yes,the Crouch offence was bookable,the first Rafa tackle was borderline yellow/red for me and the second Raf yellow was harsh IMO - thought the ref did ok generally tho',speaking as a Spurs fan - VdVs yellow was stupid for dissent and Rooney just needs to grow up
Felt Crouch should have been replaced at half-time with Pav or Defoe and Jenas replacing Palacios but 'Arry seems to like Crouch for some reason - wonder if he will be part of the Carroll to Spurs deal soon ?

it wasn't on the last man.

I know what you are saying, and he is a bit prone to it as per the Bayern game last year, i am not generally bemoaning the decision, United have got away with a couple of shockers from Neville this season, I was just saying it was soft, their manager said it was soft, and that was probably a contributory factor in the players having a big whinge.

I think Rafael is going to be good for a red or two for a few years yet, but his tempo and enthusiasm probably make that a worthwhile trade so long as Neville isn't coming in to cover him whilst suspended.

He could have gone shoulder to shoulder, but I suspect he was trying to get goal side of the ball, otherwise he would have been on the wrong side of the player, and in a worse than useless position to make a challenge or try and usher the player away from goal

Probably the fact that he wasn't going to receive the signing on fee for the move to Villa he's clearly been aware of for a good few weeks.

You don't come up with an £18m bid in response to a transfer request. Stupid price though, about £15m too high.

Come on mate, he's better than that. His all round play means he'll never be a world beater, but wherever he's played he's scored alot of goals in the Premiership. How many did he score last season - 20? For Sunderland, that's good going. I'd say anything around £10m - £12m would be a reasonable price, although £18m does seem high.

Scored 25 last season I think and has 11 this season. I think £10-12m is a good price anything more and Sunderland will be happy although having to replace a guy who scores almost all their goals will be tough even with money to spend.

Turning into a bit of a journeyman is Bent, giving Marcus a run for his money.

seems a fair price to me - but according to 'Arry his missus is better !

Its the North East syndrome.....To be frank, unless you are local, that whole area is a real eye opener, especially for fancy dan Southerners, and not many fancy spending too long up there....Just remember the foreign contingent at Boro?....Ravenelli & Emerson couldn't get away quick enough, and didn't that French bloke's missus refuse to even go and live there??....

It sounds like I'm taking the P!$s, but all the evidence is there.

Rafael charged with being pi$$Ed off about being sent off for no good reason

I think the distinguishing factor between complaints about referees during and after the game is, one is in the heat of the moment. It can be understandable when tensions are running high. I don't condone it, I think we should be introducing RL style respect. However, what Babel did was more considered. It's no different than writing a column into a newspaper. It's bringing the game into disrepute.

Not to mention laughable. Babel cheated Birmingham out of points by diving.

He didn't seem to bothered when he should have had a yellow card for waving the imaginary car on numerous occasions after being fouled. Swings and roundabouts.
I'm thinking of Ngog. Still, point stands, Liverpool have benefited from cheating in the past, and Babel has been silent about it then.

Does he though? I was listening to someone the other week about Bent and penalty taking, saying he was aiming to break some Franny Lee record for penalties in the top flight of English football. I reckon around half the goals he scored for Sunderland were penalties.