Sir Alex Ferguson is a man who is never very comfortable around the subject of referees, but after this weekend I bet it's all he can think about. Or at least all he can rant about.
Post a 2-0 reverse at Craven Cottage, you probably wouldn't expect Ferguson to blame his side, but instead suggest that the referee's failings contributed to their downfall. How though, he can believe that Paul Scholes did not deserve to walk is a mystery.
Even Scholes knew it. The ginger maestro had held up his hands to block the ball, and his body language figuratively held up his hands in guilt at his actions. You can't help but feel sorry for him, but it was instinct, but we all know you can't do that. If he keeps his hands down, it's a goal. So he is sent off. Ferguson's quotes were "He could have easily not given it. But its Phil Dowd, what do you expect?"
That's not an explicit defence of Scholes, but the implication is that a penalty was sufficient punishment. This would not be the last time a discussion about penalties and red cards would be had before the weekend was out.
More on that in a moment though, because we must first address the actions of Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. (quelle surprise - or the Portuguese equivalent)
We must start with Ronaldo, and his initial handling by Phil Dowd was poor. Ronaldo complained of the ball being kicked away and essentially requested a booking. I'm not crazy about that, but it's the follow up that was worse. Phil Dowd indicates for Ronaldo to come to him, and the United man clearly responds with a gesture that can only be interpreted as "no, you come here." I'm not one for dispensing yellow cards for fun at little bits of dissent, but you cannot allow players to dictate the law that way. I'd have cautioned him right there.
What that may have done is settled United, and made them see that they couldn't rant and rave to the official. It also might have calmed down the Portuguese, and stopped him making his rash tackle on Danny Murphy.
I don't think it was a red card tackle. I think a booking was correct, but plenty of officials would have walked Ronaldo for that. For me it looked worse than it was because he takes off so early and so high. However, when contact is made, it is not what you would deem serious foul play. I wouldn't anyway.
Straight red or not, consider the fact that if he'd already been in the book he'd have either been dismissed or would not have made the challenge in the first place.
Even after this there was another short altercation between player and referee. This time the body language of each man indicated that Mr Dowd said any more lip and you walk. Ronaldo seemed to accept this.
Now everyone must see that, and the threat should then resonate throughout the side. Had Ronaldo been booked for his initial bout of stroppiness perhaps Wayne Rooney wouldn't have acted with such petulance and earned a deserved red card. Or then again maybe he would.
Not much to say about Rooney's first booking - it was deliberate and cynical and surely not even Sir Alex would deny that. The second is open to a little more debate, but after numerous warnings to United players, you can't blame Mr Dowd for issuing a second yellow and sending Rooney off.
To defend the decision against those that say it's harsh, you have to look at Sir Alex's comments about the decision.
Said Fergie: "Did he throw the ball at the ref? No."
I agree with that. I don't think he did throw it at the referee.
"Did he throw it in anger? Yes, because he wanted the game to be hurried up."
I agree again, though not so emphatically. He did throw it in anger, and undoubtedly did want the game hurried up. But it wasn't the sole intention of the gesture. Go on, Sir Alex, convince me...
"The ball went to where the free kick was taken."
Ah, you see, no it didn't. It went ten yards past where it was to be taken, roughly where the ref was, but where no United player was in a position to take it quickly.
I think it's a combination of everything. He wasn't trying to hit the ref, but throw it in his general direction to make a point. He did want it taken quickly, but he hardly facilitated this.
He was frustrated (wrongly) that the ref didn't allow Ryan Giggs to take a quick free-kick, so hurled it back to show this. That is dissent by action, and is a yellow card offence. Sorry, Wayne, off you go, la'. The thing is, if Sir Alex was getting annoyed about the justifiable sendings off of his own players at Craven Cottage, then Lord knows what he was like on hearing the news that Brad Friedel has had his red card against Liverpool rescinded.
It was a really, really unfortunate red card, but a perfectly legitimate one, and the repeal of it, and the subsequent withdrawal of suspension, should leave Ferguson positively apoplectic.
Let's start with whether it is a penalty or not. Some might say Fernando Torres left his leg in, but that's just good forward play. It is not Torres' responsibility to avoid the keeper, so if Friedel is in the way then the Spaniard had every right to hit him and fall down. It's not cheating, it's smart.
It's a foul, it's a penalty. I can see that Friedel is trying to get out of the way, or at least minimise the chance of contact, but whether someone intends to bring a player down or not is completely irrelevant with this type of foul.And if it was a foul, then he had to walk, because although Nigel Reo-Coker was in attendance, there is no way in my book that he would have got to the ball before the lightning-quick Torres. To be fair even if he was in a possible to simply challenge,
it's still a sending off because the law says "clear goalscoring opportunity", not certain goal.If I were Martin Atkinson, who sent off Friedel, or for that matter any Premier League referee, I'd be very confused right now as to what the guidelines are for such an incident.If I were Sir Alex Ferguson, I'd get used to life without Rooney, Vidic and Scholes for another couple of games or so, because they got what was coming to them, and I'd warn Cristiano Ronaldo that he too is in danger of jeopardising their crusade to sweep the board. However, I'd not be too thrilled at the FA Appeals Committee for allowing one of the better keepers in the league to face my side next week, rather than an untested Premier League rookie.
source:
http://www.football365.com/referee365/0,17033,8747_5097935,00.html
