This was the match, lest we forget, where Nigel De Jong carried out a ‘kung-fu’ kick on the chest of Spanish playmaker, Xabi Alonso, near the centre of the pitch. Needless to say he was not given the suitable punishment of a red card. He was booked – so Webb obviously saw it – but it was apparently not worthy of a sending-off (hmm, another Manchester City player in De Jong who escaped the necessary penalty. Maybe Ryan Babel had it wrong when, after a couple decisions went against Liverpool last season in their FA Cup Third Round clash with Manchester United, the then Liverpool player depicted the Yorkshire official in a United jersey: the Blue shirt of City’s would appear to be more fitting). The pressure got to him. And so it did on Sunday as well.
With the scores 2-2 at the time of Balotelli’s kick and a win seeming possible, Spurs have had their fair share of costly decisions this season. All clubs do not get decisions go their way when they should, but the amount of big ones that have directly led to results going against them is unacceptable: perfectly good goals against Stoke City and Wolverhampton Wanderers were disallowed; Ryan Shawcross kept out a shot on the goal line with his hand for Stoke in the same match, which should not only have led to a penalty, but his sending off too and the corner that wasn’t for Wolves that led to a goal in a 1-1 draw. The points lost from these failed judgements are piling up.
Thank Darwin that Balotelli has been punished. Joleon Lescott should have been too. It’s no consolation for Tottenham. They are eight points behind the leaders now because of a player who should not have been on the pitch converted a stoppage time penalty that he himself won. The only beneficiaries will be the sides that City are lined up to play next. Balotelli’s agent, Mino Raiola, seems to have got mixed up and thinks the furore is over the striker’s initial collision with Parker.
Yes, that was accidental, but the attempted kick in the face less than a second later was not. He says that it may force the Italian to leave England. I wouldn’t want to see that because despite the ugly side of him that we sometimes see on the pitch, he is a great addition to the Premiership: he’s amusing, different, is a good player and is a character who makes our league that little bit more interesting. But there is no condoning what he did on Sunday. Let’s hope he carries on like he is without the kicking-people-in-the-face bit. The retrospective ban is not going to help Spurs, so for some people it has begged the question: should fixtures be replayed after matches like this?
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and here’s the nice side of Ballytelly
.
Howard Webb is crap ref end of, Balotelli should have been off the pitch but Webb showed his total incompotence in the world cup final last year how he ever got to ref that match is a mystery to me
It was clearly a disgraceful attack on a player that was already lying injured on the floor with his back to him.
However, I think we need to look very closely at the words of David Platt. Instead of condemning what was potentially a career ending attack, Platt feels that he should not have been banned because the referee “must have seen it at the time”.
What Platt is suggesting is that it is alright to act like binge drinking thug on a Saturday night by attacking someone who’s already incapacitated by trying to inflict a life threatening injury on them, as long as you don’t get caught.
What Platt fails to consider, is that had this led to a serious injury, the Police would have been within their rights to bring charges, and had it been a serious injury he inflicted, it would have been GBH, and the penalty would have been more like four years, rather than four matches.
As long as there are people like Platt who fail to condemn this behaviour, which most civilised people have done, then there is a very good chance that Balotelli will give a repeat performance.
You’re right. What else should we expect to come out of that ostrich egg of a head of his?
I still like Ballotelli. He is a good bloke, kind heart, not dirty and I am a fan of Super Scott. It looked bad but it wasn’t malicious (notice it wasn’t with full force). Spuds are moaners and bad losers!
The only reason it wasn’t “with full force”, was because the thug was off balance at the time.
As for being bad losers, being a Wet Sham supporter, you would know all about being a loser. You should watch the interviews conducted with the various managers. They all condemned it. Are the all bad losers too?
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