OUR football correspondent LIAM MACKEY is back in top form and full of energy.
He casts his eye over your comments and gives his own critical analysis of the
goings on throughout the world of football. You may agrewith him or then again
you may not. This week Roy Keane is right we are mentally brittle; Irish fans
are hypocrites over Keane’s tackle on Overmars; French Revolution all over
again; FIFA are not interested in technology; Henry should be banned for World
Cup; Delaney foolish to respond to Keane; Rugby fans take moral high ground; What
goes around comes around; Arsenal not physical enough; Moyes is boring; Pool have
fallen a long way.
The Letter of the Week goes to Simon Clarke, Dublin.
Get in touch with your postal address and our magnificent prize will be winging
its way to you before you know it.
SOMEONE’S got to say it, so I am going to. Roy Keane is entirely right
with his comments on Ireland’s performance in the two matches against France.
It is typical of him to rake up 2002 again, but that doesn’t change the validity
of his analysis of how we performed in Dublin and Paris. Too conservative at home,
it was only when we needed to attack that we demonstrated we could get at the
French who are mentally brittle. We had at least four good chances to put the
game beyond doubt on Wednesday night and squandered them. We didn’t defend
the free-kick at all well, never mind the handball and the offside. The only part
of Keane’s comments that really jarred was his implied criticism of Shay
Given. Is it a Cork/Donegal thing?
Tony Murphy, Cork, by email
YOU might think that Roy Keane would have more to say about one win in 17 games
for Ipswich than he has about dancing on the grave of Ireland’s World Cup
ambitions.
Anthony O’Reilly, Galway, by email
LET’S
not get too high-minded about Henry's hand ball. Not so long ago Keane's tackle
on Overmars was voted by Irish fans to be one of the great sporting moments to
have taken place in the old Lansdowne Road. Roy had no intention of playing the
ball, he deliberately broke the rules and, by doing so, gained a psychological
advantage over a very dangerous opponent.Was that cheating? So let’s forget
about a replay and just praise the players for producing what was surely the best
ever performance by an Irish football team.
Mike from Cork, by email
WHY did Thierry Henry not release his statement that “a replay would be fairest”
before FIFA had already ruled that option out? And why did he wait until the end
of the match before acknowledging that he had handled the ball? I remember a few
weeks ago Andriy Arshavin owning up immediately when a penalty was wrongly awarded
in his favour. It didn’t change the referee’s decision, but it was a
dignified response to a mistake.
Liam Burke, Dublin, by email
THIERRY Henry missed a wonderful opportunity to cement his reputation as one of
the world’s great footballers forever on Wednesday night had he been able
to summon up the sportsmanship to do so. Instead he seemed to find this suggestion
funny when it was put to him by a French journalist. Now he will simply go down
in history as a fine talent with, like Maradona, no scruples.
Anthony
O’Callaghan, West Cork, by email
IT DIDN’T take long for
rugby supporters to clamber up the moral high ground did it? I turned on Sky on
Thursday morning to hear someone saying that this incident was typical of the
corrupt principles of soccer. Obviously they have never heard of “Bloodgate”
and have forgotten the All Blacks spear tackle on Brian O’Driscoll. Hypocrites!
Red Devil, Limerick, by email
NEITHER FIFA nor UEFA are interested
in video technology because it will constrain their ability to create the most
marketable event (Manchester United v Barcelona, Spain v France etc). That’s
the real reason why they will go with the idea of yet more match officials who
can be hand-picked.
Lee Martin, Kildare, by email
“IN
2005, the Bureau of the Fifa World Cup organising committee reached a decision
to invalidate the result of a World Cup qualification match between Uzbekistan
and Bahrain on the basis of a 'technical error by the referee of the match.”
That’s on FIFA’s official website. Can you explain why they can’t
make the same decision for this game Liam?
Dolan O’Shea, Cork,
by email
NO replays and quite right too. What happened was disappointing
but bullshit happens a lot and in the grand scheme of where the world is at the
moment, let’s face it, it’s trivial. What's done is done and its time
to move on. We’re a nation, not a soccer field.
Billy Flanagan,
Dublin, by email
I SEEM to recall Richard Dunne describing Chelsea
as “cry babies” (or something equally dismissive) when they were denied
a place in the Champions League Final by the actions of a thoroughly incompetent
referee. What’s that famous old Cork saying? “What goes round, comes
round.”
Cork Blue, by email
THE mismatch between what
supporters think of the handball incident, and what professionals have to say
(Gary Neville and Roy Keane to cite just two) indicates that fans still have an
idealised view of the game. I prefer what supporters think should happen rather
than the hard-bitten approach displayed by world-weary and cynical old sweats.
No wonder this is mimicked at all junior levels of football.
Liam
Moore, Dublin, by email
WHY did John Delaney have to respond to Roy
Keane’s comments by telling him to “move on” and to “learn
from the past.” You just know that there’s a whole new act of 'I, Keano'
waiting to be written as a consequence of this psycho-babble. Over to you, Roy.
Declan ó Conghaile, West Cork, by email
OUR SHOUT: I
hardly need to say that this is but a tiny portion of the massive response we
have had to the 'Hand Of Gaul'. And, at the end of it all, I'm left with only
one question: who the hell are we not going to cheer for if France and England
meet in South Africa!?! Meantime, in an unprecedented break with tradition, this
week's Red Card goes not to a fan but a footballer. Can you guess who it might
be, children?
CAN Tottenham be reported to the Court of Human Rights
for “cruel and unusual punishment?”
Rob Robinson, Dublin,
by email
REMIND me Liam, it was Wigan who beat Chelsea 3-1 earlier
this season, wasn’t it? Has the Premier League decided that 2009/10 should
be un homage to surrealism? Patrick Kane, Waterford, by email
OUR SHOUT: Shame on Wigan. Paul Scharner blatantly handled in scoring their
goal and they haven't had the common decency to offer Spurs a rematch.
WATCHING Arsenal stumble to defeat at Sunderland with players like Arshavin, Fabregas,
and Rosicky in the side, I wondered what happened to the idea that Arsène
Wenger liked to sign big, strong athletes in the mould of Patrick Vieira and Nicolas
Anelka. Sure, he’s got Diaby and Song, but neither are good enough, or resolute
enough. When you look at Chelsea this weekend with brick outhouses like Mikel,
and that new giant Serbian player Matic, and with lumps like Lampard and Ballack
not even on the field, or at United with Darren Fletcher crashing around midfield,
or Liverpool with the likes of Gerrrard and Mascherano, you wonder whether it
would be that much of a compromise of Wenger’s principles to sign a couple
of players who are better versed in the dark arts. I really can’t see Arsenal
winning anything until he becomes more pragmatic. Someone has to do the spade
work, or be the water carrier. Now, who is that player who was so irritating for
France last week. Oh, yes. Lassana Diarra. What about him?
Pat Gleeson,
Limerick, by email OUR SHOUT: I take it you mean the "other"
player who was so irritating for France. Also, I'm not sure that Liverpool are
the right model for Arsenal just at the moment.
ANYONE else bored with
David Moyes saying he “expects better from Everton?” Another traditional
capitulation at Old Trafford at the weekend. So this is “Fergie’s favoured
successor” according to Match of the Day. If so, let United fans prepare
for another 25 years without a major trophy.
Limerick Red, by email
OUR SHOUT: Yeah, like any manager in football these days is going to get
a quarter of a century to get things right.
WHEN Mark Hughes said that
Manchester City’s ability to get a 2-2 draw at Anfield was “a sign of
how far City have come” wouldn’t it have been more accurate to say that
it was a sign of how far Liverpool have fallen away?
Simon Clarke,
Dublin, by email
OUR SHOUT: Correct. Have our Letter of the
Week prize for this week's right answer.
ANCELOTTI, Arnesen, now Hiddink?
How many managers do Chelsea want all at the same time?
Alan Doyle,
Wexford, by email
OUR SHOUT: Always nice to hear from Fergie.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Wednesday, November 25, 2009
