Angry Fans
This week’s contributions from readers include Liam’s love of refs; Lampard and Drogba for United; Liverpool’s victim mentality; respect for refs; Makelele jokes; more on Drogba; More Irish for Arsenal; Fulham cliché; Derby silly headgear; Kevin Keegan and Roy Keane; English style needed..
goes to Sean O’Driscoll from Tipperary. Let’s have postal address and we’ll send on the prize
YOU’RE A big defender of referees, Liam. Let’s hear what you have to say about Steve Bennett on Sunday, and Mike Riley last Wednesday?
TWO things Manchester Utd lack, a top-class and energetic goalscoring central midfielder, and a world-class lead striker. I hear Lampard and Drogbamay be available this summer. Would they improve the Old Trafford squad? You’d better believe it. Go for them Fergie.
YOU’VE got to laugh at the Scousers. According to the phone-ins and the Internet the reason Mascherano was sent off at Old Trafford was because Steve Bennett wasn’t decisive in sending off Ashley Cole on Wednesday when he was fourth official at White Hart Lane. Liverpool won’t win anything while they preserve this "victim" mentality. And where were the powers of Steve Gerrard’s captaincy when he failed to warn the Argentinean off from further antagonising the referee. Mascherano ran 25 yards to give his opinion while he was already on a yellow. He shrugged off Xavi Alonso along the way. Asking for trouble or what?
CAN someone explain to me how what Mascherano did was any worse than the many occasions that referees have been mobbed by Lampard, Terry and Cashly Cole this season without any cards being handed out. Respect for referees? Well, there would be some if they were ever consistent. They blow in whatever direction the media wind directs.
WELL done Steve Bennett for ruining one of the most important games of the season so that you could suck up to your bosses. Supporters and viewers want to see 11 play 11, not some referee exercising his whim du jour. I hope Sky, who have been running a hysterical campaign about player dissent since Wednesday, are well pleased that they have let Chelsea back into the race.
Yes, blame Sky, blame the ref but don’t, under any circumstances blame Mascherano for behaving like a plonker. Here’s what I think: short of serious misdemeanours, refs should do all in their power to keep games 11 v 11. On Sunday, since the incident occurred so close to half-time, Steve Bennett could have kept his second yellow card in his pocket and, if need be, told Steven Gerrard on the way off to have a word with Mascherano during the break, emphasising that if the player kept giving him lip he would walk. That said, I have no sympathy for Macheranoultimately, he was the architect of his own downfall. Just as Manchester United not Sky, not the ref, not even Mascherano were the architects of Liverpool’s.
IT MAY not have been as impressive as Roy Keane’s rant in the Highbury tunnel against Patrick Vieira, but I enjoyed the sight of Claude Makelele cracking jokes in an attempt to crack a smile from the stern-faced William Gallas, his international team-mate. There’s more than one way to skin a cat. Psychologically, I mean. Makelele . . . he’ll be a loss to the Premier League when he retires. Top player, and he’s got that thing that pundits love . . . he plays with a smile on his face!
JUST how many times are Arsenal going to let Drogba outmuscle them in big games? And Senderos wasn’t even playing this time. Drogba is as big a nuisance to North London as Ian Wright used to be for West London. Strange how things come round and go round.
GOOD job that Chelsea’s players don’t know that Avram Grant is trying to make Chelsea more entertaining. Otherwise they wouldn’t be playing that quick long ball to Drogba, Kalou, Joe Cole and Anelka which beat Arsenal on Sunday. Drogba is the best target man in the world. Only an idiot would not play to that strength.
GLAD Chelsea won it. Hopefully foreign Arsenal won’t win anything. They no longer have any British, or Irish, identity despite the involvement at management level of Pat Rice and Liam Brady. Their fans may sing "you need more foreigners" but, fact is, they need more Irish and British.
ARSENAL are on their worst run of form for nearly 10 years. Crap timing Arsène. That 4-0 defeat at Old Trafford in the cup doesn’t look so easy to brush off now, does it? Milan aside, they have played poorly since then. Losing is never a good idea, no matter what the competition.
OUR SHOUT:
I have now decided that I want Arsenal to win the Champions’ League if only to see if we hear from Finbarr O’ Toole on the morning after. Finbarr, have the red card which, showing typical refereeing inconsistency, I forgot to give to Cork Blue this week. Even if Arsenal do end up with the cupboard bare, they will still have illuminated the Premiership this season by not compromising their style. Speaking of which...
FULHAM haven’t won away from home since September 2006, so it’s really good to hear Roy Hodgson say that they "won’t compromise their style." What’s that noise in the background? It’s a wake-up call. See you in the Championship Roy.
IS IT me, or does Roy Hodgson sound like the kind of man who might have appeared in an Ealing comedy, playing the part of a chipper cockney? Practically every word he utters is a cliché. Fulham are doomed.
Has nobody got anything good to say about poor old Fulham and their nasal gaffer. Ah well, at least they are the club who produced the best-ever fanzine name: ‘There’s Only One F In Fulham’.
LIAM – can you explain to me what it is about Derby and silly headgear. I talk about Dean Leacock and that black, gangstastyle bandana, he wears week in, week out. The last time Derby were relegated they had Taribo West playing with green ribbons in his hair. With a record for defending as bad as theirs, you think they’d keep their heads down.
Decisive role of fashion in the relegation zone, eh? For bringing this crucial, under-explored phenomenon to our attention, have our Letter Of The Week. (Now seek professional help ).
AFTER the weekend I’ve got to say it would be a real shame to see either Kevin Keegan or Roy Keane relegated from the Premier League. Who would they be replaced by? Tony Pulis? Adrian Boothroyd? Gary Johnson? Of the top six clubs not one of the coaches would enhance the top league with either their tactical nous, or their personality. Not one of those teams will survive a season at the highest level.
Late charge from Palace and Neil Warnock, ahoy!
DID Kevin Keegan really say on TVon Saturday "MichaelOwen can play anywhere?" Let’s see him play holding midfielder Kev, that will be a laugh.
OUR SHOUT:
Don’t tempt him!
WE have seen some great football in the Champions League over the last two decades, most of it coming from the big European clubs like Ajax, Milan, Madrid and Barcelona. Now that the top English sides are dominating, it’s up to them to turn on the style. Arsenal look up to the task even if they do lack a bit of magic, as for United Liam, do they really deserve their reputation for being one of the great entertainers of European football? I don’t think so, and then, of course, there is Chelsea and Liverpool, who seem destined to meet each other in the semi-final. If so, they should skip the 180 minutes of stifling football and instead have a penalty shoot out in a neutral venue.
Thank the lord for Schalke O4 then, eh?
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