As expected, none of the forwards are back in the XI

[PSRB]

MO held back on the cards, for both sides. Kept it flowing most of the time. He had a public 'quiet word' with Spurs captain in the first half about the obvious delaying tactics. And when he found himself in Leo's way at one point he went to him after and had a quick almost handshake. I was fully expecting a red card ahead of Chelsea. A lesser ref could easily have given one to Declan.

Very surprised second goal wasn't VAR checked, we had three players in an offside position all near the 'keeper.

None in line of sight though. Even Vicario didn't moan about it after the match.....they have bigger problems.

[WES]

That aged well, thankfully.

As soon as we scored they completely fell apart, defensively.

Shame

[WES]

Pains me to say it but thought the officials all had a good game.

Peter's paranoia aside, he's one of the better ones around, even if we did get a couple of dodgy decisions from him last season.

[Peter]

Peter's paranoia aside, he's one of the better ones around, even if we did get a couple of dodgy decisions from him last season.

He really, really isnt, and it isnt just last season. The guy is a grade A ****. That ridiculous game against City a few years back where he let Rodri kick everything that moved and then sent off Gabriel for a swear word and a minor foul.

The double yellow card for Martinelli......

He's got more form than Norman Stanley Fletcher....

[PSRB]

He really, really isnt, and it isnt just last season. The guy is a grade A ****. That ridiculous game against City a few years back where he let Rodri kick everything that moved and then sent off Gabriel for a swear word and a minor foul.

The double yellow card for Martinelli......

He's got more form than Norman Stanley Fletcher....

I tend to agree with you but he's no Anthony Taylor. Most overrated ref of all time

[WES]

He really, really isnt, and it isnt just last season. The guy is a grade A ****. That ridiculous game against City a few years back where he let Rodri kick everything that moved and then sent off Gabriel for a swear word and a minor foul.

The double yellow card for Martinelli......

He's got more form than Norman Stanley Fletcher....

The best way to judge a referee is to watch him in a game you don't give a toss about. And when I watch Oliver in those games he seems to be one of the better refs.

The Martinelli sending off was madness but even the good ones make the odd mistake.

And as PRSB says, he was good yesterday, I barely noticed the officials.

[Peter]

The best way to judge a referee is to watch him in a game you don't give a toss about. And when I watch Oliver in those games he seems to be one of the better refs.

The Martinelli sending off was madness but even the good ones make the odd mistake.

And as PRSB says, he was good yesterday, I barely noticed the officials.

It isn't the odd mistake. Leaving aside the two last season, there is the Martinelli one, and that City game was the perfect exampel of two-tier refereeing. Each individual decision could just about be defended, but when you look at them together it is as clear as day that there are two sets of rule. The proof- after 19 fouls in the game he finally booked two City players following their injury time winner, for over celebrating. Utter ****er.

However, yesterday showed that he was out to disprove all of this. Perfect example- the Declan Rice booking. That challenge was as nailed on a yellow card as you could ever see. He was going to let it go until the Spurs players kicked off, and then changed his mind.

Just think about that. He changed his mind because the opposition moaned...... and he was totally in the wrong to begin with. Two mistakes in one- a 'Martinelli' if you like

He's been effectively banned from refereeing us since the MLS incident. This was him worming his way back in. He will referee our game at the Etihad later in the season..... I'd put money on it.

[Peter]

None in line of sight though. Even Vicario didn't moan about it after the match.....they have bigger problems.

You could argue that one of them was in his line of sight, but so was the defender. You can't block a view that is already blocked.

Liverpool fans are furious after he disallowed their goal at City the other week

[Peter]

As soon as we scored they completely fell apart, defensively.

Shame

Nope. They were all over the place from the start. Lucky not to be a goal down after 3 minutes. They were totally unprepared for that system and it wasn't working from the first minute. We were all over them and they couldn't get up to the pitch at all. You could see Romero screaming at the players ahead of him and telling them where to be. They were getting pulled out of position and leaving huge gaps ahead of the defence.

Bad, bad idea, particularly off the back of an international break with less time to prepare. It is the wrong way to block us. Filling the centre doesn't solve the problem. The teams who have success against us drop their wide players back to double up.

So much for Frank being a tactical genius. The moment I saw their line up I was delighted

[Peter]

I tend to agree with you but he's no Anthony Taylor. Most overrated ref of all time

We have a fair bit of history with that ******* as well

I think the issue with Oliver is his 'mistakes' have been so egregious. The double yellow, the MLS red.... those stand alone as absolute stinkers, not regular errors in any sense of the word. You could rerun those incidents 100 times with a 100 different refs and you wouldn't get a single red card from them.

[7sisters]

None in line of sight though. Even Vicario didn't moan about it after the match.....they have bigger problems.

He moaned his arse off at the time. He?s hardly going to moan post match after shipping four. is he

[Peter]

He moaned his arse off at the time. He?s hardly going to moan post match after shipping four. is he

He did mention it, but to be fair he said it doesn't really matter given that they had their arses handed to them for 90 minutes

[WES]

It isn't the odd mistake. Leaving aside the two last season, there is the Martinelli one, and that City game was the perfect exampel of two-tier refereeing. Each individual decision could just about be defended, but when you look at them together it is as clear as day that there are two sets of rule. The proof- after 19 fouls in the game he finally booked two City players following their injury time winner, for over celebrating. Utter ****er.

However, yesterday showed that he was out to disprove all of this. Perfect example- the Declan Rice booking. That challenge was as nailed on a yellow card as you could ever see. He was going to let it go until the Spurs players kicked off, and then changed his mind.

Just think about that. He changed his mind because the opposition moaned...... and he was totally in the wrong to begin with. Two mistakes in one- a 'Martinelli' if you like

He's been effectively banned from refereeing us since the MLS incident. This was him worming his way back in. He will referee our game at the Etihad later in the season..... I'd put money on it.

I thought he booked Rice and the Spurs player for the afters after the foul - which I agree was a nailed on yellow. I don't think he was booked for the initial foul.

Oliver has ref'd 2 FA Cup finals, the knocklout stages of the CL and in the WC. It suggests he's not that bad, Peter.

Save your ire for Mike Riley

[7sisters]

He did mention it, but to be fair he said it doesn't really matter given that they had their arses handed to them for 90 minutes

Think I?d have felt a bit aggrieved had the boot been in the other foot. I guess the ref owed us that one.

[WES]

Nope. They were all over the place from the start. Lucky not to be a goal down after 3 minutes. They were totally unprepared for that system and it wasn't working from the first minute. We were all over them and they couldn't get up to the pitch at all. You could see Romero screaming at the players ahead of him and telling them where to be. They were getting pulled out of position and leaving huge gaps ahead of the defence.

Bad, bad idea, particularly off the back of an international break with less time to prepare. It is the wrong way to block us. Filling the centre doesn't solve the problem. The teams who have success against us drop their wide players back to double up.

So much for Frank being a tactical genius. The moment I saw their line up I was delighted

I thought they were pretty solid for the first 30 min or so. Very committed and physical. Other than the Rice volley I don't recall a decent chance in the first 30 min.

I made no comment on the overall strategy and their inability to get up the pitch. I've seen us lose to teams that spent the first half entirely in their half too many times to see that as a flawed strategy.