Official 2006/07 Premiership Thread

[Keyz 1-8-7]

Winger, WHERE ARE YOU!!!!!!

 

WITHOUT HENRY!!!!

 

WITHOUT HENRY????

 

ONE MAN TEAM???? No!!

 

 

Here's a song that I made up:

 

Jingle bells, Chelsea smells

Liverpool ran away,

Man U tried and Man u cried,

'Coz Arsenal Won the game!!!!

Hey!!!!

[N.O.R.F]

^^not sure about the song

 

Saw LFC for the first time since the first game of the season. Yes we lost but deserved a draw at least. We didnt score our chances its as simple as that. I was impressed with the red though and that Kuyt looks like a decent player together with Fabio Aurellio.

 

Didnt catch the Man Utd vs Arsenal game but its a good win for the gunners. Liverpool have lost 2, Chelsea have lost 1, Man Utd have lost 1 and Arsenal have lost 1/2??

 

So its all to play for.

 

ps watch out for Harry's Portsmouth

[SoMa_InC]

Cmon Chelsea

[WingA]

187.. United didnt play well in that game but we are back on top so ama have to let that pass and wait for the showdown at the Emitates..

[SoMa_InC]

Look at it this way, Save our Goal Keepers

 

Neil Barnett has been writing, editing and broadcasting for Chelsea for over 20 years. This week he responds to the challenges which injured Petr Cech and Carlo Cudicini.

 

 

 

Reading vs Chelsea was not 102 minutes as has been reported. It was 107. The second-half clock started at 45 minutes and continued for 12 of stoppage time.

 

But the first-half contained five minutes of stoppage time. That is 17 in all. This was no normal match.

 

The subsequent questions that the public need to ask are the following.

 

1. Can two serious head injuries in one game to goalkeepers be a coincidence?

 

2. Shouldn’t footballers exercise a duty of care towards fellow professionals and was this practised at Reading on Saturday?

 

3. Would those challenges which injured the Chelsea goalkeepers have been acceptable overseas — in other words were they old fashioned ‘English’ challenges which the world game has long found unacceptable?

 

4. Would they have been fouls in any other part of the pitch?

 

Before José Mourinho made his post-match comments he went and studied the video footage. At no stage thereafter did he suggest that Steve Hunt deliberately injured Petr Cech. But if you apply Questions 2, 3 and 4 to Hunt’s challenge, what answers do you get?

 

In English football more than any other it is acceptable to test an opponent physically, to hang a leg in to see what will happen, to let them know you are there.

 

On television on Saturday night we could witness an appalling two-footed tackle on Wayne Rooney go unwhistled. But at Reading we saw two deserved sendings off for ‘cheating’, pulling back an opponent when beaten.

 

In England we get some things right and some things wrong. We don’t like cheats. But we still don’t protect footballers. Maybe the latter is one reason why we don’t win anything as a nation. Maybe we don’t ensure that our footballers exercise a duty of care to fellow players as FIFA would like.

 

It’s garbage to suggest that you can’t be physical if you can’t tackle like in England as compared to abroad. John Terry tackles, but he does it properly. That is why he has never been sent off playing for Chelsea. On Saturday at Reading in an outstanding performance, sadly overlooked because of the injuries, Khalid Boulahrouz showed that he knows how to tackle. He looked an excellent central defender.

 

I thought José was kind to Ibrahima Sonko for his challenge on Carlo Cudicini. It was wild. He wasn’t looking at the ball. It wasn’t malicious, he was looking for an equaliser, but it was wild. It caused serious injury. It didn’t show a duty of care.

 

I thought he was kind to Reading as well. Their game reminded me of the 1980s when English football hit an all time low, of lump and run, of challenge and challenge, of Wimbledon and Watford and… sorry, Steve Coppell, but of Crystal Palace.

 

FIFA has taken a lot of stick down the years for its changes to the rules, or to the interpretation of the rules, but it has frequently been proved right. The tackle from behind was correctly outlawed. Goalkeepers picking up back passes were correctly stopped. The game has become better as a result. And wild challenges and challenges on the floor have been unacceptable.

 

Were Hunt’s and Sonko’s challenges really acceptable, or were they part of a culture that accepts that accidents happen and are part of the game? If they were the latter, that is a pretty sick culture.

 

The game became so wild on Saturday that Carlo Cudicini was left lying unconscious while the action continued around him. The referee only whistled up once Didier Drogba had kicked the ball away from the goal.

 

It is true that collisions do happen. It is true that accidents do happen. It could even be freakishly true that two goalkeepers could sustain serious head injuries during one game and that nothing be wrong with the game or the culture.

 

But if there is not a thorough investigation into the match and review of the culture when such an incident happens, then the whole sport is being irresponsible. What happened to Petr Cech and Carlo Cudicini in the same 107 minutes must never happen to two goalkeepers again.

 

Now take another look at those challenges!

 

 

by Neil Barnett

Source: chelseafc.com

[Keyz 1-8-7]

I doubt that both players intentionally harmed them. Sonko was looking a the ball when he challenged Cudicini. It wasn't the collision that did him, but how he fell to the floor. He looked just stone cold, didnt even move. I dnt know about the Cech one tho, that looked messed up.

 

Looking at the source, you can't expect anything else to be said from chelsea.

[BOB]

didn't i post something here?

[N.O.R.F]

that Robin Van Persie is quality, been playing some good stuff of late!

[WingA]

BOB, i think you did but i dont know where its gone bro. i read it the other day about english players smashing into keepers..

 

Rooney is back on track with that hat-trick and United are on course for the title lads..

[BOB]

Northerner...Yeah very Funny..so you like Van Persie heh? go on now, don't be shy..say how much you enjoy watching Gunners and i promise i wont tell...

 

 

Winger..

 

Thanks my brother.. yeah Rooney is back which should be a good news for everyone confined in that Island..lool. i liked the second goal..it was clinical.

 

 

Peace, Love & Unity.

[N.O.R.F]

BOB, i had the choice of all the Sat games and chose Arsenal vs Everton. Liverpool are poor these days and i hate that Crouch!

[SoMa_InC]

^^^lol

 

Many peeps blame your manager for his rotation system. Liverpool are not poor, they have exceptional players and a good manager but the problem is consistency.

 

I dont hate crouch, I dislike Garcia; I would chop off his thumb that he leaks everytime he scores a goal.

[Keyz 1-8-7]

I hadn't watched Match of the Day in weeks, and when I did turn on the television last night to watch highlights of the match I was reminded of how sub-standard it was. Even the appearances of ex-Arsenal players Ian Wright and Lee Dixon failed to add that needed unbiased opinion on the show.

 

Ex-Brazil player Leonardo was the only saving grace – perhaps ironically, demonstrating to Adrian Chiles once again that foreigners are better than the English at their own game?

 

Chiles was no doubt ecstatic about the West Ham result earlier in the day, vindication he felt, of how the English spirit had overcome the foreign invaders. Which is why he never criticised West Ham manager Alan Pardew for his over-zealous goal celebrations when the Hammers scored in the 89th-minute, condemning Arsenal to their second defeat of the league season.

 

For goodness sake, even when Pardew apologised to manager Arsène Wenger in his post-match interview, admitting that he should have been professional enough to keep his distance away from the Arsenal manager, Chiles sarcastically commented, "Perhaps Pardew should apologise for Wenger's tactics as well?"

 

Is Chiles mentally challenged?

 

Alan Pardew had sought the high ground after an embarrassing moment and instead of acknowledging Pardew's mistake, Chiles had a swipe at Arsène Wenger. What exactly had the Arsenal manager done wrong in the unfortunate events on the touchline yesterday?

 

I suppose Chiles was of the opinion that there was no need for Pardew to apologise, seeing as his celebrations were done in the British way? In the British spirit? Whatever happened to gentlemanly conduct on and off the pitch? Waving your fist in close proximity to an opposing manager is not going to win you an OBE (the last time I checked anyway).

 

In fact, I so wanted Arsène Wenger to do a Brit and "lay one into 'em" that it was almost a shame that the fourth official had to get involved and restrain the foreign manager. After all, wouldn't it have been sensible for all of them to get involved? Possibly to protect Pardew himself, as he had already backed off, realising he had gone too far, when Wenger reacted and was advancing menacingly towards the rodent-like West Ham manager.

 

Admittedly, there was a sense of regret and embarrassment yesterday when Wenger refused to shake Pardew's hand. It was childish on the Arsenal manager's part, and added strength to the claims that he is a bad loser. I remember Wenger once remarking: "Show me a good loser and I will show you a bad winner." I wouldn't have it any other way with Wenger, and trust him to bring us out of this slump.

 

On a side note, it was even worse yesterday that we didn't take advantage of Chelsea's capitulation at White Hart Lane. Kudos to Spurs, they took the game to the champions and demonstrated to the rest of the Premiership that they are indeed vulnerable. No matter that Chelsea had hit the post in the dying seconds of the game, Spurs had enough chances to win the game.

 

The main talking point on Match of the Day was John Terry's red card. It beggared belief to see Lee Dixon and Ian Wright, along with the incompetent Chiles, have a go at referee Graham Poll. Instead of looking at the big picture, Wright (of all people) said that Poll was wrong to send off Terry. What had the England captain done?

 

Wright of all people should have known better, and once again it was left to a foreigner to educate the British pundits. Leonardo pointed out that it may not have been what Terry had done, but what he had said. Oh, to Wright's credit, he did notice that Terry didn't argue and promptly walked off the field of play. He knew that he committed an offence, but Wright chose instead to vilify the referee and highlight Terry's "professionalism".

 

After his run-in's with a certain Manchester United goalkeeper in the past, Wright should think that it could have been a racial slur that had gotten Terry sent off, and the England captain looked to have regretted what he said after as well. It might also explain why it was the black Spurs players, mainly Chimbonda and D.Zokora, who were rounding up on Terry as he tried to walk away from the scene of the crime.

[N.O.R.F]

After his run-in's with a certain Manchester United goalkeeper in the past, Wright should think that it could have been a racial slur that had gotten Terry sent off, and the England captain looked to have regretted what he said after as well. It might also explain why it was the black Spurs players, mainly Chimbonda and D.Zokora, who were rounding up on Terry as he tried to walk away from the scene of the crime.

Exactly what i thought. MOTD2 i dont get and with Adrain Chiles i'm glad!

 

But what a game last night. From the first minute to the last. Michael Essien was a on another planet (even though he lost). Great to see average players like FL and Ballack come down to earth against Zokora and Ghaity.

[Resistance]

ALL I CAN SAY IS WE STUFFED YOU GOOOOOONERS!!!!!!! AND THE OLD 'AM COOL' FRENCH MASTER LOST HIS CANDIES YESTERDAY ./... HAMMERS FOR THE FA CUP RUN AGAIN ...