There's doubtless an element of that - but some of his decisions, both ways, were odd. The one I'll mainly be interested in seeing, if it's shown on MOTD, was when he waved play on after Iggy appeared to have been tripped in the box in the second half. It looked clear cut to me.
Better. So much better. In QSF's words, thought the pressing and commitment was 'amazing' especially in the first half. Everton obviously love to play it from the back but Robles had to resort to a kick so many times because there weren't any options. Stones put the ball straight out of play 3 times in the first half with long range efforts because there was no decent pass on. Would've been so unjust to go in 1 down at half-time. So many better performances - Capoue, Ighalo, Watson and I thought Britos had a great first half, until the mistake...Play like that in the semi and we've got a great chance. A great game for the neutral too, could've been 3-3 on another day. And a final mention for the 1881 and the fans generally, much better atmosphere other than the Everton fans who were strangely one the quietest away fans all season. More of the same in the coming weeks please!
What a surprise. Just seen an interview with Martinez and he thought they did enough to win it. In some ways I'm disappointed with HG getting MOTM because it makes Everton look better than they were.
Quite right, A1. Their keeper also produces a couple of excellent saves and giving him MotM would be equally misleading. But hey, if it gives/maintains confidence to HG, that's all-important to a keeper, so I'd rather that goes to him than their keeper. Martinez seemed to suggest draw was about right in interview I heard, but that either could've nicked it, which I thought was fair. Couldn't believe the Martinez Out sign. I think he is top drawer and given resources he has had available to him (Kenwright is not a billionaire), he has done an excellent job. Do those fans think another manager would've got them into Champions League or something?
MOTD coverage shocking. No analysis at the end or a mention of us and our excellent pressing game. Why did McCarthy do the hand to ear thing after he scored? We don't have a gripe with him nor him with us, does he? Tit.
Going back to the Watson thing, as far as I'm aware, that is only part of the rule. On MOTD it did look pretty bad the way he went down, probably due to shock as he was following what was going on with the play. If it had been his head that made contact with the ref, causing an injury, or the fall meant that he twisted an ankle or knee then the game would have to be stopped and restarted with a drop ball.
Glad they took so long to get back to their half after the goal. The time added on allowed us to score. Tits
Yes he did, he was upset & Flores tried to stop him but he just pointed back behind him angrily and ran down the tunnel. If anyone saw the incident please tell. My opinion was it was about someone in our side; hopefully not a split in moral.
Referee is part of the pitch so tough tittie. A player is supposed to be aware of his surroundings. However I know from personal experience that the assessor will give Friend a right rollicking for being too close to the play. I have to say that I thought it was a truly dreadful performance from all the officials in t the first half. I've not watched it back yet though.
Right at the end he was pissed at Iggy for not passing. He was sauntering back in a strop while we were screaming at him to get his arse into gear. Maybe he was mad at Iggy?
Well you do hear of referees being "rested" or sent down to referee at a lower level and part of that is done to the assessor's report. Most of the decisions I took umbrage with yesterday were "in the opinion of the referee" but it was obvious in the first half that he was less than even handed with that judgement: our players always made a back or climbed over opponents, theirs never did. Ridiculously one sided. The Watson incident is unforgivable for a referee at the top level, a crass error of positioning and running backwards. Too close to the play and unaware of his surroundings and the state of play. Truly woeful, this will be used in training videos in the future.
The incident that really galls for me was when Troy was deemed offside after getting clear of their defence in the first half. He was well on side. Troy's somewhat wry smile gave away his feelings about the officiating.
Not for the first time this season. It used to be a trick Boothroyd would use - get everyone to celebrate the goal and time waste. But hasn't worked for Everton that much.
Assessors are actually retired refs so people like Winter, Gallagher, Poll etc. The assistants are also assessed - I think thanks to the marks given by the one at 'that' Reading game, Atwell got off relatively scot-free - just had a couple of League 1 or 2 games before going back into the Championship but Bannister didn't get any games above League 1 for the rest of that season.
It's funny what you can miss when watching a game - I didn't see any of this... http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/gareth-barry-warns-ross-barkley-7728226?
