Dean Smith…

I used to have a great deal of respect for him and the work he did at Walsall and Brentford. But after today’s match, he’s bleating on on TV and in the press about the robustness of Tom Naylor’s tackle on Max Aaron – which he claims was “a stonewall penalty and wouldn’t have been allowed years ago when he played and referees were a lot more lenient”!

What planet is he on? Football is a physical game and contact will happen during a game. But Naylor played the ball, and had no intention of clattering into the player. He side-footed the ball away and the momentum of both players brought them together!

Nowhere near a penalty for me – but others may see things differently!

Anyway, I was impressed by the amount of contact the referee allowed today (I noticed this in the Women’s Euro matches I watched) and I understand referees have been told to let more go this season! Not happy with the 10+ minutes added on today – but understand that they have decided they want the ball more in play than in previous seasons (which I applaud)! Be interesting to see if we get 10 added minutes at the DW (I wasn’t there last week) when teams come here and spoil the game with time-wasting!!!

All-in-all though, I think it should be an interesting season! Good performance today out of possession and we looked like we could hurt them on the break (once we decided we could keep hold of the ball that is)!