If you look at Lee Mason's face in the seconds following the incident it says it all, out of his depth and bottling it. My dad was a ref at county level and always said 99% of it was easy, but 1% of decisions were buggers esp' as in local football the linesman is about as much use as a chocolate teapot. I can only assume Mason then wanted to re-assert his authority by appearing masterful and decisive, so sent Mane off. Twit. Interesting to note Mane's control compared to Diego (it was more of a sucky kiss than a bite) Costa's raging at a ref daring to tell him what to do.
Hate to disagree but he was shocking. Gave Saints nothing all game. And Stoke were "robust" in the extreme.
I was thinking of the old "denying a goalscoring opportunity" line of thought, it is a bit of a minefield I know.
Interesting that you would drop Targett (or, at least, suggest that Ron would). If you look at the stats I bet he has the best wins to losses ratio of any Saints player this season. I think we look stronger with him in the side as he gets forward but will instinctively track back to defend. He gives us width too as he rarely ventures inside.
The reason the rules are bullshit is because the moment you award a pen, the goal scoring opportunity has no longer been denied.
Been busy all weekend and only just caught up with MOTD. Great result and 2 of the worst refereeing decisions of a season liberally spread with awful ones. Great to see that Pellè seems to have his mojo back after so long, let's hope it continues for the last 8 games and gives Ron a selection nightmare once Charlie and Jay are back. On a sadder note, so sorry to hear of your loss Beef, but as others have said, he is at peace now. Thoughts with you and your family.
I think you are investing too much into Mr Mason, Thought processes? No, just a reactionary. Brain in gear? No, automatic pilot. Able to make objective judgements? No, just no no no no no. His career as a referee should be over, this is the latest of many a fiasco.. but he'll be there, if not next week but the week after spoiling another game. WHY?
In a game, in which we frequently conceded possession as a result of poor passing (73% success rate?), it was odd that we also produced some fantastic, top quality passes. Davis' corner for the first goal. Martina setting Long free, for his shot on goal, saved by Butland. Tadic's simple but perfect pass for Pelle's second. Davis' ball releasing Long for the Tadic chance. And, surprisingly no one has mentioned, despite all the penalty talk (unless I've missed it) the fantastic chip, by Pelle I think, that released Tadic for the nailed on penalty. Superb pass. Reference the penalty, I think the only reason Mason could have thought it wasn't a penalty, was the exaggerated manner in which Tadic raised his foot, following the contact. Obviously players are trying to minimise the contact, for fear of being injured, but sometimes they need to "take one" for the team and make sure that the ref can't miss seeing the contact. I also wonder if the refs, collectively, were warned to be cautious, following the Benteke incident, because I think Swansea should have had a penalty at Bournemouth, but didn't get the call.
Yes there were a few sloppy passes, but I'm happy to see a stat like 73% on pass completion if we're attempting chance creating passes.
Yes. High pass completion suggests playing it safe. Tony Adams might often get 100% completion... But doesn't make him Pele.
I said expecting for a reason, as I expect Wanyama and certainly Fonte to play against Liverpool. So, I expect Wanyama for Clasie and probably Fonte for Targett but it could be Tadic, I suppose?
I'm not going to disagree with that. But I think it was an error dropping Targett last time and changing a successful system. This time it is trickier as Tadic is playing well again (2 assists albeit no goals). I also thing JWP deserves a starting place. Still, good problems to have.
If he thought Dusan had dived, he didn't carry out his job correctly so is still wrong in his actions, there is no evidence of a dive, the momentum did the damage, the contact did the rest.
So if you intentionally handball it on the line or bring someone down with an open goal - they shouldn't be sent off? The rules are not bullshit. If they scrapped that rule you would have players handballing it on the line or hacking someone down when they're through left right and centre. They would get away with a yellow card and if the penalty was missed the defending team would get away with it without any meaningful punishment.
