[talkSAFT]

We couldn't get the ball for the 1st 1/2 hour, and I'm beginning to wonder whether our Coaches have told the players not to challenge for ANYTHING:
"Look, lads, these refs will penalise ANY contact (by lower teams), so just get numbers behind the ball.....
no - not you, Claudio!"

I'm serious! Against Hull, Everton, now Spurs, we've done exactly that, the only difference being that Hull had nothing going forward anyway; Everton, despite their 70% possession didn't have the guile to get past our 11 men; and yesterday Claudio was penalised just for making contact - and we just conceded momentum after that early goal.
If the new Laws of the game state NO CONTACT, can we have that made official please, because otherwise I'll be booing our midfield every match.

And that other new Law (which we've copied from Hockey) that if the ball touches your hand/arm, it's a foul whether you've got time to withdraw your arm or not: can we have that in writing as well? so, before long, we'll have forwards practising kicking the ball against arms, and getting a penalty. SIMPLE.
Within a year, games will be decided like penalty shoot-outs, and MotD's Goal-of-the-Month will be decided by Penalty-of-the-Month. (Lineker will be enthusing: "We've got a treat coming up. 2 goals fom open play tonight. I'm going to celebrate by shaving off this pathetic excuse for a fooooking beard").
(Rant over)