Only 2 Things Spoiled the Game

for me today. American commentator (WTF) Gus Johnson - Martin Tyler you are not son. Thank God for Lee Dixon - childhood City fan - who came to the rescue.

The other thing was the Fifty million quid man's new hairdo - LOL

What about the ref? He almost spoiled it for us, think he forgot we were the home side!

Yeah Beware I don't know how he spotted the supposed foul on Ba when he was 30 to 40 yards away from the spot (and just pulling his socks up) - but we prevailed against 12 men.

In the past I have thought that Andre Mariner was a decent referee,today I changed my mind,he is as inept as the others

He was so easily fooled by the dives.

He should have said to Ba, you can have your pen, but you are also getting a yellow for the dive.

But if he knew he dived, why should he have got a pen???

Joe pulled his hands back as he went down and clearly pulled out of the tackle and his thigh marginally touched Ba who went down like he'd been snipered from the top of the East Stand. A very harsh pen but a superb save from Joe and boy did he enjoy it and rightly so after his public criticism. The whole team looked sharper and up for it, Chelsea's players went down far too easy and at least three bad tackles on our players went unpunished and no free kick even awarded. Mariner was very poor today, the (ex)Sky 4 teams still get the breaks and the darling treatment from the commentators like Tyler and don't even get me started on that twat Craig Burley.

I had to listen to the match on TalkShite as it was the only station I could pick up with a game commentary - being as I was in Kent when it kicked off and pulling into Stafford services at full time. Listening to them having to be nice about us was a right laugh!

Saw the penalty in MOTD2 and thought it was definitely a minimal contact and a lot of Tom Daley. Pat Nevin was playing devil's advocate again, and rightly so, but Shearer was there, "Nailed on penalty", "Hart clattered into him". I seriously don't know what he sees when he watches games. And he's even more dull than Chiles.

Joe tried to pull out and his thigh made minimal contact with Ba's foot but not enough to bring him down. Technically he came rushing out and made contact so it was a foul but Ba definitely played for it and was guilty of simulation. How many times do we see Aguero or Tevez get the same contact and keep going?

How many times do we see Tevez or Aguero receive much, much more than that and get nothing for it? And I'm sure we could make a long, long list of other players who've been "clattered" and had nothing to show for it.

I'm not sure if Mariner got a clear look and decided that it was clearly a foul or whether he was just at the wrong angle and was fooled by Ba's exaggerated dive.

On first look it looks a pen, but on seeing it again it was 90% Tom Daley, Garath Bale would've been proud of that one! I hope we start extending retrospective punishment to simulation, as Ba was disgraceful the way he went down! contrast Sergio and that goal against QPR, he could easily have gone done when his foot was clipped, but his desire to score meant he just quickly recomposed himself midflow and smacked it in, also contrast Ba with Silva at Stamford Bridge last season when he was axed down and Twattenberg said No pen, that was as nailed on, if not more than the Ba one, there being actual contact!
Oh well, we got the justice in the end, great save by Joe, who looks far sharper now, after his criticism than he did last time out against the Saints. hopefully it'll be team wide and another run will ensue....