mrfahaji

Are you sure? I could be mistaken but I thought play continued as normal. Edit: Just checked, by the looks of it the referee incorrectly stopped play instead of allowing Man City to play one, but he awarded a free kick to City rather than allowing Arsenal to retake it.

Out of interest, why don’t you rate Sims? In the times I’ve seen him he’s probably impressed more than disappointed, albeit a small sample size.

Yep, absolutely shocking then (wasn’t that the hacking-down-Djuricic incident?) so unfortunately it didn’t come as a surprise to me today.

Ha, yep!

It's funny how the improvement in his all round game has coincided with him stepping up from the set piece "nearly man". In fact you could say he used to be a 'nearly man' in every way, but you don't suddenly improve at free kick technique over a few weeks. Akin to how the best player on the pitch often pops up with a goal and then makes everyone wonder if the MOTM award was simply on the back of scoring (looking at you, Garth), perhaps the added confidence or aggression he has brought into his game lately has somehow seeped into his set pieces as well and made the marginal difference!

The absurdity was that Redmond and Sissoko both got yellows. Sissoko ran his studs down Redmond's ankle, Redmond got up and nudged/lightly pushed him from behind. Sissoko turned round, properly shoved him and then threw a head butt (not sure if there was contact). I'm not so precious that I think that sort of thing should be a sending off (even if the rules probably say it should), but to book both of them was ludicrous. When the ball fell to Sissoko in the dying minutes I was convinced he was going to score, just to rub it in. The other 'red card' was a foul on Armstrong, not Sims, unless you are referring to another one?

I was also at Fulham and agree, Austin was awful. Crystal Palace away and West Brom away were two matches where Lemina was head and shoulders above every other player on the pitch, from both sides. You simply don't put in those kind of performances unless you are capable of being a top player. I just think that inconsistency and at times looking like he's not motivated (but fans are far too quick to accuse players of not trying simply when they're not playing well) might be down to having to play for managers who are clearly not great compared to what he was used to before.

Like Tadic? I think his attitude has been questionable at times, but when you've previously played under (I think) Conte and Allegri, perhaps the training and all round ability of Pellegrino and Hughes leaves you a bit underwhelmed. It's still unprofessional to go through the motions, but can certainly see how it happens.

I remember when Michael Svensson was sent off for a goalline handball against Spurs, he was sliding/falling to block the shot and had his arms out behind his body to break his fall (as anyone would). The ball went past his legs/body and hit his arm. In that situation I wouldn't be against a penalty, since even if it's not deliberate, the ball is going in the net unless it hits the arm, but to send him off for something completely uninitentional was ridiculous.

Pleased for him. Loved him when he was here, didn’t begrudge him a move although obviously being disappointed to see him go, and don’t even feel angry at the club for accepting such a low amount. It’s the reminder of his replacement that’s painful.

True, aware that a "deliberate foul" or "serious foul play" would still be a red. I guess that a shirt pull falls into the first category but can imagine that refs would still only give a yellow. Especially at Old Trafford!

Isn't there a 'double jeopardy' rule in place now? So if it was a penalty he wouldn't also be given a red card (regardless of whether it was a clear goal scoring opportunity).

Welcome back!

Yeah? Against karate...?

Ok fair enough, I didn't see the first penalty shout so wasn't aware it was also a red card (although doesn't 'double jeopardy' mean it wouldn't be?)

You’d expect them to beat Huddersfield at home, would have been a nice bonus if they hadn’t just as us getting anything at OT would’ve been an unexpected bonus. Unfortunately neither went our way but they are still only 3 points ahead of us.

If you think Redmond is poor now I can’t imagine what you thought of him during Pellegrino’s reign

I actually think that it’s less about the penalties but about the consistent bias in the marginal decisions, and is a common theme against the big clubs, but especially at Old Trafford. Anything close to a 50-50 goes their way every time, which means every moment that might eventually develop into a chance for us gets nipped in the bud early, while they get the opportunity to continue to pressure. Valery’s goal came after the blatant penalty, correct? So therefore the decision had no bearing on the game, however terrible. Obviously Young’s foul on Bertrand would have made a difference but Bertrand went down easily and I don’t think it was clear cut.

Haven’t seen the first penalty claim but if it was as blatant as some are saying then it serves to highlight the biased refereeing but since it came just before our first goal it didn’t alter the course of the game. I would have complained if they had got a penalty for the equivalent of the Young-Bertrand incident so I’m not going to claim that was ‘stonewall’. My main emotion after that is anger, because we didn’t deserve to lose. We didn’t concede because of sloppy defending or because we invited pressure. Just a good finish from a player who seems to only do anything good against us. Although I do know what Instant Classic means by “if you win, you deserve it”, but to extrapolate his board game analogy, it would be like putting yourself in a position where your opponent only wins if he rolls a six on his last go. And he does.

Cheating by Rashford though, no attempt to defend the ball, simply sticks his leg out to obstruct Armstrong.

He’s done it! Get in!

How is that not a booking?!

Was that a foul on Young by Austin? Didn’t look obvious but they only showed it once.

Oh no doubt. I’m not sure it was a foul on Bertrand but that doesn’t mean the ref isn’t looking to give them every decision he can.

Think Bertrand “goes to ground” rather than actually being pulled down. Doesn’t mean it’s not a foul of course, but would rather Bertrand had kept running as we’re not getting anything that soft at OT