Well for the record, I'm "against" you. But really I'mm.... well yeah, still against you. Right. So i obviously disagree that the "correct calls were made" in this game. All i mean to say, from PERSONAL exprience playing in 2 soccer leagues a week, that it is almost always dissatisfying when we get a penality we dont deserve, or the other team is not getting calls they should get, etc and we end up winning. That's my personal opinion. Some people probably dont care as long as they win. Even when CFC gets the benefit of the calls, I dont enjoy the victory as much. Kettle, meet pot, or is it the other way around...? Drogba got a yellow card for this, i believe..
last season you had two bogus PK's to draw level at Stamford Bridge. This is the problem with civilization. It is used to be corrupt refs spend the bribe money on wheelchairs.
And before that, year after year, EBJT would throw out his hands to bat balls out of the air -- without a single call going against him. I have no idea where corrupt referees would be buying wheelchairs....
he also tried to grab a red card from a ref once. i believe he may have touched him in an inappropriate manner as well. guess he thinks he can do whatever he wants without consequence
the commentary on this clip is great. some things you can't explain, the bermuda triangle, why did the chicken cross the road. why do birds fly south and...... this!
"Drogba got a yellow card for this, i believe.." Just like Suarez, this was Drogba's reputation for diving affecting the ref's decision-making, unfortunately. And, he did ham it up, but the ref certainly got it wrong.
I can explain it. Drogba was going into that challenge, knowing he had no chance of wining it, but a good chacne of undercutting Evans or hurting him. Evans protected himself.
That does explain why Drogba got the yellow - reckless on his part. But, Jonny should have gotten a yellow, too, for the high foot.
Any argument that says Drogba couldn't have won the ball has got to acknowledge that Evans didn't go for the ball. Maybe there is a reason for that, but Evans should have taken his lumps.
I would say normally give Evans the benefit of the doubt but he clearly kicks at Drogba mid air. But that doesn't excuse what Drogba did. He had 0% chance of getting the ball, was at least a second late going into the challenge and with Evans in mid-air could have been a serious injury to Evans if Johnny had not "protected" himself.
Im not sure I understand what you mean by Evans didnt go for the ball. He won the ball. He also kicked Drogba, but he won the ball. easy for you to say.
There's a pot and a kettle in there somewhere - and they should be calling each other names. Though hopefully not racists names.
While i am trying to be unbiased (disclaimer that i am a big fan of Drogba as a player and even more so as a PERSON outside the pitch) - I would certainly not equate Suarez and Drogba in any metric. I am NOT saying that Drogba's history of "behavior" didn't influence the call in that clip specifically but i struggle to remember times when Droba fell over with NO contact AKA pulling a "Suarez". EDIT: I know its Reds vs Blues in this thread specifically, but I hope to unite (see what i did there?) in our disdain for the Liverpoor....
benni... you are right, I should have worded that differently. He should have won the ball and taken the contact rather than tried to protect himself at all. The outstanding image from that is not the header, but the kick. Stupid to do that. "Your witness" Your honor, I'd like to introduce into evidence a video from over 5 years ago. Let's call this exhibit a.
Well to be fair (even though I don't think you can be fair with Suarez), he very rarely dived when there was no contact before the middle of last season. I remember that because I had a lot of trouble finding a video of his dive without contact, he only exaggerated his falls (falling with minimal contact). But since then, when he found out that he's not getting the calls, he took his diving to another level.
I am a big fan of Drogba, on & off the pitch, too. I mentioned that specifically bcuz I think it was an example of a player's behavior influencing a referee's call. Just as I believe that players like Cattermole/Barton get more fouling calls against them because of their reputations. I would never equate Drogba and Suarez.