Football 2011-2012

[kaosmark2]

Forget football. this just made me teary:

Immense gesture from Udinese captain Antonio Di Natale, who has taken guardianship of the severely handicapped sister of Piermario Morosini.

Antonio Di Natale—"I will ensure that the sister of Piermario [who is severely disabled] is not abandoned. She has already lost everybody"

Morosini had been sole guardian of his little sister, who was orphaned as a child. Prandelli, make the first name in your squad Di Natale's.

Di Natale—"I will be there to help his sister, not just for a day, but for her whole life. The girl needs us. This is for her and for Mario"

[kaosmark2]

Could Chelsea really not sell out their allocation for an FA Cup semi-final 5 miles from the bridge? and they once again showed what a classless bunch of c*nts they are during the minutes silence.

I hate that club

[Lithium05]

in all honesty we have lost far too many points against teams nearer the bottom of the league than the top and it has cost us. will be an interesting 3 last games though

[The Nal]

Ashley Young has been here for a while. He did it a bit at Villa and he's done it a fair bit throughout this season, I remember bad dives v United and CIty for sure. SAF might stop it because it's getting very prominent, but is there any reason to think he will change?

Edited April 16, 2012 by The Nal

[eFestivals]

Don't think Fergie will tolerate it.

Fergie's said that young "overdid it", but also said "it's a penalty definitely" ..... so I can't see fergie telling him not to do that again.

And anyway, if fergie didn't want a player who did that he wouldn't have signed him in the first place, seeing as it's not a trait he's acquired since joining Man Utd.

[The Nal]

Fergie's said that young "overdid it", but also said "it's a penalty definitely" ..... so I can't see fergie telling him not to do that again.

And anyway, if fergie didn't want a player who did that he wouldn't have signed him in the first place, seeing as it's not a trait he's acquired since joining Man Utd.

[kaosmark2]

[eFestivals]

"Overdid it", "Dramatic". No manager speaks more harshly than that about their player diving in public. No manager ever says "yeah he dived". He could've just done a Wenger on it and said he didn't see it. He'll have words. Trust me. Young has previous though of course.

If it was something that bothered fergie he'd have had words long before now. He'd have had words when he signed him and at least once a month for every month since, given Young's amount of dives before and since.

And if fergie had had words already and Young was ignoring him, I suspect that Young wouldn't get to play if in fergie's eyes it was a worse sin than the reward that Utd get from it.

So it clearly can't bother fergie very much at all. If it did, we wouldn't be having this convo now.

------------------

Just on a slightly different subject, can someone give me the numbers for the number of Utd Prem games since xmas, and the number of them which didn't have Utd getting a penalty? As a casual viewer it seems like Utd have been getting one or more in just about every game since xmas.

While Utd have been getting results, things would surely be a fair bit different at the top of the league without all of those penalties. (that's not me saying that none have been deserved BTW, just that Utd's "great form" would look a fair bit different without all of those penalties)

Edited April 16, 2012 by eFestivals

[pink_triangle]

"Overdid it", "Dramatic". No manager speaks more harshly than that about their player diving in public. No manager ever says "yeah he dived". He could've just done a Wenger on it and said he didn't see it. He'll have words. Trust me. Young has previous though of course.

[The Nal]

If it was something that bothered fergie he'd have had words long before now. He'd have had words when he signed him and at least once a month for every month since, given Young's amount of dives before and since.

And if fergie had had words already and Young was ignoring him, I suspect that Young wouldn't get to play if in fergie's eyes it was a worse sin than the reward that Utd get from it.

So it clearly can't bother fergie very much at all. If it did, we wouldn't be having this convo now.

[eFestivals]

As PT says below - the main reason why Fergie will have a word. Same reason he did with Nani.

as I say, it's not bothered him until now so I can't see why it'll suddenly bother him after yesterday's match.

[The Nal]

as I say, it's not bothered him until now so I can't see why it'll suddenly bother him after yesterday's match.

[Jaybles]

Just on a slightly different subject, can someone give me the numbers for the number of Utd Prem games since xmas, and the number of them which didn't have Utd getting a penalty? As a casual viewer it seems like Utd have been getting one or more in just about every game since xmas.

While Utd have been getting results, things would surely be a fair bit different at the top of the league without all of those penalties. (that's not me saying that none have been deserved BTW, just that Utd's "great form" would look a fair bit different without all of those penalties)

[strummer77]

Because hes only dived once (I think) before yesterday, which was last week. Two in a row and a growing reputation for it? He'll put a stop to it I'm sure.

[pink_triangle]

Im sure Rooney is happy with all the penalties, has certainly inflated his scoring record this season. I have always personally felt that penalties should be discounted in terms of golden boot. On the few occasions where the top scorer doesnt take them they are at a huge disadvantage. Nobody will convince me a non penalty taker on 20 goals has done worse than a penalty taker on 21 goals, including 5 penalties.

[eFestivals]

According to this (If accurate) http://www.myfootbal...Statistics.html

Man Utd have had 11 penalties this season

Man City are on 8

Next is Wigan and Blackburn with 7

So a fair few more than most of the league, but its not a common thing for Utd to be top in terms of penalties. Last season they only were awarded 5.

In fact according to that website this is the first time they have had the most penalties going back to the 2002-03 season

Thanks, but I was specifically after the number they've had since xmas. While I'm sure it hasn't been quite as I've felt it to be, it feels like they've been getting a penalty or more in nearly every match since then.

I know that many (if not all) of those penalties have been deserved, so I'm not aiming at having a pop at Utd for having got those penalties (just to make that clear before the ABU comments start from those people who can't help themselves but label any negative comment about Utd to be ABU driven, when what's really happening is their ABU fantasies).

But since around xmas Utd have been in poor form in front of goal from my casual take on things (I might be slightly mistaken because I'm not paying full attention, but don't think I'm far off with that), so am just wondering how things would stand with the league if they'd not been getting those penalties, and (I'm guessing) they'd then not have been getting the results they have in many of those games.

[Jaybles]

Thanks, but I was specifically after the number they've had since xmas. While I'm sure it hasn't been quite as I've felt it to be, it feels like they've been getting a penalty or more in nearly every match since then.

[strummer77]

First image I have see of it and to hear people you would of thought the ball was miles away! Its probable shy of being a goal by about 1 cm (whole of the ball has to cross the whole of the line right ?)... I think people are fecking bonkers if they are expecting a ref / linesman to call that one right at full speed....

[strummer77]

I think people are being WAY too harsh on refs. Bringing in video technology is the only way you will improve it.

[eFestivals]

First image I have see of it and to hear people you would of thought the ball was miles away! Its probable shy of being a goal by about 1 cm (whole of the ball has to cross the whole of the line right ?)... I think people are fecking bonkers if they are expecting a ref / linesman to call that one right at full speed....

Thanks for that shot - it's a lot clearer than the TV pictures.

And that's an awful lot further towards being a goal than the computer simulations that they gave on TV - which just goes to show how dodgy those simulations are (tho I'm quite surprised, I'd always credited them as being about accurate, and that gets to show that they're far from accurate).

It's still not a goal of course, but a fair bit of the ball is on or over the line while those simulations were showing none of the ball even reaching the line.

[eFestivals]

From and including the game on boxing day, Utd have been awarded 8 penalties in 17 games (according to wiki)

Rooney taking 5 of them, scoring 5 penalties in the last 11 games.

*not sure how reliable that data is

Cheers.

Do those numbers include yesterday's pen?

Even if that's missing I'd have expected the number of penalties to be greater than that since xmas. It's felt like they've been getting them in nearly every game lately.

[Jaybles]

Cheers.

Do those numbers include yesterday's pen?

Even if that's missing I'd have expected the number of penalties to be greater than that since xmas. It's felt like they've been getting them in nearly every game lately.

[Ed209]

Not sure what its meant to prove. The top teams are going to get more penalties because they spend more time attacking. What would be a more interesting stat is penalties/goals scored percentage

[pink_triangle]

Spurs getting a really easy ride about yesterday as they have for the last couple of months. Probably not surprising with arry as manager and scotty (rinse around a lot) parker in the team. The fact is they didn't lose because of dodgy refereeing, they lost because they were pretty rubbish, as they have been regularly recently. Chelsea were the better team comfortably.

[pink_triangle]

Not sure what its meant to prove. The top teams are going to get more penalties because they spend more time attacking. What would be a more interesting stat is penalties/goals scored percentage