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Robert Jenrick said this morning that the Sunday Times is a labour-supporting newspaper

It wasn't the most entertaining watch but I did enjoy Paraguay getting their shit house on 2bf. Brazil Norway later and this could be one of the ties of the tournament. Defo expecting goals

I agree. There were probably two Paraguay fouls that merited yellows in their own right. One was borderline. All three French bookings were correct (although one might not have contacted the player, but correct from the view the ref had of it), and he let a lot of fouls go throughout. I can also see why he thought it wasn't a penalty on first look. Looked to me in real time that the player put his leg into the defender rather than the other way round, but the replays appear to show different. Players on both sides were rolling around like they'd been shot after the slightest bit of contact too, it wasn't an easy game to referee. The thing is, if they persist with the hands off approach to refereeing, which I think they should, then it'll make it much easier in future. We're already seeing a big reduction in the time players are spending on the ground pretending to be injured as a result of play not being stopped. Even in last night's game, there were four or five incidents where players got up sheepishly after twenty seconds writhing on the deck. I hope they don't use this as an excuse to revert to "protecting the players". As you say, there was hardly a hard tackle in the game. The hardest probably being the French midfielder who was booked.

He was being linked with Inter for €10m+ last summer, some Turkish mob for €1m looks like a missed opportunity for a higher payout in comparison. I assume his performances/work rate fell off a cliff last season or he has a really shit agent. Was the Serie A leader in yards covered IIRC. At that kind of fee he would almost be worth a punt at Milanovic + Jensen cash and Geiger wages.