Well, the ref didn't cost us the game. Di maria deserved his red for petulance.
Michael Oliver
- Thread starter stubie
- Start date
He gave a foul to Arsenal when Sanchez was tackled by Valencia, and di Maria got a booking for a similar foul. 
Di Maria deserved to be booked for diving - and to be sent off.
I think he got the big decisions right.
I was a bit annoyed with some of the smaller decisions but nothing worth complaining about.
A few players lost their discipline at the end. Di maria is the obvious example but rojo's tackle was stupid and there were a few other stupid fouls that just helped arsenal slow the game down.
I was a bit annoyed with some of the smaller decisions but nothing worth complaining about.
A few players lost their discipline at the end. Di maria is the obvious example but rojo's tackle was stupid and there were a few other stupid fouls that just helped arsenal slow the game down.
Some of the comments in here are embarrassing. He had a very good game. Got pretty much everything right. Which isn't easy when you've got players throwing themselves around like tonight.
Monreal was on a spree today, and got away with everything.
He was shit, as were we, for most of the second half.
Hard match to officiate and I thought he did extremely well, got all the big calls right. He should've given Monreal a yellow for the handball and maybe could've given Welbeck a yellow for his dive but apart from that I thought he was very close to the events and got everything spot on. The Bellerin second yellow would've been a bit soft IMHO.
The ref had a perfect game...why are the likes of di maria and januzaj going down when they are in a position to win the game for us if they stay on their feet? It would be major hair-dryer for Di Maria and Januzaj after tonights game if Fergie was still in the dug out
Don't be daft, Di Maria isn't a brave lion. He can't do things like pull the refs shirt a bit.
Well we've seen him give Di maria two yellows in quick succession.
That was a shambolic refereeing performance. Bellerin should have walked, and that would have completely changed the game. Monreal should have seen at least yellow, if not red. A number fouls and a blatant handball to prevent a decent attacking opportunity completely ignored. Welbeck not booked for dropping like a sack of shit in the box after getting a little tug outside of it, but Di Maria and Januzaj booked for basically the same things. Ramsey was also lucky not receive two yellows in quick succession after hauling Young down and then kicking the ball away. Coquelin definitely should have picked up a booking for repeated fouls. Di Maria's second yellow was probably warranted, but given that players do that sort of stuff all of the time, and Oliver has form for letting players off for worse (*cough*Hart*cough), it's pretty frustrating to see a guy get sent off for a little tug when the tension is high. Rojo probably sould have gone too. The Oliver did absolutely nothing to keep the game in check, and only started to use his authority once it'd had already gone to shit, which funnily enough, started when he bottled the Bellerin red.
That said, individual defensive errors and poor (or unluckily forced) substitutions are what cost us. The second half completely got away from us and there was only really one side that looked like scoring, and it wasn't us. The last few minutes were incredibly frustrating to watch, with players getting caught stupidly offside, or giving daft fouls away when there wasn't any need.
That said, individual defensive errors and poor (or unluckily forced) substitutions are what cost us. The second half completely got away from us and there was only really one side that looked like scoring, and it wasn't us. The last few minutes were incredibly frustrating to watch, with players getting caught stupidly offside, or giving daft fouls away when there wasn't any need.
I've played hundreds of games on the wing so know all about trying to skip past challenges and losing balance. He felt his wrist getting tugged and went down to win a free kick. It's so clear cut to me.
I'm probably not as good as Di Maria, so he should be better at not falling over.
Arsenal should have been down to 10 men but apart from that I thought Oliver had a pretty decent game to be honest, a lot of our fouls were pointless and killed momentum but they were usually correct calls.
To be fair my missus grabbed me by the wrist the other night in bed and broke my leg in 3 places.
Fwiw I thought he was brilliant in a tough game to ref. We can't have any issue with his decisions against us.
Was Di Maria's two yellows or a yellow and a red? Annoying if he misses more than one if the FA decide to make an example. (Of a United player? Never, I hear you say.)
Was Di Maria's two yellows or a yellow and a red? Annoying if he misses more than one if the FA decide to make an example. (Of a United player? Never, I hear you say.)
A completely fine performance. Pathetic to even suggest that he had a bad game.
Bellerin should have gone. And the free kick Sanchez won on the edge of our box about 2 minutes before Di Maria's was strikingly similar to Di Maria's apart from Oliver's decision.
So other than those two major decisions, he did ok.
So other than those two major decisions, he did ok.
Bellerin...
It ended in the middle but Rojo starts holding him outside the box and doesnt bundle him over till they are in the box. The contact started outside the box so it should be a freekick
There was plenty of contact, and I'm fairly sure Rojo knew he was outside and would be giving away a freekick but Welbeck was unlucky
That's not how it works with diving though, is it? You either book players for diving, or you don't. You can't let Welbeck drop like a sack of shit, let Sanchez throw himself over every time Valencia gets near him, and let Di Maria go to ground easily repeatedly without showing a card, only to then decide you're going to start flashing cards once the game has got a out of your control.
The fact that the Welbeck incident pretty much encompassed both aspects of the dives our players got booked for is even more frustrating. Di Maria got booked for diving after getting a little tug, and Januzaj got booked for diving for waiting until he was in the box to go to ground, but Welbeck got away with flopping after running into the box after getting a little tug outside of it.
He got a little grab on the shoulder, nothing to flop like he did over.
That first bit is a pretty big game changing oversight.
Yeah, he should have been off. Annoying. Got the rest of the decisions right though.
Di Maria's hand got grabbed, just like Welbeck's shoulder got grabbed. We saw that Welbeck was able to stay on his feet because he miraculously made it to the box before flopping. It was never a foul on Di Maria, don't get me wrong, but it was also never a foul on Welbeck.
The small decisions were very obviously going Arsenal's way almost every time. No way that can be called a good performance even if the big ones were right (which they weren't considering the precedent he'd set for similar things earlier in the game).
Sanchez had an exact same dive against Valencia and they got a FK.
It was an incredibly weird performance that was amazingly brave and horrendously inconsistent all in one go.
He set a precedent that meant that going to ground like a sack of spuds under minimal contact wasn't a foul but wasn't a booking. Later on he decided it wasn't a foul but was a booking with Di Maria. Then on another occasion with Sanchez he decides it is a foul. Three similarly pathetic attempts at winning a foul all treated completely differently.
He shows massive cowardice by failing to show Bellarin a second yellow when he's already established that cynical fouls are a booking (Herrera, Young, Bellarin mk1), then shows he has gigantic gonads by rightfully booking Januzaj for his dive.
It was the greatest shite refereeing performance I've ever seen... Or the most horrific good peformance...
I can only conclude he is very good anti-homer. We've seen the opposite of these referees 1000 times, great performances that you know lean towards the home crowd. This performance was almost a "I'm going to put in a quality performance today but purposely lean towards the away side to show I'm not only great, but have giant balls to boot".
I can imagine this being the perfect Liverpool fan refereeing performance of a United game. No clear decisions that ruin the game so you can taunt and act smug to your United mates saying "you dive and cheat and still lose ", whilst also knowing they got screwed over by the ref.
He set a precedent that meant that going to ground like a sack of spuds under minimal contact wasn't a foul but wasn't a booking. Later on he decided it wasn't a foul but was a booking with Di Maria. Then on another occasion with Sanchez he decides it is a foul. Three similarly pathetic attempts at winning a foul all treated completely differently.
He shows massive cowardice by failing to show Bellarin a second yellow when he's already established that cynical fouls are a booking (Herrera, Young, Bellarin mk1), then shows he has gigantic gonads by rightfully booking Januzaj for his dive.
It was the greatest shite refereeing performance I've ever seen... Or the most horrific good peformance...
I can only conclude he is very good anti-homer. We've seen the opposite of these referees 1000 times, great performances that you know lean towards the home crowd. This performance was almost a "I'm going to put in a quality performance today but purposely lean towards the away side to show I'm not only great, but have giant balls to boot".
I can imagine this being the perfect Liverpool fan refereeing performance of a United game. No clear decisions that ruin the game so you can taunt and act smug to your United mates saying "you dive and cheat and still lose ", whilst also knowing they got screwed over by the ref.
Last edited:
The two incidents involving Sanchez and Di Maria, 2 minutes apart. How can the other warrant a dangerous free kick and the other a yellow card?
This is a disgrace. Harts was far worse and he gets nothing.
It was a foul, you dont have to stay on your feet every time you can. Rojo is clearly holding him and stopping his momentum and he's taken that for a few seconds, going down when its harder to stay up because Rojo has fallen behind him
Thought he had a very good game tonight. If you think otherwise you need to take the rose tinted specs off I'm afraid.
Exactly.
Objectivity has nothing to do with it. He was in possession. No matter what followed, there wasn't a benefit from the grab and so United should have a foul. I can understand the ref not seeing the grab but obviously there's going to be frustration when two Arsenal players had not been booked for diving, one even got a free kick.
I am a Man Utd supporter.
I have no issues with the ref.
The issue I have is that our team just wasnt good enough to win the game.
You can blame the ref all you want, but we must face the fact that we made mistakes in defence (which led to 2 goals) and then went a man down.
Di Maria is a pro and once the yellow was issued, he should've walked away and let Rooney (the captain) make the protest.
Screaming and shouting at the ref, after you have booked is not going to get the card rescinded and may end up in a red card. Even I know that.
The ref was leniant today and allowed the game to flow.
I have no issues with the ref.
The issue I have is that our team just wasnt good enough to win the game.
You can blame the ref all you want, but we must face the fact that we made mistakes in defence (which led to 2 goals) and then went a man down.
Di Maria is a pro and once the yellow was issued, he should've walked away and let Rooney (the captain) make the protest.
Screaming and shouting at the ref, after you have booked is not going to get the card rescinded and may end up in a red card. Even I know that.
The ref was leniant today and allowed the game to flow.
This, he's stealing a living as he has no idea what he's doing, shambolic refereeing from both sides, hope the UEFA/FA or someone suspends him, unacceptable.