Returns, Refs and Pouting

Over the past month or so ‘The Mixer’ had gone AWOL, Marco Boogers style (bar the caravan in Holland and slightly less craziness).

During its absence a lot has happened. Quite a lot. Lots and lots. A stupid amount of lots. Unbelievably lots.

OK, maybe not that much, but enough to force a round-up of events that ‘The Mixer’ appears to have missed in an, Arsene Wenger inspired, ‘it obviously happened, I saw it but I can’t be bothered talking about it’ way.

So, here goes.

Shearer was hired by Newcastle as an interim manager, in a gloriously timed move by the board, on April fools day.

Newcastle fans went mental and hailed his return as the greatest thing ever, despite the total lack of managerial experience, just slightly easing off to fall short of the, almost annual and patented, Geordie ‘tell them we love them but then suffocate them with expectation’ approach.

The fans said that Shearer’s appointment was the boost they need to escape relegation. Unfortunately, no-one appears to have told the players and they continue to play crap, culminating in a 3-0 thrashing by Liverpool.

Manchester United looked to be running away with the title but then slipped up to allow Liverpool back in before the Merseysider’s second 4-4 draw in a week, this time against Arsenal, meant that United were given a reprieve.

The first of Liverpool’s afore mentioned eight goal thrillers came in the Champions’ League at Stamford Bridge. Liverpool surprised everyone, by coming back from a 3-1 first leg deficit, to be on the cusp of a semi-final place.

Chelsea, though, fought back to all but guarantee a place in the last four, before Liverpool popped up with two extremely late goals, to make the Blue’s bums squeak a little bit more, but to no avail.

Manchester United managed to get past Porto, while Arsenal booked an all English tie with United after cruising past Villarreal.

In the semis; Man United handed a footballing master class to Arsenal, albeit with the aid of a Cockney defender slipping at a crucial moment (sound familiar?) and a dubious free kick, spectacularly despatched by the world’s most petulant No.7 (more on that later).

On the downside for the Red Devils, they will go to Rome minus Darren Fletcher who was red carded for a perfect last ditch tackle, late in the second leg.

If that refereeing decision was bad then spare a thought for Chelsea.

After a hard fought 0-0 draw at the Nou Camp, against Barcelona, the Blues were about to set up a rematch with United before a string of refereeing blunders and a fabulous last-gasp strike from Iniesta sent them crashing out.

Norwegian referee Uncle Festa, sorry, Tom Henning Ovrebo denied the Blues two stone wall penalties and one arguable appeal and also wrongly sent off Barca’s Eric Abidal who, like Fletcher, will miss the final.

Much was made of the referee’s inept performance and almost equal attention was focused on the almost comical reaction of a selection of Chelsea players.

One penalty appeal saw Michael Ballack chase after Ovrebo, flapping his arms in a way similar to a giant seagull chasing after someone who’s nabbed off with its chick.

M.C. Drogba went one better by almost man-handling the slap-headed official before helpfully pointing out to Sky viewers, through the medium of shouting into a camera, that the ref was “a f*****g disgrace” forcing Richard Keys to hastily apologise, twice, and the director to fear for his career.

While most of the focus was on the bad refereeing, many people seemed to over-look the fact that Drogba had missed a guilt edged chance to make it 2-0 and put the game out of Barca’s reach.

The fourth minute of injury-time, in which Iniesta scored, only came about because of Drogba’s inability to stay on his feet (caused by an inner ear problem… or diving… not sure which) and his tremendous acting skills; feigning injury so brilliantly that he fooled Hiddink, who them subbed him, much to the Ivorian’s disbelief. A role in Casualty is surely in the offing.

Prior to that game Barca had demolished bitter rivals Real Madrid, 6-2 at the Bernabeu, with the style, panache and coolness of a diamond encrusted wreaking ball operated by Samuel L Jackson. Not bad for a team who don’t like to shoot.

They were given a chance to wrap up the title yesterday but a late Villarreal goal meant that the champagne remains on ice.

Back in the England, Chelsea proved to be the best of the rest, beating Arsenal 4-1 in an unofficial Champions’ League 3rd place play-off while the Manchester derby ended up with United comfortably beating City 2-0, meaning that they only need four points from their last three games to retain the title.

The only other notable action in the derby came when Ronaldo was replaced by Rooney and the Portuguese poser stormed off to the bench, throwing down his training top and began to shake his head, almost constantly, throughout the rest of the game and probably all the way home, as he drove off only 15 minutes after the game ended.

Still, not to worry, apparently Alex Ferguson likes this kind of attitude from his players. Maybe van Nistelrooy just didn’t pout enough.

Should FA Cup semi-finals be held at Wembley? Moyes says 'no'.

After overcoming Middlesbrough 2-1 at Goodison Park, you would suspect Everton manager David Moyes to be a happy man, even if his side did get the worst possible opponents in the shape of the increasingly unstoppable Manchester United.

Well he's not. Well, not entirely.

"It's great to be in the semis but I'd prefer the match was away from Wembley." the former Preston manager told the BBC.

"I don't think anyone likes it. Wembley should only be used for the final."

Moyes makes a good point though.

Semi-final ties had previously been played in neutral grounds such as Old Trafford, Hillsborough and Villa Park, however this changed in 2003 when the FA decided to stage all FA Cup semi-finals, from 2007, in Wembley in order to help pay off the cost of the £757 million stadium.

From a geographical point of view the switch was a tad non-sensical.

What if, as happened this year,two clubs from the North-West face each other and have to all travel down to London, only for one of them to have to come back again four weeks down the line. How much is that going to cost the fans?

Surely a neutral North-West ground would have been sufficient, or even a Midlands ground. It's common sense. 'If it aint broke...' and all that.

According to Moyes, having the semi finals at Wembley also tends to take the shine off the final.

"I wanted to go to Wembley but in the final not in the semi-final," Moyes said, whose Everton side have only beaten Manchester United once since the 1-0 win in the FA Cup final, at Wembley, in 1995.

"We're in the semi-final of the Cup but, while that's better than we've done before, it's not the final and it's not winning it, that's what I'd really like to do."

Many footballers have said that getting the opportunity of playing at Wembley was almost as big a motivation to get to the final as winning the cup however that sense of achievement has been taken away by playing the semis there.

Yes, you still get to play in there in the final but it just isn't as special if you've been there already in the same competition just a month before.

On the other hand; cheer up David.

Judging by the form of Manchester United, just making the final is looking improbable, let alone winning it.

At least you'll actually get to play at Wembley, in ANY game, this season!

Is Moyes right? Should the semi-finals be played at a neutral venue, or is it right that they are played at Wembley? Have your say and leave a comment.