Today's ref...

[The Oldman]

Let's face it Withdean does not have an intimidating atmosphere to "frighten" the ref. So they rarely bottle a decision and seem more than happy to issue red cards against us. Hopefully Falmer will change that but we have to go something to match those Sheffield fans yesterday.

 

[ward is god]

I thought El-Abd over-reacted to the shove in the chest and a yellow was about right. Mellor was stupid and another ref could have seen it differently. The Painter challenge was a definite red and could have ended his career. Both were strong penalty appeals. From where I was sitting I thought Murray's was nailed on but he has a reputation as going to ground too easily. Bennett's was also strong although there were so many bodies in the way it was hard to tell. The referee definitely changed the course of the game today. I agree that we need a sharper edge up front. However, they played some good football and with a few additions (quickly please) we will be fine.

 

[Trigger]

The ref got the Mellor decision spot on in my book, El-Abd made far too much of it, rolling round like a puppy waiting for his belly to be rubbed... However, that shocking tackle on Painter was a disgrace and he completely bottled that.

 

[Wednesday-Wonderland]

If you think Mellor should've been sent off you either don't know the rules or you're blinded by bias. He pushed him in the chest and your guy went down like he'd taken a shotgun blast to the face. If anyone should've been sent off in that incident it should've been El Abd for embarrassing your football club.

Sedgwick's tackle could have gone either way, it was a meaty one, and at first I just thought it was a good hard tackle. Then the reaction of your players had me thinking it was bad and I was sure a red was coming. But the guy tackled showed himself to be a cheat when he jumped straight up and got in the ref's face when only a yellow card was shown. Still I doubt you'd have heard many complaints from us if he had been sent off, the art of the strong hard tackle isn't as appreciated these days as it used to be so it could've easily been a red just from the force in which he went into the tackle.

 

[fleet]

The reputation you refer to is probably a lot to do with Gus slagging off refs every week. Also , do you not agree that by slagging refs off publicly, much of the time it tends to take the pressure off the players responsibilities, rightly or wrongly?

I think Gus is overplaying the ref card in his interviews - he does at least admit that it is the way we play that detrmines the results and 4 points is probably what we deserve from the games so far.

 

[SNOOBS]

The ref got the Mellor decision spot on in my book, El-Abd made far too much of it, rolling round like a puppy waiting for his belly to be rubbed... However, that shocking tackle on Painter was a disgrace and he completely bottled that.

Exactly. It was a poor show from Adam El-abd, rolling around like that from a push.

 

[fleet]

Exactly. It was a poor show from Adam El-abd, rolling around like that from a push.

Picture on the Argus site makes him look a bit daft to be honest

 

[Finchley Seagull]

If you think Mellor should've been sent off you either don't know the rules or you're blinded by bias. He pushed him in the chest and your guy went down like he'd taken a shotgun blast to the face. If anyone should've been sent off in that incident it should've been El Abd for embarrassing your football club.

Sedgwick's tackle could have gone either way, it was a meaty one, and at first I just thought it was a good hard tackle. Then the reaction of your players had me thinking it was bad and I was sure a red was coming. But the guy tackled showed himself to be a cheat when he jumped straight up and got in the ref's face when only a yellow card was shown. Still I doubt you'd have heard many complaints from us if he had been sent off, the art of the strong hard tackle isn't as appreciated these days as it used to be so it could've easily been a red just from the force in which he went into the tackle.

Do you seriously think Sedgewick's tackle was a "meaty one"? If so, you either play by a different rules to the ones we play by or are just ridiculously biased. It was two footed tackle and they are red cards these days. As for Painter being okay, he didn't roll around or anything just stayed down which is fair enough. The reaction of your fans when they booed him was quite frankly moronic, although you clearly are one of them as you stupidly call him a cheat.

As for El Abd, he probably did make a meal of it but we have had two players sent off this season for similar incidents where the opposing player has also done that so we are just following other teams. The lack of consistency in refereeing today is ridiculous.

 

[glasfryn]

ref two marks
one for turning up
and the other for being dressed properly

our club also has to have the bottle too

 

[Wednesday-Wonderland]

Do you seriously think Sedgewick's tackle was a "meaty one"? If so, you either play by a different rules to the ones we play by or are just ridiculously biased. It was two footed tackle and they are red cards these days. As for Painter being okay, he didn't roll around or anything just stayed down which is fair enough. The reaction of your fans when they booed him was quite frankly moronic, although you clearly are one of them as you stupidly call him a cheat.

As for El Abd, he probably did make a meal of it but we have had two players sent off this season for similar incidents where the opposing player has also done that so we are just following other teams. The lack of consistency in refereeing today is ridiculous.

Yes, a meaty one. He went in hard but won the ball. I didn't think it was two footed either (although I was equally as far away from it as you because I sit on the kop so don't quote me on that). Unfortunately the Football League Show highlights were utter shite as usual so we didn't get to see it on TV. And of course I booed him, he was down acting like his career was over then jumped up with impressive speed and athleticism as soon as he saw he hadn't managed to get Sedgwick sent off. As I previously said though, I wouldn't be complaining too much if he'd been sent off, when you go in that hard you always run the risk due to refs all interpreting the rules differently.

There's no probably about what El Abd did, blatant cheating and an absolute disgrace. Judging by another topic I've just seen on here most of you guys agree which is refreshing to see.

 

[Acker79]

Yes, a meaty one. He went in hard but won the ball.

Completely irrelevant. Read the laws of the game and you will find there is nothing in the section on fouls that makes a dangerous challenge ok if you get the ball.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

Yes, a meaty one. He went in hard but won the ball. I didn't think it was two footed either (although I was equally as far away from it as you because I sit on the kop so don't quote me on that). Unfortunately the Football League Show highlights were utter shite as usual so we didn't get to see it on TV. And of course I booed him, he was down acting like his career was over then jumped up with impressive speed and athleticism as soon as he saw he hadn't managed to get Sedgwick sent off. As I previously said though, I wouldn't be complaining too much if he'd been sent off, when you go in that hard you always run the risk due to refs all interpreting the rules differently.

There's no probably about what El Abd did, blatant cheating and an absolute disgrace. Judging by another topic I've just seen on here most of you guys agree which is refreshing to see.

I repeat, it was two footed and a terrible tackle. You may not have seen it but we got a very good view from the away end and it was as clear a red card as you will see. If it had been the other way round, your fans would have been calling for a red card and, judging by his performance yesterday, the referee would have been happy to oblige. In my view, the crowd were the 12th man for Wednesday yesterday as they influenced the referee which may explain why you have had a good home record in the past but not so good away from home. As for Painter, if it had been the other way round I would have been so relieved that we had got away without a red card that it wouldn't have crossed my mind to boo the opposition player. Shame there is no replay of the tackle as it was a leg breaker and you would see how wrong you were to boo Painter.

As for El Abd, he was clearly shoved. Nobody is questioning that so it is not cheating. Also, I repeat Mellor was lucky as he shoved him and other referees on anothe day may have given him a red card as they did with Sparrow, one of our players, at Northampton for a similar thing.

Finally, you talk about players cheating but the number of times your players, who in my view were generally pretty physical, went down under virtually no pressure from one of our players and won a free kick was ridiculous. You are in no position to talk about cheating I would say.

 

[The Ringleader Returns!]

Painter could have had his career ended yesterday. Simple as that. We will not see a worse tackle all season.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

Painter could have had his career ended yesterday. Simple as that. We will not see a worse tackle all season.

No you are wrong, as we all are apparently. It was a "meaty challenge" and Painter faked it and deserved to be booed. I am interested to know what Wednesday-Wonderland would regard as a red card offence though.

 

[Wednesday-Wonderland]

I repeat, it was two footed and a terrible tackle. You may not have seen it but we got a very good view from the away end and it was as clear a red card as you will see. If it had been the other way round, your fans would have been calling for a red card and, judging by his performance yesterday, the referee would have been happy to oblige. In my view, the crowd were the 12th man for Wednesday yesterday as they influenced the referee which may explain why you have had a good home record in the past but not so good away from home. As for Painter, if it had been the other way round I would have been so relieved that we had got away without a red card that it wouldn't have crossed my mind to boo the opposition player. Shame there is no replay of the tackle as it was a leg breaker and you would see how wrong you were to boo Painter.

As for El Abd, he was clearly shoved. Nobody is questioning that so it is not cheating. Also, I repeat Mellor was lucky as he shoved him and other referees on anothe day may have given him a red card as they did with Sparrow, one of our players, at Northampton for a similar thing.

Finally, you talk about players cheating but the number of times your players, who in my view were generally pretty physical, went down under virtually no pressure from one of our players and won a free kick was ridiculous. You are in no position to talk about cheating I would say.

Our manager was right infront of it and said it was a good but hard tackle. Irvine doesn't bullshit, he tells it as it is. If it had've been a nailed on red card the absolute best thing he would've said would've been something along the lines of "Chris being a bit lucky there" and "He's not that type of player" etc.

I doubt any referees would've sent Mellor off if they'd seen the incident. The linesman did see it which is why it was a yellow, a push in the chest is a yellow card. If a ref sees an incident where player A pushes player B in the chest and player B goes down like he's just been shot in the face he'd probably yellow card both of them.

And your last point is where we'll have to agree to disagree, I thought your players were dirty because they were constantly fouling ours (usually from behind to stop us turning towards goal) which would snuff out any momentum we were building.

 

[BensGrandad]

If that was too far away for us to give a true assessment, then I suggest you get new glasses. It was in the half of the pitch closest to us, not even near the halfway line. Winning the ball doesn't make a tackle any less dangerous.

The tackle happened just outside the penalty on our left wing very near to the touchline and because of the morons who had seats behind the goal and decided that they would stand and thus stop anybody alse warching the game , I like many others had to move over towards the edge of the penalty box on our right wing.

I would have had a good view had I been able to sit in the seat that I had been allocated and the morons sat down.

 

[The Ringleader Returns!]

No you are wrong, as we all are apparently. It was a "meaty challenge" and Painter faked it and deserved to be booed. I am interested to know what Wednesday-Wonderland would regard as a red card offence though.

How silly of us. Hopefully Painter comes in with a few "meaty challenges" when Wendy come down here. He might be more sucsessful at breaking someones leg.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

Our manager was right infront of it and said it was a good but hard tackle. Irvine doesn't bullshit, he tells it as it is. If it had've been a nailed on red card the absolute best thing he would've said would've been something along the lines of "Chris being a bit lucky there" and "He's not that type of player" etc.

I doubt any referees would've sent Mellor off if they'd seen the incident. The linesman did see it which is why it was a yellow, a push in the chest is a yellow card. If a ref sees an incident where player A pushes player B in the chest and player B goes down like he's just been shot in the face he'd probably yellow card both of them.

And your last point is where we'll have to agree to disagree, I thought your players were dirty because they were constantly fouling ours (usually from behind to stop us turning towards goal) which would snuff out any momentum we were building.

I think I will trust my eyes over your manager thanks. If you do get to see it on local tv or something, at least be honest. Irvine may or may not talk rubbish usually but he is wrong on this occasion as it was a terrible tackle.

I will agree to disagre with you on Mellor, although you won't have seen what happened with Sparrow which was similar and he was sent off. El Abd did what most players would have done in that situation but you can call him a cheat if you want. Calling Painter a cheat is just plain stupid.

As for us being dirty, I find it funny that the most physical teams in the lower leagues always seem to be the ones who go down the easiest. We may have a reputation for being dirty but Painter for example stood his ground on at least a couple of occasions and your player collapsed in a heap to win a free kick as he had his back to goal and was going nowhere. Another example was when Murray was chasing a through ball and the defender got in front of him realised he could go nowhere and fell over to win a free kick. My view, and obviously we are both biased and won't agree on this, is that your team were the dirty ones and sadly we were bullied at times during the game.

 

[Wednesday-Wonderland]

I think I will trust my eyes over your manager thanks. If you do get to see it on local tv or something, at least be honest. Irvine may or may not talk rubbish usually but he is wrong on this occasion as it was a terrible tackle.

I will agree to disagre with you on Mellor, although you won't have seen what happened with Sparrow which was similar and he was sent off. El Abd did what most players would have done in that situation but you can call him a cheat if you want. Calling Painter a cheat is just plain stupid.

As for us being dirty, I find it funny that the most physical teams in the lower leagues always seem to be the ones who go down the easiest. We may have a reputation for being dirty but Painter for example stood his ground on at least a couple of occasions and your player collapsed in a heap to win a free kick as he had his back to goal and was going nowhere. Another example was when Murray was chasing a through ball and the defender got in front of him realised he could go nowhere and fell over to win a free kick. My view, and obviously we are both biased and won't agree on this, is that your team were the dirty ones and sadly we were bullied at times during the game.

If I see it on TV and it turns out that it was a shockingly bad tackle I'll come back here and hold my hands up.

And yeah we're never going to agree on the last point because no matter how much we try to be impartial there's always going to be at least some impact from the Wednesday/Brighton tinted specs we wear. Someone saying we bullied their team gives me a bit of pleasure though, for years we've been the ones getting bullied, and arguably the main reason we got relegated in the first place was because we had too many cowards in our squad.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

If I see it on TV and it turns out that it was a shockingly bad tackle I'll come back here and hold my hands up.

And yeah we're never going to agree on the last point because no matter how much we try to be impartial there's always going to be at least some impact from the Wednesday/Brighton tinted specs we wear. Someone saying we bullied their team gives me a bit of pleasure though, for years we've been the ones getting bullied, and arguably the main reason we got relegated in the first place was because we had too many cowards in our squad.

Irvine certainly seems to have sorted that as you have some big players. I felt we really missed Greer in central defence as you won a lot in the air and he is a couple of inches taller than our other two centre backs.

In the end, I am a bit frustrated as we could have got a point but the performance from us was not too bad. You are supposed to be among the favourites and yesterday suggested there is not too much between us, especially if we can sign a couple of players before transfer deadline. As defeats go it was expected given the players we had out but it would have been interesting to play against 10 men for the last half hour or so. I would also be interested to see our second half penalty appeals again because at least one of them looked a good shout but, as ever, they never show anything controversial on the highlights.