Liverpool FC Forum

by **Emerald Red** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:20 pm

Torres 2007 wrote:Well it aint far away.

we will not win the league for another 15 years if we carry on like this!

15 YEARS!

no bottle.

letting the likes of sholes run the show! he's an old man!

not one goal against them in the league is a joke!

F*cking gift the manc sh*t their 17th title why dont you!

Stevie and Tores, no Show!

No bottle!

plebs

You're calling Torres and Gerrard plebs?

And Scholes is what age? 34 or something like that? Still young enough and fit enough to do a job. It's not age that retires footballers. It's past injuries.

by **parchpea** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:21 pm

We where under the cosh with 11 on the park and it was as though Mascherano was begging to be taken out of the action. He only has himself to blame I am afraid. Alonso tried to tell him as did Benitez (Gerrard did not get involved by maybe shouild have done as captain) but he would not listen and rightfully dismissed.

As ever in this fixture we played nervously, and today without discipline and frankly we where outlapyed in every department.Its a bitter bitter pill to swallow but thats the fact of it. This Utd team is far superior and it makes me sick to the stomach.

Reina had a night mare but then again but for his intervention on other ocasions it could have been 5 or 6. We on the other hand never created a single chance and all this after some 10 hours of football against this team without finding the net.

We have inmproved of late after disaster against Barnsley but ultimately have been brought down to earth with a big bump today where the gulf in class was painfully evident.

I thought Rafa may have got his defensive selection wrong but not sure any combination would have stopped Utd today such was their dominance in the match.

Absolutely shattering

:sniffle

by **JC_81** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:21 pm

Emerald Red wrote:
john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
heimdall wrote:You are an absolute disgrace Emerald, are you advocating that all players should be allowed to tell the ref to F&ck off?? What kind of example is that sending youngsters to see their heroes have zero respect for authority.
I suppose you regularly tell your boss to f&ck off as well do you??

That gave me a laugh. It honestly did.

And, yeah, I've told many a ref to f*ck off. I've told my mates to f*ck off. And I'd certainly tell my boss to f*ck off too if I felt I was being hard done by.

Anyway, that's not the point. He got booked for that one. The point is, did you see him say "f*ck off" when he walked up to the ref? I didn't.

Anyway, to quote Shanks "The trouble with referee's is that they don't understand the game".

I agree.

Emerald, sorry mate but Mascherano was a stupid fu.cker today. It was obvious he was going to get a red card and it didn't matter whether he told the ref to fu.ck off or not, it's the fact that he was in the ref's face on 2 or 3 different occasions gesturing and mouthing off after he was on a booking - he lost the plot and there is no defending him.

Another point however is the fact that in the 2nd half after a dubious foul against Arbeloa was given on the edge of our box, you could clearly see Gerrard mouth the word 'fu.ck' to the ref in a tirade of abuse, yet nothing happened. My point is that the ref today was probably tolerating most verbal abuse, but as is often the case if a player makes a gesture or appears overly aggressive (like Mascherano) then they are going to get disciplined.

Most watching on tv won't have picked up on the Gerrard incident and therefore the ref will let it slide. However, he can't be seen to be allowing Mascherano to get right in his face at every decision and given the spotlight on the ref following the Cole v Spurs situation, the ref had no option but to produce the red.

Then ask yourself this. Do you think Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Ronaldo, or Terry would have been sent off for that second so called offense? I don't. I'd sooner take Benitez's word on it from the point of view of one of his own players (Babel) than anyone on this forum. From Masch's reaction, you could tell he was genuinely stunned. If he was just asking a question, to be sent off for that is wrong and an utter joke and that's a fact.

The fact Emerald, is that when you are on a booking, you don't sprint 30 yards to stick your face in the referee's to contest another player's booking when you are playing for the away side at Old Trafford. It's fu.cking suicide.

Then you're implying the referee had a bias towards United then? For me, this still doesn't justify a sending off. Not ever. Not for any player for any team.

Let's say you're the ref today. You have already booked Mascherano for what you believe to be a bad tackle and a bookable offence (we know from the replays that this was not the case). The next 2 decisions you give against the away side Mascherano is waving his arms around in protest and giving you verbals. You let it slide as he's clearly fired up for the game. Then after an incident involving another player, Mascherano sprints 30 yards and sticks his face in yours, protesting, again giving you verbals. You walk backwards but Mascherano continues to advance towards you in a threatening manner, even his team mate Alonso cannot hold him back. The crowd are against Mascherano and you have 60 thousand calling for you to book him. Mascherano still comes at you, what do you do???

I'd have called him over the first time and had a word with him. Problem solved. No need to book him and ruin the game.

But you are the ref today and you HAD booked Mascherano already. What do you do?

by **HantsRed** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:21 pm

john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
heimdall wrote:You are an absolute disgrace Emerald, are you advocating that all players should be allowed to tell the ref to F&ck off?? What kind of example is that sending youngsters to see their heroes have zero respect for authority.
I suppose you regularly tell your boss to f&ck off as well do you??

That gave me a laugh. It honestly did.

And, yeah, I've told many a ref to f*ck off. I've told my mates to f*ck off. And I'd certainly tell my boss to f*ck off too if I felt I was being hard done by.

Anyway, that's not the point. He got booked for that one. The point is, did you see him say "f*ck off" when he walked up to the ref? I didn't.

Anyway, to quote Shanks "The trouble with referee's is that they don't understand the game".

I agree.

Emerald, sorry mate but Mascherano was a stupid fu.cker today. It was obvious he was going to get a red card and it didn't matter whether he told the ref to fu.ck off or not, it's the fact that he was in the ref's face on 2 or 3 different occasions gesturing and mouthing off after he was on a booking - he lost the plot and there is no defending him.

Another point however is the fact that in the 2nd half after a dubious foul against Arbeloa was given on the edge of our box, you could clearly see Gerrard mouth the word 'fu.ck' to the ref in a tirade of abuse, yet nothing happened. My point is that the ref today was probably tolerating most verbal abuse, but as is often the case if a player makes a gesture or appears overly aggressive (like Mascherano) then they are going to get disciplined.

Most watching on tv won't have picked up on the Gerrard incident and therefore the ref will let it slide. However, he can't be seen to be allowing Mascherano to get right in his face at every decision and given the spotlight on the ref following the Cole v Spurs situation, the ref had no option but to produce the red.

Then ask yourself this. Do you think Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Ronaldo, or Terry would have been sent off for that second so called offense? I don't. I'd sooner take Benitez's word on it from the point of view of one of his own players (Babel) than anyone on this forum. From Masch's reaction, you could tell he was genuinely stunned. If he was just asking a question, to be sent off for that is wrong and an utter joke and that's a fact.

The fact Emerald, is that when you are on a booking, you don't sprint 30 yards to stick your face in the referee's to contest another player's booking when you are playing for the away side at Old Trafford. It's fu.cking suicide.

Then you're implying the referee had a bias towards United then? For me, this still doesn't justify a sending off. Not ever. Not for any player for any team.

Let's say you're the ref today. You have already booked Mascherano for what you believe to be a bad tackle and a bookable offence (we know from the replays that this was not the case). The next 2 decisions you give against the away side Mascherano is waving his arms around in protest and giving you verbals. You let it slide as he's clearly fired up for the game. Then after an incident involving another player, Mascherano sprints 30 yards and sticks his face in yours, protesting, again giving you verbals. You walk backwards but Mascherano continues to advance towards you in a threatening manner, even his team mate Alonso cannot hold him back. The crowd are against Mascherano and you have 60 thousand calling for you to book him. Mascherano still comes at you, what do you do???

What the ref should have done was to stop the game, call Mascherano over to him and clearly tell him that if there was any more dissent he would receive a second yellow card.

That is what a good, sensible referee would have done. Unfortunately Steve busy-boll*cks Bennet is neither good nor sensible.

Fu*king inconsistency. How often do you see Chelsea/Man Utd/Arsenal players snarling around the ref like a pack of dogs. Mascherano was actually smiling and asking the ref "what happened?"

Bennett is a joke.

by **Emerald Red** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:24 pm

john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
heimdall wrote:You are an absolute disgrace Emerald, are you advocating that all players should be allowed to tell the ref to F&ck off?? What kind of example is that sending youngsters to see their heroes have zero respect for authority.
I suppose you regularly tell your boss to f&ck off as well do you??

That gave me a laugh. It honestly did.

And, yeah, I've told many a ref to f*ck off. I've told my mates to f*ck off. And I'd certainly tell my boss to f*ck off too if I felt I was being hard done by.

Anyway, that's not the point. He got booked for that one. The point is, did you see him say "f*ck off" when he walked up to the ref? I didn't.

Anyway, to quote Shanks "The trouble with referee's is that they don't understand the game".

I agree.

Emerald, sorry mate but Mascherano was a stupid fu.cker today. It was obvious he was going to get a red card and it didn't matter whether he told the ref to fu.ck off or not, it's the fact that he was in the ref's face on 2 or 3 different occasions gesturing and mouthing off after he was on a booking - he lost the plot and there is no defending him.

Another point however is the fact that in the 2nd half after a dubious foul against Arbeloa was given on the edge of our box, you could clearly see Gerrard mouth the word 'fu.ck' to the ref in a tirade of abuse, yet nothing happened. My point is that the ref today was probably tolerating most verbal abuse, but as is often the case if a player makes a gesture or appears overly aggressive (like Mascherano) then they are going to get disciplined.

Most watching on tv won't have picked up on the Gerrard incident and therefore the ref will let it slide. However, he can't be seen to be allowing Mascherano to get right in his face at every decision and given the spotlight on the ref following the Cole v Spurs situation, the ref had no option but to produce the red.

Then ask yourself this. Do you think Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Ronaldo, or Terry would have been sent off for that second so called offense? I don't. I'd sooner take Benitez's word on it from the point of view of one of his own players (Babel) than anyone on this forum. From Masch's reaction, you could tell he was genuinely stunned. If he was just asking a question, to be sent off for that is wrong and an utter joke and that's a fact.

The fact Emerald, is that when you are on a booking, you don't sprint 30 yards to stick your face in the referee's to contest another player's booking when you are playing for the away side at Old Trafford. It's fu.cking suicide.

Then you're implying the referee had a bias towards United then? For me, this still doesn't justify a sending off. Not ever. Not for any player for any team.

Let's say you're the ref today. You have already booked Mascherano for what you believe to be a bad tackle and a bookable offence (we know from the replays that this was not the case). The next 2 decisions you give against the away side Mascherano is waving his arms around in protest and giving you verbals. You let it slide as he's clearly fired up for the game. Then after an incident involving another player, Mascherano sprints 30 yards and sticks his face in yours, protesting, again giving you verbals. You walk backwards but Mascherano continues to advance towards you in a threatening manner, even his team mate Alonso cannot hold him back. The crowd are against Mascherano and you have 60 thousand calling for you to book him. Mascherano still comes at you, what do you do???

I'd have called him over the first time and had a word with him. Problem solved. No need to book him and ruin the game.

But you are the ref today and you HAD booked Mascherano already. What do you do?

Already told you.

by **JC_81** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:25 pm

HantsRed wrote:
john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
heimdall wrote:You are an absolute disgrace Emerald, are you advocating that all players should be allowed to tell the ref to F&ck off?? What kind of example is that sending youngsters to see their heroes have zero respect for authority.
I suppose you regularly tell your boss to f&ck off as well do you??

That gave me a laugh. It honestly did.

And, yeah, I've told many a ref to f*ck off. I've told my mates to f*ck off. And I'd certainly tell my boss to f*ck off too if I felt I was being hard done by.

Anyway, that's not the point. He got booked for that one. The point is, did you see him say "f*ck off" when he walked up to the ref? I didn't.

Anyway, to quote Shanks "The trouble with referee's is that they don't understand the game".

I agree.

Emerald, sorry mate but Mascherano was a stupid fu.cker today. It was obvious he was going to get a red card and it didn't matter whether he told the ref to fu.ck off or not, it's the fact that he was in the ref's face on 2 or 3 different occasions gesturing and mouthing off after he was on a booking - he lost the plot and there is no defending him.

Another point however is the fact that in the 2nd half after a dubious foul against Arbeloa was given on the edge of our box, you could clearly see Gerrard mouth the word 'fu.ck' to the ref in a tirade of abuse, yet nothing happened. My point is that the ref today was probably tolerating most verbal abuse, but as is often the case if a player makes a gesture or appears overly aggressive (like Mascherano) then they are going to get disciplined.

Most watching on tv won't have picked up on the Gerrard incident and therefore the ref will let it slide. However, he can't be seen to be allowing Mascherano to get right in his face at every decision and given the spotlight on the ref following the Cole v Spurs situation, the ref had no option but to produce the red.

Then ask yourself this. Do you think Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Ronaldo, or Terry would have been sent off for that second so called offense? I don't. I'd sooner take Benitez's word on it from the point of view of one of his own players (Babel) than anyone on this forum. From Masch's reaction, you could tell he was genuinely stunned. If he was just asking a question, to be sent off for that is wrong and an utter joke and that's a fact.

The fact Emerald, is that when you are on a booking, you don't sprint 30 yards to stick your face in the referee's to contest another player's booking when you are playing for the away side at Old Trafford. It's fu.cking suicide.

Then you're implying the referee had a bias towards United then? For me, this still doesn't justify a sending off. Not ever. Not for any player for any team.

Let's say you're the ref today. You have already booked Mascherano for what you believe to be a bad tackle and a bookable offence (we know from the replays that this was not the case). The next 2 decisions you give against the away side Mascherano is waving his arms around in protest and giving you verbals. You let it slide as he's clearly fired up for the game. Then after an incident involving another player, Mascherano sprints 30 yards and sticks his face in yours, protesting, again giving you verbals. You walk backwards but Mascherano continues to advance towards you in a threatening manner, even his team mate Alonso cannot hold him back. The crowd are against Mascherano and you have 60 thousand calling for you to book him. Mascherano still comes at you, what do you do???

What the ref should have done was to stop the game, call Mascherano over to him and clearly tell him that if there was any more dissent he would receive a second yellow card.

That is what a good, sensible referee would have done. Unfortunately Steve busy-boll*cks Bennet is neither good nor sensible.

Fu*king inconsistency. How often do you see Chelsea/Man Utd/Arsenal players snarling around the ref like a pack of dogs. Mascherano was actually smiling and asking the ref "what happened?"

Bennett is a joke.

Use your fu.cking head mate.

Given the bad press the ref got mid week for NOT sending Cole off against Spurs, do you seriously think that any ref would have let Mascherano away with that today? Not a chance

by **Emerald Red** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:27 pm

john craig wrote:
HantsRed wrote:
john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
heimdall wrote:You are an absolute disgrace Emerald, are you advocating that all players should be allowed to tell the ref to F&ck off?? What kind of example is that sending youngsters to see their heroes have zero respect for authority.
I suppose you regularly tell your boss to f&ck off as well do you??

That gave me a laugh. It honestly did.

And, yeah, I've told many a ref to f*ck off. I've told my mates to f*ck off. And I'd certainly tell my boss to f*ck off too if I felt I was being hard done by.

Anyway, that's not the point. He got booked for that one. The point is, did you see him say "f*ck off" when he walked up to the ref? I didn't.

Anyway, to quote Shanks "The trouble with referee's is that they don't understand the game".

I agree.

Emerald, sorry mate but Mascherano was a stupid fu.cker today. It was obvious he was going to get a red card and it didn't matter whether he told the ref to fu.ck off or not, it's the fact that he was in the ref's face on 2 or 3 different occasions gesturing and mouthing off after he was on a booking - he lost the plot and there is no defending him.

Another point however is the fact that in the 2nd half after a dubious foul against Arbeloa was given on the edge of our box, you could clearly see Gerrard mouth the word 'fu.ck' to the ref in a tirade of abuse, yet nothing happened. My point is that the ref today was probably tolerating most verbal abuse, but as is often the case if a player makes a gesture or appears overly aggressive (like Mascherano) then they are going to get disciplined.

Most watching on tv won't have picked up on the Gerrard incident and therefore the ref will let it slide. However, he can't be seen to be allowing Mascherano to get right in his face at every decision and given the spotlight on the ref following the Cole v Spurs situation, the ref had no option but to produce the red.

Then ask yourself this. Do you think Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Ronaldo, or Terry would have been sent off for that second so called offense? I don't. I'd sooner take Benitez's word on it from the point of view of one of his own players (Babel) than anyone on this forum. From Masch's reaction, you could tell he was genuinely stunned. If he was just asking a question, to be sent off for that is wrong and an utter joke and that's a fact.

The fact Emerald, is that when you are on a booking, you don't sprint 30 yards to stick your face in the referee's to contest another player's booking when you are playing for the away side at Old Trafford. It's fu.cking suicide.

Then you're implying the referee had a bias towards United then? For me, this still doesn't justify a sending off. Not ever. Not for any player for any team.

Let's say you're the ref today. You have already booked Mascherano for what you believe to be a bad tackle and a bookable offence (we know from the replays that this was not the case). The next 2 decisions you give against the away side Mascherano is waving his arms around in protest and giving you verbals. You let it slide as he's clearly fired up for the game. Then after an incident involving another player, Mascherano sprints 30 yards and sticks his face in yours, protesting, again giving you verbals. You walk backwards but Mascherano continues to advance towards you in a threatening manner, even his team mate Alonso cannot hold him back. The crowd are against Mascherano and you have 60 thousand calling for you to book him. Mascherano still comes at you, what do you do???

What the ref should have done was to stop the game, call Mascherano over to him and clearly tell him that if there was any more dissent he would receive a second yellow card.

That is what a good, sensible referee would have done. Unfortunately Steve busy-boll*cks Bennet is neither good nor sensible.

Fu*king inconsistency. How often do you see Chelsea/Man Utd/Arsenal players snarling around the ref like a pack of dogs. Mascherano was actually smiling and asking the ref "what happened?"

Bennett is a joke.

Use your fu.cking head mate.

Given the bad press the ref got mid week for NOT sending Cole off against Spurs, do you seriously think that any ref would have let Mascherano away with that today? Not a chance

You're absolutely right. He should never be allowed to be let off with asking the ref a question. The man's a disgrace. From now on, this kind of action should be treated with a straight red card.

by **Torres 2007** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:31 pm

Rafa should just ban Mascharano for the rest of the season, for punishment of costing us that game!

pleb.

he got lucky with that game at anfield when he pinched that guy in the nose who slapped him and then HE got sent off, a couple of weeks back.!

Bellend

by **HantsRed** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:31 pm

john craig wrote:
HantsRed wrote:
john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
john craig wrote:
Emerald Red wrote:
heimdall wrote:You are an absolute disgrace Emerald, are you advocating that all players should be allowed to tell the ref to F&ck off?? What kind of example is that sending youngsters to see their heroes have zero respect for authority.
I suppose you regularly tell your boss to f&ck off as well do you??

That gave me a laugh. It honestly did.

And, yeah, I've told many a ref to f*ck off. I've told my mates to f*ck off. And I'd certainly tell my boss to f*ck off too if I felt I was being hard done by.

Anyway, that's not the point. He got booked for that one. The point is, did you see him say "f*ck off" when he walked up to the ref? I didn't.

Anyway, to quote Shanks "The trouble with referee's is that they don't understand the game".

I agree.

Emerald, sorry mate but Mascherano was a stupid fu.cker today. It was obvious he was going to get a red card and it didn't matter whether he told the ref to fu.ck off or not, it's the fact that he was in the ref's face on 2 or 3 different occasions gesturing and mouthing off after he was on a booking - he lost the plot and there is no defending him.

Another point however is the fact that in the 2nd half after a dubious foul against Arbeloa was given on the edge of our box, you could clearly see Gerrard mouth the word 'fu.ck' to the ref in a tirade of abuse, yet nothing happened. My point is that the ref today was probably tolerating most verbal abuse, but as is often the case if a player makes a gesture or appears overly aggressive (like Mascherano) then they are going to get disciplined.

Most watching on tv won't have picked up on the Gerrard incident and therefore the ref will let it slide. However, he can't be seen to be allowing Mascherano to get right in his face at every decision and given the spotlight on the ref following the Cole v Spurs situation, the ref had no option but to produce the red.

Then ask yourself this. Do you think Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Ronaldo, or Terry would have been sent off for that second so called offense? I don't. I'd sooner take Benitez's word on it from the point of view of one of his own players (Babel) than anyone on this forum. From Masch's reaction, you could tell he was genuinely stunned. If he was just asking a question, to be sent off for that is wrong and an utter joke and that's a fact.

The fact Emerald, is that when you are on a booking, you don't sprint 30 yards to stick your face in the referee's to contest another player's booking when you are playing for the away side at Old Trafford. It's fu.cking suicide.

Then you're implying the referee had a bias towards United then? For me, this still doesn't justify a sending off. Not ever. Not for any player for any team.

Let's say you're the ref today. You have already booked Mascherano for what you believe to be a bad tackle and a bookable offence (we know from the replays that this was not the case). The next 2 decisions you give against the away side Mascherano is waving his arms around in protest and giving you verbals. You let it slide as he's clearly fired up for the game. Then after an incident involving another player, Mascherano sprints 30 yards and sticks his face in yours, protesting, again giving you verbals. You walk backwards but Mascherano continues to advance towards you in a threatening manner, even his team mate Alonso cannot hold him back. The crowd are against Mascherano and you have 60 thousand calling for you to book him. Mascherano still comes at you, what do you do???

What the ref should have done was to stop the game, call Mascherano over to him and clearly tell him that if there was any more dissent he would receive a second yellow card.

That is what a good, sensible referee would have done. Unfortunately Steve busy-boll*cks Bennet is neither good nor sensible.

Fu*king inconsistency. How often do you see Chelsea/Man Utd/Arsenal players snarling around the ref like a pack of dogs. Mascherano was actually smiling and asking the ref "what happened?"

Bennett is a joke.

Use your fu.cking head mate.

Given the bad press the ref got mid week for NOT sending Cole off against Spurs, do you seriously think that any ref would have let Mascherano away with that today? Not a chance

Use your f*cking head mate - you're as pig-headed as Bennett!
Yes, actually I think most referees would have had the intelligence to talk to Maschereno and warn him before producing a 2nd yellow for asking him a question.

I repeat - Mash asked him twice (whilst smiling) "what happened?"

I am not saying that Mash was clever for persistently talking to the ref before that, but its nothing compared to the swearing and abuse that most refs get every week is it?

by **Sabre** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:32 pm

Use your fu.cking head mate.

Given the bad press the ref got mid week for NOT sending Cole off against Spurs, do you seriously think that any ref would have let Mascherano away with that today? Not a chance

John Craig, that's a worrying thing. The ref reminded me to the Spanish ones, awful. And they're sending a bad message to the league: MOAN, MOAN, and MOAN. Because it works.

Rafa has decided not to this time.

by **Emerald Red** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:34 pm

Torres 2007 wrote:Rafa should just ban Mascharano for the rest of the season, for punishment of costing us that game!

pleb.

he got lucky with that game at anfield when he pinched that guy in the nose who slapped him and then HE got sent off, a couple of weeks back.!

Bellend

Are you having a laugh or on a wind up or what?

by **Bad Bob** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:38 pm

john craig wrote:
heimdall wrote:The disrespect to referees has to stop

The disrespect shown to referees definitely has to stop. I'm just sorry that it was Mascherano that had the example made out of him in what proved to be a killer blow for us.

Arsenal, United, and in more recent years Chelsea have gotten away with murder when it comes to surrounding refs, intimidating them and swearing at them. Look at Ashley Cole in the Spurs game - definitely should have got a red for his dissent. Clearly the FA have decided to clamp down on this because of the press surrounding the Cole incident, and Mascerano was stupid enough to oblige.

If that truly is the end of dissent being tolerated then I'd be all for it - red card every player who argues and very soon we would have the same scenario that exists in rugby, where players are afraid to give back-chat because they know they will immediately be sent from the field. That should be the aim, even if there should be an initial flurry of red cards until players got it into their skulls that it's not accepted. The reality, however, is that in a few weeks this will all be forgotten about, there will be something new for the refs to clamp down on following an incident in another game, and things will revert to normal with players allowed to abuse referees. In the meantime it will be us that suffer with Mascherano suspended.

As for Mascherano, you have to admire his passion and I sympathise to some extent as the referee was really harsh on our players today. That said, everyone at Old Trafford and everyone watching that game could see the red card coming. Just before it happened I had turned to my mate and said we need to sub him at half time before he gets sent off - as it happened he didn't even make it to half time - that shows a lack of intelligence and experience from the lad and he'll learn from it.

Completely agree, John. Given what went on at White Hart Lane midweek it was clear that someone was going to be made an example of before too long--Ashley Cole loaded the gun and some ref was going to pull the trigger. Shame on Masch for painting such a big bullseye on his chest today and giving Bennett the perfect excuse to send a message.

IMO, the trouble started after the first (very dubious) yellow. It was a late challenge but Masch kept his studs down and Scholes made a meal of it. I think Bennett should have simply given the free kick and had a word. Unfortunately, he reached immediately for the card. As frustrated as Masch was, though, the prolonged tirade of abuse he unleashed (how many times did he tell Bennett to f*ck off?) did him no favours. I'm sure Bennett just tucked that little barrage into the back of his mind for later. Sure enough, the Torres card rolls around and here's Mascherano in his face again. Who knows what he said but even if it was fairly mild by football standards it was enough. In reality, what he said doesn't matter. The fact that he was there in Bennett's face at all given the earlier incident was the problem.

What Masch failed to do today is something he's otherwise brilliant at: read the game. With that ref, in the current officiating climate, in a high profile match at Old Trafford, a great deal more caution was called for after being booked the first time. I've no doubt, however, that the lad will come back stronger for the experience.

by **JC_81** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:41 pm

HantsRed and Emerald Red.

If the sending off incident had been the first time Mascherano mouthed off since he was booked then I'd agree with you. Perhaps taking him aside for a word would have done.

The fact is that there were at least 2 incidents in between Mascherano's cards where he was mouthing off to the ref. On one occasion the ref gestured for him to calm down, and on another, Rio Ferdinand clearly asked the ref why Mascherano wasn't getting a 2nd yellow for dissent.

He persistently hounded the ref today, he was stupid and he got what was coming to him.

Yes the ref was bad, especially in allowing Brown's goal to stand when he was using Skrtel as a climbing frame and in booking Mascherano for a foul that didn't warrant a card. However I can't fault him over the red card. One man is to blame for that and that's Mascherano. So we'll have to agree to disagree on this.

by **J*o*n*D*o*e** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:44 pm

lets see how many players get yellow cards for the same offense next week, because if this is the new rule then we are going to see plenty.

that was a joke sending off and would not had happened had it been a manure player, fact. this :censored:

of a ref was at the spurs chelsea game midweek and took flak for the ashley cole incident so there is your answer

they tell us they want respect back for referee`s then they go and make decisions like that today, Gerrard clearly told him to fuck off and got nothing, rio was at the ref 10 mins before the sending off trying to get masch sent off. where is the consistency

as for the result, yet another game decided by the referee and not the players.

by **Torres 2007** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 8:46 pm

Emerald Red wrote:
Torres 2007 wrote:Rafa should just ban Mascharano for the rest of the season, for punishment of costing us that game!

pleb.

he got lucky with that game at anfield when he pinched that guy in the nose who slapped him and then HE got sent off, a couple of weeks back.!

Bellend

Are you having a laugh or on a wind up or what?

NO.

Check you statement juvenile, and then check the FACTS!

pleb

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