It was the Manchester clubs who made the news this week in football.
United moved closer to another title, while City continue to stutter. However, both of their victories were not without some controversy.
Fulham will feel they should have had a penalty at the end of their largely forgettable Monday Night Football game at Old Trafford, while Roberto Mancini refused to shake hands with Tony Pulis at the end of his team’s game at Stoke.
Apparently the City boss – who also declined to face the press at the post match press conference – felt that Howard Webb failed to protect his players during the game, primarily because of what he saw as an elbow on David Silva by The Potters Dean Whitehead.
Fulham Manager Martin Jol wasn’t quite that annoyed after Michael Carrick appeared to clip Danny Murphy in the latter stages of the game, but he did say “Everyone in the stadium expected a penalty, you have to be brave to give an away penalty at United.”
Of course, in doing so he implied that Ref Michael Oliver wasn’t “brave,” that he – in football parlance – “bottled” the decision.
This is, of course, nonsense. Michael Oliver has shown himself over the past few years to be one of the very, very best young referees in the country. He is already on the FIFA list, and I think everyone who has seen him in the Premier League over the past few years has been impressed with his calmness and composure. In short, Mr. Oliver isn’t the sort of man that “bottles” anything. If he was, do you honestly think he would have risen so far, so fast up the referee’s ladder? Of course not!
As for Mancini’s anger with Howard Webb, that is even harder to understand. The Whitehead “elbow” wasn’t highlighted anywhere else to any great degree and perhaps the worst mistake made during the game was to not give Stoke a penalty when Gareth Barry appeared to bring down Glen Whelan in the box.
Perhaps, though, as former Stoke manager Lou Macari – a former Manchester United player – put it Mancini was protecting his players fragile ego’s when he refused to criticise them for their lacklustre display the other day, instead choosing to target the opposition and the referee. And increasingly, you feel, Referee’s are being used almost as a diversionary tactic by desperate bosses. We have written about this before, and no doubt will continue so to do.
Other managers, though find the time to be magnanimous. Sir Alex said after Monday’s match that it looked as though Fulham had a “claim” on a penalty. Even here, though, things aren’t as they first appear. Do you think for one minute that he would have said this if Man Utd had dropped two points? Not a chance!
Do you think he would have said such a thing if he wasn’t engaging in some mental warfare with Roberto Mancini, which started last week? Again not a chance!
All of which makes the referees job even harder. Not only do they have to have every decision scrutinised, while simultaneously being screamed at by fans and players alike they are now forming part of the armoury in Manager’s mind games.
All the officials can do in those circumstances is get on with the job to the best of their ability. Which doesn’t sound like something a bottler would do, does it?
United moved closer to another title, while City continue to stutter. However, both of their victories were not without some controversy.
Fulham will feel they should have had a penalty at the end of their largely forgettable Monday Night Football game at Old Trafford, while Roberto Mancini refused to shake hands with Tony Pulis at the end of his team’s game at Stoke.
Apparently the City boss – who also declined to face the press at the post match press conference – felt that Howard Webb failed to protect his players during the game, primarily because of what he saw as an elbow on David Silva by The Potters Dean Whitehead.
Fulham Manager Martin Jol wasn’t quite that annoyed after Michael Carrick appeared to clip Danny Murphy in the latter stages of the game, but he did say “Everyone in the stadium expected a penalty, you have to be brave to give an away penalty at United.”
Of course, in doing so he implied that Ref Michael Oliver wasn’t “brave,” that he – in football parlance – “bottled” the decision.
This is, of course, nonsense. Michael Oliver has shown himself over the past few years to be one of the very, very best young referees in the country. He is already on the FIFA list, and I think everyone who has seen him in the Premier League over the past few years has been impressed with his calmness and composure. In short, Mr. Oliver isn’t the sort of man that “bottles” anything. If he was, do you honestly think he would have risen so far, so fast up the referee’s ladder? Of course not!
As for Mancini’s anger with Howard Webb, that is even harder to understand. The Whitehead “elbow” wasn’t highlighted anywhere else to any great degree and perhaps the worst mistake made during the game was to not give Stoke a penalty when Gareth Barry appeared to bring down Glen Whelan in the box.
Perhaps, though, as former Stoke manager Lou Macari – a former Manchester United player – put it Mancini was protecting his players fragile ego’s when he refused to criticise them for their lacklustre display the other day, instead choosing to target the opposition and the referee. And increasingly, you feel, Referee’s are being used almost as a diversionary tactic by desperate bosses. We have written about this before, and no doubt will continue so to do.
Other managers, though find the time to be magnanimous. Sir Alex said after Monday’s match that it looked as though Fulham had a “claim” on a penalty. Even here, though, things aren’t as they first appear. Do you think for one minute that he would have said this if Man Utd had dropped two points? Not a chance!
Do you think he would have said such a thing if he wasn’t engaging in some mental warfare with Roberto Mancini, which started last week? Again not a chance!
All of which makes the referees job even harder. Not only do they have to have every decision scrutinised, while simultaneously being screamed at by fans and players alike they are now forming part of the armoury in Manager’s mind games.
All the officials can do in those circumstances is get on with the job to the best of their ability. Which doesn’t sound like something a bottler would do, does it?
