Team news and match chat

[priceyrice 123]

Haha, i love you logic Paul, i bet in your mind you always manage to be in the right!! I think it''s accepted, even by you, that Cody is champ level at best.Anyway back to the game, i think we have really stepped it up since the Everton goal, keep this up and the game should be ours. Good to see out play a bit more direct, stopped faffing about in our own half and now playing the game in Everton''s half. What do people make of the formation, it''s working well, seems to be two holding players in Fox and Surman then Wes and Bennet out wide and Howson behind Holt.

[priceyrice 123]

Just seen that the BBC has Everton down with 61% of possession. How on earth do they work this stat at. From what i can tell Norwich just egde the possession side of the game.

[Ozbarclay 0]

Can''t help thinking Baines would be off if he played for us.... especially in those first few weeks this season... and back then we would have had that penalty given against us as well.

[thenorthstand 0]

Wont know til I see it Oz but most probably agree from what I''ve heard!!

[ron obvious 1,502]

Weird game so far. Although Everton had most of the ball , they didn''t look like scoring; their goal seemed to shock them as much as us. They then nearly score immediately from a misdirected cross coming off the bar.

Somehow there doesn''t seem much conviction about their play. We look far more purposeful, & the goal was a peach - much more because of our lovely movement down the left than their ineptitude.

Tempting fate, but I think we''ll win this.

[Ozbarclay 0]

Probably a bit close to the shot to be a penalty.... would have taken it though :-)

[priceyrice 123]

Just seen another possession stat from the stream online, 53% Everton. How can two stats about the same thing be so difference, would love to know how they add work this rubbish out

[priceyrice 123]

WOW, is E bennet blind????? Lets smack in the freekick

[Ginja 26]

Well this is a much improved second half, a goal is coming I hope (for us!)

[thenorthstand 0]

If we play like this for the next few weeks I have no worries re: staying up.

[Ginja 26]

FFS... play to the whistle!!!

[Nuff Said 5,123]

Would love to see Fellaini yellow carded again, he''s *such* a t*sser.

[Nuff Said 5,123]

COME ON!!! Holt again! And Wilbers made it. [:D]

[Jarrold Lad 0]

Come on lets get the winner.

[Nuff Said 5,123]

I''d love to win it, but I''d be happy with a point today, to get to 40.

[priceyrice 123]

It''s coming guys, i feel it, Wilberham with the winner

[thenorthstand 0]

I''d take the full time whistle!!!

[fonejacker 0]

Sorry Morison/Jackson, but for me I''d start with Holt and Wilbrahamovic up front.

[Herman 9,755]

Good result.Gets us to the magical 40.[:D]

[shefcanary 2,396]

Good point given the comedy reffing - Marriner, how are you a ref!  Should have played to the whistle for their second though.

[Nuff Said 5,123]

Everton = bunch of cheating ****ards. Jelavic can''t take any physical contact, Baines should have been off for a second yellow (twice) and Fellaini thinks he should be able to stamp on Hoolahan without sanctions.

[paul moy 235]

Well played City, and I hope Wilbraham gets a contract extention.

[Robert N. LiM 4,335]

Good game, and a more than decent point.

When the fixtures came out, I think we would all have been happy to have reached the 40-point mark before those last six games. Well done to PL and the boys.

I actually thought Marriner reffed it pretty well. Of Baines'' three challenges, only the second one was a yellow. Fellaini should have been booked, but Everton''s second goal was our fault, not the refs. We should have played to the whistle, simple as that.

[Ozbarclay 0]

Wilbraham was excellent... I never thought he was as poor as some people but I did think he was an emergency full in...We do so much better when we take the game to the opposition.

[GJP 79]

[quote user="Robert N. LiM"] I actually thought Marriner reffed it pretty well. [/quote]

Looking at the Baines stuff. The late one he put in after he''d just been booked was a clear second yellow and it was right infront of the ref. However, bottled the decision. There''s no other explanation for that. He knew it was a bookable offence and he simply opted to do Baines and Everton a favour.

 

But then what made it even worse was that Baines continued to commit fouls and get away with it. Those fouls may not have been worthy of a booking on their own but what happened to this "totting up" thing that the refs do these days? Marriner decided to overlook that.

 

There was a quite clear and blatent handball near the halfway line which he just decided not to give. There also appeared to be a very strong shout for a penalty for handball.

 

Then there was that "foul" on Jagielka from Holt. The linesman was on top of it and didn''t give it as a foul and Holt appeared to be nowhere near making contact but the ref, who was some distance away from it, decided it was a foul.

 

Why was Howard allowed to move the ball quite some distance to take a freekick but Ruddy wasn''t allowed to do so?

 

I''m very surprised anyone can say they thought the ref did "pretty well". Really hard to see where that has come from.

[barclay seats 4849 0]

scored an og  a  2/3 weeks back ......................are you including that one ?

[quote user="paul moy"]

[quote user="Mister Chops"][quote user="paul moy"]I still reckon selling Cody was a mistake.... just scored again !! [:D][/quote]"Again" implies it''s something he does regularly.[/quote]

2 in 2 after being out injured for a few months.

[/quote]

[Robert N. LiM 4,335]

GJP,

I watched it on an internet stream. This has the advantage of being distanced from the fervour of being at the ground, but the disadvantage of missing some incidents when the stream freezes...

So, to respond to your points. I thought the tackle that Baines was booked for was very harsh - difficult to see what else he could have done in the circumstances. The second tackle was a yellow card, no question. I suppose you could argue that this is bad refereeing, in that Marriner got both decisions wrong, but I would argue that in the end the right decision was made - Baines should not have been sent off for those two challenges and we would have been furious if Drury had been. The only other Baines foul I can remember is the obstruction when Bennett(?) knocked the ball past him and ran into him. It was a clear foul, but there was no way that Baines could have got out of the way, so I can''t see how it was a yellow.

Didn''t see the ''clear and blatant handball'' you refer to. My stream may have been frozen at that point. (Perhaps Arsene Wenger should take to watching Arsenal''s games online - his excuses would be perfect then)

The foul on Jagielka by Holt was a foul. Jagielka cleared the ball and Holt got there late and took him out. Why the linesman didn''t give it is bizarre, but Marriner got that one right.

Not sure about Howard/Ruddy - didn''t see that.

Personally I think that the fans got worked up about Everton''s second goal. It''s easy to blame that on Marriner, but, as is being argued on another thread, the fault lay with our players for switching off. If anything, it should have been a free-kick to Everton.

Obviously your perspective on Marriner is different, and I''m the first to admit that watching the game online doesn''t always give you the best view. But one of the things in the modern game that really winds me up is people blaming the ref at the first possible opportunity (Please be clear, GJP, that I am not accusing you of doing this). Watching many thousand miles away gives you a much more detached perspective, which was what I was trying to provide. Chants at the game of ''You''re not fit to referee'' seemed extremely harsh on this occasion.

[Baldyboy 0]

Mr Lim, if you think Marriner reffed that game well you are deluded!!! Best you get your stream sorted before spurs so you get a clearer picture!!!!

[Robert N. LiM 4,335]

Well argued.