Mario sending off

Just saw the highlights and Mario's 2nd yellow was laughable.

He went for the ball, you could see that. It was a 'coming together' though the ref did award the free kick. He wasn't going to produce a card until the Loserpool players urged him to do so.

If it was a deliberate smack in the face, then where was the red card.

No explanation would be good enough Atkinson and this is why we should have the ref speaking after the game to let everyone know why they made poor decisions and what influenced them.

I don't agree that Looserpool players were at fault. It was Mario laughing afterwards. We refs think they are gods and have even bigger ego's than the players, I don't think he liked that one bit. I bet if Mario kept a straight face he wouldn't have given him a red.

But Mario did sum uop the refs performance... Laughable.

Atkinson awarded the free kick and nothing else. I think he was even turning away. Mario's was a wry smile that even a free kick was given for the challenge.

At least two Liverpool players had a go at the ref and then he produced a card.

It was the laugh that did it!

Atkinson bottled it yesterday, handball by Reina, Adam's constant fouling and Suarez going down as though he had been shot and not a thing done. The upside is we came away with a point, despite not being anywhere near our best and the bias of the refereeing.

I was listening to Talksport this morning and Graham Poll said Balotelli deserved to get sent off because he is an "in your face" type of player?WTF. And he then proceeded to try and compare Mario with Gary Speed, absolutely disgraceful and Brazil and Irani both agreeing.

Poll can fuck right off. Referee the game to the law, not because 'oh, he is that type of player'.

It is sad to say that bias exists in football. it's the same when fergy pr wenger complain about someone's diving or over physicality of an opponent leading up to a game.

Atinson is a joke, why the fa let him take charge of looserpool games is a mystery, he is clerly a looserpool supporter and does all he can to make sure they win.

Why he didn't send off Reina for the handball and jumping into a tackle 2 footed?

The bloke is a twat

reina took a risk coming out like that. there is a good chance that you'll handball if you do that. no accident about it.

Three red cards to opposition players in the past three games he has reffed Liverpool matches - apparently he was a 'special guest' on their preseason tour as well, but I can't be arsed scouring the internet to confirm that.

I thought our retention of the ball when we had posession was as poor as I have seen it for a while, coupled with the card-happy way Atkinson broke the game up with poor desicions, I'm happy we came away with a point - although disappointed that it came due to an easily avoidable og.

There's a lot of Scousers on ja606 trying to defend Reina saying it wasn't intentional, sorry but if that was an outfield player sliding in like that then it would be a freekick as his hand was out. The ball was potentially falling into the path of Aguero and an open goal, look at the penalty we got against Newky last week, not an intentional handball, but a handball none the less.

Thought it was a weak performance from Atkinson, but heard lots of different opinions from blues about that so far, some saying he was ok.

Mancini also made three subs that mystified me. Will take a point though, no ground lost.

There were 3 or 4 incidents in the game. Firstly, Atkinson didn't have the nerve to send Reina off early in the game....he came out of his box feet first, sliding in (no outfield player can do that), then had both arms out wide, because he was sliding - any other player and that would have been a foul, regardless of intention...but as I said, he bottled it.

The next case was Adam..... 4 or 5 hard tackles (fair enough), but didn't get booked for any of them, we on the other hand got booked for pretty much nothing tackles.

Suarez - taken over the mantle from the 'ladyboy' as the most hated diver in the PL. He went over 3 or 4 times and got waved away from Atkinson...well if it wasn't a foul, it was simulation, but why didn't he book him once?

As for Mario....he is a balloon! It clearly wasn't a foul - and the ref got verbally bullied into producing another yellow - appeal?

Aguero took an elbow in his face from Agger - no action, left rolling around on the floor until we won the ball back and put it out.

Lucas scraped Silva's heels from behind - but no booking for that particular tackle.

He was a disgrace yesterday - and none of it was down to 'close-calls'...clearly biased towards the home team.

But - apart from 2 good saves from Hart and an own goal - we had our own chances, even with 10 men.....why Silva didn't pull the trigger first time from Dzeko's cross!!!

A point is a point...we're still unbeaten and still 5 clear! Liverpool drew at OT and beat Chelsea away....so all in all....i'm happy. Strange not to see NDJ and AJ in that second half though.

It wasn't a red card imo, but we all know that refs target certain players before they kick a ball, confirmed by Poll's comments this morning. Like some have said, if we can get a point away at Anfield even with a biased ref, things must be looking up.

Completely agree with you blueboy - Agger's elbow on Aguero was probably unintentional, as was Mario's, but I thought play was always supposed to be stopped if there is a head injury, regardless as to whether they are wearing a blue or red shirt?

Same with Suarez diving, no foul given but no freekick? He should be booked as soon as it happens, otherwise it sets the tone for the rest of the game.

Can't stand players surrounding the ref trying to get the opposition booked, thought that was the reason only captains were allowed to speak to the ref now.

Thought De Jong was a dead cert to come on instead of Mario actually, we were under pressure and Yaya was knackered by that point.

As for Silva's chance, as good as the little fella is, if he has one weakness I think it's when he's in a one on one goal scoring oppertunity - United away, and I think it was West Ham at home spring to mind.

Anyway, luckily the rags drew on Saturday so there wasn't as much pressure on us, good point in hindsight.

Disgraceful decision by Twatkinson but he was egged on by the cheating Scouse twots. Having said that Mario is a prick. The 1st booking was totally unnecessary. He has to learn that refs will be all over him. If he farts in the general direction of the opposition it will be a yellow card. He made his own bed now he must lie in it

All Mario did was try to be strong, arm out because he knew the challenge was coming in hard and he didn't want to muscled off the ball. The defender went down holding his face and I'm not even sure that's where the 'hand' caught him. As has been pointed out, Adam - and Suarez for that matter - allowed to do whatever they wanted all game.

Suarez on Kompany, over the top on Vinny's ankle, then threw himself to the ground quite blatantly trying to get him sent off. Atkinson gave nothing, which was a good decision but surely if he thinks Suarez is feigning (and it wasn't the first time and he's doing the same thing regularly against other teams) then it's a yellow.

But most of all I'm still SEETHING about Reina. What made it even more incredible, when they showed it in slow motion, some cretin who was co-commentating, having seen Reina come flying out of his area, spread himself and block the ball with his arm, said "No, there's nothing wrong with that..." I'm fucking speechless! Nothing wrong? What the fuck was Atkinson looking at, or the liner? Every time I see it, it gets worse!

No doubt Atkinson bottled it. He saw that 'incident' clearly and he ducked the decision.

one that i saw which if the ref was consistent should have led to a booking for skyrtl. The blatant pull back on aguero, now correct me if i am wrong wasn't Balotelli's first yellow for a pull back? have to agree with everything said about suarez and Reina, Silva needs to know his right leg can hit a ball also, as the momentum is lost by the time he has steadied himself and teed up his left foot. as for the sending off well if that was a booking then next week all i can say is which premier team will finish with all 11 still on the park???? Only plus side both Barry's and Balotelli's suspensions are served tonight.