Of those two penalty shouts, I would say that only one of them (the shirt-pulling incident) had any chance of being given, and even with that one I've seen a lot worse not be given. The other incident - the so-called hand-ball - was never a penalty. It was clearly unintentional, and there is no way it could be said that he controlled the ball, or denied United a clear goal-scoring opportunity. Fergie might well consider himself short-changed, but that pales in insignificance when set against the countless times we've been stitched-up against United. And I didn't hear Fergie complaining about the standard of the ref, in any of those incidents.
Handballs still have to be deliberate according to the rules. Sandro for whatever reason wasn't looking at the ball so it couldn't have been intentional. It's like how you guys got your goal against us at the Lane last season, Parker's tackle knocked the ball into Cole's hand which just happened to benefit you but it's not a foul and everyone plays on.
Okay, I'll admit it, AVB slipped the clutch yesterday. Us Spurs fans are divided over the issues, but my own view is that AVB didn't set himself or the team up quite right for the game, and it cost us. I believe that the juggernaut is still a-rollin' but would concede that its lost a bit of velocity. I'll be looking for him to make up the lost ground in the run-up to Christmas, and to have us sitting pretty in 4th spot (comfortably ahead of the Gooners) by then, and certainly before he applies his foot to the mighty air-brakes to bring that metallic beast to a shuddering halt.
I couldnt wait for AVB to get his P45 and since his departure we've gone to heaven and back! On reflection though, given time I believe he will come good if some team , somewhere who will persevere with him! The Spuds will not do as bad this year with him as they did with Arry last year!
I believe you are correct, although that may not manifest itself with a 4th spot. Where he'll trump Redknapp is his ability to bring the best out in our youngsters and thereby increase our strength in depth. Most Spurs fans, even the doubters such as me, are prepared to give him two or three seasons to get us regular CL footy. Bearing in mind the fact that we are up against cash-cows such as you, £ity and United, who are teams that are prepared to spend colossal sums on individual players, I think we are not that far behind.
