The cookie monster said:
This thread is really quiet..
Thanks mr dean.
I've said it before and I'll say it again:
Referees see things once, at normal speed, from one angle, at pitch level. He has two blokes looking to see if players are offside or the ball is still in play/over the line, one of which is always half a pitch away from the action and the one who is closer to the action always has loads of moving players in and around the action, sometimes blocking their view; both of these fellows see things once, at normal speed, from one angle, at pitch level. He also has a bloke who tells the managers to stay within the boundaries of a dotted line and holds a board up with numbers on from time to time. None of them see things from a higher viewpoint where things are seen much more clearly. None of them see replays that show incidents numerous times, at different speeds, from different angles, at different viewpoints. They also have huge pressures from fans and players there and then, and may have been put under pressure by managers or clubs in comments made prior to that actual day. Sometimes adrenaline can play a huge part in decision making. And after they've seen an incident happen in a split second - taking all of this into consideration - they have to give a decision in an amount of time between a split second and three seconds.
Referees and his team of officials are going to get shit loads of things wrong. Also some of these referees and other officials - just like players and managers and fans - are going to be shit. There are good refs who still get shit loads wrong, there are average refs and there are shit refs. It's a fact of life.
We've had some terrible decisions go against us recently. We've also been far too biased in our views as some of the things we've moaned about, we've been wrong about and the ref has been a spot on; and in some the things where they've been wrong with we've criticised them without taking I to account my first paragraph here.
Video refs are needed in football. Not maybe, but they are absolutely 100% needed in football. For i) goal line incidents, ii) penalty/no penalty decisions, and iii) card or no card challenges; nothing more, nothing less. This is a must. Until we get this there will be no change to the inconsistencies of decisions in football.
Yesterday was a prime example. Mike Dean is one of the better refs and his general decision making throughout the game was spot on and the other officials got everything spot on (just like all the other refs who have given some terrible decisions against us have done, 90% of all they do is spot on). Yet there were two penalty incidents in the game that he got wrong. The first was a dive, the second was a penalty yet he gave the decisions the other way round. Dean just gave what he thought was right at the time. There was no agenda involved [because there isn't an agenda!], he just saw each incident once, at normal speed, from one angle, at pitch level. A video ref could have taken the time it takes for players to argue with the ref about the decision he has made to look at those incidents and give the correct decision.
Those who had called out an agenda have completely dismissed the dozens of decisions that have gone our way over recent years (and we've had loads, some that are as wrong as the shit ones we've had to against us recently) and the dozens of incidents that are given against our rivals (the worst decision I've seen this season was that penalty for Newcastle at the Stretford End, and that terrible ref Clattenburg could have easily bottled sending Evans off and juat booked him).
I've got absolutely sick to death of this sort of shit recently. I've looked at the stance people have had and thought that some Blues are very sore losers and some don't believe we can win games without the refs giving us decisions. I thought Balotelli's second booking at Andield was harsh; I thought both of Barry's bookings at the Etihad were harsh; I can see why Kompany was sent off (when you consider my first paragraph) but after watching all the replays it was very harsh and the FA did bottle it in upholding it but sometimes that happens (it happens to all clubs, including United!); I think Balotelli's deserved the retrospective ban, but we got off Scott free with the Lescott incident so I think with Balo winning that game and Lescott getting away with it we came out with change in the bank over that week; and all the other shit that's gone wrong is explained in my first paragraph. These things happen to all clubs though, go on other forums and see what they say and listen to their fans on the phone-ins and even on leaving the away grounds (I heard Everton fans moaning after the game on Tuesday saying that Kompany gets away with foul after foul every week and should have been sent off for persistent fouling in our game with them). Everyone thinks their club gets shit decisions go against them.
Read as much into what the media says as you want but I think 75-80% of all the media says isn't worth taking a blind bit of notice of. It's clear to see loads of Blues take a lot of notice of even the biggest of biggest bullshit. If you do that then you'll fall into the trap they set out for you. I take notice of Martin Samuel, Gabriele Marcotti and Henry Winter. They don't exactly blow smoke up our arse - sometimes they can be critical - but they tell it how it is. If you sit and listen (or read) to what Paul Merson says, and tune in every week to do so, then you're setting yourself up to be wound up and listen to unfounded bullshit. If you then get upset by it, well, for me it's your own fault for being so stupid. There are dozens of shit journo's and pundits, there are also some excellent ones and loads of average ones. And people have got to understand that jounos are London based and are all London(plus United and Liverpool)-luvvie-yuppie types. What do you all expect they are going to say about us? Some go as far to say that the media is run by Jewish and Christian gentry types, and our owner is an Arabian Sheikh. What do you expect they want to be said about us?
I think it's time to move on now. Let's put the over sensitive stuff to bed. Kompany told us all to do so just two hours after his ban was [wrongly] upheld (<a class="postlink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-city/9007493/Manchester-City-defender-Vincent-Kompany-fears-English-football-has-lost-its-way.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... s-way.html</a>) yet too many took absolutely no notice of our captain and carried on and on and on and on with exactly the polar opposite actions to what our captain had told us to do.
Come on Blues! Let's get back our cool, down to earth, "roll with it" outlook and just concentrate on getting behind the boys to march on to win the league.