Am on holiday in Majorca with a non-football fan so sadly will miss quite a bit. Hopefully England will still be in the competition by the time I get back
Diving will always be a contentious issue, some players have a low centre of gravity and go down easily when clipped, others tend to stay upright, i.e. Jarvis the other day, his momentum kept him upright, whereas Lallana often has a light ankle tap which tends to overbalance him, and of course there is Suarez who is a victim of his past antics, often clever to draw a foul which isn't given because it looks too theatrical. Not everyone that goes down in the penalty area is diving, some go down for reasons other than being tackled. Not easy for a Referee to tell accidents from intent, it's a tough call, not helped by cheats.
Even to this day, practically every time that place is mentioned it conjures up this scene in my head: [video=youtube;kyAgy2CngfY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyAgy2CngfY[/video] And I can't stand cheap lager either.
He used to do it more, and I'm of the opinion that part of his improvement this year owes to the fact that he's consistently looking to beat his man, rather than trying to get into positions where he can win a free kick or penalty. If you're looking for that as a player, you're inevitably going to be cutting into traffic rather than out of it, and consequently when the majority of those situations end with a ref waving to play on you're losing a lot of potential chances.
There's been a mindset change recently. Most issues are being discussed and over analysed by so called pundits of the game. You do not "win" a penalty or free kick. It is given for a breach of the rules by an opponent. This win business I find morally repugnant. It's the pundits that started it, especially when you hear Shearer and Owen stating "he had the right to go down". Sorry? Do you mean cheating? It was the pundits saying because Jarvis stayed on his feet the ref didn't give it. Really? Did the ref tell them? IMHO there should be massive bans issued retrospectively for cheating divers. This would certainly reduce the number of these events and that in turn help refs making instant decisions on the pitch. If refs feel they're getting slated for players cheating and knowing the difference between a foul and "simulation"(such an idiotic term for cheating). Reckon they should strike, now that really would (m)uck up the league, players, fans,etc. Maybe then we'd stop debating it?
Do you know Arreton Manor on the IoW Fran? Owned by Andy Gray who wrote the Big Brother theme tune with Paul Oakenfold. Served him well!
Got made redundant a couple of weeks ago, not going to bother looking for a job until World Cup is finished. Managed to squeeze a 2 week holiday in between end of our season and start of World Cup, so should be the best summer i have had in a long time.
I'm sure you won't Fran!! Plenty of bars where you are going will have the World Cup and I'm sure your friend won't mind going to one!! That aside I think the final will be contested by two of the following three teams - Brazil, Argentina and Germany - and they will get the majority of 50/50 decisions. Fifa will ensure it has a box office final between two of those teams due to advertising and everything else. Imagine a World Cup final between Germany and Brazil on the one hand and compare it to a final between Holland and England if it is possible. The later won't happen for obvious reasons.
I've only just seen the incident, from what I'd read about it I'd assumed Jarvis had done him and had the ball still under his control (not 15 yards away by the corner flag) and Sagna had attempted to hack him down but Jarvis had honestly scrambled to stay on his feet but in doing so was unable to get to the ball. What I just saw was the ball rolling across in front of Sagna who hesitated slightly in his clearance, Jarvis nips in and boots the ball well away from both of them and Sagna already in the action of trying to clear it catches him making Jarvis break his stride and stumble slightly and then he runs and gets the ball anyway. I don't get the flap.
I believe Klinsmann could fly. He did, certainly. Dzeko is taking lessons, one feels. He's a quick learner too, only he really needs to react better to the outstretched leg. Not to go down like a poleaxed gnu, half an hour after the outstretched leg has been retracted, and the potential offender has forgotten all about the event, would be slightly more convincing.
Yeah you're right, unthinkable that a team like Holland would be allowed to get to a World Cup final.....oh wait they did last time! FIFA are so inept they can't even fix their tournaments right.
If you think the likes of Brazil and Germany are going out before a semi-final this time, think again!! They are the two countries that are capable of pulling in a world record viewing figure should they meet in the final. Which means acres and acres of advertising, which means money for FIFA? Holland got there last time - fair play to them but they are not going to pull in the kind of viewing figures Germany, Brazil and Argentina are capable of generating. Besides which do you think a referee is going to give a Brazilian player a red card in front of their own fans? I think not!!!
Rickie says he is in competition with Carroll...I swore I would hit the next person who said that. Bearing in mind what Sir Rickie has done for us, I'll let him off this once. Lambert...count your card as marked.
