Football's greatest crime

Today's topic...the D word!

Diving.

The ugliest, saddest part of football. Is that dramatic enough? I don't think you quite get me yet. It is the greatest stain on the beautiful game. The sin that pervades the best sport on the planet. Right, I think we have an idea how I, and any other football fan, feels about diving.

We've all seen it. Over and over again. A player running with the ball, defender goes for the ball (ok that's not always the case), suddenly the offending player flies into the air, hands thrown up and out, falls to a heap on the ground. Sometimes this is followed by a grabbing of the knee or ankle and 3 to 5 rolls along in the ground. That tackle was sheer agony.

It’s a footballing crime that I really don’t think authorities take seriously enough. The worst part about it is, it’s cheating aimed at conning the referee into giving your team a serious advantage, in the worst cases gaining a penalty or getting an opposing player sent off.

Worse yet is the knock on effects it has. It agitates the other team, vilifies the referee unfortunate enough to be fooled, and in the majority of cases they are fooled. Make no mistake it’s extremely difficult in a sport where the referee’s discretion determines just how much contact is too much contact. A striker jinking and weaving through a crowded penalty area who suddenly takes a tumble through the mass of legs being thrust out in an effort to stop him. You can imagine how difficult it is to separate a legitimate foul from a dive, or “simulation” as it’s called.

Another sad repercussion is the repelling effect it has for fans trying to get into the sport. A bunch of guys faking fouls, rolling around on the ground like they've been shot, and immediately popping back to their feet once they get the foul...who wants to watch this?

The worst part about it is, some of the best players are the worst offenders. Players like Luis Suarez (this is something I've heard a lot, not necessarily what I've seen), Cristiano Ronaldo (Although I think he's gotten better), Nani (especially last season), Didier Drogba. Even Stevie G does it, this is one of my favourite videos by the way. These are just a few, high profile players who do it, most everyone does.

Let's get to the solution to the problem. I am 100% against technology in football. I'm against video replays for tight offside decisions, I'm against goal line technology. I understand all the arguments for it, but I like football the way it is. Yes that's my justification.

Having said that, I am ok with using video replay to retroactively punish divers. Opening up retroactive reviews of yellow and red cards during games I think opens up a whole other can of worms that we don't want to get into.

The only stipulation being, these punishments after the fact can only apply in cases where a replay clearly shows that there was no contact with the player in question, that he blatantly dived of his own accord in an attempt to trick the referee. Some replays may show slight contact, "minimal" contact that some people may think was enough to fell a player and others will think otherwise. As long as there was some sort of contact, it may be enough to throw a player off balance, and when you start suspending players just because you think they COULD have stayed on their feet, it just becomes far too subjective.

With all that in mind. I'm thinking suspensions. Hefty suspensions. Players can be suspended for 3 games for various red card offences. Well I say for a blatant dive, suspend a player for 5 games. Yes, F I V E! It could even be more. What defense could you give for someone diving untouched? Everyone does it? It's a habit? It's part of the game? These are all reasons why the punishment should be extremely harsh. The only way to really eradicate it from football is to suspend players for a lengthy amount of time. In normal league play, 5 games means about a month of football. Would a player still dive if he knew he could get suspended for a month for doing it (and with video replays, he will get caught)?

The only example I can recall of a player being suspended for diving, was Arsenal's Eduardo back in 2009. While I think it was a good sign of intent to punish divers, in that case the ban was rescinded upon appeal because they could prove some contact that caused the foul / dive.

Well, here's to hoping someone from FIFA reads this, and enacts the 5 game suspension for diving.

They can just name the rule "Justice".

In Fergie We Trust! But sometimes...

"We don't always plan for these things"

Situations you might hear this in:
Just found out you're having a kid (don't worry I'm not).
Just found out you lost your job (still not me).
Just decided to blog at 6am (THAT is me).

Owing to going to sleep late in a slightly bad mood, being woken to some scary sounds at 4:30 this morning that made me peer out into the dark living room (only to realise it was a religious parade out on the streets, complete with drums and firecrackers), and being fully awake at 6am, I'm fairly grumpy...but figured I'd use this time productively and write about a Manchester United game I got to watch (a rare thing these days).

The match itself, which was apparently the 193rd time Manchester United and Liverpool have played, really wasn't all that exciting. But that isn't exactly what I had in mind to talk about.

In case you didn't see it, here's what you missed:
15th minute: Evra crosses to the far post, Jones connects with the header, hits the net...well, the SIDE of the net.

28th minute: Lucas booked. Methinks this was a cynical foul as Park was streaking (yes, Park streaks!) down the right.

36th minute: Adam shoots, the blocked shot falls at the feet of Suarez who twists and turns Jonny Evans, and then hits it straight at De Gea. Best chance so far, probably the only interesting moment of the 1st half...aside from the Manchester United team sheet, we're getting there!

boring boring boring...Ashley Young gets booked...boring boring boring...Liverpool looking the better of 2 rather poor sides...boring boring boring HALF TIME!

60th minute: In the space of about 5 minutes, Evra first goes down like he's been shot in the knee cap. I myself have never been shot in the knee cap, but I've seen it happen in enough movies and Evra could have been in any of them. He did catch a poke from Suarez, but it really wasn't that serious. A few minutes later he then gets booked, for talking too much I think. I start thinking of reasons I dislike the sport...don't worry, it doesn't last long

66th minute: Frustrating period because I'm convinced Adam has dived under Rio's weak attempt at a challenge. Replays show, Rio did catch his little toe, made a meal of it though!

Gerrard standing over it. By the way, I don't like him. This isn't some "Manchester United fan obligated to dislike the captain of Liverpool"...or maybe it is? I would be ok with anyone scoring for Liverpool, except him...

68th minute: Can you guess what happened? Gerrard curls a weak attempt around the right side of the wall and it's a goal. Sorry, let me correct that. Giggs ENSURES that Gerrard curls it around the wall, by practically jumping out of the way of it. Now I can understand, Gerrard hitting one of those ferocious drives from outside the box and a player jumping out of the way. That will knock you out! But this was weak, and really bizarre from Giggs.

70th minute: Rooney and Nani who were both on the bench, finally come on.

78th minute: Chicharito comes on.

which is important because...

81st minute: HE SCORES. Welbeck flicks on from the corner, no Liverpool defender wants a part of it, Hernandez heads in.

The last 10 minutes: All about Liverpool coming close, and De Gea denying them. First Kuyt, good save from close range, then Suarez, tries to lob him. Both fail. United "escape" Anfield with 1 point.

Men of the Match
Manchester United: De Gea. Did really well for himself in his first game at Anfield. Saved United.
Liverpool: Giggs? Just kidding! Suarez for me. You wouldn't know it from my recap, but he fashioned 2 or 3 chances for himself out of nothing, absolutely worked Rio and another defender (Smalling I think?) once or twice, looked most like scoring. That is, until Gerrard actually did score.

FINALLY we get to the point of this post.

Fergie's starting line up for the game.

Fergie said post-match, he opted to have Rooney start from the bench as he was "devastated" by his recent 3 match ban for England. I guess you could look at it one of two ways.
1) STOP BABYING HIM!...self-explanatory really. The team isn't the same without Rooney, he's an adult, he has a job to do, let him do it!
2) Here's a manager who might seem like a real hard character, but he cares about his players, and that's a great thing. That's what I think anyway.

Nani too was on the bench. No emotional reason there, Fergie just knows best.
Again here's the thing. I have no statistics on how United have performed in "questionable selection games", but from my sometimes poor, and sometimes biased memory, there have been more times where I've looked at a United team sheet and thought "what on EARTH is he doing with this team?", and at the end of 90 I'm a believer again.

The midfield surprised me. Young, Fletcher, Jones, Park.
Young, I'm ok with.
Fletcher, I'm surprised Anderson wasn't playing here. Having said that, while Fletch isn't the player he was a year or 2 ago, he's a "derby player" for me, the sort that at least mentally is always up for a big game. A much lesser version of Gary Neville, in midfield, if you will.
Jones was the major surprise. Not because he started, but because of where he played. Fergie could have very easily started Jones instead of Smalling at the back (or better yet, Evans) and stuck Carrick or Ando in the middle.
Park, why do we play him out wide? I could understand it against Barcelona. Keep someone like Alves in check on the wing. Liverpool have no such player on the wing. Keep him in the middle of the...park. Could have been a bit more of a bother to Adam, who was pretty decent, and Lucas, who is usually decent.

Did we look weak and unable to control the midfield? Absolutely. Would that have changed if we went Young-Anderson-Park-Nani? Maybe, but we'll never know.

What we do know is Fergie's final roll of the dice brought a goal within 4 minutes of stepping on the pitch.

Manchester United are managed by one of the greatest managers ever. He's knighted! He's won more trophies than I could count on my hands and feet (only got 4 limbs unlike this guy)!

BUT...it's ok to question his selection every now and then.

It doesn't make you crazy.

It doesn't make you any less of a United fan.

Just be prepared to be reminded at the end of the game why he's on the touchline, and you're watching from home.