Martin Atkinson

Pogue Mahone said:
He's always a homer.
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Yep, easily influenced by home crowds.

Hes not a cheat, hes just not a good referee. I mean, this is the guy who gave a goal to Chelsea vs Spurs in the FA Cup a few years back, even though the ball didnt cross the line. The dude guesses decisions.
Fair enough, the red was correct, but it shouldnt have lead to it. The whole sequence was nuts. Fellaini gets booked for something that was allowed to go by other players. He then talks to fellaini, and then lets a quick free kick happen with Fellaini out of position after talking to him. Fellaini gets back and fouls Aguero (but tbh that wouldnt have been a yellow) Fellaini is then stupid...
 
His performance in the first 25 minutes set the tone that if a United player as so much as breathed on a city player it was gonna be a foul and that city players would have to come in in studs up or literally american football tackle them to the ground to get called for a foul..

I'm fine if a ref wants to call a match either way but be consistent and call it the same way for both teams.
 
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Atkinson is a complete and utter cheat. Has been for years - how on earth does he steal a living as a football referee? So many fouls committed by City in the first half went unpunished, then the first yellow card of the game goes to Fellaini. The joker then allows City to take a free kick, knowing that Fellaini is out of position due to being booked by him. Hence, the need to commit another foul in quick succession to stop the break. Just wish that Fellaini had headbutted Aguero good and proper to make it a worthwhile red card.
 
Had called it in the match day thread prior and at half time - he was going to do something out of nothing to us. Absolutely disgraceful excuse for a top flight ref - looking to be the center of attention in a big game.
 
I suppose if you're neutral you see not much that is super-important in a dull game & note that he got the big decisions right. No penalties & a correct red card.

But he gave Utd less than nothing all night in general play to the point that I can even understand Fellaini's (the massive berk) frustration slightly.

The one in the corner close to where Utd player is clearly fouled but is then penalised for a fair looking tackle or at the least the same kinda thing anyway - or the break we had stopped for nothing...

He might be slightly preferable to Oliver.
 
padr81 said:
Herrera dragging down Sterling when beaten on the left wing (your right first half) could have been a yellow. Pretty sure Martial did it too at one stage when we were breaking. The ref was poor no doubt. As I said had be booked Otamendi early on like he should have neither team would have been able to turn the game into what it was.
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Yeah for once it didn't feel like he was just trying to shit on us. He was crap but in an even handed enough way mostly.
You got the better of the decisions but you expect that as the away team, doubly so with this bum in charge.

NinjaFletch said:
Whats nuts is I'd genuinely consider that a decent Atkinson performance compared to usual because he resisted the urge to give a soft penalty.
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Agree with this too
 
Fernandinho should have been booked on 2 separate occasions and continued to make fouls after. Our players on the pitch need to be much better at putting pressure on the ref with some of these decisions because you saw how City reacted when Fellaini made his tackles.
 
Completely nullified our tactics by allowing City's defenders to clobber Rashford and Martial any time they looked like they might hurt them with their pace. Ruined the game
 
caid said:
Yeah for once it didn't feel like he was just trying to shit on us. He was crap but in an even handed enough way mostly.
You got the better of the decisions but you expect that as the away team, doubly so with this bum in charge.
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We def got the rub of the green especially early doors where Otter, Yaya and Fern struggled with the pace of your front 3. Could easily all have been booked, by bottling those decisions he basically allowed both teams to be cynical when required us everytime you got forward and you guys mainly when we got forward on our right. He's definitely a homer and we got the rub of the green for certain.

He did get the big decisions right (all players going tumbling in the box.) and the red was a red. He's partly the reason neither team really created feck all as he allowed cynical defending, shirt pulling etc... Kind of meant you could never break on the counter and we were never going to play through that wall of yours or push wide. I mean fair enough Fellaini's first yellow was a yellow but their was 3 or 4 similar stoppings with no yellow. I remember Otter, KDB for us and Herrera adn Martial for you guys.

I don't think he's corrupt, just another in a long line of poor officials in England who either plump for the home team/ big team due to crowd pressure, when they try and control games they get things wrong and when they try and let the game flow they always end up losing control.
 
padr81 said:
We def got the rub of the green especially early doors where Otter, Yaya and Fern struggled with the pace of your front 3. Could easily all have been booked, by bottling those decisions he basically allowed both teams to be cynical when required us everytime you got forward and you guys mainly when we got forward on our right. He's definitely a homer and we got the rub of the green for certain.

He did get the big decisions right (all players going tumbling in the box.) and the red was a red. He's partly the reason neither team really created feck all as he allowed cynical defending, shirt pulling etc... Kind of meant you could never break on the counter and we were never going to play through that wall of yours or push wide. I mean fair enough Fellaini's first yellow was a yellow but their was 3 or 4 similar stoppings with no yellow. I remember Otter, KDB for us and Herrera adn Martial for you guys.

I don't think he's corrupt, just another in a long line of poor officials in England who either plump for the home team/ big team due to crowd pressure, when they try and control games they get things wrong and when they try and let the game flow they always end up losing control.
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I dunno, watch him ref a Chelsea match and it becomes debatable.

Agree that he wasn't helpful to the spectacle of the game though
 
Shimo said:
Had called it in the match day thread prior and at half time - he was going to do something out of nothing to us. Absolutely disgraceful excuse for a top flight ref - looking to be the center of attention in a big game.
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Every time he refs our games you know he's going to be have a bigger influence than the players. He's always a major talking point after a game, just the way he likes it. I dont know if all teams feel the same but he's comfortably the worst ref of the last few years for us even though the likes of Dean and Oliver are trying hard to catch up.
 
We were lucky we weren't facing Chelsea today, because then he would've made sure we lose.
 
We have to get referee's away from booking the reaction of the player and not the challenge itself. It is becoming increasingly infuriating to see a referee produce a card just because the player went rolling around even if the challenge is only minor. Atkinson is probably the most susceptible to this. What a mare.
 
Didn't know Chelsea sold Atkinson to City, went off the radar.
 
That was a poor performance by the ref. So many calls he got wrong and it was very one-sided. Rashford and Martial got nothing and he fell for Aguero's antics
 
The refs are dreadful these days. This guy falls for every trick in the book though, the players know he's a fool and that's why you see so much cynical play when he's the ref. I'm all for letting the game flow but that doesn't mean allowing clear fouls and not applying the rules of the game. Allowing that quick free kick last night makes me think the guy is just a bit of an idiot.
 
I think he did OK tbh....most of the "fouls" he didn't give us I would be happy to see let go as I think football is such a better spectacle when players are allowed to go to war a bit

There were two he missed - Otamendi on Rashford on the halfway line and Kompany on Martial which would have given us a free kick in a very dangerous position
 
This idea our man got sent off cos Aguero was cheating is a bit ''Top Red'' for me. You can't get away from the plain old fact that Fellaini nutted him.

Atkinson was fecking abysmal but very very most, even of the EPL referees (except Atkinson if it's Wilshere on Fellaini & probably Clattenberg if it's us) would have red carded that one.
 
I don't see how he was so bad yesterday. He didn't make any game-changing wrong calls while he had every chance to do so (Sane falling in the box, Jesus' close offside goal). He let the game flow. I thought that's what that famed PL physicality is all about.
 
Fellaini's was a clear red. No argument. However, Atkinson should have given him time to get back into position before restarting play. Allowing a quick free kick was wrong and immediately led to the 2nd incident. Still no reason for Fellaini to go full retard though.
Although we didn't offer much offensively, had Otamendi and Kompany been booked in the 1st half for blatant body checks (neither were even given as a foul) they might have thought twice about constantly coming through the back of Rashford and Martial - something which Atkinson continually allowed to happen.
Frustrating when you hear people say he handled the game well. He fecking didn't.
 
I don't mind the red card too much. I think if your are going to call it a red though, you can't let Aguero off completely. Especially given leeds fan Atkinson had a nice view from the side and could see Aguero steaming in while mop head just stood his ground.

As has been said though, he let the game flow for one side, not the other. As usual.
 
I don't usually espouse violence, but the prospect of Fellaini headbutting that cynical cheat Aguero into a stupor and then inserting him into the biased idiot that is Atkinson, possesses a certain appeal. *Sighs*
 
Feedingseagulls said:
I don't usually espouse violence, but the prospect of Fellaini headbutting that cynical cheat Aguero into a stupor and then inserting him into the biased idiot that is Atkinson, possesses a certain appeal. *Sighs*
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I'd plug the hole with Michael Oliver afterwards.
 
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