Ben Arfa

[ChezGiven 0]

Re-enacting the scene out of Zoolander with a ex-punk turned breakdancer from North Shields.

[Kevin S. Assilleekunt 1]

you know you're getting old when you can't even muck about without suffering crippling injuries

[ChezGiven 0]

Grabbed my right foot with my left hand and then tried to skip the left leg through the gap. Faceplanted.

[Guest alex]

Known as a burn out, back in the day. How he's known now as well.

[Park Life 70]

White people are boring unless they have a touch of racism in them. Bit like going abroad and talking loudly instead of taking a phrasebook.

[Guest alex]

Parky trying to claim he's interesting.

[ewerk 26319]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/...io-Capello.html

 

Just like Hatem Ben Arfa's leg, rules are not meant to be broken

 

At least nobody claimed Nigel de Jong was 'not that sort of player', after the tackle that may have ended Hatem Ben Arfa's season. Brian Kidd, the Manchester City assistant manager, came closest to it, saying De Jong was as 'honest as the day is long'. Maybe he weekends in Reykjavik this time of year.

 

As we know from the World Cup, De Jong is exactly that sort of player. That is why Bert van Marwijk, coach of Holland and clearly still feeling pangs of guilt in the aftermath of the dirtiest World Cup final in recent memory, has now dropped him. He said De Jong needlessly pushes the limit, although he could equally have been generalising about the game in England.

Nigel De Jong

 

Shocking: Nigel De Jong's challenge on Newcastle's Hatem Ben Arfa

 

We play a version of the rules over here. Roberto Mancini, De Jong's manager at Manchester City, said as much when we talked in his office two weeks ago. He said the referee never whistles in England.

 

Fabio Capello used the same phrase to describe the Premier League during his first year as national manager. Maybe after all those years in buttoned-down Serie A, the Italians find this liberating. Other countries have fouls, we deploy euphemisms.

 

De Jong is the type of player who likes to let an opponent know he is there. He gets stuck in and gives them something to think about.

Eduardo

 

A favoured tactic is the little reducer. That was what De Jong tried to give Ben Arfa after three minutes on Sunday, breaking his left leg in two places. The broken leg of Eduardo (right) for Arsenal against Birmingham City came early, too. The reducer strikes again.

 

Tony Pulis, manager of Stoke City, may think the biggest curse in the game is diving, but he is wrong. The reducer, and this unique version of the rules that maintains its presence in our game, is the real problem. Reading, for instance, have had three players sent off in as many matches but Matt Mills, the club captain, thinks referees are to blame.

 

He said: 'The Championship is physical and referees will have to accept that. If we don't do anything about this, it will slow our game down.'

 

No, the Championship is actually just a football league like any other. It is not operating off a separate code of practice, but the same rule book that governs every club from La Liga to the local park.

 

A foul is a foul, not a reducer, and there is no special dispensation. All De Jong reduced on Sunday was the career of a young Newcastle United player who looked to be a genuine addition to the worth of the Premier League. Maybe that is how we should approach it, purely as a business problem; because nobody seems particularly interested in applying the actual rules.

 

 

 

By far and away the most sensible article ever to appear in the Daily Mail.

 

Of course Martin Samuel couldn't keep that up forever. Fat pig.

 

Having earned almost universal sympathy over the injury to Hatem Ben Arfa, only a club governed with as little thought as Newcastle United could concede the high ground so readily overnight.

A list of grievances has now been submitted to Mike Riley, the Premier League’s head of referees, dating back over several matches.

Newcastle, we presume, are the only club who ever get a lousy call against them. Self-absorbed whingeing is nothing new in the Premier League, but the moment all rapport would have been lost came with Newcastle’s moan that Carlos Tevez should have received a second yellow card for leaving the pitch to go over to the Manchester City bench during his goal celebration.

Here are a football club that want a player sent off for being happy to have scored against them. Truly these men do not cast a shadow.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

Having earned almost universal sympathy over the injury to Hatem Ben Arfa, only a club governed with as little thought as Newcastle United could concede the high ground so readily overnight.

A list of grievances has now been submitted to Mike Riley, the Premier League’s head of referees, dating back over several matches.

Newcastle, we presume, are the only club who ever get a lousy call against them. Self-absorbed whingeing is nothing new in the Premier League, but the moment all rapport would have been lost came with Newcastle’s moan that Carlos Tevez should have received a second yellow card for leaving the pitch to go over to the Manchester City bench during his goal celebration.

Here are a football club that want a player sent off for being happy to have scored against them. Truly these men do not cast a shadow.

Whereas your shadow looks like a total fucking eclipse. Fat Pig.

[Jusoda Kid 1]

He makes me physically sick

[Ketsbaia 0]

He does have a point about the letter, but he is a fat cunt.

[geordieshandy 0]

Of course Martin Samuel couldn't keep that up forever. Fat pig.

 

Having earned almost universal sympathy over the injury to Hatem Ben Arfa, only a club governed with as little thought as Newcastle United could concede the high ground so readily overnight.

A list of grievances has now been submitted to Mike Riley, the Premier League’s head of referees, dating back over several matches.

Newcastle, we presume, are the only club who ever get a lousy call against them. Self-absorbed whingeing is nothing new in the Premier League, but the moment all rapport would have been lost came with Newcastle’s moan that Carlos Tevez should have received a second yellow card for leaving the pitch to go over to the Manchester City bench during his goal celebration.

Here are a football club that want a player sent off for being happy to have scored against them. Truly these men do not cast a shadow.

 

I'm not sure it was even that way around - wasn't he booked for the challenge on Krul, 5-10 minutes after the goal celebration?

[OTF 6147]

I'm not sure it was even that way around - wasn't he booked for the challenge on Krul, 5-10 minutes after the goal celebration?

 

Yep.

 

It's a legitimate grievance. The refereeing we have endured this season has been shocking. Not saying that other sides have not also suffered injustices, but there's no reason why they shouldn;t bring them to the attention of the head of referees. What are they supposed to do, simply accept that the refereeing is sub-standard?

[Phil 6]

FA not going to take it further

 

http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2010...capes-fa-action

[Dolly Potter MD 0]

I'm not sure it was even that way around - wasn't he booked for the challenge on Krul, 5-10 minutes after the goal celebration?

 

Yep.

 

It's a legitimate grievance. The refereeing we have endured this season has been shocking. Not saying that other sides have not also suffered injustices, but there's no reason why they shouldn;t bring them to the attention of the head of referees. What are they supposed to do, simply accept that the refereeing is sub-standard?

 

Refereeing [substandard] wouldn't be casting such a shadow, and playing as big a determining factor if we were breaking down teams in the final third of the pitch - capitalising on the *passing & movement/build-up play in the engineroom, creating more clear-cut chances & grabbing them during periods of weighted possession in our favour.

 

Lack of investment in the squad [namely upfront, for starters] over the summer is the main culprit for points lost, and 'sub-standard' refereeing will be used as a convenient scapegoat when bemoaning the team's plight/position on the table.

 

*Hughton deserves credit for this. He has eventually stamped his gameplan/style on the team's overall pattern of play, a sizeable task in the wake of Kinnear's anti-football. This was probably the case from around the mid-point of last season. Credit where it's due, Hughton is at least a good coach.

[OTF 6147]

So your argument is that if we had better players we'd be doing better. Don't think you'll find anyone who'll argue with your truism.

 

 

If the referees get it wrong as badly as they have been there needs to be a pre-defined avenue for complaint in order to improve the standard of refereeing.

 

You may be happy to cop blatantly incorrect decisions on the chin because it serves to prove that we should have spent more money on better players, but there's no reason why others should - least of all our manager.

[Tom 13843]

Most teams playing with the handicap of one of their best players injured in the 3rd minute, one genuinely penalty denied and one non penalty given for the opposition will come away with a negative result from a team who have spent over £300m on their first team.

 

Fuckin Ashley!

[Dolly Potter MD 0]

So your argument is that if we had better players we'd be doing better. Don't think you'll find anyone who'll argue with your truism.

 

 

If the referees get it wrong as badly as they have been there needs to be a pre-defined avenue for complaint in order to improve the standard of refereeing.

 

You may be happy to cop blatantly incorrect decisions on the chin because it serves to prove that we should have spent more money on better players, but there's no reason why others should - least of all our manager.

 

Can't be assed searching for the quote, but i did make reference to 'top 4 team refereeing' in the post-match discussion [Man City], so i'm not exactly taking them on the chin.

 

But the point made is the all more relevant in our previous home defeat - namely against Stoke. We were a two goal better side in the first half, based on balance of play. Stoke's slow-down tactics [and refeering] shouldn't have been such a factor

[Dolly Potter MD 0]

So your argument is that if we had better players we'd be doing better. Don't think you'll find anyone who'll argue with your truism.

 

 

If the referees get it wrong as badly as they have been there needs to be a pre-defined avenue for complaint in order to improve the standard of refereeing.

 

You may be happy to cop blatantly incorrect decisions on the chin because it serves to prove that we should have spent more money on better players, but there's no reason why others should - least of all our manager.

 

Can't be assed searching for the quote, but i did make reference to 'top 4 team refereeing' in the post-match discussion [Man City], so i'm not exactly taking them on the chin.

 

But the point made is the all more relevant in our previous home defeat - against Stoke. We were a two goal better side in the first half, based on balance of play. Stoke's slow-down tactics [and refeering] shouldn't have been such a determing factor in the greater scheme of things/result on the day.

Edited October 12, 2010 by Year Zero

[OTF 6147]

No doubt we'll be ruing missed chances plenty this season. We don't have enough feasible finishers up front. The Stoke match and the Man City match are extremes though. I'm not saying that we should be making any complaints about the Stoke match. I agree we should have been a goal (or several) ahead in that one, which would likely have dampened their enthusiasm in the second half.

[Kevin S. Assilleekunt 1]

We were shit against Stoke, even if we had many feasible finishers it wouldn't have made a difference, bad tactics in that one.

[Guest alex]

Not sure where the idea we should've been well ahead of Stoke at half-time comes from. We couldn't break them down despite being the better side.

[Park Life 70]

Given recent events and the violence in the game that the FA refuses to confront, I sent a list of questions to the FA. It was no surprise to me that the FA ignored all the hard questions and claimed that "The FA generally has no power to take retrospective action, due to FIFA directives. ". I found it strange that so many other countries (Belgium/Spain etc) were able to act on dangerous tackling retrospectively, even for incidents seen and punished by the match referee, while the FA was allegedly prevented from doing so by FIFA.

 

The FA were no help, so I turned to the Football ombudsman who was far more useful, he took the time to discuss things with the FA and he attempted to explain their position; he admitted that there was nothing explicit from FIFA that prevented the FA from acting: " it has been explained that there are not so much FIFA directives as FIFA interventions". In fact he said that it came down to page 332 in the FA's very own handbook:

 

"RULE E3 OF THE ASSOCIATION

 

A charge of Misconduct (as defined in and) pursuant to Rule E3 of the Rules of The

Association may be brought against a Player in relation to an incident, notwithstanding

that the same incident has been dealt with pursuant to this Memorandum. For example,

against a player who has been dismissed from the Field of Play for an incident which The

Association is satisfied was sufficiently serious to warrant an additional sanction, having

particular (but not exclusive) regard to the following:

 

(a) Any applicable Law(s) of the Game or Rules and Regulations or FIFA instructions

and/or guidelines;

( The nature of the incident, and in particular any intent, recklessness, negligence

or other state of mind of the Player;

© Where applicable, the level of force used;

(d) Any injury to any Participant caused by the incident;

(e) Any other impact on the game in which the incident occurred;

(f) The prevalence of the type of incident in question in football generally;

(g) The wider interests of football in applying consistent sanctions."

 

I couldn't help chuckling when I read this for the first time, it is quite clear from reading the above concerning rule E3 that the FA could easily act on this issue of dangerous tackling if they so wished. Their own guidance seems to encourage action on dangerous tackling."

Edited October 12, 2010 by Park Life

[Kevin S. Assilleekunt 1]

who wrote that parky?

[Park Life 70]

who wrote that parky?

 

Arsenal blogger.

 

 

http://anotherarsenalblog.blogspot.com/201...radicts-fa.html

Edited October 12, 2010 by Park Life

[Papa Lazaru 0]

Latest on Ben Arfa in the sunday sun:

 

Ben Arfa’s agent Simon Stainrod told the Sunday Sun today:

 

“One of the doctors involved with Hatem is the same French doctor that operated on Cisse so he knows what he’s doing,”“Hatem’s tibia was broken quite high up which is actually relatively good news. It means there won’t be any complications and he’s been told he will come back as good as before.”

 

“Once it’s healed he’ll be back to where he was before this ever happened.” “It’s too early to talk about exact comeback dates but Cisse, who is a friend of Hatem’s, told him he was back after five months. I think that break was actually worse than Hatem’s, so we’ll see.”

 

“If he is back in five months we’d be delighted but the most important thing is that when he comes back, he’s 100%. I think everyone around him is feeling confident and positive that he’ll be as good as before and Hatem is psychologically very strong.”

 

I really, really hope this turns out to be the case, because i'm worried that the kid comes back and is a shadow of the player he was going to be. Maybe there is a little bit of hope that he could be at least close to his best if not as good as new, and possibly even as good as before.