Leamore Saddler wrote:Most of these somewhat understandably biased "experts" argued that the foul (and it clearly WAS a foul - even the Walsall players agreed with that) occurred outside the penalty area. It was a close call but, in my honest opinion, the initial contact between Gerrard and Williams was just inside the area. Anyone who dogmatically asserts that "it was a good two feet outside the area" needs to visit Specsavers! :D (or perhaps make a judgement from a better seat in the ground, unlike the ASBO2GO stand) Gerrard's studmarks may well have been outside the penalty-area but that means nothing. It merely shows where Gerrard landed! Remember that he took off and lunged at the Hartlepool player and made contact with him INSIDE the penalty area, before his momentum carried him beyond the area boundary. Remember also that width of the penalty-area boundary line (5") is included within the area. Gerrard certainly finished up, on his backside, outside the area but, as I said above, that is irrelevant. Let me tell you, if that incident had happened at the other end , you would all have been screaming for a penalty-kick!
Sitting directly level with the penalty spot in Block K of the Fellows Stand, old man Rainer commented that "it was clearly a yard outside of the box, and momentum took the player over in to the box". He did also call Gerrard an idiot for jumping in to the challenge, but he said there was no question at all that is was a free-kick, NOT a penalty.
Still, I suppose it evens up the wierd indirect free kick from last week at Rochdale.