Steve Bennett

[PTP]

I said it last week - If this was Italy you would have thought - Bribery / Scandal /Corruption.

Last week - West Ham players not trying -
This week - An in-ept performance from the referee.

One last thing though - Based on the masher incident why wasn't Rooney booked earlier for his violent protests, instead of the second time !

Finally - When will Ronaldo be booked for simulation ? (or plain ****ing cheating) ?

It's shocking - rooney's attiutude towards the referee's is a disgrace, one of the worst in the game and yet he continually gets away with it. Regardless of him being a blue nose manc **** he should be ****ing hammered for it and made an example off.

As he plays for united it gets shrugged off as 'fire in his belly' and 'it's part of his game, if you take that away blah blah blah"

but is ****ing shocking - He is a young English, 'superstar' and an icon for millions of kids - he should not be running round a pitch screaming/swearing in referees faces at every decision that doesn't go his way. What happened to the 'zero' tolerance the FA wanted to enforce for players to show respect. Granted in the heat of the moment even the most placid players may lose their cool and have a rant - but Rooney does it every single decision and whats worse it's there for all to see you can blatantly see him running up to refs calling them "****ing Cunts" in their face and nothing happens!!!! Ever!!!! Why?????

It would be great to see if just once, in a big game, he acted like a cunt and the ref just sent him off - three game ban!

[Joe King]

How about this....

West Ham did a deal with Man U at the end of last season to allow Tevez to go there if Man U let them win.

[Reece]

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest.

[dww]

To be honest he was just ****. I'm not sure he got a single big decision right (possible exception for the penalty he did give). He obviously bottled the Scholes red card but I think the hand ball was probably a 50:50 in any game you often see them not given that high up the arm. The failure to award a penalty to United for Brambles bungled attempt at tackling Scholes was a terrible decision too.

It is no surprise to anyone that a few weeks after the Cole/Mascher incidents the FA and all referees have forgotten about the 'Respect' campaign and now it seems perfectly acceptable again to abuse referees and generally act like a surprisingly foul mouthed 2 year old on the pitch.

[Dhav]

To be honest he was just ****. I'm not sure he got a single big decision right (possible exception for the penalty he did give). He obviously bottled the Scholes red card but I think the hand ball was probably a 50:50 in any game you often see them not given that high up the arm. The failure to award a penalty to United for Brambles bungled attempt at tackling Scholes was a terrible decision too.

It is no surprise to anyone that a few weeks after the Cole/Mascher incidents the FA and all referees have forgotten about the 'Respect' campaign and now it seems perfectly acceptable again to abuse referees and generally act like a surprisingly foul mouthed 2 year old on the pitch.

Personally I don't agree that the Ferdinand pen incident was a 50-50, I think it's about as blatant as you can get. But let me put it another way, do you think that the Ferdinand pen was any less of a pen than the one Man U won? I personally think that the one Man U won was more of a 50-50 in today's game but also the kind you would never see given 10-15 yrs ago. But it's funny how the 50-50 pen goes in Man U's favour, but the more obvious one goes against Wigan.

This same referee sent off Mascherano just over a month ago for supposedly disrespecting him, yet Rooney got away with it yesterday, again.

This ref is obviously scared of making big decisions agaisnt Man U, however blatant they may be. Yet he constantly referees their big matches.

[Parm]

To be fair Scholes shouldn't have been on the pitch.. Bennett should've given him his marching orders after the tackle on the byline, but we all know Bennet is Fergie's love child.

yup,, fair and correct comment.

[tufty]

I turned the match on just as this challenge was being made and was amazed he didn't get a yellow card

then I learnt that he was already on a yellow so would have meant a sending off

sadly it all made total sense then

[dww]

Personally I don't agree that the Ferdinand pen incident was a 50-50, I think it's about as blatant as you can get. But let me put it another way, do you think that the Ferdinand pen was any less of a pen than the one Man U won? I personally think that the one Man U won was more of a 50-50 in today's game but also the kind you would never see given 10-15 yrs ago. But it's funny how the 50-50 pen goes in Man U's favour, but the more obvious one goes against Wigan.

This same referee sent off Mascherano just over a month ago for supposedly disrespecting him, yet Rooney got away with it yesterday, again.

This ref is obviously scared of making big decisions agaisnt Man U, however blatant they may be. Yet he constantly referees their big matches.

I certainly agree about the Mascher/Rooney thing. Whether it is all a United thing or otherwise the failure to send him off was inconsistent and enough for me to want to hear a very convincing explanation as to why he should remain on the PL list.

I was in the pub with a mixed bunch of supporters (one Manc, one Colchester, one Leicester and two LFC) and none thought that the handball was the sort of blatant penalty that 'had to be given'. I can see that in an ideal world that it would be but what I mean is that they are in general given or not largely on the referees whim anyway.

Actually I thought the same as you about the United pen which they got but everyone else I was with disagreed with me which is why I said it was possibly the right decision.

The simple fact of the matter to my mind is that sadly the big teams (ourselves included) tend to get the rub of the green on tight decisions. The problem is that United have been the dominant team (or at least on of the top two dominant teams) in the league for a long while and as such enjoy more games where the referee is likely to lean their way. On top of that the sad fact is that incessant whining by Fergie, Mourinho and Wenger has worked on referees and it now seems less effective from Rafa as he didn't do it from the off. It really is a sad state of affairs but would you expect any less from the pathetically political FA/referees union or whatever it's called?

[Darth Marty]

It is a sad state of affairsI agree, refereeing standards are generally extremely poor and something does need to be done to level the playing field.
Sadly nothing will be done.

[Dhav]

I certainly agree about the Mascher/Rooney thing. Whether it is all a United thing or otherwise the failure to send him off was inconsistent and enough for me to want to hear a very convincing explanation as to why he should remain on the PL list.

I was in the pub with a mixed bunch of supporters (one Manc, one Colchester, one Leicester and two LFC) and none thought that the handball was the sort of blatant penalty that 'had to be given'. I can see that in an ideal world that it would be but what I mean is that they are in general given or not largely on the referees whim anyway.

Actually I thought the same as you about the United pen which they got but everyone else I was with disagreed with me so which is why I said it was possibly the right decision.

The simple fact of the matter to my mind is that sadly the big teams (ourselves included) tend to get the rub of the green on tight decisions. The problem is that United have been the dominant team (or at least on of the top two dominant teams) in the league for a long while and as such enjoy more games where the referee is likely to lean their way. On top of that the sad fact is that incessant whining by Fergie, Mourinho and Wenger has worked on referees and it now seems less effective from Rafa as he didn't do it from the off. It really is a sad state of affairs but would you expect any less from the pathetically political FA/referees union or whatever it's called?

The FA and the refs are spineless, they are more concerned with their reputations and not upsetting the big boys than they are about doing the right thing.

I think the Ferdinand handball was blatant enough to give the pen, he is leaning into the ball and arm is outstretched. He probably does intend to chest it but is being reckless with the use of his arm, so for me it’s a pen. What I accept is that for an incompetent ref/linesman it may be difficult to tell if it’s his hand that he gets the ball with or his chest. But no one will convince me the pen Man U won was more of a pen than the one Man U got away with. Yet Man U got the benefit of the doubt with both decisions, and with the Scholes fouls and with Rooney’s defiance. The disparity between the Mascher sending off and Rooney getting away with it yesterday is also completely derisory.

[Exiled_red]

The Ferdinand one was a clear penalty, there was no excuse for not giving it, his hand was out stretched, ot moved towards the ball and it wasn't as if the ball was kick a yard away from him, clear penalty, what does my head in is that MOTD didn't bother showing a proper replay (close up) they just stated it hit his shoulder then dismissed it, for other teams they would have gone on about how lucky they were to get away with it, but it's Rio Ferdinand "the country's best defender".

Scholes one the ref totally bottled it, Scholes clearly knew what he was doing and had no intention of going for the ball.