Aftermath
Written on 10/27/2004 01:56:00 am by sikapitan
I don’t want to talk about something that has been commented upon in great detail in my previous entry, but the recent comments and turmoil surrounding ANOTHER “Battle at Old Trafford” deserves at least a mention in this undeniably biased blog. To recap the events AFTER the game :
Arsenal players surround the referee. Sol Campbell refused to shake hands with Rooney. Henry in his usual dramatic Gallic style tries to make a point to Rio and Carroll.It has emerged through the grapevine that there’s one or two incidents in the tunnel, including Sir Alex being thrown a SOUP!
Arsenal players surround the referee. Sol Campbell refused to shake hands with Rooney. Henry in his usual dramatic Gallic style tries to make a point to Rio and Carroll.It has emerged through the grapevine that there’s one or two incidents in the tunnel, including Sir Alex being thrown a SOUP!
Arsene Whiner and PaTRICK Vieira both implied that the referee has acted unjustly during the post-match interview beamed live all over the world. Fergie can’t look any happier!
The papers are filled with editorials on how United cheated or Arsenal’s a bad loser. Even my MOM has entered into the fray by simply saying “Manchester tipu.”. If she wasn’t my mom…..
Ruud Econovan was charged by the FA for the tackle on Ashley Simpson..oh sorry, Cole. He claimed it was innocent. At the same time, Wenger has to appear to explain his comments.
Ruud subsequently accepted the charges without demanding a hearing and is now set for a three-match ban.
Let’s talk about the “incidents” in the match. Rio’s incident when he bumped Freddie looked very suspicious at first but upon seeing the replays over and over again I cannot say that the ref made a mistake. Freddie pushed the ball too far wide, and to the right side, but his body leaned across towards the left. I’m thinking, as a footballer, that he was trying to muscle his way with Rio and simply lost. 50-50, it’s a man’s game.
Now, the NEW brunt of Arsenal’s anger – Ruud’s tackle on Ashley. When it first played out, I thought nothing of it. But again from the wonders of modern technology, we can see the replay from almost every angle possible and at any range we wish to- from them looking like ants, to the beads of their sweat. We all know that Ruud is one annoying bastard, and when he tackles it looks like Arnold Susahnakeja trying to do a ballet. It just looks ugly. But in that game, we can clearly see him looking up and giving that gay-gangster-looking dude a right old jolly kick in the knee. I hate to see it, frankly, because now all attention has shifted from how United managed to keep Henry & Co at bay and also because it’s way over the top. Ashley, I hate to admit this, is a fine left-back and I secretly wish he is one of ours.
But I also have to admit that he’s a real wanker. He fights almost every decision against him. EVERY decision. It seems like he has no sense of right and wrong. He's the kind of player every other players and fans love to hate. A bit like Robbie Savage, though with less silly haircut. He cannot play the angel now and say that he hasn’t done what Van had done to him. This is football, and having played the game, I do understand that sometimes we carry grudges on to the pitch. I’ve elbowed one or two people I find really annoying, or jumped in with both feet. We are all humans and humans are generally retributive in character, no?
And what about Rooney’s penalty? Is it any worse than what Toure tried to do at the end of the game? There was minimal contact, and for a big lad Rooney fell down way too easily. In other words, he was looking for it. But so is every other player in the world. When a defender sticks out a leg like that, it’ll surely be too much to ask the ref to see everything in detail. I admit, it shouldn’t have been a penalty and I do regret that we’ve to resort to such tactics. But I remembered Robert Pires tripping WITHOUT any contact at all during last season. Seriously, if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s Arsenal I would have laughed at the whole stupidity of it all. I apologize for the dive, but you make your own luck on the pitch yea?
Thierry Henry’s simply frustrated at his lack of chances throughout the match so he’s irrelevant for our discussion. What I like to emphasis for Man United fan is to view things objectively. We rode our luck and we made it through. We won not through skill but pure determination. How we view things can be summed up by this peculiar scenario – when asked, Ferguson said he didn’t see the penalty incident but thought it should be given anyway while Arsene claimed he didn’t see the fracas inside the tunnel at the end of the game or his own players’ actions on the pitch, namely Vieira sticking his nose into everything. It just goes to show that what we see, and what we want to see, are two completely different things. Let bygones be bygones.
Ruud Econovan was charged by the FA for the tackle on Ashley Simpson..oh sorry, Cole. He claimed it was innocent. At the same time, Wenger has to appear to explain his comments.
Ruud subsequently accepted the charges without demanding a hearing and is now set for a three-match ban.
Let’s talk about the “incidents” in the match. Rio’s incident when he bumped Freddie looked very suspicious at first but upon seeing the replays over and over again I cannot say that the ref made a mistake. Freddie pushed the ball too far wide, and to the right side, but his body leaned across towards the left. I’m thinking, as a footballer, that he was trying to muscle his way with Rio and simply lost. 50-50, it’s a man’s game.
Now, the NEW brunt of Arsenal’s anger – Ruud’s tackle on Ashley. When it first played out, I thought nothing of it. But again from the wonders of modern technology, we can see the replay from almost every angle possible and at any range we wish to- from them looking like ants, to the beads of their sweat. We all know that Ruud is one annoying bastard, and when he tackles it looks like Arnold Susahnakeja trying to do a ballet. It just looks ugly. But in that game, we can clearly see him looking up and giving that gay-gangster-looking dude a right old jolly kick in the knee. I hate to see it, frankly, because now all attention has shifted from how United managed to keep Henry & Co at bay and also because it’s way over the top. Ashley, I hate to admit this, is a fine left-back and I secretly wish he is one of ours.
But I also have to admit that he’s a real wanker. He fights almost every decision against him. EVERY decision. It seems like he has no sense of right and wrong. He's the kind of player every other players and fans love to hate. A bit like Robbie Savage, though with less silly haircut. He cannot play the angel now and say that he hasn’t done what Van had done to him. This is football, and having played the game, I do understand that sometimes we carry grudges on to the pitch. I’ve elbowed one or two people I find really annoying, or jumped in with both feet. We are all humans and humans are generally retributive in character, no?
And what about Rooney’s penalty? Is it any worse than what Toure tried to do at the end of the game? There was minimal contact, and for a big lad Rooney fell down way too easily. In other words, he was looking for it. But so is every other player in the world. When a defender sticks out a leg like that, it’ll surely be too much to ask the ref to see everything in detail. I admit, it shouldn’t have been a penalty and I do regret that we’ve to resort to such tactics. But I remembered Robert Pires tripping WITHOUT any contact at all during last season. Seriously, if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s Arsenal I would have laughed at the whole stupidity of it all. I apologize for the dive, but you make your own luck on the pitch yea?
Thierry Henry’s simply frustrated at his lack of chances throughout the match so he’s irrelevant for our discussion. What I like to emphasis for Man United fan is to view things objectively. We rode our luck and we made it through. We won not through skill but pure determination. How we view things can be summed up by this peculiar scenario – when asked, Ferguson said he didn’t see the penalty incident but thought it should be given anyway while Arsene claimed he didn’t see the fracas inside the tunnel at the end of the game or his own players’ actions on the pitch, namely Vieira sticking his nose into everything. It just goes to show that what we see, and what we want to see, are two completely different things. Let bygones be bygones.
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