A few thoughts from the last week in Football (April 6-11)

What is going on with the FA? I know I am not the only person that is left scratching his head on a regular basis with decisions that come out from the FA, be it to do with the scheduling of the FA Cup Semi Finals, or their fining managers for speaking their minds and fining them when they don't turn up, but the department that deals with sending off appeals need to have a real look at themselves.


I will be the first to admit that Manchester United got a soft penalty against QPR, but I could also understand why the referee gave it (I know Ashley Young was offside before he was 'fouled' but I will address both of those issues a bit later) and he was obligated to send off Shaun Derry in that situation.


However, the television cameras made it clear that Derry was more than harshly done by, yet the FA, in all their wisdom, decided not to overturn that, which led me to believe that they will back decisions on the field regardless of how obviously wrong they are.


To make the FA look even more foolish, they decided they couldn't lay out any more punishment to Mario Balotelli for a potential leg breaking challenge on Alex Song, because at least one of the four officials would have seen it- what are they thinking?


Basically as long as one of the officials sees an incident, no matter how WRONG they see it, the FA will back them to the hilt, but an obvious disgusting challenge is fine by them... The sooner someone who knows something about football gets in there and clears out the old boys club, the better.


What to do with 'divers'? I think there is a real problem in consistency as to what to do with players that have dived as some referees are happy to book them, while others don't even give them a telling off.


In the Liverpool-Aston Villa game, we saw Luis Suarez and Samir Carruthers booked for diving, yet there was little consistency in this game alone. The first thing to say is that the tackle on Carruthers was a penalty, yet he was booked... Earlier in the game, Suarez went down in the box theatrically and was not given a penalty nor booked, although he did get one later on.


It wasn't just in that game as we also saw Ashley Young going down easily at Old Trafford which resulted in QPR being reduced to ten men and losing the game 2-0.


It is hard for the referees when players are trying to 'cheat' or 'fool' them, but the FA must surely have the power to hand out retrospective punishments as a way of preventing this becoming too common. We have so many cameras at games that they could get a panel to go through the tapes on Monday morning and quickly hand out suspensions.


The first offence could lead to a one game suspension, the second a three game ban and so on and so on. I would use ex-professionals in the panel, not the men in suits I discussed in the first topic, and you see how quickly players will stop throwing themselves to the ground.


Once the suspensions build, the fines start coming from the club, and the managers will start demanding players stay on their feet... One way or another, there has to be some retrospective action to stop the pressure being on referees to make these decisions on one view, and also to stop this disease in the game.


Officials making some horrendous mistakes: We have seen some really crazy decisions over the last few days, notably in games involving Wigan against Chelsea and Manchester United.


You always hear the talk about bringing technology into the game when there are any incorrect decisions, but Roberto Martinez was spot on in saying that it has nothing to do with technology and everything to do with missing obvious decisions.


How Chelsea got away with not one, but two offside decisions in their win against Wigan was embarrassing on the linesman. It was no surprise to me when I heard tonight that that linesman has tendered his resignation and will not be officiating at this level again.


The first one was one of the worst decisions I have seen this season as Branislav Ivanovic was offside along with two other Chelsea players, with the linesman standing level with play and looking dead straight at them.


On Sunday we then saw another linesman miss Ashley Young being at least two yards offside that led to a Manchester United penalty and a sending off for QPR- that was a terrible decision as the linesman was again up with play and the angle of Young's run made it completely obvious that he was off.


And then we had the hat-trick of linesmen making mistakes in the Wigan-Manchester United game, although he was at least kind enough to make cock ups for both sides. Wigan should have had a one goal lead in the first half, but the linesman saw a barely minimal foul on David De Gea, but then he missed a clear as day penalty in the second half when one of the Wigan players clear handled the ball in the box.


Too many of those decisions should have been seen without the game needing to be stopped and checked on a television monitor, and it is time these people are held accountable for decisions that can make, or break, a team's season.


The relegation battle is becoming more and more fascinating: Even though Wigan were given the benefit of the doubt with some decisions in the second half of the game with United, they did deserve the three points that has taken them out of the relegation zone.


With QPR also winning on Wednesday evening, Wolves are definitely getting relegated and they could be gone by April 22nd when they entertain Manchester City at Molineux.


The wins for Wigan and QPR also means Blackburn Rovers 3 points from the safety positions and now have a worse goal difference than both the Latics and Rangers. That goal they conceded in the last minute to ten man Liverpool on Tuesday night could be a mortal wound from which they cannot recover, especially if they lose at Swansea on Saturday.


Bolton also were moved back into the relegation zone, although they do have one extra game to play and are only 2 points from safety. The Trotters play Aston Villa in that game in hand and Villa are only 6 points from safety so that game could be really important to them.


All of this means we could be in for a fascinating last month of the season.


Not the time to panic for Manchester United fans: Why do so many United fans predict so much doom and gloom so quickly? Yes, the team is not of vintage class, but they are still 5 points clear of Manchester City with 5 games left to play this season, and I would have happily have taken this position at this stage.


It was a disappointing result at Wigan, no doubt about that, but they were always going to suffer a bit of a let down in one of their games, and I made it clear in my preview of that game that Wigan were being under-estimated.


The title is still in United's hands as three wins at home from their final 5 games will really put the pressure on City to keep winning, and United would just need to avoid defeat at City or win at Sunderland to confirm the title. Let me put it this way, I would not want to swap positions with City right now!


The key for United is to win their next two games at Old Trafford and then head to the Etihad Stadium with at least a 5 point advantage and keeping the pressure on City.


And if you want some history to keep the faith, how about looking at the end of the 1995/96 season? United overtook a club that seemingly had the title within their grasp, but lost on April 13th at a club struggling to avoid relegation to leave themselves just 6 points clear of their rivals. They then won their final 3 League games to secure the title, while Newcastle faltered down the stretch.


Hopefully Newcastle United can keep the Champions League chase alive: I am purely talking from a selfish point of view, but it would be nice if Newcastle United can maintain their form and a push for a Champions League spot as a security blanket for United's title charge.


That is because Newcastle are entertaining City on the penultimate weekend of the season and I want that game to mean a lot for the home side.


This is a scenario that is not out of the reckoning with Newcastle now level with Tottenham Hotspur in terms of points.


I think Arsenal are going to be the third team into the Champions League behind the Manchester clubs, while both Spurs and Newcastle have a tough couple of games ahead of them and I think this race is going down to the wire.

Chelsea's draw at Fulham makes me think it is going to be tough for them to get above both Newcastle and Spurs, particularly considering they have games at Arsenal and Liverpool left this season as well as the Champions League Semi Finals.


The next couple of weeks before the end of the month is going to clear up the Champions League spots a little bit more, but it won't surprise me if it is decided on the final day of the season.