Haven't seen any games yet from today, but spoke to a couple of Liverpool fans at Gatwick who said that they got shafted by the ref. Should have had a pen on Suarez and ref gave another soft pen to Utd. Nothing changes I see
Just watching MOTD and this is exactly true. No red card for similar challenge and no pen against Man U. Ruins football in this country.
The ref looked like he was abysmal today in the Liverpool game. Did they even have a single call go their way?
Sorry but I just watched the highlights...Shelby deserved the red and it was a penalty...Johnson didn't touch the ball whereas the united defenders got the ball first. Spurs have had more than our fair share of bad decisions v Man Utd but I don't think they got lucky today ... Liverpool players just messed up!
I am not a Liverpool fan but Shelby didn't deserve a straight red for that challenge, he got a very healthy thump on the ball. Now a yellow for reckless, yes, but given the standards in the premier league for aggressive challenges, that can hardly be described as excessive or brutal, particularly as he seemed to make very good contact with the ball before he did with the player. As for the penalty, well, I've seen them given before and referees dont like defenders coming in from the wrong side, but I don't believe that very many teams other than Man Utd get those calls as regularly as United do. I can understand why liverpool fans feel upset. It's not that Man United get decisions based on vapour, its just the way that referees will give them based the barest shadow of wrongdoing. If you play Manchester United you had better not give a referee the slightest excuse to give a big decision their way, because he will not even hesitate.
The issue wasn't that it wasn't a red, it was that if Shelvey was red then Evans should have been red too: Both feet off the ground, studs showing and reckless challenge from him that could have just as easily broken shelveys leg too. Shelvey's challenge was only one footed at the end of the day. AS for Johnson, he didn't touch the ball, but neither did his foot touch valencias leg (which he flipped up as if tripped). The ref was just gagging for a reason to give decisions against us and UNited a reprieve from the utter domination they were suffering (they had 35% possession before the red card, says it all)
Ok, here's how it is: Shelvey and Evans - Should both have been yellow carded Suarez should have had a penalty Johnson was a pen, tackling from behind and from the wrong side. Should have been 2-2 The verdict : United handed another two points due to dodgy ref decisions.
Shelvey was lucky not to recieve a yellow for an earlier tackle on Rafael which RVP recieved for more or less the same thing late on in the game, not saying it influenced the red though, Suarez could have had a pen against Sunderland and yeah possibly against us but we have the replays and the ref doesnt, and I think we are all in agreement Scholes got the ball of Shelvey which the Kop wanted a penalty
shawn, you need to be a bit clearer on these things. "Reckless" is a yellow. It is when a player goes in disregarding the safety of the other player. For it to be a red, it must be with "excessive force or brutality". I see you think it was a career ending challenge and I really am not so sure about that. He was swinging his leg and made solid contact with the ball and his foot then bounced off the back of the ball onto the united players thigh. By the time he made contact with Evans there was not a lot of force in the collision. I hear you about the, if this if that, but when it comes to a red card the judgement is made based on the "actual" force that was in the tackle. The fact that it was reckless, is taken care of by the yellow.
