To me, it was less "kicking lumps" and more professional fouling to disrupt Montero's rhythm. Effectively they seemed to try to give away a niggly foul on him whenever he got the ball, just to stop him in his tracks. Professional fouling is a tactic that shouldn't go unpunished though, so I'm glad that the referee stepped up to the plate and gave that second yellow. Some refs wouldn't have given that second yellow for ridiculous reasons such as it being "too early in the game" or it being a "nothing foul", and I'd bet my house that if we were playing away, Janmaat would have still been on the pitch in the second half. The sorry state of affairs that top level refereeing has become. But, I'll reiterate that yesterday's ref did a great job!
Routs is still technically good so can probably still raise his game and get some goals if given a chance but Dyer seems to have lost his confidence in his abilities a bit ? Maybe carrying a long term knock ? He did start scoring a couple beginning of last season I think but his main thing was leaving defenders in his dust but not so good at crossing or doing much when he got passed them ! he doesn't seem to even get passed them much anymore so he better improve again sharpish or he may be in the last chance saloon this season which is a pity coz he was entertaining over past seasons for us ?
Newcastle didn't come to 'kick' Monterro off the park yesterday Imo, and Monk simply shot a flair into the air when he said what he did. He did it last season to highlight the multitude of poor refereeing decisions that were costing us. He spoke out and demanded the officials show us more respect than they were, and it worked. The 'special one' does this all of the time, so credit to Monk I think. This time, Monk fixed every ones attention onto Monterro and who ever he is battling next. More so, by speaking on live TV, with repeats on MOTD and reiteration in todays' papers, he has put pressure on the referees to focus on the Monterro v Whoever, with a bias towards protecting Monterro and potentially reducing the number of fouls committed against him. By pre-highlighting potential defensive infringements Monk has planted a seed or an image into the minds of officials which should trigger reaction if or when Monterro is fouled. Subsequently has planted the officials into the minds of defenders too. They will focus on Monterro but in the backs of their minds they will have the referee. Clever boy is our Garry
