Back from the game......and really angry!

[Royal Spangle]

so you would drop Sonks for his poor game at Spurs , well if you applied that rule the squad is not big enough as all the defenders were poor

[Platypuss]

so you would drop Sonks for his poor game at Spurs , well if you applied that rule the squad is not big enough as all the defenders were poor

Bingo!

[gh7901]

I also echo the general sentiment here - referee was shocking but Sonko's challange was clumsy, it was a penalty, and no arguments about the red.

The referee, while awful, didn't lose us the game, we did that quite well ourselves with the ridiculous first goal

Also agree about Shorey and Murty - neither had a good game, and Shorey should have done much better for the 2nd goal

[Diddyroyal]

so you would drop Sonks for his poor game at Spurs , well if you applied that rule the squad is not big enough as all the defenders were poor

he has been poor all season

but yes you are right the squad lacks quality and depth

[howser]

The whole situation was summed up by Jeff stelling on Gillette Soccer special when he said "right where shall we go to now ? a sending off, a missed penalty and a goal all in the first nine minutes, it has to be Reading" to which they all laughed, and thats what we have become, the laughing stock of the prem all the credibility we earned last year is eroding away, with the worst premiership defence that I have seen, no midfield inspiration and flair and a god awful goalkeeper. But what are the options some recent bad buys, Fae, Cisse, Rosenior all of whom could go this month and not be missed, we have gone from a highly respected side to a joke, and for one, I am not laughing or enjoying it cause if things do not rapidly improve then there is only one way we are going to go, and what has happened to the defensive coach, it appears like no one does anything with the defense nowadays after all they cant keep churning out the garbage like they have this season and still be working to eliminate the errors, when it gets worse week by week !!

[Gunny Fishcake]

Why has nobody asked questions about our dedicated defensive coach Wally Downs , may be a great bloke but clearly crap at his job !

[floyd__streete]

The whole situation was summed up by Jeff stelling on Gillette Soccer special when he said "right where shall we go to now ? a sending off, a missed penalty and a goal all in the first nine minutes, it has to be Reading" to which they all laughed, and thats what we have become, the laughing stock of the prem all the credibility we earned last year is eroding away, with the worst premiership defence that I have seen, no midfield inspiration and flair and a god awful goalkeeper. But what are the options some recent bad buys, Fae, Cisse, Rosenior all of whom could go this month and not be missed, we have gone from a highly respected side to a joke, and for one, I am not laughing or enjoying it cause if things do not rapidly improve then there is only one way we are going to go, and what has happened to the defensive coach, it appears like no one does anything with the defense nowadays after all they cant keep churning out the garbage like they have this season and still be working to eliminate the errors, when it gets worse week by week !!

Sums it all up better than anything I have read so far. Congratulations for coming out sand saying the bit I have highlighted in bold, where you sum up much of the reason for my complete lack of faith in the club improving the squad in January.

[Bristol Paul]

We were sh*te, can't blame the ref. Coppell has to start taking responsibility for the team he picks. As somebody said earlier, what the hell do you have to do to get dropped from this side?

Sonko has been poor since his return, Murty hasn't been great all season, midfield is still lacking and no right midfield (assuming Hunt plays on the left, cos Convey sure as hell ain't performing there).

None of this is news, it was a bad decision not to strengthen properly in the summer. If we don't buy big now, come the end of January, we will be no more that a couple of points about the bottom 3 at best.

Pompey were bigger, faster and more skilful and we should be looking for the same quality of players as they possess in abundance.

[gn1982]

What the hell is Sonko's problem - he is always giving away stupid bloody penalties. I like him generally but i'm really glad he's off to africa - this way we won't concede any penalties in the next 6 weeks. He is a muppet who is rash and needs to o#ford well stay on his feet.

If i was Hahnemann i'd be very pissed off with Sonko putting him into these ridiculous positions week in, week out.

Everyone else played well though - can't blame the ref too much, Marcus made a rare mistake at flapped at the first goal. Oh well, just glad we didn't concede 7!!!

[RoyalBlue]

I have not been so angry at a game for a long time.

Why or why was Sonko sent off for that challenge? Don't give me any of the "last man" nonsense either!!!

The referee was a complete joke as was is partners in crime. Mr & Mrs Lino.

Didn't the referee know it was New Years Day?

I hate referees...................

One of the PL managers interviewed on the tv recently (can't remember which) made a valid point about the red card for professional fouls. He reminded us that the ruling/guideline was introduced to tackle cynical cheating so-called 'professional fouls' like a defender using his arms to drag a player back when he was clean through on goal or a very deliberate use of the hand to save what otherwise would be a goal. It was never intended to deal with honest attempts to tackle, which are mistimed, such as Sonko's today. However, the pratt Mike Dean (and some of his colleagues) appear to have forgotten that point.

Whats wrong with the sending off ? Thats about the only thing the ref got right all game.
Dont blame the ref blame Sonko

Please explain how it was a cynical/professional foul (see above for a reminder of why the ruling/guideline was introduced).Please also explain why we see so many other similar fouls dealt with by a yellow card or none at all. Please also explain the numerous occurrences when keepers haven't been sent off for bringing down a forward. Could it be that other refs are still using their brains/common sense and remembering the spirit behind the ruling?



I believe pratt Dean has a reputation for dishing out cards like confetti.

Sonko didn't give the ref any option. Honestly, what else could Dean have done?

He was hardly clear on goal!! The penalty was punishment enough.
This last man rule has been abused by referees for years. That rule was meant for an entirely different offense.

Also the free kick against Harper that led to the goal was another example of players conning referees and they not being smart enough to spot it.

Then how come Benjani got a scuffed shot off as he was brought down then? As someone else said, the penalty and sending off where the only two decisions Dean got right all afternoon. He was shocking but the blame for our defeat lies squarely on the shoulders of our lumbering centre back.

And a keeper who can't catch!

And a manager who delays taking off a left back who has been suffering from an illness/injury and had indicated that he needed to come off some time earlier. Interest that DLC (hardly the fastest player in the PL) had no problem keeping up with the scorer of the second goal in very similar circumstances.

Sonko didn't give the ref any option. Honestly, what else could Dean have done?

He was hardly clear on goal!! The penalty was punishment enough.
This last man rule has been abused by referees for years. That rule was meant for an entirely different offense.

Also the free kick against Harper that led to the goal was another example of players conning referees and they not being smart enough to spot it.

I thought the rule was that if he was the last man left between the opponent and the goal. If what you say is correct how come Sonko didn't get sent off against Spurs when conceding the penalty because that could also have been considered a goal scoring opportunity.

the answer to that is keane did not hit the deck as hard as benjani, harsh but thats the only real difference, isuppose also keane ran past sonks benjani was past him and sonks challenged from behind.

On that last point, the replays will be interesting because from where we were sat, it looked as though Benjani might have been offside when the ball was played through to him (mind you we've seen a twat in black dish out a red card in that situation too!!).

[MartinRdg]

...
Sorry Murty but you aren't escaping my wrath tonight either. At West Ham he was immense, but since then he was a shambles at Tottenham and was equally terrible today. Too slow, caught out of position numerous times, i looked up at times to see Doyle playing right back to cover our 33 year old skipper's legs.
...

I believe it was 2-2 when Murty went off in the Spurs game..

[Armadillo Roadkill]

My favourite bit of officiating came when Kitson was given offside after the ball was headed back by a Portsmouth player.

He got worse as he went on, too, each decision comically worse than the one before. It's as if he only had a bit of good referreing in him, and he blew all that in he first three minutes.

[Royal Monk]

Please explain how it was a cynical/professional foul

Dear god whats wrong with you.... Sonko was behind the player and had no chance of getting the ball , he just smothered the player to stop his run on goal

[Rich@Eaststand]

Marcus made a rare mistake

[peckhamwolf]

Has nobody spotted that "fan's favoutire" Murty was totally at fault for the red card incident giving the ball away inside his own half ? Might not have directly cost a goal via the penalty but changed the game completely nonetheless.

[peckhamwolf]

Has nobody spotted that "fan's favoutire" Murty was totally at fault for the red card incident giving the ball away inside his own half ? Might not have directly cost a goal via the penalty but changed the game completely nonetheless.

Sorry, meant favourite before anyone gets pedantic.

[Diddyroyal]

I bet Convey was fuming at having to come off, felt sorry for him

[John Peel]

Three pens in the last four games thanks to Sonks. I can't believe I'm saying this but a part of me is glad he won't be playing for a while. Sonko has been awful at times recently and he can have no arguments about the sending off.

Bikey was ten times better than Sonks when he came on and Dubbery will hopefully be given a run-out on Sat. Having said that we urgently need to buy a new CB and offload Sodje to Charlton for good. Don't care if he's playing well, the man's even more of a liability than Sonko.

USA was at fault for the first goal and we really need to find someone who can at least challenge him for his place. I still think he's useful but he ain't going to be challenged by Federici.

As for those slagging off Shorey for today's performance, he's been ill over the Christmas period hence he was brought off. It was even touch and go for the Tottenham game. We've got no back-up so we had to play him (although DLC did do OK when he came on today).

On the positive side we haven't played badly since Boro at home. We've just been terribly unlucky with a couple of crucial decisions recently. If Wigan and Sunderland lose tomorrow it won't matter. Plus if Derby surprise Bolton (unlikely I know but stranger things have happened).

[towserSL2crew]

The penalty was a penalty but that decision apart the ref was absolute sh*te , and its not every day you get a sh*te ref and two sh*te linesmen but we did today.........well done no 13 and keep singing.

[rg6royal]

I wasn't angry tbh just really bored !

Ref and linesman both dreadful today but we did nothing anyway