Referees and assistant referees get things wrong. All the time it seems, and they enjoy doing so in Spurs games for and against us if you read what others wish to share as evidence.
United fans have cited the Palacios tackle which he should have been sent off for last season at OT early in the game. Webb didn't but did award a penalty that never was. It's swings and roundabouts. Or something.
Also cited, the Huddlestone goal against Fulham (wasn't Gallas not interfering any ways?) and the Stoke goal that never was.
The point being (as made by the right honourable Rio Ferdinand who knows everything about how to make the most of an ambiguous situation) that we looked the other way at both Fulham and Stoke and didn't ask questions, so what difference with Nani and his cheeky punt of ball under hapless body of Gomes goal?
Not sure how the decisions we don't get against United (when added up) can be explained in terms of annoyance and why they continue to happen - but regardless of the injustice any club of any colour experiences the end result is this:
Accept the mistake made, if its in your advantage or against you because the law of averages would deem that karma will set things right in another game. Even if you tally 'em up and find yourself counting the good on one hand and the bad requiring the hands of twenty.
It's fair they all say. And to keep crying victim is unbecoming of us (the scousers have copyright, I've checked).
However, the Hudd goal at Fulham. The Stoke goal not given. Are these really comparable to the Mendas 'goal', the Webb penalty decision and couple of other hugely contentious incidents? It's not exactly offside and let's have goal line technology please, is it? I guess yellow cards dished out for tackles for one team but ignored for tackles for the opposing side, time and time again, is also contentious. But then that's also a very regular pattern in the game, the country over.
Re: That Mendes 'goal' - I know the lino had his head down and never saw the ball cross the line, but surely when he lifted his head up and looked across to the goal - something a certain ref also supposedly did if he was concentrating and doing his job - considering Carroll got himself out of the goal from behind the line in a mental scramble wouldn't logic suggest the ball must have also been behind the line for the keeper to have been behind the line?
Oh Christ, I'm going to go off on a tangent here. Let's not. It's part of football legend now. Discussed to death. And it would seem, accepted in the realms of the upper tier.
So no more playing the victim. It hasn't helped us and it hasn't changed things. Them the breaks, and if it happens to your advantage you should lap it up. It's part and parcel. The mistakes. Delivered with ample consistent incompetence by the officials time and time again. Why even bother bothering?
I guess you might well ask how exactly can we manage to dig out for ourselves something like the Nani goal to our advantage in a game (for the last time, THE GOAL AGAINST STOKE DOES NOT COMPARE) is easily answered. It's whether the question is being asked inside our beloved club amongst management and players. It's whether we want to be asking it.
The answer would be to simply start c**ting off the opposition. Yep, lose a bit of class and become a winner. You'll still need support. Play in red, and you'll get it every time.
Or, I don't know, perhaps, ya know, if we grew some b*llocks and followed through on our motto and took control of the destiny of the game placing it beyond the man in black with the whistle in his hand and the opposition's gleeful handling of said delivered parcel of love.
Mental strength, hey? If only we could sign up some of that in the Jan transfer window. Because ref's are out of our league, for now at least.
So let's give Cluttenburg and Webb and every other ref that has dicked as or helped us by way of comedy a massive round of applause.
Start clapping in 3...2...1...
As for Spurs, heads up, we're playing some lovely stuff, we have some fantastic players. We're not far off from getting it right. Honestly, have faith. I'm not drunk.
