well it does not surprise me.... he must have seen the slap too but chose to ignore it

I think with the slap Yaya at first is trying to put his hand on the back of his head but Mata pulls away

The clown Clattenburg boxed himself into a corner by not booking Meireles for an above the knee challenge on Silva. This allowed Meireles then to do a studs up challenge on Zaba that even Ray Wilkins said he could have been sent off for alone. From then on Kompany and Yaya both could/should have gone off, but clown had already set the tone.

To be fair, it does go to show how hard being a referee is. I was listening to talksh1te earlier and Andy Gray was of the opinion that the slap was nothing but the kick was more likely to be a red.

Although I would readily admit to being biased, I didn't really see much in either, although both together I agree that he was lucky to stay on the pitch.

It does say something though that even with reviewing the video evidence, I have seen numerous different opinions on the issue, much the same as the Silva penalty shout.

I think it is best with the game last night to say that both teams had decisions that could have gone their way but didn't that you could argue would have changed the course of the game. However, it happens.

For me, regardless of the referee performance, we needed to score twice in the first half hour and didn't, you guys then stepped up a notch and deserved the win.

Melton - much the same as the Silva penalty shout.

I have not heard anyone say anything other than it was a a "nailed on penalty". Gary Neville showed it clearly on TV at half time and after the match. It was as clear a penalty as you will see. My only question is why didn't the clown book Silva if he thought he dived??

to me it looked as if Silva was trying to avoid the tackle. he jumped and tried to avoid it, brushed the knee of Bosingwa and fell....
so Bosingwa did not trip him as gary neville was saying as he was already in the air and only didn't land on his feet because he clipped Bosingwa's knee.

not a dive and not a foul IMO.

i think it is getting silly that we are calling for penalties if someone is mearly touched in the box.

so i think it was the right decision (i'll get some stick i know)

Paul,

It was more the views of people on here rather than from the pundits, just like Bluethruandthru has just put.

I completely agree though that if he thought it wasn't a penalty, then Silva should have got booked. The fact he didn't do either makes no sense whatsoever.

Bluethruandthru,

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one, for me it was a penalty. However, as I said, I don't think we need to make last night about refereeing decisions. You deserved to win, you wanted it more in the second half. From our perspective, we were always going to lose at some point and away at stamford bridge is as good as any. Taking away the Lampard goal, we were able to nullify you to only a few chances and the first twenty minutes, I thought we looked fantastic.

So, all in all, I don't think either set of fans have too much to be disheartened about. It was a good game and the result was a fair reflection.

So, all in all, I don't think either set of fans have too much to be disheartened about. It was a good game and the result was a fair reflection.
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very fair comment.

for the first time this season i dont think a chelsea player is to blame for the goal we conceeded. it was a great turn from Kun and such a simple but effective through ball to Mario ripped a hole in our defence. Also i think that we were on top after 25 mins but City pressed well and limited the number of chances we were trying to create.

City are still the ones to beat this season!

heres to an interseting December

I'm really surprised not more has been made of Toure's attempted 'rake' down the back of Ramires' Achilles heel when he was clean away. For me that was worse than either the Mata kick or slap, it was really, really cynical and had he made more contact could've easily resulted in a bad injury.

Nice to see a Man City fan gracious in defeat
Generally it all evens out at the end of the season, and I think yesterday the decisions were generally even in both favours!

"I'm really surprised not more has been made of Toure's attempted 'rake' down the back of Ramires' Achilles heel when he was clean away. For me that was worse than either the Mata kick or slap, it was really, really cynical and had he made more contact could've easily resulted in a bad injury."

Now, this one for me was a strange one. Looking at the replay, I don't think he actually touched him. If he had, then definite sending off. However, if there was no contact, I'm not sure you justify any foul whatsoever. There is no doubt about it though, Toure was a lucky boy yesterday.

On a side note, has he got history with Mata from Spain or something?