Bloody Football!

[SammiValentine]

Can you remind me how many offside goals they scored against Malaga? I assume there still is a rule called 'Offside', even in Germany....

bendy lines !!!!!!!!!!!

[robertlouis]

bendy lines !!!!!!!!!!!

If they're introducing Hawkeye, I can't wait for McEnroe to turn up as a referee.

[JenniferParisHusband]

Hi, my name is "Luis Suarez," and I'm addicted to eating footballers.


For christ's sake, why does he have to be the best player on my favorite team.

[robertlouis]

Hi, my name is "Luis Suarez," and I'm addicted to eating footballers.


For christ's sake, why does he have to be the best player on my favorite team.

You'd think that with what they pay him, he could afford to eat without cannibalising his opponents....

[Stavros]

That he didn't reach for the salt at least suggests he is aware of the campaign to reduce the salt content in our food. Bad as the incident was the Match of the Day team spent too much time on it -as usual Suarez needed several shots at goal before scoring one, in the 7th minute of extra time and after blatantly hand-balling it -he claimed the sun was in his eyes so he raised his hand to shield them and -would you believe it?- the ball struck his hand! In the meantime Gareth Bale showed in the other game why he must be in contention for Footballer of the Year, but Spurs continue to blow hot and cold and I daresay we will end up with the usual suspects in the top four. Let's just hope United crush Villa and send them down with QPR and Reading.

[robertlouis]

A temporary solution to the Suarez problem?

[robertlouis]

Bayern Munich 4, Barcelona 0.

Ach du lieber Gott!

[robertlouis]

Suarez gets a ten match ban, which takes in the first six games of next season as well as the dregs of this one.

Question: is a bite on the arm more than three times as bad as a deliberately high tackle which breaks an opponent's leg? Discuss.

And Ms Valentine, I expect to hear from you on this subject in due course!

[Stavros]

Not sure if the footballing authorities in the UK/Europe/World have a coherent set of punishments for bad tackles -intent must always be a key factor, as there are times when a player puts so much momentum into a tackle he can't pull back, but in the case of biting, like Cantona's kung fu kick -which was on a member of the public not another player- I think intent is mixed in with some cultural aversion, biting is just too odd. Suarez lost it, but he has done it before so he needs time to reflect on his behaviour, ten games is tame in the circumstances. He also needs ten shots at goal to score one, or 7, whatever. He is a good player, but hardly in the top 20 of players in Europe.

[JenniferParisHusband]

The FA / FIFA, have lousy punnishment guidelines. I agree with Stavros on inent being a factor, and I get repeat offenses having steeper penalties. But 10 games? It's a red card offense the first time. It's 3 on the seat for the second, and mandate he gets mental help regularly before he sets foot back on the pitch. You can't ban a repeat offender for rasicm 3 games and a cannibal 10. Stupidity at work by the FA.

The Cantona Kung Fu kick, that's on a fan. Different thing entirely! First, it was assault, he should have been in jail. Second, when you're on the field, you're consenting to that kind of thing. You know that it's a risk that someone will lose it on the field and go in with the spikes up, or deliberately take out a leg or something. Yes, it's illegal, but you know it happens. Getting kicked watching the game, whole other thing. That to me is 10 games on the seats. On the field, and off the field, two entirely different worlds. I had no problem with the little Swansea ball-boy getting kicked in the stomach for diving on the ball and covering it up. He's on the pitch, he's making himself a part of the game by trying to cheat to kill the clock. Damn skippy he deserved to be kicked, and banned from matches. Player who did it, yep, it's a rules violation, he deserved what he got too. But that was on the pitch.

Deliberately high takle that breaks an opponent's leg, that to me is the more serious offense. A bite? Ooh, guy goes off gets a bandage and hep test. He's still on the grass and able to play. At worst, he needs stitches. Maybe five minutes and he's back. A broken leg, the opponents are forced to be down a player who is most likely a starter and important to their team for a long stretch of games, or if it's severe enough, permanently. Imagine RVP being taken out in the first game of the season, suddenly things start looking a little different for Man U here in April. It's absolutely the worse offense. But isn't treated as such. Hell, I'd throw the racism penalties in as worse than the biting.