Chelsea and Arsenal have been charged with various things: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34319410 Violent conduct for Costa, improper conduct for Gabriel and failing to control their players for both clubs. Seems about right, to me. No idea how Arsenal expect to be successful with their appeal for the Gabriel red. He could've had two. Took a swing at Costa, which the ref missed as badly as he did, then kicked out at him and got sent off. Costa could've had about four, admittedly, but that seems like a very hopeful move.
According to the Independent Arsenal will contest Gabriel's charge of Improper Conduct for failing to leave the pitch after the Red Card because they feel it is due to his 'lack of English'. You couldn't make it up....
For all that tippy-tappy Arselona sh*te we regularly hear from some, they do clock up the reds in the PL, don't they (doh) .
Bacon Face says he only had four world class players the entire time he was at Man Utd: Cantona, Giggs, Scholes and Showpony. What did Schmeichel do to get thrown under the bus?
He also insisted that he had to get paid more than any player so got a big pay rise when Rooney got his. Interesting logic - you concede a large rise to someone who you don't think is 'world class' and that means you deserve more pay too.
To be fair if you can milk the club you would. If any manager deserved a wage rise..it was Fergie. Far more important than any player to have walked into Old Trafford during his reign...especially that fat basterd Rooney.
If there were any journalists capable of doing their jobs in this country, they'd have noticed something - plenty of people describe Beckham, Rooney, Stam and Keane as "world class" yet they were conspicuous by their absence on his list. It's no coincidence that Beckham, Keane and Stam are also three players with whom he has an axe to grind, and based on the comments about Rooney I guess he can be added to the list. That being said, that still doesn't explain the bizarre omission of Schmeichel, who was a genuine world class player. ...and since I'm on a roll, I'll go one step further: Cantona wasn't a world class player. Look at some of the other strikers who were around at that time: van Basten, Batistuta, Klinsmann, Baggio, Bergkamp, Romario, Lineker, Stoichkov, Suker, Del Piero - those are world class players, and Cantona wasn't on their level.
Starting a whole new debate there HBIC. Would you say VDV was world class? A lot of Spurs fan do, when I watched him, he was sublime when he was on song..with moments of world class in him...and so was Cantona for United. In fact more influential.
Cantona was influential in the Premier League, but certainly not in Europe or in international games - and that's the difference. Klinsmann, for example, was influential in the Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Premier League - and there was no drop off in continental or international football. If anything else, Klinsmann is one of the players who turns the "I bet he wouldn't be as good at a crap team" argument on its head, as he was influential in the muddled mess that was Christian Gross' Spurs team - and he was lacking in match fitness for a fair chunk of that time.
Contrary to what absolutely everybody thought, including me, Gabriel's appeal has been successful. How the **** does that work? He clearly did exactly what the ref thought that he did and it was a red. Ludicrous. He can still be suspended for his failure to leave the field, but he'll be available for our game tomorrow. That's an astoundingly **** decision and I'd love to know how they've come to that conclusion. I've yet to hear anyone claim that he should've stayed on the pitch.
I'll give it a go: did he really use 'Excessive force or brutality' which is the definition of the only red card offence he could be guilty of (Violent Conduct). That tiny flick of his leg was stupid but not really violent.
Too inconsistent to be world class. Fantastic player but just not often enough to be right up the top there. The likes of Messi and Ronaldo these days are World Class because their fantastic days (for their clubs at least) far outnumber their mediocre ones.
Yes, he did. He attacked another player, even if he did it in a ****ty, pathetic manner. If he'd have taken a crappy swing at Costa (which he actually did), would that not qualify because it wasn't forceful or brutal enough?
If the rule says 'excessive force or brutality' then it should mean it. I've never understood why a reckless tackle is a yellow card and a touch to the face off the ball is a red. The latter happens far too often and I'm glad to see sense breaking out here. I'm not saying you need to do GBH to be sent off but a lot more than Gabriel did. Costa on the other hand got a yellow Card for the chest bump on Koscielny which I thought was violent. And he deserved two more yellows and another red at least.
The Laws of the Game are guidelines, rather confusingly. The officials are given a more thorough rundown of what constitutes each offence. You simply can't have players going round kicking or swinging at each other off the ball. How the FA are going to justify the next dismissal for such behaviour is beyond me. They've completely ballsed this one up, even by their low standards.
