POOR DECISION COST US THE GAME BUT NOT BY THE REF

It is not the first relegation I have witnessed as a City fan and I very much doubt it will be the last but the feeling is just as painful no matter how many times you experience it.

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Yes this season has been soured by all that has gone on off the pitch but seeing us get beaten in such a high stakes game and face certain relegation is still bitter to swallow. It is the first time that my daughter will experience this feeling and looking at her staring out to the pitch at the end, knowing what she was feeling, probably hurt me as much.

I thought City did well in the first 15 mins to weather the Sunderland storm, after that we started to play decent football, everything was played on the floor, we didn't lump the ball forward, we kept a good shape and were pretty tight at the back, Mutch was linking the play between midfield and Campbell in attack.

That said we didn't create any goal scoring opportunities despite our good build up play, we were set up for the classic counter attack football and as the first half was wearing on, I had genuine belief that we were growing stronger in the game and were frustrating Sunderland when they had the ball.

To get done on the back stick at a corner was disappointing and it felt that once Sunderland took the lead it was imperative we didn't concede the next goal.

THE POOR DECISION THAT COST US THE GAME :

Now I have not seen a replay of the penalty incident but whether it was inside or outside the box the referee called the sending off correctly, Cala made a mistake and a poor decision in trying to atone his error he pulled the attacker down and Cala was the last man. The ref played an advantage and it appeared that Marshall obstructed the attacker and I thought that was why the penalty was given and believed that the red card was shown to our keeper.

When Cala marched off that is when I questioned whether it was indeed a penalty but as I say I have not seen a replay but plenty of texts I received state the initial foul by Cala was outside the box, if that is the case then that is the mistake Phil Dowd made but it was still a sending off.

The fact Dowd gave a penalty effectively killed our chance of pulling anything from the game especially now we were a man down too. Whether City would have improved their final third play was questionable anyway but at half time there was no coming back.

Ole went a bit gun ho in the second half, switching Cowie for Zaha and playing with 2 up too, Medel dropped to centre half and played without a right midfielder, as the click wore on, Ole made one last tactical change and replaced Fabio with Kenwyne Jones to play a 3-3-3 at 2-0 down.

The truth is Sunderland weren't 4 goals better than us but the sending off and the fact we were chasing the game resulted in the game opening up which suited Sunderland's cause, they exploited the space we were leaving behind and left us exposed to conceding more goals.

Did Ole get his tactics wrong?

I don't think he did to be honest but he has got it badly wrong in previous games but today I thought we were doing ok, got done on poor marking on the corner, a poor back pass by Cala which led to him bring sent off and then two further goals when we were chasing the game.

Well it is off to Newcastle on Saturday with just the slimmest of chances of escaping relegation but I doubt anyone believes we will stay up but be there I will.

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It was never a penalty Carl he pulled him outside the box not in it

It was never a penalty Carl he pulled him outside the box not in it

Yes, but the foul ended in the panalty box, penalty. Sad but true.

The rules state if a player is being pulled outside the box and it continues into the box (which it did) then itis a penalty

Cala let us down by getting sent off and giving away a penalty. Poor decision making by a lot of our team really, Ole can only do what is asked of him and set out a side that can compete, he did and they underperformed

Our relegation will be secured next game. Ironic but it will be against the team it started by. Tan started butting in then and since it has been downhill all the way. Well done Tan you have got what you deserve.

Not convinced it was a penalty as I said it happened outside the box if it had happened anther ten yards up the pitch it still wouldn't have Been a penalty

The ref played a long advantage for the pen. Is there a rule on How long an advantage you can play?

The rules state if a player is being pulled outside the box and it continues into the box (which it did) then itis a penalty

yes craig thats true! but how long do you play advantage??

Immaterial we were shit and have been shit all season. Gutless

Our relegation will be secured next game. Ironic but it will be against the team it started by. Tan started butting in then and since it has been downhill all the way. Well done Tan you have got what you deserve.

I'm sure tan will spend plenty of time kicking himself over the next few weeks ian for trusting moody and Malky with a huge transfer budget which was ultimately wasted and of all the signings probably only caulker comes out with any credit.
I'm pointing my finger firmly at Malky and moody and would love to be able to ask them where did they think the goals were going to come from to keep us up considering we had a striker problem in winning the championship.

Both pundits (Souness & Quinn) said it was a good decision by the ref

Both pundits (Souness & Quinn) said it was a good decision by the ref

what do they know

Quin would say that has he is ex Sunderland

Both pundits (Souness & Quinn) said it was a good decision by the ref

what do they know

probably more than you

Our relegation will be secured next game. Ironic but it will be against the team it started by. Tan started butting in then and since it has been downhill all the way. Well done Tan you have got what you deserve.

I'm sure tan will spend plenty of time kicking himself over the next few weeks ian for trusting moody and Malky with a huge transfer budget which was ultimately wasted and of all the signings probably only caulker comes out with any credit.
I'm pointing my finger firmly at Malky and moody and would love to be able to ask them where did they think the goals were going to come from to keep us up considering we had a striker problem in winning the championship.

i agree steve we also needed new fullbacks and a creative midfielder he had more then enough time to sort these problems out and he didn't

Kim didn't play today Carl.

Not convinced it was a penalty as I said it happened outside the box if it had happened anther ten yards up the pitch it still wouldn't have Been a penalty

But the stocking point is the attacker was through on goal hence penalty hence sending off

Not convinced it was a penalty as I said it happened outside the box if it had happened anther ten yards up the pitch it still wouldn't have Been a penalty

if that was a top 6 team it would have been a free kick end of

At the end of the day we just wasn't good enough, Sunderland wanted it more

Kim didn't play today Carl.

Cheers I meant Cowie

Both pundits (Souness & Quinn) said it was a good decision by the ref

what do they know

probably more than you

so you think it should have been a pen??

Both pundits (Souness & Quinn) said it was a good decision by the ref

what do they know

probably more than you

so you think it should have been a pen??

It was a pen, started outside the box and Cala still had hold of him inside the box. ref took to long to blow up but that's life when your down the bottom, we just weren't good enough

Let's be honest we deserve to go down,it's been a terrible season we can argue as much as we want but the true picture is we've been shit for the majority of the season

Let's be honest we deserve to go down,it's been a terrible season we can argue as much as we want but the true picture is we've been shit for the majority of the season

This

But at least we can say we enjoyed August

It's a sending off if the defender makes a foul on the last man denying a goalscoring opportunity. Wickham still had the opportunity so Cala didn't deny him! Poor call for me, especially as it was outside the box. That said I still think we would have lost, they looked like they wanted it more.

ole will have known his selection days ago... that was when we lost the game

having a player sent off and a penalty to boot didnt help... but look at the rest of the fruitless performance... we will have still lost with 12 men and a free goal start

good championship players look ever so poor in this division

Our relegation will be secured next game. Ironic but it will be against the team it started by. Tan started butting in then and since it has been downhill all the way. Well done Tan you have got what you deserve.

I'm sure tan will spend plenty of time kicking himself over the next few weeks ian for trusting moody and Malky with a huge transfer budget which was ultimately wasted and of all the signings probably only caulker comes out with any credit.
I'm pointing my finger firmly at Malky and moody and would love to be able to ask them where did they think the goals were going to come from to keep us up considering we had a striker problem in winning the championship.

Malk'y answer to the striker problem was Andreas Cornelius.

i do love Ole... he has done a top top job for you. LONG MAY IT CONTINUE!!!!