The Telegraph, which is not known to despise Man United:
Chris Smalling, who had replaced Ferdinand, was incredibly fortunate to escape with only a yellow card for hauling down Kone who was through on goal with eight minutes remaining. Wigan frustration deepened when Jordi Gomez’s free-kick curled just wide.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...letic-0-Manchester-United-4-match-report.html
The key to the analysis in this kind of situation is whether the forward would otherwise, but for the foul, be through on goal, or in the words of the Law itself:
"denies an obvious goalscoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player’s goal by an offence punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick."
Since there appears to be no disagreement that Smalling committed a foul, the only question is whether he denied Kone "an obvious goalscoring opportunity to an opponent moving toward the player's [defender's] goal...".
It's undeniable that Smalling committed a foul. (No debate there.)
It's undeniable that Kone was "moving toward they player's (Smalling in this case) goal. (All you have to do is to review the video.)
It's undeniable that but for the foul that Kone would have confronted De Gea 1v1, who was about 20 yards from the play at the moment in time when Kone was, by unanimous consensus, fouled by the last defender, Smalling. (I highly recommend checking out the replay again.)
Pretty simple stuff, actually.
Marriner's decision to give Smalling only a yellow had no impact whatsoever on the final score, but it has to be acknowledged that we got a break from the referee on that occasion. That's okay, as we've been fukked by referee decisions for the better part of 18 months now, which I personally believe led Fergie to his outburst the other day when we fukked again on a botched interpretation of the offside rule (the Evans own goal). Whether Marriner in any way was affected by the prospect of Fergie going after him will forever remain a mystery, but it's certainly not inconceivable.
What is difficult to fathom on why Smalling deserved a yellow card. If it was just a garden variety foul, as some have alleged here, there was nothing in it to warrant a yellow card whatsoever.
