Rovers - Man Utd (28/8/04) [R]

[352gialloblu]

All change from Wednesday's match at Arsenal. New boy Morten Gamst Pedersen gets a start on the left wing.

Rovers (4-4-2): Friedel; Neill, Amoruso, Short, Matteo; Thompson, Ferguson, Tugay, Pedersen; Dickov, Stead.

[352gialloblu]

Thompson lasts all of 18 minutes and is replaced by Emerton. Got knocked down from behind by Kleberson about five minutes ago and couldn't shake off the injury. Only an ankle injury, but he's had such bad luck. Poor guy. :(

Things looking up for Rovers, though: DICKOV SCORES! 1-0 :)

[352gialloblu]

Amoruso's been sent off for a second yellow. Two identical shoulder-barges got him both bookings. Still looks a little out of his depth, and compensates by being too physical. Yes, there is such thing as too physical, even for a Permiership centre-half!

Emerton has played well, as have most of the defence. Ferguson and Tugay looking like a good partnership. Dickov and Stead working hard without much support. Pedersen has not exactly shined, though. Full of confidence, but not as good as he thinks he is. :cool:

Oh, and Brad Friedel has been a wall.

[Rocket]

Lousy F***ing, ref.

3 minutes of extra time? Ha!

More like "Give ManUre as much extra time as they need to score the tying goal"

:mad: :mad:

[352gialloblu]

FT: 1-1

Again, no favors from the referee. Maybe they're just upset with Souness because he always complains about them.

4 minutes of stoppage time, pulled out of Sir Alex's ass. Handball by Saha in the box, the ball falls to Smith who finally beats Friedel. No shame in this draw, especially since it was dominated by United. However, if United couldn't score fairly in 94 minutes of football, with 20 minutes of a man advantage, I don't think they deserve crap.

[blkbrnrvr]

Disgusting.....I don't know what else to say really.

With the heartbreaks of last season (i.e. @ Charlton) and this season against Southampton, now this....damn it!

Brad alone was worth 3 points today, but alas, that's how the football goes sometimes. There was some positive stuff to take from this game, but with that said, 2pts off of 4 matches has Blackburn screaming for 3 pts against Newcastle.

[352gialloblu]

Paul Dickov: 750,000 GBP

Alan Smith: 7M GBP (+ Danny Pugh)

They spend 10 times as much on the same end result. For today at least. Makes me feel a little better.

With Amoruso's red, maybe Matteo can get a spot centrally. He did well today. Amoruso isn't awful, but he's going to average over a card a game... :rolleyes:

[Thomas A Fina]

Blackburn so far has had three points rooked right out of their hands by incompetent reffing.

[Rocket]

Blackburn so far has had three points rooked right out of their hands by incompetent reffing.
Unfortunately, I don't think "incompetent" is the right word.

These refs know exactly what they're doing, and will do what they can to see that the big clubs have things go their way.

[352gialloblu]

More commentary on the match in Yanks Abroad (featured Yanks: Friedel, Howard and Spector).

I'd love to hear Souness' post-match comments.

Maybe some of the other results can make me happy today. It's been a few weeks since I've had a good day, I think I deserve it.

Maybe this one (highlight to reveal):
=>James Beattie has scored at Stamford Bridge! Chelsea 0-1 So'ton, 25 minutes.<= :D

[352gialloblu]

Maybe this one (highlight to reveal):
=>James Beattie has scored at Stamford Bridge! Chelsea 0-1 So'ton, 25 minutes.<= :D
Nope. Well, no surprise...

[Catfish]

I'm disgusted with the 4 mins added time and missing the handball. It sure seems like Man Utd are given many chances to stay in matches per the refs. I'm not a conspiracy nut or anything, but I have noticed it being Man Utd on the receiving end of many favorable calls.

On a positive note, Freidel was amazing and with 10 men!

[RoverMax]

Unfortunately, I don't think "incompetent" is the right word.

These refs know exactly what they're doing, and will do what they can to see that the big clubs have things go their way.


Southampton isn't a big club and the incompetent referring was felt by both sides (bad PK call and not sending off Ferguson after two yellows, although it hurt us a lot more than it hurt them). Today it was so obvious whose side the referees were on.

[kylesoccer]

clearly the ball played the hand and there was no intent on saha's part. he wasn't even looking at the ball. take some responsibility for marking smith in the box, WIDE OPEN. sorry ref had that part right but not the 4minutes

[bojendyk]

clearly the ball played the hand and there was no intent on saha's part. he wasn't even looking at the ball. take some responsibility for marking smith in the box, WIDE OPEN. sorry ref had that part right but not the 4minutes

I disagree--that ball whomped off Saha's forearm right into Smith's path. This is the *third* time since around the end of last season that the ref has "given the benefit of the doubt" to handballs by Man United. (Silvestre had two against Arsenal last spring.) Blackburn were robbed.

[352gialloblu]

I think when it's that major a hand-ball, meaning that it changes the direction of the ball so much, and it's not a defender in the penalty box, then ball-to-hand and intent don't matter to me so much. You aren't allowed to use your hands, and getting a hand-ball assist shouldn't be allowed. The refs missed it, rather than chose not to call it, I'd say.

What about that penalty Chelsea got against So'ton? That looked like ball-to-hand to me, considering the defender was jumping and got pushed. Oh well...

In the long run, the difference between 0 and 1 point doesn't hurt United as much as the difference between 3 and 1 for us. They can't score in 93 minutes, they can ******** off. I was laughing at them against Everton.

[IntheNet]

...getting a hand-ball assist shouldn't be allowed. The refs missed it, rather than chose not to call it, I'd say....

Friedel was a master in this game and Blackburn was robbed by incompetent ref! That ref should be given glasses! It clearly was a handball... over here in the states that ref never would have made it out of the stadium! This is clearly something that needs to be fixed; I'd say Man United & Blackburn shoul have escalted the matter to an upstairs official... perhaps we need Ref Review like American football!

IntheNet