Posted: Thu May 18, 2006 11:38 amMy thoughts on the Champions League Final without reading the thread:
Arsenal started really well, Barcelona worked there way into the game and it seemed well balanced.
THE SENDING OFF? – First of all, Ashley Cole got himself into an awful position, he was about 2 yards of the line and facing the wrong way, it was a terrible peace of defending, and it was definitely not offside. I personally thought that Jens Lehmann divided in rashly and should have closed the angle and waited to see whether a dive in was necessary.
This is the key part for me, all sentiment apart cornering not ruining the game, or it being a final, I thought that the referee is obliged to see whether Arsenal gain an advantage from the foul, if the ball had fell to an Arsenal player, gone out of play, not resulted in a goal scoring chance for Barcelona, then the foul should stand and Lehmann should have been sent off. But the fact that an advantage wasn’t gained and Barcelona still had the goal scoring chance means that he should have played on and Lehamnn stayed on the pitch. Its only a matter of half a second to see what happens, the referee blew the whistle to quickly, in my opinion he didn’t follow the rules properly.
Eboue dived to get the free kick which resulted in the goal, neither Henry or Oleguer should have been carded, there were loads of stupid decisions in the game and both teams were victim to this, so I don’t think there is any real advantage gained by Barcelona from the referee, except for the decision to send off Lehmann, which was incorrect.
None of the Barcelona goals were offside. Maybe Almunia should have done better for the first goal but he couldn’t be blamed for the second. Henry really should have done a lot better from that chance he had in the second half. It was a tame shot, and I cant understand why someone would side foot from that angle unless he was going for the near post, since he was going for the far post it needed to be laced, I think he bottled it.
Overall the referee ruined the game by making a poor decision, but Arsenal could have and probably should have won that match. Barcelona didn’t play particularly well and didn’t look like they would win. Hard luck on Arsenal, but they still should have won.
Arsenal started really well, Barcelona worked there way into the game and it seemed well balanced.
THE SENDING OFF? – First of all, Ashley Cole got himself into an awful position, he was about 2 yards of the line and facing the wrong way, it was a terrible peace of defending, and it was definitely not offside. I personally thought that Jens Lehmann divided in rashly and should have closed the angle and waited to see whether a dive in was necessary.
This is the key part for me, all sentiment apart cornering not ruining the game, or it being a final, I thought that the referee is obliged to see whether Arsenal gain an advantage from the foul, if the ball had fell to an Arsenal player, gone out of play, not resulted in a goal scoring chance for Barcelona, then the foul should stand and Lehmann should have been sent off. But the fact that an advantage wasn’t gained and Barcelona still had the goal scoring chance means that he should have played on and Lehamnn stayed on the pitch. Its only a matter of half a second to see what happens, the referee blew the whistle to quickly, in my opinion he didn’t follow the rules properly.
Eboue dived to get the free kick which resulted in the goal, neither Henry or Oleguer should have been carded, there were loads of stupid decisions in the game and both teams were victim to this, so I don’t think there is any real advantage gained by Barcelona from the referee, except for the decision to send off Lehmann, which was incorrect.
None of the Barcelona goals were offside. Maybe Almunia should have done better for the first goal but he couldn’t be blamed for the second. Henry really should have done a lot better from that chance he had in the second half. It was a tame shot, and I cant understand why someone would side foot from that angle unless he was going for the near post, since he was going for the far post it needed to be laced, I think he bottled it.
Overall the referee ruined the game by making a poor decision, but Arsenal could have and probably should have won that match. Barcelona didn’t play particularly well and didn’t look like they would win. Hard luck on Arsenal, but they still should have won.
