DL - 1. you deserved the points as United were abysmal 2. Rafael was rightly sent off for the kick. However, Luiz should not have been on the pitch at the time as he should have got a 2nd booking for continued dissent for the incident a few minutes earlier (before you mention it, irrespective of the fact that the initial throw in decision was incorrect). Also his actions after the kick do him no credit whatsoever - he did feign injury and he did openly laugh at getting Rafael to react and get sent off. And there appears to be a very thin dividing line, decided by fan loyalty on what constitutes a shoulder charge or elbow...... He is doing some good things for you and is a talented footballer, but he is not doing himself any favours longer term I would suggest.
Just back from Old Trafford... could hear the groan when that went in from North London! Massive game on Wednesday... Huge. Gunna be a cracker but if we win.. we've done it
Yeah, I find complaining about refs tiresome (when someone else is doing it!). Taking a step back, though, I'd really say that teams getting favored or disfavored consistently is caused not so much by the officials being poor (though they are) and biased (though they are) or that some managers are good at pulling strings to put refs under pressure (though they do). The real problem is that the PL might just as well not even have a rulebook, since their officials don't enforce the rules. Ever shirt pull and push in the box is a pen. Next year, start calling them. Start following the rules. You'll have a blizzard of pens at first, then everyone will adjust. You then may just see a game which is determined by something other than a bunch of ****wads making it up as they go along, bending over when pressured, who feel free to not give a pen all year to teams that don't play the intimidation game like Spurs and Swansea.
I thought we were the better of two poor sides on the day, did we deserve to win? Not for me, but we certainly didn't deserve to lose that farcical game at Stamford Bridge in October and we were robbed of a deserved 2 points at Anfield.
An example of inconsistent refereeing (and pundit reaction) was today's Merseyside derby The ref let lots of things (that are fouls according to the rules) go and was praised for it I agree with that but a lot less in other games this season has been met with free kicks, pens and red cards that have been supported by the same pundits Incidentally the "crying wolf" idea would be that Howard "I hate Spurs" Webb favoured Chelsea Of course that's true but Man U (to use their logic after a shocking decision) still could have won
Are you a Premier League referee, by any chance? How the **** is that not holding his ankle? please log in to view this image
If U nited were giving Chelsea 3 points why did they bother to travel.Couldn't Fergie send Chelsea the 3 points by proxy? They should take 20 points away from United and make 'em play it again! I thought it was just the Italians giving away points.......
Webb gave us nothing all game. It wasn't even him that spotted Rafael's assault, it was Sian Massey. The blatant shirt pull on Luiz near the penalty area and the Rafael dive as Chelsea broke 5 on 3 pretty much summed up the game. You have to be deluded to think Webb favoured us in that game.
If United didn't want to turn up but give Chelsea 3 points,why didn't Ferguson send Chelsea the points by proxy and tell Chelsea you don't have to travel! United should be deducted 20 points and make 'em play it again! I thought this only went on in Italian football......
Having had time to calm down (it still matters, even if the result was not decisive), I don't dispute that Chelsea deserved to win. Utd played to win, but were missing that competitive edge going forward. The defence were solid, but that spark was missing up front. There was no high tempo, which is what you would normally associate with Utd at home. There was no Alamo as there would have been chasing a result in a game that mattered in the final stages. I think SAF wanted players who could do some running in midfield to match Chelsea in this area, but sacrificed the passing of Carrick in picking Cleverley and Anderson, neither of whom passed the ball accurately. Valencia had a stinker, RvP was isolated with Welbeck injured and Rooney and Hernandez on the bench. But it probably wouldn't have made much difference whoever played. 66 consecutive games at home in the PL in which Utd had scored prior to today. 0-1 was unlikely. Utd might not have been on top form, but Chelsea had to work hard and do a lot of running. All these games must catch up with Chelsea at some point. It might be on Wednesday. I hope so because I'd prefer them to finish 5th of the three teams competing for CL qualification.
Ferguson sent out a big signal when he picked Lindegaard, Lidls. He was more concerned with picking up appearances for a few players than winning the game.
Just been watching the highlights of the Utd/Chav game. Jesus! What a low life scumbag that Luiz is. First he uses the elbows that he's so fond of, then when Rafael retaliates with a bit of a hack at him, he pulls the dying swan act - complete with cynical grin. In reality, he's no better than Suarez - just a lot more devious and sneaky about his dirty play.
