EPL Talk - Latest Comments in Good For You, Steve Bennett

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Michael — Sun, 11 May 2008 21:36:53 -0000

Sanjay, there is NO WAY that incident was worthy of a red card. First of all, it wasn't a "tackle", and so it definitely wasn't "reckless". It was a professional foul by Scholes to slow the tempo of the game down; we see those types of fouls all the time. Sure, he didn't play the ball and it may have warranted a yellow card, but I was fine with the warning from Bennett and in no way, shape, or form was that ever a red card.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Sanjay — Sun, 11 May 2008 18:47:11 -0000

Somehow, when it comes to Manchester United, fans and experts seem to think that reckless tackles dont warrant a red card. I believe that it did, but that Bennett was under too much pressure- this was after all the season finale. And if had sent Scholes off and the result didnt go United's way, as usual Fergie would have gone on a rant and the FA would have done nothing to punish him.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Paul Bestall — Sun, 11 May 2008 18:14:14 -0000

I certainly didn't think Scholes challenge warrated a red card. A yellow but no red. A body check on the half way line, thats a standard tactic straight out of Mourinho's handbook. The best team has won the league this season, no argument about it. Liverpools pre Xmas results cost them their title challenge, drawing at Pompey, drawing with Reading, drawing with Tottenham. That's 6 points they threw away through bad tactical decisions off the top of my head.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Michael — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:49:56 -0000

Boro fan, that could've been a yellow card on Scholes at the end of the first half, but that's not what I was originally talking about in this post.

Paul Bestall hit the nail on the head with his last comment.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Paul Bestall — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:28:14 -0000

Mascherano's behaviour was a disgrace that day and he shouldhave given him a straight red, never mind a yellow card. They showed a highlight package of his behaviour that day and believe me, he was lucky to still be on the field as long as he was. The Torres incident was the fainl straw.
I'm no fan of Steve Bennett, but to accuse him of pro Manchester United bias is verging on the ridiculous. He hasn't refeffed all their games since 1990 has he??

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Boro fan — Sun, 11 May 2008 12:04:41 -0000

Good For You, Steve Bennett.... or no, wait, this is Man Utd, Scholes... no no, not red card...

How about that?

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Michael — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:14:47 -0000

Everyone who believes that Steve Bennett is somehow biased towards Manchester United and against Liverpool or any other club, let me ask you this:

Who was the referee who sent Ronaldo off against Portsmouth earlier in the season?

Who was the referee who has sent Ronaldo off twice in his career?

Who was the referee that didn't award United a goal in the FA Cup Final last season in the first half of extra time, a ball that looked extremely close to crossing the goal line?

Steve Bennett.

Don't give me any more rubbish about how Bennett favors United, it's unfounded. Sending off Mascherano was the right thing to do; Mascherano's petulant behavior and the fact that he came clear across the field to argue something that didn't even involve him was stupid, and it left Bennett with no choice. Do you really think he wanted to show him the second yellow card in a game of that magnitude? I get criticized for not knowing the game of soccer, but if you believe that referees take some satisfaction in sending players off, it's you who doesn't know soccer.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Taylor — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:27:14 -0000

You can't be serious?

Masch question Bennett with a what's happening? After Torres was book for being kicked three times before finally being hacked down near the halfway line.

If you can't question rubbish officiating, nevermind the fact that Bennett was picked by name by Sir Alex before the match, then why even bother playing the games. Let's just award United the title every year shall we? Masch lost control that's true, however, this was not until after he was sending off for defending his striker. Something Gerrard should have been doing long ago. Also if there was to be consistency then ban John Terry for life for touching an official, ban Cole for his display at White Hart Lane for at least two or three games, and look into why Rooney and Co weren't carded when they talked Anderson out of a yellow. If you lot want to be sheep so be it, but if you can't see crap for what it is then you're obviously insufficiently educated to be reporting on such things.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

UnitedKick — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:40:34 -0000

I think people are harping on one call too long and trying to make excuses for their team losing. Everyone wants to whine that the first yellow was his first tackle of the game and he shouldn't have gotten a card - no he shouldn't have been late. I think he received the card because of the speed of the tackle and the way that Scholes landed. In real time at real speed, it looked nastier than it was, but again Mascherano immediately got up bitching at the ref. Reffing is a pretty thankless job, you will never please everyone, but if you get paid millions of dollars to PLAY A SPORT then the least you could do is have some self control and have respect for those who uphold the laws of the game. If you bitched at a judge the way Mascherano was bitching at Bennett, you would be held in contempt. I think outdoor soccer should implement a "sin bin" like the old blue card on indoor. Bennett could've given Masch a few minutes to cool off. He was just super wound up and there was no bringing him down. I don't like the fact that Masch is claiming innocence. He needs to go back and look at himself on tape and see what a jackass he made of himself.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Zan — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:29:21 -0000

On one hand he chose to uphold the authority of referees, on the other hand he had indirectly led to serious doubts on the credibility of the standard of refereeing.

I agreed that Mascherano should be sent off, that guy lost his cool and went over to ask a question when he's over the other side of the field, but due to Steve's inconsistency, he had failed to protect a player from getting roughed up.

Is refereeing all about authority, and less about protecting the best interest of football itself?

I think he ought to reflect on why he ever choose the path in the first place.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Tim — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:23:30 -0000

Bennett is a useless ref, should be sent down to the Championship for the rest of this season. FA can say all they like about respect, but the problem is inconsistent referring and Bennett is the worst of a bad bunch. As just after Mascherano was booked Anderson committed a similar foul (lunged in and got the player not the ball) but didn't get booked, stuff like that adds to an already volatile situation. A game like this the ref needs to be calm rather than adding to the rising temperature.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

UnitedKick — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 13:11:25 -0000

Look, it all comes down to respect. People are all saying he didn't say anything, but if you were watching the game you would see that Mascherano was throwing F bomb after F bomb at Bennett. I kept saying to my friends he better shut his mouth. I applaud Bennett for letting it go on that long! Macherano got what he deserved and I think Benitez defending him is ludicrous. I could tell you that if I acted like that in the recreational league, I would be thrown out of the game, so it should be no different for Mascherano. If someone got up in my face like Mascherano did, I would punch them. How can people say he did nothing wrong? You wouldn't walk up to someone on the street or in the office and get right in their face - that would be disrespectful!Whether the first call was a yellow card or not is debateable, but the second one was certainly warranted and he should've known he was walking on thin ice after the 30 F bomb he levyied at Bennett.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

tampasoccer — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 10:05:09 -0000

Mascherano's first yellow was ridiculous. THAT WAS NOT A YELLOW CARD. That said, he knew he was on a short leash for the remainder of the game and had to be careful. The sending off decided the game, but, as a Liverpool fan, I have to admit that United were the better team even before the sending off and won deservedly. We are going further and further away from the title. The quality gap between us and the top 3 is obvious.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Josh — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 01:00:06 -0000

As a LFC fan i believed the ref gave in to pressures of the home game- Big match wrong ref. liverpool had an offnight in terms of our defence against the relentless man u attack.
regarding the Mascerano incident, you have to understand some players play the game with their heart in the heat of the moment, he made a bad decision to continue arguring but it cannot be helped with the unfair decisions previous that endangered a teammate and team's chances. All those so called 'neutral' fans, I can tell most are everton supporters. Most are so happy over the loss of Liverpool, Please look at the game from the side of both teams before you run your mouth off about being in the middle and thus your opinion would be the most fair.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Django — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:59:40 -0000

PS--by "huge title implications", I do not mean to say that Liverpool were on their way to a title by winning--I'm a huge fan, but not delusional.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Django — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:45:04 -0000

I'm flattered you agree with parts of my evaluation, but I don't want the other important part of my post dismissed. I do not blame Bennett for the loss, that is clear, but I do blame him for placing himself dead-center in a match with huge title implications. EPLNFL puts it about as well as I could--there have been many times in watching Bennett that I think, "He's booking that player because he doesn't know what else to do". The best sporting officials are unemotional, calm, and collected. Bennett has never given me that impression. What do I know about officiating a footie match? Shit. But I do know that vindictiveness has no place in the world of officiating, whether it's at the rec park or in the Premier league. A couple weeks ago a character in "The Wire" said "deserve got nothin' to do with it". That applies here--who cares who deserves what, Masch acted like an idiot, but all is not well with the FA and its officials when we're singing an official's praises for sending a player off. Objectivity among officials is a joke, it always has been. What is the next step...robots, maybe?

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

eplnfl — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:11:48 -0000

I have had the chance to see all of the action that caused the ejection and while it is clear that Mascherano was a clown and needs his rear end kicked by his manager, this is another instance of Bennett showing his complete lack of ability to be a Prem ref or any other professional league for that matter. Go back and review his record and you will seem either losing control of a game or trying to show his authority by being quick on the draw with the cards.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Michael — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:09:37 -0000

Django, I agree with a lot of what you're saying.

I didn't write this post at the end of the game, I wrote it at halftime, so there wasn't the full 90 minutes for me to talk about. I agree, the bigger story in this game was that United took it to Liverpool and did so even when the Reds had 11 men. Mascherano's dismissal forced Liverpool to change their shape, as you identified, and all-in-all, this was just a different Liverpool team than the one we've seen in the past month or so.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Django — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:47:24 -0000

Die-hard Liverpool fan, and I had some similar thoughts, some different than what is posted here. I think it's unfortunate that the game has been reduced to an argument about whether or not Masch deserved a second yellow. I saw a different Liverpool today than I've seen in recent weeks--early on I thought it was jitters, but even in the twenty or so minutes before Masch was sent off they looked unsettled. It may have been that Man U are that much better, but there was no flow. Tactically speaking, there is little to assess, as they didn't have much possession prior to the sending off and after the sending off there was really no attack. Gerrard was forced to sit deeper, leaving Torres to be marked by two men at a time. I was upset at Masch for getting over involved, but I can understand the emotion. Liverpool were outclassed, which is difficult to say, and the huzzah over the red card will take most of the blame. I won't say good for Steve Bennett, because a sporting event should never, NEVER, be about the officials. Clearly the FA has had problems recently, but the post-game story should not focus on the man with the whistle. Would have been nice to see the match without the three-ring circus, regrettably we won't know, and I have a feeling the Pool would have lost anyhow.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

p itbull — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 19:58:31 -0000

if mascherano had spent more time running after the manchester united players instead of the referee you might have kept it down to 2-0. as it was reina did his best to keep it down to 3-0. stop blaming everybody else and you might get somewhere

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

please talk sence — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 19:49:16 -0000

Can someone please tell me what ashley cole kicking someone and mascherano asking "whats going on" have in coomon and i mean without bias. WHAT WE SAW TODAY WAS YET ANOTHER WEAK REF GIVING IN TO FERGIES MOIND GAME, WHICH AS BEEN PLAYING ALL WEAK.bet bennet wont get a game at anfield in a hurry. they will linck the bafoon.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

dave norwich through and throu — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 19:42:58 -0000

i sat down today to watch what sky billed as another suoer sunday. thought this is going to be close. but that buffoon benett did it again . spoilt another good game for us nuetrals. what happened, torres asked for protection, and got booked. macherano asked whats hapopening, got booked for having the impertanance to ask a question and the game was over. i think his subsequent reaction will lead to trouble, but bennet also lost the plot and should be deciplined. but that wont happen. i wont pay for sky again as the refs are ruining the game. he should be relegated he ruin what i payed to watch

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Ringo — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:51:19 -0000

It's time all players ,including captains ,where told ,
"under no circumstances do you talk to the officials".
Or would that be too simple?

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Michael — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:33:55 -0000

He said "fuck off" in English multiple times! That wasn't hard to pick up, and it revealed a very ugly set of teeth I might add.

And yes, I do think Mascherano deserved to be sent off for dissent. He'd basically been asking for another card and ignored Bennett's warnings to walk away; Mascherano persisted on talking to Bennett and put himself in a bad situation.

As I said in one of my previous posts, Ashley Cole should've been sent off for his tackle on Hutton and was fortunate not to be, and then was very fortunate to get another yellow card for showing up Mike Riley.

Re: Good For You, Steve Bennett

Ryan — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:22:11 -0000

So if he was speaking Spanish how do you know he repeatedly said fuck off. And I wasn't reading his lips straight of the TV Andy Gray said on the last word that Bennett said I'm going to send you off. Do you really thing that Mascherano deserved to be sent of for talking to the referee. I admit he did go to the ref one time too many. But if Mascherano is going to get sent of for that and Torres gets booked for it, what should have happened to Ashley Cole, he took talking the referee to a whole new level. His behaviour was ridiculous and disrespectful and what does he get, a yellow card...