Fellaini issues apology for head-butt

Everton are better than this!

I have to say though that it was only a matter of time before "someone" reacted to this ridiculous situation where defenders are now "allowed" to grab hold of attackers in the box for corners and free kicks and manhandle them without any punishment at all. Ridiculous situation.

Congratulations though to David Moyes. No other manager in the league would have been so honest and forthright as he was when asked about it in the after game interview.

We'll pay for this in the coming weeks!

Now is the time to show real character without the big man.
It will of course be a plague in my mind now until he gets his punishment, but I think too many people concentrate on what happened with him and not on the positives of the game yesterday.

Stoke's narky gameplay worked precisely, but somehow didn't get Felli sent off as intended.

Silver lining, Ross gets a crack of the whip and forces himself into the side, it's usually in adversity that one of our reserves makes a man of himself. Baines, Jags both got a toehold in the team on the back of something like this. Coleman seems to be doing it as well.

Any opposition will know that rather than just let him have space to play, if they go out and wind him up early on they can effectively take him out of the game.

But on the other hand I don't think that top Euro teams have the likes of Stoke and WBA defenders in their teams.

They call him the beast. We have the beautiful beast, the sometimes indifferent beast and the evil beast. Trouble is you never know which one will turn up.

When he's good he's very very good and when he's bad he's horrid.

One thing nobody seems to have mentioned in all their 'analysis' of this situation (and is this a tacit acceptance that shirt pulling is just part of the game and we don't mind it?) is that all three incidents were fouls by Shawcross on Fellaini, to at least the degree that Fellaini's was at Manchester City.

I mentioned very early in the season that Fellaini was going to be targeted by opposition defenders in exactly this way, and it's the job of the coaching staff to have pre-empted this. Maybe they did and he let them down, I don't know, but something seems to have gone off in his head. Whatever his ban is, I hope he doesn't get paid for any of the time he's unavailable.

There is no doubt he deserves a retrospective red, but for Lawrenson to talk of potential 6 or 9 match bans is both ridiculous and disgusting.

Fellaini should've taken a leaf out of the City player's book and thrown himself to the ground. Best case scenario a pen, worst case a yellow. Either way, if there was a hint of a penalty for Everton, MotD wouldn't show it!

Adam, I was thinking the same too, also why did Match of the Day not show Pienaar' s miss at the very end showing that we should have won it? Why didn't they highlight Shawcross having a bear hold on Fellaini for every corner or free kick?

The second one was nothing, whilst the the third one wouldn't warrant anything if it wasn't for the despicable first. 4 game ban is coming you'd think.

As for Fellaini the quick apology was presumably ordered by Moyes (who again demonstrated his inherent integrity) and that might save a couple of games in the ban to come. The big man has been mostly magnificent this season, but that was stupid and selfish behaviour which will cost him reputionally (and please no defence of his behaviour on here of the kind that we would be contemptuous of if tried by fans of other clubs). He will finally purge himself of that petulant, immature streak or he willl become an easy target on the pitch and less of a target of top clubs off it. Neither will be good for Everton.

Also, when Lawrenson says Fellaini is looking to see if the ref can see him before he butts him - maybe he is looking for some protection?

By the way, I think Moyes is being smart by admitting that Fellaini deserves a ban, and getting Fellaini to also apologise. Just maybe, the refs will say "look, both the manager and the player have admitted guilt, and Shawcross is not really hurt, and there WAS a lot of shirt pulling & tugging, so we will just let him off with a warning". Just hoping ....;-)

Whatever the ban, my inkling is that Fellaini will come back a less effective player for us. Opponents will have wised up how to play him (niggle, crowd, hold), and the officials will come down even harder. Thus far in his Everton career, he hasn't shown the ability to "turn the other cheek", when being persistently fouled and harassed, and similarly doesn't appear to be "cute" enough to get his way on the pitch.

I fear he will be hounded out of the English game, by the authorities, his opponents, and opposing fans. Stand by for the shrieks of faux anger and rage from opposing fans, every time Fellaini goes in for a 50/50 challenge when he returns.

His stock is still high across Europe, I would assume, so now may be the time to cash in our big pile of chips on the big man, and wish him good luck abroad, in more favourable playing conditions.

Let's be honest, we have all seen it happen before to some degree and when he comes back it will happen again.

If you want CL football don't be such a prick and be available to the team... cretin!

Everton this season have been the subject to some awful refereeing decisions and probably take to the field with a sense of injustice and come off the pitch with that view amplified. The referee is there to protect every player from Aberdeen to Zenit from being fouled or injured, but it seems that each individual official has their own set of rules which they referee by.

Halsey is one such Referee, he tends to let the game go and mostly I prefer that method of officiating but only up to a point. Letting the game flow? is the last thing you need when one of the teams involved is hell-bent on stopping the other team playing football by fair means or foul.

The FA need to have a full meeting with Mike Riley and his associates and thrash out what is and isn't to be allowed on the football pitch regardless of the fame or stature of individuals or clubs. If teams feel they are being victimised for their style of play then so be it. The authorities need to address this problem otherwise the ticket buying public and even the TV viewer will turn away from the game in their droves.

As someone said if they wanted to watch Rugby they could, but I don't like rugby I prefer football and it is the duty of all to ensure that the game is allowed to be played according to an agreed set of rules. The governing bodies may well have sold the game to the media but that doesn't excuse them from their responsibilites, they are there to uphold the rules and not to pander to their paymasters and allow the media to dictate what is and isn't allowed.

If they don't then football will just become another TV show with the producers and directors deciding what is and isn't fair and just. How soon will it be before MOTD live becomes an "X-Factor" / "Get me out of here" type programme with the viewer allowed to decide? the outcome? — "If you think it was a pen, text 11111; if not, text 22222..."

As I said, whatever ban Fellaini gets he deserves, but more importantly the game has to decide what it represents: is it a sport or is it just another throwaway TV show???

Yes, Fellaini does have a streak about him - there have been many instances and the one that stands out to me was his deliberate stamp on that RS fellow - which resulted in himself being out of the game with leg/foot damage.

I do not condone his reaction to the Stoke affair and totally agree that it's time the FA started sorting out these holding and tuggings at corners. It really winds me up sitting there watching it take place and I'm usually about ten times further away from the incidents than the referee.

No wonder the players snap and lash out - it's happening all the time and it's spoiling the game.

Also, if Fellaini gets 3 games, does this mean that retrospective punishment is the norm? Again, no consistency.

Stoke are a disgrace, and play a game that is all about man-handling, disrupting and winding up the opponent OFF THE BALL. The refs need to get a grip of this, but I fear it has gone too far and is embedded into the game.

Thanks 'Big Sam'......

Fellaini was penalised for doing no worse than what Stoke defenders do continually and we lost points because of it. How can his holding a player away from the ball be any different than what other teams do. He was frustrated and reacted unforgiveably, but he is right when he says that the referees are not being fair.

Teams used to provoke Ferguson as they knew he had a short fuse and reacted aggressively. Rooney was another target but he has had the common sense to change his attitude to baiting tactics. Fellaini will be targetted in future matches as now he has demonstrated that he will react and maybe get sent off.

I think that the top brass should look at the continuing problem of holding in the penalty area and penalise teams that are using this ploy continually. It seems that forwards are penalised every time there is hanky panky and the refs are taking the easy option, but it is ruining the game.

While Moyes stance is admirable from a moral point of view, I can't help but think it will result in Fellaini and our club being punished far worse than otherwise. All we can hope is that Fellaini comes back a mentally stronger player.

Its right that Moyes said what he did, but I'd really have liked him to make more of the constant lack of protection that Fellaini gets. The constant and blatant fouls that are committed against him which go unpunished would wind any of us up.

But yesterday and today the media are talking about fellaini putting his hair in someones face and not mentioning the other side of the debate. Its David Moyes responsibility to ensure that the other side of the debate happens.

His transfer value went from £15m to £30m in no time at all and back again now unless one of the top CL clubs like PSG fancy spending some of their mega bucks on someone who I think will get more space and possibly more "protection" in Europe. Does this A&E make a transfer in January much more likely? I suspect it does, sadly, as he is a game changer and on top of his game he is virtually unplayable... until you kick him — and then once lit the blue touch paper is hard to put out.

Fellaini will be missed hopefully not as long as Lawrenson has suggested, although Barton got a hefty ban for something not dissimilar but I fear Fellaini will be closely scrutinized by every ref when he does return. I don't know how that will affect his game but it is something he and the club will have to deal with.

How we cope in his absence will determine where we finish this year, if Mirallas was fit then I would play him behind Jelavic but with him being out for another couple of weeks then I guess he might play Naismith in that position and play Barkley wide right. The only other alternative I see is to move Pienaar to the right and bring in Oviedo on the left, but Pienaar seems less effective on the right.

ps: I have Baines as captain for my fantasy league. Ten penalty goals from him would have been healthy for my team!!!

No-one will mention all the man handling at all, it will all be about Fellaini being a daft prick.

And we're not just talking about a one-off headbutt in the heat of the moment. Fellaini clearly checked out the referee's position first and then went on to elbow and then smack Shawcross later in the game.

Even the MotD commentator questioned whether Fellaini wanted Christmas off and, based on the evidence, it certainly looks like he does.

There were three separate incidents for which Fellaini could and should have been sent off, each carrying a three-match ban, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the FA hit him with a long ban. For me, he deserves whatever he gets.

Scoring directly is nearly impossible with the grabbing and pushing, plus their height/defensive quality, with no pens on offer, and whistle happy refs quick to give Stoke a free kick.

Play it short.

But what's really pissed me off is I've watched Everton get shafted by refs on the 50/50s. Watched Ferguson get penalised for every jump against a defender that was all over him. Watched Felli get punished when his reputation was all about elbows. Finally, we started playing good football and changed the perception a bit. We started getting the opportunity to tackle and jump for headers without being unfairly pulled up. Felli was being allowed to challenge.

Now that's fucked again. He's a marked man. Teams will try to wind him up and throw themselves down in challenges.

It will happen, and refs will rule against him. Takes a long time to get rid of a bad reputation and he's just undone a lot of hard work.

And probably knocked a chunk off his transfer fee if it comes to that.

Moyes knows very well that if you want to win games then you have to score enough goals, so instead of blaming the players he blames the refs in nearly every game. I for one am getting sick and tired of it.

Fellaini has done this kind of thing before, he wants to stay home with his family during Christmas. He got what he wanted and more.

However Moyes should be careful about taking the full blame, Stoke play dirty and that should have been pointed out as well. Stoke is the one team I hate having in the PL. They always play dirty, and they should be relegated for it.

And Brian #392,
There was wide spread criticism because they are only ever given against the likes of us when playing the likes of City, United etc. They are never given for us, that's why there was criticism. How do you fail to grasp that. If they were always given then fair enough. But they are not. They are given against us to bail out the "top" sides.

Brian how is that ironic? That's an entirely consistent position that reacts to the decision we witnessed at the Ettihad. Why is it a foul against Fellaini but it isn't a foul against Shawcross? We've seen it given as a penalty against us, and now we want it given as a penalty for us.

"I appear to be in the minority. Whatever Shawcross was guilty of, there is no excuse for Fellaini's reactions."

Garry that would be you saying exactly the same as everyone else. Hardly a minority. Oh except James Stewart, I just got down to his comment.

In general I think Moyes needs to put another video together like he did with Andy Johnson all that time ago. This season has been shocking.

If this incident(s) had happened on the half way line after a punted goal kick, the ref will always give a free kick. So, how come when it's in the penalty area, the ref never gives anything?

The location of the ball on the pitch has nothing to do with whether this is a foul or not.

It's simply a foul. If it happened in the penalty area, then it's a penalty.

If the ref's apply the rules of the game properly, then Shawcross would have been penalised (possibly 3 times) and Fellaini would never had retaliated.

I'm not excusing Fellaini for his antics but perhaps the ref and Shawcross need to look at themselves and issue apologies like Fellaini has.

I think they'll ban him and ban him big for precisely the reason Andrew Keatley says on the other thread. MOTD think they're judge and jury, pronounce what they want to happen and the FA will see this as what popular opinion wants to see and do it.

I agree totally with your query re the ref seeing it, he looks like was looking straight at them. I will also smile wryly at the fallout if he walks away scot free. Cant see it happening though, I think they're going to push for 6 to 9 games.

The difference in class between two teams less than a mile away is vast

SSN have just highlighted the contrast in his papers stance (The Mirror) advocating a 9 match ban compared to others saying 3 matches.

I don't buy papers anymore but I suggest any "Mirror" readers stop buying it.

The Irish Independent reckon they'll give him a 3 game ban as any more than that is only metered out for exceptional incidents, which this one is unlikely to be seen as. He should've got a red for the headbutt, would've got 3 matches, and that's what they reckon they'll stick with. Which all in all sounds fair enough.

Stoke are the worst in the PL at it and especially that overgrown schoolboy twat Shawcross and his sidekick Huth.

This absolute travesty of the football rules needs addressing now and Moyes should use this situation as a launch-pad to get rid of it for once and all.....or maybe just one referee with balls that blows for a penalty everytime it happens...wouldnt THAT be great?