Beautiful game, bad custodians
Maybe I’ve been misled as to the rules of the game all these years, but I was under the impression that a foul against an opposition player inside the penalty area should be punished with a penalty. So I was quite surprised to see that when Alexsandr Hleb was brought down by a tackle from Jonathan Spector in the West Ham penalty area, play was waved on - even though Spector was nowhere near the ball when he took down Hleb.
You could argue that it wasn’t a clear goalscoring opportunity, in which case it is still a free kick. But you never see free kicks given inside the penalty area any more, do you? The last I can remember was in an England game a few years ago.
I know that referees are not infallible, I know that mistakes happen; if you have to watch a replay three or four times before it’s clear, you can understand why a ref can’t catch it. But it looked like a foul on first viewing, and replays showed that was definitely the case. No-one wants to see every decision questioned, but when a goal either way can make the difference, we want to see justice done, don’t we?
Arsene Wenger was ridiculed when he first suggested a ‘Joker’ system, where each team can contest one decision in each half. Suddenly when you see a poor refereeing decision like this, you can understand his point. In Tennis they have this system, and in Rugby the players are allowed to question the ref. Why is Football being denied modernisation? Why is taking your shirt off for a goal celebration a bookable offence, but a flailing elbow or a penalty call that’s been missed by the referee not open to question?
Before I get accused of being a bitter Gooner, let me just state that I’m not saying a penalty was the difference between winning and losing; it might not have even been scored, and if it had there was still time for West Ham to equalise or even win. My point is that in a sport which has increased in tempo and ability over time, why are options not being considered to keep up with it?
On a sidenote, isn’t it astonishing to see the resolve that’s back in the West Ham side now that Tevez & Mascherano are not in the team? It’s powerful ammunition for those who believe the nefarious signings unbalanced the side.
Are Newcastle mad?
Today’s People suggests Newcastle are trying to buy Eidur Gudjohnsen from Barcelona. With the greatest respect to Newcastle fans can anybody tell me one reason why he would swap the splendour of Camp Nou, the wonderful football of Barcelona and the Spanish lifestyle for a team as much in mire as Newcastle are at the moment?
Rijkaard or Roeder? Not a difficult one, is it?
Disgusting suggestion: a man of retirement age should retire
Alex Ferguson says:
“It is scandalous some people think I should retire… It disgusts me that people think that way.”
Yes, how ridiculous that anyone should think a 65-year-old should retire! Who on earth would think such a thing? Disgusting.
Wait; didn’t he say he was going to retire three years ago?
Pot and Kettle II
Because Barcelona is Barcelona, the stars he has and the way they are protected match after match, you cannot touch and I think he is a lucky manager. I think I don’t want to complain, I don’t think it is easy to be a referee when the players minute after minute diving, it is not easy for the referee.
The man is unbelievable. As long as I live I don’t think I’ll ever see a more disgusting display of diving than Porto v Celtic in the UEFA Cup final and he has the nerve to complain about other teams when he still has the likes of Robben and Drogba in his side.
Where does he think Deco perfected the art?
He either doesn’t give a shit what anyone thinks or he’s actually a little bit mad.
Pots and kettles
Mourinho warns his players against Barcelona’s tricks which is a bit like a George Best warning you about your alcohol consumption.
At the very least you have to give him credit for having a neck like a jockey’s bollocks.
Money talks
Despite having Chelsea bang to rights over their tapping up of youth players Leeds United have decided that money is far more important than principle.
A report in today’s Sunday Times reveals that Leeds and Chelsea have struck a deal, believed to be worth around £5m, to withdraw their complaint. Leeds will use the money to fund January transfers.
Chelsea meanwhile get away with illegal behaviour and use their unlimited pot of cash to make all the trouble go away.
Is anyone even slightly surprised?
Anti-football. Pragmatic, practical, poxy, putrid
While I understand Everton’s tactics today it is horrible to watch. They took advantage of a mistake by Kolo Toure to go ahead early. The 6th minute to be precise.
Then they sat back with 10 and 11 men behind the ball and defended. And defended. And defended. It took a wonderful Robin van Persie free kick to get Arsenal the goal they deserved. At one stage they had over 90% of the possession.
This is an Everton side with some creativity, pace and goals in it yet they felt they had no choice but to sit back and defend a one goal lead.
Arsenal weren’t helped by Henry having an off day and Tim Howard having a very on day but to me it’s anti-football. I can’t imagine any Everton fan will have enjoyed anything about that performance bar the goal.
Still, they got a point and they’ll say that’s all that matters.
They shoot horses, don’t they?
Luckily for Kieron Dyer he’s not a horse. Imagine if he and Jonathan Woodgate had babies together though.
Nurse - “It’s a boy. Wait. It’s a boy that’s just ruptured its cruciate and snapped its achilles.”
Dyer and Woodgate - “Hurrah!”
How to foster team spirit…
…the Lithuanian way.
Hearts majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov has warned his players they are all for sale if they do not win this weekend, BBC Scotland has disclosed.
I suppose they should be lucky they’re not owned by a Russian who’d send them all to Siberia. Wouldn’t it be fun to see what happened if Roman Abramovich lost his temper?
Benni McCarthy and racism
Interesting story about Wisla Krakow defender Nikola Mijailovic being banned for 5 games for racially abusing Blackburn’s Benni McCarthy.
If he’s guilty of it then I’m happy that UEFA have acted quickly and firmly. There’s simply no place for this kind of thing in the game.
However, I’d be very interested to know on what evidence they convicted him. Mijailovic has denied the claims saying it was normal in-game banter. Did the referee hear something or was his report just based on what McCarthy told him?
I do hope they make this information available because without stone clad back-up from an official UEFA might have set a dangerous precedent here. Banning a player on the say so of an opponent could open a very serious can of worms in the future.