West Brom ponder James Morrison appeal
Monday 30th August 2010, 11:29AM BST.
West Bromwich Albion midfielder James Morrison today defended his red card challenge on Fernando Torres as the club considered an appeal over his sending off.
Morrison is in line to receive a three-match suspension after his dismissal for a high second-half challenge on the Liverpool striker in the 1-0 defeat at Anfield.
But the Baggies man insisted he did not intend to hurt the World Cup winner.
“I caught him, I’m not going to deny that. But I didn’t go in to hurt him,” said Morrison, who picked up the second red card of his career.
“The ball got nipped off my toe and I just followed through, but people know I’m not a dirty player. It was just one of those things.
“I can’t really tell if it was a red card. I looked at it and I caught him, definitely, but the intent was not there.
“I didn’t leave the ground and I just mistimed it.”
The Baggies were today assessing replays of the tackle before deciding whether to appeal the decision by referee Lee Probert to send Morrison off.
Head coach Roberto Di Matteo said: “There was no intention from Morrison to hurt anyone. He missed the ball and was unfortunate to get a red card. I think a yellow would have been appropriate.
“We’ll have to sit down and look at it to see if there is a chance of appealing it.”
* Albion defender Gonzalo Jara has donated his shirt from yesterday’s match to help the miners stranded underground in his home country of Chile.
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The ref wasn’t going to send Morrison off. The baying supporters influenced the linesman and he influenced the ref. Appeal gaffer. It will be worth it.
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The same thing happened with us at Anfield last season. Yet again it was not the ref’s initial decision but the players influence on him.
The real disappointment though is that these so called bigger and better teams keep getting away with pressuring referees.
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I agree with Cyril, appeal. It didn’t deserve a red. Well played on Sunday. I thought we put in a great performance and things definately look better than they did after the Chelsea game.
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If you can do without him don’t appeal, the FA do not tend to side with the players no matter how the truth unfolds.
Having seen it I believe the guys were both going in hard to win the ball, the ref may have seen it as morrison losing control as he had just lost the ball. Yellow yes red no.
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1 Cyril.
Add to that the disgraceful way some of their players got in the referees face over it. Shows how rattled they were that we might get something but still leaves a nasty taste in the mouth.
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2 SW.
Good point. The Respect the Refereee campaign doesn’t seem to apply to the big clubs, just the rest of us. Another example of the non-level playing field in this country.
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(5)
Bully,
Correct me if I’m wrong but I was under the
impression there was a law against players
surounding then baying at the referee.
I stated in an earlier post somethings never change.
~~~~BOING~~~~BOING~~~~JtH.
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he deserved the red. the tackle was harsh
p
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