Mark Holmes blasts the FA over the John Terry affair, defends Howard Webb and urges Tony Pulis to get out of the gutter in today's Monday Moan.

In last week's blog I urged the Football Association to clamp down on players using their elbows, blasted treatment of the FA Cup and provided some words of support for Andy Carroll.

Since then the FA have announced that the FA Cup will get its own date in the calendar - well hopefully they'll pay attention this week, too, because I'm back on their case regarding their handling of the John Terry affair.

I've also got some thoughts on the latest refereeing controversies and why I believe Tony Pulis needs to get out of the gutter.

FA have taken the easy option

Regardless of your opinion on the John Terry affair, it is tough to disagree that the FA have handled it poorly.

For me, they had to either stand by the 'innocent until guilty' line or 'suspend' Terry from the England set-up altogether until the case is resolved. In actuality they have done neither, appeasing nobody, but ensuring they will not face the embarrassment of the England captain lifting the European Championship trophy this summer - as if! - and then being found guilty of racist abuse.

That is the only thing they have achieved in stripping Terry of the armband. He will still be in the squad, he will still be the team's leader on the pitch and he will still almost certainly have both allies and enemies in the dressing room.

All the FA have done is create an even bigger problem for Fabio Capello, who would have preferred Terry to remain as captain until after his court case. It's inconceivable that the England manager wasn't even consulted on the fate of the England captain and I wouldn't blame the Italian if he now refused to choose a replacement for Terry. Why should he?

As usual, the FA have created a fine mess and, as usual, England will go into a major championship beneath a cloud of controversy and with next to no chance of achieving success. Good work!

Referees under fire

Yet again we begin a week with the sports pages full of criticism of the past few days' refereeing decisions.

Howard Webb has been blasted by non-Manchester United fans all over the world for awarding the Red Devils two more penalties at Chelsea, and few agree with Martin Atkinson's decision to show yet another red card, this time to Stoke's Robert Huth.

Well let me start by saying the two penalties United were awarded against Stoke in midweek were both correctly given. In fact they should have had at least one more so there has not been a run of favourable decisions for the champions.

As for their two at Stamford Bridge, most people seem to agree that the first was fair enough, and surely everyone can at least understand why Webb gave the second?

It was a 'bought' penalty similar to the Adam Johnson one the day before but it'd have taken a brave, eagle-eyed referee to rule Danny Welbeck purposely waited for Branislav Ivanovic's leg to go over.

I wasn't actually too sure about United's first penalty on first viewing but, at the time, I felt certain the second was a stonewaller so I'm not about to criticise Webb for not seeing something I didn't see myself. As I've written in many blogs before, referees are only human and don't have access to the dozens of replays we do watching on television. Give them a break!

And please don't resort to the 'United get all the decisions' argument. It's pathetic and, as Stoke can vouch for following our game at Old Trafford, not at all accurate.

As for the Huth red card, it was harsh but I don't blame Atkinson. There is clearly an attempt to stop players from making tackles they are not fully in control of and last week Premier League clubs were all sent tapes of tackles that are unacceptable so Huth should have known better than to go to ground.

The German in his defence did pull out of the tackle on David Meyler, therefore taking his opponent into consideration, but the fact is that he slid along the ground with some force and was reckless.

Some will argue that Atkinson should have taken the conditions into consideration, but so should have Huth. It was daft to make a slide tackle in that area of the pitch in any case and, although after viewing the replays I would argue it ultimately didn't put Meyler in danger, I can fully understand why Atkinson pulled out his red card. It was idiocy on Huth's behalf and players simply have to learn.

While I am on the subject of referees, I must also state that I hate seeing players sent off for offences such as Djibril Cisse's on Saturday. Yes, he was silly and yes, the rules are very clear on players raising their hands, but Cisse acted in the heat of the moment after a bad tackle by Roger Johnson, and in my opinion referees should be allowed to show some common sense in situations such as those.

Pulis' lack of adventure starting to grate

It has been a while since I ranted about Stoke but our latest home defeat has pushed me over the edge.

Now before the usual suspects jump in, let me assure you that we're a very good team on our day. We're capable of playing some excellent football and there's no way we'll be relegated any time soon.

The problem is that our good days are becoming few and far between and when we're bad, my God are we bad. In fact, take Europe out of the equation and this season has been the most boring and uninspiring for a very long time.

Take Saturday's game against Sunderland. Having Huth sent off just before half-time obviously didn't help us but there were still three points to be won. Or, as Pulis saw it, a point to hang on to. He took off our only source of creativity, Jermaine Pennant, and surprise, surprise, we created nothing and ended up losing.

Now I will always defend Pulis' right to be pragmatic - we wouldn't be where we are today had he not stayed so true to his beliefs - but his lack of adventure is starting to grate on me.

I admire the fact that he refuses to get carried away and keeps his players grounded, but the club is no longer in the doldrums and Pulis needs to cut his cloth accordingly. He loves to be in a dogfight - he's spent his entire career in one - but Stoke aren't in a dogfight any more. They are an established Premier League team with a wealthy benefactor and some great players.

As Oscar Wilde said, "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

Pulis couldn't care less about the stars; he is just happy not to be in the gutter.

He is constantly looking to remind fans of the dangers of high expectations and I agree that Stoke fans must be careful what we wish for but if Pulis not careful, his constant reminders of where we could be may become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Have your say

I expect plenty of you will disagree with me on the Manchester United issue, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on all of my views this week. I want to hear your moans too so get your comments in and, remember, you can also follow me on Twitter to hear me moan from Tuesday to Sunday too.