Spurs 1 Arsenil 1 Ade-bay-orr. He just has to start scoring at some stage this season., and what better time and place to start.
At the start of next season, a bronze statue of Bergkamp will be unveiled outside the Emirates. Still a better striker than Gervinho...
OK. Tin hat on. Time to defend the indefensible... With the Mendes goal it was not Clattenberg's fault - he was (correctly) on the half-way line. It was the assistant who made one of the worst decisions I've ever seen there. Truly shocking. They had a direct, unobstructed line of sight and the ball bounced over the line before getting even further over. Awful, shameful decision but not Clattenberg's fault. Worst you can say is that from the half-way line he should have had a very strong suspicion that it was a goal. But if your assistant who is much better placed than you says otherwise what you gonna do? With the Nani goal - OK - it should have been a free kick to Spurs and a booking for Nani. But it was not a free kick. Clattenberg never blew. For me the fault of that goal lies entirely with Gomes and I remember saying it at the time. Of course Nani was a cheating little ****, the ref messed up but Gomes is the worst culprit - you just can't do that sort of thing. Expect Nani to sportingly not kick it?! Sorry - but that goes down as one of Gomes' howlers for me (with great supporting work from Nani and the ref, but Gomes was the leading man in that comedy). I know - I'm sure there are other examples of Clattenberg giving bad decisions against us. I certainly associate his slightly gormless face with massive ****-ups - just have an appalling memory for individual incidents. Only ref I have truly marked down as someone who has ****ed Spurs over time and time again is Howard Webb. I'm probably wrong, though.
'Bronze is the new black',...... Something the creator of the otherwise figurative abstract work of indifferent indulgence, in three dimension, as in relief, might have said...... 'Bronze is the new Black'. No intentional disrespect to Denis or Ian.
I agree that Clattenburg wasn't the main offender in the Mendes incident Lenny, though one newspaper had his view of it and it was clearly over the line. He's far too weak to give a last minute winner to the opposition at Old Trafford, if there's any way that it could be a wrong decision. The Nani goal was absolutely down to him, though. He even had a get-out handed to him on a plate and he turned it down. I don't blame the player, as he was simply playing to the whistle. Why is it the ref's fault? You're right in saying that he didn't blow, but he also didn't gesture that he was playing an advantage, which is a requirement. Had he done so, then it would've been crystal clear to the keeper that the ball was still in play and it would've allowed the ref to pull play back and award the free-kick, when it was clear that there was no advantage. To add insult to injury, the linesman flagged for the handball as soon as it became clear that Clattenburg had made a balls up. After consulting with his assistant, ushering our players away and asking the Man Utd players what they though he should do, he still managed to **** it up. Quite simply, the man's incompetent. When analysing it at the time my old mate Graham Poll showed not only that he was a useless ref, but that he also didn't know the rules. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...eurelho-Gomes-Mark-Clattenburg-Nani-goal.html "If Gomes felt he had a free-kick why walk 10 yards up the pitch to take it?" Because the offence was committed in the penalty area of the defending team, so they can take it from anywhere within that area, you twat? "Despite Nani's handball, a free-kick could not have been awarded once Gomes picked up the ball." Yes it could and you're just making this **** up now. Two incompetent refs, one incident.
Wow. That Poll said that is amazing. Reminds me of the time that, during a game I was playing, the ref claimed he was "playing advantage" when the ball went out for a throw in! Got to say I did not know that rule about free kicks in a team's own pen area being taken from anywhere in the area. Whilst looking it up I came across the rule whereby a ball is not in play after a free kick is touched, but after it's travelled the length of the circumference of the ball. Sure that rule gets forgotten and people just play that once it's touched it's live. Makes you remember that, simple as football is, there are these little rules that you forget or never knew. Forgivable enough if you're not a goddamn ex-top level referee!
I don't think Clattenburg felt under pressure re the Mendes "goal". We were a long way behind Chelsea at the time and a 0-0 was as fatal to our title hopes as a 0-1. Awarding the goal would have been met with little opposition or controversy. It was simply rank incompetence by the linesman. It looks an obvious goal when you view the TV replays, but he and the ref didn't have access to them at the time, did they? The sooner they do, the sooner incidents from nearly a decade ago wont still be the subject of angst and frustration.
Bit of an oxymoron that you put the scores as 1-1 when you nicknamed the opposition "ArseNIL" Just saying... I completely agree about the Mendes goal. Its hard to blame Clattenberg if you consider his position and try to picture what it would have looked like from his PoV. The fault was entirely with the linesman who should have been there to see it clearly, which he could have from his view. For the Nani goal, I partly agree with you. Clattenberg cocked up and was not clear about his signal and Nani also played incredibly unsportingly, however, from the comments that Gary Neville makes as a pundit (whilst I don't agree with, but do respect his honesty), its clear that SAF instills a win at all costs mentality, even if it means not conducting oneself to a high standard of sporting behaviour. Obviously he doesn't mean to cheat, but in grey areas, play to your advantage. However, I don't know how much blame should be placed on Gomes. He obviously assumed he had a free kick and probably didn't see Nani. For me the order of blame is: Clattenberg > Nani >> Gomes.
