by David Sweeney
Howard Webb
Manchester United took on Chelsea this weekend at Stamford Bridge and were boosted by the return of arguably their best player and no I am not talking about a receding scouser with the intelligence of an eight year old and the looks of John Merrick; I am of course talking about Mr Howard Webb, by far the most biased ref in the Premier League. Most United fans will oppose this bold statement after he handed Fergie’s side a point by awarding them two second half penalties, the latter of which was very dubious. To be fair I somewhat agree with them; I mean good old Howard doesn’t deserve that much criticism really considering how hard it must be to keep your eye on the game with your face firmly situated in Fergie’s lap.
9 yes a staggering NINE of the last 54 Premier League penalties Webb has awarded have been given to United. Here is a man who took charge of the World Cup final, yes the WORLD CUP FINAL, the biggest event in football and failed to send a player off for a karate kick in the middle of the pitch. The incident I am referring to is Nigel De Jong’s infamous Jackie Chan impression which almost pole-axed Xavi Alonso.
AVB was left as dumbfounded as the rest of us as he remarked “I don’t know if he is compensating for something in the first half”; if he was then that is poor refereeing, you should base every decision as you see it, not try and even things up because you feel you may have made a blunder earlier in the game, or more likely had a quiet word with Uncle Alex at half time.
If Webb is the best ref in the country then we all may-as-well give up now. Not only should he never be allowed to referee a game involving Manchester United again in his career, he should also be banished down the divisions although I would feel a tad sorry for fans in the Championship who would have to put up with this buffoon.
Instead of looking to punish the likes of Joey Barton for making nonsensical ramblings on Twitter, the FA would be better served looking at more pressing issues, particularly the poor standard of refereeing by Mr Webb among others.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Although Zlatan Ibrahimovic has undoubted class I am still yet to see him play well in a game I have watched live. The constant praise the big Swede receives has always irked me but never have I had the energy, time or effort to write anything about the maverick forward. This weekend however made me break this habit as ‘Ibra’ got himself sent off In the 64th minute of Milan’s game against Napoli for the most petulant wimpy slap I have ever seen. The weak connection made with Napoli’s Salvatore Aronica would make Graham Norton fancy his chances in a punch up against the big forward. So cowardly was Zlat’s slap that he was positioned behind his teammate before he delivered the ‘blow’. Although violence on the pitch is clearly wrong in my opinion if you’re going to get sent off at least make it worthwhile and hit him properly! Sadly he didn’t and the soft sending off let his team down and may come back to haunt them in future weeks with the defending champions having to contend with a few tricky fixtures, firstly away at Udinese next weekend as well as also missing the game against Juventus on 25 February.
It was a stupid act by a truly irritating character.
Ref in the West Ham vs Millwall game
Referee Mick Jones had a nightmare at the weekend as he gifted West Ham victory in the East London derby. Despite sending Hammer Kevin Nolan off correctly for a silly two footed lunge in the games early stages, Jones made a monumental blunder as he allowed Winston Reid’s winning goal to stand when Millwall keeper David Forde was clearly impeded by Julian Faubert. So blatant was the foul the game seemed to stand still for ten seconds or so leaving Reid unchallenged to blast the ball into an empty goal from outside the area.
I don’t know why they were booing him; Ferdinand was arguably Chelsea’s best player today.
The wrong decision harshly condemned the Lions to their fifth defeat in six games and prompted Kenny Jackett to rightly have a pop at the clueless offfical.
It seems like I say this every week but how many games are going to be decided on the basis of bad refereeing decisions? Surely enough is enough and we can bring video technology into play? For the good of the game I hope it happens and I hope it happens sooner rather than later.
Chelsea Fans booing Rio
What a horrible human being former media darling ‘JT’ is, yet after the booing of Rio Ferdinand purely for standing by his brother I cannot decide who I despise the most. Terry or the ridiculous Chelsea fans who continue to stand by their aging skipper. Craig Bellamy hit the nail on the head a few years ago when asked his opinion on the former England captain, the pint sized Welshman replied by saying ‘everybody knows what he is all about in football’. It’s not just in football Craig, everybody in the country can appreciate what a complete tool he is, well apart from 40 or so thousand at Stamford Bridge it would seem.
AVB stated that “This is a normal situation in the Premiership” with regards to the booing; well his team’s complete collapse coupled with his clueless substitutions renders his inexperienced ill-timed comment void in my opinion. I mean come on? Having the audacity to boo somebody for sticking up for their brother who was racially abused by quite possibly the most vile, despicable individual ever to grace the Premier League…have a word with yourselves. Anyway I don’t know why they were booing him; Ferdinand was arguably Chelsea’s best player today.
Tim Howard
Wigan vs Everton was never going to be a classic was it? I mean you have Wigan, possibly the worst supported team in the league, against Everton whose season can now be considered over after their cup final victory in midweek.
As it turned out it was probably worse than I could have imagined and only came to life late on after Phil Neville tried to cut out Jean Beausejour’s cross. His block spun wickedly towards Tim Howard who was comically beaten by the cruel bounce, not really anybody’s fault, just an amusing incident that I deemed worthy of a mention.
