This past weekend, we saw two instances of another trick players have employed for quite some time to win a penalty – letting a hanging leg make contact with an opponent’s, so it looks like he was fouled.
On Saturday, Manchester City’s Adam Johnson gamed the official into believing that Fulham’s Chris Baird struck him down, when in fact, as replays showed, there was no action on Baird’s part to foul Johnson.
On Sunday, Manchester United’s Danny Welbeck “fell over” and even stretched out his leg for it to make contact with Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic’s leg.
Like diving, this gamesmanship stains the beautiful game. But what can officials do? Should these instances require replays by the fourth official to determine if there was indeed deliberate contact to cause a player to go down in the box? Then it follows that every claim for a penalty would have to be replayed, thus affecting the game.
Should these players get red cards? Or just a warning?
It is understandable that in the hectic action on the pitch, a referee cannot make every single call correct, but certain calls that affect the outcome of matches are too important to dismiss.
Should players be retroactively punished?
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LeChat
Or The Return of LeChat, at least to this blog spot.
I know several people have asked me when I was going to restart the normal spot but there have been several life changing issues over the past few weeks that I won’t go into. Excuse the run on… and the sentence fragment. It seems like my own 2011/12 season has been just as rocky and incoherent as the Arsenal’s.
Personally, I’m waiting for the world to end. S*urs may finish top 4…
I’ll let that sink in for the gooners and wannabes out there…
And now for the knife: They may even finish above the Arsenal.
I guess the only possible good thing to come out of this is Good Ol’ ‘Arry is doing himself no favors on the stand. If you haven’t been following; allegedly Mr. Rednapp decided to take a few quid as a bonus for the Crouch deal. Not a bad thing on it’s own, however putting in an “investment” account in Monaco and not reporting it on your taxes is something a little, let’s just say, suspect.
Reading a few reports from the Guardian, I swear it sounds like something out of a Guy Ritchie movie. I know I’m not doing it any justice. So, as a rule I don’t trust any geezer who owns a pig farm. Ol’ ‘Arry might be one to own a pig farm or two.
More locally, has anyone noticed the excitement around the pub lately? No, well I guess I’m the only who pays attention. We have quite a few new faces showing up in the crowd; some falling right in step and others still lingering in the periphery. It’s good to have new blood, especially once they’ve lasted a few weekends and learn to order a pint without stuttering.
As SlainteLOSC stated, ‘No one is going to bite you.’
I hope to see everyone out this weekend and to Mr. Suarez…. no biting
