Tevez hit out at Barton first = fact Barton elbowed Tevez = fact Lino guessed at the decission = fact Barton totally lost it after the red = fact I'm in no way defending Barton but no way should anybody be sent of for something that couldn't possibly be spotted by the refs. The lino saw Tevez hitting the deck and clutching his face, took a calculated guess. Though he got it right referees should never guess at decissions like that. Very similar to Norwich at home, only this time even more difficult to pick up re distance to the incident.
Absolute legend. Well done joey. Stay strong brother you done us proud today despite what the doubters say.
I've been a fairly staunch defender of JB but you can't defend what he did. However you have to look at it in context. Break it down - He is quite clearly punched by Tevez which goes unseen (doesn't go down, Ashley Cole take note. He could have collapsed holding his face) He reacts by clearly elbowing - which he shouldn't have done. We needed 11 on the pitch. Ref steps in and you assume you're both going off in the biggest match of the season, relegation threatens and millions of pounds at stake watched by the worlds media. Then only he gets the red. Yep he snaps and kicks out which again he shouldn't have, but can anyone actually imagine the pressure and fever pitch it has reached. The realisation that you mat have just condemned your team to relegation! Christ, we as fans have been going loopy and experienced every emotion just watching. Think how you'd react playing with the emotions you've experienced in the last few hours! I know i'd be like a keg of dynamite and i'm normally pretty placid! Not excusing it at all but this was the culmination of a rollercoaster ride of a last 10 games that saw us written off by everyone including many on this board. An explosion of emotion. Lets enjoy the fact were up and conduct the post mortem and way forward with more level heads in a few days / weeks time!
I disagree Norway. The lino saw the elbow- he was looking right at it despite being so far away. What is aggrieving is that he's conveniently missed Tevez having the first dig.
Your last post was just a complete, made up fallacy. Have you been drinking? Or do you normally cook up fantasies in your head? Time to cut out that Brennevin mate because you're reputation on here is rapidly sinking down the toilet.
I respect your opinion Watford. It's just that for me I can't believe the lino could possibly have seen the incident. Anyway, re Barton, I hope he's finished at the club. Just about had enough of his antics. I have tried my hardest to support him this season. In the start every interview he did bugged me, it was clear it wasn't his choice being here. It has been easier lately as he's got his act together both on and off the field, especially laying of twitter. Now he's back, with even dumber tweets than before, what an embarrasment his latest tweet (above) is.
Don't think Tevez did much more than stumble over the back of Joey as they moved into position. Don't think Joey's elbow contact had that much impact either - just that Tevez went down like a sack of **** and milked it for all it was worth. City had to do something to gain an advantage their millions couldn't buy. So they went for our weakest link. If highly paid pros haven't sussed the implications of what produces a straight red, they're even thicker than their collective stereotypes suggest. Nothing against City but I'm mortified we didn't win that game.
I thought that at first, but having looked again he swings a left hander to the face. It's a few seconds before Joey actually seeks revenge so not immediately obvious.
I'm sure there was needle between Tevez and Barton throughout the match, but so far as Joey is concerned, leaving aside assault, unprofessionalism, irresponsibility as captain, it was just plain naive to elbow a striker on the edge of the penalty area. He can't control his temper, he's a liability and it'll happen again and again, unless we show him the door. He cannot be reformed.
It's a shame that he can't channel that passion in the way that Mackie does, or even Eddie Niedzwiecki who started crying in a post match interview.
I don't really care what the circumstances are, just sick of my club being dragged into this circus around one player. Not what I follow the game for. Respect to Roller for both insight and restraint and Goldie for a great post.
Please check your PM. Serious though Swords, am I so wrong here? All I'm doing is expressing my opinion that the lino guessed at the decission, not saying I'm right, only that he had quite a distance to the incident with players between obstructing his view even more.
No offence pal, but i want you to think about something logically here. Barton catches Tevez with his right elbow, and the linesman is on the left hand side of Joey. There's also 3/4 defenders between the linesman and the incident. Im not sure how you can come to the conclusion that the linesman has clearly seen the incident. Like someone on here said, he's seen Tevez go down, and made a calculated guess. Im not condoning Bartons actions as i think he acted in a pathetic manner, but in my opinion he was very unlucky in this case.
Cerny, I'm one of your supporters on here but what you're saying re the Barton sending off is, at best, perverse. His antics could easily have cost us our Premier League status and it's only thanks to Stoke's equaliser that it didn't. For our captain to lose his cool when everyone else was working miracles is unforgiveable. Clearly, I've been wrong about you, you are a WUM.
Just listened to Radio and Pundits said that 'there is no love lost between JB and MH' and they reckon MH will bring in his own players and Joey won't be part of his plans.
