The loss of Cairney is monumental caused by a rotten referee

[Nick Bateman]

The disgrace was the performance of Anthony Taylor who allowed lowly Oldham to kick Fulham players, quite literally, off the park!

His handling went against all standards applied in the Premier League, permitting dirty northerners to apply the most rudimentary physical thuggery allowed on a football field.

Fulham were below par, but that does not fully explain the events of this 'upset'.  Give that type of officiating to Arsenal yesterday, Blackpool would have put them out.

Fulham have had the worst reffing in the entire league this season - the cowards in black seem to have gotten together to do as much harm to our cause as possible.  I was disappointed the Fulham-following new chair-person of the PL would have taken up the post, and correct this injustice, but she has declined for whatever reason.

It is now up to "Tinkerman" alone to rescue our season.  The first thing any manager has to do is identify ones best players from the dross.  Ranieri has failed to do this very thing, playing Seri virtually every match and the weakling Vietta who has never wanted to play here.  And how can he omit BOTH Mitrovic and Kamara from our forward line today?

With the loss of our captain and playmaker Tom Cairney from pure brutality which was the only reason we were awarded a penalty, Fulham look doomed for the drop and the unfair restrictions of FFP in the Championship.

Only perhaps a new appointment of a fighting figure like Sam Allardyce could save our season now.  His methods may be direct but these cowards who ruin our modern game fear Big Sam and only he, I believe, can tackle this predicament.

By fielding a weakened team with no strikers, yet risking a talent like Cairney and achieving NOTHING because of a rotten ref, our current situation is as bad as possible.

[Bassey the warrior]

What a ludicrous post. I can only assume this is a failed attempt at parody?

[ScalleysDad]

Obviously I am reading your post assuming it is all very much tongue in cheek. The way Cairney dealt with the physical assault on his person says far more about Cairney than it does about the match officials. But you knew that of course.

[Woolly Mammoth]

We lost because we have no heartbeat and no leadership, we cannot blame Oldhams players,  they are not coming down to roll over, it hurts me to say this, but we had no Bolox, no guts, no heart, I cannot blame the referee on the occasion. Oldham wanted it more than us, which tells me more about our manager and players, than it does about them.

[davew]

We lost because we have no heartbeat and no leadership, we cannot blame Oldhams players,  they are not coming down to roll over, it hurts me to say this, but we had no Bolox, no guts, no heart, I cannot blame the referee on the occasion. Oldham wanted it more than us, which tells me more about our manager and players, than it does about them.

Sensible post unlike the OP, always somebody is to blame for our inept performances, today there were too many to name but the referee wouldn't be 1 of them!

[filham]

Please let us stop blaming the referee, our players were to blame today, surely it is reasonable to expect more than a single goal from them when laying at home to a league 2 team.

I have time for Sam Allardyce, he gets results and players perform for him but we just havn't signed the right sort of players for his type of game, it wouldn't work.

[MikeW]

The penalty Cairney won (TV evidence) was a disgrace.  Hang your head in shame Tom - he didn't touch you.

[SG]

The penalty Cairney won (TV evidence) was a disgrace.  Hang your head in shame Tom - he didn't touch you.

If he had crossed the ball with his right foot which he had plenty of time to do he would not even have been challenged. Pathetic that a player at this level cannot use his 'other' foot when presented with a golden opportunity

[Yarden]

The penalty Cairney won (TV evidence) was a disgrace.  Hang your head in shame Tom - he didn't touch you.

VAR ruled it a penalty, but i guess you and all the others on here know better. Sick of this forum, not coming back any time soon.

[Bill2]

Thought the ref was poor today.  He seemed to let Oldham players get more physical and the number of times they pulled our lot back was unbelievable. However that was not the reason we lost which was rubbish finishing.

[terryr]

Glad to see Nick is back at his WUM best.
At least he raised a smile, which given the result today is an achievement

[Matt10]

Did not see much wrong wit the ref's decisions. Maybe he was a bit too close to the ball when we were in the attacking half as TC stumbled on him once or twice. In terms of the physicality, we were just as physical. Thought a couple times Seri and Vietto were going to get called for their outside the foot lunges - thankfully Oldham boys are strong and aren't easily pushed off. Kebano's dive was terrible, and that was a defining moment for him as a player. He did try to make up for it, and for the most part did with his chances, but not good enough unfortunately. Tom's penalty was subtle, but Missilou went over the top of his boot (studs on the top of your foot hurt like hell) dangerously. The penalty we conceded was easily one as well as Sess had both arms around, just completely manhandled.

The only other one that I can recall was when MLM's jersey was clearly being tugged while the Oldham player nutmegged him.

[Deeping_white]

Surprised nobody has mentioned the handball in the first half, hits the guy smack on the hand in front of the ref and it wasn't given and it's not even like he was close to MLM who crossed it

[Denver Fulham]

The penalty Cairney won (TV evidence) was a disgrace.  Hang your head in shame Tom - he didn't touch you.

VAR ruled it a penalty, but i guess you and all the others on here know better. Sick of this forum, not coming back any time soon.

The Oldham player brushed Cairney's toe and Tom went down like he'd been shot 14 times in the leg. It was reprehensible. He should have received a yellow card for simulation. It's not how Fulham plays. If our "captain" has to resort to that to beat a League 2 side, we deserve everything that's coming.

[Matt10]

The penalty Cairney won (TV evidence) was a disgrace.  Hang your head in shame Tom - he didn't touch you.

VAR ruled it a penalty, but i guess you and all the others on here know better. Sick of this forum, not coming back any time soon.

The Oldham player brushed Cairney's toe and Tom went down like he'd been shot 14 times in the leg. It was reprehensible. He should have received a yellow card for simulation. It's not how Fulham plays. If our "captain" has to resort to that to beat a League 2 side, we deserve everything that's coming.

I think you just don't like him and trying to find a reason to fit your narrative. It's very clear the boot goes across the top of his boot. You play the game before, that is an incredible amount of pain, especially with metal spikes. When I played in college, I missed 3 matches because the same thing had happened to me. That part of the boot is not well protected with modern technology. Ouch.

[sarnian]

Correct. The Oldham players studs raked across the top of Cairneys foot which can be excruciatingly painful.

However I do not think it was enough for a penalty to be given.

We were crap but totally in charge of the game until that stupid foul by Sessignon. It gave them hope whereas we stopped passing the Ballard lumped it forward in desperation.

[ScalleysDad]

The penalty Cairney won (TV evidence) was a disgrace.  Hang your head in shame Tom - he didn't touch you.

VAR ruled it a penalty, but i guess you and all the others on here know better. Sick of this forum, not coming back any time soon.

The Oldham player brushed Cairney's toe and Tom went down like he'd been shot 14 times in the leg. It was reprehensible. He should have received a yellow card for simulation. It's not how Fulham plays. If our "captain" has to resort to that to beat a League 2 side, we deserve everything that's coming.

I think you just don't like him and trying to find a reason to fit your narrative. It's very clear the boot goes across the top of his boot. You play the game before, that is an incredible amount of pain, especially with metal spikes. When I played in college, I missed 3 matches because the same thing had happened to me. That part of the boot is not well protected with modern technology. Ouch.

Metal spikes? Come on Matt. You are right of course in that the top of the foot is vulnerable and even plastic studs with downward force can be painful but there was none. With the theatrics Cairney put on show he should have been stretchered off. He walked off and was standing without aid in the dugout apparently lingering agony free.

[Baszab]

More worrying is that CR was obviously protecting him and saving him for the Burley game

TC should not be playing against Burnley - he will be a passenger in a game like that

[gang]

The penalty Cairney won (TV evidence) was a disgrace.  Hang your head in shame Tom - he didn't touch you.

If he had crossed the ball with his right foot which he had plenty of time to do he would not even have been challenged. Pathetic that a player at this level cannot use his 'other' foot when presented with a golden opportunity

Have to agree.

[GJB]

The penalty Cairney won (TV evidence) was a disgrace.  Hang your head in shame Tom - he didn't touch you.

VAR ruled it a penalty, but i guess you and all the others on here know better. Sick of this forum, not coming back any time soon.

The Oldham player brushed Cairney's toe and Tom went down like he'd been shot 14 times in the leg. It was reprehensible. He should have received a yellow card for simulation. It's not how Fulham plays. If our "captain" has to resort to that to beat a League 2 side, we deserve everything that's coming.

I think you just don't like him and trying to find a reason to fit your narrative. It's very clear the boot goes across the top of his boot. You play the game before, that is an incredible amount of pain, especially with metal spikes. When I played in college, I missed 3 matches because the same thing had happened to me. That part of the boot is not well protected with modern technology. Ouch.

Metal spikes? Come on Matt. You are right of course in that the top of the foot is vulnerable and even plastic studs with downward force can be painful but there was none. With the theatrics Cairney put on show he should have been stretchered off. He walked off and was standing without aid in the dugout apparently lingering agony free.

If you watch the highlights, there was contact on the top of his foot, the "theatrics" you mentioned included him falling over, no rolling around, all he did was look up to the ref, who gave a penalty. The qualified referees working with VAR after watching it i'm guessing more than once, also agreed with the ref on the pitch that it was a penalty. If it's a short-term sharp pain, (but still a foul worthy of a penalty), then you wouldn't expect him to be stretchered off and unable to stand 5-10 minutes afterwards.

I'm going to back our player that he wasn't diving/play-acting and faking pain and i'm also going to back the opinion of the professionally qualified referees who viewed the incident more than once and still considered the incident to be worthy of a penalty.