PL: Blackburn a Ratings and Reactions

[pablopicasso]

it was the sort of thing that john terry gets away with on a weekly basis, but it was a definate penalty... he isnt the keeper, so shouldnt raise his hands that high when the ball is coming towards him...

[The_Steve]

The latter of the law states that:

"Playing in a dangerous manner is defined as any action that, while try-

ing to play the ball, threatens injury to someone (including the player

himself).It is committed with an opponent nearby and prevents the

opponent from playing the ball for fear of injury. The action becomes

an offence only when an opponent is adversely affected.

A scissors or bicycle kick is permissible provided that, in the opinion of

the referee, it is not dangerous to an opponent."

You could argue either way the opposing player was in control of the scissor kick and does not constitute dangerous player. However, his foot is extremely high above Dunne's head so he is entitled to protect himself even if it means raising his hands for fear of injury.

On the issue of handball:

Handling the ball involves a deliberate act of a player making contact

with the ball with his hand or arm. The referee shall take the following

into consideration

The movement of the hand towards the ball (not the ball towards

the hand)

The distance between the opponent and the ball (unexpected

ball)

Position of the hand does not necessarily mean that there is an

infringement

On the first point it seems to me that Dunne's arm is positioned in a way to protect his head not deliberately blocking the ball as there isn't much distance between them. It's accidental.

The view of former referee David Elleray:

"Referees look at two specifics - did the hand or arm go towards the ball or in a manner which would block the ball, or is the hand in a position where it would not normally be?" Elleray told BBC Sport.

On this occasion it's clear Dunne's arm is in a unnatural position and should be deemed a penalty if the referee has the determined on this occasion has ruled dangerous play on behalf of the attacking player. It's a harsh decision but the referee is more than entitled to give a penalty decision based on their interpretation even on this occasion it may not be 100% correct.

[Demitri_C]

am i the only one who felt we was robbed today of a point? gow the hell was that penalty from blank point range? even still di santos high boot should ahve been a foul anyway.

clattenprick cost us a point today. we were not good today by any means it happens. find it funny that we won 5 straight then one defeat later people saying mon isnt the man to take us further :?

[villa4europe]

a bad day at the office. we will have more of these this season, just like chelsea did today and man utd did at burnley.

i agree with this, its starting to look like everyone is going to have some bad days away this season, so lots of points dropped, but that means we have to get it right when we play teams around us, 4 points off city spuds plop and le arse for a start

sounds daft but id rather we messed up yesterday learnt something and then beat city next week than battered blackburn only to be as ineffective against city next monday

[ThunderPower_14]

I look at it this way, if Gabby had tried the overhead and it had hit Samba in the arms in the same fashion, and a penalty HADN'T been given, i'd have gone absolutely apeshit.

[kurtsimonw]

Internet was down, couldn't watch/listen to the game, all I saw was the SSN updates. Gutted.

[villa4europe]

I look at it this way, if Gabby had tried the overhead and it had hit Samba in the arms in the same fashion, and a penalty HADN'T been given, i'd have gone absolutely apeshit.

i agree with this as well, same as the pen in the wolves game today, you can at least see why it was given

ray houghton has just been on TS moaning that dunne wasnt booked, which IMO is utter shite, dermot gallagher said pen was enough punishment

[Rocafella]

It was a clear penalty, nothing to argue here at all. Not even at that hour, as it seems to be harder to get a penalty after 80 minutes etc.

To be honest, the ones questioning the pen are obviously doing it because it happened against Villa.

Poor result, not unexpected after such a good run even though we have played against very poor opposition bar Liverpool.

It's been well so far, we are around where we are going to finish. Our aim is to compete with Everton and Tottenham as we have absolutely no chance of competing with the other top teams. Our first place is to finish 6th, and we are 7th now which is reasonable after two very silly losses.

[Richard]

Extremely poor result especially given the upcoming games

[Jon]

Extremely poor result especially given the upcoming games

yes. Not a good omen, and also not a nice team selection.

However, Wigan was not a good portend for the Liverpool game, so .....

[Jez]

O'Neill disappointed by defeat

Villa boss thought his side deserved a draw at least at Ewood Park

A disappointed Martin O'Neill thought Aston Villa had deserved a draw at least after his side slumped to a last-gasp penalty loss against ten-man Blackburn at Ewood Park.

Villa went ahead in the third minute when Gabriel Agbonlahor slotted home a James Milner flick-on.

But Rovers equalised via Christopher Sambain the 24th minute before Vince Grella was sent-off for a second bookable offence in the second period.

But the home side won it with an 89th minute David Dunn penalty after Franco Di Santo'sshot hit Richard Dunne's raised arm.

The Villa boss was unhappy to lose, telling Sky Sports: "I thought we had certainly done enough to get something out of the game and it was disappointing to concede so late on."

Asked about the handball, he said: "Well I don't really have any comment - it's been given and, well, (I) can't say anything."

O'Neill said goalscorer Agbonlahor was playing really well at present and his side got off to a good start, adding for the most part, Villa had dealt with the balls which Rovers put into their box.

He added: "I have been delighted with the team - I think we won six consecutive games and we have been doing very well.

"This was a difficult place to come to - don't give them many opportunities to get it down and play it and we thought that if we could do it, then we might be able to open them up and it just second half didn't really work out like that.

"However, as I said earlier, I thought we had done enough and I thought we deserved at least a point today."

Sky Sports

[Rodders]

shocking selection. Still, we have generally played ok after a setback so hopefully we'll respond. I'm just fed up of Mon's continuous arrogance in his selections against lower league sides though. 4-4-2 showed no acknowledgement of Blackburn's strong centre at all and if he keeps it up, Delph's confidence must be knocked to continually only seemingly play in losing performances.

glad the penalty was given, ensures there's no get out for a shite result though and will force Mon to go back to the tactic which has PROVEN to be far more successful.