Well doesn't this just top off the game. Not only was the ref totally useless.... The key moments seemed to be: - Shoulder to shoulder challenge that was fine, Sunderland player went into the advertising with a bump. - A Sunderland Member of staff jumped up and confronted our player shouting - Players came in to break it up and defend our player (was it Howson?) - Big Sam shoves Jerome, and Norwich players start shouting at him, then everyone started pushing everyone.
As I thought at the time. You can see Massive overreaction from the player (trying to get him booked), then a bald member of staff (with no brains), then Fat Sam (Already angry 4 minutes into a game of football. If only he knew the ref was going to gift him it anyway! ) I thought at the time: "This is so stupid, why have we even bother reacting to those t**ts". But still, we get fined for it too...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36084757 What i remember it was the bald headed guy on Sunderlands bench who started it all. As we say "handbags" move on FFS
Yea, he did, then big Sam got really angry and aggressive really quick. Don't really understand why. Was embarrassing to watch. That whole day was a write off wasn't it!
Sorry, but Brady clearly shoulder-charged Yedlin into the hoardings, unnecessary and ridiculous and potentially dangerous - I wonder if our bench would have just sat there smiling if it had been the other way around, and one of our players had been on the receiving end. FA charge to both clubs is perfectly justified imo.
Watch it back again, the shoulder charge was diagonal to the touch line, their player dived into the hoardings AND made sure he didn't hurt himself!
Have watched it back several times ILD and I don´t agree with you, Brady had absolutely no need to shoulder -charge him at all, diagonal or not. Remember the Bennet incident against Arsenal earlier in the season, just the same only Bennett used his arms. Both of them, stupid, and I guarantee had our players been on the receiving end, both fans and our bench would have been up in arms.
As for the ref being totally useless, I really do think you´ve got your green and yellow specs firmly on today. 1. The penalty they got was a penalty, because if that tackle from Wisdom, whether he grazed the top of the ball or not, had happened anywhere outside the penalty area, he might easily have been given a straight red - far too violent in his own penalty area. 2. Bassong was not fouled in the build up to Sunderland´s second goal, he was just found wanting, while dreaming he was Messi or Ronaldo. 3. The numerous half-hearted penalty appeals we had, were just that, half-hearted - both Naismith and Mbokani went to ground far too easily and far too often. In fact the only real incident where we might have had a pen, and where it might have been justified, was when Bassong was in mid-air and got the slightest of pushes from Cattermole, otherwise I can´t see that Marriner put many feet wrong.
What on earth were you watching? Bassong went up for a header in the box, and while in the air, was pushed so the ball went over him. If we did that in our box, that's a pen. Mbokani running through got pulled down by the arm and shoulder in the box (They were all over him all game) us doing that in our area, that's a pen. (or for any other team. that one was blatant). Their pen, I'd say maybe was a pen, but was harsh. We wouldn't have been given that! Bassong dallied, p*ssed about on the ball like a t*t, but he was then fouled. The Sunderland players leg tripped him as he turned. Basically I look at all the incidents - would we get given that? Would it get given against us? If we wouldn't why should they, if they would, why don't we?! I think the Bassong foul in the lead up, and the Mbokani pull down were blatant. Push on Bassong "you see them given, just not in a Norwich shirt"
Yes I know you think we get hard done by, and that all refs seem to have got a grudge against Norwich - don´t happen to agree with you, but certainly refs are far from consistent, which to me is one of the biggest problems there has been this season. Interpretation differs hugely from ref to ref so that it´s pretty much impossible to know in advance what sort of line they are going to take, but that there is a pre-conceived conspiracy against Norwich - no.
I really think they find it too easy to turn a blind eye to us, coz they will just get away with it. Look at the fuss over Leicester! 3 days they have been banging on about that for 3 days now! Papers, News and Talksport. The pen we didn't get against Palace? Which got confirmed as a wrong decision. Barely heard that mentioned apart from MOTD. Getting nothing all day against Sunderland, and the wrong decisions in that game. Again, MOTD and the BT coverage analysis. Apart from that no one cares.
And incidentally, in case you hadn´t noticed, I did say that myself, in #11 - so we do at least agree on one thing.
I'd not heard BT have Howard Webb as part of their commentary team before, but his opinions were interesting. He thought their penalty was a very good decision, that Bassong was fouled in the buildup to their second, and that one of our penalty shouts (I forget which), was a penalty. Now you can argue to a certain extent that he'd be of no interest to BT if he always agreed with the match officials, but equally he has his own reputation to consider. If he'd been officiating (perhaps with all the TV angles he had access to) then there's a good chance it'd have been 1-1 with ~15 mins to play. We were crap and got what we deserved, but I'd still have fancied us more both in those remaining minutes, and over the rest of the season. Fine margins!
Fine margins indeed DH, not disputing that at all, but as I said, ref´s (present and past) interpretations of any given situation are so inconsistent, that for any four who would have given us, say, both the controversial decisions, there´ll be six that wouldn´t, or vice-versa. I´d say the only incident that was completely clear-cut from Saturday´s game, was their penalty, the rest could all be argued either way. I would just add, that, in the incident which I thought was our most justifiable shout, the push on mid-airborne Bassong, I´m not even sure Marriner was in a position to see. The replay shows he was almost directly in line, behind Cattermole, and he may not have seen his arms go out, likewise the linesman, who was also seeing it end-on, no-one was actually watching it side-on, unless you count the 4th official, whose presence and purpose at games, I´m afraid I´m still trying to work out.
I'd agree it was probably a penno to Sunderland but a red card!!! That's crazy, the foul and yellow for there player near the halfway line showed less control and was more dangerous yet still only a yellow in my book. That said if Wisdoms should have been red then we should have been playing ten men by that stage. There wasn't much in the Brady nudge and it goes on every game and didn't even warrent a yellow in my book. Unfortunitely for us I think allot of decisions went against us because both Mbokani and even worse Naismith seemed to have no interest in fighting for the ball rather than falling over to try and con the ref. I think the foul on Mbok was probably a penalty, but not totally clear cut. The trouble being that all his and Naismiths previous attempts to con the ref will have left him thinking he was crying wolf again. What I really don't agree with is that, we as a smaller fish in the premier pond get a fair rub with the refs over the season. It's no conspiresy just against us , all the so called bigger clubs get preferencial treatment season after season against the smaller ones. Why this happens is a mystery, why would a ref favour Sunderland away at Norwich? I think he just started inept, our players then got his backup with diving and complaining and by the time there are howls of derision at each call and abuse from the crowd he was already probably inwardly laughing at the result. That said it is precisly what we did that seems to be successful for the bigger clubs, diving and wingeing at the ref in their cases, gets decisions and that's where the injustise lies! Inconsistency toward poorer less established clubs. We've all seen the refs having a chat and a laugh with the big players. Maybe this is where we need a good captain again, as with rugby, if we had a strong captain chatting to the ref and building a rapor then maybe we will get a little more favour from them? Bah!
