He kicked out and then went in with his head, the referee made a gesture to suggest it was the two combined that got him the red card. In which case the Newcastle player should have walked too, as he made a poor tackle from behind and then also went in with his head. In Mbokani's defence he was getting fouled all game and the referee gave him absolutely nothing, he was bound to be frustrated. Contrast that to the other end and anytime Gayle went to ground he got a free-kick.
When Elmo calls you out for diving you know you've done something wrong. Gayle barely appealed to the ref, he just argued with Elmo instead.
Mbokani was an idiot, but he's been playing well and everyone's allowed the odd cock-up, it's not like he's alone, Elmo and Dio have both picked up stupid reds this
Look at the positives- it might force Phelans's hand again. Mbokani is arguably the only player that can play that lone striker role. We might see 2 up top for the next few games
It'll be interesting to see who comes in. Would Dio go upfront and see Bowen play left win? Push Clucas onto the win, maybe bring Maloney in. I'm not exactly sure what he'd go with.
The officials were determined to give as much as possible to Newcastle and see them through to the next round - unfortunately Newcastle ****ed up the penalty shoot out - how that guy was still on the pitch for the mbkani incident and the one in front of the East stand is bizarre
No, he'll end up somewhere like Leyton Orient, he's never a Premier League player (though neither is Keane).
I know neither are PL quality but I personally think Akpom's pace up front alongside Mbokani or Diomande would've been more useful than Keane.
Well it would now, but Akpom simply isn't good enough from what we've seen previously. No good being quick if you can't do much else. He's got potential, but not at this level.
It's like picking between having Ebola or Malaria, ideally you wouldn't have either. Looks like Fulham and Cardiff are competing for Akpom on loan in January.
That's the impression I got last night, 10 mins into the match I actually said to the lads I was with, that city better watch out as he's giving everything to Newcastle and very little to us, plus the lot in the Newcastle dugout never let up at the 4th official all match, several Newcastle players constantly wanting cards when ever city were penalized, the result in the end it just made the victory that much sweeter.
We definitely need a striker, a winger and perhaps a defensive midfielder. I'd ask Mourinho if Fosu-Mensah is available for loan, he can play right-back and centre-back as well. Good player who needs games.
