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Sunday, October 28, 2012

Clattenburg gets stuck with a blood 'n guts clash

I'm a Chelsea fan. Mark Clattenburg had a good game today in the Chelsea vs Man Utd barnstormer. These two statements shouldn't really go together but they do.

In a fiery match won 3-2 by the visitors, Clattenburg sent off two Chelsea players. For doing this, he now faces a complaint by Chelsea about "inappropriate language" he's alleged to have used during the match. Frankly, this sounds like a pretty cynical attempt to exact revenge for daring to show two red cards.
What has annoyed me today is to see two very poor decisions by assistant referees, decisions that were match changing.
In Liverpool, Suarez should have had a third goal that would have won the game against Everton but he was flagged offside when he wasn't. In London, Hernandez's match-winning goal was narrowly offside. Tough decisions but ones they really should have got right. These guys are there to assist the referee. They didn't do that today.
For what it's worth, I think Clattenburg was dead right in sending off Ivanovic, No doubt about hum denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity by clipping the Man Utd attacker.
Torres, however, was a tad harsh. Jonny Evans did make contact with Torres's shin, albeit slightly. Torres may or may not have had to go to ground. But there was too much doubt to give him a yellow, especially a second. That said, Torres was lucky to be still on the pitch after an appalling chest high studs-up challenge earned him only a yellow.
And what's more, he was absolutely bloody useless! Should have been taken off after 30 minutes.
Clattenburg showed considerable restraint as 9-man Chelsea lost their discipline in the last 15 minutes. Luiz and Cole both kicked United players violently but the referee decided to keep them on the pitch.
All this took place in a hostile and nasty atmosphere, with objects being thrown from the stands, and a steward being treated on the edge of the pitch by doctors.
He won't get top marks, but Clattenburg shouldn't be hung out to dry for this game.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Should be hung out to dry for his inapprop comments if proved true