Angry Fans
The inbox is thankfully free of rugby comment but there is plenty of ire remaining on the island to direct towards the likes of a certain ‘mincing mummy’s boy’ operating around Old Trafford, Liverpool, the television paymasters at Sky Sports and Setanta along with the soap operas of Stamford Bridge and White Hart Lane.
BOTH UEFA and Fifa say that the balance of doubt on offside must be given to the attacking team. So why aren’t Premier League officials following that ruling? A few weeks ago Chelsea had a goal disallowed against Blackburn which probably was a contributory factor to the departure of José Mourinho. Now Steve Bruce is saying that he is worried about this future after a legitimate Birmingham goal was ruled out. I have been saying for a long time that the officiating problem isn’t mainly with referees (although it is with some of them) but with the referee’s assistants. They simply aren’t up to scratch.
And I have been saying for an even longer time that the refusal to employ video technology effectively penalises good play when the striker’s run is timed to perfection and, coupled with the release of the pass, is simply too quick for the eye to see.
IS there anything in the new Cristiano Ronaldo biography to dissuade us from the view that he is a mincing mummy’s boy?
Always nice to hear from the Dunph.
I READ this week’s feature on the failures of the Academy training system for young players with a lot of interest. Sureit’s going to fail when ridiculously rich clubs just prefer to allow others to do the training and then take their pick from the world. The sooner Platini, Blatter and co get around to imposing their quota of home-grown players then the stronger the game, and international football between countries, will become.
ONCE again European club football is disrupted by an international break. Do fans really want this? I am pretty sure not. The international calendar needs to be reduced drastically so that supporters can see what they really like—their players playing against the top players for other teams. The whole thing is out of control, and it’s ridiculous that a major world tournament, the African Cup of Nations, should be played right in the middle of the club season.
Yes, how inconsiderate of those pesky Africans not to tailor their sporting calendar to suit the demands of their old European masters. There’s gratitude for you.
I’M an Arsenal supporter and it doesn’t worry me at all that Wenger doesn’t seem to favour English players. He’s right when he says that the qualification for a job doesn’t depend on someone’s passport. It’s his job to make Arsenal great and not worry about the prospects of an international team. And why would a Frenchman do that anyway?
ENGLISH players may have only been on the pitch for 204 minutes out of the 7,920 put into the Premier League this season by Arsenal, but it was Theo Walcott who made all the difference against Roy Keane’s Sunderland on Sunday. It was a great performance when he came on as substitute. He will come good, just like nearly all of Wenger’s signings.
Always nice to hear from Sven.
I SEE that Chelsea’s new secret weapon is not going to be David Villa. Not even Ronaldinho. Nope, the man they are recruiting is a former Israeli marine who was in charge of a terror demolition unit. He’s going to be their new fitness coach. What next? Oddjob as Director of Communications? Goldfinger as Finance Director? Dr Evil as Head of Strategy? Whatever else you think about Chelsea, you’ve got to admit they’re not dull off the field.
Did anyone ever suggest they were?(By the way, now that Chelsea are showing signs of normal service being resumed, we would like to reciprocate by giving our old friend two red cards, one of them back-dated).
WHOEVER authorised all those games taking place on a Sunday you can bet it wasn’t an Irishman. How are we supposed to get back on Sunday nights for work on Mondays with late afternoon kick-offs? My message to Sky and Setanta: football should be at 3pm on Saturdays; there should be one main Sunday game and there should be one main midweek match. ALL cup games should be on a straight knockout basis and some thought should be given to the travelling fans. Because there’s none now.
How true. I mean, eircom League games generally take place on a Friday which gives all our friends travelling from Blighty plenty of time over the weekend to get home and recover from all the excitement. Anyway, by way of acknowledging the general spirit of your righteous complaint, have our Letter of the Week prize.
WHY does anyone imagine that Martin Jol should hang onto his job? Spurs are in the relegation zone despite spending more than 55m this summer. Some of the signings have been dire (Zokora anyone?). Berbatov is clearly unhappy and it’s down to Robbie Keane that Tottenham aren’t at the very bottom of the pile. It’s now 57 games since they won away in the league to a Big Four Club.
Can’t believe that Spurs are going to struggle for much longer. The season is still in its infancy, lest we forget, and if ever there was a manager who should be allowed time to get on with the job it’s Jol.
YOU’VE got to laugh at England, lamenting the loss of Dean Ashton, Andy Johnson and Alan Smith. They’re hardly goal machines are they? What a delusional bunch the English are when it comes to their national team. At least over here we’re realistic, like.
Thanks Eoin, we all feel so much better now.
WHAT A dreadful week. Liverpool demonstrate once again that they fall short in key games (what was that Marseille performance about) and can’t put away a poor Spurs team. Worse still Jonny Wilkinson, who is surely the Harry Kewell of international rugby, gets up off his death bed to kick them into a world cup semi-final. Can things get any worse?
Oh, hello, here come the Germans
HAS Rio Ferdinand been reborn into a centre-half of international standing instead of a poser? United have now gone 10 games without conceding a goal with him in position.
A bit of credit due to Mr Vidic too, no?
IS it true that United are going to send Anderson back to Portugal on loan for the rest of the season? I thought this was an extravagant purchase at the time, and so it seems. He may have looked OK against a poor Wigan side but he was completely out of it in the Carling Cup. Looks like 20mwasted to me.
Whew. Lucky they didn’t spend big then.
LIAM, I am going to go to the Ireland against England U21 game in Cork. Are there any players that I should be watching out for from the next generation?
Plenty – Owen Garvan, Billy Clarke, Adam Rooney and Stephen Quinn among them but will it surprise you to learn that a few of us will be expecting something fitting for the big stage from a certain Mr Stokes?
Angryfans@examiner.ie
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