Either we are the dirtiest team in the history of football or there's been blatant cheating tonight. And I don't mean by our players.
Some of the fouls were absolutely a joke, Hull players dropping to their knees before a Reds player made contact with them. The ref bought every trick that Hull threw at him that second half. Thankfully none of these were costly but annoying just the same
It happens because we are so naive. Two or three times last night we got in too close to the back of Hull players in possession instead of just jockeying them. Yes, contact was minimal to barely existing but it gave them the opportunity to drop to the floor. We never seem to learn our lesson. Really winds me up why refs give free kicks like that though. It's obvious they're cheating but it just seems part of the game now.
Feel exactly the same , I know we are a young team and naive in many ways but some of the things they did was Schoolboy not naivety . Even some of the older players play into the opposition hands . They should have a system in training whereas when they’re shepherding or pressing a player they have a forfeit if they give the players an excuse to go down enabling an easy free kick from a difficult position for them .
Little story about Steve Martin, the referee last night. He's the only referee in my six years doing this, who as the players are gathering in the tunnel, stands at the door of his official's room, whilst his assistants make sure both teams are ready, and does the whole head rotating, muscle flexing routine, like he's about to enter the ring with Tyson Fury. He's a proper unit to be fair. Fury by KO inside the first three rounds.
I didn't think the ref was too bad last night. He gave a fair few fouls for 50/50's in Hull's direction, but didn't get anything majorly wrong I thought, and often tried to let the game flow. There was one instance where he allowed an advantage for Hull, and had a long hard think before eventually giving the foul, and whilst it went against us, I appreciated his attempt to keep play going. I don't think 18 fouls in a game is particularly high, especially when you consider that we were defending a lead for over an hour. If anything, it shows commitment to the cause. Especially when you consider that Hull only committed 4 fouls all game, despite constantly overturning possession. To me that shows there was little willingness to win the ball back.
I thought he was a decent ref too. Let the game flow and I dont remember getting annoyed with him. Refs in the prem seem to be better this year, just blowing for blatant fouls rather then every dive. Seen a few good games this year and hope the improvement continues.
I was sat in front of someone who berated the ref at every opportunity. But some of the fouls we gave away were unnecessary in their naivety. On occasion some were necessarily blatant. Need more of them. How on earth did that linesman not give offside on that one on one I'll never know after seeing it on replays. The view is not in line, but he must have been yds offside given when he recieved the ball from the initial pass.
He was well off. The official line was that he was in his own half. He certainly wasn't. Quina was also headlocked in the box at one point.
I kept shouting (as I always do) "don't touch him, don't foul him!" When they were in possession in a non threatening position. Then boom. A foul. Like others have said total naivety. Game management and 'old manning' is certainly an art form that unfortunately seems to come with age and experience.
I was waiting for the inevitable penalty award for them, around the 80th minute, followed by an undeserved equaliser in the 89th. Luckily these things didn’t happen but it wouldn’t have taken much for him to do that for them. I also expected five or six minutes extra so was amazed when he blew on 3 mins. The red button commentary didn’t bother telling us how much was coming and the fixed camera didn’t go down to show us the board
Sounds like the result of a game played with Sheffield Wednesday supporters. Bob won the shooting event bagging 18 fowls to Pete's 4.
