I can empathise with Aston Villa following their defeat against Chelsea yesterday. These big games can be swung by the big decisions and yesterday Howard Webb, England's World Cup referee, choked for the umpteenth time this season. Firstly a clear penalty was denied as Mikel took Agbonlahor down in the box, secondly John Terry got away with a horrendous reckless lunge on James Milner in the second half.
Webb is a joke, he gets the big decisions wrong, he doesn't have the courage to make the big calls, he also doesn't seem able to enforce any kind of discipline on the football field. Webb is not alone in this, in the Premiership these days a good refereeing performance is very much the exception to the rule. Remember it was Webb who failed to punish Craig Gardner for his truly agricultural challenge on Cesc recently, his run of bad form this season has affected so many teams up and down the country.
If Webb cannot give a red card for such a shocking straight legged lunge at mid calf height which is done right in front of him, then what hope is there for Webb and refereeing in general in this country? As Martin O'Neill says, it is just luck that has saved James Milner from a long spell on the sidelines, this tackle from Terry was an utter disgrace and how he stayed on the pitch is simply beyond belief. Terry seems to get away with tackles like this week in week out, this is a very sad indictment on the way in which violence and intimidation can prosper in the English game. Webb also missed countless cynical fouls during the game from the likes of Deco and Mikel, if a referee does not get his cards out for the cynical filth then it just gives cheats a license to prosper.
Anyway today sees another FA Cup Semi and Manu travel to Blackburn, a couple of big important fixtures. JET scored another cracker for Doncaster as they slipped to a 3-2 defeat to the Baggies, a few other Arsenal loanees were in action, unfortunately Kyle Bartley has not been starting recently for Sheffield United. Big Sol has had some interesting things to say post Barca and it seems that he may be trying to motivate the troops. Sol has a good point, we do need to look at ourselves and realise that we will win nothing unless we put in the work every single week of the season, there is no room for complacency or anything less than one hundred percent as the end to the season draws near. Talent can only get you so far, complete dedication and commitment are often the most vital ingredients of all.
13 comments:
Just fast forward to the World Cup. if Terry made that sort of tackle then he would have a Red card, England down to 10 men, we all know the scenario. Capello have some very strong words with him. It was brainless and on an English team mate. I sometimes dispair. I seriously dont think he should be in the England team any more he is off his best, and is pretty stupid.
It's a sad indictment of English football that we have clods playing "typical English football" - which hasn't won shit since 1966.
What's worse is that the Premiership referees allow this kind of mindless thuggery, and when Premiership players take it into Europe they are screwed (ask Rafael) - Non-English referees won't tolerate this gamesmanship.
So we'll have Webb as our representative at the world cup, and he'll be terrified to punish a bad tackle from a top team, and then we'll have our useless thugs running around chasing shadows because they have no idea how to tackle properly and safely.
Anyone who thinks England can win the World cup needs their head examined.
Howard webb(of lies?)is a biased cunt. as you list above he cost aston villa this game. in the arsenal birmingham game he was also heavily biased in favour of birm. He did so ver carefully and covertly by booking clichy and song within twenty minutes of the game just to show arsenal who was the boss. yet ignored the many over the top challenges by birmingham until the last twenty minutes when he strted booking their players( he obviously new birmingham could hold out by them) and with every minute then, chances of second bookings were diminished. DDONT FOR A MINUTE THINK HE IS DOING WHAT HE DOES THRU GENUINE FAILURE, THE GUY SHOWS BIASE, MAYBE SOMEBODY PAYS FOR HIS EFFORTS AND THATS WHY HE ISNT ASHAMED OF HIMSELF.
I have to agree with everything you say and I actually hope that England get knocked out of the World Cup early, as I would hate to see this kind of football get an endorsement by winning a major trophy. Did you also notice Townsend's comments? He said that, if the ball is bouncing, you have to "lunge in with your studs up".What? So, it is OK to smash up someone's legs, as long as the ball is bouncing? He also tried to excuse Terry by suggesting he got a slice of the ball. So what? When he made contact with Milner, the ball was a metre or so away and a faint touch of the ball does not excuse dangerous tacking. To his credit, the other commentator did point out that the excessive force used by Terry rendered any touch of the ball as irrelevant.
PS: I have nothing but contempt for Howard Webb. Arsenal are not included in his list of big teams who must get the big decisions, so he has cost us countless goals and points over the years.
listen to those commentators.. yours is a culture of football thugs, and while you have commentators like that, who judge a tackle by the nationality of the one that makes it this league will continue to have these horrible legbreaking injuries and more injured players than the other leagues.. Terry should´ve been red carded just like Scholes has made a 100 of those tackles and Gerrard also
terry is a fuckin disgraceful english thug!! and the worst part is all the fuckin chavs applaud his behaviour!! fuckin unbelievable!!
Ooh to, ooh to see, ooh to see Terry get a red card for a vicious tackle (or Rooney for a dive) on June 12. Especially since a U.S. win would mean we wouldn't get slaughtered by the "typical Germans" in the first knockout round.
Thank you Blackburn. Hang on Pompey, Pompey hang on!
The tackle is horrendous, the ref's decision is awful.
But what puts me off the most is the whinging by "Jay Tee" when being carded. Imbecile.
what pisses me off is the comemtators saying its natural to go in studs up !!! there was no neeed to slide tackle for that balll milner had his back to goal and was a good bit out ! john terry lunged in eyes focused on milners legs absolutly reckless could have broken his legs
So Coward Webb continues in his determination to show the world just how deeply, stupidly INCOMPETENT England's best referee is (that's the judgment of FIFA). That tackle is horrendous but it's typical Terry, who can get away with cynical cheating, intimidating referees, rugby tackles and thuggery at will. And the pundits will still love him because he's got all that English grit and passion.
Meanwhile, another incident happened on Saturday, exposing (for the zillionth time) the falsehood of a tried and true English/British myth: Paul Scholes is a true gentleman on the pitch, spotless in his soul, incapable of any hint of perfidy or cheating or thuggery.
Against Blackburn, desperate to get a goal in the 92nd minute, Saint Scholes blatantly, clearly, deliberately, pathetically DIVED.
The commentators refused to acknowledge this because you simply can't ever say anything bad about Saint Scholes. But it was obvious for everyone to see, since they replayed it a couple of times (which is surprising in itself).
amen. great article.
rahul
I wonder: If, this time, it is not Rooney but Terry who does something stupid that gets England knocked out of the World Cup, will the English media finally come down on him like a ton of bricks? And start treating him like the pezza de merda that he is?
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