posted Mar 8, 2007

Did you not think Ronaldo dived last night - when he got a Yellow?

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He was kicked in the shins in the penalty area and went down. That is a stonewall penalty. Not a dive, but he did exaggerate the fall, which is actually unlike him. Normally he goes down very naturally and sits there on his knees. He's not hte type to role around on the floor as if he's just been run over...

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posted Mar 8, 2007

comment by Time For Heroes
posted 15 Minutes Ago

Flingitnow

Did you not think Ronaldo dived last night - when he got a Yellow?


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There was contact and intention, the defender was a country mile away from the ball. It was one of the most clear cut penalties i've seen in a while.

However Ronaldo was theatrical, and broke up one of United's best moves. Could he have stayed on his feet and scored? That's another question.

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posted Mar 8, 2007

And did Liverpool force UEFA's hand? Or did UEFA just want another rich club in the CL? They had a pretty good excuse (the rules) to not allow the English club in should they wish to exercise their supposed institutional anti-Englishness.

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It was not Liverpool that forced Uefa's hand. It was the FA. Liverpool should have got Everton's spot, that was the precedent. But the FA are free to give their 4 spots to whomever they choose and Uefa could not really have the tournament champions not back to defend their crown. So their hand was forced.

I don't expect any none Englishman to believe that we are targetted. And I can't be bothered getting into a lengthy arguement. Like at school when your teahcer doesn't like you it can be very difficult to show you are being treated differently but YOU know it...

AS I said I don't think it is a premeditated campaign. Just a general disregard that leads them to treating us differently probably with out even realising it.

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posted Mar 8, 2007

comment by rico007
posted 1 Hour Ago

lets hope you never lose a family member to an act of hooliganism because if you do you would realise how terrible your comments are, liverpool fans and only liverpool fans are to blame and ive supported liverpool for 30 years so i know what im talking about.

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"...ive supported liverpool for 30 years so i know what im talking about."


Is that what they call an oxymoron?

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posted Mar 8, 2007

I don't expect any none Englishman to believe that we are targetted. And I can't be bothered getting into a lengthy arguement. Like at school when your teahcer doesn't like you it can be very difficult to show you are being treated differently but YOU know it...
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That just sounds like the small island mentality.

Do you think anyone outside of England would have cared if Liverpool were not allowed back in the CL? Their hand was not forced, UEFA acted in its own commercial interests.

And for the record, I am English born and bred and don't feel as if I'm being picked on by a nasty teacher. The fact that I have a Spanish parent, and travel there and read its media regulalrly means that I have an insight into how England is viewed externally. The pupil at school is a very apt metaphor every teenager thinks that the world is against them, it's because they have no frame of reference outside of themselves.

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posted Mar 8, 2007

GazMedina, well reasoned.

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posted Mar 8, 2007

Back to the original topic which I have (deliberately) missed. (I wanted people to have a chance to analyse things in the cold light of day!).

The Host is wrong. The incident was not sparked by Navarro. It started when Burdisso accosted two celebrating Valencia players (Marchena and Joaquín) and theatened to elbow one of them. Charming. Marchena kicked him back, thus spaking melée number 1. melée number 2 started when Navarro puched an already restrained Burdisso. Melée number 3 (tunnel) started when Inter players broke through two layers of security to storn the Valencia dressing room (step foward Toldo and Cambiasso).

As for punishments, I would wager (if I was a betting man) that the following will apply:

Valencia (improper conduct) 50,000 euros

(Valencia's defence will be that as a club they could not have done anything to control a possessed Navarro! and that there was no crowd Violence. Valencia have already publically condemnedNavarro and appealed to Platini that there was nothing they could have done to prevent what happened).

Inter (improper conduct) 75,000 euros

Inter have sought to deflect all attention away from their own guilt by, in effect, saying it was a natural reaction to Navarro's right hook on Burdisso. No apologies for the
hacking of Navarro. No apologies for breaking the security cordon. No apologies for storming the dressing room. UEFA will not like that.


Navarro

Valencia Press reports say he will receive between a 4 and 12 game ban. My guess would be at least 10. I've never seen anything like it!

Marchena

At most three game ban for retailiation. It wasn't a premeditated kick and was a response to the intended elbow attack.

Burdisso

Stated the whole shebang with his petulence at the final whistle. After that he was attacked, but must shoulder a fair degree of blame. 3 game ban.

Cordoba / Maicon.

Red card offences, even if they were provoked by Navarro's punch. 3 game bans.

I'm surprised Cambiasso and Toldo were not also held to account, but I suppose as their actions happened in the tunnel, they are not perceived to be as serious, particularly as on field violence can lead to crowd trouble.

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posted Mar 8, 2007

Inter argue that flashing the message "vendetta" on all the big electirc boards before the match set the whole tone and was the prime factor in heating the atmosphere.
I'm not a great fan of Italian football clubs, but they've got a point here. The Valencia officials wre totally irresponsible in doing this.

This seems to be a disturbing trend at some Spanish clubs egged on by a sports press eager for juicy stories to bolster falling circulation. Remember the Betis/Sevilla cup tiethe other week which finished with Juande Ramos being bottled? It was preceded by a "warm up" of threats and insults in the days before the match with the Betis president warning that he could not guarantee the satfety of Sevilla supporters in the Betis stadium.

Again, the authorities are to blame. And again, I fear, nothing will be done.

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posted Mar 8, 2007

All tthen this talk about 'IF it was an English club they would be thrown out' makes me laugh.
UEFA will drag thier heels like they always do, just like all the years upon years of violence that finally ended with Hysel,then they finally banned the English.

And we keep going on about how we are going to lose a Champs league place, forgetting the same will happen to Spain and Italy.

Yes the Italians, Spanish and Turks have got away with a lot......but so have we.

One final note, does anyone think we could ever hold a match here without a major police operation. The hooligans have not gone from here, we just control them better.

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posted Mar 9, 2007

i think uefa should ban the clubs from all european competitions for 1 year, that way other clubs and their players might think twice before displaying that behaviour again.

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