Moneyball won't win the Premiership 2012-13

that's not what we're paying him for etc

holy fuck, the "subdued" version of Bale's celebration. I thought it couldn't get any worse

Thoughts before I turn in:
1) Mata is good
2) I have no idea why Suarez's last-ditch winner at Goodison was disallowed, but it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy
3) I don't know what to make of the Clattenburg allegations. On the one hand, it seems absurd to suggest that a (miked-up, in front of 40,000 and broadcast live all around the world) referee would racially abuse a player. It looks like a case of deflection by Chelsea (away from Terry's punishment for racist abuse and the ripped up seat and pound coins thrown when Hernandez scored) mixed in with desire for vengeance against perceived poor decisions. And yet. Surely they wouldn't be stupid enough to just fabricate the allegations as that would be soon be found out and they would have just dug themselves into an even deeper hole?
4) Two of the three big decisions were fairly clear cut: Ivanovic was a straight red and Hernandez was offside (though in the scramble of running out of the net this would have been difficult to see). The Torres one is more debatable. He was touched and I wouldn't have complained if he'd won a free kick and Evans had got booked. But the slight contact he received didn't cause the dive to the ground that he made and the laws say that you can be booked for feigning injury. And he should have already had a red by then anyway.
5) The cameras showed a crowd of concerned-looking stewards etc. standing around somebody on the ground at the Chelsea end of the pitch shortly after the winner - it was unclear what had happened to him or how serious it was. There were rumours of a heart attack and then rumours that he'd been hit by either the seat or coins thrown. Then (apparently) Chelsea released a statement saying he had fallen and hurt his knee. This photo shows him sprawling backwards over the hoardings.

just seems like a pretty weird day of fitba altogether

the best super sunday ever according to [motd2 irish man who i won't give the dignity of having his name googled now i forget]

suarez disallowed for coates climbing all over the defender for the knockdown. seen em given but draw was the fair result so meh

failing an fa bodge either clattenburg or cfc will be guilty of the most spectacular idiocy, not sure really what else to say. if it turns out he didnt say anything then two "misunderstandings" on cfc's part would be somewhat total bullshit

torres indisputably guilty of simulation, guess it's more the question of a ref's game intelligence in choosing when to be the picky lawman and whether he has a responsibility to maintain the contest to some extent idk

tbf i'd had my eye off the game for a while so i dunno if torres had already been guilty of persistent spanish twattery up to that point or what

shay given should really call a kid seenem

that would amuse me

other than this? no more than usual

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/10/28/article-0-15BBA2B6000005DC-946_468x398.jpg

oh yeah i did hear about that. look whatever i was trying to be all scientifical dispassionate, obv my tru thoughts on the matter are right there upthread

i'm pretty sure Clattenburg forgot he'd already booked Torres but who knows what was going on his mind at that point

As revealed by Sportsmail, in his 'captain's notes' in the matchday programme, Terry wrote: 'This is our dedicated match for the Kick It Out One Game, One Community campaign.

'We continue to be committed to eradicating all forms of discrimination from our game and creating a great atmosphere around the stadium.'

I spent all day in the library having guessed that both big matches would underwhelm :(

holy fuck, the "subdued" version of Bale's celebration. I thought it couldn't get any worse

― Number None, Sunday, October 28, 2012 11:12 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he just had a babby tbh

but it was just his normal celebration preceded by a sort of "i'm not actually celebrating this" gesture

great advert for the product

they've called the baby "The Product"?

Naming Rights Bale

Sports Direct Bale

Actually who does sponsor Spurs?

UNICEF

ILX

i'd been giving him a pass having got it into my head that his celebration was connected to gary speed somehow, but no.

The Torres one is more debatable. He was touched and I wouldn't have complained if he'd won a free kick and Evans had got booked. But the slight contact he received didn't cause the dive to the ground that he made and the laws say that you can be booked for feigning injury.

a foul doesn't have to take u to the ground to be a foul, but when clipped u pretty much have to ask for the free by going down on contact. nobody plays on and expects the ref to blow; in fact it's tantamount to asking for advantage. the ref must be forced into a decision or it won't get made. we're miles away from a culture of refs deciding these things without ppl falling over.

Yeah - I'm not saying he wasn't fouled - there *was* contact and I was expecting the decision to go the other way. But you can be fouled and still dive, which is what he did. And you can feign injury in an attempt to get another player carded and that's punishable by a booking. But obviously Clattenberg didn't call it like that (because he'd still have given Chelsea a free kick if so). In any case, he should have had a straight red for the kung-fu kick long before that. And Valencia was also booked for diving when he was far more obviously fouled than Torres was.

was the suarez goal officially disallowed for a foul on coates?

sorry, by coates

Clattenburg is just comically shit when it comes to officiating United games.

I'd assumed so, but from the late flag I think it must've been for offside. Which is a scandal.

I mean I don't really believe the racial stuff mostly because I don't believe any ref would be that stupid in the current climate, possibly that shows too much faith in Premiership referees.

Sound like yer typical Chelsea bullshit to me

How is John Terry's ventriloquism act coming on anyway?

what zvook says is true but i guess you could say there's a large grey area of unspoken pacts between players and ref wrt interpretation and enforcement and if by taking the piss as torres did you expose this sub rosa world for all to see then punishment must follow to avert entropy

basically like

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2224576/Mark-Clattenburg--controversial-referee.html

According to accounts at the time, the Durham-born referee asked the City bench: ‘How do you put up with Bellamy?’

if it was offside it's a truly horrendous decision. and indeed as g nev said, a case of him bottling it. if he's been looking at the ball there he can't find that offside, looks like he just panicked and raised a flag.

If the Suarez goal was disallowed for clambering over the defender, I think the flag should've gone up a little earlier than it did - which suggests it's an offside call, and a bad one at that. Oh well, you've had David Fairclough, Gary McAllister, Ronnie Rosenthal, Chris Lawler, Ian Rush, Andy Carroll, Dirk Kuyt... I've personally had enough late LFC winners in derby matches to last a lifetime. I can't remember a single one for Everton (a few equalisers, mind).

flag goes up late for coates climbing, what's the beef

If chelsea are making a frivolous racial abuse case i hope they're made to regret it

Not seen rest of these calls, but i think everyone otm in general re: slight fouls, forcing the ref to act, grey area before you're 'diving' etc

gerrard's said he asked the linesman if it was offside and he said 'i think so'. so yeah, suarez offside. i think.

torres did dive didn't he?
http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/article/media_slots/photos/000/593/005/torres_original.gif?1351459904

I don't know for sure if he "dived" but he was definitely fouled

... and not in a "The lad felt some contact and he's gone down" way but in a kicked-in-the-shin way

if you watch the replay of the Suarez goal with the linesman in shot it's pretty clear he doesn't know what he's flagging for. Definitely not for the Coates foul anyway

i think so too - a very deft touch to the shin

xpost

and the Torres one is the definition of "The lad felt some contact and he's gone down". It was tap on the shin and it wasn't enough to make him go down the way he did. It's probably still a foul but it's not the atrocious decision some are making it out to be

the tip of Jonny Evan's boot, gently caressing Torres's shin like a drop of morning dew rolling down a petal in Spring

which caused the flower to explode and collapse into a heap of hideous carnage so grotesque that it would bring a grown man to tears.

it's pretty clear that the refs have been told to crack down on diving too cos there's been way more cards for it of late. Like i said before, there's a good chance Clattenburg forgot he's already booked him but that shouldn't influence his decision anyway. Valencia's yellow was a way worse call but that was probably a misguided attempt at redressing the balance. Anyway, i don't really care tbh. The whole thing was pretty hilarious and i'll take a win at Stamford Bridge by any means necessary

this didn't happen in the united chelsea game but what happens with regards to offside if a player is off the field of play? e.g. if they're behind the goal line?

unless they've recieved permission from the ref to leave the field they're still playing them on

ah i was thinking the person who would be offside if they're behind the goalline - i see the rule is "closer to the goal line" than 2nd to last defender/ball etc. so i suppose you can be slightly further back from the goalline than your opponents

i guess, what i'm asking is.. is wee pea offside here?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v356/kenjuggle3/weepa.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/OKlD7.jpg