Haha, some wag has already added van Persie to wikipedia's "List of association footballers who died while playing" (and someone else has already removed it, boo)
If van persie had not fallen to the ground so easily in the tackle that preceded this incident his head would not have been in the way of the intended clearance. Many players could have been sent off for retaliation for his reaction to the incident. It was just sour grapes from fergie once again as it didn't go to script (his) and they are only 4 points clear at the top.
come on williams is a defender, what is he suppose to do its his job to clear the ball from a dangerous area. ok the ball hit RVP but it could quite easily have hit the swans player. He was unlucky he got hit, I tell you wat if the ball had come off his head and flew into the goal sir alex would say RVP meant it....they have to expect these things it happens all the time and the player says sorry and its forgotten about. we all know sir alex he makes a mountain out of a mole hill.
Smoke and mirrors. Fergusson is a master tactician. Everyone is talking about this rather than his sides poor defending once again.
Only one person really knows if it was intentional or not, and Williams has said it was an accident; nothing more you can do.
For those who didn't see it, the referees whistle hadn't been blown when the clearance was made. So those saying it was a stupid thing to do, the ball was still live, Williams was simply making a rash clearance
Nah, the whistle had gone. I've just seen it again and he's blatantly aiming for RVP's head, he's looking right at it the whole time. Also his body language suggests he was kicking out in frustration rather than trying to clear the ball.
I would call it reckless...if RVP had been seriously injured Williams would have been mortified. Ferguson should know...threw a boot at Beckham and injured him by the eye. Ferguson just using a diversionary tactic. P.s. I was hit in face by a ball at a football match....light or not it hurt.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of it you can't come out and publicly criticize the ref and get away with it! Any other manager would face FA action.
On a replay that I watched you can hear the referees whistle blowing as the player was kicking the ball, I am not sure if it was the first time it had been blown though, the defenders idea to clear the ball was no doubt intended to buy time to organise a defensive wall, jury is out whether he intended it to hit VP, as that would have defeated the object, it could as easily have hit Nathan Dyer instead. I will give him the benefit of the doubt, but not entirely convinced.
Come on, he's looking at the ball. And yeah he admitted it was out of frustration, but he wasn't aiming for him. A yellow card is perfectly adequate, there's no way you can prove intent for anything else.
If anything, Van Persie should have been sent off for his reaction! Only the comedy slip (and the fact that he was in a Man U shirt) that saved him i reckon, and very nearly cost Williams his testicles hehe
I happen to agree Joe, although I don't blame the referee for not sending him off as he only got one look and it was impossible to be sure, plus I don't think he saw it clearly anyway. Williams was risking a red card by doing that IMO. Never mind, if Fergie hadn't drawn so much attention to it then no one would be too worried about it now.
Fergie needs to lay off the sherries. Modern footballs are weighted like ping-pong balls and are never going to do any serious harm.
My favourite quote about the incident is a tweet made during the Chelsea - Villa game: "Fernando Torres, cheating death, heads Chelsea in front"
His head was about 6 inches away from the ball. Even if he wasn't aiming for him, he was always going to hit his head. It was a stupid thing to do, and I think he meant it. Having said that, I think Fergie is making a mountain out of a molehill.
