Last weekend saw possibly the best second half of football the premier league has seen thus far, with Chelsea and Man United playing out a thrilling 3-3 draw at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea were 3-0 up, but Man United came storming back to claim a well deserved draw. Strangely though Fergie wasn’t as delighted as he should have been in the after match interviews, with the Scot far from happy with the referee.

Controversy 1 – Were they fouls?

Referee: Howard Webb

Despite this being one of the most entertaining games of the season there was still plenty of controversial decisions for us football fans to debate. The first one was Gary Cahills foul on Danny Wellbeck when the striker was through on goal. Even though the foul occured outside of the box, Cahill can count himself somewhat fortunate that he wasn’t sent off. The defender prevented a clear goalscoring opportunity, so in my eyes he was very lucky not see a red card. United at that time were all over Chelsea’s goal, so who knows what the result might have been if Wellbeck scored from that opportunity. Fergie was fuming at this decision after the match!

The other talking points were the 2 penalties United got, which helped them on their way to a draw. The first penalty where Sturridge fouled Evra was harsh but still fair. Evra did make the most of the touch from Sturridge, but it was indeed a penalty. The second penalty on the other hand was not a penalty! From the video replays Wellbeck seemed to trip over Ivanovic’s leg who was trying to pull out of the challenge. Video technology would have helped the referee in this situation, so I still don’t understand why it won’t be used. Another moment was when Ashley Young went down in the box after Jose Bosingwa was pulling his shirt. This is debatable so I will leave this up to you to decide.

You can watch the highlights of the match in the video shown below provided by footytube:

Controversy 2 – It was never a foul?

Referee: Martin Atkinson

Tony Pulis was absolutely livid with referee Martin Atkinson for sending off Robert Huth during the game, with the manager even sending in a picture of the contact between Huth and the victim (David Meyler). Video replays do show that Huth was pulling out of the tackle. Pulis felt Meylers reaction was ridiculous after pictures show that he was hardly touched. But let us not forget that unlike the referee we have the luxury of watching the incident in slow motion from all sorts of angles. In real-time it did look a bit nasty, but video evidence shows that it was just mistimed and not malicious. The club are set to appeal Huth’s red card to the FA today.

You can watch the incident in the match highlights shown below provided by footytube. It occurs about 1:15mins in.

Controversy 3 – Ashley Williams Handball

Referee: Jon Moss

This is a decision which certainly cannot be left out of last weekend’s controversial decisions, as Ashley Williams got away with a blatant handball in the penalty area. The west brom appeals were to no avail, with neither the referee or linesman able to see the incident. It was really snowy out there! This is where video technology would have come in handy yet again. The James Morrison high foot was also a major talking point of the game. Morrison can count his lucky stars that he didn’t see a red card for that, as his foot should never have been that high.

You can watch the match highlights in the video below provided by footytube. The penalty shout occurs about 45 seconds in.

Another controversial decision which also deserves a mention is the Dickson Etuhu foul on David Silva in the penalty area. Man City eventually won the game 3-0, but this was a poor decision from referee Mike Dean.

Enjoy this weeks video of the week showing skill from previous football legends in Frenchman Zinedine Zidane and Brazilians Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. You can also watch them in action on 0ur footballfairplay channel and our featured video of the week.

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Manchester City outcast Carlos Tevez looks destined to be on City’s books until at least the summer, after clubs such as PSG and the two Milans couldn’t reach an agreement with City over a transfer fee. The Argentine is still currently AWOL in his native Argentina and is said to be upset with City blocking any moves. He is quoted on skysports saying:

“The situation is very strange for me.”

“I wanted to go and had offers from other leagues, from Spain and Italy. But it did not work out in the end because City did not accept any of the offers.”

“There were others from Milan, Inter and PSG. But something wasn’t always right.”

“In any case City want a definite transfer. That’s what complicates everything because they have made it clear they want a transfer fee for me.”

Does Tevez honestly think he will get much sympathy after all he has done? I’m not even a City fan and I am appalled at the man! At first he stated he wanted to leave so he could be closer to his children. When this fell through by City refusing his transfer request he then has a little hissy fit, by refusing to play against Bayern Munich back in October. His second outburst was to head back to Argentina without the clubs permission. Then once the January transfer window came along, he decided that he wants to play in Italy. Now that all of the deals fell through he has the nerve to question why!

City are right to hold out for a transfer fee they feel is acceptable. They pay his ridiculous wages, so they will be the ones who decide if he goes or stays. They paid £25m for his services by taking him from rivals United, so they should at least expect to recover their losses.

This man represents everything that is wrong in the sport and I am proud that City are standing firm on this. Hopefully they stick to their guns and not budge, because if they do other players are bound to follow Tevez’s example. They must not allow him and his greedy agent to take them for a ride!

Should John Terry hand over the England Captaincy? That’s a tough question. Regardless of the racist allegations against him Terry is a quality defender, who will arguably get into most sides starting eleven. But with the Chelsea Captain’s court case to continue in July (which is consequently after the Euros) critics are saying the Englishman should hand over his captaincy, due to the seriousness of the accusations against him.

Terry is no saint and I’m sure he will be one of the first to admit to that. He famously had an affair with his former team-mate and best friend’s (Wayne Bridge) girlfriend. This sparked a media frenzy which continued for months. This led to a breakdown in his friendship with Wayne Bridge and resulted in the left back refusing to shake his hand before a league match last season.

But the problem of  Terry playing for England is how it will affect his partnership with Rio Ferdinand (the brother of the victim). How will Rio deal with the situation? Will Terry have a negative impact on the atmosphere of the team in the dressing room? Maybe Terry is better off being left out of the squad all together. After all England does have some quality backup defenders who can slot in well in Chris Smalling and Phil Jones. Both players play alongside Rio Ferdinand at club level, although they lack the experience and leadership that a player like John Terry will bring to the backline.

You have to feel for England manager Fabio Capello for trying to deal with this situation. I wonder if Terry will retain the captaincy once the tournamant begins in June.

This transfer window wasn’t exactly the busiest we have seen from the top clubs, who decided to tighten the purse strings with UEFA’s financial fair play regulations in mind and preferred to sign promising youngsters for the future. Chelsea signed 18 year old striker Patrick Bamford from Nottingham Forrest and 20 year old winger Kevin De Bruyne from Belgian side Genk. Arsenal also brought in a promising youngster in Thomas Eisfeld from Borussia Dortmund. Chelsea’s focus on youth in transfer windows since AVB’s arrival at Stamford Bridge would be a pleasant surprise for some supporters, with the majority of Chelsea’s stars at the wrong end of their careers. While the signing of yet another young player won’t go down well with the Arsenal fans, who are showing more frustration at their clubs lack of investment for the short term.

But while the top clubs showed little interest this January, the smaller clubs in Everton and Bolton used this time well to strengthen their squads. Everton who are known to be struggling with their finances were one of the most busiest and brought in Nikica Jelavic from Scottish giants Rangers, with Landon Donovan and Steven Pienaar both returning to the club on loan.

It is also worth noting that Liverpool made a cheeky late enquiry into the availability of Man City’s Carlos Tevez, with an apparent swap deal involving Andy Caroll rumored to be part of the deal. Man City also decided not to splash the cash surprisingly and opted to go for Roma Midfielder David Pizarro on loan until the end of the season, to help compensate for the loss of influential midfielder Yaya Toure.

BBC Sport have kindly made a list (which would have been exhausting for myself to do!) of all the transfers that have taken place from 1st-31st January. Please click on the following link to see every transfer that has taken place in this winter transfer window:

Football Transfers from 1st-31st January 2012

Pierluigi Collina was once called the best football referee in the world during his time as an official. The Italian is a member of the UEFA Referee Committee and recently made a video about how referees should prepare before a game. You can watch the video below from the official uefa website:

 How Referees should prepare before a match

Watch some of the worst dives seen in modern day football. All of those critics who claim foreigners are to blame for this act of ungamesmanship would be surprised by number 1! This video will be the featured video of the week and can be seen on the footballfairplay channel

Test your knowledge of the World Cup by taking our World Cup Quiz!

UEFA have stepped up their efforts for financial fair play by threatening to ban players and use points deductions on clubs who fail to improve on their finances. In 2010 European clubs lost around £1.3 billion which is the worst statistics ever recorded for financial losses.

UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino revealed that clubs who don’t follow the rules may have to cut their squads for European competitions, if they keep buying players while they make huge losses. They will also deduct points from teams and possibly exclude some clubs.

Soon after Head of Illegal Affairs at UEFA Alistair Bell reiterated that no club regardless of their stature in the sport will be immune to these rules.

There has been a debate since financial fair play was first introduced that it favours the top European clubs. The FFP model is based on ensuring clubs survive on what they generate in income. Clubs such as Manchester United, Real Madrid and Barcelona generate the highest revenues, so surely they are the ones to benefit from such a model. But the one top club who is bound to welcome this news from UEFA with open arms is Arsenal. Arsenal never spend more than what they make (which is why they have struggled to compete with the richest clubs). Maybe this will see the rise of Arsenal again.