The Changing Game

[PleaseNotPoll]

Cheating is cheating.
If cheating on the pitch is acceptable, then why is cheating off the pitch unacceptable?
Should we also condone match-fixing and the Calciopoli bullshit in Italy?

 

[The Changing Man]

What irks me about the dark arts is the double standards people have

Lamela poleaxes somebody, the pundits froth at the mouth and demand he be burned at the stake
Paul Scholes poleaxes somebody, the pundits think it's funny

It's similar to how foreign players who dive are bad, but when English players dive they either don't mention it or try and justify it in increasingly sociopathic ways

Unless they are our English players!

As for double standards just look at the uproar at the weekend - If you hadn't seen it and only seen the media coverage, online, on TV, radio and in print, you could honestly think that the incident involving Lo Celso was the worst ever seen on a football pitch and it clearly wasn't.

I am another old school person who has no time for the dark arts, though I would like us to get better at them because unfortunately they are needed in the modern game, and with Dele and Lamela we have players who without question do indulge, but we are way behind teams like City and Leipzig whose tactical fouling last week was world class. They do say that cheats don't prosper, but in football that has never been further from the truth.

 

[bigsmithy9]

What I find amazing is the number of hamstring injuries today. I can't remember anyone talking about them in years gone by. I assume it did happen to players in the past. They say it's the number of games today. I don't think there is much difference myself,apart from the top couple in European games.
In the past,pretty much the same team of players turned out week by week.Today they need a squad to change the teams around.
My main concern is this watering of pitches so it looks pretty for the tv viewers. I think wet pitches are the cause of so many injuries with the ball wizzing about and players trying to catch up or slipping over as they receive a pass...….and remember in the past,the players played on wet,dry,snow and rock hard pitches and got on with it.