View Full Version : Gutted...
Republic of Mancunia
05 May 2009, 04:22 PM
For Fletcher. :(
Katzelman
05 May 2009, 04:24 PM
The ref obviously made a mistake here. From his position, he had to have saw the ball move away from Cesc. That said, it can't even be reviewed by UEFA and repealed at a later date. Your thoughts?
mhtwins113
05 May 2009, 04:26 PM
Same. What a shame for the Fletch.
Dark Savante
05 May 2009, 04:28 PM
Travesty. We better be getting at UEFA on some dippers-type special rule for this because that's an outrage.
Heart sank for him.
Katzelman
05 May 2009, 04:30 PM
I think that he had to be one of the top people for the job at Rome. He has shown his worth and it's a shame that a bad call ruins his hope for playing.
MtP07
05 May 2009, 04:36 PM
I feel horrible for Darren. He probably would have started in the final too. :( :(
pgr17
05 May 2009, 04:45 PM
Heart sank for him.
same here. a great player for us but a risky move what he did.
Teso Dos Bichos
05 May 2009, 04:46 PM
Atrocious decision and even worse rule. Fletcher has been punished for playing to the last minute instead of 'cheating' the game and standing off to conceed a goal.
Invincible
05 May 2009, 04:48 PM
Terrible, terrible decision. The referee was brilliant up until then. Unfortunately(with us being an English team), I don't see Uefa doing a damn thing.
Amdrag
05 May 2009, 04:49 PM
Part of me wishes he had just did nothing, but then he wouldn't be the player he is.
SirManchester
05 May 2009, 04:50 PM
Coincidentally, before the match I thought apart from Rooney and Ferdinand, this was the one player I didn't want to get sent off tonight. :(
Sir Matt
05 May 2009, 04:53 PM
It's definitely an awful feeling to have after such a match, but I know if we were offered an opportunity to play in the champions league final at the beginning of the season with the only stipulation being it had to be without Darren Fletcher (even with the form he is in), I think we all would have gladly taken it. We will work it out.
Naboomagnoli
05 May 2009, 05:00 PM
The very notion that a player can't appeal against a decision, right or wrong, that will rule him out of one of the finest occasions in world football, is simply ludicrous. What do UEFA have to lose? It's not as if they have hundreds of CL games to review alongside this. All it'd take is for the ref to look at one clip of the challenge and say "yup, got that wrong". It'd take him more time to sharpen his vastly overused pencil.
No that's not a euphemism.
bestbecks
05 May 2009, 05:19 PM
Not a penalty, simple as that. Anyone who says that, after looking at it twice, it was a penalty is lying to themself. Fletcher won the ball cleanly and fairly. I am absolutely crushed for him, because he was imperious to our performance over this tie, and because he misses Rome. He didn't play in last year's final either :(.
Charleysurf
05 May 2009, 05:28 PM
It's taken a lot of the joy out of tonight. We were all worried about Rooney but Fletcher is almost as hard to replace.
FIFARay007
05 May 2009, 05:37 PM
I can't fault the ref completely. After all, where he was, all he saw was Fletch (from behind) wrap one leg around the front of Cesc and with the other, trip him up.
We had the benefit of replays, and I bet he'll probably come out later and say that, seeing the replays, maybe he should have called it differently.
Still, he should have checked with the AR first. The fact that he didn't tells me he saw no other possibility than it was definitely a PK.
I don't like the "no appeal" rule tho. You should be allowed to appeal these things, and then let UEFA decide whether or not it holds merit.
pgr17
05 May 2009, 06:16 PM
just think what a vital role Fletcher will play for us in the remaining four games - especially against City and Arsenal. he'll be vital for us and our run-in to the title.
Granted
05 May 2009, 06:25 PM
Feel so sorry for him, but I bet that if he plays this weekend OT will give him a great reception, at least I hope so.
johno
05 May 2009, 06:27 PM
I can't fault the ref completely. After all, where he was, all he saw was Fletch (from behind) wrap one leg around the front of Cesc and with the other, trip him up.
We had the benefit of replays, and I bet he'll probably come out later and say that, seeing the replays, maybe he should have called it differently.
Still, he should have checked with the AR first. The fact that he didn't tells me he saw no other possibility than it was definitely a PK.
I don't like the "no appeal" rule tho. You should be allowed to appeal these things, and then let UEFA decide whether or not it holds merit.
Here is my problem with his decision.
It was clear from his perspective, that Fletcher had moved the ball with his challenged. He effectively dispossessed Fabregas before his trailing leg took Cesc to ground. Now he may not have gathered all that instantly, but his first instinct should have been that the challenge, whilst it may have been a foul, was made on the ball and not on the man (initially). For that alone, he should have been talking to his AR to decide whether or not to give a red. All of that is conceding the fact that he'd never countenance it not being a penalty at all, which he bloody well should have.
In the match thread I said it can't be compared to Gomes because in that situation Gomes had made his challenge before Carrick's final, vital touch (to take it away from him) occurred. The key touch in this incident was clearly Fletcher's challenge.
FIFARay007
05 May 2009, 06:56 PM
Here is my problem with his decision.
It was clear from his perspective, that Fletcher had moved the ball with his challenged. He effectively dispossessed Fabregas before his trailing leg took Cesc to ground. Now he may not have gathered all that instantly, but his first instinct should have been that the challenge, whilst it may have been a foul, was made on the ball and not on the man (initially). For that alone, he should have been talking to his AR to decide whether or not to give a red. All of that is conceding the fact that he'd never countenance it not being a penalty at all, which he bloody well should have.
In the match thread I said it can't be compared to Gomes because in that situation Gomes had made his challenge before Carrick's final, vital touch (to take it away from him) occurred. The key touch in this incident was clearly Fletcher's challenge.
The key touch was there, and the ref missed it, again, because he was behind the play. In that way it was similar.
Ref clearly wasn't watching the ball this time, otherwise he surely would have felt a need to chack with the AR.