West Brom - beaten with Style(s)? No, not at all.

I think everyone can agree that Rob Styles helped us immensely last night and, if we're perfectly honest, something should be done about a refereeing performance like that.

It all started with the game being put back thirty minutes to allow our fans to arrive. Without them, Styles surely wouldn't have felt NEARLY as pressured as he did, and so would have allowed Paul Robinson to stay on the pitch for his “tackle” on Ji Sung Park. We should all ignore the fact that Park was already to ground when Robinson finished his 30 yard dash with a flying lunge, catching the South Korean hard on the ribs leaving the returning winger prostrate. After looking around for some opinion on the red, I've found that Baggies' fans are divided in opinion, many accepting that the tackle was both late and reckless while some are peddling the age old myth that winning the ball removes any aspect of foul play. It doesn't. Winning the ball does not take away the foul element, as much as those ignorant to the rules of the game may well wish it to be. For me, it was possibly a harsh red but anyone who knows the game also must accept that on making that challenge he knew that he stood a chance of walking as soon as he left the ground. The fact that his trailing leg was grounded before making contact makes no different. It did leave the ground as Robinson threw himself in with all his weight.

Now that I've covered what was the most contentious issue of the night, might I rewind to what could have been had we not notched up the victory. As Gary Neville strode into the area, Chris Brunt took down the right back as Neville flicked the ball to his right to eye up a cross. This incident has passed by essentially without any real coverage or controversy, even though it would have put us 2-0 up and coasting before any red card (Brunt wasn't denying a clear goalscoring opportunity for me so he would have remained on the park). The touch Neville had on the ball to line up a cross was probably seen by the linesman as a touch from Brunt (Styles was unsighted), erroneously.

In honesty, there could have been a couple of early yellows for Vidic and Ferdinand, but both at a stage when Styles was trying to let the game flow. Perhaps the penalty decision would also have been given if it had occurred later in the game? One can only speculate.

Once Robinson had left the stage, the game became much more one-sided. The home faithful booed Park, for reason unbeknownst, but were only met with a free kick given in his favour towards the corner flag. Giggs provided the ammunition, Carson provided the clanger and Tevez put it in for 2-0 and essentially game over. Carson's first instinct was sadly all too familiar with keepers these days as he sought a foul for what he saw as obstruction or an elbow to his body. That elbow obstruction was provided by his own defender, though even that contact was not nearly enough to cause the spill from the ex-Liverpool stopper. He argued his point at half time, as another West Brom player requested Tevez's shirt, a strange scene to occur at the break.

West Brom were spirited when they came out for the second half and a Donk shot smashed against the woodwork as Van Der Sar surely thought the record was gone.

Soon after though the game was totally put to bed as Vidic stole in unmarked at a corner to head past Carson. The fourth goal saw good work from Giggs (who continues to bely his years) as he played a neat ball to Ronaldo to glide through the static defence and bag a much needed goal for the Portuguese player.

There was more faux-controversy soon after as an “offside” Berbatov, who actually timed his run perfectly, strode clear from the home team, looked to have lost momentum but then did well to time his pass to an “offside” Ronaldo, who also timed his run perfectly, to nutmeg Carson and end the rout. Of course, the WBA players did their evening long trick of complaining to Styles about it as the crowd cried foul.

All talk today seems to be about how Styles favoured us all game long but the facts just don't add up. The first really big decision was the penalty, which he got wrong in West Brom's favour, though he was unsighted. The second was the sending off, which by the letter of the law was absolutely correct. The third was the so called offside goal, which he and his assistant got right and the timing of the runs made that very difficult. The linesman should actually be praised for getting such a decision right, but it just isn't in football fans' nature to be so inclined.

The on-going issue was the way Styles handled the constant barracking from the home players, clearly riled up by their perceived injustices. Once he started booking players for dissent, he was left with no option but to continue, so it somewhat begs belief that Baggies players continued to constantly chirp away at the referee, knowing what was coming. I guess it is sometimes easier to play the victim when you're underperforming, but Mowbray will surely try to drum such behaviour from his team for the upcoming struggle to retain a Premier League place. They could have been down to nine men after Roman Bednar's “you're crazy” gesture to the referee after he was brandished with a yellow card for ignoring the whistle and putting the ball in the net, somewhat defiantly.

I stand by my start to this post where I stated that something must be done about that refereeing performance. That something should be praise for not being intimidated by the home crowd. Too many referees are accused of cheating, corruption and bias against the top clubs (especially us) but the facts speak for themselves. We get less penalties given against us because our defenders are better. We get more decisions in our favour because we force lesser players into committing errors.

Referees make mistakes. No one complains about those that work in their favour but demand blood for those that go against. Last night, what should have been the main one went against us. We still won 5-0. Were you watching Merseyside?