Is Clattenburg a Man Utd fan...

[Dickie Greenleaf]

It was very bad reffing, but a few points

1) The actual goal wasn't 'cheating' by Nani. The initial handball was, but as people say on plenty of other occassions, its not up to players to referee the game and you play to the whistle. Somebody should tell Gomes that.

2) Spurs created precisely fook all in the second half and whilst we'll never know if they were going to do something in the last six minutes, history and their performance up to that point gives us a strong indication that they wouldnt. The Nani goal simply rubber stamped the result for Man utd.

[lcfcadam]

I've seen DB11 ref. Believe me, Stuart Atwell is Collina compared to DB11

Not that I want the kid to be anything other than a good ref, it's just his often limitlessly stupid comments with regards to reffing matters on here can really get on my wick.

[The Doctor]

Wiley defends Clattenburg

Ex-Premier League referee Alan Wiley has backed under-fire Mark Clattenburg following Nani's disputed goal in Saturday's 2-0 win over Tottenham.

Manchester United's Nani slotted past Heurelho Gomes, with the Spurs keeper looking on, believing he had lined up a free-kick after the winger's handball.

Referee Clattenburg allowed the goal as he had not awarded Spurs a free-kick.

"What we have to remember is that the goal is within the laws of the game," Wiley told BBC Radio 5 live.

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp branded the decision "farcical" and "scandalous" and could now face a Football Association charge for his post-match comments.

"The whole thing was a farce," said Redknapp after Saturday's 2-0 defeat. "It was handball. Nani put his hand on it and dragged it down.

"Mark Clattenburg is a top referee but he has had a nightmare with that."

But Wiley, who now coaches the 16 select match officials as part of his role with the Professional Game Match Officials (PGMO), has given Clattenburg his support.

"The game hadn't stopped and so, in essence, Mark was right in law," Wiley added.

"You're taught right from the very start that you don't stop until the whistle blows or the ball goes out of play, so in law, the goal is a correct goal."

Wiley, who retired from refereeing in July, also rubbished the theory that Clattenburg should have disallowed the goal on the basis that Tottenham had not received an advantage after Nani's handball that preceded the incident.

"I'm sure that Mark must have thought at that stage, at 1-0 to Manchester United and Spurs wanting to keep the game going and Gomes had the ball in his hands, that he wanted to keep the game moving," Wiley continued.

"The situation is that if you're going to think about bringing it back, for instance if a player is fouled but then he loses his footing and he still can't keep control of the ball, then you can bring it back.

"In that situation there, Gomes has actually got the ball in his hands and has actually still got possession of the ball.

"What he then does after that is nothing to do with the referee. If he chose to throw the ball on the ground, that was his choice. He didn't throw it there because he lost control of it, so therefore in those circumstances you're probably giving the goalkeeper two bites of the cherry."

At full-time on Saturday, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said his belief that the officials were not to blame.

"You can look at the referee and look at the linesmen and blame them, but the goalkeeper should know better. He's an experienced goalkeeper. I thought he made a mess of it," Ferguson commented after seeing his men keep up the pressure on Premier League leaders Chelsea.

Tottenham were also unhappy that while their players were waved away by Clattenburg as he spoke to his assistant about the incident at Old Trafford, United defender Rio Ferdinand was not.

And while Wiley conceded that Clattenburg should have also sent Ferdinand away, he did not believe the England skipper's presence had any impact on the decision.

"If you watch it again, although Rio Ferdinand is having a say, if you watch the actual conversations between the referee and the assistant, they almost blanked Rio Ferdinand out," Wiley added.

"I suppose in hindsight if Mark looks at that again he would have probably moved Ferdinand away as well."

maybe so but surely common sense would be that the goal shouldn't have stood, spurs didn't actually get an advantage, advantage at the point where nani took it shouldn't have been over and it should be called back for a free kick.

yet another howler by gomes though

[Stadt]

Its cheap to say the least but now everything Clattenburg does will now come under scrutiny like Honda Rasposa

[AyewJoking]

Stick him in the Conference for the rest of the season. Minimum pressure=optimum performance.

[Tilley]

He's really shit.

[Alexikokopops]

Gomes' fault. Clattenburg was correct. He didn't whistle for freekick as Gomes had the advantage with the ball in his hand.

All in all, Nani is a tantrum-throwing idiot, but ultimately it is Gomes' fault for not playing to the whistle.

Gomes should have plate to the whistle, but I didn't see Clattenburg indicate advantage in the usual fashion, which would have made things a lot clearer

[Dickie Greenleaf]

Some other ref made a good point that at 1-0 down, with only 6 minutes remainimg, surely it would have been within spurs' best interests to keep the game flowing and moving at a high tempo. So why Gomes decided to bring things to a standstill despite hearing no whistle and seeing no flag is beyond me.

[Finnegan]

Gomes should have plate to the whistle, but I didn't see Clattenburg indicate advantage in the usual fashion, which would have made things a lot clearer

Let's be fair, they both completely forked it up.

[BoneDog]

After seeing Nani sat there with his hand on the ball for 5 seconds I can understand why Gomez would assume that play has been stopped.

The officials are the only ones to blame imo.

And Nani for being a twat about it.

[Finnegan]

After seeing Nani sat there with his hand on the ball for 5 seconds I can understand why Gomez would assume that play has been stopped.

The officials are the only ones to blame imo.

And Nani for being a twat about it.

Yeah but the Illuminati payed Clatternburg off.

They put a bet on Nani scoring a ludicrous goal and used it to shift an enormous amount of money unseen in order to buy nukes for both Israel and Palestine to kick off nuclear war and start THE NEW WORLD.

[BoneDog]

Well that is what the headsets refs wear nowadays are for.

(but Palestine will never have nukes. Only one country in the Middle East is allowed them)

[FoxyPV]

It's a conspiracy set by the FA to get 'Arry sacked in time for him to take over from Capello so they don't have to pay any compenstaion to Spurs.

You heard it here first

[SystonFox]

Nanis a bit of a cock for celebrating the way he did, as if he score a 30 yard diving bicycle kick left footed.x

[DB11]

DB11, explanations on how the goal/no goal were fair and the referee/assistant's decisions are correct?

I've only seen it on YouTube and I think it looked messy. This is not written by me (although I have made some changes where I have put a different opinion) but I agree with it so there's no point writing the same I may as well copy and paste:

Nani goes down, expecting a penalty, and puts his hand on it. It should be handball. The United players walk away quite fast, so the AR, Simon Beck, thinks the ref has given a free kick for the handball and feels no need to raise his flag, when in fact, the ref hasn't seen the handball, and is letting play continue. Gomes also, seeing the way the linesman ran up the line, thinks it is a free kick, and puts the ball down.

I know everyone keeps saying, "Why didn't he put the ball down on the same spot then?", but how many refs are really strict about where a defensive free kick is inside the penalty area? I think he puts it forward out of habit. Clattenburg then shrugs his shoulders in a "what's he doing I've not given a free kick", so Scholes tells Nani to score. AR thinks that the ref has given a free kick, and so doesn't react to it, thinking it will be disallowed. He then realises that the ref never gave a free kick, never played an advantage, and is letting the goal stand, so puts his flag up to probably tell Clattenburg that it was a handball.

In the spirit of the game, I don't understand why Clattenburg then allowed the goal to stand. In the laws of the game, he has done nothing wrong.

[act smiley]

This is why the whole argument that refs need to start "applying common sense" and "letting the game flow" is a load of rubbish - because the moment they do that, some £50k-a-week professional forgets something an 8-year-old knows, and suddenly its all their fault no matter how stupid the mistake the player makes is.

Clattenburg's certainly not handled the situation at all well, particularly as he's gone from the "common sense" approach with the first half of the incident to the "letter of the law" approach on the second part - I don't think this would be anywhere near such a talking point if he'd been consistent and kept to either approach for both parts, or even been vocal early - but Gomes has brought it on himself by not playing to the whistle.