I read the papers yesterday and today and was not really surprised that we were seeing the well oiled OT machine working all out to propagate the "we are the victims" approach to deflecting attention from the failings of Slur Alex and his players. But I did have memories of this referee, Mario Balotelli and City from the game against Kiev. I did a little research, and because Henry Winter as very much leading the "lousy foreign conspiracy" defence of the rags after their defeat, I posted this into Winter's paper:-
"Mario Balotelli’s life would make a good film script...The 20 year-old has the time to cram in so much off the pitch because he keeps getting sent off and suspended. The Italian was at it again on Thursday night, wrecking Manchester City'sdream of a trip to Dublin by being dismissed on St Patrick’s Day...The moody Blue may be a popular figure around Carrington and Eastlands, with players and staff making allowances for his awkward upbringing. But the moment he raised his studs into Goran Popov’s chest, Balotelli let his team-mates down, leaving them to play 54 minutes with 10 men....Balotelli also betrayed his manager, Roberto Mancini, a father figure from their days at Inter Milan. Unforgivable."
These are the words of Henry Winter, taken from his report on Manchester City's 1-0 victory over Dinamo Kiev at the Etihad in 2011. Balotelli was, as the report shows, sent of for a chest high, studs showing, “tackle” on Popov. No-one suggested that the ref study Balotelli's eyes to decide whether the tackle was “innocent”, certainly not our 'Enry, for whom the case was open and shut. Balotelli's action was “unforgivable”.
I note Henry takes a different view now that his beloved Manchester United are involved. That appears to be the only difference, because the referee who sent Balotelli off was Mr Cuneyt Cakir. Could you either explain your curious change of position Mr Winter, or stop drivelling on about the referee simply because the match didn't produce the result you wanted.