The gesture was no more provacative than scoring a goal in the first place. Walcott's was far worse last season. What it highlights is the lack of consistency. I don't care if he interprets the rules differently to other refs, it's far more important that you get consistency in the application of the rule, rather than the rule itself.
No, it isn't. It could be interpreted as unsporting behaviour, but then that would have to be applied consistently and it's not. Henry used to shh the opposition fans all the time and Mario Mandzukic cups his ears routinely. Oliver was just pissed off because he knew that he was going to get attacked by Wenger in the post-match interview, which happened anyway. It's just standard behaviour for a lot of managers now when they don't get a win.
Ah right cheers YV. Thought it'd be odd not to have all them involved purely due to selection, I agree Bentaleb is a good choice having on the bench though, just thought at least one of Paul, Mousa and Benji would be a good option too. Benji if especially would've ideal to bring on after Chadli's goal as it was obvious an Arsenal onslaught would happen and he seems to be a guy not afraid of sticking a foot in. Focus will always be on other teams mate, we never get any credit regardless of how good we may have been. Just look at QPR, when we faced them it was all about how dire they were, yet Utd get the same result and suddenly Utd are back to their best and ready to challenge again. I've grown tired of the journalism and tend to not pay any attention to it nowadays.
Baiting the crowd is something that the FA is very much against, because it brings with it potential public order consequences, and causes all sorts of problems for officials. I really don't think anyone can be surprised that a player is booked for baiting opposition fans.
Really? Give me five other examples of it happening in the Premier League. Edit: Just to add, Graham Poll thinks that it was the right decision, which clearly shows that it wasn't.
I don't think the journos could put any gloss on Utd shipping four unanswered goals in 22 minutes a week later though, could they? Then it was Leicester who were world beaters. They are just prone to hyperbole, not bias.
They did endlessly bang on about a dodgy penalty turning the game though, unlike, just as a quick example off the top of my head, your 5-2 win over us, which was down to you being brilliant. Inspired comeback, title winning grit, devastating attack in the second half, etc. Not 'Ref Cocks It Up And Robs Spurs At Old Trafford. Again.'
Not your best example. That was a decent team which contained Ronaldo and you were steamrollered with five quick goals, even though you might argue about the decision which was the catalyst for that. This is how the bbc reported it - a "controversial penalty" being the starting point. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8000573.stm
It was a joke game that Howard Webb completely turned with two **** decisions, as usual. The penalty was utterly ridiculous and then the following goal came from an obvious foul. The third was a correct call that he couldn't possibly have made from his angle. Here's how the Guardian reported it: http://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/apr/25/premier-league-manchester-united-tottenham-hotspur Here's how the Fail reported it: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...Two-goal-Rooney-leads-way-comeback-kings.html Steamrollered? Yeah, by a bald pillock who was terrified of Ferguson.
I don't take much interest in them, so don't have a list to hand. The only other one that I can clearly recall is the yellow card that Ade got for running the full length of the field, to power-slide in front of the Arsenal fans, arms held aloft in joyous celebration, after he scored for £ity against Arsenal. But, I can tell you, that when I used to ref, the FA made it quite clear that players taunting the opposing crowd was to be actively discouraged, and the reason given was that there were public order issues that had to be recognised.
Anyone with an example that doesn't involve scoring against Arsenal? The obvious comparison would be Henry doing the exact same thing as Adebayor, but against Spurs. He wasn't booked. Seems to be something of a theme.
We all ought to remember that Arsenal fans deserve special protection from taunting, as they always uphold the highest standards of respect in their songs.
I'm from Edmonton mate, went School in Enfield (Albany) but my Cousin is from Waltham Cross and his mates who I've now become good friends with over the years all went Cheshunt School with Mason (and Charlie Hoy, who's now a pro boxer) and know him well. Funnily enough I text one of them when he scored the screamer against Forest, they replied "I used to mark him out the game back in School" haha.
Does Ade's salute upset our Military,I wonder? I can remember an old Leyton Orient player shaking hands with the corner flag after scoring.Did this upset the linesman?
The real question is what to do with players who take selfies of themselves on the pitch after a win at their local rivals' ground...
Arsenal are the PL's most injured team http://www.espnfc.com/barclays-premier-league/23/index Clearly they're fragile psychologically as well as physically, and it's perfectly fair that players are punished for gestures that would be fine if directed towards other supporters.
