Never though I would ever post this

[Guest BigChief]

He did have a very good game, but it was an easy game to ref. Apart from the phantom penalty of course!!

[stressederic]

Even with the penalty though he did what you'd want a Ref to do. He took a long hard look at it, took the time to consider it, see how the play was moving on and then made the decision. I think from his angle it probably looked more like a penalty then it actually was.

 

The simple rule for all refs in this case is obvious.

 

Stop.

 

Think about it.

 

Consider the state of play.

 

Give Liverpool a penalty.

 

Golden rules they should all follow.

Edited February 14, 2006 by stressederic

[Maldini]

Surely I can't be the only one who thought it was a clear penalty? He made absolutely no attempt to play the ball and barged Nando away from the ball.

[Mike]

Surely I can't be the only one who thought it was a clear penalty? He made absolutely no attempt to play the ball and barged Nando away from the ball.

 

i did. its clear

[Swipe]

Was never a penalty, but i think i can understand why Poll gave it.

 

The lad shoulder charged Morientes. Perfectly fine - but right at the end he extended his arm and touched Nando.

 

From Poll's position it maybe looked like it was a fully fledged push and not a legal shoulder charge.

[slapnuts]

Surely I can't be the only one who thought it was a clear penalty? He made absolutely no attempt to play the ball and barged Nando away from the ball.

 

I thought it was too, if you go into people like that in the box you deserve to get punished.

[Swipe]

We'd all go mad if we got a penalty against us for what was a legal shoulder charged.

 

Never a penalty.

[Guest Kev]

I thought it was a deffo pen.

[Guest Jack Bauer]

I'm not sure it was a penalty, but I think it's because it's very rare to see a penalty awarded for something like that.

[Maldini]

Was never a penalty, but i think i can understand why Poll gave it.

 

The lad shoulder charged Morientes. Perfectly fine - but right at the end he extended his arm and touched Nando.

 

From Poll's position it maybe looked like it was a fully fledged push and not a legal shoulder charge.

You're allowed shoulder charge if it's a 50-50 and you both get to the ball at the same time. Eboue body-checked him a couple of yards away from the ball because Nando was half a yard ahead of him.

[Swipe]

You're allowed shoulder charge if it's a 50-50 and you both get to the ball at the same time. Eboue body-checked him a couple of yards away from the ball because Nando was half a yard ahead of him.

 

Nah, not for me. Was a shoulder charge. Soft penalty, IMO.

[Andy Mac]

Intially I didn't think it was a pen. The replay showed he pushed rather than shoulder charged Morientes. A pen in my opinion and a good decision

[Leroy]

Nah, not for me. Was a shoulder charge. Soft penalty, IMO.

 

FFS watch it, he used his arm and pushed him, shoulder was never in it, was`nt a lot but as he was about to shoot he pushed him.

[RedLars]

Not a pen if you ask me. Had it been the other way around I would have been livid.

Edited February 15, 2006 by RedLars

[Maldini]

Nah, not for me. Was a shoulder charge. Soft penalty, IMO.

I'm not disagreeing that it was a shoulder charge. It was however an illegal shoulder charge, a bodycheck to use commentator's parlance. He made absolutely no attempt to play the ball, took the man out, cast iron penalty.

[Mono]

It wasn't a peno and if we had scored it well then we could have passed it off as what goes around comes around after last weeks bad luck.

[Swipe]

FFS watch it, he used his arm and pushed him, shoulder was never in it, was`nt a lot but as he was about to shoot he pushed him.

 

er no he didn't. he used his shoulder. Roll your eyes if you want, but it was a soft, soft penalty.

 

Did both commentators and the pundits in the studio see it wrongly too?

 

I'm not disagreeing that it was a shoulder charge. It was however an illegal shoulder charge, a bodycheck to use commentator's parlance. He made absolutely no attempt to play the ball, took the man out, cast iron penalty.

 

Not for me, mate. Agree to disagree. I think we'd all we fuming if it was other way round. Very soft.

[Atticus Finch]

By the letter of the law it was a foul and therefore a penalty - there was no attempt to play the ball, the defender varied his angle of run away from the ball and into Morientes and also used his arm to lever him out of the way. HOWEVER it is also the type of penalty that rarely gets awarded - you see worse at corners which never gets picked up - which is why anyone would be annoyed if it went against you.

 

And to return to the original point I too thought Poll had a good game, but then again I don't really remember a bad challenge, the players were not arguing with him (except FL who got booked for it), and there were not many difficult calls to make. From that point of view it was an easy game to ref and he did what any decent ref should do. The fact that he finally did what he was supposed to do is more a damning indictment on his usual standards rather than him being spectacularly good in this game.

[anny road]

if thats a pen we would have 1214434,00000000 free kicks a game

 

but I thoiught he handled it ok tonight

 

fair play

[Gunga Din]

if thats a pen we would have 1214434,00000000 free kicks a game

 

but I thoiught he handled it ok tonight

 

fair play

 

 

it was a very soft pen. you would have felt agrieved had it been given to Arsenal. i thought Poll done ok tonight, but at times i thought he held play up a bit too long and could have let the game flow better

[Nebraska Red]

I thought it was pen, but only after the replay.

 

Poll did a great job reffing that game. I joked before the game saying he would be card happy, but he wasn't and did not need to. It was a pleasant surprise to watch a game with very little play acting or whining to the ref, no players looking to the ref to get the opposition carded, hardly any time wasting worth speaking of.

 

A game played by 2 professional teams, reffed by a professional referee who was in the background most of the game.

[Big G Superhero]

Surely I can't be the only one who thought it was a clear penalty? He made absolutely no attempt to play the ball and barged Nando away from the ball.

 

Looked blatant from where I was sat, directly in line with it in the main stand

[fyds]

We'd all go mad if we got a penalty against us for what was a legal shoulder charged.

 

Never a penalty.

It wasn't a shoulder charge - he went at him with his forearm and just pushed from the side - Nando was in front of him. It wasn't the worst offence you'll see but outside the box it would have been given as a foul - for once, inside the box it was a pen.

[Scally the Wag]

Yep, pen...

 

We are plagued by zillions of re-runs and camera angles with our Cable feed - bloody annoying when it's one of their goals they keep showing. This time though it was good to see the incident from different angles. The hand made all the difference. Was rasied, did make contact and did look like it was a major part of the incident.

 

Soft pen in some ways but the player prevented Morientes from taking a clear scoring opportunity. I would note that the Arsenal players did not go nuts about it. One or two felt agreived but none of the crowding round the ref type thing that they are more than capable of.

 

On balance: best penalty decision all season. Hope we get more on Saturday.

[woody365]

I thought Poll's performance was one you'd moan like f*** at if you were an Arsenal fan. Gave us loads of soft decisions, including the penalty.