Very childish!!

 

Fair, enough Tom, but he started the name calling and the dis-respectful comments. Not intelligent/cohesive/well-thought-out argument i know; the only way to beat ignorance is to 'out-ignorant' your opponent.
I can do both.

 

So what have you made of Ibra? I havent been able to watch much more than Revista de La Liga this season so I havent seen us play a full game.

 

i find if you ignore the insults it usually spoils there childish fun

 

TBO i hated the idea of Barca signing Ibra. I felt that he didnt score enough goals against the top teams, which meant that decent defenders can keep him quiet.
Since he has come to the Camp Nou, i feel that he has given barca something they didnt have; he's a better header of the ball than E2; he holds the ball up better, and brings teammates into attacks better than E2.
I dont think he has the pace of sammy, but toward the end sammy was not playing for the team and it showed. Ibra IS playing for the team, and THAT shows.
Im waiting to see what he does in the classico coming up, and against the better teams in the CL (IF we get to the KO rounds lol).
I'm liking what i see at the mo; he is 1 goal behind Villa in the Pichichi, so hes made a very good start.
By the way, i wanted Barca to sign Villa instead if Ibra; time will tell.

 

I wasnt keen on Ibra either. I was a big fan of Eto, he defended from the front, but as you say he went of the boil in the last season.
But from what I have seen he is fitting in well.

 

Well i know this is a football thread but i just wanted to share i've just had my stupid injection and ouch!!!

I know bunny before you say it that i give 100 of injections to women but that is different cos i'm giving them painkillers and now my arm hurts..lol

Back to football i see Jay and Always seem to be going at it, can i just ask that we keep it friendly please.

 

awww poor r1 hope your hurting less now.

So anouther scouser pulls out the England team johnson your a discra2e.

 

Just looked at Sky to see what footie's on, and.......nadda. zilch, zip, zero!
Made me think (im 49 years old mind) how the hell did we manage 25 years or so ago when there were very few games on the TV.
You got MOD on Sat. night, nothing on Sunday, and v v few games at all.

Now, there's tonsa footie, and ive almost got withdrawal cos i cant watch a game, any game, tonite. Talk about being greedy for footie.
< I bow and prostate myself at the altar of Rupert Murdoch>

There was a viewpoint a few years back that there was too much football on and it devalued what was on. IMO thats crap. I watch all kindsa footie from all divisions; i love it so much i even watch the non-league games when they're on (strangely sometimes NL is better than watching some Serie A. NL commitment/endeavour/blood and guts/thundering tackles can be exillerating at times).

Any opinions?

Cheers

 

IMO it's about time that video refs were brought into the game at its upper levels.
Football is such big business these days that the hopes/fears/millions of pounds of investment in stadia/players etc can be at risk due to something one man makes a decision on which happens at top speed.

When you look at refs:
1. Most if not all of them have never played top class football, which gives them a disadvantage.
2. The pace of modern footballers is such that refs find it hard to keep up.
3. Events on the pitch happen in a split second and the refs are only human.

Technology works well in mostly every sport it is used in.

We could replay off the pitch in an instant any of the following:
a. whether the ball has crossed the line.
b. whether a player felled in the box was brought down or dived.
c. whether a player was in an offside position/interfering with play causing a goal to be disallowed.
d. whether a handling offence inside the box was hand to ball or vicky verky.

A video ref could be set up with the Sky tv technology and the power to review/rewind any incident and could via mic. talk to the ref on the pitch and sort out something which has been missed.

All players would be consulted and would know, if play has moved on for 10 secs. or so, then the ref blows and awards a penalty for an earlier incident, that this has been decided by the 4th official, and they would accept it.

Sorry for this being long-winded. Thanx to anyone reading it. Does any 1 have opinions?

Cheers

 

Tom, read today that St. James is to be rebranded sportsdirect.com@StJames'Park; surely this must be wrong!

I thought something like The Adidas Stadium or something of that ilk, BUT an internet addy, for chrissakes.....not on.

What do you think?

Cheers

 

You will now attract the people who will tell you it will slow the game down as they check videos but consider the time the players spend arguing with the officials over these incidents. So yes bring on the video ref, it works wonderfully in league and union, though not if it is a RFU World Cup final and the video ref is an Aussie.

 

I tend to agree with you here. Football has moved on, become such big business that the argument 'the game should be the same whether on Hackney marshes or at Wembley' is an outdated notion. I know for a lot of games I played we were lucky to get a ref, let alone a lineo that wasnt a member of each side. It works in other sports and it wont delay the game any more than the ranting and raving of players at a decission does.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNJG-FWRu80

Normally I like Celtic fans but this is a disgrace! Some Scottish fans really need to get a grip and realise that all this Catholic/Protestant jarg has no place in football.

 

Have you ever refereed a game?

Amateur football is dying from a lack of referees purely and simply because of the abuse.

I was a class 3 referee in England for a couple of seasons while playing. I would ref on Saturday and play on Sunday, I have played everything from pub football with a team of hangovers to UAU football.

The pitches in the UK are a disgrace, here in Holland they cancell the program if there is heavy rain before the game, as a result it promotes ball skills and passing and not heavy tackles (because you will slide further).

I was once reffing a game in the Heywood and District League. Heywood was one of the roughest towns I know (Caerphilly would come a close second). The left back for one of the teams was a thug now luckily I am big and the trick of being a ref is to make a decision and stick to it (right or wrong is matter of hindsight). I could see that this guy was going to break someone's leg eventually.

We made it to half time and I had a quiet word with the coach of the thug and explained to him that his next offence I would send him off for the sake of protecting the winger. The coach acknowledged the point, explained to me that the guys wife had just left him and sure enough he did not come out for the second half. Common sense prevailed, now I am almost 2 metres tall so I did not get much shit while reffing but it is difficult being a small ref.

The referees job is the most difficult on the field and the sooner players and managers are more severely reprimanded for abusing them then the sooner the game will improve.

Diving - I once read an article by Jose Mourinho, it was a translation of an interview with a Portuguese football magazine. He was asked about the difference between English football and Southern European football. He cited instances of diving to get a penalty. He said that in Spain or Italy if a player takes a dive in the penalty area and gets a penalty he is considered clever, cunning and understands the game. He said in England if a player does that he is considered a cheat - enough said on that.

Being a referee did affect the way I played football, if I deliberately had to drop a player (usually because he was too fast) I would make sure I did it before he reached the penalty area. Defending in the penalty area you just make sure you stay on your feet and force the attacker onto his weaker foot.

I have played amateur football to a reasonable level in the UK, France and Holland (there were always one or two players in the team being paid but I was never one of them) and the main difference between the three is the state of the pitches. You cannot play a good passing game on a quagmire.

I disagree about technology except for a). Respect for the ref and respect for the game will take care of the rest. Fines for breaches of the rules should be means tested. What is the point fining a player five grand when he is earning 60+ grand a week.

I believe the game has to be the same at all levels.

Thinskin

 

I agree refs need to be protected from the gang mentality of players who will surround him when he makes a decision against them. I often wish the FA would take the lead of the RFU; the only player allowed to speak to the ref is the skipper, infringe this law and recieve a 10 metre penalty. Now imagine a free kick on the halfway line, 3 or 4 mouthy players will bring that into striking distance, it wouldn't take long before the managers would instruct players to be quiet.

 

Wow as much as it pains me here, i do actually agree with you.
I think it would be a very good idea then football can get back to the game it use to be; were players couldn't get away with pretending to fall and diving at every giving opportunity.

I know that probably sounds rich coming from a Liverpool supporter after what Ngog did but i hate what the game is becoming, diving for penaltys and free kicks and i believe Ngog was completely out of order and should actually be punished for that. Again thou that means you would have to punish all the others who are guilty of this, and lets face it, that would be a very long list.

So i say yes bring it on, will def stomp out this crap. However do you honestly see even the refs going for it.
Football is about power now and the ref is the most powerful person on that pitch, can you really see him giving it up to someone with a tv behind the scenes??

 

Thanks bunny getting there.

How come he's pulled out?? Is it injury again?

 

i take back some previous comments regarding JJD. it seems you do have your moments. yes we should have been in video land for a while now. thing is though strangely it still wont fully sort everything.

i like the referee assumed N'gog was brought down and it was a penalty on first sight.
then after a few replays oh my god he conned the ref!!!

and then after considering the situation and putting myself in his position i would have to say unless you are actually N'Gog you really dont know if thats just what happened or if he is already an accomplished actor. i personally now think that the best decision for what actually happened was a corner for Liverpool and a yellow card for Carsley. N'Gog is not a cheat so all those that are ready to daub him with the same crap as those who cheat week in week out, get over it, shit happens and referees make mistakes. my point is that even with video evidence a large percentage of people would watch back and brand N'gog a cheat just because the marauding defender didnt actually touch him and because he ended up face down. Of course we all know that if a fast and fat unidentified object comes flying in at you from a side angle out of the blue and you somehow manage to jump out of the way of what could well break both your legs you will of course never actually fall down because it doesnt actually hit you????!??!?!!?!?!? get a freakin grip. anyone who disagrees can play N'gog and i will play the Carsley part and we will see what happens shall we? any takers?
oh and i will have to go in really hard coz im not as fat and carrying all that extra weight Carsley has so i guess i will need to start running from about 100 feet away before i launch myself at you off the ground to mimic his effect.
cheeky wee bastard even jumped on the bandwagon thinking he had done nothing wrong and they were all hard done by as if a beach had just scored against them. Carsley actually uttered some tripe about being ashamed to go home to his family if he had done something like N'gog. Well David dont let that bother you one bit coz you can see on that pricks face he has other more worrying things he should be ashamed to go home to his family about!

anyway, the beach ball pissed me off and now the N'Gog battering is pissing me off too, sorry for digressing

what i was gonna say was it will be really difficult for the powers that be to say yes to video. lets face it there is no reason to not say yes. well there is. tell me im wrong and tell me that the powers that be do not fix situations that suit them with the knowledge that they cant be overturned while video technology remains unaccepted by those who need that to remain so. i.e. certain officials wont be able to ensure bets come in and certain officials wont be able to assure certain people that regardless of what happens it can be fixed as they give their word. and when they give their word well it just has to be so doesnt it you bunch of cheating jerk offs and brown nosed bastards. how fucking dare you act so selfishly foolish with the beautiful game. arrogant stuck up pricks the lot of you.

so, yes JJD you made a good proposal but one so many people have made for so long with no good reason against accepting it other than that classic by the French senile old fool. he actually said we are better off without it coz he want to preserve the game as it always has been and at the end of the day we love the controversy that crops up without the use of video and we wouldnt have that. what a complete idiot! no we wouldnt have beach balls fucking scoring premiership (not under 15s schoolboy football in glasgow but PREMIERSHIP) goals and we wont have to watch some disgraceful antics by some dishonourable types who dont care that they dont deserve to win as long as they win. ok i better shut up, im getting well fucked off now

 

for the record, N'Gog did not cheat! the referee made a mistake and what i would have liked to see was him telling the ref he didnt actually make contact with him. By the rules of the game it was a corner for Liverpool and a caution if not a yellow for Carsley for wreckless endangerment!!! N'Gog got out of the way and ALLOWED Carsley to make contact with the ball by doing so. That prick Carsley should be sending apologies to N'Gog for being a complete cock and thanking him for doing what he did!