Call it luck, call it bias. Either way, Manchester United have enjoyed a remarkably fortunate start to 2011. Howard Webb’s two debateable, game-changing decisions that went against Liverpool at Old Trafford were just the latest events to go United’s way since the turn of the year.
Firstly came a woeful performance at West Brom on New Year’s day, during which Gary Neville escaped punishment after his trip as the last man was ignored by the referee when most thought it should have resulted in a red card and a penalty to the Baggies. In the end United only just won with 11 men.
Next came another win by the same 2-1 score-line against Stoke last Tuesday. While United deserved that victory for breaking down a stubborn opponent, the other fixtures could not have gone better for them, with second and third placed Arsenal and Man City drawing with each other, Chelsea losing to Wolves, and Liverpool being humiliated by Blackburn ahead of their trip to Old Trafford in the FA Cup.
Even the action in the FA Cup may help United in the league. Although Chelsea received a confidence boost from their 7-0 battering of Ipswich, both Arsenal and City drew to Leeds and Leicester respectively, adding another game to their already crowded fixture lists. Then came Theo Walcott’s unconventional admission of diving after the match, which may have negative consequences for Arsenal in the future in terms of referees awarding them penalties and Walcott’s relationship with Arsene Wenger.
During United’s own game against Liverpool the two crucial decisions went their way which were, as I’m sure you know, the penalty awarded inside the first minute for a Daniel Agger challenge on Dimitar Berbatov that was scored by Ryan Giggs for the only goal of the game, and the sending off of Steven Gerrard.
Before we discuss Howard Webb’s influence on the game, I have to point out that United were absolutely terrible after the first five minutes, and barely deserved the win. Only Giggs, and perhaps Rafael, played at anywhere near their usual levels of performance and when I heard Berbatov was awarded man of the match for another lazy display I laughed out loud. Carrick gave a master-class in nervy, negative midfield play, Chicharito hardly received a pass to feet for the whole of his game, and Anderson, the man who has given United’s midfield an increase in intensity since his return to form, was on the bench.
Anyway, back to fortune. United were saved from their own poor performance by Webb’s decisions. Of the two big decisions I believe that the red card was the better one. While I did not see why so much from my seat, the replays and Gerrard’s lack of argument show that it was a bad challenge, and had it made contact any higher up Carrick’s leg than it did could have been much worse.
In my opinion, and from my viewpoint in line with the incident, I don’t believe United should have been awarded the penalty. Berbatov played for it, Agger’s contact was minimal at best, and if the same incident had taken place at the other end of the pitch I don’t think Liverpool would have been given it.
Although he is officially the best referee in England, it seems Webb is still affected by the crowd and the occasion, and his inconsistency can be seen in the way he sent Gerrard off but only showed a yellow after Nigel de Jong’s Bruce Lee impression at the World Cup final. He didn’t want to give a red early on in South Africa because of the occasion. Had it happened late on in the game he almost certainly would have done. So his judgement was affected then just as it was by the atmosphere of a United v Liverpool match at Old Trafford and a home crowd who all ‘believed’ they should have had a penalty.
Here is a stat for the conspiratory theorists out there: Howard Webb has awarded penalties to Manchester United in four of the last six games he has overseen at Old Trafford. Is this indicative of an institutionalised bias towards United by referees? Or is it because United attack teams at home so spend more time in and around the opposition box and have more chance of being fouled by opponents weary after chasing possession for long periods?
Whatever your own opinion on this is, you can’t argue with the fact that things are going United’s way at the moment. Their luck must change at some point, and unless they step their game up their unbeaten league record will fall too. Whether they will be too far ahead for the chasing pack to catch by that point may decide the league this season.
Do you think United benefit from bias, or are they just on a good run of luck?
Read Charlie Coffey’s brilliant blog at my11.com.
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