Referee's and lino's often come in for much stick, frequently warranted, but I would like to acknowledge the standard of officiating in both of the semi-final games and indeed in the Final itself yesterday. Although there were no really contentious decisions to make in any of those games, there were some tackles where bookings could have been handed. However, in all three cases, the referee seemed quite lenient at times and having a word instead of reaching for the back pocket at every opportunity. How much better would league games be if they were all officiated this way. I found it really refreshing and enjoyed the games more for it.
Agree 100%. I thougt the ref was top class yesterday,and way above most of the dross we experienced in Championship this season. Our first goal could easily have been thwarted for a perceived foul on Ayala , but a fair tackle by Cam was rightly rewarded.
Good call Thai. We bemoan them when they get it wrong but rarely recognise them for a good display, Mike Dean was very good yesterday. Going back to the semi, I know it is easy in retropsect but to have sent off their defender for the penalty /goal was a big call and could possibly have been fudged. It wasn't and justice was rightly done. Beers all round.
It's easy to say that the ref had a good game when your team wins, not so when you lose. If the shoe was on the other foot I wonder how many of us would be bemoaning the ref for Jerome's challenge on Ayala ? Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a foul by any stretch of the imagination but with red and white specs on ........................................ ?
I have to say I don't think I've seen a single Boro fan complaining about the challenge on Ayala. Same with the dive by ?Vossen. All reports I've seen, including Boro commentary, have said the ref got it right on both counts (although if it was a dive I'm not sure why he didn't get a yellow card). The best part of the refereeing is he took no nonsense when it came to falling to floor easily. A couple of Boro players did it a few times and were roundly ignored, so they stopped doing it as they realised it meant they were left out of position. It used to annoy me so much when Holt would do that - I'd always think, fine, if you win a freekick, but more often than not you just look silly and have lost the chance to win the ball in their half.
You know the ref has had a good game when nobody mentions him after the game. All three games were fairly easy to officiate, hope this continues in the PL.
The ref deserves every bit of credit. He showed Boro that they wouldn't get away with their gamesmanship and cheating so they didn't try (except for Vossen's blatant dive). Interestingly, once they couldn't cheat, they looked mediocre.
I think that is a bit harsh Singapore. Over the second half of the season I think Boro have been as good as anyone and possibly the best of all and they didn't turn Brentford over by cheating either. In a way you are removing a lot of the credit from what we actually did on Monday although I know this would not have been your intention.
We totally outplayed them in the first half, and comfortably contained them in the second. We never, at any point, allowed them a foothold in the game. The ref had an excellent game in that we were hardly aware of his presence. He let the game flow.
This relates to another observation - I thought all three of our play-off games, even the semis against Ipswich, were played in a pretty good spirit. I cannot think of any really crunching fouls in the final at all. Credit to all the players.
