There’s a lot of buzz about this supposed Jack Wilshere handball in Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City Saturday. Manuel Pellegrini thinks it should have been a penalty; referee Mark Clattenburg did not. Let’s be clear: This issue is not why Manchester City did not win this match, despite what Pellegrini wants you to believe. The two Arsenal goals happened
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Here are some thoughts I had watching a few of today’s Premier League referees in action. These are just my general impressions; they’re not scientific, and I don’t try and nitpick every single decision. But, as always, if you saw something I didn’t, let us know in comments below. Mark Clattenburg, Arsenal v. Manchester City Clatts was in rare form
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As you may recall, Manuel Pellegrini blamed his team’s loss to Barcelona in their Champions League tie on the referee, Jonas Eriksson of Sweden (who happens to be very highly-rated). Look, a lot of managers do that. I don’t like it and I don’t respect managers who do it. But it happens. But this was a whole different level. It wasn’t just
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Well… Sort of. But not really. The good news: Manchester City’s Manuel Pellegrini, under threat of sanctions from UEFA, apologized to Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson for – among other things – calling him a Swede. The bad news is that it’s pretty clear that Pellegrini isn’t apologizing at all. He starts out by reiterating that Eriksson’s penalty call (which came
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Well, well… Just when I was readying the torches and pitchforks after Manuel Pellegrini blamed Manchester City’s loss on Sweden, Martin Demichelis comes out with this: I think Demichelis was put in an impossible position, and he’s just not strong enough to cover Lionel Messi. But I do admire him for accepting responsibility and not taking the child’s way out
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PLAY THE ADVANTAGE 