I don't think any of us are banking on him coming back, we hope he will but we have learnt anything can happen with regard to who manages us next. I did cringe a little last night seeing that little tete a tete though just before the end of the game, and I don't think he was right to say the better team lost. I was surprised by that.
Here's the ref's view of the Nani incident last night: please log in to view this image You can see why he's given it, to be fair.
And I have to disagree with the 'too late to do anything' argument. It was not intended as the ball was in the air, totally agree with Nani not even seeoing Arbeloa. Its what he does after contact thats got him the red imo, he did not relax and drop his leg, and he did not get up to say sorry, which if it was as harmless as is made out here, he would have done that. What card did he think was coming for him to stay down faking injury himself?. From the refs view, any doubt over the contact now looks bad with Nani's reaction. The ref did not act instantly, he thought about it for nearly a minute watching the events unfold, I can see why he gave it. Arbeloa making the most of it didn't help either, but you expect that.
I vaguely remember something about a boot not being allowed to be higher than shoulder height, perhaps you could look in your info in the rules while you have it handy as I've just scrolled in google and its a minefield so I'm not having any luck but I would be interested to know.
Perhaps "hoping" would have been a better word then, as you say. But other than him, who else is there that: a) is of the standard chelsea need b) they haven't already sacked c) would want the job, with the current evidence over the treatment of managers in recent years?
I agree with Notso. No other team would get such a discussion going following a decision that (probably wrongly) went against them. Other teams put up with such decisions all the time, AND their manager has to come out and face the cameras after. There are different rules for ManU and that just isn't fair.
I think most of us are still shell shocked after the last one who came. We have threads over on Chelsea you can perhaps read to answer your questions. Me personally, I saw nothing wrong with how RDM was doing or many of the others who have come and gone so I can't answer this for you except to say I have no idea. Perhaps I should have a go, I managed an U10, 11 and 12 year old team for a few years and could certainly do a better job than Rafa
I did say it was a long time ago, pre bicycle kicks, and I do remember being surprised when they became the norm. That's one of the reasons I'd like to see if the changed the rules or my old age is getting the better of me
Funny you should bring this up notso. - i was going to ask you something related to bicycle kicks, earlier. Remember THE Rooney goal against City? Now, his foot was pretty high when he made clean contact with the ball, and there were no other players in immediate proximity. What if, there'd been a player who was closer, and he completely missed the ball (whilst keeping his eye on it at all times in order to perform the maneuver), but ended up booting the player instead? Red card? Edit: player was in close proximity, so what if he'd hit the player?
Then the rules are ridiculous. you can't go from one extreme, which is scoring a wonder goal and being praised for your technique despite it being dangerous, to the other extreme which is a red card because you accidentally fluffed it, but had the best of intentions. In both instances with rooney, his foot would have been in the same place. It's high, it's dangerous, so the player should see red, regardless of whether he hits the ball or a player. Nani's red was no different last night, IMO. He tried to acrobatically control the ball in mid air and accidentally caught the player, over something that happened so quickly. It's unfair that something deemed as dangerous, is only dangerous based on what the end outcome is.
We could go on and on Roo, the intent of a bicycle kick is not the point, contact isn't the point if its accidental, if we're pulling out past instances how about when Diaby was it? clean knocked John Terry out with a hoof (the infamous 'kick out racism' pic). Diaby wasn't sent off because he was worried for the player and you could see it was an accident. Nani behaved in an inexplicably guilty manner following his collision. Like I said the red card wasn't instant, the ref was watching all of this before he produced it. Anyway, think we've thrashed this one now, interesting to see all the differing views though...who'd be a ref!
Regardless of the decision being correct did anyone else kinda enjoy watching Utd get ****ed by a ref? It was like some sort of glorious alternate universe. And yes, i was supporting Utd. Fergie should have attended the press conference. A 71yr old man with as much football experience as him sulking is pretty pathetic. Come out, be gracious, by all means say you think you got screwed, but for crying out loud man-up you baby.
