Reacting to the refereeing display by Martin Atkinson in the match between Liverpool and West Brom, Dirk Kuyt had this to say:
“The referee was right with the two penalty decisions but it appears that referees have problems with things our strikers are doing – it was the same with Fernando. Every time they go up in the air, they seem to have free-kicks given against them and I don’t think the way Andy was treated was very fair. It is very frustrating as you see strikers on other teams doing exactly the same thing, yet they don’t get punished. Referees need to look at the situation.”
Watching the match it was clear Andy Carroll was not ever going to get a foul given in his favour. West Brom defender Paul Scharner was all over Carroll from the first minute, and Carroll even got a booking for a late challenge, when the numerous bad tackles that Scharner and his Baggies team mates put in went unpunished.
It seems as if Andy Carroll’s reputation goes before him at the moment. Perhaps Martin Atkinson felt for such a big man, Carroll should be able to cope with the rigours of Premier League defences without much trouble, but it was clearly a tactic that was employed by Roy Hodgson to prevent Carroll from getting the ball.
A lot was made of Jamie Carragher and other team-mates having to calm down Carroll because of the frustration he felt about the underhand tactics coming from West Brom, but if I was in the same situation as Carroll, I would have been similarly frustrated. The game is called “football” for a reason, and you are supposed to play the ball, rather than the man, the latter which West Brom tended to favour on Saturday.
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INTRODUCING CRYSIS 2!
The fundamental flaw!!! 3 of our top defensive players where not playing!
3 of the four mid fielders are not good enough to be first team regulars! Lucas, Kuyt and Spearing! (we also had Miereless playing on the left).
That’s why we lost! No flair and no pace throughout the midfield. No quality at the back!
Interesting comments about a team who have been accused of having a soft centre. Surely even you must have seen how much protection Carroll affords himself by use of his elbows. Not on his own there I know. Players of his style have to be dealt with in a physical way or be bullied out of the game. All supporters think that there team is hard done to by referees especially after losing. As a big club it makes the supporters of the smaller clubs smile when you whinge.
@Bob Baker Remember the game Liverpool had with Bolton. Their striker, Davies, is known for his heading ability yet he was diving almost every time and at almost every that kind of duel(when Davies was faking he was pushed) he was given free kick. How about that?
Sack Dalgish and Comolli for giving Kuyt and Lucas new contracts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You sir or madame are an idiot
I second that notion.
I think the writer has a fair point! Carroll is deliberately being targetted by defenders because he is big and referees are letting the “yard-dog” defenders get away with murder. Remember the Europa League game in which a Braga defender (Kaka) gave Carroll a fore-arm smash to the face and UEFA did absolutely nothing (never mind the referee). On Saturday one defender even pushed Carroll in the face and Atkinson unbelievably gave the defender a free-kick!!! In any defender/attacker duel you would expect a 50/50 or even 60/40 split in decisions for either player. Unfortunately, on Saturday, Atkinson gave Liverpool and Carroll very very little in all of these types of challenges. The FA should be made to look at the tapes again and Atkinson’s performance to see if there was an element of biase. I just know when I was watching the game, I was shaking my head at some of his decisions!! They were not just bad – they were biased and that to me is the worst possible referee!!
dont you so call big clubs whinge, moan, nag,hes a carthoss.i love it just love it to read these comments. sit back and read for yourself ,and see how you lot sound.yes whingers,
I’m from a small club no one cares about us, we always get the wrong decisions. We have a really difficult time supporting the club and when we finally get a good result we feel like we own the Premier League and can write nonsense on a proper club’s forum. Yes… I am talking about you ‘boing boing baggie’, you mindless moron.
just got home from work j,from 7am this morning.im far from a mindless moron.the so called BIG clubs do whinge as well you know.oh you are from a big club.thats why your whinging.
We that ref’s will make mistakes because they are human and we have know that our squad isn’t strong enough and that FSG need to bring in players during the summer. So from that point of view this article is pointless.
@SuaRed!!! and SivaRed your opinions about Lucas, Kuyt and Spearing are certainly interesting, ill informed but interesting.
Especially when you consider that Kuyt and Lucas play for two of the top international teams and have the backing of Kenny, Rafa, Stevie, Carra and Steve Clarke. This sort of puts your critism into perspective.
Give me a break fellss – Carroll – he gave as good as he got. He is a big old fashioned centre forward he had the ball lumped up to him continually – and our centre halves are big old fashioned centre halfs who dealt with him in the old fashioned way – physicality.
I saw nothing outrageuous, over the top, illegal or outside the physical aspects of our British game. I presume you signed him as a physical force. Get over yourselves – when would any referee be biased towards WBA?
Ok, I was at the match and here are a few points,
1) Andy Carrol can not jump without his elbows so will always give away fouls. It was Jonas Olsson who marked him out of the game NOT Paul Scharner so please at least get your facts in order. Carrol couldnt take the fact he was up against a taller and physically stronger opponent than himself in Jonas Olsson, so did nothing but moan and argue with the ref about every challenge he lost, a trait he will hopefully for Liverpools (and the man who sanctioned his £35m transfer) sake lose as he matures.
2) West Brom controlled the match by keeping posession and not letting Liverpool dictate the match. Liverpool were simply outplayed.
3) Youssef Mulumbu and Paul Scharner controlled the midfield from the off as they have in a lot of matches this season (3-2 win at The Emirates, 2-2 Draw at Old Trafford, 4-1 win at Goodison) and Liverpools Midfield simply couldn’t handle them.
4) Liverpool supporters seem to need a scapegoat because they can not take the simple fact that “King” Kenny has been out-strategised (is that a word?!) by Roy Hodgson, so the referee gets the blame.
Carrol makes a rod for his own back when he loses out in a physical battle, he can not hack it so starts whinging at every opportunity, he did it at Newcastle and he will do it at Liverpool until he grows up a bit.
*Carroll – please get YOUR facts right. It would be nice if you could spell.
to right tony.think these whingers have forgot a certain mr smith.and that c/h they had if it moves kick it.
Dalglish needs to be fired immediately.He is clearly working for ferguson.Dalglish is secretly a united fan.He only beat them at anfield to motivate his real love united for the rest of the season.The only man for liverpool in our relegation battle next season is Hodgson.We will be damn glad of him next time.We need Konchesky back.There is no one that can match him for ability.Hodgson is unique.Dalglish secretly hates liverpool.Red till i go to bed tonight.
idiot….
You might have grounds for complaint, if an Albion defender had perpetrated a foul to match Jamie C’s assult in the Man U game….
Have fun with you’re relegation battle.
we always do.
have fun that is.not like you whinging lot.
O look the loathsome baggies are gloating o that hurts NOT! It’s even funnier than their annoying accent. Tell you what we were wrong we’ll bend down and beg you for woy he’s such a legend we’ll even give you £20 million. I mean it was everyone else’s fault he got the sack, Kenny’s fault, the new owners fault, or was it the fans or was it Rafa or the players it was never Roy’s fault though because his exciting brand of football had us on the edge of our seats.
Really??? It was a simple case of a big team losing to a team they should have beaten on paper. The fact was Reds were outplayed most of the game, they lacked desire and it showed. Give the Baggies some credit, they are fighting for every point to survive.
Liverpool were just not good enough on the day. Stop the blame game, Reds had chances to score and didn’t. I’m afraid the current midfield is just not good enough and there needs to a serious shake-up come end of season.
We have already played against Carroll already this season and have found out that you must soften him up and he gets frustrated.Scharner was playing midfield by the way so it was Ollson and Meite who roughed him up.I know Liverpool fans complained about Hodgsons style of play but on Saturday we out passed Liverpool although long term Hodgson and Dalglish may just suit the teams that they are now at.
At last a sensible baggie, the fact you outpassed us in part shows up your manager’s failings in his transfer dealings with us. Our squad is poor and while this cannot solely be blamed on Hodgson, the previouus owners saddled us with debt, you can’t ignore the lack of quality in Konchesky, Poulsen, Jones and Cole (in a Liverpool shirt).