David Beckham behind Roy Keane (I want your oppinion)

I don't think it's a question of whether he's trying to make himself look good to be the next Man U captain, but look good for the whole team. I don't think it'd be wise to criticize your own teammate, especially your own captain. If he is reserving judgment on Keane, then he did the right thing. The last thing Man U needs is team chemistry problems in the locker room, especially when they play games like today's against Middlesborough.

 

I suspect Beckham has a great deal of sympathy with Keane. He himself was public enemy number one four years ago when he was sent off against Argentina in the World Cup and he knows what happens when the anti-Man Utd hounds start howling and your every move is put under press scrutiny

 

It's the ol' rule of thumb, you praise in public and critisize in private. As far as we know, Beckham's told Keane what's on his mind. He isn't going to chew him out via the press.

 

I don't think they're that troubled by this, GoHawks4. They know that it's this incredible drive that makes Keane such a dominating player and effective leader for Utd (and until recently the Irish team) and that an occasional problem like this is the price you pay for such a player.

He's also a player, like Vieira, that gets a lot of attention from referees and sometimes is unfairly treated by them. In his earlier spat with McAteer in the match against Sunderland, the ref really should have been talking to McAteer not Keane. McAteer wrestled Keane to the ground in a blatant disregard for the rules - first grabbing Keane's shirt, then grabbing him round the waste and then dragging him to the ground.

Keane jumped up and was obviously going to let McAteer know what he thought of him but, as the ref pushed Keane away, McAteer was mouthing off in a totally unacceptable fashion. Three times he yelled out "F--k off!" - you don't have to be much of a lip reader to hear that - and then mimicked writing in a book either to tell the ref to book Keane or a reference to Keane's problems with the publication of his book.

It was clear provocation from McAteer following a blatant foul and the ref should have been talking to him not Keane.

There was no retaliation from Keane during the game but right at the end, when the ref was about to blow the final whistle, Keane walked up to McAteer and there were a few words spoken. As He walked by him Keane raised his right arm and as he jostled into McAteer and his elbow caught him on the side of the head. There was no viscious "elbow", no lateral movement of the arm to hurt McAteer, but McAteer threw himself to the ground in mock agony. The referee caught a glimpse of it and sent Keane off.

The reaction of the three players - Keane, Beckham and McAteer tells you everything.

Keane didn't argue with the ref but had a rueful smile on his face as he walked off in disbelief knowing that he'd been stupid and that a player with his reputation is not going to get away with anything.

Beckham, recognising that McAteer's provocation and play acting had been significant in the sending off was yelling at McAteer about his feigning injury. He himself, in the past when he was bad boy no 1, has been provoked by players who have tried to get him sent off.

McAteer himself, realising I think that it had all gone too far, appealed to the referee not to send Keane off. McAteer and Keane were teammates in the Irish team, Keane had been quite flattering about McAteer in his book and McAteer has described Keane as a World Class player, and, although there's a bit of agro between them, McAteer knew that there had been nothing viscious in Keane's "elbow" and that it had been a bit of gamesmanship that had all gone wrong.

Keane, like Vieira, had been the victim of his own reputation.

 

Mc Ateer knew Keane could be wound up , and Keane lashed out at him. Is it so hard to belive, did Mc Ateer say last week that he would by a toy, rather than Keanes book. Sure the FA will now suspend Keane for 3 months , so when he is fit again he will be able to play. The FA are a joke, much in the same fashion as the FAI. No Balls.

 

He didn't "lash out at him" at all if you're referring to the "elbowing". There was none of that lateral movement which drives the elbow into a players' face. I suspect there was a few words and a bit of play acting. There was nothing viscious there. That's what caused Ferguson to first deny it had taken place. If you see it from the normal camera angle you can detect no movement at all. It's only when you see it from behind the players that some movement can be seen. It certainly didn't have the sort of movement needed to hurt a player.

I don't think the FA can do much. Their rules say that the suspension matches are counted even if the player is injured. They'd have to break their own rules to delay the suspension until after Keane returns from his operation and they'd get a legal challenge if they did that.

Utd predict that Keane will get 6 matches or so, they know that he will have to have an operation soon that will keep him out for 12 matches so best have these two run concurrently. Clearly makes sense.

 

prk166 is correct you don't criticize your teammate and especially your Captain in public. Beckham doesn't need to position himself as the next Captain as he is the obvious choice anyway.

 

machoward, i think you gave a fair assement of what happened. But Keano should not have fallen into the trap, which as you pointed out Mc Ateer had been setting all game. I think a break away will do Keane good, he will come back fresh at with a better attitute. By the way do you get ESPN on Foxtell down under. If so could you fill us in on there new show, you write really well. Maybe they should include you on the show. Cheers.

 

I don't think the ref had any option other than to send him off from what he saw. I've taken a look at the tape of the Sunderland match again and it's slightly different to what I've said. McAteer is crouching down as Keane catches him up from behind and left. Keane has his arm raised to about chest height and trots into McAteer. His forearm makes contact with the side of McAteer's head.

I'm pretty sure he did mean to make contact but I think it was more a case of letting McAteer know he was around than deliberately hurting him. The actual collision is quite slight.

But McAteer drops to the ground as if pole axed clutching his head. As he gets up he sees the ref reaching in his pocket for a card and he obviously beckons to him not to give the card.

I'm not sure that he knew it was Keane that caught him - maybe if he had he wouldn't have suggested to the ref that he not give the card But it does indicate that he wasn't hit hard and that he himself didn't believe it to be a bookable offence.

But it was. It clearly was deliberate if not intended to maim and the ref had to give him his marching orders. One of those stupid things some players do when provoked.

But back to the original post - Beckham was clearly on Keane's side in this. He gives McAteer a roasting for faking it and an argument then breaks out between Beckham and McAteer.

ESPN? To my delight September's Foxtel guide has ESPN included in the list. It wasn't there in August but I'm glad to see that it's been added to the Entertainment package. They have a weekly match from Holland and they'll be showing Champion's League games. There's also quite a bit of NFL stuff (gridiron) in there I see which is good because Foxtel hasn't shown much of that in the past and I look forward to watching that.

There's been nothing as yet either soccer or NFL so I don't yet know about the quality of their coverage but what show is it you're referring to? At this moment in time any show of their's is "new" to me.

Foxtel, incidentally, does an excellent job of the Premier League here - 3/4 matches a week. I've not been in Australia that long and it certainly keeps me in touch with what's happening over there.

 

The show in question is Press Pass, you can see it promoted on soccernet.com.I think it may be on on Frid nights , not exactly sure what time.

 

Ok, Red Devil11, I see it in the schedule. A pity I didn't see your post until this morning (Saturday morning here now) and missed last night's show. I was watching the England - India cricket on Fox Sports 2. I'd have watched it otherwise. I've marked it out for next week. Looks interesting.

I recorded the Giants/49ers game last night and watched it this morning over breakfast. A bit disappointed that there was no studio comment on the game. I know gridiron reasonably well but I like to hear the "experts" comment on what's going on as this helps my understanding of the game though I can't stand those clowns on Fox Sports