https://vine.co/v/Oe2nT1wPMxl The FA are apparently going to review the incident from the Chelsea game where Ramires lunges at and punches/elbows Sterling (link to video above) but Sterling was booked and Ramires went unpunished.
Sterling was assaulted. Wonder if Taylor will be dropped again. It was him who allowed Eto'o to kick the ball [and subsequently score] while the goalie was bouncing it. The quality of referees in this country needs a serious look at, if this is the future, the game's in trouble.
Sterling made an attempt to block Ramires who reacted by raising his arm to protect himself from the impact of running at full speed into Sterling's foul. Case closed. PS Haha, you lost.
I think it was a blatant block by Sterling, maybe not a yellow I suppose but defo a foul, Ramirez then ran into him but the use of his arm I'd say made it a yellow.
Yeah,it is blatant obstruction from Sterling.Now if that's a booking or not depends on the ref's seemingly arbitrary 'totting up' process. I don't remember Raheem being involved in any other incident. Ramirez actions for me is at least a yellow,he's throwing an arm well before contact with Raheem and you could argue red card for violent conduct
I actually agree with this. Blatant block by Sterling and Ramires just tried to protect himself. Still, the chavs cheated at most other incidents in the game.
As I understand the laws of the game, obstruction is a technical foul the penalty for which is an indirect free kick. It is not , of itself, a bookable offence. The only way that Sterling could have been penalised is if he had been seen repeatedly obstructing AND had been warned by the referee. I do not think that either of those 2 events happened. As for Ramirez then the more I look at the 'long' shot of the incident, the more I am convinced that his forearm smash was deliberate. Therefore it was a physical assault upon Sterling and he should recieve the appropriate punishment which I believe is a MINIMUM of a 3 match ban.
Ramires punched Larsson a few months back too. He's a dirty player. [video=youtube;Kx5uNrGmvc4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx5uNrGmvc4[/video]
That clip is edited so it makes it look even worse. I'm not sure it was a deliberate punch, just put his arms up to protect himself like anyone would as otherwise he'd run face first into Sterling. However, it wasn't a foul by Sterling. There is nothing in the rules to say you have to move out of aplayers way and all he did was stand still and move back in a straight line. He didn't deviate to get in the way of Ramires. Ramires kicked the ball and ran dead straight at Sterling. It's a foul on Sterling for Ramires just running into him, but nothing more than that.
If you look carefully from the reverse angle you can clearly see Sterling's head moving back and too the left. And again, back and to the left. Freeze frame and you can make out a dark figure, Ramirez on the grassy knoll. Definite conspiracy IMO.
Protect himself from a guy who's five stone soaking wet? Cmon if Rameirez was ruining into Schweinsteiger or someone physically strong I could understand the 'protecting' himself comments but that's just a elbow to the face.
A player is still cautioned if he "commits a foul for the tactical purpose of interfering with or breaking up a promising attack" The rules don't differentiate on whether that's a foul punishable with a direct or indirect free kick. So obstructing an opponent to break up an attack is the same as if a player trips an opponent to break up an attack. Ramires was running into a dangerous area and had he gotten past Sterling he would have been in a good position to receive an attacking pass, so I can definitely see why he gets a yellow. But like you say, Ramires deserved a red for the way he throws his forearm up and away from his body. Maybe it was just a reaction to the collision, but it was a violent one given his elbow goes right into Sterling's face.
