Sunderland v West Ham: two penalties (one disputed, one denied) and a deflection

Jake: 'another draw, this is getting tedious'
Jake: ‘another draw, this is getting tedious’

There were other little talking points. Nolan getting away with a clear yellow card offence, the cynicism of the Gomez foul that brought him his card, the nastiness of Downing’s challenge on Reveillere.

I covered some of this ground in my ESPN match report at http://www.espnfc.com/club/sunderland/366/blog/post/2197665/altidore-miss-encapsulates-sunderlands-scoring-woes

Have your say, here or there ….

Samples:

There were elements of fortune in both goals.

James Tomkins would expect to get away eight times out of 10 with his slight push into Adam Johnson’s back. Allardyce was furious that he did not and referee Phil Dowd awarded the penalty from which Jordi Gomez coolly opened the scoring. I thought the contact was slight but that Allardyce’s rage ought better be directed at Tomkins for making such a stupid challenge as Johnson seemed to have beaten him in the area.

Just seven minutes later, at the other end, Downing cut in from the right and fired low with a shot that Pantilimon, reassuring throughout, would probably have saved but for a cruel deflection off Gomez.

and

Sunderland might have had a second penalty when a Santiago Vergini cross clearly struck Winston Reid’s arm midway through the second half. Dowd dismissed the strong appeals; some referees would have judged that the contact that was made came with the arm in an unnatural position.

That’s just a couple of extracts. But if you have thoughts on the relatively few controversies of the game – and I should admit now that I rate Phil Dowd – it is open to you to say so.

M Salut, drawn by Matt, colouring by Jake
M Salut, drawn by Matt, colouring by Jake

4 thoughts on “Sunderland v West Ham: two penalties (one disputed, one denied) and a deflection”

  1. While it was a soft penalty, Tomkins definitely pushed him and, as such, despite what was said on match of the day, it was less of a dive than many others yesterday. I think Poyet made a huge mistake talking about it before watching it and, to all intents and purposes, saying Johnson dived. What is Johnson going to get next time he goes over in the box? Mourinho defended Cahill saying he didn’t believe he would dive when he very clearly had. Some of the referees will buy that.
    The handball in the second half would be given 8 times out of 10.
    One argument I would have with the assessment is that I thought Gomez was the one who should have closed down Downing and he compounded that by turning his back to get the deflection. I really don’t think that his slight edge going forward counters how bad he is defensively when you compare him to Rodwell.
    Larsson was tremendous yet again.

  2. The modern game doesn’t allow any contact in the box, a soft penalty and they are given every week, the Skertl challenge should have been given last week. My heart went out to Jozy he tried his heart out and should have scored I can’t imagine how low his confidence must be. All in all a good performance against a top side full of confidence, things are getting better and Alvarez will settle in and make a difference KEEP BELIEVING

  3. At the game I thought it was a soft penalty but watching the incident again, a push in the back is a penalty surely. A bit like the one we conceeded at WBA in the first game of the season

  4. Something that was not commented on in the Johnson penalty incident was that Tomkins clearly caught his left ankle.

    That was what I firstly believed the penalty had been awarded for (I missed the slight push in the back) and having seen it replayed 3 or 4 times now I haven’t changed my mind.

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