Thought we should've had a blatant penalty when Kane got taken down by someone from a corner. We've got away with a couple lately so can't complain about the result. I can still complain about the **** ref though, fell for everyone of their dives. First half they were all over us for most of it, not attractive football from them but they clearly targeted the punt up field to bypass any kind of game of football. Second half I thought we gave them a bit of a lesson, without the final result. Once again it's a draw at home against United. I hope we can look forward to another win at OT
We were pretty outclassed in the first half . They deserved to be a couple of goals up and cut through us at every opportunity . Eriksen our best outfield player rarely if ever dominates game , Chadli besides scoring , is to ponderous , Townsend was better than usual but never looks like he will score and only produces an odd chance for any one else. Central midfield pairing looked inadequate in covering the defence or adding anything going forward in the first half . The second was a big improvement . Kane was a bulldog , Loris the best keeper since Jennings saved us time after time . Surprisingly we could have nicked it in the end . Really we are so far behind them in quality terms or any top 4 team that the gap seems unbridgeable .
```````````````````````````````` It’s true Leicester should have gotten one and possibly two pens, and it does keep me off my high horse to some extent. But we certainly should have gotten two, and possibly three today, and it’s funny it happened against Man U. Did they buy some refs during their spending spree? It will be hard to break that long losing streak at home if they defend by hauling down our players, and the refs react by not calling it. I’d rather say Leicester should have gotten a draw, and quite possibly a win, and we should have had a win today. Scoreless draw = check. Should make the issue clearer = no check. Should but didn’t. I don’t like draws, especially at home, but I feel okay about this one. We came back and played as we can in the second half. Both teams are talented works in progress. I really liked Dembele on the left, and thought Chiriches was outstanding. Kane continues to impress, but Eriksen wasn’t nearly as good as he’s been lately. He may have been tired. I’m glad Chadli, Lamela and Walker have good competition.
Yeah and we 1st thought Stambouli should have got a red, studs showing right infront of the ref but looking at it on TV would have been harsh and RVP was fouled in a dangerous positon no free kick in 1st half but yes you could have had 2 pens with Smalling and Rooney fouling your players. How did you get on with your acca today Yid, Burnley cost you?
Don't reduce every match report to an analysis of the ref's performance. A draw was probably a fair result on the performance of the players. I still maintain that the kick off time was detrimental to the quality of the game. Had this been played tomorrow night - like Liverpool - then it would have been a more dynamic performance from two teams who don't tend to do 0-0s.
Before the game I was hoping we would nick it again.After,we should be happy with what we got! Now I'm hoping we nick it v Chelsea,"Big" John Terry and all........
A draw was a fair result, in the simple sense that you dominated the first half, and we dominated the second. But DaveUnited’s words about the ref were also exactly right. It wasn’t just one pen, it was two. Given Leicester also should have gotten at least one against us, and that Arsenal got yet more gifts from the ref two weeks in a row, it seems refs are conspiring to help the bigger teams at the price of fair play. That’s too bad. I agree with you that two games in three days should never be allowed. It shows no concern for either the welfare of the players or the interests of the fans. You get the sense of governing bodies being 100% concerned with money and 0% with anything else.
After seeing Townsend's abject performance and an anonymous appearance by Lamela it really shows our need for a right footed right winger (do they still exist?) Nearly all our attacks came down the left and don't get me started on that prat Raphael how he stayed on the pitch I don't know.
A little harsh on Townsend I feel. I didn't think he was that bad. He made some good moves down the right and put some great balls into the box. Going forward he looked good but some defensive decisions and tackles were a little rash at times. I was surprised he was subbed as he should have been fresh and fit enough to play 90 minutes considering he's not played too much lately. Lamela added nothing when coming on and frankly, I suspected that would be the case. This game was too combative for his style and it showed in just ten minutes against a team that had already played 80 mins. He should have made a far greater impact than he did.
Nah. Went for my usual doubles of Bournemouth and Brentford, and Bristol City and Rovers, one came in but Brentford let me down once again. The rest I wasted betting on Spurs
So Van Gaal says that his players were tired and that the body cannot recover in 48hrs. So why then was this the first time in 80+ matches that Utd named an unchanged team? Is he just bloody stupid or something?
Have to feel sorry for that plucky team from Manchester. They don't have a big squad or budget like us so they have to make do with what they've got, they can't even afford to feed their players anything other than Fray Bentos pies so no wonder they're not as healthy as our players. Poor United, my heart bleeds for them.
Ha, fray bentos pies brings back memories of my university days. They were the best thing ever back then, now i wouldn't touch one.
Unfortunately the results of football matches don't correspond with what should be a fair result, they depend on who scored the most goals. In a lot of the matches I've watched this season, dubious calls by the ref have had more influence on the number of goals than the efforts of the players. There were no really bad call against Utd on Sunday and they got what they deserved, zero goals, because they didn't manage to finish their chances. Not having bad calls against Spurs would have given us more opportunities to score.
What really got me about Moss yesterday wasn't his poor decision making or his obvious bottling of all the major decisions. The main thing was the contrast in how he treated the players. When Utd were using their intimidation tactics early in the first half, which Michael Owen helpfully deconstructed by picking apart the sequence, he was like a sheepish schoolboy being told off by his teacher. Rooney, van Persie, Falcao and the rest all took their turns shouting at him and questioning each decision and he took it all and looked embarrassed. Later in the game however, after van Persie had committed an obvious yellow card offence on Vertonghen, which would've seen him miss the next game, he was strangely bolshie. Lloris was dismissed with a clear instruction to "get out of my face", despite being our captain. The officials should be stronger and should be able to stand up to this sort of bullshit, but a simpler solution would just be to put a stop to it at source. Enforce a strict code of conduct towards refs, as they do in rugby. It would prevent any of this happening and we might see more consistent performances from them then. It's impossible to get into the ref's head if you're not allowed to act like a pillock on the pitch. Leave that to the more slimy managers in the post-match interviews!
Unfortunately, the badgering of referees has crept into RFU. Nowhere near the extent of football, but it's still something you never used to see. Players are a bit more crafty, however, they know the refs whose decisions they can query, and those that won't stand for it. Alain Roland, for instance, is known to be very strict. Questioning his decisions with anything more than a very polite enquiry, will earn you nothing but a yellow or red card!.
About the most shocking thing I saw in football as a new fan was referees letting players bully them. I swear it's all about social class. The American referee is some kind of ceremonial officer of the court, which is (arguably) the only legally privileged class in American society. An American cop prefers to use his gun than to lose face, and the system backs him up. The football referee seems to be descended from a teacher overseeing a children's game at a school: ready enough to crack the whip on the poor boys, but quick to back down to the children of those with a certain amount of pull.
