Bassong's tackle on Kone

[Thirsty Lizard 3,154]

Just thinking back over the season and remembered the 93rd minute of the home 2-1 win over Wigan.

We were 2-1 up and looked comfortable, but couldn''t get the 3rd goal. Then right at the death Kone was put through one-on-one with Bunn and was just about to shoot when Bassong appeared from nowhere and blocked the shot.

If Wigan had equalised then we would have been looking at a very different scenario right now with us on 39 points and Wigan on 36. The dividing lines between success and failure at the top level really are very thin.

[Kangaroo Court 0]

What would the table look like now if he''d got a decent tackle in against Agbonlahor, the linesman in the Arsenal game wasn''t corrupt, the ref had got the penalty and red card decisions right in the Sunderland and West Ham games and Holt had put away that Southampton penalty?

[birchfest 397]

If we had put the penalty away against Southampton we would be looking at a better placed finish than last season. Thats the thing with football, its such a fine line of margins and what ifs, especailly this season where the bottom half of the table is stretched over about 5 points. Just glad that we arnt playing the what if game off the back of a relegation... those are unbearable, what if we had signe ashton etc etc

[Thirsty Lizard 3,154]

Of course Kangaroo - there are many, many moments which make up a season. And I totally agree with you about the refs and linos who''ve stitched us up massively this season - particularly at West Ham, Sunderland and Arsenal.

Was just reminiscing really.

[star_manic 0]

the major one for me was the penalty save against QPR, which Zamora scored from the rebound when he was level with the penalty taker before he kicked it.

[Kangaroo Court 0]

[quote user="star_manic"]the major one for me was the penalty save against QPR, which Zamora scored from the rebound when he was level with the penalty taker before he kicked it.[/quote]I''d forgotten about that one. These things are supposed to even themselves out over a season but I can''t think of any decisions that we didn''t deserve that have really swung a game in our favour this season.

[GenerationA47 746]

One good reason amongst many why we will aim for more than single-goal winning margins, and draws away from home, next season as a matter of course. We''ve shown this weekend that we can do it - perhaps more importantly Mr H has shown himself that we can do it (even with the current squad), in case there was any doubt. 

 

Make our own fortune in that way, and avoid relying so much on fair decisions / season-changing tackles / etc. that are rightly but futilely pointed out here.

[Gingerpele 0]

Examples of points won by fine margins, and points lost by fine margins. And plenty of examples of referees doing all that can so prevent us from winning games.

Nothing wrong with wondering what might have been if certain thing had or hadn''t happened!

[It's Character Forming 1,160]

True - the table this year is unbelievably congested with 8 teams crammed between 39-43 points.

 

So Villa could go into their final game knowing that a defeat would mean relegation (unless results elsewhere save them) but that a win could move them up to 11th place if none of the teams above win.  How crazy is that ?

 

We can look at any number of kinfe-edge moments which could so easily have gone the other way.  Personally I think we have been hard done by officials and with correct decisions at Sunderland and Arsenal we could easily have had another 5 points.

 

Also it''s worth reminding ourselves that, this season, to be mid-table in the Prem has involved being at some risk of relegation until the last couple of games, or potentially until the final game for a couple of teams (if Wigan win tomorrow).

[Bury Yellow 2]

Picking out the points on this thread. The Bassong tackle will live long in my memory. That it was made cleanly in the penalty area added to the skill level.

There is no doubt we have been treated harshly by some poor referee decisions but that is something we have had to put up with in the top league for many many games over the years. I wonder why?!!

Based on yesterdays good performance I too hope that Houghton has learnt that we have some top players and can be trusted to play an up tempo game. All the players looked so much more comfortable on and off the ball.