Without actually knowing what Ferguson said, which you haven't quoted but I assume will, there's no way to relate the two incidents. Mancini's remark was more a joke, from what I read, and would be unlikely to be taken as an insult. If Ferguson said something more serious then perhaps it niggled the guy. Was it the ref himself who brought the complaint, or the FA? Or the Refs Union?

Many managers make comments about refs, although they are being more careful these days, I'm thinking Mick McCarthy when he was in charge of Wolves here. But most can make a comment and not get into trouble over it, so whatever SIr Alex said must have been pretty tough for the ref to take offence, or whoever did.

As I said, I haven't got the facts and don't really have the time to go researching, but I have seen that when United win the game in, say, the 96th or 97th minute, Fergie has no problem with extra added time --- even though it's often hard to justify where so much has come from --- but if it happens and goes against him he's asking where did all that extra time come from? It's swings and roundabouts, and evens itself out over the course of a season, more or less. To quote yourself, he can't have it both ways. Extra time happens, and if it doesn't benefit Man U then that's just tough. I do wonder though how many last-minute/second winning goals Man U have scored over the last few seasons? And could that extra time be accounted for? What is the rule: a minute for each substitution and then whatever for injuries leading to delays? Never quite sure of that.

Anyway, I'm just bitter cos I support a **** side who are heading towards the 11:50 slot on BBC next season! :rolleyes:
And I'm old and crotchety...

I think a lot of people perceive that Man.Utd get more injury time than other teams but that's all it is really. No team to my mind, has made better use of the old Brian Clough adage "Than it takes just a second to score a goal" than Man.Utd have. Teams know that when they play Man.Utd it really is to the final whistle and teams know that Man.Utd will go into overdrive until the last kick of the game. You often see teams getting to about the 80th minute with a lead against them and know that they'll not going to hold on against them, so until they can overcome this fear then things will continue like so. whatever Fergie's trick is, I guess other managers would love to have some of it.

As for the Mancini comment, I saw that as just a joke as well, I mean the man was pissed off, as he knows City have a large hurdle to overcome if they want to catch Utd.

I don't buy the notion that they get extra injury time either. When they beat City 4-3, the 4th goal was scored in the 96th minute, so the 6th minute of injury time. They had a segment on Match of the Day dedicated to analysing the time of the ball being in play and out of play and stopped the clock when it was out of play. Turns out the ball hit the net about four seconds before the clock turned to 96mins, yet there was uproar over that goal.

What you have to understand, is that Man. United are on TV more, watched more and hated more, so any dubious decision will obviously be focused on more, whereas nobody cares if Rotherham score an offside goal against Daghenham.

Most of the conspiracy theories can be explained with simple logic. Although watching the match between Chelsea and Barcelona in 2009 made me believe there is corruption in football.

Anyway we only have 2 days to the next fixtures, so how about something in the "Psychic Barclays" thread, McFluff? ;)

Hell, I may just post my own predictions...
:tramp: :soccer:

That's because UEFA (the froggies especially) didn't want to see another all English Champions League Final, I agree it was total corruption.

Well you conceded 8 against Chelsea, 4 against Tottenham so maybe it will just be 2 against whoever they're playing next, your team seem to be getting better match by match.

At least you're honest and it saves me making my final point about ABU's.

I'm old enough to remember well the day Fergie took over at United. And over the years have realised not to complain about his judgement. Team selections etc.
Not only that, but also to never to believe a word he says.
There's method in his madness. Like playing both Scholes and Giggs in the same team V. Newcastle. Just about every United fan I know shook their head in disbelief.
There's a reason United win so many games in the late minutes. It's the belief and trust he has in all his players.
I don't even believe Rooney has an injury which puts him out for 3 weeks. I think he's being rested and the injury story is to avoid any rumour of a bust up with the manager that happened this time last year over his transfer request.
United don't have the strength in depth that teams like City and Chelsea have. City being United's closest rivals to the title as I type and with United playing on two fronts. The Premier and Champions League, he has to rotate with what he has.
Fergie takes calculated gambles with his selections and I believe this is what makes him better than all the rest. Let City and Chelsea play their strongest team week in, week out. We'll see who's still running strong by the end of the season.
Doesn't always work out, but more often than not, it does.
Don't believe me...look at Wenger with Arsenal and tell me they don't collapse every season around about March. On all fronts too.

Oh and no charges are to be brought against Ferguson. Referee Dean says he wasn't abusive. Didn't even make the match report.
Guilty of being a passionate manager, unless you believe the papers and the legions of green eyed ABU's.

Edit: I failed at not having to make my point :/

Two English teams in Rome = World War 3.

Ultras and pissed up English fans galore.

Official Site of the Premier League | premierleague.com

Good fixtures on today. There will be some serious football watching, chicken wing eating and beer drinking at Casa Kittens :cool:

3-0 at home to Wigan is a terrible result.

Villa may go down.

There was an article about the extra time stuff, and it was shown to be true.

Any time a (then) top four team is losing at home, they get more time then other games on average. And IIRC man'u averaged just a bit more then the others.

Injury time stats 2011/12 season;

Wigan
169m 25s

Newcastle
168m 20s

Stoke
166m 52s

Arsenal
164m 54s

Chelsea
161m 31s

Blackburn
161m 28s

Norwich
160m 48s

Everton
159m 50s

Aston Villa
159m 14 s

Sunderland
156m 19s

Tottenham
156m 14s

West Brom
153m 18s

QPR
150m 57s

Wolves
150m 42s

Fulham
150m 34s

Liverpool
149m 45s

Swansea
148m 44s

Man City
146m 42s

Man United
140m 40s

Bolton
139m 35s

And before you start with the top home teams getting more, take a look at the difference between Wigan and Bolton and you'll notice not much of a difference considering it over the season. Same will apply any which way you try to look at it.

Fixed that for you :(

The transfer window is key. It'd be alright if this were an experienced team capable of being mentally robust but a lot of these are kids and the morale must be rock bottom. The Bradford games can't come soon enough, making it to Wembley will give them a great boost.

Yeah, not if we lose. Sorry for being downbeat but it's hard to be any other way when your team has been beaten 8-0 (Jesus!), 4-0 and now 3-0 in three successive matches. It's hard to see the bright side, y'know?

Those times mean nothing without showing which extra minutes are played when the respective team is losing/winning.

Like I said, there's an article about it, I think it was on sky sports.

Those stats are difficult to rely on though, as Man United will be winning more often than other teams going into injury time and keeping the ball = less injury time.

If it's a draw between two teams and the ball has been out of play a lot, lots of stoppages = more injury time.

Slightly related but it's like when ABU's moan about penalty decisions, at face value it may seem like the top teams get more penalties awarded to them, but simple stats don't factor in things such as top teams will spend more time attacking, more time in the opponent's penalty area = more penalties. It's inevitable. Although I did see a table last season of penalties given and Man United were near the bottom.

Yeah I get you. I don't think Villa will lose, Bradford are 4th tier (I know they beat Arsenal but this will be over two legs). Villa should have enough to beat them and turn any deficit from the first leg around once they play the return, Villa Park should be rocking.

I actually might be at this game as I'm waiting for tickets to go on GS, £20 in North Stand lower, watch out for Fluffy Kittens on MOTD :cool:

SUAREZ! Looks like it was a good week for transferring in lambert too.

Benitez doing well with chelsea is annoying. He always had good tactics but was pretty clueless in the transfer market. Him having his big money already bought for him and without his input seems to be working...annoyingly enough.

Who's gonna score more out of Suarez and van Persie?

And Suarez will be off in the summer if he knows what's good for him.

I think van persie tends to be more a dependable 1 goal/game. He gets a chance and takes it.

Suarez comes and goes in flurries. Creates so many chances..but sometimes can't put them away....

At this stage I'd gamble on suarez getting more, just.

Yeah, I won't blame him though if he does leave.....liverpool have to get 4th to keep him. Possible, not probable. Lets see what sturridge does, if we starts surging up the table I can see him staying.....possibly...maybe...hopefully...

Van Persie will score more for sure, but he isn't really that clinical. Walcott has a better shot/goal ratio (best in the League).

My perception is that even when persie misses, they're close/goal threats no matter where he shoots from, even with more adventurous shots compared to other players where they might not have attempted it/go WELL wide.

He's the best striker on the planet (other than Messi I suppose) but I was just saying he isn't as clinical as people think. He is often far too rash (power over placement) but when he places his shots properly he is as clinical as it gets. And luckily for him, he can produce so much power that you can forgive him for just hitting it.

Also, enjoying how my avatar looks in this thread :)

What is it?

There's so many contradictions in your post, I don't know where to begin?

This I can agree with, just.
In that I mean Suarez will finish the season with more (Premier League) goals than RVP. Despite less service.
If both players stay fit for their clubs, it'll be close, but like you say Suarez can bag a brace, or a hat-trick for fun, when he's buzzing.
Good player...vile individual.

Edit: If Suarez has any sense (which he hasn't) he'll be giving it the shoes and leaving Lollerpool first chance he gets, irrespective of where they finish.

That's what I'm counting on.

Also, he's stopped diving, think he's had a talking to/realised he wasn't getting anything. Think the same thing happened to bale too.

As for the negro thing. I don't want to defend it...bad, but relatively in his culture not as bad. He gets along with johnson fine, and he'll have to get chummy with sturridge too anyway!

It's the way he reacted afterwards that did it for me. Classless.
It wasn't the first time he's disgraced himself either.

Yeah, there are very few footballers I'd want to have a drink with. He's not one of them.

The culture excuse is pathetic imo. It doesn't make it any less wrong. Suarez knew what he was doing and he got caught.

To be fair I know a few Scousers who think he is a tw@t as well not trying to have a pop at you Face you seem a good lad.

I used to watch him play for Ajax on ESPN and his work rate/commitment put me in mind of Bryan Robson, only in striker form and I used to think how I'd love him to play at United...not any more.
I actually blame that other obnoxious individual, Kenny Dalglish, for handling his situation, badly. It could and should have been dealt with differently.
Makes me wonder how Ferguson would have handled the player at that time?

...no such thing!!! :bringit:

In addition to my previous post, it is not how you get on with people you like that determines if you're a racist, it is how you treat strangers/people you don't like. That is the acid test.

His comments don't make him a racist imo but what he said was racist. Tried to wind Evra up by using his race to insult him.

And that's not racist, because...

Haha, I like Face he is reasonable on here.

I said it was racist what he did but it doesn't make him a racist person.

Yes it does