As the BBC have so kindly broadcast 3 of the 4 q-f's this week, I decided to watch Wednesday's game between the above teams. What a difference to our game v Man City! We saw two managers on Monday night with respect for each other and not afraid to have some good humoured banter throughout, not to mention two honest, hard-working and skilful teams battling it out for a semi-final place. Chelsea's game against Newcastle promised (or so I thought) a similar kind of battle. How wrong I was. The sight of so many Chelsea players doing the "dying swan" just made me angry. Del Horno wasn't quite as bad as against Barca but still jumped in the air even though Parker withdrew his foot from the tackle. Drogba did a triple back somersault in the pike position (tariff 2.8) - what an utterly pathetic individual he is. SWP of course did his bit by falling headlong when Robbie Elliott tried to move out his way, resulting in the ref buying it completely and sending Elliott off. However, I was most upset by our own Joey Cole, who is increasingly doing the old "throw the head back and shout AAAAGGGHHHH" whenever anyone gets near him. If he tries that one on against us, I for one will lose any respect I still have for him. Add to that Chelsea's players gathering around the ref (a la Arse from a few years back) and their surly manager, and you have a recipe for a pretty unappealing bunch. I just worry that this will start a new trend of gamesmanship as other teams think that "if Chelski can do it, why can't we?" I sincerely hope this is not the case and my fears are unfounded. I find it hard to believe that Chelsea have a wonderful array of players at their disposal but have seemingly been reduced to arguing and disputing any decision made against them, with this siege mentality that Moronho has drilled into them. I'd be interested if anyone else shares my opinion on these points. Of course I think our team is setting a good example, and although I may be marginally biased in my views, I think I'm level-headed enough to praise other teams when merited. But I just found the Chelsea game rather pathetic to watch as a neutral. Your shout folks! MIKE
Whenever Chelski lose there is some uproar or another. Middlesboro, Fulham, Man U. there was problems in the tunnel, managers sniping at each other. This just does not happen with other teams, no matter how competative they are. No one is more competative than Pearce however did he and Pards come to blows? Of course not because both those managers have more class than that. Chelsea has no class.
Mike i couldn't agree more. I have upset some Chelski fans on the goal posts site with similar comments. Chelski and Mourino's tactics are only succesful with 2 wide guys like Robben and Duff or Wright Phillips. Lamps has gone off the boil but Jose won't rest him. Can you imagine having a midfield of Robben or Duff Makalele Cole Wright Phillips. Up front Crespo and Drogba. Its to entertaining for the Fat Sams Rafas Jose's and Sven of this world. They like to stifle the game and win 1-0, which they often do. However the emphasis is on pushing the rules as close and far as you can. Same as the Keane Man U Team as you said. Blaines got it right the likes of Jose thinks he is bigger than the game. All this diving bollox that these coaches seem to instigate in their players ruins the game. It also leads English referees to be so unsure they tend to make more mistakes than normal.
Chelsea and Mourhino are a disgrace to the sport. My best mate in Toronto is a Chelsea fan and he has grown weary of it all as well. Sportsmanship has somehow become one-up-manship. Players falling when they are barely touched, players begging the referee to yellow/red card the guy that just tackled them, referees being treated like crap and clearly being verbally abused on almost every call, are just some examples of what is wrong with "sport" (read business) today. I hope the FA deal very harshly with Chelsea and set an example.
Without trying to divert anyone from this thread, here's some more views on this subject including my own during the game (try to ignore Payne where possible): http://www.thegoalposts.com/viewtopic.php?t=25445&sid=9b4ad5a30268292c53c3d0ee50aabca8 I agree with your comments Kent_Hammer, I think anyone who follows and admires the way West Ham play would. The thing is most of this is not new. Chelsea have behaved like this since Mourinho started and other teams were like that to before them. The "dying swan" itself has been happening for years. I think the real concern is that there seems to be no signs of these things improving. Referees should hold their card wallets in the air when surrounded by abusive players and count to 5 IMV. Anyone remaining gets a yellow, regardless of anything. Other than that I feel for refs nowadays. What an impossible task the players have turned their jobs into.
Chris I don't think anyone will disagree with the sentiments that you and others have posted here. Do you remember when we played in the park as boys? Being labelled a 'diver' or a 'cheat' was tantamount to the biggest insult going. What is the example being shown to the boys of today? It is easy to single out the European influence, in fact commentators used to warn of it, when we were growing up, and European opposition was on TV. I think more emphasis should be payed to 'ungentlemanly behaviour' including crowding refs, pleading for a player to be carded and diving. Automatic yellow for any of the above. When a player appears to be brought down but the free kick/penalty is not given because of 'simulation' the card should be shown to the attacker, just as a defender would get one for last man etc. I would extend this to bad language. It is a threat to the ref's authority IMHO, if a player is reprimanded and responds with a torrent of abuse. The eternal issue of course is consistency, as with all refereeing matters.
All good. I would like to add one more scenario though. When a genuine foul is made and the victim is rolling round on the floor some fans and players accuse him of trying to get the offender carded. The example I am thinking of is the Del Horno/Messi incident, where Del Horno played a blatent foul, Messi (IMO) rightly jumped to avoid the challenge and consequently went down and so did Del Horno because he took a slight knock to the head. Both ended up rithing in an overacted stupor. My point here is that once the offence has been committed I don't think it matters what the players do. Any referee worth his salt should not be influenced by any amateur dramatics by the players, no matter how brilliantly they are performed. If a referee is influenced by how a player reacts to being fouled then that is a problem with the referee and not the player. If they are done during the foul and deemed to be particularly unsporting then the referee should maybe act on it. But otheriwse people should stop complaining about any after-incident play acting I think. I agree though that divers should be punished more than they are. If a striker dives I think the referee should be able to stop play, where appropriate, and call a foul for it. After all it's foul play isn't it?
Agreed that diving is 'foul play'. I also agree that a player 'acting' after a genuine foul should be reprimanded if it is clear that he isn't that hurt but is trying to gain advantage from the situation. Questions: What happened to the moving the ball ten yards forward rule where disent is shown or a wall/player doesn't retreat 10 yards when told? How many steps or how long can a keeper take whist in possession? Why are fouls given when a keeper is challenged when a similar challenge in the out field is permitted? Back to the consistency question I suppose.