Football : Season 2009/2010

[Cobbydaler]

I can't believe the brass neck of the guy after the number of times United have benefited from extended injury time winners...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...em/8410256.stm

[Matty_]

What i`d of given to be that fourth official holding up that extra time board knowing what Ferguson`s reaction would be.

He must have been tempted to go

Good result for Arsenal, looks like things are coming together for the team and injuries withstanding they may be serious title contenders. As for Liverpool, they look a disjointed team who have very little in the way of creativity.
I think the confidence among the squad is at a very low point!

[punky]

Originally Posted by Cobbydaler

I can't believe the brass neck of the guy after the number of times United have benefited from extended injury time winners...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...em/8410256.stm

Hmmm.

The United boss said: "It has to be taken out of the referee's hands.

And put into his, presumably. We know he has the stopwatch at least.

United Lost. Fergie doesn't want people to write about them losing. So he says something to deflect. Haven't we been here before.

[sherer]

we didn't get the job done in 90 mins so giving us extra time wouldn't have mattered. Fair play to Villa they used the tactic of passing to their own men and beat us.

What is annoying about the board is they are meant to add on 30 seconds for each sub which makes 3 mins if they are all taken. So is the ref saying with no subs the game would have just ended ?

[Niles Crane]

Originally Posted by sherer

we didn't get the job done in 90 mins so giving us extra time wouldn't have mattered. Fair play to Villa they used the tactic of passing to their own men and beat us.

What is annoying about the board is they are meant to add on 30 seconds for each sub which makes 3 mins if they are all taken. So is the ref saying with no subs the game would have just ended ?

As far as i'm aware it's up to 30 seconds, not 30 seconds guaranteed for each sub.

[nffc]

It's a minimum of 30 seconds per change in that half plus additional stoppages.

[sherer]

wonder if this is listed on the FA site. This is where I always say that stupid board makes no sense. If it is a minimum of 30 seconds then basically the ref is saying there weren't any stoppages as the only time he added on would have been for the subs.

If you add up the subs plus the stoppage time then it ends up being about 7-8 mins which just looks stupid so they stick to the standard 3-4 every match

[Niles Crane]

Originally Posted by Damien

For the love of..

It's simple.

Rooney/Gerrard = England Golden Boys

Drogba/Eduardo/Ngog = Foreign Cheats.

Imagine if Scholes was Foreign, he would be in for a lot more criticisms of some of his 'tackles' and he even hand balled before a goal for England. No one cared, when Henry on the other hand does it well then he should be banned from the World Cup and will always be remembered as 'the cheat' (he won't of course but there you go).

Indeed. There's a good article from The Times today which reflects all this.

Idea of British players cheating is foreign to domestic fans

Of all the contributions made by Scouse players to our game, the least attractive is cheating. We saw it nine days ago when Steven Gerrard was booed by Blackburn Rovers supporters for apparently trying to earn Liverpool a penalty with a simulation technique well known to web-surfers and we saw it again on Saturday, when Wayne Rooney was shown the yellow card for diving over a nonexistent tackle during Manchester United’s match against Aston Villa.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the tendency to go over without good reason outweighs all the good things Scouse players have brought to our football. Players such as Gerrard and Rooney have thrilled us with their technique and etched memories of heroic deeds, while Joey Barton is another whose legacy is assured. The Scouse factor adds much to the footballing landscape.

But we have enough problems in the game without the diving accusations that seem to dog Gerrard and Rooney in particular. A stand needs to be taken against such behaviour and it may be that Fifa will have to ban Scousers from the World Cup to preserve the integrity of the fair-play campaign.

By now you will have smelt a rat. Substitute “foreign” for “Scouse” and you have the kind of rubbish we hear every time a non-English player falls. Substitute the names of Eduardo da Silva or, until a few months ago, Cristiano Ronaldo, for those of Gerrard and Rooney and you have the careless xenophobia always liable to embarrass those seeking to do something for England, such as bring it the World Cup in 2018.

To the credit of Jon Champion, commentating for ESPN on the Old Trafford match, he immediately linked Rooney’s attempt to cheat Villa with the furore over the penalty recently awarded at Anfield to David Ngog when the French striker fell after hurdling a tackle by Lee Carsley, of Birmingham City. But Match of the Day did not even discuss the Rooney incident — although it did mention a rumour that a French player, Benoît Assou-Ekotto, had become involved in an altercation with a Tottenham Hotspur fan.

Without meaning to be hypocritical, the British do have a complex attitude towards cheating. The eye of the beholder is extraordinarily selective. Only attackers cheat — never defenders. excuse is made for defenders; they “stand their ground”, or “just do enough to put the striker off”, or “ease him off the ball”, or “make minimal contact” with his shirt or trailing ankle.

And when the attacker dives, he is shown no mercy. He must be banned. His sin is so great that when he goes home — this was the most eloquently damning verdict on Ngog, delivered with passion by Carsley — he will be ashamed of facing his family. Such is the hue and cry against anyone suspected of diving that referees, endeavouring to answer it, make ludicrously unjust errors such as Mark Clattenburg’s in giving Craig Bellamy a yellow card — a second one, condemning the Manchester City forward to a suspension — for being the victim of a slightly late tackle by Paul Robinson, of Bolton Wanderers.

Should the Watford-born Robinson, whose career has featured many slightly late tackles, have taken the advice of those who wished Thierry Henry had gone to the referee of the France-Ireland World Cup play-off and confessed to handling?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/spo...cle6955319.ece

I agree with that. A lot of the football Journalists at The Times/Guardian/Telegraph seem to have the same view, if you listen to their Podcasts they are much more balanced and care less about the hysteria. Although those papers do employ 'commentators' who seem to write more baiting rubbish.

The problem is papers like The Sun whom lot of 'football' fans use as their main source and who will wrap Rooney and the like in the flag. To them it's almost Anti-English to say Rooney/Gerrard and co dive as well. Unfortunately these are the morons who Sky Sports bring in to talk about it on the Sunday Supplement program.

[superbiatch]

There's nothing like tarring everyone with the same brush!

Seems to have an issue with scousers just as much as cheats

[Niles Crane]

Originally Posted by Damien

I agree with that. A lot of the football Journalists at The Times/Guardian/Telegraph seem to have the same view, if you listen to their Podcasts they are much more balanced and care less about the hysteria. Although those papers do employ 'commentators' who seem to write more baiting rubbish.

The problem is papers like The Sun whom lot of 'football' fans use as their main source and who will wrap Rooney and the like in the flag. To them it's almost Anti-English to say Rooney/Gerrard and co dive as well. Unfortunately these are the morons who Sky Sports bring in to talk about it on the Sunday Supplement program.

I've been listening to The Game and Football Weekly for a while now, as you say they usually have a much more balanced and sensible view, the latter podcast especially.
This is the perfect opportunity to shamelessly boast that i won tickets to a special video episode of Football Weekly in the diamond suite at Emirates Stadium a couple of weeks ago. Free beer, Emirates Stadium and meeting James Richardson; it was a glorious evening!

Originally Posted by superbiatch

There's nothing like tarring everyone with the same brush!

Seems to have an issue with scousers just as much as cheats

Urmm No. He is substating 'Sousers' for 'Foreigners' to show how stupid the way the press talk about Foreign divers.

---------- Post added at 20:03 ---------- Previous post was at 20:02 ----------

Originally Posted by Niles Crane

I've been listening to The Game and Football Weekly for a while now, as you say they usually have a much more balanced and sensible view, the latter podcast especially.
This is the perfect opportunity to shamelessly boast that i won tickets to a special video episode of Football Weekly in the diamond suite at Emirates Stadium a couple of weeks ago. Free beer, Emirates Stadium and meeting James Richardson; it was a glorious evening!

LOL. I saw that video, Football Weekly is easily the best program/journalism about football around at the moment.

[sherer]

what amazing me about diving and cheating is the attidute of the ex players who are now commentators or pundits. I'm sure they are all in on the cheating.

I was watching MODT with Hansen talking about the Bellamy sending off. he knows full when in his day and before then the game wouldn't even have stopped for that. When I watched it i saw Bellamy do the usual thing of sticking his legs at the defender to make sure HE fell over the defenders legs rather than getting fouled and falling over. All the ex players know this but they go round saying it was a def foul

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...otry-hypocrisy

Earlier this season, and after their first such offences, Eduardo and David Ngog were tried, condemned and darn near executed in the court of public sanctimony, over which presides, of course, the honourable gentlemen of the English press. Most of those same judges have been a good deal less mouthy about the theatrics of Rooney and Gerrard, despite both players, like various other England stars (Michael Owen against Argentina in 1998?), having previous.