Thursday, February 11, 2010
St Gerrard would have got away with Nani challenge...
United took a creditable point from last night's clash with Aston Villa after playing for an hour with only ten men. With Chelsea losing at Everton and Liverpool losing at Arsenal it was a pretty good night for the champions. Few will have backed the Toffees to beat the West London club, and United fans will have taken a degree of satisfaction from hearing that Liverpool's top four aspirations took another knock at the Emirates.
The main talking point of United's performance at Villa Park surrounded the sending off of Nani for a two footed lunge at Stiliyan Petrov - at least that is how Peter Walton saw it. It wasn't a good challenge; Ferguson later described it as naive - 'poor' would have been a better word.
Fergie went on to say Nani isn't a dirty player; he's right on that score. Nani doesn't have a reputation, other than that of being a diver, so we United fans cannot suggest the referee had it in for him. But when you looked at the TV replays, Nani appeared to be going for the ball and not the man. It was a challenge right out of the Steven Gerrard archives.
I've seen Gerrard go over the ball on countless occasions, he was at it in last weekend's Merseyside derby - ironically when Liverpool were also down to ten men; however, there's one big difference between player's like St Gerrard and Nani. The Liverpool captain consistently gets away with making rash challenges whereas others like Nani are not so lucky.
I have no idea why St Gerrard gets away with making so many bad challenges, but he does, more so than any other leading player that I can recall.
Carping aside, the Villa Park result was a fair one, neither team deserved to lose. Giggsy was sent for an arm x-ray, but apart from that United can now look forward to the trip to Milan next with no game this coming weekend.
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utd had the biggest thug in football for years in "saipan roy"so get over it mate,Gerrard may not have a league medal but he wants to play for Liverpool,you
ReplyDeletecan't have him.
Gerrard is a **** too, but the difference is he keeps on getting away with it!
ReplyDeleteman utd get away with mureder every season,you cant get a foul or penalty at old trafford,and your red nosed manager gets away with things no other manager on the planet would get away with.
ReplyDeleteThis is not a red card. I have seen more serious ones. At most this is a yellow. Even the commentator said it's a yellow. I dont think the referee seen the tackle. The referee only see the player which is petrov acting as if he is dying or his leg is broken. I think this is a classic example of a poor referee. The referee should look at the tackle make(which is the leg) and not the body language of the players.
ReplyDeletePaul Scholes? - i dont think i have ever seen that guy make a decent challenge yet it's seen as a joke that he fouls so often. you are mistaking Gerrards passion for Nani's lack of ability!
ReplyDeleteOldskool,
ReplyDeleteThere's no worse ground in Europe where referee's CONSISTENTLY buckle under the weight of pressure from the home crowd than Anfield. Bizarrely, I actually see this a plus point from your perspective... but it doesn't make it right... our refs are a bunch of hopeless bottlers and under achievers.
Ferguson does speak out of line and sometimes he is wrong and yes he does try to influence the officials. It doesn't alter the fact that Gerrard gets away with murder, time and time again.
Rowan,
ReplyDeleteScholes IS one of the worst tacklers in Premier League history, but unlike Gerrard he isn't cynical. Scholes simply cannot tackle, what's more he's too slow now, he could never tackle when he was at his pomp.
Unlike Gerrard, Scholes is NOT one of the biggest divers in Premier League history...
James you must be bored today to look at that nani tackle and say it wasnt a red card. There is a difference between a slide and a two footed jump.. so take off your Man U glasses and look at the tackle again. Now comparing players and players that should be sent off for bad tackles... There is only one name that I need to mention.. Paul Scholes.. Countless times his tackles deserve cards but yet he doesnt get them, so I dont hear you complaining there. Look at your team first before you are criticizing other players.
ReplyDeleteKerry,
ReplyDeleteI have already addressed Scholes poor tackling.
Not seen the challenge but the "expert" pundit on Sky Sports News reckoned it was a yellow.
ReplyDeleteAgree ref the Ginger Prince - IMO one of the if not the best English player in the last 25 years. If he only he could tackle...
As for Gerrard - typical scouser - all mouth & posturing - gets away with nasty challenges time & time again.
we don't have many players who would walk onto utd's team but in Gerrard, Reina,Torres we have world class players that utd can't match just a pity we don't have more like them and utd wouldn't be catching us in the number of major trophies won.
ReplyDelete