Mourinho’s bloody wrong, that was NO Penalty (video evidence)
Jose Mourinho has an interesting way of attracting attention. It works, there’s no doubt about that, but it leaves a distinctly bad taste in the mouth.
This weekend, he’s been going on about a decision that went in Manchester United’s favour at Old Trafford. I’m sure he has the benefit of detailed video footage and high-quality replays of the incident, so he’s qualified to make such statements.
“The circumstances are difficult for us with the new football rules that we have to face.
It is not possible to have a penalty against Manchester United.”
Apart from being factually incorrect, here’s another reason we should question Mourinho’s judgement on this matter – video evidence itself.
Here’s the incident – and despite the low quality, I urge you to look at it closely, several times.
There are two decisions you have to make:
- does O’Shea touch the ball (first replay)?
- does Lee Dong-Gook turn his body to run into O’Shea at the last moment or does he go for the ball (second replay)?
My view is that O’Shea touches the ball, and that Dong-Gook makes no attempt to go for the ball and instead moves across O’Shea to get between him and the ball, falling over him in the process.
It’s also sad to see intelligent writers fall foul to such blanket biases – like the myths of Arsenal’s beautiful football (please, give me a break) or Lampard’s deflected goals (around 5 percent of his goals for Chelsea are deflected), the myth of referees favouring Manchester United comes from United’s previous decade of dominance.
There’s no conspiracy – and while it suits Mourinho’s purpose, it would do him well to review that incident, see where the ref was standing, and decide whether there was any case to be made.
Accusing the refs of being biased towards Manchester United – freedom of speech or not – is slanderous to both Manchester United and the referees. Jose Mourinho doesn’t care about that though.
There’s another myth that I want to tackle today – one that presumes that footballers, referees and managers are intelligent and wise people who have no biases, prejudices or bad habits. That’s bullshit.
Ronaldo is willing to bend the rules. Rooney can’t control his tongue (let’s get the anti-United bashing out of the way, shall we?). And Jose Mourinho can’t stop complaining. He’s complaining about Liverpool’s goal, he has a history of complaining about referees (I’m sure he realises that they have a difficult job to do and that the current rules don’t help them much, nor do the players) and he has made this season all about the purported advantages Manchester United has.
It’s shameful only if you think that Mourinho is a better person than this. He’s not. He’s a good manager who has improved tremendously this season, but he’s also a man who chooses to manipulate the truth instead of seeking it out and accepting.
Bottom line – that was no penalty.
I’m sure you might disagree, so here it is again.
Now it’s your turn.
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Ahmed I agree with most of what youve said but that is a stonewall penalty. O shea didnt touch the ball, and his momentum impeded the man from getting the ball, come on!
April 23rd, 2007 @ 14:45Its was a clear penalty – if it had happened at the other end and had not been given, i’d still be screaming about it now.
Same against Sheffield United midweek, should have been a penalty against us then too, but that made up for the fact Rooney should have got a penalty in the first half himself, so it evened out.
One more thing though, Jose shuold shut it – how many times has the ball smacked off the out stretched arms of Terry over the last few seasons without a penalty being given. I don’t care if the ball is hit from just a yard away, the only reason for terry, or any defender to not have their arms by their side is to reduce the space the attacker can see and put the ball in to; so if the ball hits the defenders arm it is what they were HOPING would happen and they should get done for it. So, people in glass houses ‘n all that.
April 23rd, 2007 @ 14:55doesn’t mattter if Lee Dong-Gook steps across O’Shea or if O’Shea touches the ball. Still a blatant penalty.
Lee Dong-Gook is fully entitled to shield the ball from the player by stepping across. If O’Shea goes for the ball through Lee Dong-Gook then it is a clear penalty. Essien got booked for the same kind of foul yesterday.
April 23rd, 2007 @ 15:01Southgate has shown his decency, I don’t think any manager would have said the same thing. Even He didn’t cared, Calm down Jose!!
April 23rd, 2007 @ 15:25I’m pretty sure that O’Shea touches the ball.. I’m just not sure if he makes contact with the player first or not…
if he makes contact with the ball first, then its no penalty…i just cant tell which one came first
April 23rd, 2007 @ 15:35Great call ref…NO PEN! Jose should keep his mouth shut and accept it, nobody seemed to mention Ole’s perfectly good goal which was disallowed!
April 23rd, 2007 @ 15:52Looks like a penalty to me, O’Shea dosnt touch the ball.
April 23rd, 2007 @ 15:59Of course he does, quite clearly in fact!
April 23rd, 2007 @ 16:04Clear penalty.
April 23rd, 2007 @ 16:28Thing is, how can people say MU gets favoured? What about all the penalties (and free-kicks) that don’t go their way? Like Rooney’s last week, or the bad tackles on Smith and Evra? Almost every match MU have ‘obvious’ penalty and/or free-kick appeals turned down, and no one complains. Now that we’re reaching the end of the season, its like they’re the only team against whom penalties do not get awarded.
I’m not trying to justify the – imo – bad decision, but rather, lets look at things in perspective.
Eg. Ronaldo gets tripped all over the pitch, nothing happens, no says anything… he get a penalty awarded, he’s a diver…
Jose has lost it completely,the pressure is beginning to show he moaned just like keegan did ,lets hope it effects his team
April 23rd, 2007 @ 16:48ahmed, u said you have watched it a few times, i only needed to see it on match of the day two, and that IS a stonewall penalty, O shea got the man first, then a scrape on the ball albeit a touch but a very minor one. it was a penalty, and for you to say it is even debatable is pure rubbish. so you can change the article to AHMED BLOODY WRONG, THATS A PENALTY (VIDEO EVIDENCE) but we arent likely to see that are we??
April 23rd, 2007 @ 18:08I’ll let your comment stay, how’s that for a compromise?
I don’t see the merits in debating it – although I do agree that if it had happened at the other end most of us would be baying for the ref’s blood right now. Still, doesn’t make it right, does it?
April 23rd, 2007 @ 18:17Well ask yourself, would it have been Given if it was at the other end?
Think you know the answer.
April 23rd, 2007 @ 18:24Richard – there are two ways you can look at it.
One, that it wasn’t given because the ref was far away and had doubts.
Two, that it wasn’t given because it was against United.
I guess you know where I stand, and I know where you stand
April 23rd, 2007 @ 18:28Mate on that video u put up the ref runs in from the bottom right, i dont think he was too far away and had no excuses for anything blocking him did he?? i made my judgement from the camera view which is further away than the ref was!! and i was spot on
and im glad your saying refs are bias towards man u!
well done, first time being honest
love it. you should try do it more often.
Blatent pen not given because its against united, and we dont wanna upset fergie do we?!!
April 23rd, 2007 @ 18:34P.S please change the article to what i said, i think its for the good of football and this forum if u admit your wrong and as u admit penalties arent given against man u (bias) it serves good purpose.
April 23rd, 2007 @ 18:40
it’s for the good of football? you’ll say just about anything to support your belief that refs don’t give United pens, wouldn’t you? 
April 23rd, 2007 @ 19:52There are a lot of incidents that are given as free kicks outside the box but nothing comes of it when they happen in the box. The ref can’t give a penalty unless he’s sure. I don’t think it’s should be a penalty because of how Dong-Gook doesn’t go for the ball (if he had been and THEN O’Shea had gone through him, it would be a diff story) and instead runs into O’Shea to take advantage of the tackle and play for a penalty.
We can do this all day mate
April 23rd, 2007 @ 19:55NOW AINT MR BILAL A MANCHESTER UNITED FAN….DESPERATELY TRYING TO DEFEND HIS TEAM….CLEAR PENALTY THATS IT!!
April 23rd, 2007 @ 20:16I know we definatly could mate but i still think you should just change it, or then again i could write an article about it!
haha
April 23rd, 2007 @ 20:21It wasn’t a penalty! In the video that the article carries, look at the 5th minute, he DID clear the ball, its not a penalty! And I suggest someone watches the Pompey game United lost recently, there were two penalty decisions turned down against Manchester United. Both were great decisions, and it did look like a penalty in real time, but in replays it was a clear clean tackle! So its always tough one when it comes to penalties, but then the referees are doing a great job. As for Jose. Shut the Fuck Up Jose!
April 23rd, 2007 @ 16:235th second i beg your pardon
April 23rd, 2007 @ 16:26Rich, here’s something for you.
How is it that Mourinho talks about ‘new rules’ when both sides have been accorded an almost similar number of penalties (5 to Man Utd vs 4 to Chelsea, and Man Utd’s lead can be accorded to Ronaldo)?
How is it that Mourinho talks about ‘new rules’ when United have had 4 penalties given against them and Chelsea only 2?
Yes, Heinze made a mistake in the game against Sheffield United, but were those points unfairly won? At 2-1, Sheff Utd would still have lost.
And you already know that the Boro incident was no penalty
So what’s Mourinho on about?
April 23rd, 2007 @ 22:04Richard mate, STUM! AS sTEVIE g SAYS : THE REF GAVE IT, END OF!
April 23rd, 2007 @ 18:31I think you are wrong Ahmed. O’Shea takes down the player before he gets to the ball and that IS penalty.
You might be Man United fan but that should not keep you from seeing whats righ in front of you.
April 23rd, 2007 @ 23:12Biased are we Ahmed? What a shock.
April 24th, 2007 @ 00:37Clear penalty. Had it been given against any other team, you’d say so. Even if it was, as you say that he ran into O’Shea for the penalty, which is wrong, well how often has Ronaldo done that? Squillions of times.
Thank you, I get it, everybody thinks I’m wrong, I got it the first time, thanks
It doesn’t mean I’m wrong though
Josh – don’t assume what I would say or not say.
As far as the Ronaldo bit is concerned, he dives, he bends the rules to get what he wants, we all know that, we accept it, and we know he does it, I notice it every time he does it.
How is Ronaldo relevant to this? I think that Dong-Gook wasn’t going for the ball and as such it shouldn’t be a penalty.
At the very least, it’s not a STONEWALL penalty as Mourinho is screaming at the top of his voice – which reminds me, Richard dear, did you read the article?
April 24th, 2007 @ 01:00LDG does lean across, because he’s ahead. That makes it a tackle from behind.
Contact is with the leg first and LDG’s leg effectively kicks O’Shea’s forward to contact the ball. The fact is, contact with the ball is what’s inadvertent.
Another rather obvious couple of points. When Heinze hacked Shelton last week it should have been a penalty and a red card, so no Heinze this week. When O’Shea hacked LDG it was a penalty and another red card, so no O’Shea next week.
Man Utd are having their turn at injury worries at the moment, but the only thing preventing Man Utd being punished in the way they deserve to be for their rank bad defending at the moment is that Refs are failing to do their jobs and linesmen are failing to do theirs too. A mistake by one man is only human, but simultaneous mistakes by two officials in consecutive games is… another word.
My only question is, how much do you think they get paid and would you blame them… because it really is that blatant. It’s not only Italians and Germans who have corrupt referees, is it?
April 24th, 2007 @ 01:39Yeah if im signed in my name is either ‘richie’ or richard btw so im the same person, just to let people know
Im now gonna read the article, and dont call me dear!! are you trying to come on to me ahmed? do you play for the OTHER team?? get caught offside?? lol im just joking mate
April 24th, 2007 @ 12:29OK Ahmed here we go:
“How is it that Mourinho talks about ‘new rules’ when both sides have been accorded an almost similar number of penalties (5 to Man Utd vs 4 to Chelsea, and Man Utd’s lead can be accorded to Ronaldo)?”
Because unfortunatly referees seem to like a ronaldo dive (tottenham/middlesbrough) rather than a john o shea wipe out challenge, compare the two callenges yourself and then come back to me, ronaldos is blatent as day, away from home and given, o shea at home not given. I.E a ‘new rule’
“How is it that Mourinho talks about ‘new rules’ when United have had 4 penalties given against them and Chelsea only 2?”
Becuase mate the point is for the past two weeks, weather u like it or not, and i mean for once you are wrong on this, there should have been two clear penalties given AGAINST man utd. And with tackles like O’Shea and heinze the stats should show a more accurate reading.
What i like to see is that this forum, well 80% finally disagrees with you on this one.
Fergie does say o shea got a touch, but he took the player first and that my friend is a penalty.
April 24th, 2007 @ 12:45Because unfortunatly referees seem to like a ronaldo dive (tottenham/middlesbrough) rather than a john o shea wipe out challenge, compare the two callenges yourself and then come back to me, ronaldos is blatent as day, away from home and given, o shea at home not given. I.E a ‘new rule’
I’m sorry, are you saying that because referees get decisions wrong, there’s a new rule? That’s the sort of idiotic crap that creates needless controversy around football.
Becuase mate the point is for the past two weeks, weather u like it or not, and i mean for once you are wrong on this, there should have been two clear penalties given AGAINST man utd. And with tackles like O’Shea and heinze the stats should show a more accurate reading.
Would they? That would mean United had 6 penalties given against them. I could just as easily argue that now Chelsea, because they have only 2 penalties conceded against them, have the refs in their pocket. They have the money for it, don’t they?
I don’t think that, but my point is, speculation like this is reckless and creates unneeded problems. Mourinho’s creating a spectacle out of what? Nothing.
Each and every incident related to Manchester United is hyped beyond belief in the press. Arsenal / Chelsea / Pool incidents don’t get that much coverage. Why?
Because the media has been selling a story since the 90s that Manchester United have the refs on their side.
That story still sells, so the tabloids milk it.
And you guys lap it up, all in one go.
I’d like to see the stats for the last 5 years and how the decisions have gone for all clubs in the Prem. Unless
What i like to see is that this forum, well 80% finally disagrees with you on this one.
If I was going to be of the majority view, I would have said at the start of the season that United wouldn’t do better than 3rd, that they wouldn’t make it past the quarters and that the best they could hope for is a domestic cup semi final.
I’m not.
Anyway, like I said earlier, this can go on for days
See you in the Pool vs Chelsea thread mate
April 24th, 2007 @ 13:28Its when they get these decisions wrong though, seems to mee and everyone whos a non utd that they only seem to get blantent ones wrong against united, i mean the o’shea is not even debatable to me or the heinze one. and i wasnt speaking from my point, i was trying to explain possibly why JM would be saying it. and i meant 80% disagree with the penalty!!
April 24th, 2007 @ 14:15dd on more time because he didnt think that the ref had added enough,
Lets be honest here, i remember the days of fergie telling the ref to a sure enough the ref did and man u won the game. I think it was against blackburn?? not 100% i do remember this though! probably all started here!
dont know what happened with my post there! its spose to say
Lets be honest here, i remember the days of fergie telling the ref to add on more time because he didnt think that the ref had added enough,sure enough the ref did and man u won the game. I think it was against blackburn?? not 100% i do remember this though! probably all started here!
April 24th, 2007 @ 14:16haha i dont think its totally clear wheather o’shea gets the ball first or not.. i do know that he does get the ball.. that much is clear.. and the change in direction of the ball most likely convinced the ref that o’shea got the ball first..
i mean.. he sees Dong-Gook move one way and fall down while the ball goes the other way that would create doubt in my mind.. and they can’t give a penalty if they doubt the descision… that being said..it damn well looked like a penalty at normal speed..
so the ref is either biased but video evidence proved him write to doubt.. or the same as above except he isnt biased
April 24th, 2007 @ 14:24