I always knew it was bad but you have to be here with your own team to have it really highlighted to you. I hate playacting and diving, but it was the main focal point of MOTD last night. How can this be right? Normally, I think Joey Barton is a bit of a cock. But last night I think he was BANG ON! and it was awesome to have a bit of justice against your stereotypical foreigner diver in Gervinho. Maybe he'll think on next time he decides to fall over like a cheating bastard. DiSanto for Wigan was our little fairy princess the other day. DeLaet made a mistake but tracked back and was punished unfairly with a VERY soft penalty. This one annoyed me, but I know the premier league, I know this sort of stuff happens. And I NEVER for a second doubted we'd get back into it because I saw it every week last year. No, it was the second one that got my blood boiling. Disanto cuts in to the left of the box, martins got him well covered and makes the slightest of contacts on his left shin. Almost microscopic in it's force, but disanto went down like an absolute twat. I really do hope when we get him back to carrow road we, say, "teach him some manners" so to speak But anyway, point is, as a club that's just come up the message is that you have to dive and cheat to get anywhere in this league. Just being good at football means **** all. For the greatest league in the world, that's a cold, sad fact.
The thing that annoyes me about that penalty for wigan is that if there was even minimal contact it began OUTSIDE the area, it clearly showed it on MOTD and then the pillock hansen turns around and says it was a stone wall penalty. The 2nd incident, well dont even get me started, WHAT A FAIRY! I can see why barton was incensed but i think wenger was right in the fact that either both should have been booked only or both should have been sent off! Then last thing, Lineker "who do you think of the newly promoted sides are equiped well enough to stay up" Shearer "Well, the ones we aint seen today, i watched them a couple of times last season and they really impressed me" ... So if they go and get smashed for 5 against man city monday night they are still your tip to stay up, what and idiot
That actually annoyed me more than Hansen saying they were both stonewall penalties. How you can say the team that came up through the play-offs after losing 14 games last season and haven't played a game yet can be the best equipped is beyond me.
The question that pundits ask, "which one of the promoted sides stands a chance of staying up?" always really annoys me! There is a myth that all promoted sides come straight back down and only one from any year can be tipped to survive! That simply isn't true, only 1 of the 3 sides have gone back down in the last two years and I don't think that is unusual! Persoanlly I think all 3 sides stand a decent chance of finishing higher than Blackburn and Wigan!
Sorry Swans but after that prediction(?) you'll understand why all Canaries are going to be shouting for Man. City tomorrow
The last time all three promoted sides were relegated was the 97/98 season (bolton, barnsley and palace) and bolton only went down on goal difference. Its certainly possible two of us will stay up and very unlikely all three will go down. Its just too easy for people to say the new boys will go down. After all I'm sure not a single 'expert' predicted Birmingham and West Ham to go last season
Let me give you an unbiased view - it wasn't a pen to Wigan but I don't think there was any play acting. The Wigan lad was barged over but it was no more than a 50-50 - they were both sprinting to get the ball and that's why the shove resulted in both players hitting the deck. You can't blame the fella for appealing for the pen, if you've gone down in the box you're not going to go up to the ref and say 'don't give the penalty, it was a 50/50!' i looked at the half time stats and the only Norwich effort on target was the goal, so this is not a case of Norwich being well on top and being denied three points by a harsh decision.
Hampy - I've already said elsewhere that although the penalty was harsh, it would also have been harsh on Wigan if we had gained all the spoils, simply because of the enormous pressure they put us under for the last 15 minutes. All in all I think a draw was fair!
'Dive to Survive' what a ****ing stupid statement. You didn't beat Wigan on the first day of the season and you blame diving? Jesus Christ.
I do not see anyone blaming diving as the reason we did not win! but it does appear diving/going down with the slightest contact, mostly from foreign imports is very common place in the PL, and as a result makes a mockery of the league. If that's what it takes to compete at this level I think I would rather we played in the Championship (probably will next season before anyone else says that where we will be!)
The comment is not that diving was the only factor. The comment is after all those games the other day we aren't talking about football we're talking about fuxking fairies falling over. Welcome to the premier league, just dive and you'll do fine. Is the message I've got so far.
Di Santo fell down easily for someone of 6'4 seemed more bothered with diving rather then battling it out this will happen a lot this season though. In all honesty Holt's got away with murder on a few occassions
Its all part of the modern game you get touched you fall because you cant really measure the force or what the player felt if they connect slightly. Its hypocritical but Holt does this when he holds the ball up, he controls it then turns and when he gets directly goal side of a defender/midfielder he goes down and wins the free kick If you look closely it happens nearly all the time in every incident. Where I think the loop hole is, is that Referees dont play football so they don't know certain situations how players players come together in scenarios on the pitch and even sometimes just the law of physics they do not understand
When I saw the 2nd penalty shout I did freeze cus I thaught it was a stone wall penalty, doesnt matter how much force came together with the tackle its the fact Martin connected with his shin/leg when he went for the ball so surely its a foul especially in the Prem. If that would of happened either in the 2nd half or just not directly after we scored(Or not had given 1 in before) the equalizer I can see him giving that everyday
Having watched it a few times myself now, i'm still sure the second shot wasn't a penalty. To be honest, although the 'impact' position was different, it reminded me of Holt's red card (though legitimate challenge) against Reading, whereby he retracted his leg urgently after going in for the ball. Russell Martin did the exact same, and his movement was both shy and soft, and as the laws of the game are layed out, didn't serve to any kind of impediment to constitute punishment.
totally agree with yorkie on this. the first penalty incident, although outside the box and a 50/50 shoulder barge, was not a dive. the second incident was a blatant dive though. yes martin clipped his shin but he was already in mid flight, collapsing to the ground by that point! di santo should have been booked for that. the refereeing was dreadful throughout but that was no surprise! should just tell you though yorkie, we dominated the majority of the 2nd half - draw was fair
