Liverpool v Man City. Sun April 13th KO 13:37 SS1, Important Mod Warning in OP.

blueser wrote: »

To be fair, he's been playing well this past few weeks. I was dreading him up against Suarez and/or Sturridge today, but neither of them got a kick. In the end, Suarez had to revert to type. Vinnie had a mare today. Down to his injury? Who knows? He certainly wasn't anywhere near his true form, that's for sure.

Morzadec wrote: »

So wait, Suarez didn't dive? Haven't watched MOTD yet so only saw it on replay in the pub and I thought we had really got away with one (Suarez not getting a 2nd yellow).

My view on the other contentious decisions:

Dzeko penalty appeal: Very 50/50. If it had been given it would be hard to complain, because Sahko does not touch the ball and impedes the player in the box. However, contact is minimal and Dzeko completely exaggerates it in order to draw the refs attention to the infringement (as most players would, lets be honest). Can also see why it wasn't given. Ultimately in such a massive match, such a big decision, the ref is going to want to be sure and this is England, not Spain afterall. But it arguably was technically a penalty.

Suarez penalty appeal: See above. He is technically 'fouled' (impeded) by Kompany who has his arms all over him. However, he goes down easily and it would have probably been soft.

Sturridge penalty appeal: Another difficult one, as Sturridge is taken out before the ball. However, Zabaleta's body position is such that it could be argued that he has got between ball and player and is in fact now in possession of the ball, in which case Sturridge is colliding into him... (a bit like Suarez's strength in knocking off the City player just before setting up Sterling for the 1st goal). I feel this probably wasn't a penalty.

Skrtel handball penalty appeal: Many will disagree with me, but for me it is just not a penalty. The rules clearly state that the hand has to be deliberate, and it looks nothing of the sort from Skrtel who is climbing to win the ball with his head and it inadvertantly comes off his hand. At the same time, we see many penos given for accidental handballs (far too many imo, and the rule is generally badly and harshly interpreted). I will have to watch it again, but on first viewing I think it's just a muddle and his hand gets in the way. There is no appeal from the City players and for me it would have been very harsh.

Henderson Red: Feel so sorry for the guy, and I really hope we don't look back on this moment thinking that it might have cost us the title (his role is incredibly important in the team). It was not malicious, but ultimately it was the right decision - in this day and age you can't go in like that, and referees have generally been very consistent with tackles like this, so no complaints.


I think they are all of the major talking points. Maybe watching MOTD later I will revise some views, because it looks like I may have got the Suarez one wrong. Though you would expect Clattenburg to either give the free or give a yellow there perhaps, so it's a strange one. Maybe he wasn't sure either way.

If Suarez did dive and we got away with it, then we definitely got the rub of the green yesterday as going down to 10 would have likely handed the victory to City.

If not, then I don't think we were particularly lucky. They had a few shouts, so did we. Not a single one was a stonewaller, though arguably all (certainly at least one a piece) could have been given.