What Exactly Does "Stone Wall" Mean?

“He’s a human, and everyone can make mistakes”.

Manuel Pellegrini was charmingly tactful about referee Mike Jones’ bizarre decision to book Sergio Aguero for diving when he was scythed two footed inside the penalty area with 10 minutes on the clock during the 3-0 win against Southampton."The worst refereeing decision this season”, it was called by Glen Hoddle at half time in the Sky Sports studio, describing this latest bizarre refereeing decision to impact Man City this season.

So as even “neutral” Sky pundits are sharpening the knives to dissect poor refereeing standards, I think its time to shout out the list to date, as it has affected my beloved club. Indeed, if these decisions truly do even themselves out over a season, Manuel Pellegrini may be able to send out the U16’s during March and April as City will be due a shed full of goals through refereeing fuckwittery.

So what evidence do I have to back up such a feeling of exasperation so early in the season? Well quite a lot actually, and while some decisions could be argued as immaterial to results (as hopefully was the Aguero yellow card verses Southampton), most are not.

It all started with Yaya Toure being felled in the box very late in the disappointing 0-1 reversal against Stoke. We then had a series of befuddling decisions by Mark Clattenburg in the 2-2 against Arsenal; climaxing with City being cheated out of a 77th minute penalty when Wilshire twice handled the ball (all the more galling as Wilshere shouldn’t even have been on the pitch, having commited at least two clear yellow card offences and one arguably straight red offence before scoring earlier in the game). We then had proof that the malaise is not just an EPL issue when David Silva was clearly fouled by Bayern Munich debutant centre back, Mehdi Benatia, in the Champions League opener. Back to the EPL and Mike Dean (to be fair one of the better referees on his day) next took up the Muppet challenge; deciding that it was perfectly acceptable for Diego Costa to throw Edin Dzeko to the ground and denying an early spot kick to City, and a yellow card to Costa, in the Chelsea game. City then even got erstwhile Uber-Ref turned pundit Graham Poll on their side in Moscow when a penalty was awarded against Alexander Kolorov (for literally nothing) in the 86th-minute in the ill feted CSKA game; this after Edin Dzeko was taken down by Sergei Ignashevitch and denied a clear scoring opportunity in the 40th minute, with no resultant penalty. Fast forward to the derby game and a truly awful performance from Michael Oliver who having correctly sent off United’s Chris Smalling for two bookable offences, bottled three blatant penalty shouts; Marcos Rojo on Yaya, Fellaini on Aguero, and then both Carrick and Fellaini fouled Aguero in full view. There was then the stonewall penalty in the 90th minute of the doomed CSKA home match when Sergio Aguero was clearly cropped in the box in the last few seconds.

So not exactly a short list, and as I say we are not yet half way through the Season!

Preview: Man City .vs. Bayern Munich (ECL Group Stage Match 5)

It’s with great trepidation that I write my first blog entry as a build up to City’s latest make or break escapade in the Champions League. To be quite honest, I am not sure what, if anything, the Champions League means to me anymore. There’s a bitter taste in the mouth when I say the words and the aroma of bull whenever the architects of this competition, UEFA, come forward to explain its idiosyncrasies to us the paying public.

And these idiosyncrasies are many (though most have a single underlying cause); be it the inclusion of none champions, the bizarre seeding system, the insistent “Say No” advertisements ironically interspersed with UEFA rulings explaining why racist chanting warrants ever diminishing punishments, dubious sponsorship, truly appalling refereeing, and last but not least the “Financial Fair Play” rules which now underpins its participants.

There’s also the haunting past histories of the Euro glories of the old enemy and the scousers which I am sure will be ever so subtly rammed down our throats over the coming hours by numerous ex-red pundits. Though for the love of the children please let the idiots at ITV realise that the pinnacle of truly awful punditry, Scholes, is best left for none City games!

Perhaps though my unease is simpler, as despite rising to the heights of the domestic game not once but twice in three years, the Champions League gives Man City the collywobbles. Everything which can go wrong does go wrong; from the draw to the tactics, from the refereeing decisions to the phantom Muscovites on the terraces of CSKA, it all goes TU, and as a Club we have found no cure.

If ever a fixture was more likely to increase this malaise it is Bayern Munich in their current form. Having all but destroyed opposition in the Bundesliga with a mix of fast paced football and aggressive transfer policies, they remain unbeaten this season and have conceded only three goals. You might look to the silver lining of Bayern being guaranteed ECL qualification already, so they may rest key players, but this is unlikely to cut any sway with Pep Guardiola. Indeed, if anything, Guardiola seems more intense, more focused this season, and resembles DeCaprio’s manic “Wolf of Wall Street” as he patrols his technical area in search of footballing perfection (though snorting cocaine off Ribery’s backside at half time is probably not within the Bundesliga code of conduct).

So the Citizens are underdogs, with basically nothing to lose. A position enjoyed for decades but one which, according to the media, should not be accepted. Personally, given all the above, I am more than happy to luxuriate in underdog status. Who knows it may actually have a beneficial effect … nothing else has … UEFA hates us and we don’t care J.