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Didn't take long, did it?
One weekend down, and the story I see on loading F365 first thing on Monday morning is Fergie moaning at the referee.
Despite the Community Shield's status of basically being a jumped-up friendly, any fixture which pits Manchester United against Chelsea will not be played for fun. Throw in Wembley as a venue, 80,000-plus people and a TV audience and all thoughts of charity are thrown out of the window.
It was an up-tempo game; not a classic, but a decent spectacle and a more enjoyable game than expected. It was not particularly bad tempered, until Chelsea scored a second goal, those affiliated to the team in red took it badly, and relations worsened.
Let's have some facts: The second Chelsea goal, scored by Frank Lampard, had its roots in a Manchester United attack, led down the left by Patrice Evra. He flicked the ball inside to Rooney, tried to run down the outside and was bodychecked by Michael Ballack.
Rooney played a ball inside, Michael Carrick's flick gave the ball away, and Chelsea broke quickly to set up Lampard, who fired home past an unimpressive Ben Foster. Tellingly, Lampard scored from an inside-right position which ought to have been occupied by United's left-back, who happened to be lying on the floor at the time.
Sir Alex Ferguson, no stranger to hyperbole, suggested that Michael Ballack should have been sent off for elbowing Evra.
In reality, it is not a sending-off. Is it really violent conduct? Of course not. It's a cynical block, admittedly, but it's never an elbow.
It's a foul and a booking, frankly, but United had the ball at the time, so it was the right thing that play went on. They had the advantage, and it was their fault they lost the ball.
A slight problem with this is that referee Chris Foy did not acknowledge the foul. He did not wave advantage as the ball rolled to Rooney, which would indicate that he didn't see an infringement.
If Sir Alex is angry with anyone, he should be annoyed with his French full-back. From the replays I've seen, Ballack doesn't make much, if any, contact with Evra's face. He certainly blocks him and pushes him away, but it's probably not his face, and not physically strong enough to cause the damage Evra claims. Had he got up and chased back he might have saved his side a goal. Instead, the left-back area is free for Lampard to wander free and crash one home.
I'm not sure where the problem lies for United and Mr Ferguson after that. The red card claim is ludicrous, and the United boss himself said that he didn't blame Chelsea for carrying on with play. So I guess he felt the referee should have stopped play.
It's the greyest of grey areas in the rulebook. Over the years, it's become a sort of courtesy that the ball is kicked out of play so that the game stops and a trainer comes on to tend to a fallen player. The laws state that only the referee has the power to call a halt to proceedings, but when something becomes a prevailing tradition like, it's hard to reverse.
I think we are starting to get the idea a little more in this country that it should be solely in the referee's hands to stop play. If you are Man United, though, you'd possibly begin to say that this rule does not work correctly if the referee does not know when to stop the game at the right time.
The loose guideline for officials is that you stop play when it is a head injury or an injury serious enough to need immediate attention, such as a broken leg. Evra was down holding his head, so if he had been struck there, perhaps Foy should have stopped the game to allow attention to him.
This is where, to me, the decision not to give a foul, i.e. wave advantage, becomes important. Mr Foy (wrongly in my opinion) saw no infringement by Ballack on Evra, but had he have done, I think he would have been more likely to have blown to allow some treatment to Evra when the attack broke down. I think he felt Evra was overreacting, and so did not stop play and hence Chelsea's break and goal.
I can't feel sorry for United because I do feel that Evra was making a meal of it. I can't prove that of course, and I'm prepared to be shouted down, but if the referee feels that a player is making the most of something he is within his rights to let it go. You could argue that he should follow that logic and caution Evra for simulation, which covers conning the referee as much as diving, but I'd say like a child looking for attention, if you ignore it, it will stop playing up.
Referees are much maligned for falling for prima donna players' antics, so to call their bluff once in a while won't hurt. I guess the suggestion is that in another situation Mr Foy has stopped play for an injury, but I'd testify that he simply felt that on that occasion the situation warranted a stoppage. That's not inconsistency; it's just applying your interpretation.
To me there is very little wrong. Fergie's red card theory is a fairy story, and frankly he should not have been happy with Evra after.
Rob McNichol
_________________ Emigre wrote: Whether he joins or not, we'll be fine this season, and then in the Summer we will build a stunning team, the perfect blend of our youth players, stars and solid signings. Quote: The world is a beautiful place. You must go into it and love everyone. Try to make everyone happy, and bring peace and contentment everywhere you go. And so I became a waiter ... Well, it's not much of a philosophy I know ... but well ... fuck you! I can live my own life in my own way if I want to! Fuck off!
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