After Sundays incredible (albeit controversial) win at Stamford Bridge I can’t imagine the powers that be are looking forward to this tonight’s rematch. So much happened in that game to stoke the fires for tonight it really is set up to be an absolute cracker. The line ups will no doubt be very different but the emotions will still be high, United will want to put the finishing touches to a very good weeks work and Chelsea should be desperate to get a win in the cup after two defeats in a row. With all the drama surrounding Mark Clattenberg this week all eyes will be on Lee Mason, who I don’t envy at all. Chelsea feel aggrieved and who could blame them after three major decisions went against them, two of which that were wrong, and they will want to see decisions going their way tonight and we all know if big decisions go against United tonight a lot of people will feel that the referee has tried to make amends for the fiasco on Sunday. Lee Mason will be walking the refereeing equivalent of the tightrope at a time when all attention is focused on him, one slip and the mainstream media will have a field day. I hope the football gods look kindly on him however and spare him from having to make any big decisions and we can all talk about the football after the game its been difficult to really revel in United’s first victory at Stamford Bridge in the Abramovic era since it didn’t really feel deserved, even as a neutral though I think we’d all like to be talking about a little bit of magic tomorrow morning rather than a cock up by an official.
Every one is weighing in on the latest race row to erupt and its one that I never thought I’d see, between a ref and a player. Its all a bit crazy at the moment with few real facts being clear but the long and short of it is that Chelsea as a club are alleging that Clattenberg called Mikel a “monkey” and Mata “Spanish twat”. I have absolutely no idea whether its true or not but either way the repercussions should be strong. Personally my gut feeling is that it isn’t true because I just can’t see a referee being that stupid and there didn’t seem to be any reaction from Chelsea players at the time. Whether its true or not will be sadly irrelevant I fear as the only other people who know what was said are other match officials and I don’t think they will throw one of their own to the wolves. If it does get proved though Clattenberg is done and will face criminal charges. I almost hope it is however because the alternative is that a top club tried to get a career destroyed out of anger although I’m sure it would be spun as a misunderstanding. It is sad that a truly great games continually get marred by incidents like this, just once I’d like to see a match of that quality and intensity end with out so much bitterness but I have to admit if those decisions were against my team I would be a bit bitter as well. I hope the truth does come out either way and that any guilty parties can be dealt with swiftly and justly.
The fans need to play there part in this as well, it was disgusting to see the Chelsea fans reaction to Chicarito’s winner. I’m sure most of the idiots throwing coins couldn’t have known he was offside so there was no reason to be that angry until they get home, see a replay and take it out on their poor wives. These players get paid enough you don’t need to give them any more, if anything the players of the losing team should walk around throwing money to the crowd at the end of a game. I understand that emotions grow high, we all become animated during a tense match and I thoroughly enjoy throwing a bit of banter back and forth but at the end of the day anybody who watched that game of football was well and truly entertained for ninety five minutes with some good football and more drama than an East Enders omnibus but those kind of thoughts only come 0nce the dust has settled.
