2012

Post #1 » by **5DOM** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 12:43 pm

Continuation of viewtopic.php?f=266&t=1186972&start=1485

MitchellUK · Post #2 » by **MitchellUK** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 1:11 pm

Gareth Bale is upset by being labelled a diver, claims he is being victimised and has been booked three times this year for no reason. If he didn't go down with zero contact (or with the amount of contact that wouldn't knock my two year old off his feet) it wouldn't happen.

I can't believe he's trying to defend himself. He must know that number of videos and gifs that are out there that clearly show him diving.

Post #3 » by **5DOM** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 1:34 pm

**** what an awful start

Post #4 » by **5DOM** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 2:14 pm

Thank God. Lamps 1-1

Ramires has woken up

but Hazard's gone to sleep instead. Azpi needs more help with Anichebe. Physically outmatched

J-Mezzy · Post #5 » by **J-Mezzy** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 2:24 pm

Is it me or has Hazard's form dropped off significantly since his blazing start of the season?

Post #6 » by **5DOM** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 2:31 pm

J-Mezzy wrote:Is it me or has Hazard's form dropped off significantly since his blazing start of the season?

It did for like a month when the whole team was going through the annual November slump, but he's been magnificent in last few matches. The thing I love about him is that because of his explosiveness he can create some very good chances even when his overall play is poor.

Post #7 » by **5DOM** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 2:32 pm

Sky: Demba Ba's meeting Chelsea tonight to discuss terms. YESSSSS

Turnbull replaces injured Cech. We lost

J-Mezzy · Post #8 » by **J-Mezzy** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 2:38 pm

5DOM wrote:Sky: Demba Ba's meeting Chelsea tonight to discuss terms. YESSSSS

Turnbull replaces injured Cech. We lost

NOOOO. What about Falcao? Would they still consider him in the summer?

Post #9 » by **5DOM** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:02 pm

LAMPSSS

Post #10 » by **5DOM** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:21 pm

Torres you piece of ****.

Good thing we know how to park the bus

J-Mezzy · Post #11 » by **J-Mezzy** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:34 pm

So no more Falcao to Chelsea?

Post #12 » by **5DOM** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:39 pm

I think Roman will still go after him in the summer. Ba at 7.5M is a great value even with his injury concerns, but he's not the glamorous signing that Falcao could be. Roman usually gets the striker he wants, and he clearly wants Falcao. He just needs to buy at the right time and price.

Post #13 » by **5DOM** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 4:11 pm

What a goal by Suarez

J-Mezzy · Post #14 » by **J-Mezzy** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 5:40 pm

5DOM wrote:I think Roman will still go after him in the summer. Ba at 7.5M is a great value even with his injury concerns, but he's not the glamorous signing that Falcao could be. Roman usually gets the striker he wants, and he clearly wants Falcao. He just needs to buy at the right time and price.

Ok good. That's my transfer window wish this summer.

Post #15 » by **Baphomet** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 12:55 am

MitchellUK wrote:Gareth Bale is upset by being labelled a diver, claims he is being victimised and has been booked three times this year for no reason. If he didn't go down with zero contact (or with the amount of contact that wouldn't knock my two year old off his feet) it wouldn't happen.

I can't believe he's trying to defend himself. He must know that number of videos and gifs that are out there that clearly show him diving.

I won't defend diving, but he is definitely being made an example of. Gareth Bale's a high profile player and the referees are coming down hard on him to show that they're doing something about cheating. I won't deny that Bale has committed some egregious dives and he probably deserves the suspension as 'karma' for lack of a better term, but it's not like this is a new thing in premier league football. Bale's antics are no worse than Ashley Young, Suarez, Drogba, Torres, Nani, Balotelli, Ronaldo, etc. from seasons past. Out of those, Bale and Suarez have received by far the most flack, and even though he's one of the worst culprits, I don't think even Suarez would have been under as much scrutiny for his diving were it not for the Evra race incident.

I mentioned a lot of mostly great players there, but they had comparitively little media attention for diving because the FA's stricter clampdown on cheating seems to kind of be a recent thing (probably to take the attention off the increased number of race controversies), as demonstrated by the increasing amount of yellow cards given for diving in the past two seasons, despite the fact that diving has always been widespread to a large degree in the last 10+ years.

Nobody cares if Seb Larsson, Nikica Jelavic or Junior Hoilett dive repeatedly (which they do, look up some of Larsson's dives especially) because coming down hard on those players wouldn't be nearly as effective in pushing the FA's current anti-cheating crusade because they aren't as high profile names as Bale. In that sense, I agree that he's being victimised.

It's a good idea in principle to start punishing dives more severely, but there has to be greater consistency. If Bale is the start of a trend in harsher punishment for dives, then I'm all in favour of it, even though he's one of my favourite players.

Post #16 » by **5DOM** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 2:32 am

I'm sorry but the scrutiny Bale's been under is minimal compared to what the foreign players have/had been under. It's unfortunate because Bale's easily the worst diver in recent memory - far worse than most players you mentioned except Suarez who comes close (Ashley Young was pretty bad and was under immense scrutiny after he moved to the biggest club in the country, but even he improved after Ferguson warned him). When Bale dived right in front of Guzan earlier this season, how did the media react? They just laughed it off. What do they do when they see Suarez dive? Absolutely murder him.

Bale isn't the start of the trend in harsher punishment for dives. He just dives more than others and sometimes the calls don't go his way.

That said, I am all for the referees making the right calls uninfluenced by the players' reputation.

Post #17 » by **Baphomet** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 8:25 am

Suarez does get destroyed by the media, but in all fairness I feel like that's because he has a terrible track record of doing scummy things even if you discount his diving; biting Otman Bakkal during his Ajax days, intentional handball to prevent a goal against Ghana during WC 2010, Evra racism row, etc. I'm sure those things play into pundits minds when they're ripping him for every little thing he does.

I can only really hope Bale will just learn his lesson and stop doing it so much, at this point. It distracts people from the wonderful football he's been playing of late.

_SRV_ · Post #18 » by **_SRV_** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 11:11 am

I like Suarez, I think he's underrated, the heat he's getting isn't fair, any player should've commited that hand ball, I don't get why people claim it's scummy, it's like a goalie tackling the attacking player before scoring, it's not like he got away with it.
The Evra incident isn't clear cut, many people claim it wasn't racist comment.
I didn't follow him in his dutch career, but many players are divers, they don't get the reputation Suarez gets, Busquets for example did far worse things (The Motta red card against Inter).

Ong_dynasty · Post #19 » by **Ong_dynasty** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 11:13 am

^^
Can I just say i like seeing a player like walcott (even if i am an arsenal fan), who plays till the whistle and gets rewarded for it.
Diving is so bad nowadays that players naturally stop, so its great to see Walcott (he has done now against chelsea and newcastle) who just continue on and catch the defenders off.

_SRV_ · Post #20 » by **_SRV_** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 11:19 am

I'm against diving and I'm for referees not giving the benefit of the doubt for known divers, but Suarez's reputation goes beyond diving.