Hello there, we’re into what I assume is going to be a pretty quiet week, given the festivious nature of things. Yesterday’s draw between West Ham and Chelsea means it’s been a fairly decent weekend for us. United lost, Chelsea dropped points, Liverpool fell further behind, although both Villa and Sp*rs won. It means Sunday’s game against Villa is going to be absolutely massive.
More on that to come in the days ahead, I’m sure. The main story this morning is the inevitable one about Samir Nasri facing an FA rap for his kick at Richard Garcia which sparked the handbags during the Hull game. Let’s be clear, it was silly and unnecessary from Nasri, and on another day it might have been very costly. As he was apparently booked for his reaction to the scuffle, it’s open for further punishment to be handed down.
On that though, won’t Barmby and Hunt face further sanction. The ref’s back was turned when Barmby pushed Nasri in the face? That’s a red card offence. And Stephen Hunt parks his caravan in nice areas and leaves it strewn with litter and rubbish when he and his 48 strong family eventually move on. That’s also a red card offence. There’s talk of Alex Song facing a ban because he grabbed Hunt around the throat.
I dunno really. I’m all for fair play and that but at times you have to realise football is a passionate game, played by men and deal with things accordingly. There were no punches thrown, Barmby had to leap as high in the air as he could to get near Nasri’s face and the face push was tame. It was pure handbags and if they start going after everyone who was pushing and shoving then they’ll be busy people. I think Nasri will probably get a ban and Barmby too, and that should really be about that.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is how that small kick from Nasri managed to leave Garcia motionless on the floor in a crumpled heap. I said football is played by men but men don’t react like that. If Garcia had turned around and had a go at Nasri then I’d have no problem in the world. Instead he chose to act, to pretend he’d been badly hurt to try and get him sent off. I really have no time for that kind of shit. I hate it when our players do it, I hate it when the opposition do it. It’s part of a culture of cheating and dishonesty within the game. There was a similar incident in the West Ham v Chelsea game too. Some West Ham player got the fingertips of a Chelsea player in the face, went down and stayed down as if poleaxed.
It’s stupid and the players look like idiots. When you compare his reaction to that of Arshavin who caught an accidental McShane elbow right in the mouth and pretty much carried on it’s laughable. It’s a shame there’s no way of punishing players for feigning injury. Anyway, que sera, sera. We could probably do without Nasri being banned for 3 games but there’s probably not much we can do other than just get the fuck on with it.
Manuel Almunia has had his say on Hull saying:
If they don’t know how to play football, it is not our problem.
He had a couple of run ins with Stephen Hunt who is obviously under orders to go in and annoy goalkeepers. I suppose they viewed Almunia as a bit fragile and tried to get under his skin. As he saved the penalty in the second half I don’t think they can view that tactic as a success. I meant to link to holic’s blog yesterday as he had a rather entertaining account of the songs being sung at Phil Brown. So I’ll do it today. It’s also worth mentioning that Brown’s moaning about the ‘wrong decisions’ made by the referee completely ignore the fact they got a free penalty so they have no right to complain about a free kick that is given countless times in every match.
Not much else going on really. The Mirror reckons we’ve suffered a ‘massive setback’ as Rafael van der Vaart has chosen to stay at Real Madrid and not join us. Oh. Well, that’s our season over then. Unless we sign van der Vaart any chance we have of winning anything is gone. Truly I am devastated beyond words.
Also in the Mirror the rather amusing story that Kolo Toure wants to quit the Middle Eastlands and leave Man City as soon as possible. His agents are trying to get him a move to Spain. Yet another player to discover the grass is not always greener on the other side. Although the money might be greener. Or there’s more of the green money. Or something.
So that’ll have to do for today. Got to finish my Christmas shopping today and my cold is minging. Hot whiskey, you say? Don’t mind if I do. Till tomorrow.
