And if we're on about slightly below the board tactics, what does anyone else make of allegations that Manchester City are moving the advertising hoardings forward in order to stop Stoke being able to take their long throws?
Not heard that one before, quite an imaginative and legal way to deal with their infamous long throw threat.
No worse than Stoke providing towels for Delap when taking a throw but not opponents. And that's the least of their questionable tactics.
Good point.
Before I start with the usual I think it is fair to point out in the interests of showing a non-biased attitude that our penalty was a little more than debatable. Silva is fouled right on the edge of the box however he falls into the box and it's given, I doubt there was intention from him as he didn't do one of them "fouled then take five steps before stacking it" and since we had been pounding Stoke all match I doubt it was a gamechanger.
Just seen the Chris Smalling's tackle on Kone for Wigan yesterday. Just incredible and I mean incredible. I thought the last man was an automatic sending off but he only booked him. So he's given the foul (which it clearly was) but gone against the rules and not sent him off. Bizarre
As already pointed out given the scoreline and the battering Wigan were on the receiving end I doubt the red card would have made much of a difference. It is however typical that the red card isn't given, the fact he actually booked the player now means the FA can't take action either (a frankly stupid rule).
The officiating was awful elsewhere too as Prattenburg & Cronies royally screwed Norwich, so many bad calls there I don't know where to begin. The West Ham penalty was indeed called correctly, however it was one of them where consistency is everything -after all how many of those shirt pulling, arm across the chest penalties are given? Norwich's first penalty shout was a little debatable, yes it was a hand ball however it would have been harsh if given (though then again they have been given in the past), their next shout was shocking though. Harry Kane was brought down in the box, there was definite contact and yet the ref ignores it - and doesn't book Kane for diving either (so what was he thinking). Norwich were screwed over with the second goal too, given one of their lads had been crushed by Carlton Cole and was down for the duration, nice to see sportsmanship in action from the Hammers...
Elsewhere, Southampton did well but were again done over by an iffy call - having scored the winning goal right near the end of the game it is flagged as offside but then the official changes his mind and says it was for a foul on the arsenal defender - who went down like he'd been shot... Swansea had a few tough calls too, though going off how they played in the first half they should have stuffed the Villians (though that could have been careful TV editing).
One thing I have decided now is while I will still watch MOTD I will no longer bother listening to the pundits as frankly they are all just stooges, they are afraid to criticize officials (remember "that" game for Man City where there were numerous abysmal calls and they simply said "he's had a bad week so we will leave it at that") Their guest pundit actually criticized the officials for the Norwich game but then Lawro and Linneker quickly go on about how "they only have one chance" and "yada yada yada, moving on" Just like last week nobody seemed to want to look at the Norwich backpass so they didn't even mention it.
Anyway, next up on our fixture list is Watford at home. I hope Mancini decides to take the FA Cup deadly seriously this season and plays a super strong team in every match. We haven't lost the Premiership yet but it would be a good idea to try and get that as either a consolation prize or (even better) a double
(or Treble if you add the Charity Shield - I somehow doubt that works
)
Phil
