Parade All-American

So it turns out that one of the players the Ref yellow-carded in a recent game is a Parade Magazine All-American for soccer. This same fellow, Eber Martinez, also was named to the Washington Post's first team in soccer for the Spring 2007 season. His selection to both honors is well-deserved. We saw Martinez play twice. He scored in both games, and had at least one goal called back on an offside call. He has a good touch on the ball and can play with speed. At times, however, he tries to do too much and takes on multiple defenders instead of passing the ball to teammates. But this is a quibble. He's a talented player and I wouldn't be surprised to see him playing at higher levels in the not-to-distant future.

Things Seem to Be GOOD

So this is the first post in a while. So I have a lot to cover.

First - And its good that this is first since I was first. Yes I won our fantasy league with a hell of a final week. I went all out for that final week, being down at least 10 and then making three transfers, thus starting the week down 18 at least. So HA, my intellect in this sport is mathematically correct. I would also like to say that it should not have even gotten that close but I will say that I was focusing on my academics.. something I shall never do again in order to maintain my crown. Of the 3 years we have been doing this, I have won it twice and I believe Ill be putting a star on my shirt.

2nd - Good commentary on the FA Cup final from The AR. It wasnt that great of a match but the end result was exactly as planned. Now the only question is: when are Trudo's and The AR's teams going to win anything?

3rd - Champions League final - to be honest I just wasnt feeling it. Rafa has lost me as a coach, not because of my love for the special one but because its annoying to hear him talk. I know Jose has his own problems but at least he is entertaining. Plus Gattuso is a pain to just look at. He looks like he beats women. I know this is harsh, especially seeing him kiss his wife after they won, but he just is not a nice person. Plus in the end should have Milan even been there? A team caught up in a match fixing scandal should be sent down, no questions asked.

4th - and most important (HA!) my life - I was assigned two boys play off games this past week. Tuesday night it was Jefferson HS v Loudoun Valley. It went to 4 overtimes. HS rules is 40 minute halves and then two 5 minute overtime periods. Followed by two 5 minute sudden victory overtime periods, then Penalty Kicks. This game went into the 4th OT and a goal was scored about 2 minutes from time. The game was very competitive. The half time score was 1 - 1. Then LV scored under a minute into the second half only from Jefferson to score with about 2 minutes left in regulation. Jefferson did score a little earlier but I called it back since the ball went straight into the goal from a throw in. Jefferson ended up winning 3-2. They were dangerous the whole game with long throws deep in the attack and on corners, and thats how they won it. So I ended up running about 98 minutes and showed 5 yellow cards. The two for Jefferson were for dissent and the three for LV were for Unsporting Behavior (bad tackles).
The 2nd game was last night (Thursday, a day off in between games). It was the district tournament final. It went scoreless until the 100th minute, about 30 seconds from time when the player hit the ball and it took a deflection off a defender and beat the keeper. The George Mason HS coach did something clever. He put his defender up top for the overtimes. This defender hadn't done much running but had been a threat up top on corners due to his height. The visiting team Rappahannock HS was good and had a very organized defense even with the speed they faced. The AR was actually my 4th official so I am sure he can add some input into how the game went. I showed 3 yellows - One USB for each team, a reckless tackle by the Rap GK (foot came up) and a tactical foul by GM in the 3rd overtime. The other card was against Rap for having too many men on the field.

So I am now spent - two games with about 200 minutes of running, a total of 8 yellow cards, 6 goals, 8 overtime periods, and an estimate of 16 to 20 miles ran. feel free to tear me a new one

Sweet Touch

OK. So not the most riveting game ever played at the new Wembley. Or maybe it was because it was one of the first games ever played there. Whatever.

But after 116 minutes of sometimes intense and challenging play and a lot of meaningless midfield shuffling, Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard exchanged a series of one-touch, pinpoint passes that led to the only goal as Chelsea defeated ManU 1-0 in the FA Cup final. So perhaps the Ref and Meanbaldguy can each take pleasure in successful domestic campaigns this season -- Chelsea winning the domestic double and ManU the Premiership title -- and rest until the battle renews in the fall.

Meanwhile, I have to say that Sir Alex's post game comments -- the routine bashing of the ref -- are a bit disappointing. I thought Steve Bennett did a fine job. I don't think the was the most difficult game to call and, aside from getting into passing lanes a couple of times, Bennett seemed to be in the right place and he kept the match under control throughout. On one handling call he blew the whistle too fast -- a ball hit one Chelsea player's arm from a kick that began about a foot away.

Ferguson's complaint focuses on the play when Giggs* slid into Cech, pushing the keeper and the ball apparently over the line. Bennett allowed play to continue, awarding neither goal nor foul. Sir Alex contends that Essien pushed Giggs and ManU should have won a penalty, but a look at the replay doesn't support this contention. (If the link works, the Giggs play is at 2:30 and the goal at 2:47.) As for Bennett's noncall, either he didn't see the ball go over the line, as Giggs was in front of the ball and Cech was cradling it, or if he did, he decided to allow play to continue. Technically, he should have called the foul -- no way it could have been a goal as Cech stopped the ball before it crossed the line and only Giggs momentum crashing into the keeper pushed the ball over -- because once a ball crosses a boundary line the Laws require a restart. So my guess is that neither he nor the assistant ref saw the ball over the line, and play continued.

(To be fair, had Manu won the game, we'd probably have seen similar comments from Mourinho. Teams never win or lose; it's always the officials' fault.)

(*Typo corrected per Ref's comment.)

ALL HAIL THE REF

Congratulations to the Ref for pulling out the Fantasy League championship- a sweet 2 point victory over the AR as a result of a tremendous final week performance. You would not expect such good work for a Chelsea man. Also kudos to the Trudo for bringing up the rear. Having school work does not excuse this stunning collapse, although my last week pickup of Berbatov (and making him captain) was inspired and was the difference. To be sure, next year's results will be different and look for the Ref to be dethroned just as the Blues were this year.

EVIL HAS BEEN DETHRONED

Who wants to bet that Mourinho is out?

Double OT

So as I mentioned in my post before, I was assigned the center to a Boys Varsity game that included the 7th ranked team vs the 10th ranked team in the area. The home team #7 Forest Park(white) was hosting #10 Gar-Field SHS(red) in their second match up of the season. The previous game saw Forest Park take the win away from home and from my understanding about that game there had been a few cards along with a penalty kick. Going into this game I knew it was going to be the highest level of intensity that I had seen yet but I also felt calm and prepared. I had confedence in myself and in my crew.

Now the game:
The first half saw a lot of action mainly with Forest Park scoring the first goal. I showed two cautions, the first being for a delay of restart when a Forest Park player kicked the ball off the pitch when a foul was called against him. This caution kind of set the tone that I was not going to put up with any of the silly stuff. However the FP coach was upset at half time because I had allowed Gar-field to delay a restart, I did not caution Gar-field because as my other assistant put it, it was a matter of 3 seconds vs 30 seconds. The 2nd caution went to Gar-field. The player as you can see below in the photo is about 4 inches taller than me and just a slight bit bigger. The roster says he is a senior, and lets just say if it had said he is a junior that might be a little weird. He was called 3 times for pushing in the back on high balls especially and on a few I had let slide because they were 50-50 and he was just in a better position and the other player fell down at a light touch. I showed him a caution for persistent infringement. It calmed him down a little bit and he was on the verge later for another caution but I had a word with him once or twice down the field about being careful and I believe it stuck.

At halftime both of my assistants (The AR is one of them) told me that I needed to tighten it up in the second half. Now I am not sure if I had did that or not but I did focus on being in the right position and on top of play. Red was down a goal and was fighting back really well. Although their problem was that they did a lot of individual play and were at each other's throats over every little mistake. Red #10, one of the best players in the region and also a captain, was constantly trying to play make and did a good job but he also talked back a lot. I have not seen another team that complained so much and asked me if I "seen that" so many times. Red tied the game up about 15 minutes into the second half on some nice one-two passing and then a slotted finish. This sparked two more goals within the next 10 minutes. White came back and did another nice back pass from the goal line that found a wide open man on the far post, the red defense was caught lapsing. About 6 minutes later #10 red found his way around a few players to put one in the back of the net. This set up a frantic final 15 minutes. There were two more cards in the 2nd half both for Unsporting behavior. The first given to white for a tactical foul by taking someone down on a semi breakaway towards the corner. There was no way that this would be a yellow card, and no way that it could be red because there were other defenders back and red was going towards the corner. The other caution was issued to #10 red for a reckless tackle. This is where I realized that these players knew what they were doing. #10 went into the tackle hard and knew once I blew my whistle he was going to get a card. The other player went down hurt and once he saw that and heard my whistle he acted hurt as well. I stopped the clock and called on the trainer for white. #10 was on the ground trying to reason with me but as I told him, he was working on a second card for dissent. Once he stood up I showed him the card and he walked off. When he came back on he was more focused on the game than me. The 2nd half ended with a brilliant save by the white keep that went off the post.

Right at the end of regulation I called the captains together and tossed the coin. White won and chose to kickoff and red decided to go in the same direction as they ended the game. There was a 5 minute halftime before the two five minute overtime periods started. If I can say something about HS rules this is the one thing I do not like. It should either be a full 10 minutes or two 10s because 5 minutes is not long enough. The overtimes had their chances but nothing major and there was only one caution, also for a tactical foul and the player even said to me "I know that was an asshole thing to do" which made me laugh and he accepted the yellow with out any trouble. The game ended in the 2-2 tie after both overtimes. The AR came running up to me at the end with a big smile and said I had done an excellent job, I believe both as a referee and as my dad.

At the end of the game red team fans had to walk around the stadium and some of them by the place we, the refs, had put down our stuff. The red fans had largely been more vocal than the white fans and mainly because I did call more fouls against red. They were by far a more physical team and also had a greater lack of discipline. A few of the fans said I sucked among other things and were only a few feet from me. The AR and my other assistant called for the AD to come over. The fans walked away but we still waited for an escort out of the stadium and to the car. We ended up being escorted by the visiting teams head coach and the home teams AD.

My overall impression of the game and my performance was a good one. I know I still need to improve on my positioning and not being in the passing lanes. I get caught too many time thinking about where I should be if I wanted to receive the ball when it should be where I think I can see the ball and where I expect it to go. Ah the player in me. I think I did a really good job vocalizing to the players, especially when going up for headers and telling them to go straight up. I also was sound on verbalizing that I was going to make them play through stuff and that not every touch is a foul. In the end I think communication is my strongest trait. I talk to the players a lot and I reason with them, but when I need to be I set the tone and don't let the tone be dictated by the players. Could have I called it tighter? sure, but the more you call the more people start realizing you are there, the less you call the more they police themselves. I am also proud of my fitness, there was a point in the 2nd half when I realized I needed to focus on keeping up with play and I think I was able to do that. It was a fun game to referee and the teams were really good. I look forward to having those high intensity games more regularly...

right on top of play eh?
all the photos came from www.gar-fieldsports.com
if you want, check out their blurb about the game "and all the calls going against them"

Any questions or thoughts feel free and I hope that The AR will post some comments as well

oh welll

hmm so its been a while, but its not like anyone reads this other than the people i talk to every day anyways...
aight so before i talk about the blues... figurative and literal... i will discuss some refereeing things that have happened over the past weeks

1st off - in more ways than one - my only red card of the season so far
Violent conduct, the girl elbowed another girl in the stomach away from play while the ball was dead. It was a stupid thing to do i was only about 10 feet away. She went off with no objections. What makes that game more memorable is that the parents were far worse than the players or coaches. It seems like the further away from the field the better angle of viewing the parents have, this field being very far away from the stands - which were built up and into a hill.
2nd off - coaches have been far better this season although there are still some of them that think coaching means talking more to or about the referee than the game. oh well, some things never change. Although in my last game the coach was upset about this girl getting tripped after the final whistle. you know how there are 3 tweets for the final whistle and the girl was getting clipped on the first. nothing bad and she was fine. coach wanted me to card the offending girl and all i probably would have given was a direct free kick, it wasnt a harsh tackle at all.
3rd off - tomorrow is a big day.. I am refereeing Boys Varsity, Forest Park HS vs Gar-Field HS... which the washington post has them ranked 7th and 10th respectively in the area. their first meeting ended up 2 to 1 in favor of Forest Park. From what I can tell about their previous game was that more than one card was handed out along with a penalty kick. This will probably be the highest level game I have centered yet. ill be giving a detailed report I am sure

Now to the professionals
Its Liverpool v AC Milan in a showdown once again. Of course for the next 23 days all we will hear about is Istanbul and the comeback. so be it.. I just hope the red haired kid remembers that he was too chicken to watch the whole game and is able to watch this one (he couldnt reason with his teacher about all school cleanup, even after i had settled it for him that he could watch, he was afraid of someones wrath)... haha, i am just messin with you man, although your beloved Arse doesnt have any silverware this season and could be american by this time next year.

Man U and Chelsea - now 5 points up in the prem with 3 games to go, one against Chelsea. It should be interesting after this weekend. The Man. Derby and Chelsea at Arse. A great weekend for football now that I think about it, hmmm. There are too many outcomes to think about but if it ends up being 5 points with two games left it would be interesting if Chelsea rest their players against Man U to focus on just the Cup. Yet if things change this weekend ( a win for the blues a loss for the devils) it could become very interesting what the special one decides. I have come to this conclusion that no matter what no one is winning the double, its going to be one or the other. Especially after the poor performance by ManU in the game today it should be interesting with all the injuries...

so many different possibilites

CL roundup

A quick review of this week's action to get my two cents in.

Yesterday showed how bad Arsenal must be- beacuse PSV is useless. No pace, no style, no nothing. Liverpool played well, but it looked like they were playing against Watford.

Only saw the highlights of the AC/Bayern game so can't really comment except to say that the Kaka pk looked pretty clear to me and I'm not sure why Bayern was complaining- but the tie (and the two away goals) puts them in good position for next week in Munchen.

Chelsea continues to look shockingly bad. Yes, Silva's goal was outstanding but the lack of urgency or tactical discipline with which Chelsea plays makes one wonder what the hell is going on. Even Mourinho, who admitted this week that they have been paying "silly" prices for players (see http://hornets.aolsportsblog.com/2007/04/03/chelsea-will-no-longer-spend-silly-money/) has to realize that things are going horribly wrong. As I have said many times, they could win 4 trophies this year and still be the most underachieving team ever given their stockpiling of talent.

Finally, the Roma v Man U game was a real treat to watch. Watching Roma on the attack is as fun as soccer gets- they should have done more after Scholes got his second card but perhaps they were exhausted from the incredible start they had. On Scholes, what was he thinking about? They were both obvious fouls and he played recklessly throughout. How Fergie can say that Chivu's complaining caused the ref to show the card is crazy- get a grip old man. Even I, a noted ref hater and Man U fan, knew he was gone the instant the play happened.

All in all, some fun viewing. Can't wait until next week.

Bob Bradley Plea

Hi all-I just wanted to say that officially I will never watch the US national team again if we hire Bob Bradley as full time coach. His hiring would show a complete lack of creativity and would burrow this program into the ground. Bruce provided the team with a solid work ethic and discipline and Bob Bradley would prove a meager addition to these attributes. Frankly it is insulting to Bruce at a basic level to place Bob Bradley and he in the same sentence. What has Bob Bradley ever done as a coach? Is the accolade of MLS Coach of the Year the sole requirement for the National Team job? What we truly need at this point is to appoint an international coach to add flair and tactical know-how to compete with the top European teams (and Argentina and Brazil). Are we satisfied with easy qualification to the World Cup, exiting in the second round (if we are lucky) and consistent domination of the weak Concacaf region in competitions like the Gold Cup? I cannot see us overcoming these lackluster benchmarks if we hire another mediocre American coach like Bradley. There is a wealth of international coaching talent that we could hire, coaches that would make use of our talent in the World Cup and deliver continued success. The outlook for US soccer is grim if Sunil Gulati insists on hiring Bob Bradley. I won't be the only one stops watching, that's a guarantee.

ignorance must be bliss

I wouldn't know... but the ref seems to...

Facts are facts, but the truly insightful man looks behind them. The real fact is that the payroll for Chelsea is absurd- Abramovich makes Steinbrenner look like a piker. with the talent he has bought, this team ought to win every game 4-nil. Why don't they? Because they have no chemistry and no discretion. Discretion? Swp has been criminally wasted- who cares if we waste a career? (it's irrelevant that he scored today) and ballack has been a waste of unprecedented proportions. Chemistry? 4 central midfielders, despite the fact that they are all superstars (except for ballack who is bollocks), is a disaster that anyone with half a discriminating brain could have seen coming. Special one? overrated doesn't begin to describe it. If they don't win 4 trophies with this roster, it is underperforming to an unprecedented degree.

Ahh and the facts are

Now after youve had your fun bashing on the special one let me have a little say.. And its a little funny after you come down on the bad signings that both of them would score this weekend along with kalou. Let alone the scoreline for the blues being 3-0 (Sheva, Kalou, Ballack) so that also going against the whole notion of it just waiting for the one-nil win. I am going to post Feb and March fixtures for all of the top three.. starting with your beloved ManU:

Now you said Chelsea have been settling for the one-nil winners or the one goal wins yet look here at the recent ManU scorelines. A draw to Reading at home, a last gasp freekick winner at Lille, C Ronaldo scored in the 88th minute against Fulham, had to hold on for dear life against reading again, O'Shea scoring in injury time at 'Pool, 75th minute against Lille, draw at Boro, and then this past weekend. Seems like ManU is leaving it late too. Hence the Jose talk about a little luck - especially when you start counting on O'Shea.

Now Chelsea:HMMMM...
Lamps in the 18th against Charlton, 3 nil against Boro, 4 nil against Norwich (Sheva scored two), Draw away at Porto (with an away goal), Drogba in the 84th in Carling Cup Final, 2 nil at Pompey, 3-3 draw after being down 3-1, Lamps in the 28th against Man city, and then the 3 nil win against Warnock. The only ones you could say Chelsea is leaving it late for are the fixtures with Spurs and Arse... But in the end you question Jose's style of play.. however I have never disagreed with you on that, what I was focusing on was Wenger's excuses that seem to be coming out of his wazoo...

My beef with Arsenal is that while you might say they play attractive football is that they do settle for the one-nil wins and everyone knows this.. Yet Wenger always focuses on the idea that they have pace. Sure he has youth and can bring up young players, I agree with his contract idea of anyone over 30, but if thats going to be his way of life it cant be his excuse.
Here are Arse's last two month:
Well HMMM... So we all know about the 3 cup losses, along with the loss today to Everton lets just look at the wins. All one, two, three, oh four of em.. 2-1 at wigan with both goals coming in the 80s after wigan should have been up 2 -nil plus they had the help of an own goal, Bolton was in extra time and the 3-1 score line is very decieving, the reading and the villa wins ill give them as good wins.. so 2 good wins in the past two months, I dont think Emerites is flying high...

So for the statement to be that Chelsea wait until the 81st minute to get a garbage goal is itself rubbish, especially in comparision to the other teams in the top 3.

And in all fairness all three teams got a little smack talk in this post so dont say I am not seeing all colors

News Flash- The Ref is color blind (at least to all colors not blue!)

Let's face it Ref, you are irrational when it comes to all things Chelsea (and to refs, but that's another story which has already been written...). Anyone who is paying attention will tell you that The Special One is sleepwalking through this year. Yes I know that they still could win everything, but that is just what happens when you don't have a discriminating bone in your body and use your stolen Russian oligarch money to go out and buy every player on the planet for undgodly sums of money. The choices he has made this year have been dumb-founding (or just plain dumb). Playing 4 central midfielders together has been a disaster and he insists on doing it- I know Cole's injury has been tough and Robben is a flake, but the congestion is obvious (as is the fact that Ballack is rubbish) to anyone who can stay awake through one of their snoozefest games. I gather they turned it on during the second half of the FA Cup against Spurs (does anyone know why they are on PPV??? I know they pull in dough, but the ratings bump for FSC seems like it would make up for that), but he never has them attack full out. His idea of a perfect game is to win 1-0 with a garbage goal in the 81st minute- that may have been the only way for Porto to win in Europe, but the sheer talent advantage he has with Chelsea should carry with it an obligation to let his players play the entertaining football they are individually capable of playing.

Regular readers of this blog (all four of us) know that I also despise Arsene Wenger and his pretty boys at Arsenal. You have to give him credit, however grudgingly, for bringing in great young talent and playing attractive football (he is the anti-Jose: all show and no care for wins). He is still a horse's ass.

(No need for either of you to bash Sir Alex in a reply post. Has anyone looked at his nose lately? He needs to cut down on the wine- he could take Rudolph's place next Christmas.)

And he said what?

Last week Trudo called out Jose saying that he could be a better manager because Jose didnt sub out Drogba when he was asking due to a back strain. I would like to emphasis that Drogba was eventually subbed out and still was able to play the Champions League game and the FA Cup match. Striking back at Trudo will be easy because his beloved Arse just lost their main attraction. Henry will be sitting out the rest of the season getting some much needed rest.

Here is where Wenger should have done differently. Henry had been coming back slowly and steadily since his injuries but every time he was forced onto the pitch by Wenger he came off even more injured. Wenger however does not take the blame rather puts it off on France. So Wenger is now saying Club is more important than Country. I wont disagree that some of the friendlies are stupid but you play for your country when called upon, its not like he had retired.

Yet I wont be like Trudo saying there is bad blood now between Henry and Wenger. Wenger used him yes, but then again Henry wanted to play, yet what player doesnt. Pedro Martinez wanted to play and look where that got the red sox the year before they won. Henry is still committed to Arse which is nice to see. Yet the manager is there to make sure that he has a healthy team throughout the year, but he lost his star player for the rest of the season over a 30 minute run out to try to stay in the Champions League. Arsenal should first however teach their other strikers how to put the ball in the net.

So who is really the dumb manager now?

CL Quarterfinal Draw- Will Trudo hate Meanbaldguy?

From Soccernet.com this morning:
"There will be no all-English tie in the quarter-finals of the Champions League after the draw kept them apart. Liverpool and Manchester United will be away in the first leg, to PSV Eindhoven and AS Roma respectively, while Chelsea host Valencia. The final tie sees AC Milan take on Bayern Munich."

As much as I love Roma and realize how much it would mean to Trudo for them to go through, GO RED DEVILS!

Champs League Rap UP and

ITS THE 100th post for 22andYou!!! so I would just like to say, its been fun. I know there been plenty of long breaks between posts and such but hopefully everything will be smooth running.. Good Times to come - now to some opinions..

I watched the Pool v Barca game while being distraced with the Chelsea v Porto game and then through the goal of the ManU v Lille game... I then caught the Sky Sports highlights of the Arse game.. if you think there is an english bias well there probably is but then again what games can we get over here in the states?

Now ill let the meanbaldguy have his take on the Pool game because he watched than one closer than I. Chelsea v Porto had its ups and downs... first off without Terry in the back it seems as though then need the first 20 minutes to remind themselves of his absence and that was for sure with the opening goal. Essien is a world class player and was 3rd in the African player of the year standings and while he can play defense he is a midfielder and if in the defense he should be on the wing. Diarra has come in and played extremely well on the back line even though he is young (turning 22 this week) and a midfielder first. Robben was all over the place, for the longest time on the left and then all of a sudden he was on the right. I think I agreed with Tommy SmYth for the first time in my life after that Robben's goal and that Chelsea needed to keep pressuring the keeper by putting the ball on target. I have no idea why Drogba was taking a throw in about 10 yards from the byline when he should have been in the center of the pitch. Last but not least.. Sheva had a huge impact and as i have been saying he is coming into form.. that was a wicked blast at the start of the game, Robben should have fed him a nice slot pass but shot instead, and then his assist at the end.. More about Robben in a little bit.

ManU v Lille
Decent back and forth game although there was still much talk about what the managers had been saying about each other. The referee, the same one that called the penalty for the Italians against the Aussies, was quick with the yellow card on for not giving ManU the 10 yards on the freekick which was smart. Larrson leaves ManU with a bang by getting the goal.. maybe someone else can provide some more about the games..

The bad of the games Chelsea, Arse, and ManU... Meanbaldguy I am sure is happy that the cheaters were dealt with.. Robben and C. Ronaldo were given yellows for dives... Robben it was clear although he prolly felt he had been doing a lot of work and needed a rest, just kidding... C. Ronaldo was hit a little on the shin and was about to take the next step before throwing his legs out... Yes to disagree with mr. smyth it is a yellow card because it is simulation and thus under the laws of the game it should be dealt with.. I think, feel free to disagree with me and i know everyone does feel that way, that offsides is one way or the other - the man is either off or on, and the same for simulation. It needs to be dealt with and any dive should be a yellow, and possibly embellishment of a foul as well should be dealt with as simulation.. Here is a clip of the Arse highlights.. Wenger says his team played well and should have won - THEY CANT PUT THE BALL IN THE NET.. they are lost with Henry.. more lost than Chelsea was with Sheva at the start of the season... Julio and Adebayor cant score and the "young kids" just arent delievering - no silverware for Arse this season, yet this man has the job for life?

ahh 100 feels good

ahh good times

Its been a few days I know and dont think its because I am afraid to respond to what has been said... but ive been busy so get over it...

Ill go backwards with the most recent first - Drogba and Jose are just fine.. and if Trudo thinks he can be a better coach then why was it when we played WSM that he forgot to have backup GK on the bench, naughty naughty... A player is hurt and stays on the field.. Drogba is a presence on the pitch and Kalou's goal is something to say to that - Drogba was a part of that play... So Trudo you have much more to do before you could become a better coach than the special one.. Sure it would have been good for Drogba to come off and save himself for Porto but eh hes fine.. As a matter of Sheva, as I write this he had a cracking shot on goal within the first 2 minutes of the Porto game and has said he feels as though he is growing accustomed to England. 2nd off why are you trying to create something that isnt there? where is the discontent between jose and drogba? there isnt one so tryin to get a comeback for your Arse coach, actin like the english press.

The Referee situation... Any improvements are much welcomed and if they end up saying they want two refs on the pitch that is fine. But as everyone here has said when they watched the HS games I played in with the 3 refs with whistles it was crap because there is no tone to the game. At the fifa level hey it might work cause they can have a team work together for years but at the youth level? Goal line technology is all good but I cant ever see a replay referee situation happening. While of course it interupts with play the other thing is that play goes so fast.. How many times could a goal be ruled out in exchange for a penalty kick for the opposing team because a foul happened and then a team went on a break? In the end the problem is with the changes how can they be used through out the competitions... Its unfair for the Uefa qualifies to have extra referees while the African qualifies to not..

So as we speak Barca nil-nil Pool and Chelsea nil-nil Porto..

Drogba + Mourinho = Love on the Rocks?

I found the Pompey-Chelsea game to be a quite stale affair, with the home side only playing good football after the 70th minute and being heroically thwarted on at least two occasions by the rugby-helmet genius of Petr Cech. One instance I found particularly interesting was the injury to Didier "Didn't Everyone Used to Hate Me" Drogba. He went up for a header and fell awkwardly on his tailbone, and took a few minutes to get up. He did go down hard and this post is not to criticize the Ivorian for his all too frequent theatrics, but to highlight the interaction between Drogba and the Special One that insued. Drogba seemingly told the bench that he was not at 100% fitness and when Mourinho was ready, he would like to take the rest of the game in from the inhospitable stands of Fratton Park. Mourinho's changes came and went and Drogba remained, unhappily, on the field. This could have been a result of Shevchenko's complete and total ineptitude at scoring in a Chelsea jersey on British soil. Mourinho therefore needed to replace the useless Sheva and kept the injured Drogba, who was all too unhappy to continue playing. He seemed to mouth, in his gesture ridden, shoulder shrugging way "I told you to take me out" with pointed anger towards Mourinho. He has clearly a massive void of true management skill, exemplified here in his inability to make the right substitution. Though I am sure tha post-game interviews adressed this interaction and both will come out smelling of roses, and love, I found it very interesting. We cannot forget that despite Mourinho's boasting of the "FIVE" trophies he has won since arriving at Chelsea (which in itself is farcical as he includes the community shield and 2 Carling cups) he has yet to produce on the European stage, and his only job seems to be smugness and picking an 11 out of high-priced, glamour stars of the highest quality in world football. I could do that and make the right substitution.

Great Post by Flying Tomato

It's good to see Trudo back in the blogosphere (I wonder who figured out how to register for him) - his latest post (see below) is a beauty and I can't agree more. I know the ref is proud (justifiably) of his reffing skills, but all of the defending of the refereeing in the Prem etc has to stop. Granted, most of the time the refs do a decent job (world cup excepted- I continue to maintain that the performance of the officials in Germany was scandalous) but these guys are mostly part-timers who make way too many glaring mistakes and the game has to see a few changes. One, as Trudo says and which I said over the summer, football at the highest levels isn't suited for one ref. The biggest complaints that I have heard about adding another on-field official comes from refs who seem to see such a suggestion as a threat to their manliness. Two, technology needs to be embraced: for goal line decisions and to analyze diving (do this after a match and give out cards retroactively), perhaps even to get offsides calls and penalties right if this can be done without interrupting the flow of the game. Third, diving and all the theatrics have to go. As just said, use video replay and give out heavy penalties for simulation. Fine the coaches while you are at it- if Jose or Arsene had to pay everytime Drogba or one of the Arsenal starlets acted like they were shot from the stands, this stuff would stop in a heartbeat.

The Ref = Sympathizer

The Ref seemingly cannot go one minute without posting about the mistreatment of refs. Here is what i have to say on the topic: get over it. While the ref does get an ungodly amount of unfair and cruel criticism all over the world, I feel that endlessly supporting them is neither helpful nor constructive. In fact the whole debate over which calls are right and which are wrong, and what player did what and what the referee saw etc ad nauseum...solely serves to distract us from the real point. With the game as fast-paced as it is, and with certain players (not excluding Arsenal lads) bent on diving, girl-slapping and other theatrics, the modern football match needs more referee presence on the field. It is all well and good to say that Graham Poll was right or Howard Webb could not see the action. The linesmen are not there to carefully observe fouls and other goings-on and should not be expected to do so. The conflict will end when there are two head referees on the field. Full stop. No more Mourinho/Ferguson whining. No more Arsene Wenger blindness and existential philosophy. No more Jordan love-dogging to every under fire manager. 2 refs, 1 field, better game full stop.

Has to End

Ok so I just posted last night about some other good stuff so go down a little and check that out. But right now I need to get this out there. Referees DO NOT SCORE GOALS.. THEY DO NOT FOUL.. THEY DO NOT HAVE CRAPPY DEFENSES... THEY DO NOT HAVE HORRIBLE TEAM FORMATIONS IN THE STARTING LINEUP...

I say this because Wenger is now coming out and saying that the linesman is a liar in the case of saying that Adebayor should have been sent off. He got Lampard to say he was not hit by Adebayor. Yet Wenger doesnt say anything that Lamps back was turned and that all that Adebayor needed to do to get a red was attempt to throw a punch. And now Warnock is also coming in and saying that referees lie and that it should be investigated. Look I understand the pressure that the Premiership could have on a coach, especially one in Wenger's position of having to win a trophy (whens the last?) or Warnock who needs to avoid the drop... but in the end their team winning is on them and not the referee. Wenger now has a meeting with the FA to explain himself and I hope with his French accent he just, uhhhh hoooww doo you say, je ne sais pas, i do uhhh not know, trips over himself. This is the stuff that once the FA can prove is a crock of bull needs to take down Warnock and Wenger...

Oh yea Wenger - Eboue got his three match ban as well, classy english (ooops cancel that) team you got there..

Please someone tell me I am going insane here and all this crap isnt true, where is the redhead to defend his coach when you need him?