I suppose it's not in the same category as shirt pulling. Even an elbow or hand push to the face many times is not considered by some even to warrant a yellow card, let alone a red. Then again, as seen often, depends on which club is doing the violation.

Hair pulling isn't new. The December 2018 match at OT, which ended in a 2-2 draw, involved Fellaini pulling Guendouzi's hair as he was accelerating away from him and pulled Guendouzi down. This was all in front ref Andre Marriner at the time. Mariner only gave a free kick and no further action was taken towards Fellaini. Not even a caution.

Two weeks ago during the pre season match between Real Betis-Marseille, Guendouzi had his hair pulled by Mexico captain, Andres Guardado. No punishment given. So nothing new in it.

Not saying it doesn't matter, but apparently some refs don't see it as punishable.

Apparently Souness said that Aubameyang 'struggled' in the premier league.

His goal record was phenomenal, golden boot once, runner up golden boot once, settled straight away with 10 goals in his first half season. The last few months weren't good but his focus was gone - he certainly didn't struggle.

The language police. They can *%^@ off as far as I'm concerned.

He may make me eat my words if Chelsea buy him, but I think Aubameyang would be a very high risk signing and I would almost expect him to flop.

Us Arsenal fans know him better than most - on his day he's a wonderful goalscorer, but apart from scoring he doesn't really do much else. He doesn't press well, he's not a hard worker, his hold up play and ability to link up with teammates is quite frankly very poor. He's a finisher and that's it, and sometimes that's fine, I just don't see him working under Tuchel who demands a lot more from his strikers as we've seen with the failure of Lukaku, Werner etc.

Wouldn't it be taken as read that anything that would qualify as assault under the law, and isn't explicitly excluded by the rules of the game (i.e. fair contact when going for the ball) is violent and/or ungentlemanly?

Chelsea bidding £43m for Anthony Gordon really emphasises their scattergun transfer policy this year.

I would have thought so, but who knows? I’ve never read the rules and regulations and have no intention of ever doing so.

However, MOTD2 felt it worth mentioning that hair pulling is not mentioned when violent conduct is defined.

So they have bid for, and are hoping to sign, Gordon, De Jong, Fofana and Aubameyang.

That's daft.

It's the same here in Sweden. The thing is, being a good pundit seems to have very little to do with how much football experience one has. Sven-Göran Eriksson was a pundit for a while; he's by far the most decorated Swedish manager of all time, having won the league and cup double in three different countries, won the Serie A with Lazio, managed England and so on, and he's one of the worst pundits I've ever seen. Just a mumbling cliché machine. Conversely, some of the best pundits we have weren't anything special at all in their active careers, several of them never played above the Swedish top league.

Living in Philadelphia I get all of my EPL from NBCSPORTS. Rebecca Lowe is a terrific anchor…passionate, articulate and knowledgeable
Although he wasn’t in the very top flight as a player Robbie Mustoe is a very smart and perceptive analyst …all in all I enjoy their coverage a lot
I also like Andy Townsend as a co commentator

Andy,
Rebecca Lowe was a presenter on Setanta Sports after the BBC. She co-hosted Football Matters, Football Conference as well as commenting on the PL. She then moved on to ESPN after Setanta folded, and now at NBS Sports. She's an avid Palace supporter, so no doubt she'll be fist pumping Vieira to a possible win over Liverpool.

And Souness's comment about it being a "man's game" whilst sitting next to Karen Carney was as crass and daft as anything else that went on yesterday.

Aubameyang struggling with Tuchel ..hmmm. He and Tuchel worked together when Aubameyang was at Dortmund and had a decent relationship. So both should be familiar with each other's expectations.

So will I be Zed!
Thanks for the bio info....didn't realize she was that experienced...I find her good value....got an idea she's married to a pro (or ex-pro) soccer player

I suppose it's not in the same category as shirt pulling. Even an elbow or hand push to the face many times is not considered by some even to warrant a yellow card, let alone a red. Then again, as seen often, depends on which club is doing the violation.

I suppose it's not in the same category as shirt pulling. Even an elbow or hand push to the face many times is not considered by some even to warrant a yellow card, let alone a red. Then again, as seen often, depends on which club is doing the violation.

I also think that Chelsea player deserves a booking for having a hair style like that. He’s a professional footballer not some guitarist from a 1970s hard rock band.

Completely agree with your second point about pundits judging players too much by their supposed 'attitude'. It's how Maguire has been able to maintain his reputation for so long, even though he's looked out of his depth at Man Utd from the minute they signed him. They see the 'determination' and think he's a leader, when he's just a very mediocre (by PL top club standards) defender who tries to cover his flaws by shouting a lot.