Is the league, for want of a better word, ‘bent’?

skillman said:
Thought it was worthy of a thread to get genuine opinions about it.

I’ve never been one for the conspiracy really of the referees being against us. Up until this season that is.

But I think that’s only because we’ve been successful so dodgy decisions didn’t ‘matter’ too much in the grand scheme of things. A bit like the Wolves handball last week, we won so swept under the carpet.

But so far this season we’ve had;

1. Newcastle offside goal
2. Newcastle no penalty for handball
3. Newcastle no penalty for a late tackle on Foden (of which, Fulham got a penalty for today!)
4. Haaland wrestled to the ground today, VAR admitting it was a foul but not given because the corner hadn’t been taken
5. Guehi kicked today, Solanke can only score by kicking through our player, no foul
6. The horrendous ‘offside’ disallowed goal away at Newcastle in the cup
7. The Dalot red card a couple of weeks ago

They’re just major decisions and ignoring how every week teams are allowed to kick the shit out of us without booking - Gallagher must’ve given away 7/8 fouls today with no booking. Yet as soon as we do a similar foul we’re shown a yellow.

Same way we’ve watched goalkeepers time waste from minute 1 at our place for years without being carded/rushed along but as soon as Ederson/Donnarumma do it, they’re cautioned/told to hurry up.

Going further back there’s the Rashford goal in the 22/23 derby which has somehow been brushed over and the transcript/audio for it has never been released.

We seem to be refereed differently and I’ve always assumed it was me with blue tinted glasses on until you see the same decisions going the opposite way to what we given against us:

1. Semenyo goal/Haaland offside against Newcastle in the cup - the same ‘rule’ ignored 2 days later when Arsenal played Chelsea and the goal was given in favour of Arsenal despite Gyokeres doing the same thing Haaland did.

2. Foden not getting a penalty away at Newcastle in the league after getting fouled after the shot…Fulham getting a penalty today for Jimenez being fouled after taking a shot.

3. Pep has been carded FOUR TIMES this season by referees yet you see Arteta essentially tackling players on the pitch every week and leaving his technical area with no retort.

Then there’s the 5cm rule which seemed to come and go after being used all of once.

There’s no doubt more I’m missing but I’m starting to become a little disillusioned with it all to be honest. Every week you can guarantee a combination of niggly poor decisions which affect the tempo, feel and momentum of the game as well as a big decision (or two, or three) which stitch us up out of points.

And it’s an all too easy connection to make that we’re obviously not the league’s favourite club in the past few years given the charges that have been lingering for nearly 4 years over the club’s head. Add to that, Pep calling them out for being shite.

Personally, I think VAR discussions should be broadcast both on TV and in the stadium. It’s too easy for them to manipulate decisions when fans have no clue as to what is actually happening. Also not sure how it’s been deemed right and fair that fans pay hundreds of pounds a year to watch football and can go up to 6/7 minutes without knowing what the fuck is going on while some prick miles away is fiddling about with lines on a computer.

And yes, I'm aware it comes across very whingey and excusey - that's not the point of the thread. If you can't see that then that's your perrogative. The point of the thread is to debate (as the first line says) and gather opinions on whether we're intentionally on the wrong end of a lot of contentious decisions.

I'm not debating whether other clubs have bad decisions too - every club does. Nor am I debating how poorly we're playing. But, with all due respect, that's irrelevant to the point of the thread.

And FWIW, we obviously get away with some things too - Rodri could've easily been sent off yesterday for example - but that doesn't excuse the times it's gone wrong against us. One wrong doesn't make fifty things right, if you may.
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I always think of the irony of Nico O'Reilly getting booked for taking too long to take a throw-in at, of all places Brentford.
While it did take him somewhere between 11 to 14 seconds to release the ball, the same ref then allowed a Brentford player to take upto 30 seconds on numerous occasions to take his 'long throw-in' by drying the ball with a towel, sitting on the advertising boards to prepare his run up and generally faffing about.
Not an hint of a card from the ref.
Sometimes the refs seem that determined to nail a city player for any offence, that it does begin to look premeditated.
Take Rodri's booking yesterday, yes by the letter of the law a shirt tug is a booking.
But the ref applied this within a couple of minutes of Rodri being swiped to the ground after releasing the ball by a Spurs player who couldn't of been any later. "That's a booking surely" stated Gary Neville, but to no avail.
I also scratch my head at the fact that we generally have most possession of the football in games yet tend to walk off the pitch at the end with the most bookings, hmmm
I don't think we are disliked throughout football because we've been successful.
I am certain that these charges are the reason.
Us fans can see the hatred for our club through the many media platforms, do refs also see it?
They are after all, only human so i suppose they do read/watch the media of a sport in which they ply their trade.
I personally don't see things changing.
If anything it seems to be getting worse for us with decisions season after season.
I really admire Pep for still battling against it/them and i sincerely hope he can stick two fingers up at them all by winning 1 more title before he decides to finally walk off into the sunset.
 
It's not bent, although we've been on the wrong end of a few decisions that don't seem to get highlighted, debated and remembered as much as the ones that occasionally work in our favour

We've still got opponents moaning about the Rodri "handball" at Everton so don't think for one moment that Liverpool's disallowed goal at the Etihad will soon be forgotten
 
Yankunian said:
glad someone else picked up on it, United were given a penalty the ball went out of play, VAR looked and said it wasn't a penalty without ref going over to monitor, ref said it was a free kick instead, VAR has never been involved in giving free kicks unless it was a potential red card check and like you have said every time this has happened previously a goal kick or corner would be given but they gave United a free kick
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Didn't the ref explain the decision on the pitch during the game? He gave a penalty for the Fulham player pulling back on Cunha's shirt. VAR said the foul was outside the box. So he had to cancel the penalty and change it to a free kick instead. The Fulham players giving each other high fives and then not bothering to mark Casemiro was another matter. But it's easy for Marco Silva to blow his top and blame VAR, but it was a foul and he should have set his team up to defend the free kick. This is a deflection tactic that all foreign managers use. The players buy into it because it moves any criticism away from them.
 
Citi-leaks said:
Didn't the ref explain the decision on the pitch during the game? He gave a penalty for the Fulham player pulling back on Cunha's shirt. VAR said the foul was outside the box. So he had to cancel the penalty and change it to a free kick instead. The Fulham players giving each other high fives and then not bothering to mark Casemiro was another matter. But it's easy for Marco Silva to blow his top and blame VAR, but it was a foul and he should have set his team up to defend the free kick. This is a deflection tactic that all foreign managers use. The players buy into it because it moves any criticism away from them.
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no doubt it was a free kick no complaints about that but in every other circumstance once the penalty is denied if the ball goes out then goal kick or corner is given or if ball was still live then a drop ball, remember KDB being chopped down at Southampton a few seasons ago and it was checked for potential penalty it was overturned for being outside the box and we never got a free kick as VAR could not be used for that unless it was a potential red
 
Gorton_Tubster said:
Says it all. The fact some of our fans cant understand how corruption can exist is an anathema against our own club. Listen to the frustration in his voice, it must really be soul destroying to know your hard work can be undone by Pgmol. They must turn that anger into fire though.
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You can't even say it's a war of attrition by the PL. It's just blatant. They're trying to break Pep and the players.
 
Trevor Morley's Tache said:
The 2 are not mutually exclusive.

Disparity in officiating doesn't just positively effect one team, it also has a negative effect on the other team in terms if how they have to approach the game, and it 100% effects the decision making process of the players and the manager.
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Example last night. Gallagher was late on Rodri, straight into the legs of someone who is just back after a year - clearly deliberately. He had plenty of time to pull out like his father should have done all those years ago. Free-kick.

Five minutes later, Khusanov was late on that twat Xavi well outside the box in a genuine attempt to play the ball. Free-kick and yellow.

It must be absolutely disheartening for professional athletes to be fucked about continually for so long - is that guy going to break my leg and get away with it? Should I make that tackle and risk a yellow? You only have to listen to the noises from Guardiola and the players to realise they know it all too well.
 
Kippax77 said:
I always think of the irony of Nico O'Reilly getting booked for taking too long to take a throw-in at, of all places Brentford.
While it did take him somewhere between 11 to 14 seconds to release the ball, the same ref then allowed a Brentford player to take upto 30 seconds on numerous occasions to take his 'long throw-in' by drying the ball with a towel, sitting on the advertising boards to prepare his run up and generally faffing about.
Not an hint of a card from the ref.
Sometimes the refs seem that determined to nail a city player for any offence, that it does begin to look premeditated.
Take Rodri's booking yesterday, yes by the letter of the law a shirt tug is a booking.
But the ref applied this within a couple of minutes of Rodri being swiped to the ground after releasing the ball by a Spurs player who couldn't of been any later. "That's a booking surely" stated Gary Neville, but to no avail.
I also scratch my head at the fact that we generally have most possession of the football in games yet tend to walk off the pitch at the end with the most bookings, hmmm
I don't think we are disliked throughout football because we've been successful.
I am certain that these charges are the reason.
Us fans can see the hatred for our club through the many media platforms, do refs also see it?
They are after all, only human so i suppose they do read/watch the media of a sport in which they ply their trade.
I personally don't see things changing.
If anything it seems to be getting worse for us with decisions season after season.
I really admire Pep for still battling against it/them and i sincerely hope he can stick two fingers up at them all by winning 1 more title before he decides to finally walk off into the sunset.
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Typically 'work to written laws of the game' for City and an 'in the spirit of the game' approach to the opposition.
 
"Everyone thinks they're being cheated against" Therefore don't look, never suspect, always trust. Even in the face of what we (not other clubs) are getting every week.

I hope the club says more than some of our fans. In fact they already have.
 
remember arthur mann said:
You can't even say it's a war of attrition by the PL. It's just blatant. They're trying to break Pep and the players.
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It could be interpreted that way but you might be accused of showing a bias ....................unlike PGMOL naturally.


Edit : Have City been cleared of the 115 charges, not yet announced, and Masters and PL applying another source of retribution ?

Just messing ...................................:)-
 
blue_danube said:
But fans of all clubs can and do make a long list of decisions that they feel are dodgy. We are not a special case. That's what fans do.

It was no different when I supported Chelsea
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I think the "everyone thinks the refs are against them" argument could have been made a year ago.

But as someone that felt (with justification imo) that we were consistently on the wrong side of refereeing decisions before, this season (since the Newcastle offside goal) has been something completely different.
 
Gazza said:
Typically 'work to written laws of the game' for City and an 'in the spirit of the game' approach to the opposition.
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"We have to balance our decisions with the product"

Michael OliVAR talking to Martin Tyler a few years ago.

Twattenberg:

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Halsey:

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Also though it was telling the match officials for Vinnie's testimonial weren't working for PGMOL.
 
I think partly it's because it's just "likkle old Citeh" so the officials don't care as much if they get to the right decision. They know it won't get the media attention if it was the red shirt cartel that was on the end of it. We've (as a club) also not highlighted the injustices that we've been on the end of as much as other clubs do until recently. As far as I know we haven't received an acknowledgemnt, let alone an apology, from PGMOL that any of the recent decisions were wrong. Instead they've doubled down asserting that the officials on the day got their decisions correct.

To get the decisions we've had against us for 4 games running does make you think that there may be something more though. You automatically hearken back to that quote from Scudamore saying they want different names on the trophy each year and you begin to wonder.
 
JRockBlues said:
I think partly it's because it's just "likkle old Citeh" so the officials don't care as much if they get to the right decision. They know it won't get the media attention if it was the red shirt cartel that was on the end of it. We've (as a club) also not highlighted the injustices that we've been on the end of as much as other clubs do until recently. As far as I know we haven't received an acknowledgemnt, let alone an apology, from PGMOL that any of the recent decisions were wrong. Instead they've doubled down asserting that the officials on the day got their decisions correct.

To get the decisions we've had against us for 4 games running does make you think that there may be something more though. You automatically hearken back to that quote from Scudamore saying they want different names on the trophy each year and you begin to wonder.
Click to expand...

No need to wonder, just watch the games, it's all out there.

Not always the big decisions, but others that break up play, introduce frustration, fouls against v fouls given etc
 
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