Referee Martin Atkinson won Tuesday night’s game for Chelsea, as he awarded foul after foul to the home side. Yet, when Chelsea did worse – his whistle didn’t sound. This is the 3rd time in 3 years that an official has swung the game in The Blues favour, and the 2nd time Atkinson has done it. So, United-Latest.Com tallies-up the ref.’s ‘blunders’…
1. John Terry Handball, Not Given !
How many times have we seen ‘Captain, Leader, Legend’ John Terry get away with blatant fouls ?… Well, just about every game. Tuesday night’s Premier League clash was no different, as the Chelsea skipper clearly hand-balled from Luis Nani’s shot. His arm came out to meet the ball, and as former referee Graham Poll said on Tuesday: ‘Clear Offence !’
2. David Luiz Stays On The Field ?
He may be Chelsea’s hero, in-part, after scoring a lucky equaliser but David Luiz should have picked-up a second yellow card twice over. His 1st booking came when he flattened Wayne Rooney, but referee Martin Atkinson failed to send him off for 1.) A clear elbow on Chicharito 2.) Tripping Wayne Rooney off-the-ball. Even Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti said Luiz was ‘lucky’ to stay on the field – and that says a lot for someone who thinks shooting people is okay (see Ashley Cole incident for reference). How did he stay on the field ?… Only Atkinson knows that.
3. Chris Smalling – Not A Penalty !
Martin Atkinson didn’t even blow for David Luiz’ foul on Rooney, so why on earth did he award a penalty kick for a lesser offence committed by Chris Smalling ? – Even if the earlier incident hadn’t happened, Yuri Zhirkov was off-his-feet before he even made contact with Smalling – that’s a dive. Also, Smalling was stationary in the box – meaning Zhirkov ran into Smalling. Either way, penalty ? – My backside it is !
4. Nemanja Vidic – What’s The Difference ?
Nemanja Vidic picked-up a deserved booking for a foul on Michael Essien in the first half, but his alleged foul in the 90th minute on Ramires was again a less offence that David Luiz’ foul on Rooney. Let’s not forget: Atkinson failed to even blow his whistle for Luiz’ challenge, yet Chelsea were awarded a free-kick and United had Vidic sent-off for a Ramires dive. Now that’s consistent refereeing at it’s best, (insert sarcasm here) isn’t it ?
So, referee Martin Atkinson’s 4 major decisions through the game were in favour of Blue, despite them being suffered by Red in reality. There were many other ridiculous decisions throughout the game, such as Fernando Torres’ two-footed tackle on Paul Scholes with both studs showing and Didier Drogba’s usual diving antics – but they didn’t change the game. Martin Atkinson’s major decisions did. So it begs the question – Why is a referee at all ?
Total Major Decisions: 4
Total Wrong Decisions: 4
Referee Performance Rating: 0/10
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