The debate about TV evidence in football rumbles on in the wake of the N'Gog dive on Monday night. Here's my 2 cents on it. Goal line technology, no question. It's a pretty straight forward one, it's had various trials in places and right now I can't see any reason why it can't be implemented. Another tick for me goes in the retrospective action box. This means basically with hindsight and reviewing of various TV angles, people can be punished for things that have been missed (i.e. Robert Huth punch recently) AND things that have been misinterpreted (i.e. the N'Gog dive). This is where the authorities don't want to get involved, but if common sense prevailed then it would be great to see a yellow card upgraded to red for 2 footed tackles for example. As I said yesterday the arguement that this takes power away from referees doesn't wash at all, do you think N'Gog would take a dive if he knew he was going to get caught out after the game? You might argue yes, a player will do anything to get the win but I'm sure Mr. Benitez would see it differently when he's without the player for 3 games. Where I'm still not sure is for TV replays to be used live during games. I know it takes a very small amount of time to look at a replay and say 'yep, N'Gog dived, no pen, yellow card' but not all decisions are as clear cut as that. Is it feasible to let every offside go until the move has finished, and then check if the striker is level? I think you're totally changing the game of football if that happens. And on top of that, people see things differently anyway so you're trusting whoever is in that referee booth to make a more accurate call than the guy on the pitch. For example, Darren Fletcher's (tosser) tackle on Cole (money grabbing wanker) that resulted in the free kick that lead to Utd goal on Sunday. Did he get the ball? Certainly there was some contact. Did he actually go over the ball? Possibly, it's really debatable. Did he get a lot of Cole in the process, even get Cole before the ball? Possibly. You start to see my point.
Bolton chairman Phil Gartside is to propose a new 2 tier Premier League of 18 teams each, at a Football League/LMA Meeting on Thursday, with the suggestion that the Old Firm could come down and join in. Irrespective of the points I raised yesterday regarding the behaviour of some Glasgow fans, there is the sectarian divide to consider, the policing issues, the England vs Scotland hate issues and probably many more that say this is not a good idea. But from a footballing point of view, I'd fucking love to see Rangers v Arsenal on a cold night in December, pissing it down at Ibrox! Maybe that is best saved for Europe though. I can totally see why the Old Firm want to come down here, MONEY$. They both have a fantastic fan base and it would be intriguing to see where they slotted into English football - probably in the 2nd of these 2 new leagues if Gartside had his way - but I wouldn't trust a bloke who employed Sam Allardyce for so many years. In the words of the great proffessor from North London, if they left Scotland it 'would kill Scottish football,' and he's probably right. And for now, well we have the best league in the world so fuck them.
Looks like Fernando Torres won't be going under the knife to sort his groin/hernia/hairstyle out. Super Nick Bendtner did his groin agaisnt Spurs a few weeks back and Wenger knows straight away to stick him on the op table and get it sorted properly. You get the impression that Rafa is willing to put the players' long term fitness on the line just to keep the wolves at bay. He might be able to sneak a goal in a big game but you get the impression until he gets it properly taken care of, The Kid is no use to anyone.
Another injury concern is Mr Dean Ashton. No?....Bleaches his hair blonde......Plays for West Ham?...Always injured? Yeh that's him. Speculation is mounting that Deano will have to retire at the tender age of 25 following his broken ankle (I wince everytime I think about it) and other persistant niggles. I have to say I like Ashton, he could have (or hopefully still can) been Rooney's perfect foil up front for England. He's big and strong (like Heskey) can score goals (not like Heskey) and has so good touch and vision when dropping deep. All the best Dean.
Wow, I've just heard that LUKE YOUNG has turned down Don Fabio's call up to the England sqaud and decided to retire. What a terrible fucking shame that is. The stalwart of that wonderful Charlton defence that...went down, and then the sparkling full back in the Middlesborough team that...went down. On top of all that, he played for Spurs. Thanks for all your bad defensive displays against the Arsenal, Luke. What a shame.
What really is a shame though is the sad news that Robert Enke died yesterday in a suspected suicide. I'm not going pretend that I knew all that much about the bloke, but for a keeper to have played for Monchengladbach, Barca and Benfica, it's a pretty sad day for football. Take her easy.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment