Joe blasts ‘Mickey Mouse’ officiating
Nov 10 2008 by Mark Douglas, The Journal
JOE Kinnear laid the blame for the defeat that dumped Newcastle United back in the Premier League’s relegation zone at the feet of his makeshift defence and referee Martin Atkinson, who he accused of being a “Mickey Mouse” official.
United’s interim manager was incensed that Atkinson failed to spot what he believes was a push on defender Claudio Caçapa in the run-up to the penalty that decided the game in Fulham’s favour, and believes that poor officiating is undermining the Football Association’s ‘Respect’ campaign.
But perhaps just as important was the dreadful defending which undermined Newcastle’s efforts to claim a third successive win.
Kinnear was shorn of key defender Steven Taylor in the run-up to the game after he suffered a groin injury in training and, with Sébastien Bassong also carrying a knock, he opted for Brazilian Caçapa alongside Fabricio Coloccini.
It backfired badly on United’s interim boss, who saw Caçapa head against Coloccini’s back to hand Andrew Johnson the chance to fire Fulham into the lead – and then combine to concede the crucial penalty. It left Kinnear a frustrated man and, with United back in the Premier
League’s bottom three, there will be plenty of nervous poring over the table for Newcastle supporters this week.
“I don’t think we started that well, but we certainly finished the first half the better side and I thought we dominated the second half. If we’d had a proper referee, we would have come away with something,” said Kinnear.
“There was a blatant foul prior to the penalty. Everybody’s seen it. It was a blatant push, and he’s ignored it. I don’t have any complaints about the penalty decision itself, but it’s what happened before that I’m angry about. If anybody was going to win that game, it was us, because we were camped in their half. Claudio Caçapa was on the ball, but (Andrew) Johnson has completely pushed him out of the way. He’s got on the ball and gets the penalty. We get a Mickey Mouse referee doing nothing.
“You don’t speak to referees nowadays, do you? You’ve got the likes of Graham Poll and all the other ex-referees talking all the time.
“He’s made an error and it’s cost us. We had another one against Manchester City that cost us points. It doesn’t stop, but that’s the standard of refereeing in this country. It happens week in, week out, but they always have a smart answer. They’ll tell you they didn’t see it because someone was obstructing their view. You can count the ones you want to respect on one hand. The refereeing has got worse. They used to put their hands up if they made mistakes – now they go and hide.”
While Kinnear was disappointed with the officiating, he also recognised his team defended badly and put pressure on themselves.
“There wasn’t any danger with the first goal,” said Kinnear. “If Caçapa just ducks, it’ll go straight through to the goalkeeper. But he stoops to head it, heads it against Coloccini and it bounces straight to them and goes in the net. They haven’t done anything for either goal – they were both down to errors on our part. Taylor pulled out at the last minute, and there was a question of whether I should have played Beye there (at centre-half).
“If Taylor had been playing, he would have put that first ball out of the ground. It’s as simple as that. It’s down to decision making. Caçapa hasn’t played for a little while and maybe that told. Bassong was carrying an injury. We had to bring him down with us, but we weren’t really sure whether to get him involved. Everything seemed to conspire against us in the last two games as far as team selection is concerned.”
Kinnear now believes Saturday’s game against Wigan is a crucial ‘six-pointer’. “Everything’s so tight. If anyone wins a couple of games in a row, they’re going to be in the top ten.”
