Weekend Football 1st/2nd October

[TBM]

NEVER a sending off for Rodwell - poor decision by the ref

[Thomas L'Heureux]

It was arguably not even a foul. Clean tackle in my opinion.

[paultheroyal]

Agreed with both comments

[TBM]

Typical foreigner faking injury didn't help

[rhroyal]

Typical foreigner faking injury didn't help

Everybody knows what to expect from Suarez. Not great to see, but it was entirely Atkinson's decision and he is the man accountable.

[Royal Lady]

Accountable to who? I bet the red card isn't rescinded. The refs assoc will back him up. It's a farce.

[bracknell loyal royal!]

De Gea dropped for Man Utd, is this doughnut related?

[gazzer, loyal royal]

Sunderland 2 down at home after 5 minutes. Long scored the second

[cmonurz]

Awful decision re Rodwell. He cleanly won the ball, his right leg never even came off the ground. I've said it before, after the Joe Cole red card start of last season, to slide tackle, the stretch by necessity shows some studs, that isn't the same as a 'studs up tackle', and it's no more dangerous than simply setting foot on the field is. Not sure about the comments re Suarez, it was hard tackle and he was caught after the ball was gone - there are 100 players in the league who would react the same as that. Cahill's challenge on Adam just minutes later was worse than Rodwell's.

The Everton fans hurling bottles and coins at Suarez and then Bellamy. What utter tools.

Le Tissier on Soccer Saturday on the City game: "Bad news for City fans, Aguero has a groin injury. But the real story here is that Samir Nasri has been asked to replace him.....and he's agreed."

[chilipepper91]

Typical foreigner faking injury didn't help

Everybody knows what to expect from Suarez. Not great to see, but it was entirely Atkinson's decision and he is the man accountable.

Has given 14 red cards since the start of last season (think that's when the sample started), 5 more than the next ref.

[Row Z Royal]

De Gea dropped for Man Utd, is this doughnut related?

Right David, I'm not going to sugar-coat this, you're dropped.

[paultheroyal]

Matt Mills man of the match.

Last season around October Derby were 10 seconds away from going top and the rest is history.

Deja vu?

[cmonurz]

You really know the football order has shifted when on the day of the Merseyside derby, and where United were pushed all the way by Norwich, West Brom were two up at Sunderland in five minutes and Newcastle went third in the table, it's a routine win at Blackburn for Man City that is first game on.

[Super_horns]

Thought there were worse fouls in the game than the one which got the red card..

Remember Dalglish had a little pop about refs being unfair to them the other week.

[Simon's Church]

Those fans were desperate for Man City to score so they could get their banner out.

[AthleticoSpizz]

that game (and the motd post match comments) pretty much epitomises all that has gone wrong

"Balottelli had a great game because he wasn't being petulent"


good grief

[rhroyal]

Back to the poor decision to send Rodwell off; managers get sacked if they're not up to the task. Players end up dropping down leagues. It seems like refs have it easy in some ways; they get away with every poor decision.

If it was one bad decision in a largely successful career, no problem, but these things happen frequently. And there is a complete lack of respect from referees and the F.A. to clubs and players, which creates a cycle when it's reciprocated. All humans make mistakes; however it seems that the FA consider refs infallible robots.

A player will normally hold his hands up and admit mistakes when he costs the team. A good manager will do to, if he makes the wrong selection. Rarely happens with refs and the FA. Ridiculous suspensions get upheld when they're appealed against, and the referees are never made to explain the reasoning behind their decisions. This leads to inconsistency and unfair decisions.

I'd like to see the implementation of the recording of matches on microphone, like in rugby. Not played live on TV, obviously. This would have a 2 fold effect; players who are abusive towards officials can be suspended and made an example of. However, it could also force referees to explain their rationale. Sure, they'll make mistakes, but perhaps players will respect this more when the referee at least explains what he has seen from his eyes. As said, he's human; players might treat it like a team mate's mistake. And when the decision is bad, they can know that the referee will be forced to change his account after the game when he sees the replay.

I think it would work. The closest thing to evidence I have is England's best referee; Howard Webb. He has made high profile errors, but he still has respect on the pitch. That's because you see him explaining his decisions to players as if they're adults, and he receives a lot more respect than other referees because of it.

Time to put pressure on other refs to follow suit. Would be far better than what we currently see, where a bad decision is made and no players or clubs get any explanation from referee or the FA. Then they talk about a lack of respect from players and managers. Pot and kettle. Try harder to earn respect and perhaps it'll come.

[Simon's Church]

Luis Suarez, what a pcunt.

[Super_horns]

[quote="rhroyal]
Time to put pressure on other refs to follow suit. Would be far better than what we currently see, where a bad decision is made and no players or clubs get any explanation from referee or the FA. Then they talk about a lack of respect from players and managers. Pot and kettle. Try harder to earn respect and perhaps it'll come.[/quote]

If all players and managers actually gave them a chance to explain they it probably would happen more often but it seems SOME rant and rave even when the officials are trying to speak.

Rugby players don't act like foul mouthed yobs at [b]every[/b ]decision which helps the respect in rugby and there is the "cheating" problem (but all our teams do it..)

Ofcourse this decision was a very poor one though and I'd agree there ought to be a chance for officials to explain themselves but would those players etc really accept that?

The worse thing is you can get very inconsistent officials and I accept there needs to be a form of punishment...

[rhroyal]

[

Can't be sure, but worth a try as it's a complete mess at the moment. Harsher punishments for players speaking out of turn would have to go with the rule, and the microphone will provide inconclusive evidence when trying to enforce it.