Tony Pulis is moaning about it. My opinion is that Stoke City should be red carded for two bookable offences EVERY game -- pretending to be a football team ..........
I do smile when listening to Pulis, you'd think his team are chior boys ! They are probably the roughest team in the league, border-line thugs, yet one hardish tackle against them and its a conspiracy against them ! Twat in a hat !
Yeah, I think he's not exactly got a leg to stand on. Although I do think West Ham were worse. I can't wait to see them play.
if it had been a stoke player making the tackle, we can all guess what would have happened., many wrongs don't make a right, but equity for all would be great
Whilst I agree that Stoke are a dirty, physical team that I don't really like, two wrongs still don't make a right and the behaviour of the Chelsea players yesterday with their pathetic diving, and that outrageous tackle from Luiz were nothing short of shocking if you ask me. Diving, simulation or whatever you want to call it is one of the things that pisses me off about the game of football, it is the purest form of cheating and referees have a hard enough time of it without having grown men throwing themselves to the floor after the slightest - or very often complete absence - of touches. Strong, hard tackling has always been part of the game - back in the good old days it was expected and players would simply jump up, dust themselves down and get on with it and football would be much worse off it it became a non-contact sport - but I'm afraid this simulation bollocks has never, ever been part of the game and I'd gladly welcome retrospective one match bans for anyone found guilty of trying to cheat the officials in the manner Oscar and Ivanovic tried yesterday.
it's time that football took a leaf out of rugby leagues book and allowed the ref's to put any incident they are unsure of " on report " which is dealt with by an independent panel after the game. at first this may result on several incidents each match, but after retroactive punishment occurring several times players would, hopefully, start to get the message.
I agree Tony. Also I think there are obvious forms of cheating where football could again take a leaf from another sport's book, in this case Rugby Union and the "penalty try". I think the referee should be able to award a "penalty goal" instead of just a penalty in certain circumstances, e.g. deliberate handball on the goal line when a goal is otherwise certain (remember the incident involving Suarez in the World Cup in South Africa). Unless there are real costs to cheating, it will continue unabated.
I'd much rather see my team dive than smash long balls upfield all game. I ****ing hate it when these teams are labelled "direct", they are not, West Ham, Stoke they are long ball merchants, nothing else. I am waiting for some pundit to absolutely lay into these teams with some sharp biting tirade. Alas I don't think any of them will do it. The amount of respect out there for Pulis is just ridiculous. People like Pulis, Allardyce, just epitomise the appalling levels of appreciation in this country. I don't mind tough tackling, playing defensive, packing the midfield, but this long ball rubbish has got to be seen as unacceptable in our game. We are so worried about goal line technology, referee decisions, etc etc and yet no one gives a **** about the style of football.
That's a rather extreme point of view and I've got to disagree with your first sentence. Diving is just wrong and at least by playing the long ball you're not cheating. But I feel you're trying to provoke an argument with this sentence so I'll be quiet.
I know what I'd rather watch. What would you rather see, nice football and and some diving (which they all do anyway). Or the long ball and never diving. I'm not saying diving is right, I hate it as much as everyone else, I just think it is the lesser of the two evils. The long ball isn't cheating, but I know what I'd rather eradicate out of the English game.
I would rather my team play nice football all the time and lose sometimes than the Allardyce way and win every game. Thats how I see it and Norwich players dive just like any other, maybe not as much but they still do it. I don't think we can be pious about this.
The punishments for cheating aren't harsh enough. Can't see why they're not sent off and banned for blatent diving when there is no contact. Or they could just be made to wear a pair of flippers for the rest of the game.
Yes, Wet Sham's equaliser yesterday came from a hopeful long ball upfield. Qquite lookng forward to MOTD when they play Stoke - especially at the Brittania!!
Style means a distinctive characteristic, such as your means of posting for instance. While Stokes style drives me nuts also and Pulis is one of the most disrespected guys around football, taking the moral high ground is not ours to take. We are ready to denounce Stoke as hoofers, kickers, etc yet every commentary I hear about Grant Holt is "old fashioned style of centre forward". While I wouldn't want to watch hoofball at all, I would not stop watching NCFC if Pulis was made our manager. And I wouldn't stop watching them if we bought a couple of divers. But the fact remains, diving is cheating but the long ball is a style and not against the rules.
Grant Holt is an old fashioned centre forward, and we certainly do play too much long ball for my liking (normally when morison is playing to be honest). I just think our (i mean the country's) priorities are wrong, long ball should be demonised and ridiculed in this country at all levels. Long ball is not illegal, but it should be made to feel like it is.
