QuoteRooney two match ban upheld, sending a clear message out to any kids that may have been watching...it's ok to elbow somebody in the head, just don't curse.
agree with you sending affected the game.. barcelona would have found it harder to break arsenal down 11 -11 but we will never know if barcelona would have done it anyway ..Originally Posted by Stevo Da Gull
" football is a simple game "
Rooney two match ban upheld, sending a clear message out to any kids that may have been watching...it's ok to elbow somebody in the head, just don't curse.
or dont curse while you elbow somebody in the head.. seems crazy to get 2 games for cursing at camera and yet every week you can lip read players tellin each other or officals for f off or worse .. and as you said elbow players / late career threating tackles/ high challenges players get of scot free !! the logic of the english f.a.
" football is a simple game "
Quick quiz question for you:
Name someone who has lost a cup final with Arsenal and with Man Utd ?
(clue, the term "cup final" isn't restricted to just the fa cup in this case)
Silvestre popped into my head straight away, but I don't think Arsenal were in any Finals while he was there? Frank Stapleton?
No not Silvestre or Stapleton... there is quite a number of years between the finals.
I have no idea what the answer is, but I got curious about Stapleton, having spent so many years at both. Turns out he could fit the bill too...
Arsenal (1974-1981)
FA Cup Final 1978 Ipswich Town 1-0 Arsenal
FA Cup Final 1980 West Ham United 1-0 Arsenal
European Cup Winner's Cup Final 1980- Valencia 0-0 Arsenal (pens.5-4)
Manchester United (1981-1987)
League Cup Final 1983 - Liverpool 2-1 Manchester United
Didn't spot that League Cup... so yeah it could have been him.
The one I was thinking of was Stewart Houston
Viv Anderson maybe. Was he in the Arsenal team that lost to Luton in the LC Final?
Anyway, Wenger's "second place isn't a disaster" outburst on Thursday was weird. Of course it's not literally a disaster, but he has been banging on all year about this young side being "mentally strong". Nothing could be further from the truth:
- Losing to Spurs when 2 up
- Drawing with Newcastle when 4 up
- Drawing at Sunderland after missing a penalty to go 2 up
- Only getting a point in 2 games from WBA
- Only getting a point in 2 games from Newcastle
- Only getting 2 points from Sunderland
- Scoring an OG to drop a lead at Wigan
- Missing a hatful of chances to kill games they don't go on to win
- Blowing the League Cup Final
- Drawing 3 games in a row, including a feeble effort against Blackburn, knowing that winning all remaining 8 games would win the league - not too big an ask when statistically they win 5 out of 8; 3 more with such a big incentive isn't beyond the wit of man.
So, no, coming second (if they even manage that) isn't a disaster but when you look at the limp, meak, indisciplined and downright careless way they have dropped points when they did, they could look back at this season as a nightmarish opportunity lost.
Wenger must wake up to the fact that Almunia, Squilachi, Denilson, Rosicky, Bendtner, Eboue, Diaby and even the woefully underperforming Arshavin are not up to the standard (or not playing to it) required. Classic example of overpaid starts living in a comfort zone, exempt from fair criticism. Even Clichy and Sagna would be under pressure in my view.
I think Fabregas has been below par too, as Denilson said he's not really captain material and you can't see him imposing his will on the team. He's also been sloppy this season, not just in the Nou Camp, but also in that home leg he was frequently giving the ball away. Perhaps he's had his head turned by the thrilling prospect of sitting on the Barca bench for the next 4-5 years.
Imagine if they'd signed on of those Hamburg players Man City got (De Jong, Kompany etc) then they would have solved the captain and the center back / central midfield issues in one go.
Last edited by Closed Account 2; 11/04/2011 at 10:30 AM.
I agree. I think Fabregas is a quality player when things are going well, and poor when his team are struggling, definitely not a trait you would want in your captain.
It's the story of their whole midfield. Rosicky clones. Although to be fair Nasri has been fairly consistent this season and Wilshere might yet be consistant. To me their best player has been the Polish keeper with the unspellable name Szezeney(?) since his injury their form has crumbled away. I can't think of any decent keepers below say 25, except maybe him Hart, Lloris, Neuer or De Gea, but he's the 2nd youngest of those.
A few thoughts before I forget them (getting to that age):
Ferguson doing a Wenger after the Chelsea game: "I didn't see it" after Chelsea had a nailed on penalty turned down. If the boot had been on the other foot, I somehow think he would have seen the incident. What hypocrites managers are.
Mancini- in his first season at Man City he said he was going to win trophies all over the place. What a pathetic team for the money he spent. If Real Madrid and Man City lose their respective semi-finals, I expect Mourinho to be the next Man City manager. Remember you read it here first.
Really enjoying the scrap at the bottom. Fingers crossed for Wolves.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Criticism of refs is a malignacy, though I'm warming bit by bit to Ferguson as a manager. This season, maybe more than any other, he has proved the indestructible quality of his cojones
I heard that post match interview with him about that penalty Q, he spoke rapidly, under his breath, in an almost undecipherable Scottish accent, that 'if it was a break, we (Man U) deserved it'. So he conceded in Ferguson (almost silent to the human ear) speak, that it was a break.
I didn't think it was a nailed on penalty for Chelsea. It might have been a penalty but not imo a nailed on penalty. Afair, it looked a regular block but on replays an amount of illegal contact could be observed. Ref might well have been influenced by the previous, half dozen or so, dives by Chelsea players to win free kicks and penalties.
you forgot to mention ancheloti after the same chelsea game blatent penalty even fron were he was standing and when asked about torres diving i dont know as i did not see incident ,, they are the same only see what they want .. mourinho may make it to manchester but i think he really wants the utd job ,, but may have to wait another while for fergie to retire
" football is a simple game "
Not sure about that. He likes being the guy that is responsible for turning around a teams fortunes. He's had the opportunity to do that everywhere he's been, winning a UEFA Cup at Porto followed by a Champions League, Chelsea's first Championship in 50 years, Champions League at Inter and the opportunity to bring Real Madrid back to the top table of Europe also. He'd have to have ridiculous success at Old Trafford to dispose of Fergie's shadow. City would be a great job for him as he could spend all the money he liked and he'd probably have more pulling power than Mancini. Also, the rubbish job that Mancini has done has pretty much left room for only improvement you'd imagine, especially if they miss out on the Champions League again this season. Wouldn't surprise me to see him back at Chelsea, not winning a Champions League there must have damaged his ego some little bit and Abramovic must surely see what a huge mistake he made letting him go that time.
Replacing Ferguson would be the ultimate poisoned chalice job.
Also, the ghost of Ferguson would haunt the new manager every night.
Lets talk about six baby
I wouldnt want the Old Trafford job with the prospect of Fergie hovering around in the boardroom upstairs, and I doubt Mourinho would as he seems to be his own man - it's more likely someone like Moyes would do it. As you say short of winning 3-4 European Cups in a decade there is little a new manager could do to place himself above the previous one.
I could have seen Mourinho going to Liverpool if they had sorted their finances out, but it looks like Dalglish is there for a while now. I wonder what are the odds of Hiddink ending up at Chelsea? If Turkey lose in Brussels on the 3rd June I could see him walking from that job.
back to the first leg:
Torres' two dives? Second one - no question. But the first: Vidic lunged right across him. I think there's a grey area between diving and pre-empting a clatter from a defender. McGeady's red in Aberdeen. No contact with either ball or defender, but McGeady was expecting to have his ankles taken, though the defender missed. I think the first Torres "dive" had a bit of that.
The Evra penalty. Geysir, do you really think it wasn't nailed on? It was as obvious a penalty as you'd see. The only debate was whether the penalty was for the foul by Evra's right leg, or the foul with his left?
Ferguson was also wong about the Smalling penalty on Zhirkov in the league game. Slow replays show Smalling stuck his leg out to trip Zhirkov before hastily bringing it back in. Alan Smith didn't see that commentating for SKY, and got it wrong. Smalling knew it was a penno, you could see it in his face.
Manager interviews are a waste of time anyway, and should not be compulsory imho. Nothing is ever their fault or their players' fault and all they serve as is to act as a tactical tool for someone like Ferguson to put pressure on the refs for thye next game. Man U have got some real lucky breaks from refs lately: Neville's non-red card and non-penalty at WBA, Vidic's non-red card at West Ham, Rooney's non-red card at Wigan (and subsequent non-intervention), Upson's penalty at West Ham (maybe offset by the Evra penalty in the same game), Berbatov's dive v Liverpool (which I only heard about tbh), and the penalty not given at Chelsea. OK, Luiz could have seen red in the league game but if I was counting ref errors in favour and against, the "in favour" column would have way more entries.
Ferguson & Wenger and all of them are just ****s in interviews and do nothing for football's image.
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 13/04/2011 at 4:32 PM.
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