The ref tonight

[LondonLiverpoolFan]

And I thought Rob Styles was inept.

 

Now some might say the players didn't help him but to be honest I can't blame the players for flinging themselves down at the slightest touch as he showed he wanted to blow his whistle at every opportunity.

 

He should've booked Mascherano earlier though!

[Sion]

Thought he had an OK game. No particularly bad decisions. Pennant was asking for it, deserved to go off.

[realtarragona]

Behave

[Cunny]

I've seen far worse than him.

I guess we'll be all turning a blind eye to the dives from Liverpool players?

[Zoob]

just posted on the match thread - I think the ref had a decent game. Fell for a lot less Porto diving than some refs, and gave us a few surprise decisions too.

[jfogarty]

We've been playing in Europe for long enough to know what to expect.

[McBain]

He's a good ref who had a dodgy game.

[LondonLiverpoolFan]

He never made any major f*cks up no but he ruined the game by blowing his whistle whenever he could. I can't remember the last time I've witnessed a game of football that had so many freekicks given. Any physical contact, whistle blown.

 

Now I'm no science major but I can just about work out how much force etc it takes to push a player over in any given moment so most of the time it's fairly obvious to me when a player has 'thrown' himself to the ground. Why isn't it for most professional refs?

[LondonLiverpoolFan]

I've seen far worse than him.

I guess we'll be all turning a blind eye to the dives from Liverpool players?

 

Not at all. I never placed blame on either set of players.

[surf]

He's a good ref who had a dodgy game.

 

Agreed, he's pretty decent most of the time.

 

It wasn't even that dodgy. Got the penalty decision right. Can't complain about the Torres and Kuyt bookings, or Pennant's first. Pennant's red card was a soft second yellow, but if that was given for persistent fouling then he can't have too many complaints.

 

He should have cut out the Portuguese diving and let play flow more, but that's European ref's for you.

[LondonLiverpoolFan]

He's a good ref who had a dodgy game.

 

Yeah I've always thought of him as a good ref but tonight I thought he was far too whistle happy. I hate it when games are ruined by over zealous refs

[jimmylibel]

Thought the constant stop-start helped us a good bit to be honest. Allowed us to get ourselves reorganised.

 

Not like we were playing much free flowing football this evening.

Edited September 18, 2007 by jimmylibel

[Gerry]

He managed to avoid booking Mascherano for 91 minutes, so he can't have been that bad.

 

Thought he did OK. Very difficult game to ref, since Porto were chucking themselves all over the place, and we didn't exactly help ourselves with some of our challenges.

[Hieronymus Bosch]

Far too many dives being rewarded with free-kicks. It's no wonder they go down (our players too, to be fair - especially Torres) - if you dive, you get a free-kick; if you stay on your feet, the ref, more often than not, gives you nothing.

Edited September 18, 2007 by mrshah

[LondonLiverpoolFan]

Agreed, he's pretty decent most of the time.

 

It wasn't even that dodgy. Got the penalty decision right. Can't complain about the Torres and Kuyt bookings, or Pennant's first. Pennant's red card was a soft second yellow, but if that was given for persistent fouling then he can't have too many complaints.

 

He should have cut out the Portuguese diving and let play flow more, but that's European ref's for you.

 

Right let me clear up what I meant as I posted in a slight rage.

 

Firstly I don't blame the ref for the result or our performance however I blame him for ruining the flow of the game.

 

I can't argue with any of the major decisions during the game. The penalty was rightly given as were all the bookings. However he was far too keen on blowing his whistle. We see games in Europe every season and I'm struggling to remember one which was as stop-start as that.

Edited September 18, 2007 by LondonLiverpoolFan

[Guest Snorky]

I rate Michel, but tonight he had a stinker.

 

He was conned constantly by the dives and cautioned 5 of our players to their one, when they committed just as many fouls as us.

 

It was a poor performance by a normally decent referee.

[surf]

I rate Michel, but tonight he had a stinker.

 

He was conned constantly by the dives and cautioned 5 of our players to their one, when they committed just as many fouls as us.

 

It was a poor performance by a normally decent referee.

 

torres's booking gave the ref no choice (dissent)

kuyt's booking gave the ref no choice (silly handball)

pennant's bookings were his own fault

 

which leaves the 'real' bookings pretty even

 

the constant diving was annoying though

[Sion]

I rate Michel, but tonight he had a stinker.

 

He was conned constantly by the dives and cautioned 5 of our players to their one, when they committed just as many fouls as us.

 

It was a poor performance by a normally decent referee.

He did not have a stinker by any stretch, Styles had a stinker Vs Chelsea. He had an average performance tonight IMO. Could have been a bit stricter towards the easy falling over, but you're unlikely to get that with European refs. Saying he had a stinker makes you look like you're blaming the ref for our showing.

[Guest Snorky]

He did not have a stinker by any stretch, Styles had a stinker Vs Chelsea. He had an average performance tonight IMO. Could have been a bit stricter towards the easy falling over, but you're unlikely to get that with European refs. Saying he had a stinker makes you look like you're blaming the ref for our showing.

 

Not blaming the ref at all for our poor showing. I think we were caught cold by Porto. The ref however didn't help us, but he wasn't to blame.

[surf]

Right let me clear up what I meant as I posted in a slight rage.

 

Firstly I don't blame the ref for the result or our performance however I blame him for ruining the flow of the game.

 

I can't argue with any of the major decisions during the game. The penalty was rightly given as were all the bookings. However he was far too keen on blowing his whistle. We see games in Europe every season and I'm struggling to remember one which was as stop-start as that.

 

Fair enough. You could argue it's a style of whistling and technically he's done nothing wrong, but it detracts from the beauty of the game and it's very annoying to watch. And as someone else said, but i can't remember who, he probably helped us today as Porto were all over us and we couldn't string 5 passes together. He took the flow out of the game and that allowed us to regroup and was disadvantageous for Porto's attacking play.

[lfc003]

ref had a decent game

[st.johns]

Think he should have booked gerrard for not trying!

[smokescreen]

I think Pennant was unlucky to get the second yellow. It does my head in the way players are allowed to shield (obstruct) the ball out of play... where anywhere else on the pitch you can't.

 

Give Pennant his due, he was trying to get the ball and gave it a fair effort - it was in a dangerous position for a cross. What was he meant to do - just let the defender let it run out without making any effort to get at it? I'm sure he'd have been berated for lack of commitment in that instance by half our fans.

[Armin_Tamzarian]

He's a decent ref. Made a few bad decisions but overall he was good. The standard of ref in Europe is higher than in the Premier League.

[Guest RedLegend]

I've seen worse to be fair. He got the penalty right.

 

Got suckered by the Porto diving though at times even though they are masters of it.