people were being presumptuous when they just handed third place to Man U, as though

Sacking Potter now makes no sense to me. There is nothing left for Chelsea to play for, and there is still a chance he is the best guy for the job.

Seems totally bonkers to me, but I already felt that way with Bayern sacking Nagelsman to hire Tuchel, who was sacked for Potter just a few months ago. At some point, these guys are kind of interchangeable good, not great managers.

This Liverpool-Chelsea match has been one of the most depressing displays of shitty football by underachieving sides I've ever watched. It's both clubs in a nutshell: Chelsea can't buy a goal (right down to having one disallowed), and Liverpool is an arbitrary basket case that can't get out of its own way.

Chelsea are preparing to hold talks with Luis Enrique, who is vying with Julian Nagelsmann for the manager’s job, but have not ruled out making Frank Lampard interim coach if they cannot convince one of their preferred options to take over before the summer.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the season's 13th sacking after that performance.

southampton  78

forest       58
bournemouth  51

leicester    31
everton      30

wolves       17.5
west ham     14.5
leeds        14

palace        6

united       77.5
newcastle    72.5

tottenham    21
liverpool    14.5
brighton     14

villa         0.3
chelsea       0.1
brentford     0.1

united       95
newcastle    94

tottenham    77
liverpool    66
brighton     57

villa         5.75
brentford     2.5
chelsea       2.5
fulham        0.25

Few soccer games are actually played this way though, and even the better teams tend to play more conservatively than seems optimal.

A mediocre to weak team really can't seem to play a very open style and have any real success in top leagues. We saw Leeds try it under Bielsa and in my view teams, even the better teams, didn't take long to just look to counter Leeds on every possession--moving straight through their midfield and attacking their defensive line with tons of space.

Arsenal is also favored at Liverpool.

I had temporarily forgotten that Chelsea is still alive in the CL. Makes firing Potter now just to hire Lampard some kind of insanity, IMHO.

Naturally, when offensive players use the upper part of the arm to control the ball it rightly looks against the spirit of the rules, so all the previous guidance is ignored and they call it a foul anyway.

The disallowed Joelinton goal appeared to hit him first just above the wrist before then hitting his upper arm. So it's not really comparable.