Just when you expected the FA to get it right after Mike Dean's atrocious performance at the London Stadium earlier in the week, up pops Michael Oliver with another series of howlers tonight which undoubtedly cost West Ham a tightly fought encounter with a wishy-washy Man City side who looked to be intimidated by the Stadium atmosphere.
First up, he awarded a VERY soft penalty (of the 15-20% certainty variety) just when the Hammers looked set to take control of the game.
Then, he refused to award a penalty to Sofiane Feghouli when he was bundled off the ball just as he was about to equalise for the determined Hammers.
And as if that wasn't enough, Oliver only played 46 seconds of injury time even though the game had been stopped for more than four minutes as Bacary Sagna indulged in some cynical time wasting with City holding on at 4-0.
Ridiculous, simply unacceptable.
News has just arrived that West Ham Co-Chairman David Gold is missing tonight's game due to being hospitalised with an as of yet unknown condition.
VERY best wishes to our hero and superchairman - surely the most popular in the League?
Let's cheer him up with a good performance with the World watching his beloved Hammers.
COYI!!!
"Who's da
B'stard in the black / yellow / pink.....",.... as the Mike Dean debacle
continues to gather pace, you'd really have to ask yourselves who would want to be a football referee?
'Narcissistic,
attention-craving pedants and their jealous younger brothers' is the opinion of
our in-house sports psychobabbleologist Prof Harold Windybottom, ' and closet fascists with a penchant for Swastika-adorned underwear'
Straight after his
outstandingly poor performance in midweek, Mike 'you talkin to me mutha' Dean
has found himself way out in the lead in the worst Premiership referees polling
- with an amazing 35% of the vote - which is more than double that of Mark
ClattenSpanner with 16% in second (see: http://redcardtheref.com/?p=3460).
Clattenspanner
recently received the much coveted (probably) referee of the year award at
the Globe Soccer Awards in Dubai, pouring scorn on the optical prowess of most
Premiership fans.
But hey, the FA
have brought in just the man to steady the leaking referee ship for tonights FA
Cup third round tie in Michael Oliver - ranked 4th worst in the same poll with
6% of the vote. With a massive international viewing likely for the trendy
Friday Night football viewing opportunity, the FA will be hoping that there
will not be a repeat of last weeks fiasco.
Let's hope that
Oliver keeps his cool in what will undoubtedly be a pretty lively atmosphere at
the London Stadium and let's hope the Hammers see some good fortune......or
failing that a balanced refereeing performance will suffice!
Meanwhile, Dean
looks to have an unassailable lead in the ‘MOST
WORSTEST’ refereeing competition!
COYI!!!
Whatever Happened to Just Playing Footie?
The Simone Zaza
farce continues with the Italian striker marooned on West Ham's books until a
suitable alternate club can be found. Having almost reached the number of
appearances that would trigger a colossal £20 million buyout clause, SuperSlav
admitted today that his opportunity at the Hammers has passed.
It's a sad
reflection of how the paper pushers have grown in influence that a striker of
definite ability (in fairness - only modest ability from what we have seen)
cannot play for the club who pay his wages because of such contractual
technicalities!
As such his only
strike whilst at the Hammers will remain a beautifully taken goal in the
pre-season friendly for his parent club Juventus - whereby he took a through
ball down gently before slotting it away quite delightfully! One wonders how
much that strike finally persuaded the Hammers to take him to the London
Stadium - albeit on such a complicated and ultimately self-defeating contract.
Let's hope the lad
can get away to pastures new - for the sake of his career as well as morale throughout the rest of
the squad. Maybe the contract could be renegotiated as it is of little value to either West Ham or Juventus to have a talent going to waste - if all else fails maybe the pen pushers will recognise that his situation means that Zaza is losing monetary worth at an incredible rate.
West Ham fans have
been waiting with great anticipation for the January transfer window after
their Summer signings have mostly flopped during the first half of the season.
Gokhan Tore, Simone Zaza and Jonathon Calleri all look set for early
departures.
In addition, the
AFCON will deprive Slaven Bilic of much needed contributions from Cheik Kouyate
and Andre Ayew, leaving the club light in the middle of the field. Undoubtedly
Pedro Obiang has Stepped up his game and young Emilisen Fernandes has impressed
whenever the opportunity of game time has arrived but beyond those players the
Hammers options are limited.
Meanwhile, Josh
Cullen has been wowing the punters at Bradford city whilst Martin Samuelsen has
had a mixed experience at Peterborough. As such, the news that West Ham have agreed terms for both to remain at those clubs until the end of the season points to the likely arrival
of more experienced midfield back up in the immediate future.
To date, the rumour
mill has pointed to Chelsea’s Rubin Loftus Cheek and / or Montpelier’s Morgan
Sanson – both young and creative players but neither with the experience that
Bilic will be seeking to bolster the Hammers push away from the bottom half of
the table.
There will
undoubtedly be some twists and turns in the month ahead!
Wow! A red card for nought followed by interfering with play (twice) and then an unfathomable offside leniency!!!
Jasper was at his comic best this evening at the Olympic Stadium where he shudda been reprimanded for simulation (of a Premiership referee) as he handed a win to a Man United side who were otherwise outplayed by a gallant ten-man West Ham who bravely soldiered on despite having been cruelly reduced to ten men for 80 minutes.
Whatever about Jasper's ridiculous red card decision, the offside second goal for Man United was truly scandalous and raises issues about the need for video technology in the modern 21st Century game!
The blues fan seemed well out of order for much of the game and maybe should stick to stand up comedy as his principal earner. The Davids may have moved on from their time propping up the Blues but this was harsh repayment! Presumably Feghouli's red will be rescinded?
Tzzzzam. More injustice.
COYI.
The AFCON
poses a major problem for many Premiership clubs as they find
themselves without their African stars. For West Ham the loss of Cheik Kouyate
in particular is a major blow that is likely to greatly impact upon
our fortunes during January.
Similarly, having
finally recovered from a prolonged injury, Andre Ayew will be whisked off to
play for his native Ghana - just when he seemed to be finding his form in the
Hammers side.
However, in better news, both Kouyate and Ayew have been given
permission to appear in today's crucial match at home to Man United.
In other news,
Sofiane Feghouli has been left out of the Algerian squad and can thus focus
upon revitalising his Hammers career. While our Summer signings have mostly
failed to impress, Feghouli has been a more complicated case in that at times
he has looked impressive but simply has not been able to achieve the
necessary consistency.
The next few games
will be a serious test for some of the players around the fringe of the first
team - Obiang, Lanzini, Fernandes, Feghouli and Nordtveit will all be
hoping to find some decent form.
COYI!!!
