Mails: Gerrard overcapped, Chelsea sympathy and more
We are so very nearly there. Mail theeditor@football365.com
Chelsea fans deserve sympathy too…
I have just read the Mediawatch report on the odious Sun newspaper’s treatment of homosexuals in both life and sport and commend you for highlighting it in the proper manner.
It would be nice if perhaps, if, instead of printing letters in the Mailbox about “Why I hate Chelsea” you actually put your money where your mouth is regarding the abuse/banter that we as Chelsea supporters are subjected to during our twice yearly minimum dealings with “the best fans in the World” which comprises 90 Minutes of “Chelsea rent boys” from the side whose support got the country banned from Europe for five seasons for thuggery (despite trying their best to blame it on Chelsea at the time – no, really) and actually highlighted it instead of joining in with the media blackout that normally ensues afterwards.
Still , it’s just epic bantz when Chelsea are concerned isn’t it? Just a bit of light relief, especially when your club’s left back was subjected to homophobic ass slapping gestures from “God” in the past setting the precedent.
I await the inevitable ‘Paris train incident’ condemnation from fans whose own supporters have actually thrown people under trains rather than stop them getting on one to keep me in my place.
Mark Kelly
Mediawatch is just full of outdated outrage
I agree with the piece in Mediawatch about the Sun’s disgraceful behaviour in reporting homophobic incidents. Anyone feel dirty by agreeing with me yet?
However, the incidents that you remind them of happened 7 years ago, yes SEVEN!
Could you not think of any more current examples? Sometimes, it might be better to just not report stuff like this because the examples you use to get all self-righteous happened years ago. We get that you’re the most caring, sharing and downright lovely group of people who have ever graced the earth, but do we really need to keep seeing examples of it?
I guess this is what Mediawatch is now though, when out of material, create your own outrage.
Last week, amongst other things, I was accused of living in the past as I cited examples which some people considered out of date. My explanations were never published as F365 likes to hold me up as some kind of hate figure, but the reality is that F365 are just as “out of date” with their attempts to stir up more hatred via the medium of Mediawatch.
Fat Man Scouse, not affiliated with EFC (Perhaps I should list all the other things I like so you can hate them too)
A new version of football
I am a multi-billionaire with a love of football and I made my money through nothing other than good luck and happenstance. I have no desire to replace football with a new sport, but my love of it means I know it needs to change. And if no one else is going to do it, then it may as well be me. None of this is true, except the billionaire bit.
My Dad and I play this game pretty regularly and Guy asking this morning about assistant refs reminded me of this.
So imagine you get to hold a summer ‘Sockerball’ tournament in a none World Cup or Euro Champs summer and pay many millions to some big teams to compete. But your money, your rules. The hope is that it’s brilliant and forces FIFAs hand to get on with changing the game. I thought it might be interesting to see if other people do this and if so what they come up with.
1 – Each half is 30 mins, but the clock stops when the whistle is blown for a foul, or when the ball is out of play etc. The ref has nothing to do with time and the game ends instantly when the time reaches 0. Time-wasting stops instantly.
2 – All officials have whistles and can blow for free-kicks, book people etc. They are all, essentially, referees. Instantly increases the respect for assistant referees as they are no longer assistants.
3 – There are six referees – one on the pitch, one on each touchline in each half and one on the sidelines with access to a TV. The 4th official isn’t a referee and is instead an admin role provided by the league/FA etc, probably a trainee referee.
4 – You can only be offside in the last 1/3 of the pitch. There also needs to be clear daylight to be offside. This should keep defences a little further back and open up space in midfield.
5 – For offside to be called, both sideline referees need to flag at the same time. I hope this finally gives the advantage to the attacker.
6 – The game never stops for the TV ref. The game continues, but the TV ref can stop the game – special hooter I’m thinking – at any time to announce the decision and why etc.
7 – The teams each have two appeals to the TV ref but they don’t stop the game. If their appeal is upheld, they don’t lose the appeal.
8 – Handball is always a foul – if it is deliberate it is a direct free kick, if it is indirect it is an indirect free kick. This should lead to lots of indirect free kicks in the box, which are always fun.
9 – Obstruction will be applied properly. Players do not need to get out of the opposition’s way but should not move into their way. Running into a defender is your fault not theirs. As a defender, this really winds me up. See Herrera’s first booking against Chelsea recently or the penalty Barca got against PSG. Herrera didn’t move into Hazard, just held his ground. And the PSG player fell over but didn’t change his direction to fall across the Barca player. Neither should have been fouls in the current game and will not be fouls in Sockerball.
10 – Goals will be bigger. The average height of a man has increased by about 6% since the mid to late 1800s, so a 6% increase in goal size will mean goals will now be 7.75m x 2.6m rather than 7.32 x 2.44. Not a massive difference, but a difference nonetheless. More goals.
11 – There are team and player fouls, like basketball. You get booked after 3 fouls and sent off after 5 – whatever they are. A booking counts as three fouls so two yellows and you are off but if you have had two fouls and then get a booking, you are also off. The TV ref can reverse a foul given by the on-pitch ref.
12 – Yellow cards and your third foul leads to a 6 minute sin bin.
13 – Once your team has committed more than 6 fouls in a half – each subsequent foul leads to a sin bin for the player who committed the foul and a free kick for the attacking side anywhere they choose inside the attacking 1/3 but outside the box. The game continues regardless of how many players the opposition team are down to. Persistent fouling becomes an actual thing for players and teams alike and derby games have the potential to be hilarious.
14 – A proper dive – no contact at all – is a yellow. Hugely exaggerating contact is a yellow. Falling over when you could have stayed up negates the foul. Referees will be trained to give fouls if it is clear that the player was significantly impeded even if they stay on their feet. If you went down too easy and the game was stopped, TV ref can reverse the foul and it becomes an indirect free kick the other way. Stops diving instantly.
15 – Advantage will work much more like rugby so it will be extended much longer. Players can call it on the pitch even if the referee blows but the game can still be brought back if the advantage doesn’t work out.
16 – No waiting for the ref to blow again for a free kick to be taken. They can be taken as soon as the attacking team wants. They cannot deliberately kick the ball at an opposition player who is within 10 yards, but the opposition must make reasonable attempts to get out of the way. The ball can also be moving as long as it is within a metre or so of where the free kick was given.
This will not be a perfect game – neither is football – but I think this would have more goals, be a cleaner, less annoying sport and would help alleviate many of the issues with modern football. There is help for the referees, help for attackers, help for defenders. There is more certainty but it retains some discretion and interpretation and there would be more indirect free kicks in the box, which is really the only thing a billionaire wants but can’t buy.
Feel free to point out all the problems with my new version of footy and maybe share what your new version looks like.
Andreas (Packer) Hunter, St Albans
Where it all went wrong for Arsenal…
To add to the reasons for Arsenal’s decline, I think we have to look at the 05-07 period in more detail. While it did bring moderate success on the pitch including an FA Cup, a Champions League Final and a second place, it decimated the team. Here is a list of players who left in the two years: Lehmann, Cole, Campbell, Lauren, Vieira, Reyes, Ljungberg, Pires, Henry, and Bergkamp.
That is pretty much the starting line up from the seasons before apart from Gilberto Silva and Toure. Those ten players were fundamental to Arsenal’s success. Not only were they world-class players, but they were leaders on the pitch (for the most part). They had gotten old or wanted to leave, and were not adequately replaced. Fabregas, Adebayor, Van Persie, Gallas, Flamini, Hleb, Clichy, Sagna, Nasri, and etc. were all eventually brought in to replace these men. On talent alone, they should have won at least a league title, but because of a clear lack of leadership and injuries, they never did. Also, because of a lack of funds, we were never able to compete with Chelsea or the Manchester clubs for more established stars.
What is hard to take is that for the past few years we seemed to have turned a corner. Yes we were still poor in the Champions League, but our team seemed to have strenghtened on paper. We had not lost any important players, and had actually filled in some gaps. In came Ozil, Sanchez, Cech and Mustafi and out came Diaby, Arteta, Rosicky, and Vermaelen. We finally had a decent goalkeeper. We had improved our defence and midfielders. And while Giroud is not world class, we had Ozil and Sanchez to create and score goals. Yet here we are. Tied for seventh. Just like last year, the injury of Cazorla has been devastating. The fact that our whole team is reliant on the wobbly ankles of a 31 year old is unacceptable for a team challenging for the title (or at least supposed to), This is what is infuriating for some Arsenal fans. It was understandable to finish third or fourth with the team we had in 2010 and 2011. But on paper, we have a stronger squad than our position suggests.
Guillaume, Paris
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When does the Fear set in…
…you ask.
Well, in any right minded Tottenham fan, The Fear set in immediately after Arsenal were on the receiving end of a home humping by Bayern. By failing to win that, Arsenal finally broke the mould of having the same season year upon year; it would therefore be the Spursiest thing ever us to ignore that fact and commit to finishing below them again.
If we can’t do it this year, we may as well just give up and go home.
Alex G, THFC (and I will genuinely cry)
Give up the Premier League? Nah…
There is a lot of talk about United going for either the top 4 or the Europa league but surely they need to go for both
1. You can’t just give up on a competition. We all rightly had a go at Tottenham this season and Liverpool under Rodgers for playing weakened teams in Europe, it seems a bit hypocritical to then ask United to do the same.
2. This is purely from a fan’s perspective but no way will I “settle” for united finishing behind Liverpool. If it happens, so be it, but I don’t want to listen to their gloating.
The only way I would be happy for United to finish 5th and Liverpool 4th is if Leicester win the Champions league, because then all Liverpool would get is the Europa League and that would be hilarious.
Bernard (football is irrational, so my desire to just beat Liverpool is fine) MUFC
More like Soo please…
Loved the piece on Frank Soo. I like to think I know my football history, but I must admit I’d never heard him of before and it made for really interesting reading.
I realise you F365 guys are a small team with plenty on your plate already, and that the Frank Soo item was ‘subbed in’ from another site. Nevertheless, please, please do more features like this.
I know it’s been said before but football really did have a long, rich history before 1992 and the Premier League/Sky TV era. Anything pre-war has now effectively passed out of living memory, and sadly (and alarmingly) it won’t be long before the likes of George Best and the 1966 boys follow suit. It would be a shame to see some of these stories get lost in time.
It makes for a great contrast to stuff like the Arsenal sh*t-stirring and Liverpool hysteria that your otherwise wonderful site can sometimes get bogged down with. I’d ask you for a piece on Herbert Chapman and the brilliant Arsenal side of the 1930’s (greatest British club side of all time in my heavily biased opinion) but I fear that Stewie et al would only use it as another chance to bang on about Wenger again.
Rob, Bristol Gooner
Batty v Ince
I have been reading with much interest the informed debate over David Batty’s place in your overcapped England X1 and his role in the England team in general. I have to come down on the side of GP I’m afraid. GH’s argument falls down on two points. One, I don’t really think it can be argued that Scholes was shunted out wide for Batty. During this period Scholes was playing centrally it was later under Sven that he was shunted out wide to accommodate Gerrard and Lampard. For me Gerrard should be captaining your over-capped England X1 (calm down, calm down Liverpool fans) as he never did anything of real importance for England other than a ridiculous back pass against France in Euro 2004 to cost us a goal. Sven should have had the ‘cojones’ to drop Stevie G and build his team around Scholesey. The only logical reason I can think of for not doing so is that he was scared that Gerrard would have the same reaction to being dropped as to when he’s not allowed to put Phil Collins greatest hits on in a bar.
The other point on which GH’s argument flounders is that Paul Ince the self styled ‘Guvnor’ was a better option than Batty. Ince was legend in his own head but his talent never matched his ego which is why Fergie bombed him out of United. Ince’s finest moment in an England shirt/tracksuit was when he was substitute and Gazza pulled down his shorts to expose his arse, a fitting premonition of his future managerial career? Other than that his only contribution of worth was wearing a bandage on his head in a 0-0 draw in Italy to qualify for Euro 98. Once qualified he missed a penalty as we crashed out to Argentina, admittedly so did Batty but at least Batty’s miss provided us with the classic Brian Moore/Kevin Keegan commentary moment ‘quickly Kevin, will he score?’ Finally to top GH’s Incey trivia about Nigel Benn, a far more interesting and less well known fact is that Paul Ince is Rochelle from the Saturdays uncle.
LG
Gylfi not so great
Sigurdsson is a very good player and clearly the best at Swansea, but I’m always puzzled at the praise he gets in the press (including yourselves) which makes him sound like a cross between Messi and Xavi. For the majority of this season, he’s been inconsistent from open play, often makes little impact and gives the ball away frequently. Though perhaps this can be attributed to playing alongside players who aren’t as good as him (he seems to link up well with Olsson, and yes, sadly he’s an example of one of Swansea’s better players) should be maybe have adapted his game and learnt that flicks on the wing rarely come off? This is covered up by the sheer quality of his set-pieces, which I think are among the best in the league. Of his ’62 goal scoring chances created’, I’d love to know the breakdown of these in terms of open play vs set pieces.
While he is deserving of a bigger move regardless of what happens to us this season, I’m not sure he’d be as effective at a bigger club where he may have to share set-piece duties with another, more established player. I’m not for a second saying he’s a bad player – we’re incredibly lucky to have him – but reading some of the articles about him, I’m not sure how many Swansea games people actually watch and how much people just look at the stats.
Paul
Is Pardew so loyal?
I wonder what Mile Jedinak thought of Alan Pardew’s claims (yesterday’s Mediawatch) that he was held back by his loyalty to players, given the way he was publicly and abruptly defenestrated as captain before being sold to Aston Villa about a week later. This is the same manager, after all, who spent the day before the FA Cup Final, when most teams are normally preparing for the game, negotiating himself a new contract. Pardew’s always been loyal to someone, but it isn’t his players.
Ed Quoththeraven