merry xmas, chelsea

I have to dig into the Prem again this week, just because it would be criminal not to comment on the catastrophe that was referee Rob Styles performance at Anfield last Sunday. For those who didn’t see the Liverpool-Chelsea game, please bear with me. Those who saw it – and the generous gifting of a penalty equalizer to Chelsea – would certainly understand my fury. Unless they are Chelsea fans, of course. Then again, I would expect much more from those fans than we got from Jose Mourinho after his team had been handed a “Get out of jail” pass by Mr Styles.

Most media reports have described the penalty decision - given after Florent Malouda crashed into Steve Finnan in the Liverpool box - as questionable. That’s not right. It wasn’t questionable, it was outright wrong. The only thing questionable about that call was Mr. Styles’ eyesight. It wasn’t even close! Finnan was just standing there when Malouda, attempting a dummy, skipped over the ball and crashed into him. Not one Chelsea player appealed for a penalty and they must have thought Christmas had arrived early when the ref pointed to the spot.

Okay, the fact that Rob Styles has since admitted the error of his ways and apologized to the Liverpool club means I don’t need to convince anyone about the demerits of that decision. Except for Mourinho, that is. His comments after the game were, as usual, erm…what’s the word…baloney. The gall of that man! First, it was the Liverpool players “from another culture” who hadn’t helped the referee – suggesting that Liverpool’s foreign players were “simulating” (fancy word for diving). And then, of course his team was “naïve…. pure and clean” and not given to diving and violence. Indeed. Well, we all know which team won the dodgy penalty even if, to be fair, Malouda didn’t seem to be playing for it. Of course, not one member of the “pure and clean” team – like their manager - had the decency to admit that they had just escaped a crucial defeat on account of the referee’s charity. Pure and clean would have been one Chelsea player admitting the ref had got it wrong – as Robbie Fowler did at Highbury all those years ago when, having just won a penalty for his team, he told the ref he hadn’t been fouled. Not that he changed the ref’s decision, but at least he showed his honesty. Pure and clean would have been one Chelsea player – just one - admitting that Liverpool had been robbed by Rob (well!!) Styles. Instead what did we get? Well, whatever the opposite of pure and clean is I suppose. Next, Mourinho will be telling us – as he did last season - how penalty decisions never favor poor Chelsea. More “special” baloney from the “Special One”.