I personally thought both were deliberate trips by O'Shea and therefore under the rules are yellow cards. There was contact on both occasions and its not really relevant when he goes down but I didn't see it like that. For me he fell as soon as O'Shea tripped him. Berba should have been booked. He completely overeacted to something innocuous. It was frustration for me and even if the pushing was not a yellow his refusal to stop bothering the ref was. If it had been Cattermole, booking without a doubt. He was absolutely fantastic though Berba and ran the game from start to finish. Plenty must be regretting not showing an interest, just a touch of class. Cattermole had a very good game, and looks in good nick at present.
Berbatov is awesome - but wouldn't be much good for a team who are fighting relegation spots (as we are currently) - we need grafters - he looked a class above - touch was fantastic! Think the first "trip" by O'Shea was a lot like the Torres "Dive" that he was sent off for - nothing malicious and he tried to get the ball initially then pulled his leg away - also didn't stop the attacking move as the defender behind him had the ball at his feet by the time the forward went down (I keep wanting to call him Petric but I know that's not his name) - he took 2 steps before going down under the first one and Rodallega had to stick his leg out to make sure O'Shea tripped him!! IMO anyhow!! Catts has been awesome this season and, as I've mentioned before, is starting to look like a footballer rather than a defensive battering ram! Passing has come on massively and vision as well - he reminds me of Gary Speed when he played for you guys - he's starting to get box to box and get more involved going forward - great to see
What a joke you are...Anyone with half a brain realised that the first one was a dive, and the second one was minimal contact which was never a booking in a month of Sundays.
Specs fully locked on again, you're beyond help. They even slowed it down to show the contact first time. He stuck his leg out to trip both times. When someone is running into the box, the result is inevitable. 2nd one isn't even worth discussing, just a yellow all day long. Indeed I'd imagine you're the only person on the planet to hold the view that there was minimal contact. Not that that even matters. I'll stick to discussing with the Sunderland fans with something between their ears thanks
He does look in excellent form. Speedo a bit more classy, and different level of passing (beast aerially too). More of a Batty if I was looking at our previous players. Same sort of tenacity and is clearly a driving force behind other players. O'Shea was just bizarre. Fair enough I can understand the trips, he would say he has come away with a yellow all said and done, stopped two goalscoring opportunities. But he kept humping it too when the obvious thing was to keep the ball. Cuellar look a bit frustrated with. I thought he'd be a good signing and he again looked a good player. If you could keep Brown fit (not likely I know!), him and Cuellar would be a good pairing. I still think O'Shea is right back, but to be honest Bardsley is probably better. Rose also looks very good. As I've always said if you threw in the final piece of the jigsaw of a playmaker, you'll be a canny side. People were jumping off the deep end way too early. I didn't think you were brilliant on Sunday but I do think you've shown improvement two weeks in a row against top class PL home sides.
I just wish some of our own fans had as much faith in our side WP!!! Agree about Gary Speed in the air - he was class - But Cattermole is only 24 (although he won't grow) and his passing and vision has come on so much since the turn of the season - the Villa game he was absolutely amazing - gave the ball away once and only passed it backwards once!! He's a beast in the tackle and is starting to learn how to pass the ball and is also seeing things that he wouldn't have in the past - Maybe Martin O'Neill is rubbing off on him!
The tackle was nearly a carbon copy of the tackle Catts done against Mk Dons and we all know what happened there. Hangelands not a dirty player but in today's game you cannot go in like that. I'd have felt very hard done by if he'd have stayed on!
