***fa cup 4th round - city v 'boro - match thread***

[Tokyo Blue]

I think there are several of us here who know exactly what dowd is up to.

[Dameerto]

Am I the only one who didn't think the first goal should have stood as the Middlesborough player absolutely smashed into Caballero as he won the ball?

I mentioned it in the match thread after they showed the first replay - given the kind of protection keepers get these days that would have been a foul, getting the ball first doesn't stop it being wreckless.

[Ted Hughes]

Just seen the goal again.

Dreadful by both cbs.

But anyone with a vid of it, just watch Kolarov as the situation develops. Stood still as the ball is headed forward. Starts jogging, then the ball comes toward the left around Boyata's crappy challenge. He speeds up for about 3 paces then just assumes it'll all go ok.
Clichy would be clearing it off the fucking line.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

Having watched it again, not sure why fernando doesn't try to clear it on his left foot the other way rather than with his right into the path of the oncoming attacker.

[zuricity]

^

That would be too easy wouldn't it.

[Ted Hughes]

No it fucking wouldn't be easier to choose which fucking foot you kick the ball with as it's racing into the back of the net on your LEFT SIDE when you are sliding along the fucking grass after running diagonally LEFT. If he kicked it with his left, it would go straight in the back of our fucking net!!

What absolute unreasonable, stupid, clueless, pompous fucking tripe.

Jesus H Christ.

There it is.

Watch on youtube.com

[Bridge'srightfoot]

That video confirms what I thought. He has a head start on the Boro player, he could get himself between him and the ball and hook that out with his other foot imo. Obviously being a right footed player his natural instinct is to go with his right but he could have done a lot better there.

[Sister of fu]

Why didn't he boot it out for a throwing instead of trying to pass it back. God awful descion making.

[iwasthere2012]

That video confirms what I thought. He has a head start on the Boro player, he could get himself between him and the ball and hook that out with his other foot imo. Obviously being a right footed player his natural instinct is to go with his right but he could have done a lot better there.

TBH I thought his problem was that he shouldn't have played it back to the keeper, with him and the attacker racing at him at that speed. You need to get the pace of the pass perfect and he struggles to do that without pressure on him. What is wrong with putting it in row Z. Simple. Nothing fancy. Old fashioned defending. Before going on a witch hunt though, I agree with Ted that out of all of our backs and midfield he is the only one trying to rectify the mess that started in the centre circle. His decision making can be very poor, but you can say that about most of our senior players too.
Having looked at the replay, I also agree that Willy was
taken out of it quite recklessly. I mentioned during the game that I thought Boro were getting away with quite a few meaty challenges, some of them follow throughs long after the ball was gone. Our crew seemed quite unwilling to get too involved.
1st goal shouldn't mean so much, with a team of our quality, but as we see in so many matches, it really does.

[Mase]

Why didn't he boot it out for a throwing instead of trying to pass it back. God awful descion making.

I couldn't understand that. Unless Willy shouted for it, the gap between them was too close with a man on his back.

[zuricity]

Why didn't he boot it out for a throwing instead of trying to pass it back. God awful descion making.

decision.

Like i simply wrote above. That would be too easy would it not ?.

Then we have to put up with such garbage again...


Row Z and get the troops reorganised.

[Blue Since 76]

I wonder how long it will take until officials are investigated on every level?

It's astounding that such a huge money spinner like the premier league does not put those who officiate it in the spotlight on a weekly basis.

I can take us playing dogshit and losing. Such is life.
But I've watched football long enough to know that goals change games. Particularly at home. Particularly against lesser opposition.

Will there ever be a level playing field as far as officiating is concerned?
Because I honestly believe it's getting worse.

And the fact that our own fans can say stuff like "forget the two penalties we should have had, we didn't deserve it.... blah blah"

Without taking into account how time and again that first goal gave swagger and confidence and turned into a 5 nil by the end of the game?!!

I don't know what amazes me more... the standard of officiating, the naivety of fans when it comes to knowing the significance of a goal or how shite a top team like city can operate at the same point every season.

goodnight.

Good morning.

You're right mate, I also don't understand how these things are brushed under the carpet, as if we should be graceful in defeat and pat the other guy on the back. Yes, we do that but at the same time there are talking points that can be debated.

When they scored their 1st I was amazed that the ref didn't give a freekick, and not because I'm a Blue but because of the manner in which he went in for the ball. He basically stopped Willy kicking through the ball and then took him out so he could take no further part.

And what about the penalty calls. First one was a clear handball and even if the ref missed it, what about the 2nd shout where Sergio gets dragged back not just once, but 4 times, how does the ref not see that?

From what I'm seeing this year, like other years to be honest, we seem to be treated differently and the worrying thing for me is that it's not only in the PL, it's in every competition we play in, leading to us having to play 12 men week in/week out.

The first hit his hand, bit from the angle, I'm not sure Does could see it. The linesman is a different matter. However, did he move his hand to the ball or did he have it in an unnatural position? I'd say no, therefore no pen and I'm sure we'd all be pissed if that had been given against us.

The Aguero one - if he was running towards the goal rather than away from it, would he have gone down? Again, if that had been given against is, we'd have been going mad.

We can complain all we want about officiating, but let's not brush over the way we let a championship side have several good efforts at goal and run through our midfield and defence almost at will. Or the way that we created very little in terms or real chances. The FA cup is gone, but unless we sort this out very quickly, so will the league and the CL. This isn't a two game problem, it's been there all season but we've got away with it, usually through brilliance from Aguero. We took responsibility when he was out and now he's back, it looks like they've all relaxed and looked to him to get them out of the shit again.

Whilst I agree with much of what you say regarding our deficiencies, I do think you are missing the point re the refereeing yesterday. A simple example would be to compare the penalty Dowd gave against Micah in the league cup semi (scouse scum) with the penalty he did not give for handball yesterday. It makes u wonder just what Dowd is up to.

The penalty against Micah clearly wasn't, but you can't complain about a decision he got right.

[Original Dub]

The handball not given.

How was that a decision Dowd got right?

[Blue Since 76]

The handball not given.

How was that a decision Dowd got right?

Whilst it hit his hand, it wasn't handball. It was point blank range, he didn't move his hand to the ball and his hand wasn't in an unnatural position.

[Beefymcfc]

The handball not given.

How was that a decision Dowd got right?

Whilst it hit his hand, it wasn't handball. It was point blank range, he didn't move his hand to the ball and his hand wasn't in an unnatural position.

Handball, everyday of the week.

[Tokyo Blue]

The handball not given.

How was that a decision Dowd got right?

Whilst it hit his hand, it wasn't handball. It was point blank range, he didn't move his hand to the ball and his hand wasn't in an unnatural position.

Handball, everyday of the week.

Yes, it was. Except the day when City are playing, of course.

And don't get me started on the one on Aguero in the second half.

I appreciate that there are people who wish to be seen as fair-minded but I think some of them take it a little too far.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

The handball certainly looked a penno to me.
First half I thought we did most things pretty well and really should have been ahead. In fact I thought Boro were disappointing.
The goal was farcical and Fernando should have done better.
But Pellers substitutions were dire and we wasted fifteen minutes with the 'we won't score' combo of the two Ferns on and lost most of our attacking momentum. What those changes were supposed to achieve God alone knows

[john@staustell]

Now I think Dedryck is doing OK.

But you know that if Dedryck is in instead of MDM, and if Hart is not in, then the opposition has been under-estimated.

Especially with no midweek games.

End of story really.

[sheblue]

Now I think Dedryck is doing OK.

But you know that if Dedryck is in instead of MDM, and if Hart is not in, then the opposition has been under-estimated.

Especially with no midweek games.

End of story really.

None the less it still was a very strong side.

[Goaters 103]

Some key factors in why we lost

- Some of the players, especially a large portion of those signed in the past 3 years, aren't good enough
- We cant keep a clean sheet to save our lives
- We cant score at the moment. 1 goal from our last 54 attempts at goal over the past 3 games is piss poor
- Our corners are bloody awful; what on earth do the team do in training to consistently be so bad at it
- Toure is missed, Nasri is missed. We should have had enough without this being a factor but we didn't
- We are in piss poor form. We've been largey crap since Boxing Day but got away with it vs Sunderland, WBA, Wednesday. Since then we haven't
- Our big players aren't doing it. Kompany doesn't look fit and has been awful these past 2 games. Aguero has been a non-event giving us next to nothing since he returned. Generally up front, since we actually got recognised strikers back, we've been worse than when we had none at all.