Both were 100% red cards. Both players deserved to go. Focus should be on the fact that Elmo and Meyler luckily avoided serious injury. It could have been a very different picture this morning with 2 perhaps 3 of our squad out for lengthy periods. Oh and Brady was 100% a sending off too. Two feet off the ground, jumping in. Straight red. End of. Got a bit of luck back yesterday. Finally well done Steve Harper. Can you imagine what the Maccams would be saying if 9 men had secured a draw? They'd be talking Europe next season!
[video=youtube;JJmTnozOkk0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJmTnozOkk0[/video] For those who never heard it.
Conclusions for this match (IMO): 1. Cattermole and Dossena are dirty pricks. Cattermole was obvious. Funny how it was Elmo and Meyler fouled for both challenges... 2. Fletcher hits the ground near enough every challenge. He pissed me off. 3. We still can't break defences down without Aluko. 4. We need shooting practice.
Conclusions for this match (IMO): 1. Cattermole and Dossena are dirty pricks. Cattermole was obvious. Funny how it was Elmo and Meyler fouled for both challenges... 2. Fletcher hits the ground near enough every challenge. He pissed me off. 3. We still can't break defences down without Aluko. 4. We need shooting practice.
I thought the same, that was until I watched the extended highlights on Sky, there was an earlier, straight leg, studs up challenge that he attempted on Thud, it was only due to Tom being able to get out of the way that saved him a probable broken leg, or at the very least a nasty knee injury. Cattermole was after taking someone out of the game IMHO, maybe he thinks that's his job against the better teams, to try and even out the balance!
You could watch Cattermole get more and more dirty and frustrated as the game went on, you just knew he was going to take someone out.
You could watch Cattermole get more and more dirty and frustrated as the game went on, you just knew he was going to take someone out.
Cattermole had his own agenda. I've probably had more opportunity to understand him. I once thought he was the steel we need in midfield; he is quick, he is instinctive, he can boss a game. Unfortunately, he is also a knob. I will not defend him one inch, but, in comparison,the foul on Meyler was in a totally different league. The fact that it was against two ex Sunderland players does make discussion more pointed.
Agreed fez. To say that Dossini was 'trying to put his foot on top of the ball' is a complete, and very bad, joke, it was literally a serious attempt at GBH, nothing more, nothing less! I just hope that the PL panel that look at things like this give him more than a three game ban, sending the twat back to Italy should be a serious consideration! There's no room for challenges like that in football otherwise the likes of Aluko and Thudd will be getting taken out every week!
Only just got to see the highlights, the delights of having a new born child....and my view on the two sendings off is that Dossena 100% deserved to go for an awful awful tackle, I think that Catermole was a bit unlucky though. Looking at the incident in isolation and not considering any other tackles he put in throughout the game, the tackle on Elmo wasn't a great one, and in real time looked really bad, so the ref can't be criticised for the decision, looking at it in slower motion from different angles he catches him with his trailing leg, studs not showing and Elmo makes a meal of it, I don't think a yellow would have been out of order.
Surely the whole point of a straight red for such challenges is to stop serious injury. If Elmo's leg was at a different angle or had been stationary it could well have ended with a break.
