Football 2012-2013

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

I think there is some scope for common sense in some situation eg not booking di canio for catching the ball when the keeper was injured or not booking Billy Sharp after taking his shirt off following the death of his son. However these are very much the exceptions.

[pink_triangle]

I thought you did as it is so open this year. It will be a really interesting final eight in my book, I hope Dortmund win it.

[pink_triangle]

I have heard a lot of discussion I disagree with regarding celtic today. Firstly people saying that celtic should have made a better showing against juventus. Celtic are not in my opinion in the best 8 teams in the uk, never mind europe. They were probably the worst team in the last 16 and had no chance of beating juventus over 2 legs.

Also a lot of people saying lennon should now get a premiership job. I would personally want to see consistency in europe over a few years, winning the spl is just par for the course with the financial advantage they have over other sides, I think some pretty average managers could win the league for celtic.

[Muppetmark]

DId anyone watch the Chelsea match today? It was so bad it was funny

[thetime]

Also a lot of people saying lennon should now get a premiership job. I would personally want to see consistency in europe over a few years

[kaosmark2]

Didn't watch the Chelski game, was busy watching Perch boss Lacina Traore and Eto'o - a sentence I never thought I'd say.

Bale's a cracking player but he needs to cut out the diving. Been better in recent Prem weeks but that was ridiculous. Deserved suspension.

Spurs absolutely rampant. Inter have hardly had a sniff.

[thetime]

Bale's a cracking player but he needs to cut out the diving. Been better in recent Prem weeks but that was ridiculous. Deserved suspension.

Spurs absolutely rampant. Inter have hardly had a sniff.

[kaosmark2]

Did the defender not touch bale?

[thetime]

Bale ran into him.

[kaosmark2]

Was there contact though?

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

If I headbutt your hand, then run to a police officer and claim you slapped me, who's being a dick?

[thetime]

If I headbutt your hand, then run to a police officer and claim you slapped me, who's being a dick?

[Jaybles]

Too many 'was there contact?' 'did he leave a trailing leg?' questions these days.

Bale is a great player but he went looking for the penalty and left his leg trailing to ensure contact. So many different shades of grey which all bottle down to a player deciding to go down rather than be taken out.

I can't understand it myself, when playing football I will run until my legs are taken out from beneath me. Sometimes this may mean I miss out an easy free kick or penalty but I just don't have the mentality (or maybe even the speed of thought) to go down on purpose.

Is it cheating? Is it gamesmanship? I will never be able to understand it on a personal level. It will never go away though until its stopped at a tactical level. Managers obviously encourage players to go down in these situations and you can understand why. High pressure at the top level with massive rewards for victory.

I would like to see retroactive punishment brought in for clear cut diving and deception. If we can have a dubious goals panel then we can have a simulation panel. That coupled with strict punishments (bans not fines) will see a dramatic reduction in diving.

Problem is it gets complicated when you take in to account the speed at which some of these players are travelling and also how some players will go down to avoid a potentially painful challenge with a risk of injury. However, there are plenty of cases of obvious simulation that can be punished. That would only improve the integrity of the game.

[The Nal]

Bale made a meal of it

http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/gareth-bale-gets-booked-for-a-dive-v-inter/#.UTj4VflDql0.twitter

[strummer77]

Is this the point someone mentions Suarez?

[kaosmark2]

Bale made a meal of it and appealed. If he hadn't rolled and appealed I'd have said no pen, no yellow.

[pink_triangle]

I think its great to see both spurs and newcastle really showing respect to the tournament. I hope (but doubt) chelsea go out next game, they are showing the same "cant be arsed" signs that both manchester clubs had last year.

Interestingly in my opinion spurs have the best keeper (lloris), defender (vertonghen) and midfielder (bale) in the country this season. If only they could find a top forward they could push on a bit further. AVB deserves great credit, Arry could manage a team but AVB is managing a squad which means they should have more staying power.

Edited March 8, 2013 by pink_triangle

[thetime]

Is this the point someone mentions Suarez?

[eFestivals]

glad to see Collina doesn't know the rules too.

[eFestivals]

Is this the point someone mentions Suarez?

nope. Bale has more cards for diving than Suarez.

[lharris92]

Bale made a meal of it

http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/gareth-bale-gets-booked-for-a-dive-v-inter/#.UTj4VflDql0.twitter

[The Nal]

So Fergie has rubbished the Rooney rumours. MAde a good point too about leaving Kagawa out after scoring a hat-trick. "I thought I would get more stick for that".

[TheGayTent]

Banned some hacks/papers again to I see. What a twit

[The Nal]

Banned some hacks/papers again to I see. What a twit

[eFestivals]

So Fergie has rubbished the Rooney rumours. MAde a good point too about leaving Kagawa out after scoring a hat-trick. "I thought I would get more stick for that".

There's two different sets of rumours - one that fergie wants him gone, the other that Rooney wants to go after being left out the other night.

Rooney's missus helped stoke the 'he wants to go' rumours, with her Tuesday night tweets. Whether or not that's all there is behind them I don't know, but the chances are that fergie doesn't either.

But anyway, would fergie say "yeah, I'm selling him at the end of the season"?