Quote Originally Posted by Peter View Post
I dont really buy that at all. I am not saying that Riley was on the payroll. I am saying that United knew full well before the game that they could seriously take the piss and he wouldn't lift a finger. Either through indirect influence, sheer pressure or just because they knew Riley was hopelessly weak. You can see this in how they pressure him after every awful challenge. Neville goes up and screams in his face after hacking Reyes to the floor or the third time. What on earth is he complaining about? How can he possibly be angry about something?

This was not the usual example of a ref being a 'homer'... it was the clearest possible example of a referee being simply unwilling to give any kind of decision against one side and that side being very, very confident that that was the case.

I think the premier league should be eternally ashamed of the fact that the longest unbeaten run in its history was brought to an end in this fashion.

The media chose to focus on the pizza incident afterwards instead- hard to believe but somehow we came out of this game as the bad guys!
I doubt ManU went into the game confident that Riley would cheat for them, however in the back of their minds they also knew what his record was for them.

The key point in the match was probably the Cole yellow. The Munichs had just spent about 10-15 minutes kicking Reyes off the park and G Neville probably should have seen red at that point, yet they hadn't received a card of any kind. At that point Cole commits a slightly cynical, non-violent foul and gets a yellow.

I'm guessing that at that point they all thought to themselves 'game on - this is 12 v 11' and then proceeded to act accordingly over the rest of the game.

But shouldn't we move on? No one was angrier than I, no one remains as bitter and twisted as I (well, maybe IUFG) but surely we should get over this? I mean, it really isn't healthy.