Can't agree there. Charlie Adam is a psychotic thug - nothing more. Now, there's a player who should be thrown out of the game. Ok what Suarez did was unforgivable, but Chiellini has just a small bite mark on his shoulder. Adam tries to break other players legs, maybe even finish their careers.
This is an important point. No complaints about the punishment for Sewerez, but the repercussions of the incident are somewhat different from a leg-breaking challenge. Unless he takes an actual lump out of someone, an elbow in the face or broken bones should surely be considered more serious? These are incidents that could get you locked up if they weren't on the field! The main repercussion of the bite was probably more that Italy got eliminated from the world cup. Sewerez should have been sent off but was on the field when Uraguay scored, and the Italians were not as composed as they should have been for the corner - scored of course by someone that should have been suspended for that match because he should have been sent off against England! In that respect the ban has covered up the discussion that should be going on in parallel about the awful game-changing ref decisions that have been made at this WC. Like the fact that everyone at home knew about the bite before the ref did... there should be a senior ref behind a monitor who stops the game to review such things. And people say bollox to that because it will slow down the game ... so apparently it doesn't matter if the decisions are wrong as long as the pace of the game is preserved! This really doesn't make any sense. Put a time limit on it then, if the video ref can't decide in say, a minute, then the field ref's decision stands. No, getting the right decision is more important. But we all know that the current system favours certain teams, because when the decisions are reviewed it gives the opportunity to look more objectively at an incident as opposed to being influenced by the crowd, or by SAF etc.
"Put a time limit on it then, if the video ref can't decide in say, a minute, then the field ref's decision stands. No, getting the right decision is more important." It gets worse when the TV feed replays show the incident. Then the crowd gets hostile having seen it, and the ref still doesn't give it. There was a 6N rugby game this year where a guy had made a terrible tackle, but the officials did not give it in real time. But when the TV feed replay put it up, the ref looked up, immediately turned round and sent the player off.
I get that players can make bad tackles in the excitement of the match but I've long thought that incidents like the Suarez one (and other assaults that are nothing to do with playing football) should be treated much more seriously. As Vimhawk says, people could get locked up if they did that off the field. So why don't they if they do it on the field in public sight. There are plenty of police at matches. If they see a player committing assault or GBH why don't they arrest him? By the way I think the difference in reaction between breaking someone's leg and biting him is to do with risk tolerance. If you choose to play football you know that you might have your leg broken in an accident and you risk someone doing it in a foul or even intentionally because you know that that sort of thing happens. But you don't expect to get bitten so your reaction is different.
I get your point about broken legs being one of the risks of playing football. However, there is also the question of intent. Fortunately, the vast majority of broken limbs are the result of an accidental, or badly timed challenge. In the case of players like Adam, if he were to break somebody's leg, could that really be called accidental? In my view, no. Adam is a thug who deliberately goes out to injure other players. In some aspects, that is far for reprehensible than what Suarez did.
The whole world knows they have megabucks to spend and with the English player tax as well it's not surprising
Shaw will likely flourish under the management of Van Gaal. He is the type of manager that young players respect and look to impress, plus he can help Shaw settle. If it was Moyes then I would fear for Shaw. There aren't many left sided defenders that jump out as quality signings so even at the price (which is a premium with him being English). It will look like a bargain if they get the same service Ferdinand gave them (12 years) after he moved for 30 million from leeds.
Southampton are ****ed. They're having an absolute mare so far, losing their manager, best striker, best midfielder, best young defender while their best CB has also been linked with a move to us and Pool. I actually feel really sorry for them, they had such a great season last year and all of the hard work the players and coaching staff have put in is being undone within a couple of months. No doubt the board is going to re-invest a lot of the money they've made but I'm unsure if they'll be able to properly bounce back from all these key sales, especially on an immediate basis. They MAY just have gone from a top 6 contender straight to a possible relegation candidate.
Adding onto my previous post, I've gotta say that the prices being paid are absolutely ridiculous, circa £30m for Shaw and £25m for Lallana... AC Milan got a combined £50m for the sales Thiago Silva and Zlatan! Two world class players who captain their country! It's absolutely ludicrous how this English market is becoming.
Koeman is a risk. I was reading he nearly relegated Valencia when they had Mata, Silva and Villa! Although Pochettino was sacked in Spain after being bottom so really it could go either way but they are in a similar situation to us with having a large amount of cash to spend but if they mess up the player transfers then they won't get a chance to use that type of finance again so risky trusting it to Koeman, who could be a flop. Pochettino was lucky in that he had a good squad to already work with at saints, Koeman has to build his own.
we have Chelsea and City to thank for that,paying over the top to get the players they want,because they can afford to
"we have Chelsea and City to thank for that,paying over the top to get the players they want,because they can afford to" And why Levy is so great (he won't freely pay fair rate even when he can afford to) .
£30m for Shaw is good business if he becomes the player most pundits expect him to become. He's already impressive at 18! £30M for a 30 year old - however good- is never going to be for commercial reasons. No re-sale value. Utd are going to spend big, but it's apparent that the money will go on players who can play for the club for many years and/or are likely to command big fees if they are sold. Shaw and Herrera look great signings for c£60M, certainly better than the c£65M spent on Fellaini and Mata, although I think van Gaal will get the best from the latter.
Rafa Benitez spoke of the "English premium" when signing English players, and that's gotten worse since the introduction of home grown quota The same problem exists abroad, too: Factitious Madrid spent the best part of £50m last summer on Isco and Illarramendi, while PSG paid over the odds for Digne and Cabaye last season as well.
Bloody hell, doesn't bode well for Soton, hiring a guy who couldn't do too well with insane talent! Poch was sacked that season because Espanyol had just done a "Southampton" in terms of selling about 4 or 5 key players from their previous successful season in which they achieved their highest ever league position, they then chose not to replace those players and when Poch asked to try and re-invest some of the cash on new talent, that's what ultimately resulted in him losing his job coupled with the inevitable poor form of a team without it's key assets.
I keep hearing about these players being sold but no one ever mentions the names of these players so who where they? But nevertheless he wasn't good enough to stop the slide and was fired and they had to hire another manager to keep them up still it's not damming but if we look at managers careers very few jump from job to job and remain a success wherever they go and Its going to come down to, is Pochettino a good fit for us? Is Koeman a good fit for the saints? Let's see what fans are saying a year from now!
This, from the time he joined Southampton, may explain some of it. It may also give an insight into why he decided to leave them. He could probably see history repeating itself with all his best players being sold out from under him... http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/21084201
Good read. Gives a better view of his situation in Spain. One aspect which stands out is at both his previous clubs he has embraced youth players and that is one aspect I will be behind Pochettino on.
