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The 2012-2013 Football Thread

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Lord Blackadder said:
I can understand Liverpool's reaction (the players, not the suits) in the sense that, by all accounts, Suarez seems a decent guy off the pitch. He is not having the kinds of personal issues that other enfants terrible seem to have with drugs/alcohol/violence. He simply loses his head on the pitch.

There are other people in football who are doing far worse things and seeing much less punishment. From that perspective I can see why some are upset about the length of the ban. But in the end you can only be responsible for yourself.

The fact that Nigel de Jong went unpunished for snapping legs in half, or that Balkan football gets a weak slap on the wrist for massive, institutional racism is, unfortunately beside the point if you look at things strictly. Luis did what he did, he has not denied it and we all know that the FA, the league and most English fans are unlikely ever to show him a shred of leniency.
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I think that the case of Nigel de Jong was a special case to the English game, that so called it's a man's game, stop being a whinny baby. Vinnie Jones hard man, the whole Leeds Utd. of the 1970's, keep playing with sever head wound, Terry Butcher.


The English game was built on this.

Also
From the press at the time.


Nigel de Jong will continue to escape retrospective action for his leg-breaking tackle on Hatem Ben Arfa despite Newcastle United writing to the Football Association today demanding the Manchester City midfielder is banned.

While the City manager, Roberto Mancini, attempted to defend his player, Newcastle requested that the FA make a precedent of the De Jong case by bypassing the rules and issuing, at the very least, an automatic three-match suspension. A club statement said: "Newcastle United have today written a strongly worded letter to the Football Association. The club has asked the FA for the appropriate action to be taken against De Jong for the tackle, which, in the club's opinion, was unnecessary and used excessive force."

The FA, however, is tied by Fifa's rules and, while there is sympathy for Newcastle for losing the Frenchman to a double fracture, there is nothing they can do now the referee, Martin Atkinson, has confirmed he saw the tackle and did not believe at the time it was worthy even of a yellow card. The FA will inform Newcastle that retrospective action was introduced, in essence, to punish off-the-ball incidents that may have been missed by the officials.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/oct/05/nigel-de-jong-manchester-city
 
great topic! ;)

since I'll have my fiveonfive comeback this afternoon (yay!), I just hope I won't start kissing random guys on the pitch > looking like the Butcher guy afterwards I guess.
 
One wonders what the England of the 70s would make of Suarez biting a player like that. I'm sure it would be attributed to "foreign" behavior. Nigel de Jong has a history of willfully reckless play, and frankly the rule that once a ref sees something no retrospective action can be taken is totally absurd.

The Suarez case illustrates that intent is more important than results. If you fly into a tackle knowing that you might break a leg and end a player's career, you might not be held responsible at all for the results beyond a simple warning. You can hide behind the fact that it happened during the course of play, even though the amount of force you used was violently reckless and you knew exactly what you were doing.

By contrast, obvious off-the-ball violent conduct such as a slap to the face, a head butt or a bite will be punished far more severely than reckless or dangerous play that inflicts serious or even potentially life-threatening injuries. It's a clear-cut case of intentional violence without the excuse that it happened in the heat of the moment while attempting to play the ball - even if the actual damage potential is laughably small.

FIFA needs to change the rules, and allow for retrospective punishment of any incident that happens during a match, whether a ref sees it or not.
 
Lord Blackadder said:
One wonders what the England of the 70s would make of Suarez biting a player like that. I'm sure it would be attributed to "foreign" behavior. Nigel de Jong has a history of willfully reckless play, and frankly the rule that once a ref sees something no retrospective action can be taken is totally absurd.

The Suarez case illustrates that intent is more important than results. If you fly into a tackle knowing that you might break a leg and end a player's career, you might not be held responsible at all for the results beyond a simple warning. You can hide behind the fact that it happened during the course of play, even though the amount of force you used was violently reckless and you knew exactly what you were doing.

By contrast, obvious off-the-ball violent conduct such as a slap to the face, a head butt or a bite will be punished far more severely than reckless or dangerous play that inflicts serious or even potentially life-threatening injuries. It's a clear-cut case of intentional violence without the excuse that it happened in the heat of the moment while attempting to play the ball - even if the actual damage potential is laughably small.

FIFA needs to change the rules, and allow for retrospective punishment of any incident that happens during a match, whether a ref sees it or not.
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I know that you were being sarcastic, but I don't think that you are so far off either. Britain in the 1970's was a very strange place from what I heard and read.:p
They only worked three days a week and I think that they went on strike for the other two.:D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-Day_Week

Your point about intent is IMO correct, and very well put. I do think however that one must be careful, because a strong tackle is part and parcel of the game. But there must be boundaries of course or we could find our selves back in the 1970's and the "sliding Tackle from behind" which ended a lot of players careers.

Seen the speed that FIFA work I would not hold my breath if I was you.:p

I have heard that Nigel de Jong is a very nice young man, so long as you don't have a ball that he wants.;)
 
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I wonder too what England of the 1970s would make of Hull City gaining promotion to the top flight. I mention it because it might happen today without us kicking a ball in anger.

Cripes, who'd have thought it? :eek:
 
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Jaffa Cake,

Cheering on Watford, or do you have a soft spot for the Premier League?

Happybunny,

Three-Day Week; the backers of the Opposition seem to want to go back there. Still, afternoon games midweek, and children bunking off school...:)

---

Nasty English fans - is Barton English?

Cheers,
OW
 
oscillatewildly said:
Jaffa Cake,

Cheering on Watford, or do you have a soft spot for the Premier League?
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Two sides to the coin – on the one hand, you want your team to be as successful as possible and to play at the highest level they can, which naturally means we want to be striving for promotion to the Premier League.

However, we're under no illusion what a place in the top flight will mean for us after our experiences of a few seasons ago – constant belittlement and scorn from the media, having our matches shifted all over the place to accommodate the TV people, and having to pay double for tickets if we fancy making an away trip.

There are positives to being in the top flight for sure, but our eyes are open to the realities of what life there means for clubs of our standing.

In a peculiar twist of fate, if Watford miss out on promotion tonight it'll be down to none other than Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson, the former Tigers boss who left us to move to the East Midlands. At the time there was grand talk of him moving there so he could get a proper club promoted. He may well still do that this season, but not Leicester. ;)
 
Jaffa Cake said:
There are positives to being in the top flight for sure, but our eyes are open to the realities of what life there means for clubs of our standing.
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If one can ignore the media's blathering (and that's a big if), I think promotion is certainly a good thing, so long as the club doesn't lose it's head. By this I mean that clubs need to avoid pulling a QPR/Portsmouth and bankrupting themselves with overpriced players.

Keep the finances sustainable, pick up a few players at prices the club can afford and have a go at survival. If the campaign results in relegation, the club should still be well-placed to compete in the Championship. If the club survives, buy a few more players and try to improve the squad in a sustainable way.

I'm far from the first person who thought of this, but it's easy to get carried away in the fantasies of the media or ambitious/arrogant owners.

I'm cheering on the Tigers for promotion - if they go up I'll get to see them on TV here in the states!
 
Condolences OllyW...has the cub lowered ticket prices following relegation? Have attendances suffered?

oscillatewildly said:
Jaffa Cake - as long as you are just happy to be there.:D Do you think Steve Bruce being manager will alter the media's attitude?
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I bet it will - he's a known quantity who seems to be more or less in the media's good graces (unlike, say, poor Phil Brown). And, at the risk of sounding biased, he was a successful player under Ferg at Man Utd. That always seems to play well with the papers.
 
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Lord Blackadder said:
If one can ignore the media's blathering (and that's a big if), I think promotion is certainly a good thing, so long as the club doesn't lose it's head. By this I mean that clubs need to avoid pulling a QPR/Portsmouth and bankrupting themselves with overpriced players.
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Or indeed pulling a Hull City and nearly bankrupting ourselves with overpriced players. :eek:

Memories of our tenure in the Premier League were certainly soured for us by the financial implications of relegation – our accounts were in a mess and had it not been for the Allams clearing our debt when they bought the club we could have found ourselves in a similar position to Portsmouth, assuming we could have avoided liquidation.

oscillatewildly said:
Do you think Steve Bruce being manager will alter the media's attitude?
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We'll see how the media will handle Steve Bruce back in the Premier League (assuming we don't mess things up :p).

He seems to have a reputation in some quarters as a rather stuck in his ways, old fashioned type with a very one-dimensional approach to tactics. In actual fact, he's had us playing some very attractive football this season and his tactical decisions have usually paid off. Of course, a higher standard of opposition might rein him in a bit but we'll see how he handles things.

OllyW said:
As much as I hate the Premier League I'd much rather be going there than dropping down to Division 3. :eek:
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Truth spoken. :(
 
Jaffa Cake said:
We'll see how the media will handle Steve Bruce back in the Premier League (assuming we don't mess things up :p).
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Of course if you want a media darling and not a manager. There is always the chance that Our 'arry will come calling now that he's sunk QPR.:D

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OllyW said:
As much as I hate the Premier League I'd much rather be going there than dropping down to Division 3. :eek:
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Sorry to hear about that.:(
 
Happybunny said:
Of course if you want a media darling and not a manager. There is always the chance that Our 'arry will come calling now that he's sunk QPR.:D
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Since being appointed as QPR manager, the closest to Hull 'onest 'Arry has been is when his team played Manchester United at Old Trafford.

That's over 80 miles from here, and that's far, far too close for comfort.
 
Jaffa Cake said:
Or indeed pulling a Hull City and nearly bankrupting ourselves with overpriced players. :eek:

Memories of our tenure in the Premier League were certainly soured for us by the financial implications of relegation – our accounts were in a mess and had it not been for the Allams clearing our debt when they bought the club we could have found ourselves in a similar position to Portsmouth, assuming we could have avoided liquidation.
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Scary. I guess that, from my perspective, it's more important to keep the books balanced than try to stay in the Premier League. If you go down but are still in the black, you'll be well placed to compete and possibly go right back up.

Jaffa Cake said:
He seems to have a reputation in some quarters as a rather stuck in his ways, old fashioned type with a very one-dimensional approach to tactics. In actual fact, he's had us playing some very attractive football this season and his tactical decisions have usually paid off. Of course, a higher standard of opposition might rein him in a bit but we'll see how he handles things.
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His reputation is solid if unspectacular. You could definitely do much worse. 'Arry is a good case in point, though I reckon he'd never move that far north so you're probably safe.
 
Sturridge now definitely looks better at Liverpool than he did at Chelsea. Granted, Newcastle had a bad day at the office today, but Sturridge seems to have learned how to pass rather than always shoot.

oscillatewildly said:
Brentford v Doncaster Rovers, blimey - winner is promoted:

Last minute penalty to Brentford, 0-0; hits the bar, Doncaster go down the other end and score.
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That's simply heartbreaking for poor Brentford.
 
Newcastle....what happend :confused:

Spurs...:D

Wenger on RVP

"He got to 29 and thought, 'Can we win the Championship here or do I have more chances somewhere else?' There’s a kind of timescale like for a woman who has no baby at 39. She starts to think, 'I have not much time left'." - Arsene Wenger
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At least he's aware
 
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Fire! The Columbus Crew's scoreboard is on fire!

http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2013/4/27/4276486/scoreboard-fire-columbus-crew-stadium

(Sorry, I'm on mobile)
 
The scoreboard did indeed catch fire, but luckily the fire department put it out quickly and

Columbus 3-0 DC

DC were pretty bad. Columbus were much better than last week. Best quote from a DC fan (who play at the huge and crumbling old RFK stadium) after being evacuated from under the burning scoreboard:

“No big deal. This is fine,” Goodwin said from his new perch. “Even when your scoreboard catches fire, you still have a better stadium than ours.”
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QPR and Reading have officially relegated each other. Fitting, I suppose.
 
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First off I could hardly believe my eyes, Newcastle 0 vs Liverpool 6.
These monster scores while quite common here, they are quite rare over there I think. Well done Liverpool, and all without Suarez to.



Football from the Netherlands

Friday
Heerenveen 0 vs AZ 67 4
Heerenveen are the team who have been on form since the winterstop, well not this night. AZ was just better at every level. AZ trainer was in the stands because of a suspension. Jozy Altidore scored the first and fourth goal, this win puts AZ save in the eredivisie for next season.

Saturday
PSV 5 vs Groningen 2
PSV had a great start by minute 13 they were already 3 goals up. Robert Maaskant trainer of Groningen was sent to the stands after comments made to the officials. Groningen only really managed any thing after PSV was coasting.
PSV have scored 98 goals so far this season they are hoping for 100.

NAC 0 vs Ajax 2
Ajax was made to wait until the second half before they could score, the playing surface was rough to say a little, this suited NAC better. Ajax won in the end in comfort.


Sunday
Twente 5 vs NEC 2
Twente won this match with ease, the game was decided in the first 45 minutes.

Feyenoord 6 vs Heracles Almerlo 0
This match was so one sided it was just plain murder. Heracles got a man sent off just before half time. But by then they were already 4 goals down.

PEC Zwolle 1 vs Utrecht 2
Utrecht got off to a dream start in the second minute scored. PEC replied 15 minutes later and the game was very evenly balanced. In the second half Elroy Pappot playing his first game in ages for Utrecht scored, PEC tried to counter but came up short.

Vitesse 3 vs Willem II 1
Vitesse dominated the first half and were 3 goals up, again Wilfried Bony and Marco van Ginkel got on the score sheet. Wilfried Bony has now 30 goals.



I hear that now that QPR are down our 'Arry is looking to destroy another decent club.:eek:
 
Some selection of quotes from various people during the Reading - QPR game:



The board has just gone up for one-minute of injury-time but the referee should just blow up now. Nothing is happening.

Enjoying this Reading v QPR match, even though it's the equivalent of watching two bald men fighting over a comb.

QPR and Reading are like one of those couples who do the marathon together and contrive to cross the finishline holding hands. They are going to head down to the Championship, united in a shoddy draw completely in keeping with their play for most of the season.

Watching paint dry seems a genuinely better option than this match.

This Reading v QPR game is so boring I'm actually opting to revise molecular spectroscopy. Fingers crossed the football picks up later!

It is awful. I am trying to make it sound better than it is, but it is two teams playing with no confidence.

BREAKING NEWS: Second coat of paint has dried on wall, proceeding to find another room to start on, keep me updated on Reading v QPR please.

Ordinarily football is a distraction, not this game though! QPR v Reading is actually making me write my dissertation

You have to feel very sorry for those with seats facing the pitch at Reading v QPR.

It seems apt that two such poor sides should exit the division with such a tedious air of inevitability, they won't be missed!



Well, it was a fun ride, but back to where we belong (the better league) next season then.

Only thing I'll miss is not being able to see every game on the internet...
 
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