Duracell Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Just wanted to open up a bit of a debate about our top scorer. Was he hard done by, or did he let us down when it counted? Personally, I'm on the "he let us down" side of the fence. There's a clear difference between being physical and strong in the challenge, and clattering into anything claret and blue. On top of that, he was doing this away from home. I have absolutely no doubt that if he did that at Pride Park, like he did against QPR, it would have probably done us some favours. But away from home? He was asking to be booked twice, and he would have got a second yellow in the end eventually anyway in my opinion. The second yellow itself was incredibly harsh and the ref - who put in one of the worst performances in recent memory - clearly had it in for Martin. But you can't just blame the poor officiating. This is the Championship, and poor referees are part and parcel of the game. They're another challenge you have to deal with. Martin is a marked man now and his reputation is begging to proceed him. Earlier in the season, he was somewhat of an unknown quantity and once or twice, he got away with absolute murder. Plenty of players utilise gamesmanship and some consider it an art form. Martin perhaps sees himself as one of those players. He's going to have to be a bit smarter with it than he was today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boycie Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 I think the clothes line of Barton on Sky didn't help him in the eyes of refs in future games. Or his sense of balance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-JW- Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Hard done by Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinkletoes Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 he goes down like someone is pushing a wardrobe over, today was an unfortunate side effect he gets more than he doesnt so **** it ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwhrams Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 I fear his reputation preceded him today ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbobram Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Kin ell Martin stay on your feet big lad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSD Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Martin is too clever for his own good at times. I think the refs have clocked onto what he does, which is wrong in my opinion because I think that's unfair. The amount of times he's been battered by a centre half at times is crazy, take the QPR game for example. He needs to stay on his feet more otherwise these refs, who the majority in this league are poor and inconsistent will keep booking him. I'm not hating on referees because they don't give us decisions. It's their inconsistency which makes my blood boil. It's not that bad in the Premier League but I've noticed it more in ours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gritstone Ram Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Hard done by but at least he came and sat with us in the stand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChaddesdenRam Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Hard done by but at least he came and sat with us in the stand. Yeah sat right in front of me. A couple of people went up to ask for autographs and photos etc. Also took a little bit of flak, heard of couple of shouts of you let us down, that sort of thing. Fair play to him though. Russell and Bennett were in the stands too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gritstone Ram Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Yeah sat right in front of me. A couple of people went up to ask for autographs and photos etc. Also took a little bit of flak, heard of couple of shouts of you let us down, that sort of thing. Fair play to him though. Russell and Bennett were in the stands too. You must have been near me then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilkleyram Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 I'm more on the hard done to side. Referees generally, it seems to me, favour defenders when it comes to giving out free kicks both in and out of penalty areas - there should be lots more penalties every game if they punished all the shirt pulling and manhandling that goes on; goalkeepers get ridiculously protected; you have to fall over/go to ground to get a penalty or a free kick. Forwards - particularly those like Chris Martin - playing upfront on their own and especially up against two big centre halves like Duff and Shackell, therefore try to get every edge they can, knowing that most of the pushing and worse that they have to put up with will go unpunished. I can't say I blame them. It's a professional's viewpoint rather than a fan's view. I wish players wouldn't fling themselves around. I don't think today's ref was dishonest or a cheat as some have alleged, but I do think he had it in mind to book Martin at an early opportunity, I do think he was inconsistent (he should have booked both Bamford and their striker for diving in two other decisions) and I do think he was generally incompetent - not only in getting the Martin decision wrong but also others too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladyram Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Is it true Martin is the most fouled player in the league? Why is this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChaddesdenRam Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Is it true Martin is the most fouled player in the league? Why is this? He dives and the ref gives a foul. "http://www.theskyisnotyourlimit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/meerkat" alt="meerkat"> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaunTheRam Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Or maybe he does actually get fouled a lot!! Shocking decision today - looked like he just slipped. Referee - appalling. I think Simo may have informed him of this at the end... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladyram Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 They're right to punish the diving, but don't always give free kicks when it's a genuine foul though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaffsRam Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 The approach to tackling diving is archaic and counter-productive. The onus is on the referee who has to make a snap decision, having seen the event once in real-time without the benefit of slo mo/replays etc. What they should do is bring in complete retrospective analysis - anyone found to be diving, gets charged. Charge them enough times and they'll stop doing it. They won't do it though as it's far more convenient to put it on the referee and let them take the blame. I do agree that they have a tough job, but today's debacle was just taking the p1ss - not only he did get the call wrong, it was compounded because of a ridiculous earlier yellow card for the player, and then to completely fook us over he ruled out a perfectly good goal in the process. Martin was hard done to - to say that he let us down is doing him a dis-service, he did nothing that he hasn't done for the rest of the season - today he came up against a referee who was determined to give him nothing, and who made not one, not two, but three bad calls within the space of 10 seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stedcfc Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Theres no doubt that Martin plays for fouls. The problem is that all the refs know he does it and something like this was coming. Ultimately he shouldn't of given the ref the chance to book him after the first yellow and although the actual card he got was harsh as others have said he probably would of got sent off anyway. If the midfield support is too far from him Martin will go down like a sack of spuds. He blatantly dived during the Blackpool game too. Ignoring all of this he's doing this no doubt because he's tasked with relieving pressure and getting possession back and he's the best striker we've had for quite a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ariotofmyown Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Yeah sat right in front of me. A couple of people went up to ask for autographs and photos etc. Also took a little bit of flak, heard of couple of shouts of you let us down, that sort of thing. Fair play to him though. Russell and Bennett were in the stands too. Hold on, martin came in with the derby fans after what happened? And some tw@ts gave him stick for letting us down? Geez Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uttoxram75 Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Martin gets dogs abuse from defenders and gives it back. No problem with him at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Maybe McClaren told him to play that way, what he probably didnt want was burnley bullying us like the red dogs last week. Had the ref not pulled back play, this would probably been a thread on how invaluable he was again, fine lines. .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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