[GocartMozart]

when i read this, i had to stop and try to understand how so much logic could actually be written by a journalist.

Howard Webb And Loud Voices
The soft vulnerability of officialdom and rife paranoia over supposed favouritism to the home team at Old Trafford is a toxic combination. It distorts judgement and causes a national furore whenever a penalty appeal by the visitors is rejected. Regardless of the appeal's legitimacy, it has become a ritual for the damning statistics - 'SEVEN PENALTIES IN FIFTEEN YEARS!' as plastered across the backpage of Monday's Daily Mirror - to be wheeled out in order to feed the frenzy. It mattered not a jot this weekend that Howard Webb's decision-making was correct. Newspapers have to be sold and the outrage of the baying mob must be sated.

Even The Daily Telegraph prioritised scandal over sense, permitting ex-Liverpool defender Alan Hansen to devote his entire column to the apparent conspiracy.

'What will stick in the throat of Jol's supporters is that after what happened at Anfield last Sunday there has been another refereeing decision that has determined the course of an absolutely crucial game,' he wrote. 'Wes Brown clearly handled the ball. It would have been one thing if Howard Webb had given a penalty but, had he done so, he should also have sent Brown off. If the penalty had been given and Spurs had scored, they would almost certainly have won the game - 1-0 up against 10 men with time running out.'

Hansen's version of events is so myopic that it borders on a lie. The entire 700-word piece collapse on the fallibility of his centre tenet - that 'Wes Brown clearly handled the ball.'

Firstly, from Webb's vantage point, Brown clearly did not handle. Secondly, replays are inconclusive and tend to suggest, as the player insisted, that the ball struck his chest. That, too, was the verdict from Hansen's colleagues on MOTD.

Presumably, Hansen was among those seething Liverpool supporters who demanded an apology from Rob Styles last week. It will be fascinating to learn if an apology to Webb is forthcoming from Hansen later this week.

Whilst it is true that referees do favour the home team at Old Trafford, there is a simple explanation, and one that does not extend into the realms of institutional bias. Put simply, it is natural for the judgement of referees to be swayed by 70,000 pleading voices.

The probability is that had roles been reversed, so that ManYoo were the attacking side and the ball hit the chest/arm of a Tottenham defender, a penalty would have been awarded and a red card brandished. Thank goodness for that. Rather than bemoan the injustice, football fans should celebrate the inequality; it is one of the few remaining instances in the modern game when the voice of the common supporter actually matters.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,1...688777,00.html


Here's a few more things to consider. In that 15 year period what are the numbers at other stadiums? More importantly, compared to their peers, what percentage of possession per penalty. The fact is very few teams have a ton of possession at Old Trafford. Very few are able to attack so often and have the back four in such a mess that they make that sort of mistake.