Agree and disagree. Penalties change matches, and 2 of their goals came from penalties that shouldn't have been given. You can't just ignore that in the context of the match. It's the reason that for football to ever be a 'fair' sport decided by the athletes rather than the ref, we need replays on all penalty decisions. Nothing in pro team sports changes a result more than pens in football, and the system at present is arbitrary.
United should have had a pen each against S'land and Burnley. Clear pens too, but you also see them not given. Had we got those two and not got the two incorrectly against Leicester, we could potentially be almost at the top of the table. That's how big those 4, 2-second decisions are.
Other option is take away penalties for sh*t like Vardy's foul. If the player isn't actually in a position to score, then give an indirect free kick. That would partly solve the problem.
But for me the sport is almost broken at the moment. So many matches are being determined by one goal from a penalty, and you never know when you'll get a penalty. Good example - watch Ryan Shawcross 'mark' someone on corners. He literally bear hugs his opponent, and often tackles them to the ground. That's not a penalty. But touching big man Vardy when he himself initiates the contact is a penalty.
Basically refs have no f*cking clue. The powers that be should give them replays and clear instructions, and the sport will become more fair. At present the best tactic you can have to win a match is try to get in the box as often as possible, and go to ground as often as possible. There are teams doing this and succeeding. Not naming names, but one team in the prem last year had - on average - a penalty every 3 matches. That's more or less an extra goal every 3 games. That makes a HUGE difference. Were they all contentious? Absolutely not. Were lots of them in the 'seen them given' range? Absolutely.
/rant
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