I was foolish enough to give some credit to what Marto was saying. More fool me. Mainland and the Prof got it much more accurately.
I've just rewatched the game and counted Pennington's misplaced passes, it totaled (1). It looked spectacular but he had his ankle clipped as he made the pass, so ended way short of the intended target.
I counted 15 duels won by him, and that's me counting. And the equaliser started with his ball... etc etc
I also think the referees have a predisposition to think that Pennington is a diver because of his Italian background. Rufer would have been given the free kick for the 1st goal. Pennington- fudge off...
I've just rewatched the game and counted Pennington's misplaced passes, it totaled (1). It looked spectacular but he had his ankle clipped as he made the pass, so ended way short of the intended target.
I counted 15 duels won by him, and that's me counting. And the equaliser started with his ball... etc etc
I also think the referees have a predisposition to think that Pennington is a diver because of his Italian background. Rufer would have been given the free kick for the 1st goal. Pennington- fudge off...
We really didn't watch the same game. Maybe you need to take off the Pennington Coloured glasses Kungfu. As we've both pointed out, there were many other guilty parties too.
I don't agree that referees ping Pennington due to his background any more then Ninkovic, Khelifi, Mak, Kraev, Rufer, Wootten, or other A League players by background generally, that's just clinging at straws. Some I've mentioned came from leagues far worse then Italy for "playing up/being dirty".
I do think though that when he makes mistakes (unsure if more or less then others in the team), they are often at bad times so they are amplified e.g the first goal.