Penalties given ... or not

[ABC (A Basingstoke Canary) 26]

I loved AN''s comments in the pink''un:

Neil, however, insists there is no hidden agenda. (insists Grrr - no he didn''t, he merely stated!)

“No, I think it is based on each incident, it shouldn’t be a case of Norwich have not had one yet so we should maybe give them one,” he said. “I think we potentially had one when the ball gets crossed into Cameron Jerome and I felt someone was holding him down but I am not complaining about penalties for or against.

“The fact is the way Leicester play with that counter-attacking style, they are expansive and put you in those situations. It was something we had spoken about before the game, the fact they had the highest penalty ratio in the league, we highlighted that but we couldn’t stop it.”

Neil felt Vardy’s cunning earned the Foxes a penalty.

“Watching it in real-time I thought the player played for it,” he said. “It is a hard one to call. He has stopped his body and gone down, which you could argue is good striking play from their point of view, but for us it is about losing a slack ball in the middle of the park.

The way those paragraphs read:

1) No Mr FA, we know your ref''s couldn''t possibly be biased!

2) It was blatantly obvious that Cameron Jerome should have had a penalty - but "hey guys, I''m not complaining, don''t know why I even mentioned it!

3) It was our fault, because we knew that Leicester cons the ref by having the highest penalty ratio in the league!

4) Even though Vardy did play for it, it was all our fault because we lost the ball in the middle of the park!

5) finally, dictionary definition of cunning:

having or showing skill in achieving one''s ends by deceit or evasion.

synonyms: crafty, wily, artful, guileful, devious, sly, knowing, scheming, designing, tricky, slippery, slick, manipulative, Machiavellian, deceitful, deceptive, duplicitous, Janus-faced;

I would like to think that this approach might actually benefit us in the long run - with it being suggested to refs that they might like to keep an eye on the likes of Vardy and other "speedy forwards" tactics in trying to con them into a penalty. And throughout all this, AN is steadfastly refusing to blame the refs! Something which makes him stand out with dignity. That I''m sure will be duly noted at FA HQ.

BTW how he is able to be so philosophical about it is beyond me - my level of restraint in those circumstances is, to be quite honest, embarrassing in the extreme!

[Gainer the Gopher 0]

Well put, ABC. I''m like you. I don''t hold back when I see bad penalties awarded against us followed (in the same effing game!) not awarded to us. First Palace, now Leicester. Grrr :(

[Gainer the Gopher 0]

...by legit ones not awarded to us...