A Talking Point from Saturdays Game

[MOZZER2]

was this a back pass or not ?

How this obvious backpass went under the refs radar is beyond me.
Even the 4th official Bobby bloody Madley was smugly getting a kick out of refsplaining it away when Bulut was going mental with him. pic.twitter.com/skDiKYcH2N

— 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 CardiffCityForum.com (@cardiff_forum) October 30, 2023

[JumpersforGoalposts]

Re: A Talking Point from Saturdays Game

He played it back off his calf, not his foot. The ball has to be played back deliberately with the foot to be a free kick.

[The Bloop]

Re: A Talking Point from Saturdays Game

I thought he tried to control it rather than deliberately pass it to the keeper.
A deliberate first-touch pass to the keeper would've been far too risky, and could well have ended up as an own goal.

[BLUETIT]

Re: A Talking Point from Saturdays Game

He played it back off his calf, not his foot. The ball has to be played back deliberately with the foot to be a free kick.

He must have high calf’s !!!!!

His body language says he’s guilty

[the other bob wilson]

Re: A Talking Point from Saturdays Game

Seems to me it may have hit his left foot first then there was a faint touch off his right - if there were two touches it might explain what otherwise looks a bonkers decision.

[North Cardiff Blue]

Re: A Talking Point from Saturdays Game

Definitely a back pass for me, he was under pressure and tapped it back to his keeper, agreed with the above his expression and behavior was oh shit I just backed passed and he picked it up.

Referees hate giving those now for some reason?

I haven't seen the Meite offside decision yet, but that looked fine at the time, but I am biased.

[dml1954]

Re: A Talking Point from Saturdays Game

I thought he tried to control it rather than deliberately pass it to the keeper.
A deliberate first-touch pass to the keeper would've been far too risky, and could well have ended up as an own goal.

What was he going to do with it then after he had controlled it, bearing in mind he was facing his goalie and own net ? It was a deliberate first touch pass. He was cushioning it for his goalie to clear. You would argue black was white if the outcome was against City.

[dml1954]

Re: A Talking Point from Saturdays Game

He played it back off his calf, not his foot. The ball has to be played back deliberately with the foot to be a free kick.

It didn't hit his calf, it came off his foot which was raised slightly off the ground.

[Dave Blue]

Re: A Talking Point from Saturdays Game

He played it back off his calf, not his foot. The ball has to be played back deliberately with the foot to be a free kick.

Funny looking calf. Never seen one on a foot before.

[2b2bdoo]

Re: A Talking Point from Saturdays Game

I don’t think so. An awful touch but don’t think he meant to pass it back.

[TWGL1]

Re: A Talking Point from Saturdays Game

I don’t think so. An awful touch but don’t think he meant to pass it back.

It’s a good touch and the ball went backwards should have been a free kick

[2b2bdoo]

Re: A Talking Point from Saturdays Game

It’s a good touch and the ball went backwards should have been a free kick

I don’t think he passed it back, just wanted to stop it.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Re: A Talking Point from Saturdays Game

I don’t think he passed it back, just wanted to stop it.

I tend to agree. It was a bit of an odd one. Defenders know you can't pass it back and we rarely ever see free kicks for such things any more. To me it looks like he made a total hash of whatever he was trying to do. He was lucky that a miscontrol didn't fall to a City player.

[Moodybluebird]

Re: A Talking Point from Saturdays Game

I don’t think he passed it back, just wanted to stop it.

I agree. It looks like he stopped the ball but before he could decide what to do next, the goalie came off the line and picked it up.

[the other bob wilson]

Re: A Talking Point from Saturdays Game

I agree. It looks like he stopped the ball but before he could decide what to do next, the goalie came off the line and picked it up.

He might not have meant it as a back pass, but the goalkeeper turned it into one by picking it up. You see incidents where a defender slices a clearance and the keeper catches it because there’s no way it could be construed as a back pass, but this was different . The ball was so close to the goal with so many players near by that the keeper panicked - the law was brought in to stop things like that happening and, unless there were two touches as I suggested , it was a clear free kick.