Martin Atkinson is a…(vs Chelsea)

By: Shaun | March 1st, 2011

martin atkinson Well, at least it was entertaining.

The aftermath of the match has not been pretty with the usual fury from fans lamenting about the ref’s performance. Yes, that Luiz did not get sent off was incredibly questionable, but we know(or hope?) that these shoddy decisions tend to even out over the course of the season. We need only look back to this past weekend to be reminded of how we got a massive call in our favor (a Rooney red = not being available for today’s game).

For the sake of not feeding the uproar that is already prevalent on United forums/discussion everywhere, I’ll just mention a couple of things:

1. Of course I hate it when we lose. More so when it’s to Chelsea who edged us out last season. But it’s happened and we need to move on.

luiz rooney 2. The refereeing decisions that cost us the games against Chelsea last season were pivotal because it was a 12 point swing (6 points loss for us = 6 points won for them) and the title race was between us and them. My point being that the calls in this game are only a tad less significant because it’s Arsenal who are 4 points behind us with a game in hand and not Chelsea.

3. We dominated the first half. They dominated the second half. On the balance of play, a draw would have seemed like the fair result. Unfortunately, this isn’t a sport/league where the points earned are a measure of a team’s performance. Consider how many points we’ve won this season when playing like absolute rubbish.

4. There were never a doubt that Chelsea were going to mount a serious assault in the 2nd half. I had a bad feeling heading into HT because of our slender lead and the fact that we were playing at the Bridge. Chelsea were never going to come out and perform as dismally as they did in the first 45.

5. David Luiz – say what you will about him still being on the field at the final whistle, he was a beast for them at the back (and up front too). I’ll go ahead and just call him Chelsea’s best January signing regardless of who else they sign in Jan for the next 5 years. Fernando who?

chciharito rooney 6. Fantastic goal by Rooney. That will surely boost his confidence heading into Sunday and shows that he’s still got what it takes for the big stage.

7. Vidic’s dismissal occurred when we knew instinctually that the game was beyond our reach. Drogba and Cole (I think) milked all of the 4 minutes of injury time by keeping the ball as close to their corner flag as possible. It was really well played by Drogba especially since he used his massive physique to great effect. We sent hordes of players over in an attempt to get the ball back, but only succeeded in conceding foul after foul. Eventually, one of those fouls led to Vidic’s dismissal. He will be missed on Sunday.

8. VDS is still amazing. What do we need to do to keep him around for another season?

When all is said and done, we’re still in the same league position as when the day started. We still have a 4 point lead over Arsenal and it’s up to Wenger’s man to take advantage of our loss today by beating Sunderland over the weekend. With enough of our old boys in their squad as well as Brucie, we would not be opposed to them doing us a huge favor.

We lost. Now we move on.

Some Related Man United Posts:

Category: English Premier League, Manchester United, Match Reports

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Kandar

Martin Atkinson (born 31 March 1971) is an English football referee who officiates in the Premier League and for FIFA. He was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, but is now based in nearby Leeds.[1] He is also a Chelsea FC die-hard fan.
KING KENNY

GREAT WATCHING THE SCUM GET A BAD DECISION AGAINST THEM 4 A CHANGE IM NOT A CHELSEA FAN FOR OBVIOUS REASONS BUT FOR 90 MINUTES I FELT LIKE 1 AND EVEN WANTED TORRES TO SCORE, OLD BEETROOT NOSE WAS FURIOUS EVEN THE KIDS WERE ASKING ME WHY HAS THAT MAN GOT A LUMP OF CORNED BEEF ON HIS NOSE. GOOD TO SEE CANT WAIT FOR KING KENNY TO TAKE FERGIE THE CLEANERS NEXT SEASON.
Bonus στοιχημα

Manchester is the most favored team in England and it is boring to hear Sir Alex to complain all the time. When United won Liverpool in FA Cup (Gigg's diving, Agger's dismissal) or Rooney kicked MacCarthy, everything was perfect.
VanBlue

Great review and fair

Rather than cry like the rest of your fans, you don't and actually give props to a great 2nd half by us
mu4ever

Atkinson is the best cheating referee
Pyro

Wow, I'm a Liverpool supporter and I'm not an asshole like you. The game at Anfield will be an interesting one. The Reds have to come out biting if we want a chance at beating Utd. We are a recovering club with some really shit players like Konchensky whose own mom called us scouser scum when Konchensky was loaned out because he was awful. King Kenny made the right call on that one. Poulsen and Jovanovic are two huge 2nd rate duds. They are not good enough to play for Liverpool.
orthodoxyordeath

Hear hear, you L'pool fans have always been classy. (e.g. listen to them singing "You'll Never Walk Alone) The ManU fan-base is composed of, yes, many true fans, but also many bandwagon fans from around the world that aren't true fans, and are classless. I'm a Blue through and through, because like L'pool, we're a club with a wonderful fan-base. Chelsea 'till I die.

KTBFFH
Seedseb

as long as liverpool does not win the EPL , i am a happy football fan,............wait the might sign..........you guessed.......Martin Atkinson
Eirikur

Nú hefur þú fengið greitt fyrir það sem þú gerðir. Hve mikið fékkstu skíthæll
ynwakingkenny

Stop moaning you fuckin twats, you've already got Mark Clattenburg and Howard Webb in your back pocket. I think today is what's called what goes around comes around. Oh, and you're going to get your pants pulled down at Anfield. Bring some lubricant.
KING KENNY

THEY ALWAYS BRING LUBE TO ANFIELD BUT THEY WILL NEED A BIT MORE IF BIG ANDY CARROLL GETS HIS MITS ON THEM. LETS DO THEM ON SUNDAY AND PUT THIS SIDE OUT FOR ARSENAL IN APRIL GULACSI DARBY KYRIAKOS SKRTEL (BRING KONCHESKY BACK FOR THIS ONE) LUCAS POULSEN JOVANOVIC PLESIS NGOG MAXI. I HOPE ARSENAL GET THE TITLE, CHELSEA WONT AND DONT DESERVE TO GET IT ( PLASTIC CLUB ) MAN U PAY REFEREES ( CHEATS ) CITY ( A JOKE ) ARSENAL NOT A BAD CLUB.
Maurizio

WHEN U TALK IN ALL CAPS U LOOK LIKE A TWAT
KING KENNY

WHY CAN YOU SEE ME CAN YOU? YOU TOOL

Keep the swearing out of it. This is a site read by all ages and your kind of lanaguage is uncalled for!
Say what you want to say but keep it clean!
ynwakingkenny

I'll stop swearing if you go back to school and learn how to spell.
Maurizio

I THINK HE'S MAKING A FOOL OF HIMSELF WITHOUT THE SWEARING
KING KENNY

OK DAD
UnitedForEver

Referee Atkinson certainly made some weird decisions throughout last nights game, not least the fact that Ivanovic was 'clogging' players left, right and centre all night but was not shown a single yellow card. Luiz was 'hitting' players like a tank and only received 1 yellow card to show for it when a second yeloow should have bbeen shown for the 'hits' on Hernandez and Rooney, while Chelsea players in general were going in hard and many times unfairly on every United player who had the ball but Atkinson did nothing! Conversely when United went in hard, they were immediately penalised! The penalty was a joke and so was Vidic's second yellow but then Chelsea are masters at falling over!
What was going through referee Atkinson's mind?
Was he 'got at' by Chelsea or is he a Chelsea fan?
Doubtful it is either but it makes you wonder after seeing last nights game.
Still I suppose what goes around, comes around and United will no doubt take it out on someone and Liverpool this weekend would be a nice place to start!
As for the jokers suggesting United will not win the PL, dreams occur when you are asleep, so now you are all awake, take a look at the PL table, who is top and who will STILL be top come the season's end?
Chelsea? Not a hope! Arsenal? They will keep chasing but in the end there will be only 1 team winning the PL this season - and they won't come from London!!!
Jacques

"Fair is foul & Foul is fair" there is no doubt in my & mind and I think many out there that Martin Atkinson was clearly im-'part'ial toward the home side. Co-incidently in a game involving manutd & chelsea. Clearly this ref needs a wake up call before anyone can believe in the concept of the football term 'Fair'. Consequently, the final result shows no reflection of the true performance on field - a sad day for premiership football.
Maurizio

Atkinson needed to show he was unbiased so he made his decisions against Man Utd
Sir Cecil

All you have to do is lose against Liverpool and Arsenal (a reasonable possibility)... and if Chelsea win at Old Trafford (like last time) you'll be just three points ahead of the Champions.
In other words, if you lose (or even draw) the Liverpool game and Chelsea beat Blackpool, you'll be quaking in your boots for the other big games. Not over yet!
KING KENNY

CHELSEA ARE NOT GOING TO WIN IT GET OVER IT