Atkinson not the only referee in the news this week
Watford v Spurs match referee was not the only "man in the middle" to hit the headlines this weekend. As suggested in my match report, both teams had their reasons to be upset with Martin Atkinson's decision making. I don't propose to conduct a full post mortem here, and I suspect Spurs will not be making an appeal against the red card decision against Davinson Sanchez, who recklessly threw up his arm, and will have to pay the three match penalty for dangerous play. He will be sorely missed against Stoke, Brighton and especially at Man City.
Jon Moss also hit the news after booking Bournemouth's Adam Smith for simulation, and has since apologised to the player for getting it wrong, accepting he should have given a penalty. The mistake does not prevent the former Spur from having to serve a one match suspension having accumulated five bookings, so there's no justice there.
A clip has emerged on Twitter showing that Harry Kane was both hauled to the ground by Watford's Sebastian Prodl, whilst getting a kick in the leg as well from another Watford player. I believe this to be the incident within the Watford area referred to in my match report. It was not spotted or acted upon by Atkinson, and there will be no come-back either regarding this incident.
Finally, on the subject of referees, it's history now but former Premier League (and a darling of UEFA and FIFA remember) referee Mark Clattenburg has been quoted in this BBC story as saying that he "allowed Tottenham to self-destruct" when he refereed the 2-2 draw with Chelsea in May 2016 as Spurs conceded the title to Leicester. The remarks were made in NBC's Men in Blazers podcast. Clattenburg says he "went in with a gameplan" so he could not be blamed by Tottenham for losing the title. He booked nine Spurs players in the bad-tempered match, but now says he could have sent off three players. Mr Clattenburg now earns his money leading the team of referees in Saudi Arabia.
Kieran Trippier led the Spurs Odyssey man of the match vote after Saturday's game, but this was perceived as another moderate team performance. We are without a league win in five games, and desperately need to start putting that right on Saturday against Stoke.
It was perhaps somewhat educational for some fans when viewing the Man City v West Ham game to see how even a team perceived as arguably the best in Europe at the moment struggled to beat a West Ham side who not only thwarted the City attack for so long, but also held a first half lead. That puts our struggles at Wembley against Burnley, Swansea and West Brom (to name just three) into some perspective I think.
· See the spursometer in full.
PS - We now have one less game to play in December, as our home match against West Ham which was scheduled by SKY TV for New Year's eve has been put back to Thursday 4th January at 8pm, two days after we travel to Swansea. Safety reasons were given which would have prevented more than 43,000 being allowed into Wembley on the original proposed date, and a full crowd will be able to attend the re-arranged date.
Results 02-03.11.17
Chelsea 3-1 Newcastle
Brighton 1-5 Liverpool
Everton 2-0 Hds'field
Leicester 1-0 Burnley
Stoke 2-1 Swansea
Watford 1-1 Spurs
West Brom 0-0 C. Palace
Arsenal 1-3 Man Utd
B'mouth 1-1 S'hampton
Man City 2-1 West Ham
Premier League Table - 2017-18
P W D L F-A GD Pts
1. Man City 15 14 1 0 46-10 36 43
2. Man Utd 15 11 2 2 35-9 26 35
3. Chelsea 15 10 2 3 28-12 16 32
4. Liverpool 15 8 5 2 33-19 14 29
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5. Arsenal 15 9 1 5 29-19 10 28
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6. Spurs 15 7 4 4 23-13 10 25
7. Burnley 15 7 4 4 14-12 2 25
8. Watford 15 6 4 5 25-26 -1 22
9. Leicester 15 5 5 5 20-20 0 20
10. Everton 15 5 3 7 19-28 -9 18
11. S'hampton 15 4 5 6 15-18 -3 17
12. Brighton 15 4 5 6 14-19 -5 17
13. Stoke 15 4 4 7 18-30 -12 16
14. B'mouth 15 4 3 8 13-17 -4 15
15. Newcastle 15 4 3 8 14-22 -8 15
16. H'dsfield 15 4 3 8 9-26 -17 15
17. West Brom 15 2 7 6 12-21 -9 13
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18. C. Palace 15 2 4 9 8-25 -17 10
19. West Ham 15 2 4 9 13-32 -19 10
20. Swansea 15 2 3 10 8-18 -10 9
