The 2011/12 Gary Speed Memorial Thread

[Summers]

A couple of final points on the Arsenal/Newcastle game yesterday:

Song should have been sent off, no arguement, you'd be hard-pressed to find an Arsenal fan anywhere disagree and I'm sure the FA will probably take some action on.

Something someone pointed out on Twitter, we should have had TWO penalties yesterday. Gervinho was fouled, penalty number one and the second one was when Barton aggresively dragged Gervinho to his feet for no reason, no provocation and then grabbed him and yelled aggresively in his face.

Should Gervinho have been sent off yesterday? Well by the letter of law, not necessarily, nothing says raising your hands constitutes violent conduct. FIFA's definition of violent conduct is as follows;

"A player is guilty of violent conduct if he uses excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball. A player, substitute or substituted player who is guilty of violent conduct must be sent off."

By that Barton should have been sent off (excessive force in dragginh him off the floor when not challenging for the ball) and as for Gervinho, well he didn't dive, all he did was slap someone who was holding him aggresively which if you ask me is fair enough. Saying that, most Arsenal fans I follow on Twitter would have accepted us being awarded a penalty and both Barton and Gervinho being sent off. The fact Barton cannot face any retrospective action is disgusting.

Summed up better than anywhere I've seen. Anyone who wants to disagree, just re-read this post, because it's completely right.

[Liam]

Should Gervinho have been sent off yesterday? Well by the letter of law, not necessarily, nothing says raising your hands constitutes violent conduct. FIFA's definition of violent conduct is as follows;

"A player is guilty of violent conduct if he uses excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball. A player, substitute or substituted player who is guilty of violent conduct must be sent off."

Summed up better than anywhere I've seen. Anyone who wants to disagree, just re-read this post, because it's completely right.

Pretty much, except for the part I've flagged up. Everyone knows that raising your hands in an opponents face is a red card, as surely, irrelevant of how hard or otherwise he hit him, slapping someone around the face definitely could be considered 'excessive force or brutality'. Gervinho should have gone, and I don't know how TMM could be making the argument otherwise.

Edited August 14, 2011 by Liam

[TMM]

Should Gervinho have been sent off yesterday? Well by the letter of law, not necessarily, nothing says raising your hands constitutes violent conduct. FIFA's definition of violent conduct is as follows;

"A player is guilty of violent conduct if he uses excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball. A player, substitute or substituted player who is guilty of violent conduct must be sent off."

Summed up better than anywhere I've seen. Anyone who wants to disagree, just re-read this post, because it's completely right.

Pretty much, except for the part I've flagged up. Everyone knows that raising your hands in an opponents face is a red card, as surely, irrelevant of how hard or otherwise he hit him, slapping someone around the face definitely could be considered 'excessive force or brutality'. Gervinho should have gone, and I don't know how TMM could be making the argument otherwise.

The point I was trying to make is that by the letter of the law it is NOT a red card despite what the so-called experts and professionals continue to still insist. However and every Arsenal fan I follow on Twitter and also know personally actually do except the red card but also agree that Barton should have gone and we should have had a penalty either for the foul or the for Barton's "assault"

[Liam]

Should Gervinho have been sent off yesterday? Well by the letter of law, not necessarily, nothing says raising your hands constitutes violent conduct. FIFA's definition of violent conduct is as follows;

"A player is guilty of violent conduct if he uses excessive force or brutality against an opponent when not challenging for the ball. A player, substitute or substituted player who is guilty of violent conduct must be sent off."

Summed up better than anywhere I've seen. Anyone who wants to disagree, just re-read this post, because it's completely right.

Pretty much, except for the part I've flagged up. Everyone knows that raising your hands in an opponents face is a red card, as surely, irrelevant of how hard or otherwise he hit him, slapping someone around the face definitely could be considered 'excessive force or brutality'. Gervinho should have gone, and I don't know how TMM could be making the argument otherwise.

The point I was trying to make is that by the letter of the law it is NOT a red card despite what the so-called experts and professionals continue to still insist. However and every Arsenal fan I follow on Twitter and also know personally actually do except the red card but also agree that Barton should have gone and we should have had a penalty either for the foul or the for Barton's "assault"

.......though it doesn't directly say 'hitting someone in the face is a red card', what part of hitting someone in the face can't be considered 'excessive force or brutality'?

[HailtotheYo]

You honestly think that the tiddlywink slap was excessive and brutal ? Really .... ?

I agree it's all verbage and as TMM said, I have no issue with Gervinho being sent off. I do though, have a problem with the no foul call and Barton only getting a yellow.

[TCO]

Personally I'm ready to move on from this. It's been talked about to death. Barton more than likely should've went, Gervinho definitely should've went and the Song incident was dispicable.

End of the day I'm happy Gervinho went, that we got a point and that Barton didn't walk. Also my love for Joey Barton increased ever more.

[therockbox]

You honestly think that the tiddlywink slap was excessive and brutal ? Really .... ?

I have no issue with Gervinho being sent off.

'By the letter of the law he shouldn't have got a red card!'

'But I agree he should have got a red card.'

Make your minds up.

[HailtotheYo]

You honestly think that the tiddlywink slap was excessive and brutal ? Really .... ?

I have no issue with Gervinho being sent off.

Make your minds up.

What ?

I don't have an issue with him being sent off ... I just find it funny that Liam feels the 4yr old girl slap was excessive and brutal. That's what my comment was referring too. If it was, then what Barton did was on an entirely different level.

[Liam]

You honestly think that the tiddlywink slap was excessive and brutal ? Really .... ?

Whilst I wouldn't call it brutal, what part of football involves the need for someone to slap another person in the face? That essentially has to fall under excessive force.

Even if it doesn't get spelled out word for word in the FIFA rules, the FA and FA referees interpret the rule thusly, which means he should have got sent off.

To be honest, I'm only going on about this as it was the only person I'd seen in some way try and make a justification for Gervinho somehow not being sent off, which I just found bizarre.

[HailtotheYo]

Whilst I wouldn't call it brutal, what part of football involves the need for someone to slap another person in the face?

The part where a guy not involved with the foul/play comes over and drags you up off the ground and gets in your face

Oh and :/ really ? It's already started for fucking ManU ... this is going to be a long season.

[Liam]

Whilst I wouldn't call it brutal, what part of football involves the need for someone to slap another person in the face?

The part where a guy not involved with the foul/play comes over and drags you up off the ground and gets in your face

Oh and :/ really ? It's already started for fucking ManU ... this is going to be a long season.

I don't know what that means.

And to be honest, I'd not have argued with Barton going. There seems to be more contention about that decision though.

[HailtotheYo]

Oh and :/ really ? It's already started for fucking ManU ... this is going to be a long season.

I don't know what that means.

And to be honest, I'd not have argued with Barton going. There seems to be more contention about that decision though.

That's in reference to the wonderfully skillful second goal to win the match today ... *puke*

[Pesci]

Yes, it is going to be a long season indeed

[TheGreatJ]

Sick of bias officials. Needs to be stopped out of the game - either that or they'll plain fucking stupid. Gave non-existant fouls, and De Gea handled across the by-line, to which the prick of a linesman (who was terrible, ref was a bit shady but didn't do a whole lot wrong apart from booking Cox for a dive which was a blatant foul) looked at the ref, then at Vidic, before giving it as a goal kick. Twat.

Never the less, I wouldn't say it was an unfair result. A draw was probably fairer, but at the end of the day, some of United's play was Barcelona-esque, so I can't say a 2-1 where we showed some metal was un-just, despite those cunts of officials once a -fuckin-gain - we'd have beaten them in January had it not been for awful reffing so it was hard to see it again. Rooney's touch for the first goal was sensational, everybody sat with my just kind of gasped. Then the stupid inbred fuck of a United fan celebrated, only to get clipped round the back of his head and shoved into the aisle by a few of us where he was kicked out by a steward. Hate people sitting in home fans stands when they're opposition fans. I will say though, everybody is blaming De Gea, but he kept us out once or twice today. Tchoyi's cross shot which he palmed away from the goal when most keepers would've put it over was good keeping, seeing as United win in the hot seat and that was a quick break from us with just a few in support, so there wasn't lots of danger, and his save from Scharner took some fast hands, though a striker and better finisher would've probably put it away.

Today though, we missed Odemwingie. He is multi-dimensional, the perfect poor-man's Thiery Henry. His movement, flair, pace and eye for goal would've come in handy today. Somen Tchoyi is highly rated by a few people, just because he grabbed some goals last year, but he isn't as strong as he should be, falls over his own feet and seems scared to release the ball or shoot. James Morrison was the weak link today, like so many times last season - Dorrans is fully fit so should've started. Dorrans is a game-changer, and it probably would've been a different result had he come on. His vision, aggression, passing and set-pieces are handy against teams like United, and I remember he split there defence right open on New Year's Day with a half-volley, outside of the boot pass which set up a great chance for somebody, think it was Odemwingie. Tamas looked un-steady again and we should really try and get Ridgewell in to play next to Olsson, as Tamas kind of un-nerved the defence and apparently went out on the piss with Adrian Mutu after Romania's game in the week, leading to him being banned for life, which is not good to hear. Maybe Pablo could hack it though :/ And Brunt was sub-standard again, needs to be removed as captain and make an effort to get more involved in the game.

Overall, I've seen enough from us today to know we'll be good this season. No fear of relegation for me. Hodgson won't let us slip too much out of form if we do, he's too good a manager. Just a decent centre back is needed and we can build on 11th place from last year, especially with Long looking the perfect partner for Peter Odemwingie.

[Plubby]

I wonder how long the rest of Man United will have to keep bailing out De Gea?

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Personally I'm happy that Ferdinand, Vidic and Rafael will be out for the Spurs game. ^_^

[IAceI]

How much has everyone missed football?

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I still am.

[Plubby]

I still am.

[lanky316]

Personally I'm happy that Ferdinand, Vidic and Rafael will be out for the Spurs game. ^_^

Doesn't matter it's at Old Trafford, they could send out the Under 13 girls, we'll put on one of our worst performances of the season whatever side they pick OR we'll play well and have one of those days where it just won't go in before a massive "WTF?" decision happens. There's been quite a few where we've decided to do both in recent years.