Weekend games 11/12th Jan

[armchair]

I reckon hes a good player.The few times Ive seen him I might even go as far as to say hes been very good. I think saying hes a pretty-boy trickster is doing him a bit of an injustice.

But I agree the way hes being bigged up in the media is grossly exagerated and very much premature.

I think if he were playing for us we'd all be happy enough.

[augie]

Am watching the ath Madrid v barca match on sky and it has been a good match without much goalmouth excitement if that makes sense Naturally I am watching diego costa more closely than the others and I have to say that so far he has been largely disappointing - barca have had 66% possession in first half so he was never gonna see much of the ball but he has latched onto jordi alba with the intention of winning flick ons in the air but the short arsed left full has won every single header against him

I like ath Madrid - they play high intensity, in your face football and it is a throwback to the good old days for me

[armchair]

Am watching the ath Madrid v barca match on sky and it has been a good match without much goalmouth excitement if that makes sense Naturally I am watching diego costa more closely than the others and I have to say that so far he has been largely disappointing - barca have had 66% possession in first half so he was never gonna see much of the ball but he has latched onto jordi alba with the intention of winning flick ons in the air but the short arsed left full has won every single header against him

I like ath Madrid - they play high intensity, in your face football and it is a throwback to the good old days for me

Why you watching him so close?

[SteveO 35]

Am watching the ath Madrid v barca match on sky and it has been a good match without much goalmouth excitement if that makes sense Naturally I am watching diego costa more closely than the others and I have to say that so far he has been largely disappointing - barca have had 66% possession in first half so he was never gonna see much of the ball but he has latched onto jordi alba with the intention of winning flick ons in the air but the short arsed left full has won every single header against him

I like ath Madrid - they play high intensity, in your face football and it is a throwback to the good old days for me

Why you watching him so close?

Diego Costa isn't coming

[armchair]

Am watching the ath Madrid v barca match on sky and it has been a good match without much goalmouth excitement if that makes sense Naturally I am watching diego costa more closely than the others and I have to say that so far he has been largely disappointing - barca have had 66% possession in first half so he was never gonna see much of the ball but he has latched onto jordi alba with the intention of winning flick ons in the air but the short arsed left full has won every single header against him

I like ath Madrid - they play high intensity, in your face football and it is a throwback to the good old days for me

Why you watching him so close?

Diego Costa isn't coming

Bada bing. Can read it like a book!
I'll make the balls, you can fire em.....

[armchair]

Watching the Fulham v Sunlun replay and both Sunluns goals came from free-kicks but......
for me both free-kicks came from horrible dives.

I fukin hate diving and I dont give a fuck what Neville says. Contact does not mean you have a "right" to go down. Rather you have an obligation to stay up imo.

Probably needs a seperate thread but it fuckin really bothers me. Cheating bastards.

[LeftfootlegendGooner]

Watching the Fulham v Sunlun replay and both Sunluns goals came from free-kicks but......
for me both free-kicks came from horrible dives.

I fukin hate diving and I dont give a fuck what Neville says. Contact does not mean you have a "right" to go down. Rather you have an obligation to stay up imo.

Probably needs a seperate thread but it fuckin really bothers me. Cheating bastards.

What bothers me is the amount of money these divers earn, the games gone to a new level of not only cheating but ridiculously rich cheats

Tbh I sometimes wish I had never supported a team then I could just separate myself from this madness

[armchair]

Watching the Fulham v Sunlun replay and both Sunluns goals came from free-kicks but......
for me both free-kicks came from horrible dives.

I fukin hate diving and I dont give a fuck what Neville says. Contact does not mean you have a "right" to go down. Rather you have an obligation to stay up imo.

Probably needs a seperate thread but it fuckin really bothers me. Cheating bastards.

What bothers me is the amount of money these divers earn, the games gone to a new level of not only cheating but ridiculously rich cheats

Tbh I sometimes wish I had never supported a team then I could just separate myself from this madness

Me too mate. Its fukin pathetic. The thing I hate most about the game by miles and miles.

[northbank123]

Watching the Fulham v Sunlun replay and both Sunluns goals came from free-kicks but......
for me both free-kicks came from horrible dives.

I fukin hate diving and I dont give a fuck what Neville says. Contact does not mean you have a "right" to go down. Rather you have an obligation to stay up imo.

Probably needs a seperate thread but it fuckin really bothers me. Cheating bastards.

Not sure he'd have held the same view when he was playing against a cheating prick of a left winger!

At least he didn't come out with the old "any sort of touch at that pace" line. One minute they will watch somebody like Bale or Ronaldo sprinting over the half-way line brushing aside players who are trying to cynically bring then down and praise their immense power, and the next they will watch them tumble as a 5'8 10.5 stone full-back brushes into them and claim it was impossible for them to stay on their feet because of the speed they travel at. Utter bollocks.

[armchair]

When I played schoolboy and amateur football my favourite position was outside right cause I was small and quite quick. (Now Im a bit smaller but not as quick ) When defenders tried to foul me theres no better feeling than to shrug them off or skip their awkward/late challemge and go past them. (Leaving them looking foolish and you quite good ). I can honestly say I never even dreamed on going down unless I had to.

Now you rarely see that. Any touch and the *word censored* go down.

Sometimes there is a genuine foul and the *word censored* just go overboard falling. Suarez is so guilty of this. There are times when he is genuinely fouled but twists and contorts his body so much to make sure its embarrassing.

We really need video evidence introduced to eradicate this shit. Even if players are fouled, simulating and making it look worse is just as bad imo.

[armchair]

Aw jesus.
Just seen Sunderlands 4th goal. Adam Johnstones hat trick. It was a pen.
Altidore dived for the pen. Thats three of the four goals coming from dives. Good God.

[SteveO 35]

Diving if there is some form of contact doesn't bother me in the slightest.....in fact its a bit of an art if done properly, and something I used to love doing when I played....especially if some donkey centre half had been kicking lumps out of you all game

What I fucking hate with a passion, and I have sworn at the TV when Arsenal players have done it, is this fucking imaginary card waving bollocks at the ref. Fucking pathetic.

I took a tumble hundreds of times when I played but never ever did I think to jump up and try and get someone sent off. The whole reason I can't watch Spanish football because of that fucking pathetic shite

[armchair]

The waving card shit is punishable by a yellow card and rightly so. Its easy to spot and everybody knows where they stand.

The blatant diving and simulating or exaggerating is much more subjective and difficult for refs to spot. Its a hateful, insidius (sp?) and for me spoiling my enjoyment of the game. Its cheating, whether a centre-half has been kicking you all game or not. Kick him back ffs.

[SteveO 35]

The waving card shit is punishable by a yellow card and rightly so. Its easy to spot and everybody knows where they stand.

The blatant diving and simulating or exaggerating is much more subjective and difficult for refs to spot. Its a hateful, insidius (sp?) and for me spoiling my enjoyment of the game. Its cheating, whether a centre-half has been kicking you all game or not. Kick him back ffs.

I would never go down if there was no contact....but if some useless fucking lump had been giving it and was silly enough to make contact in the box I'd exaggerate it

For me, that fucking card waving shit isn't punished half as often as it should be. If it was the El Wankico would be 5 a side after 30 mins

[northbank123]

Diving if there is some form of contact doesn't bother me in the slightest.....in fact its a bit of an art if done properly, and something I used to love doing when I played....especially if some donkey centre half had been kicking lumps out of you all game

What I fucking hate with a passion, and I have sworn at the TV when Arsenal players have done it, is this fucking imaginary card waving bollocks at the ref. Fucking pathetic.

I took a tumble hundreds of times when I played but never ever did I think to jump up and try and get someone sent off. The whole reason I can't watch Spanish football because of that fucking pathetic shite

I'm the opposite on that, the card-waving doesn't really bother me. How often have we seen United or Chav (or Arsenal) players swarm around the ref in the aftermath of a tackle shouting and screaming that he has to brandish a card or award a penalty? To me when you're screaming in the ref's face to award a yellow or red card - which happens regularly - waving an imaginary card isn't the heinous crime it's made out to be.