I think it was pretty obvious it was going to be a Premier League ref and I'm glad its not Chris Foy the way he treated the away side last Sunday!
Good choice having Mark. Its s crucial time of year for both teams & neither want unnecessary suspensions. Marks been known to keep his cool under pressure, which will help players who are just trying their very hardest in an important derby game. Sometimes being overly enthusiastic can be misinterpreted which sets a precedent for cards to be shown needlessly.
Yes, and Pompey can't really afford any more yellows at the moment, what with the number of players one away from a suspension. I really hope that by Sunday evening that the ref is not even mentioned. Games this big, he should not be any part of the story.
Hmm...if you look at the stats Atkinson is not much different from any other ref, he is basically the second most senior in the Prem at the moment so regularly picks up the top games. Foy got unfairly taken apart in the press after correctly sending off two Chelsea players. I don't see where all the criticism came from over Stoke v Spurs either, if you take the offside out (lino's fault) the rest of the big decisions could have gone either way...they just all went against Spurs.
Atkinson made a complete mess of the Merseyside derby by sending off Rodwell for a good tackle. Foy should really have spotted the handball by Shawcross and was a ridiculously soft second yellow for Kaboul on Sunday. I agree with both the Chelsea red cards.
I actually think both yellow's for Kaboul were deserved (had it not been for the Spurs defender covering in the penalty box, it might have even been a straight red), whilst I also think that the penalty Spurs did get shouldn't have been given. Wasn't any contact imo.
How would it have been a straight red? The Stoke player was heading to the corner not towards goal so it could not have been a straight red even if there was no spurs defender in the box. Last man does not equal red card. Denying a clear goal scoring opportunity = red card. I do agree though that Modric dived for the pen.
It was two-on-two. Kabour and Walters (I think) on the edge of the box, Gallas and Crouch (I think) in the box. Take Gallas away (or whichever Spurs player it was, if it wasn't Gallas) and Stoke would have had a clear goal-scoring opportunity. But Gallas was there, so it was far from certain that Crouch would have received the ball and/or scored - and hence only a yellow for Kaboul. The foul itself probably wasn't worth a yellow, I agree - had it been made on the half-way or something, Kaboul probably would have gotten away with it. But the position on the pitch, and the situation, made it a yellow in my opinion.
