Marshy
Well-known member
If CMS does not play then Buckley has too, and Vice Versa or we have no pace.
Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊
Just back from the Blackburn game [Merged]
- Thread starter The Merry Prankster
- Start date
- Jul 7, 2003
- 48,684
I don't enjoy saying this at all, but "simulation" is a horrendous, FIFA-inspired word to allow players to be picked up for cheating without actually having to upset their delicate egos by directly calling them cheats or divers.
I'm not going to defend the three players already mentioned by saying they were guilty of "simulation"- after all, if they were opponents we would be livid (or LIVED, if you're Colin Kazim-Richards) at their actions.
It's cheating, lads, whoever you play for, and I don't want to see my team doing it. Please stop it, stop it now.
- Jul 7, 2003
- 48,684
Oh, by the way, on the added time front, I was expecting loads, because Blackburn were trying everything to slow the game from about sixty minutes onwards. Five minutes was no surprise at all. Off the top of my head, I can think of at least two occasions when their keeper took the piss, for example one when the ball was lobbed straight back to him after a free kick had been given for a foul (or offside) in the box. He could have caught it but he moved his hands away from the ball so it went straight past him and into the crowd. Whereby he meandered off to get it, before placing it down delicately in the six yard box, spinning it round to get the sponsor's logo on top, checking the turf for dust and microbes, stamping down the turf again, looking up, stepping back, pointing a bit, shouting at his players, mopping his brow, waving to the referee who was suggesting he might want to get on with it, adjusting his sock, tightening his laces, phoning his stockbroker to check on the price of oil & gas, setting the Sky+ recorder for the Capital One Cup highlights via his iPhone, pulling his shorts up, straightening his gloves, calling the wife to put dinner on, and then hoofing it sixty yards upfield.
Kazim-Richards also sneakily booted it away a couple of times when we had free kicks. Bad luck, son
Kazim-Richards also sneakily booted it away a couple of times when we had free kicks. Bad luck, son
Garage_Doors
Originally the Swankers
Nope not getting it, Can't fathom why it is "important" we have more home supporters at the amex.
Why is it "important"
Agreed. I wasn't there last night but I've been saying this for a while. Some of our antics are utterly shameful and someone needs to have a long, hard word with the chief culprits. We really are in no position to criticise the theatrics of opposition players as long as ours are doing similar.
Still, I imagine getting in an Argentinian who has largely played in Spain will show the others how a real man plays the game. Oh...
keaton
Big heart, hot blood and balls. Big balls
- Nov 18, 2004
- 10,201
Thing is though, what harm does having a bad reputation do?
Diouf has an appalling reputation generally and where diving's concerned but at the Amex he was allowed to shout at the ref and got about four or five of the softest free-kicks i've ever seen.
Diouf has an appalling reputation generally and where diving's concerned but at the Amex he was allowed to shout at the ref and got about four or five of the softest free-kicks i've ever seen.
- Jul 7, 2003
- 48,684
There have been occasional incidents in the past, notably Spanish Dave's amateur dramatics vs Ameobi, but last night really did make me feel embarrassed at times. It's almost understandable (but not excusable) with the Spanish players due to the prevailing culture of diving within the Spanish game, but El Abd? For crying out loud, Adam, have a look at yourself. Shameless.
I think it's catching, as Blackburn, particularly Morten Gamst Pedersen and Kazim-Richards, were at it too. Contributed towards a quite awful game of football. The referee had a tough time with so many players trying to pull the wool over his eyes.
- Jul 7, 2003
- 48,684
Ask Brendan Rodgers & Luis Suarez.
keaton
Big heart, hot blood and balls. Big balls
- Nov 18, 2004
- 10,201
He's a bit bigger than one of our players though and he gets away with awful challenges and dives despite his reputation
- Jul 7, 2003
- 48,684
OK, regardless of reputation then, I don't WANT to watch our players cheat. It pisses me the hell off when opponents do it, so it's morally wrong to excuse it when our players do.
I'm fed up with the way cheating has crept into the game and become seemingly acceptable, the way that even seasoned TV commentators justify every pathetic swan dive with a "well to be fair to the lad, there was contact" even if that contact consists of a couple of atoms on each player's sock brushing against each other.
A man on the street would be laughed out of town if he reacted to any form of physical force like your average footballer does. We used to laugh at Continental football & their nefarious theatrical ways: now we're not far behind them and accepting that sort of conduct as the standard.
What, Suarez, the one who keeps banging them in for fun every week? Yeah, bad reputation is terrible isn't it.
As ever Edna speaks for many of us. El Abd is not becoming an embarrassment he is one. Not just the rolling around but the elbowing, shirt pulling . Please stop.
I'm slightly more forgiving when a player makes the most of contact, but NOT when it's blatant diving.
The act of trying to get a player sent off is deplorable. I still haven't fully forgiven El Abd for trying to get Neil Fatty Mellor sent off at Hillsborough a couple of seasons ago. A light push in the chest and Adam went down clutching his face like he'd been punched by one or both of the Klitschko brothers. The less said about Spanish Dave's triple salcho with pike, the better.
The act of trying to get a player sent off is deplorable. I still haven't fully forgiven El Abd for trying to get Neil Fatty Mellor sent off at Hillsborough a couple of seasons ago. A light push in the chest and Adam went down clutching his face like he'd been punched by one or both of the Klitschko brothers. The less said about Spanish Dave's triple salcho with pike, the better.
- Jul 7, 2003
- 48,684
The point you're choosing to miss is not that he's scoring goals: nobody would dispute that he's an extraordinarily talented player, if a pretty despicable individual on the pitch at least.
The actual point is that he's gone to ground dozens of times in the penalty box this season and until the other week I think, Liverpool had not been awarded a single penalty. By sheer statistical probability, a few of those times Suarez was going down were probably fouls, and penalties may well have been given if it were most other players, however referees must have a doubt in the back of their mind because they know he's a serial diver and cheat, and therefore give the defender the benefit of the doubt.
mune ni kamome
Well-known member
Spanish flair has always come with a price I'm afraid. We've been cringing and hand-wringing about simulation since the 70's when it comes to continental and South American players
- Jul 7, 2003
- 48,684
What's El Abd's excuse?
Apparently the penalty that was given against him was a bit soft, according to various Blackburn fans, but he could easily have had ones awarded against him for other challenges, so it's swings & roundabouts.
mune ni kamome
Well-known member
Half Egyptian?
Hate to criticise him because he's sweated blood for us but with the best will in the world he's reached the limit of his ability now even with Gus's extra tuition. At one stage he was struggling to make an impression even in League one. I don't want to remember him for the wrestling after such sterling service over the years.
- Jul 7, 2003
- 48,684
Nor do I, after an erratic start to his Albion career, he'd developed into arguably our best defender.
I cannot ever see him (or Greer, for that matter) in the Premier League, however, and the longer this season goes on, the more it becomes apparent to me at least that we're at least one classy centre half short of being real contenders. I want to get behind El Abd, and the occasional winding up of attackers doesn't really bother me (indeed, it's often funny), but he's looked more of a liability lately, both for his lack of pace and his wrestling skills, while the play acting completely lets him down.
about the same as they get at home then
- Jul 7, 2003
- 48,684
To be fair, Rovers have never been a big club, with the exception of brief periods in the late 19th and 20th centuries, they've been largely mediocre. They were usually around our level in the early 1980s, and their crowds then weren't dissimilar, until rocketing as a result of Jack Walker and his money winning the 1995 (?) title.
They've been dire in recent seasons, performances have been rubbish, it seems to be a bit of a fiasco behind the scenes, so you can't blame a few people for not bothering. Although the Burnley fan who joined us in the away end last night was quite confident the "boycott" that's apparently going on until Venky's disappear is no such thing, rather Rovers fans who just can't be arsed any more. Even though they have £200 season tickets.
As an aside from that, I don't think I've ever encountered such abuse leaving a ground as I did last night. I totally that they were pissed off with the result, but I and the three other occupants of my car were wandering back to our car feeling a tad guilty for mugging their team. The second we were identified by a number of locals as Albion fans, it was all "faggots", "f*cking queers", "We hate f*cking gays in Blackburn", as well as some gratuitous and mildly threatening racial abuse that for a couple of reasons I won't go into.
We have our fair share of tools following this club, sure, but I can't ever recall walking out of the Amex and hearing that kind of thing from so many people (even at Palace). Birmingham on Saturday, I can't speak highly enough of: the staff, stewards and fans I spoke to were all welcoming and helpful, hell even the servers in the local McDonalds were friendly and chatty (this was before the game so it wasn't because were gleeful at stealing a point). Blackburn, on the other hand, seems to be a haven of misery, and the only cheery Lancastrian I spoke to all night was the Burnley fan. Weird.