2009/2010 season thread.

[Adam Easy Wishes]

Stephen McManus last night - what a prick.

Good on the linesman for getting him sent off.

[Guest Gladstone]

Stephen McManus last night - what a prick.

Good on the linesman for getting him sent off.

Agreed.

I've been saying for ages that he's not worthy of the armband at Celtic and certainly not for Scotland. He's not even good. That tackle last night was completely disgraceful and he should be dropped from the squad for it. It reminds me of Neil Lennon's behaviour when we get pumped by Rangers a few seasons back. It's not the way a captain should conduct himself. If McManus was any sort of leader on the pitch, we wouldn't be so fucking crap all the time!!

Fair play to Hearts last night, they deserved the win. Fox's tackle for the penalty was just plain stupid. Hearts got a bit lucky with the penalty squirming in and Celtic hitting the woodwork a couple of times, and the fact that all our chances fell to Samaras who is just pish. But, they opened us up every time they came forward.

I couldn't quite believe how crap Samaras was last night. And to think he was thrown on to rescue the game for us.

McGeady is such a frustrating little bastard. He's so skillful and talented, but he just forgets that he has team-mates all too often. Paddy McCourt looks like a complete steal. Why he doesn't start more games, I have no idea.

Oh, and one other point. The standard of football last night was generally rubbish. There was a 15 or so minute spell in the 2nd half where both teams just kept giving each other the ball. Jesus it was bad.

[Guest Gladstone]

Something else that's been a gripe of mine for ages. Professional footballers and their bloody diving/play-acting.

I'm sure it's been spoken about many a time on here, but what a bunch of fucking fannies play the professional game.

I'm not just talking about people trying to con the ref, by diving over an outstretched leg (you know Mikolounas (sp?) style), but the absolute ridiculous ease that players go over under the slightest contact. There are loads of completely legitimate fouls, you know, definite contact, and players throw themselves to the ground just to confirm with the ref that they've been fouled. This pisses me off more than clear cut diving. There's so much of it now, that it's difficult to get a free kick without taking a dive.

And the commentators never seem to spot a dive anymore. Last night for example. McDonald took a massive dive on the edge of the box after very very minimal contact. It wasn't even convincing. The boy touched his shoulder, and he threw himself down as if both legs had been taken from underneath him. Commentators: "Definite foul on McDonald". I couldn't believe my ears or eyes. The Hearts defender got booked for it as well. I'd have happily taken it if McGeady had hit the top corner instead of the supporter in row H, but that's not the point. As for McGeady - he's a diving little bastard as well.

I might start a campaign to bring honesty back to the game. Or I might not.

[Murrr]

Something else that's been a gripe of mine for ages. Professional footballers and their bloody diving/play-acting.

I'm sure it's been spoken about many a time on here, but what a bunch of fucking fannies play the professional game.

I'm not just talking about people trying to con the ref, by diving over an outstretched leg (you know Mikolounas (sp?) style), but the absolute ridiculous ease that players go over under the slightest contact. There are loads of completely legitimate fouls, you know, definite contact, and players throw themselves to the ground just to confirm with the ref that they've been fouled. This pisses me off more than clear cut diving. There's so much of it now, that it's difficult to get a free kick without taking a dive.

And the commentators never seem to spot a dive anymore. Last night for example. McDonald took a massive dive on the edge of the box after very very minimal contact. It wasn't even convincing. The boy touched his shoulder, and he threw himself down as if both legs had been taken from underneath him. Commentators: "Definite foul on McDonald". I couldn't believe my ears or eyes. The Hearts defender got booked for it as well. I'd have happily taken it if McGeady had hit the top corner instead of the supporter in row H, but that's not the point. As for McGeady - he's a diving little bastard as well.

I might start a campaign to bring honesty back to the game. Or I might not.

I agree with you completely, and nothing's really going to change until the sport's governing bodies man-up and show a bit of backbone. I thought that the Eduardo incident was the perfect opportunity for them to put their foot down and set a precedent. They had a golden opportunity to say "we need to stamp this out of the game," and then went and decided to rescind the ban. It's completely ridiculous.

I think part of the reason why I'm enjoying the Championship these days (aside from Newcastle being there) is the fact that there's nowhere near as much play acting and cheating going on. The referees are a lot more lenient and allow the odd bone-crunching challenge here and there, whereas Premiership football is quickly becoming a non-contact sport. Alan Smith, for example, has made countless last gasp challenges this season that have been completely fair, but would have caused a foul or a card in the Premiership.

I don't have much hope of it changing any time soon, though. The Premiership is full of cheating cunts, and some of the English players are the worst culprits.

[Soda Jerk]

It's understandable that referees can't always get it right on the day, due to it happening so quickly. After the weekend, the FA chaps should sit down and review every diving accusation, assess how authentic it is, and if they see it as a dive, banned for 5 games. No appeal. It would kick players into shape to stop being cheating cunts. It's infuriating as a fan to see players go down when they could easily score. Blackburn's Gamst Pederson is one of the biggest culprits of this. If I was a Blackburn fan, I would have diverted a bus through his living room long ago. He gets into great scoring positions and takes a dive. He's a pure bastard. Then you get the Roy of the Rovers moaning at press conferences about foreigners ruining the game with play acting, and then go on to be a notorious diver themselves. I won't point fingers. I'll just say names instead. Steve Gerrard. Cunt.

Sturn, hefty bands for anyone diving really would stamp it out, as managers would come down on players like a ton of bricks. It's a massive shame if a dive can't be called during a game and it results in a penalty or a goal from a dead-ball or even a sending off the defending team, so they just have to start utlising the 4th official for this, or his role is almost becoming pointless.

[Adam Easy Wishes]

Danny Fox should've taken that free kick that McGeady skied anyway. And vice versa for the free kick a few minutes earlier that Fox curled over the wall straight down the middle.

[ca_gere]

When did players start diving? I can't remember seeing it much when I was a kid. It's gonna eventually ruin the game if they don't do something about it because a lot of players when they get in and around the penalty box actually hope for a bit of contact rather than think about getting a shot off. Surely that's bad for the game.

I posted about it before but, fuck it, i'll do it again. Marouane Chamakh in the champ's league against bayern won the game for his team solely by diving. He got two players yellow carded, who were then sent off later and won two penalties. here's the highlights: YouTube - Girondins Bordeaux - Bayern Munich 2:1- Champions league (HQ)

It's just cheating pure and simple.

[Soda Jerk]

I used to watch Football Italia on channel 4 when I was a kid, and that's where I first saw it, and it seemed to increase rapidly. Post game interviews used to suggest it was to avoid getting injured in a hard tackle. They never did explain what the arms in the air claiming for a foul meant though.

[ca_gere]

The Italians definitely were more prone to doing that 'begging' hands clasped thing to the ref trying to get another player carded, which sort of perculated into the british game with the influx of foreigners in the form of crowding the ref, etc. (that sounds daily mail-esque but it's football we're talking about so it's not racist) Di Canio, Carboni and their ilk certainly brought a lot of that kind of theatrics to Britain but out and out diving was still pretty rare even after the Football Italia era I reckon.

[Guest Gladstone]

When I was 14, my football team took a trip to Spain to play in a tournament. There were 2 German teams, 2 Russian teams (one of which was Spartak Moscow youth team and they beat us 11-0. And they all had beards), and a Spanish team.

The German 14 year old attacking players ALL knew how to dive. We had never seen it before. It was as if it was taught to them from a young age. Unbelievable.

Agree with ca_gere on the "looking for a foul" comment. Get your head down (or up, whatever) and get into a scoring position, and try and fucking score. Trying to win penalties is just pish. If someone wipes you out whilst trying to score, fair enough, take the penalty, but be pissed off you didn't get the opportunity to score the goal. Don't be pleased that you got the penalty. This cheering and hugging the player who's just won a penalty is almost as bad.

"Well done Eduardo, jolly well played that. You conned the guy into getting within an inch of you, and then went down gloriously to con the ref into thinking he fouled you. Your parents will be so proud."

Fuck off. He should have been booted in the face.

Instead of banning players for diving, it should just be allowed that the entire opposition gets to kick fuck out of them. It would toughen the fairies up for a start.

[Alan Cynic]

Diving goes back a long way...I remember Bertie Miller (ex East Fife) at the Dons in the mid 70s was a bit of an embarrassment, as he could dive from just past the half-way line and land in the opposing penalty box.

(There's also a classic photo of him coming on as a sub, when he forgot he didn't have shorts on under his tracksuit).

However the diving business has definitely got worse in the last decade or so. Now some of the players are even named 'Diver'!!!!!

[Soda Jerk]

As much I don't like Celtic, Boruc's goalkeeping was actually very clever during that Eduardo challenge, yet he was still penalised. You can see him just put his body between Eduardo and the goal, and pulls away his arms and legs, but Eduardo still falls over the Emirates Stadium wind. Surely if it was Boruc that brought him down, he'd have been red carded instantly? I don't know. Those decisions seem to go either way regardless.

Playing for fouls seems to become a part of the game now and its hard to call it cheating. Players like Ronaldo would just bomb at defenders, cut inside and almost force a foul by being far too quick. Charging at that speed has only got one outcome, and it 9 times out of 10, it's being tripped up legitimately. Obviously he'd go down easy, because he knows he can bang it in from anywhere around the box. You just wonder if pacey, weak wingers are going to be utilised for this purpose more and more. It's the game Rugby Union has turned into almost. Gaining yards, forcing errors and winning penalties. It's all a bit childlike in a "Nope, you're cheating, so I get a free kick at goal now" sort of way, and football is beginning to follow suit. The intentions are obvious when a winger darts into a space where there are 2 or 3 defenders waiting for him instead of moving into space. Players like Wright Phillips and Ronaldo practically made a living out of it last season.

Playing for a penalty when one on one with the keeper is another example. Side stepping the ball away from goal and going over his arms is an instant penalty, and it seems so even if the keeper gets a good hand to the ball now.

Players have to hold back their defending, and goalkeepers can't even come and collect the ball without running the risk of giving away a penalty. There was an article on 365 a while ago on what it would be like if they experimented with completely doing away with the penalty kick, replacing it with an indirect free kick. The attacking play in the box would be alot sharper and more focused, and defenders wouldn't have to hold back on even making well timed tackles in fear of giving away a goal. Obviously, it has more cons and pros, and quite advanatgeous to the defending side, but it's an interesting thought.

[Guest Gladstone]

As much I don't like Celtic, Boruc's goalkeeping was actually very clever during that Eduardo challenge, yet he was still penalised. You can see him just put his body between Eduardo and the goal, and pulls away his arms and legs, but Eduardo still falls over the Emirates Stadium wind. Surely if it was Boruc that brought him down, he'd have been red carded instantly? I don't know. Those decisions seem to go either way regardless.

Playing for fouls seems to become a part of the game now and its hard to call it cheating. Players like Ronaldo would just bomb at defenders, cut inside and almost force a foul by being far too quick. Charging at that speed has only got one outcome, and it 9 times out of 10, it's being tripped up legitimately. Obviously he'd go down easy, because he knows he can bang it in from anywhere around the box. You just wonder if pacey, weak wingers are going to be utilised for this purpose more and more. It's the game Rugby Union has turned into almost. Gaining yards, forcing errors and winning penalties. It's all a bit childlike in a "Nope, you're cheating, so I get a free kick at goal now" sort of way, and football is beginning to follow suit. The intentions are obvious when a winger darts into a space where there are 2 or 3 defenders waiting for him instead of moving into space. Players like Wright Phillips and Ronaldo practically made a living out of it last season.

Playing for a penalty when one on one with the keeper is another example. Side stepping the ball away from goal and going over his arms is an instant penalty, and it seems so even if the keeper gets a good hand to the ball now.

Players have to hold back their defending, and goalkeepers can't even come and collect the ball without running the risk of giving away a penalty. There was an article on 365 a while ago on what it would be like if they experimented with completely doing away with the penalty kick, replacing it with an indirect free kick. The attacking play in the box would be alot sharper and more focused, and defenders wouldn't have to hold back on even making well timed tackles in fear of giving away a goal. Obviously, it has more cons and pros, and quite advanatgeous to the defending side, but it's an interesting thought.

Just do away with fouls altogether. That would eliminate diving overnight.

Like in old Fifa games, when you could turn fouls off and karate kick players in the face. Brilliant.

[calum]

Marlon King's off to jail.

Marlon King was jailed for 18 months today after being found guilty at Southwark crown court of assaulting a woman in a nightclub and breaking her nose when she spurned his "disgusting" advances.

The 29-year-old has also been sacked by his club, Wigan, the chairman, Dave Whelan, has confirmed.

King, from Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, said he was a victim of "mistaken identity". But after hearing overwhelming evidence from a string of witnesses, including a football coach who said King was the assailant, the jury unanimously convicted him of sexually assaulting the 20-year-old and causing actual bodily harm.

The court heard that the striker, who was on loan at Hull at the time, was celebrating his wife's pregnancy and scoring a winning goal hours earlier, and had been repeatedly "cold-shouldered" by women in London's packed Soho Revue Bar last December.

When a slightly built university student shunned him, he lost his temper and in an outburst of "completely gratuitous violence" struck out, "smashing" her to the floor. His single clenched-fist blow was so powerful that two other revellers one of them holding on to his arm were also sent flying.

While bouncers moved in to restrain King, friends rushed to the aid of his victim. As she was helped to her feet, blood poured from her shattered nose, the court was told.

Marlon King jailed for 18 months after being convicted of assaulting woman | Football | guardian.co.uk

[Alkaline]

I posted about it before but, fuck it, i'll do it again. Marouane Chamakh in the champ's league against bayern won the game for his team solely by diving. He got two players yellow carded, who were then sent off later and won two penalties. here's the highlights: YouTube - Girondins Bordeaux - Bayern Munich 2:1- Champions league (HQ)

It's just cheating pure and simple.

Don't get me started on that. I was the same colour as the Bayern strip by the end of the game

[Alkaline]

Marlon King's off to jail.

Marlon King gubbins...

What a guy! He's an old hand at bird though. Maybe it was the call of the cell...

His career was nearly derailed in 2002 when he was given an eighteen month prison sentence for handling a stolen car. After an appeal, the sentence was reduced to five months and King returned to Gillingham's team within two days of his release.

[ca_gere]

Don't get me started on that. I was the same colour as the Bayern strip by the end of the game

Was unbelievable. Don't get me wrong, Bayern didn't play well enough to deserve a win but to lose in that manner was awful. Was like there were snipers in the crowd.

[Alkaline]

Was unbelievable. Don't get me wrong, Bayern didn't play well enough to deserve a win but to lose in that manner was awful. Was like there were snipers in the crowd.

I was expecting a draw at least. We wuz robbed!

[Guest Gladstone]

Stumbled upon the Wales v Scotland U16 match last night. The young lad up front for Scotland who scored the goal looks like a real prospect. He's only 14, but showed some signs of real class. I've forgotten his name, but he's signed for Celtic, born in Somalia, but been here for 9 years, and committed his future to Scotland. His finish last night was brilliant.

Couple of other decent looking players as well. There seemed to be a few Celtic youngsters, and I think the guy in the middle of the park was from Aberdeen - all looked pretty good.

Scotland are favourites to win the Victory Shield after beating Wales and N. Ireland away from home. Last match is England at home. If we win the tournament I'm going to celebrate like we've won the World Cup - England have won it for the last 8 years I think.

[Adam Easy Wishes]

Couple of other decent looking players as well. There seemed to be a few Celtic youngsters, and I think the guy in the middle of the park was from Aberdeen - all looked pretty good.

Jack Grimmer?

Total ned by all accounts (judging by his Bebo page) but supposedly destined for big things.

That said, "Scotland's Michael Owen" is doing a cracking job warming the bench at Pittodrie (and buying MacBooks in the new Apple store).

[Guest Gladstone]

Jack Grimmer?

Total ned by all accounts (judging by his Bebo page) but supposedly destined for big things.

That said, "Scotland's Michael Owen" is doing a cracking job warming the bench at Pittodrie (and buying MacBooks in the new Apple store).

That's the guy. He came onto a game in the second half. He was alongside a lad from Celtic in centre midfield who was captain (I think - wasn't 100% focussed on the game for the full 80 minutes - it was on in the background).

How is he Scotland's Michael Owen? Surely he would need to be a striker...?

[Adam Easy Wishes]

That's the guy. He came onto a game in the second half. He was alongside a lad from Celtic in centre midfield who was captain (I think - wasn't 100% focussed on the game for the full 80 minutes - it was on in the background).

How is he Scotland's Michael Owen? Surely he would need to be a striker...?

I was referring to Darren Mackie, who was also 'destined for big things'.

Grimmer was captain last night.

[Guest Gladstone]

I was referring to Darren Mackie, who was also 'destined for big things'.

Grimmer was captain last night.

Ha - right I forget anyone used to think Mackie was any good...

Grimmer was captain? That's right, I remember him handing over the armband when he came off with a minute or so to go. The sub looked right pleased getting to captain his country. There was a minute left, and he just got chucked on cos he was closest to the pitch when Grimmer hurt his knee and walked off.

Not sure who the Celtic guy was in Centre mid - he looked pretty handy too though.

I'm sure about 90% of these guys will just never be heard of again, but hopefully a couple of them at least can live up to the promise they seem to be showing. The young lad up front in particular looked really talented.

I'll see if I can find a video of his goal. Absolutely brilliant finish. We could have been doing with composure like that in front of goal against Hearts the other night...

[Guest Gladstone]

There's the highlights of Islam Feruz for Scotland last night. Calamitous defending for the goal, but the finish is cheeky as fuck. Great confidence. And a Scotland player celebrating with somersaults - doesn't get much better than that.

[Shaki]

There's the highlights of Islam Feruz for Scotland last night. Calamitous defending for the goal, but the finish is cheeky as fuck. Great confidence. And a Scotland player celebrating with somersaults - doesn't get much better than that.

He looks absolutely quality, hopefully he'll be allowed to flourish rather than have his skill and ingenuity taught out of him.

The Islamification of Scottish Football! I like it.