In about 70 mins time one of the most heated, passionate & thrilling sporting rivalries will kick off. Ancient hatred & superstition will be unleashed @ Villa Park as 43,000 people go psycho for 90 minutes. I live & work in Birmingham & as i went home on the train this evening the centre of the city was teaming with riot police & fans milling around drinking beer & trading insults. I'm sure there will be a bit of 'naughtiness' but generally it's a great opportunity for people to lose their heads and remember that football is the greatest sport on earth & the English are easily the most passionate fans on earth.
Not excusing Dublin or Gudjohnssen but Savage should be punished for some horrible tackles and some bad words.
A fantastic derby match. Notice I said derby and not football. The two Birmingham derbies this year were great. I was at the first one at St. Andrews. Watched this one on the telly. The passion, the atmosphere, the fight to the end, it was all great. I don't think Enckelman was to blame for the second goal. The fault was in Samuel's weak header and the credit was in Horsfield anticipating the play. Horsfield made his move before Samuel headed the ball. Also, did Dugarry really spit at the Villa player? Probably, but given the angle of the camera, it's actually hard to know for sure. What sort of punishment did Savage deserve? I can't recall any particular incident where a yellow card was actually called for. I thought the ref called this one reasonably. Lots of calls for both sides which weren't given. Only the rough stuff was called. In this sort of match, the ref is just trying to keep the lid on a boiling pot. Not turn off the heat. Much needed points in the bag for Brum. Now where is that new Birmingham City kit which was supposed to be in the post? My in-laws have been teasing me since the week before Christmas. That's a long time to wait.
What a fantastic atmosphere! Really great. And what kind of a nut runs onto the pitch, knowing there's no way out and arrest will lead to a severe punishment. What good does that do? Weird folk Congrats to Birmingham City!
Savage was rough throughout the whole game. I remember early on that the ref talked to him. Should have been a warning. Anyway, the ball was in Vaasen's hands. Isn't it illegal to kick it out?
I'm not 100% sure that Enckleman had complete control over the ball, looked to me that he may have fumbled it even if Horsefield wasn't putting under pressure.
Re: Re: Villa-Birmingham City Correct, at least in my view. I just had to come look for a place to post about this match. I was down right amazing. If Savage deserved a caution, then so did about 12 other players on the pitch. The commentator kept saying how the ref had the game under control, but I thought it was the opposite. Had the carded a few more of the out of control tackles in the first half things may not have boiled over in the second. Dublin got himself sent off, as he probably was only going to get a yellow. Gudjohnssen in the end got his second yellow, but that was a two footed pile drive that deserved straight red.
Seemed very clear on the replays that he spat at Gudjohnssen. He'll probably end up suspended or fined or both. I thought the ref lost control of this one. He needed to get a grip early and he let too many things go. Dublin lost it and he'll be out for at least 3 matches I would think. Savage is probably gonna get his head kicked in somewhere in Birmingham today!!
I didn't think that the ref had such a bad a game. the only times the game got out of control was Dugarry' spit, which was not seen, and sendings off, which the ref did well to get amongst the players to stop a mass a brawl, then did well to calm the players down before sending Dion and Joey off. Apart from these three incidents the rest of the fouls were the usual Derby fouls which are never punished due to nature of the game.
Damn Wife, i only got to watch the first half, i missed all the excitment, she just had to watch Married by America.
Re: Re: Villa-Birmingham City It was a missed call by the ref. I recorded the game on a pvr and watched the replay several times, in slow mo and frame by frame. Enckleman had the ball in his hands and even moved it several inches upwards towards his chest when Horsefield stomped it out of his hands with the sole of his boots. Clearly dangerous play and a foul, I know the ref did'nt have slow mo to assist him but he should seen the "studs up" in the tackle. I think Enckleman should get a medal for all the crap he has got all year.
Ah c'mon man.."dangerous play, clear foul, studs up etc etc etc"...it was a well taken chance. Correct that the ref didn't have the aid of the frame by frame and was also correct in leting him have a chance for the ball.The mistake that the keeper made was a very fundamental one ie, he didn't fall forward to collect the ball.He stayed still and stooped over it to get both hands under it and tuck it into his chest.He paid the price. Great game and a throw back to the games of my days at home.Oft times now-a-days i think the game has gone a little too soft..or technical as they like to say on the continent ...the great spirit of the 70's and 80's used to make for fantastic athmospheres at most grounds. I was hoping that the Villa would win though to be honest.Never liked the brum after the great heartache they caused us at the end of the 1980 season. Those fuckin Zulus could both take and dish out a hiding though.
re: the second goal. When I first saw it, the first thought in my head was that Enckelman may have had control of the ball. When I watched the replays, I thought the ref got it right.
Watching the replays during the live broadcast, I thought there was a camera angle showing the ball never quite reaching Enckelman's hands. I'll have to tape one of the replays to check for sure. But I would tend to believe somebody who stepped through their videotape frame by frame. I'll still blame the backpass decision. That's what led to the goal. Here's hoping there're two more Birmingham derbies next year.
That's what I thought. I thought he had to have possession but I guess not. Also in the first derby, it looked to me that Enckelman didn't touch the throw-in therefore the goal shouldn't count. I base this on the fact that I saw the replays and the ball didn't move one iota. If he had touched him, it would have moved, right?
I recorded the game off Fox Sports World on a Digital Video Recorder. One of the replay frames shows the ball clearly in Enckelman’s possession and Horsefield’s boot raised with studs showing attacking the ball about 12 inches away (I’ll see if I can capture the frame and post it). Horsefield strips the ball away without making contact but he does kick the ball out of Enckelman’s hands. If this was a basketball game it would have been a clean steal as Horsefield did not make contact with Enckelman but the rules of soccer state that you can't dispossess the keeper when he has possession of the ball. This was a foul under the law of the game and a huge mistake by the Ref. Again I point to Enckelman’s attitude, no complaints, no whining, and no finger pointing. He behaved the way we say we want a model professional and a great role model to act. However, I wonder if the ref would have called a foul if the goalkeeper were a crazy bastard like Barthez or Walter Zenga. Nice guys finish…….where? Last…. and then we complain about the behavior of the fans.....
Sporting Celtic, I've watched a few Scottish games lately and have wondered how Rangers and Celtic might fare if they were thrust into the Premiership. Where do you think they'd fit in the tables? The rest of the Scottish Premier League looks like the equivilant of mid to lower D1 or English D2.
I haven't looked at it that closely so i'll take your word on it mate. However, at the speed of the game i think the ref..who also didn't have that benifit.. made the right choice. Barthez or Zenga may have doen a "schumacher" on him.
Murder???? I'm from the Midlands and although its been all over the news there has been no mention of a murder where did you here that?? As for the enckleman, the rules of the game state that he has to have full control of the ball and it looked to me like all he had done was touch the ball with his hands he hadn't got full control therefore the ball was still there to be won and therefor there is no foul, thats why he didn't complain he realised he'd made the wrong decision in trying to pick it up, he just have put it into row z
I'm a Celtic fan and so my opinion is bias. Celtic beat Blackburn in the UEFA Cup and I don't think Blackburn is in lower section of Division 1 or 2. Now we play Liverpool next week. Lets wait and see what the outcome is. On the Enckleman issue, one of my points is that if Enckleman was a loud moaner (Like Sir Alex) more calls would go his way (look at Man U.). But because he keeps quiet (like what we say a model pro should do) and accepts the ref's decision he gets screwed. Keepers like Barthez and Zenga would be all over the ref and in the papers shouting how the ref sucked etc. Next time the ref won't want the negative feedback and will give them the benefit of the doubt and call these type of fouls. Then all we hear about is the bad behavior of the top players. When really their bad behavior is only being reinforced by system.