I think you'd struggle to find a player who hasn't cheated or embellished at some point in his career for the sake of the team. I'm not saying they do it all the time, but when push comes to shove it would be a very sportsmenlike player not to turn a situation like that to his team's advantage. And I never said it was excusable, I just said it happens now. I'd love this aspect of football to be out of the game, altho i'm not sure how you'd enforce it.
Barton's latest tweet regarding Shearer:- Bad shirt, shoes and views from shearer again. Sort it out slaphead........
FA couldnt afford batteries for officials to be linked up for the game tonight. Hence 3 officials on pitch trying to sort out.
The great thing is, Barton CAN'T be done. The referee took action. IMO he did nothing wrong anyway. I was very impressed with the defence and midfield, strikeforce is ****.
There has been a great point just brought up on Talk Sport...When Barton grabbed hold of the Arsenal player on the ground and dragged him up by his shirt, the whistle had not been blown by the ref so therefore the game was still in live play...So why on earth was it not deemed a foul by Barton and a penalty awarded to Arsenal?
lot of talk of facts and such like, here's a fact barton is an absolute thug who should never have been kept on as a professional footballer with the status it provides and the influence it has on admirers (particularly kids) of the game. [video=youtube;w897VuJfXQI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w897VuJfXQI[/video] oh while i'm on, taylor should get a good fkin shoe'in daily till he realises what a parasite he is on the game too. just my opinion of course
I've seen that being brought up a few times. We got a free kick from it as it was deemed that Gervinho assaulted Barton, which he did. Barton certainly provoked it was incredibly lucky not to be sent off, but you can't lash out at someone like that. The only retrospective punishments are likely to be for Song for stamping, which was blatant and uncalled for and Steven Taylor for bringing the game into disrepute. Everything else was dealt with on the pitch when it happened.
Taylor's a muppet making out that Gervinho had elbowed Barton, then when getting interviewed afterwards saying he hadn't even seen it. Complete tool. Had to chuckle at Barton's comments about hating players that dive.... ahem. [video=youtube;vl3HnU0HOhk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl3HnU0HOhk[/video] As for MOTD, he wasn't happy about Shearer saying that it wasn't a dive and that Barton should have been sent off. He replied on Twitter: Bad shirt, shoes and views from shearer again. Sort it out slaphead........ Quality, you couldn't make this **** up!!
Song was definitely out of order, and I'm sure he will face further punishment...Regarding the Barton-Gervinho fiasco, the free kick may have bben eventually awarded to Newcastle for the little slap which somehow managed to floor Barton, but the initial grab by Barton when he manhandled Gervinho of the floor by his shirt should surely have been deemed a foul and a penalty awarded.
I expect that the ref played play on to be honest, so when we didn't attack he went back to the free kick for the dive. Only thing I can think of anyway.
Maybe so, but retrospective penalties can't be awarded so I don't think people should dwell on it too much. I do think Taylor will get a punishment though for claiming that Barton was elbowed on the pitch then admitting he didn't see anything. I was cringing when he said that and I wish he'd just kept his mouth shut. I'm annoyed at Barton's reaction too, as it could've ended a lot worse for us, and he's certainly a player I don't want us to be without next week. The referee didn't award the initial penalty and we should've carried on with the game, but I guess things like that boil over on a football pitch, especially with so much at stake. I've seen people get like that on a 5-a-side pitch on a Sunday night! All in all, good start to the season for all in the NE.
As it was a penalty and not a dive, (confirmed by Shera) Barton's attack on Gervinho was unwarranted. As MrR has said, after the ref allowed play to go on the next foul has to be be Barton's assault on Gervinho, which is another penalty. Gervinhos pussy slap was the last offence and the only one penalised, as Barton hit the deck like a little girl. Then scummy Taylor ran about screaming "Elbow" to anyone who would listen. And it seems the official did as clearly they hadn't a clue what happened. Apart from the two cheating thugs, I would like the FA to look into the officials conduct here, too often lately the officials are making decisions where they are clearly guessing or reacting to players screaming at them. I remember the old refs not giving decisions and telling anyone who would listen "I couldn't give it as I didn't see it!" Which to me is more acceptable than giving decisions on what you think may have happened.
