City 1 Chelsea 1 1971
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- Joined
- 2 Aug 2012
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I’ve always considered myself to be a fair minded fan who seldom resorts to knee-jerk reaction regardless of a last minute winner at West Brom or a shambolic performance in Amsterdam. On another day both results could easily have been reversed.
However, twice this year (don’t forget the Welbeck dive in February) United have benefitted from refereeing mistakes at Stamford Bridge. On both occasions the rags have alluded to some form of natural justice.
Funnily enough they made the same claim after Fulham’s last minute non-penalty at the Swamp last season and the penalty against QPR after Ashley Young had trod on a landmine. I also recall the look of guilt on the face of Phil Jones when Phil Dowd gave him a warning rather than an obvious second yellow at Wigan last season. This incident was conveniently forgotten when the rags complained after a last minute Jones cross had been handled, but was deemed accidental.
As Champions we can’t be accused of sour grapes. However I refuse to believe that everything balances out over a period of time.
The general assumption is that the bigger clubs tend to benefit from dubious decisions. However the worst refereeing performance last season was the Stoke victory over Spurs when at least three major decisions, including two perfectly decent goals being disallowed for no reason, all went against Spurs.
City won the Premier League despite not being awarded a penalty away from home all season. Even bottom of the table Wolves won a penalty at the ETIHAD.
Forgetting the soft penalties that can go either way (especially handballs) I can remember three blatantly poor decisions at Old Trafford (trip on Richards), Stamford Bridge (foul on Silva) and Carrow Road (foul on Tevez)
In contrast I can only remember a trip by Barry on Whelan at Stoke that nobody noticed at the time and was only picked up by Match of the Day that evening. However this decision could easily be contested by the last minute winner for Sunderland which was a yard offside.
We also suffered an extraordinary amount of red cards around the Christmas period. Some were deserved, but equally some were soft decisions that appeared vindictive when compared with the way that similar challenges by the likes of Scholes and Gerrard were treated. Remember the scything lunge by Lampard at Molineux?
One of the soft dismissals was Balotelli at Anfield and this probably explains why the same referee got himself into a bit of a muddle later in the season at Arsenal and if anything was trying too hard to be lenient.
The only game that I recall a bit of luck in our favour was the Spurs game at home when Balotelli could have been dismissed for a stamp on Scott Parker. However Parker had also made a silly tackle on Micah Richards early in the same match. It wasn’t a red card, but it was no different to the Kompany dismissal in the FA Cup defeat against United.
Similarly I only recall one genuinely poor decision against United, when Newcastle were awarded a penalty after a fair tackle by Ferdinand.
This season City have already suffered from a penalty that was outside the area at Craven Cottage and a handball at Stoke that was blatantly embarrassing.
Meanwhile Welbeck dived for a penalty against Wigan and Martinez has been fined by the FA for complaining. Four players have already been dismissed against United and they have benefitted from two vital penalties away from Old Trafford.
Remarkably they still maintain the belief that the whole world is against them.
However, twice this year (don’t forget the Welbeck dive in February) United have benefitted from refereeing mistakes at Stamford Bridge. On both occasions the rags have alluded to some form of natural justice.
Funnily enough they made the same claim after Fulham’s last minute non-penalty at the Swamp last season and the penalty against QPR after Ashley Young had trod on a landmine. I also recall the look of guilt on the face of Phil Jones when Phil Dowd gave him a warning rather than an obvious second yellow at Wigan last season. This incident was conveniently forgotten when the rags complained after a last minute Jones cross had been handled, but was deemed accidental.
As Champions we can’t be accused of sour grapes. However I refuse to believe that everything balances out over a period of time.
The general assumption is that the bigger clubs tend to benefit from dubious decisions. However the worst refereeing performance last season was the Stoke victory over Spurs when at least three major decisions, including two perfectly decent goals being disallowed for no reason, all went against Spurs.
City won the Premier League despite not being awarded a penalty away from home all season. Even bottom of the table Wolves won a penalty at the ETIHAD.
Forgetting the soft penalties that can go either way (especially handballs) I can remember three blatantly poor decisions at Old Trafford (trip on Richards), Stamford Bridge (foul on Silva) and Carrow Road (foul on Tevez)
In contrast I can only remember a trip by Barry on Whelan at Stoke that nobody noticed at the time and was only picked up by Match of the Day that evening. However this decision could easily be contested by the last minute winner for Sunderland which was a yard offside.
We also suffered an extraordinary amount of red cards around the Christmas period. Some were deserved, but equally some were soft decisions that appeared vindictive when compared with the way that similar challenges by the likes of Scholes and Gerrard were treated. Remember the scything lunge by Lampard at Molineux?
One of the soft dismissals was Balotelli at Anfield and this probably explains why the same referee got himself into a bit of a muddle later in the season at Arsenal and if anything was trying too hard to be lenient.
The only game that I recall a bit of luck in our favour was the Spurs game at home when Balotelli could have been dismissed for a stamp on Scott Parker. However Parker had also made a silly tackle on Micah Richards early in the same match. It wasn’t a red card, but it was no different to the Kompany dismissal in the FA Cup defeat against United.
Similarly I only recall one genuinely poor decision against United, when Newcastle were awarded a penalty after a fair tackle by Ferdinand.
This season City have already suffered from a penalty that was outside the area at Craven Cottage and a handball at Stoke that was blatantly embarrassing.
Meanwhile Welbeck dived for a penalty against Wigan and Martinez has been fined by the FA for complaining. Four players have already been dismissed against United and they have benefitted from two vital penalties away from Old Trafford.
Remarkably they still maintain the belief that the whole world is against them.