Sian Massey

Didn't Martial get sent off for touching Eric Lamela's face the other weekend?

 

I thought they'd brought in that simply touching the officials is a straight red. must have dreamt it.

 

He didnt grab her neck he put an arm on her shoulder lets not distort the truth

 

If they haven't they should. There's literally no need to ever do it and it puts an end to stuff like this. Won't
detriment the game in the slightest, just stop a few players occasionally acting like a dick. Can't think of a single reason not to or a valid argument against. I mean "as a footballer I should have the right to touch officials"? Of course they shouldn't.

 

You've just distorted the truth. We've got eyes you know, we can see.

 

No but their decisions aren't up to public scrutiny every time they go to work are they. She has to be strong to do the job she does she as to be able to make a decision without thinking about whether she will draw criticism for that decision whether that decision is an offside or reporting being touched by a player if she feels that it warrants action being taken

 

I think it's ridiculous that you're willing to give Aguero a free pass and use the situation to suggest she's unfit for the job.

 

Here's the longer vid - you can see that he's visibly annoyed that she just walks away whilst he's arguing with her. He can't believe that she has the temerity to ignore him.

 

I think, if we're being fair, he also realises he shouldn't have touched her, so he stops arguing and walks away. He probably doesn't need telling what he did wrong, doesn't need sending on a course, he knows. I think he could make it all go away very quickly if he apologised, admitted being in the wrong and gave assurances he won't do it again. It's not the crime of the century, it's worthy of an apology and saying he won't do it anymore.

 

Agreed. But that won't happen.

 

Man handling? Christ on a bike over the top statement or what?

 

Firstly that's taken out of context as I was talking about all incidents of handling officials. But to apply it to this case: He's a man, he handled her, he had no right to. Not over the top in the slightest. Accurate.

I actually find the defence of this incident more worrying than the incident itself. At least Aguero appears to realise he overstepped the mark, calms himself down and walks away. He's not trying to claim it was right and it's OK.

 

He's put his arm round her shoulder, not pushed her, not punched her, not in any way been aggressive merely making a point, the world has gone completely mad if anyone takes umbrage against an arm round the shoulder.

 

I think the FA will take a look at it. But taking action is not gonna happen methinks.

 

No he didn't.

He pulled her towards him.

 

I'm not saying she's unfit to do the job I'm saying she would be unfit to do the job if she let anticipated criticism of her decisions influence those decisions as I would for a man or woman in that role, you were the one that said she didn't complain to the ref because she might get criticised not me. Look as I said earlier she could have reported him to the ref she didn't if she wants to retrospectively she can if she feels strongly about it she should but that's up to her not some Liverpool supporting journo with an agenda.

 

Brass tacks: Do you think what Aguero did was OK? I'm not talking about the level of OK, clearly there are worse things in the world than this, but at the moment we're talking about this incident. My opinion is that referees and their assistants should be able to do their job without the people they are officiating intentionally touching them. As anyone should in their workplace. Do you disagree and think it's OK what he did?

 

These days Stu