Thetownend.com

Anyone watching the game.  Watch the second goal on match of the day, very contrversial

Go on... Tell us.

Yeah sounds it. Nani is in great form at the moment though. Glad I put him into my fantasy team a few weeks back now.

Was pretty shocking.

Just for you Rich... Nani goes down under a challenge and picks the ball up assuming a penalty is coming his way. Clattenburg says no but crucially doesn't indicate a free kick for the handball. Gomes puts it down, thinking a free kick has been given, and Nani taps it into the net. Linesman puts flag up but is over-ruled.

And people claim United get an unfair advantage at Old Trafford...

Well Nani is attacking and is tackled and claims a penalty - which wasnt given.   Gomes picks th ball up, runs 5 years forward and puts the ball down (prsumably because he thinks Spurs have a freekick).

Nani then runs to the ball and kicks it into the empty net

The Linesman holds his flag up saying it isnt a goal.  The ref overules it

Based on rules of the game it was a legit goal,

So if it was legit, what's the problem?

Because Nani picked the ball up?

Bingo.

Got it. BOOOOO Manchester United.

Did Spurs deserve a point?

No.

Lacked any real bite up front.

And that's my first and last Hallowe'en pun but sure Nev will be along with plenty.

What a pile of shite

Shouldn't this be in the time traveller thread.....I can see why it's controversial.

oh dear.

Watched in MOTD. Tremendous farce.

Tremendous farce in the favour of man united.  Oh im so surprised. 

Gomes shouldnt have taken the ball so far forward for the 'free kick' if he'd placed it near where the handball actually was it wouldnt have looked like he was 'playing on'

What is the point of assistants if they are constantly overruled? And also, why was Ferdinand allowed to be party to their discussions but everyone else made to vamoosh?

Because he's England captain and the same rules don't apply to him Rooney, Terry, Lampard or Gerrard. The referee and lino completely lost the plot and what a surprise in Utd's favour.

Have to say that having now seen it all I can't help but think the whole thing was a complete farce. For a start it was never a penalty so why on earth Nani decided to try and pick the ball up I will never know. Gomes should have just kicked it out from his hands having played the advantage but he didn't.....that was part 1 of the problem. This is where the confusion comes in....the ref reckons he was playing advantage but surely Nani should be booked for the handball?....I guess he could have been booked when the ball next went out of play but he wasn't.

The assistant didn't help matters....he did not flag until Nani decided to shoot. Surely if he thought it was handball he'd have flagged as soon as Nani attempted to pick it up?....and lastly why on earth the ref decided it should stand is beyond me. He should have at least gone with the linos decision....of course when you have twats like Rio in your face telling you it's a goal at Old Trafford then you're going to cave in and agree with him....shocking officiating from start to finish to be honest.

Play to whistle - its simple.

The free kick should have been given, and in the lino's defence he flagged that fact after the goal went in. Presumably he thought the ref missed it. Clattenburg overruled it and said he played on.

I can see the issue with Gomes assuming it was a free kick, but as soon as it becomes clear that no advantage has been gained by Spurs, the ref should blow up for the intial free kick anyway.  The linesman should grow a set of bollocks because you can hardly pretend the hand ball hadn't occurred.  No advantage, so even though no intial free kcik is given, it should be as soon as Nani touched it.

And even if the goal stands, if the ref was playing advantage, Nani should be booked for deliberate handball.

Whenever I see a player barking orders at the ref and his staff like that, I start to daydream that the ref will grow some balls, look the player in the eye, show him the yellow card and tell him 'On your way, son'.  If he doesn't get the hint, the card changes colour to red.

I know it's a well used cliché, but if only the interactions between players and the ref were more like they are in rugby union, we'd all be a lot happier.  Rugby referees don't take any nonsense from players, and players know not to give any.

Because the referee is the one in charge, and as the name says, they are there to assist only. Ultimately it's the referees decision. And we have no idea what he flagged, they might have those mics on but they aren't good for a good chin-wag. Maybe he's flagged to check that the referee knows what's gone on - it's better to be safe than sorry. Not seen it yet though.



The advantage would be Gomes having it in his hand - where under no pressure he can clear the ball, start a counter etc etc. What he does with it doesn't count towards advantage as soon as he has it in his hands. He's let the ball go out of controllable distance from him meaning he's lost possession on his own - what nani does then is fair-play (just not spirited).  Play can only be brought back through lack of advantage if the ball runs into a rubbish area, there is obviously no advantage to be had, or the team being rewarded the free-kick have lost the ball through pressure/tackle by the opposition in a short time after the foul has been commited.

If gomes kicked the ball straight out for a throw, would we all be saying 'free kick no advantage' or 'throw in, Gomes fucked up himself'.

Not seen it though, i'm just commenting on law!

I bet the Beetroot faced jock had a go at the ref after.... or probably let it go.....

I wonder if he would of given the same thing to Spurs?????

Remember the ball behind the line??

I wish they wouldnt do this!  I dont need anymore reasons to hate united and the 'followers'.

I thought the lino only raised his flag when Gomes ran towards him like a lunatic?

Any one spot Scholes shoving Clattenburg when he didn't give the penalty?

Yes he did, I didn't word it well.  Point is he raised his flag because in my opinion he wanted to make sure the ref had seen the handball.

He should have raised it straight away of course, forcing Clattenburg to make it obvious he was playing on.

Div, you give a nice rationale of the sort that can be given after the event - and when no comments have to be made at the time

You ignore the point about Ferdinand's intervention, ie why Clattemberg permitted Rio to follow him to the Assistant and talk throughout Clattenbergs' consultation about the flagging after Clattenberg had waved the Spurs players away.

Presumably we can all agree that Clattenberg was merely applying the rule that Rio Ferdinand at Old Trafford IS permitted to join in any 3 way discussion between ref and Assistant (like the rule we saw the previous Sunday that Gary Neville cannot be sent off on his 500th appearance)?

Clatt = Twat on yesterday's performance

I can remeber a ref booking someone for grabbing the ball like that at Swindon a few years back.

Did the ref signal advantage, or just make that up to cover his back? Or are we just guessing that he played advantage?

Ironically Clattenberg was also the ref in that game.

Which wasn't Clattenburg's fault.

That's because it's a bookable offense.

No, there was no indication of him playing advantage in fact he had his hands behind his back to, I presume, indicate no penalty.  The fact at no point did he raise the whistle to his lips so, in my view, Gomes is to blame for assuming there shoudl've been a free kick.  As has been said many times now, you play to the whistle. 

It shouldn't have been a goal, how the referee decided to award it after talking to his linesman (who had seen the handball) I'll never know. Even if he had seen the handball and had played advantage (though you can see from the replays that he didn't) he should have gone back and awarded the free kick.

There is no technology in the world that can help prevent referee's making dumb ass decisions like this.

To be fair, if technology could eliminate all stupid decisions then football would be a very boring game.  I mean what would we do if we didn't have a ref to vent our fury at...?

EXACTLY! where would be the fun in that?

Like i said i havn't seen it, i was only commenting on the elements of law which were being discussed. I've heard Ferdinand was around, but without seeing it i have no idea about how 'involved' he was. If he was yards away having his say then yes it's a fuck up. Why he couldn't have handled it like he handled the tottenham players at Man City (three lud shouts of go away and generous arm signals) is he own mistake and he would be getting raped by the assessor for it.

(Apparently though, there is a camera angle which give the same view as Clattenburg had, and it's hard to see any Handball so what he told his assistant only god knows)

Ferdinand was so close he could have put his arm round the referee. Which strangely the linesman did do, maybe there is a gay love thing going on between them. God only knows why he didn't wave him away like he did the Spurs players.

might explain a fair part of the sorry sequence if Clattenberg didn't see the handball at all...good to know there's inconsistency at Old Trafford as well as at Huish Park and the County Ground.