......When Norwich were complaining about the ref this weekend? I must say, I thought the red card was correct, & I also think the Bassong pen was righ decision. However, the ref did miss a far more blantant one from a Sunderland player, but like Chris Houghton said last week after our game with them; 'Luck evens out over a season, we got some today.' Yeah, you did, but now the universe feels that bit fairer once again. On a side note, theres going to be a lot of EPL ref's doing Championship matches in a couple weeks time on this form!
They were unlucky not to get a penalty, and perhaps a bit unfortunate to have one given against them, though personally I think that was the correct decision. Bunn was very unfortunate to be red-carded but I'm not sure the ref had any choice, on the other hand I thought Holt was lucky to go unpunished for his challenge on Mignolet at the end to be honest. Overall I can see why they're a bit aggrieved but they must have been happy to get a point in those circumstances.
What is rather tragic for football is that it looks as if the relegated teams this season will be decided not by the way they and others play but by the incompetence of the match officials. I am I the only one who is fed up with spineless linesmen who look to the ref before making a decision when they should be signalling for what they actually see. What then happens is that two people have often got it wrong when at least if they discuss their different sight of the incidence there is a chance that they may end up making the right decision.
I thought Holt was looking a bit hefty as well, especially when you compare them to our greyhounds. Anyone notice how lean JRod is looking and he wasn't chunky in the first place.
This is an enormous exaggeration isn't it? Which of the teams in the bottom three now (or indeed anywhere in the table) could claim they are in that position mainly due to the referees?
We can all point to an incident and say 'if only', but the truth is that we forget the points earnt when a decision goes in our favour. Even if a wrong decision gets you relegated on the last day, you still messed up during the previous 37 games for it to go that close.
I resolved in League 1, when the refs were always a minute behind the game, that if we made it back to the top flight, I would never complain about the standard of refereeing in the Premiership again. I'd forgotten that the Prem brings its own problems - in essence the players are less honest, always willing to deceive the ref. There's no excuse for guessing though - if you don't see it, you can't give it.
Agreed, but I worry about the two extra points that Wigan got on Sunday which they wouldn't have got if the ref had sent their player off and also disallowed their goal for a blatant handball
But yet, we got 2 extra points from exactly the same referee when we were given a penalty against Villa when Rodriguez went down without being touched.
We didn't score apart from that. Regardless of whether we 'deserved it' we got a goal and three points which we probably wouldn't have due to the ref. Also Villa deserved to get something from that game anyway still can't believe they didn't score.
They had many more chances in that game than we did. I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that we deserved a dodgy penalty.
We looked the better side for 60 minutes without ever really threatening their goal. Vill bombarded us in the last 30 and we were very lucky to get away with any points let alone 3 points. Like the QPR game, doesn't matter how pretty uou play, how many chances you have 2 moments can beat you.
So last game of the season and Wigan stay up in 17th by one point ahead of Saints in 18th. How do you feel then? Newcastle have lost a key player while Wigan have a player who should have been suspended for three games available to them in their fight against relegation and they also have three points they should not have had if the player had been sent off and if the ref had seen the handball for their second goal.
I knew what you meant, StG. Frankly, it would have taken an effort to have misunderstood what you meant. Yes, teams can be relegated by the odd bad key decision. For those who believe in that claptrap saying that luck evens out over a season [you can tell I don't], Wigan's key good times [the tackle and the handball] going for them may not have been addressed elsewhere and that game could send another team down. It's happened before and no doubt it'll happen again.
In most games, Benteke would have had a hat-trick with the chances he had! Very lucky he had an off-game.
