Just take it on the chin
In The Sport-Light
By R. Manogaran
WHY is it that teams almost always point their fingers at the men in black whenever results go against them? That, to me, is the coward’s way out.
For the life of me, I just can’t stand it when managers and players blame referees for their own inadequacies.
And that’s why I was surprised – no, shocked actually – when my hero Kenny Dalglish berated the referee when Liverpool lost 1-0 to Stoke in an English Premier League match on Saturday.
Sure, Alex Ferguson of Manchester United does it whenever his team lose. But that is to be expected since he has been doing that for ages!
But King Kenny?
He seemed to have lost his marbles when referee Mark Clattenburg gave Stoke a penalty following Jamie Carragher’s foul on Jonathan Walters. The striker picked himself up to smash home from 12 yards on 21 minutes for the only goal of the match.
Maybe Dalglish has the right to feel aggrieved. According to him, Clattenburg got two more clear-cut decisions wrong against Liverpool, including a penalty shout.
But a match is played over 90 minutes. Stoke scored in the 21st minute. That leaves the Reds with another 69 minutes to get the job done.
And they didn’t. Period.
Manogaran further added...
On Saturday the three penalty shouts that all went against the Reds went a long way to deciding the outcome. But there were also reasons closer to home why Liverpool’s wait for a first league win at the Britannia Stadium goes on.
The fact is Dalglish should rethink his team line-up, tactics and players. Being the die-hard Liverpool fan that I am, I feel Dalglish is putting too much faith on the young Jordan Henderson.
He’s good but not that good. He still has much to learn, especially about composure. If he had that, he would not have muffed the gilt-edged chance that presented itself to him in the match against Stoke.
If only Dalglish had done everything in his power to make Raul Meireles feel wanted and kept him in the squad. While Liverpool were labouring to even get a goal against Stoke, Meireles was running the show for Chelsea in their 2-1 away win over Sunderland.
That’s one classy player Dalglish let slip.
* It's true no player is bigger than LFC but I have to agree with this one. We shouldn't have let Meireles go at the first place. Regardless of his latest statements about LFC, we have to admit that Meireles is a world-class player and he has proved it in his first and only season with LFC. However, life must go on. Hopefully we can beat Spurs this Sunday to keep our season back on track. YNWA!
* take it on the chin - to be brave and not to complain when bad things happen to you or people criticize you
Sebenarnya tak pelik jika Kenny tiba2 bersuara pasal referee. Selama ni buat tak kisah pon tapi benda ni lama pendam sejak dari dulu. Kejadian hari tu cuma pencetus dan sememangnya penalti pon pasai Carra buat taik pegi tarik Walters. Dia cuma luah rasa terhadap layanan ref pada Liverpool selama ni. Tapi apa2 pon aku setuju, kalau kita x leh score dlm masa 90 minit, itu salah kita dah bukan salah org lain.
ReplyDeleteaku dah agak sape akan komen dulu. hehehe. put aside bad refereeing, kekadang kita kena admit kelemahan dan kekurangan team kita. hopefully ni minor slip-up je dan tak berlarutan.
ReplyDeleteref punye issue has a funny way to right itself. Sometimes you get the decision, sometimes u dont. Rasanya kenny penah cakap nih dulu...
ReplyDeleteapa2pun kena kasi team ko power lah.