April 30, 200916 yr I probably do come across as a crusty old colonial lol but I just think that when it comes to sport England should remain English, what other countries do should be irrelevant, that is a matter for them, how many of those countries are currently successful bar Spain ? maybe if they had less foreigners playing in their teams they would have a lot more passion and desire to win Those that are English and playing for England have likely been here all their lives why should they miss out on the ultimate honour by some French guy who is using England as a flag of convenience ? One of my fave players in the premiership, Artera, is qualified to play for England too, much as the guy is a genius and in my top 4 or 5 fave non Spurs players I don't want to see him play for England either, it is the principle of the matter
April 30, 200916 yr I probably do come across as a crusty old colonial lol but I just think that when it comes to sport England should remain English, what other countries do should be irrelevant, that is a matter for them, how many of those countries are currently successful bar Spain ? maybe if they had less foreigners playing in their teams they would have a lot more passion and desire to win Those that are English and playing for England have likely been here all their lives why should they miss out on the ultimate honour by some French guy who is using England as a flag of convenience ? One of my fave players in the premiership, Artera, is qualified to play for England too, much as the guy is a genius and in my top 4 or 5 fave non Spurs players I don't want to see him play for England either, it is the principle of the matter I agree with you. Up here in Scotland we don't exactly have a huge pool of International class players and struggle to pick from Scots born, so we have copied the Irish and gone down the one Scots grandparent route, it is so bad some of the recent ones seem to qualify for us if they have watched an episode of Taggart :lol: and if they have drunk a pint of guiness they can qualify for Ireland. Do you really want to go down that route. Surely if the Arsenal goalie plays for England in a big match and has a howler, every fan in the land will blame him for being a bloody foreigner. I can't see it happening with you, just because other Countries are stretching the rules doesn't mean you have to. Surely the bigger picture is too many foreign players stifling the English born players natural progression. With teams like Arsenal playing with no Brits let alone English players (occasionely 1), Liverpool with only 2 regular English players, and Chelsea with only 2 or 3 that is the real issue. Restrict foreign players in matches and you will have better players coming through, but it will take time.
April 30, 200916 yr Restricting forrign players in England is not the answer to a better national side imo. If a player is good enough they'll come through. Whether the play for a big team or a smaller team. U18s and U19s at the moment have soke very bg prospects coming through who I am sue a few will fature for England if a few years time. The problem with British player coming through is the coaching. We have so little technical players coming through, and so little player who can actually dribble a ball is purely because of coaches. Its all about tactics and formation as opposed to personal sill in Britian. This needs to be addressed, as all it leads to is avrage footballers who are tough but technically know nothing because it has all been coached out of them.
May 5, 200916 yr Author :w00t: BRILLIANT night. We completley OWNED Arsenal tonight, and Ronaldo was on FIYAH for once. Shame about Darren though, that was most certainly NO red card and I'm gutted for him missing the final :( Still, BRING ON ROME
May 5, 200916 yr I don't think the red card was that bad a decision, it was certainly understandable... He might not have deserved to go but there was no way the ref (or any ref) could see any touch on the ball. He may have got a small touch but he also brought him down, in the area and as last man. That was only ever not going to be a red card with the aid of TV replay.
May 5, 200916 yr Author I don't think the red card was that bad a decision, it was certainly understandable... He might not have deserved to go but there was no way the ref (or any ref) could see any touch on the ball. He may have got a small touch but he also brought him down, in the area and as last man. That was only ever not going to be a red card with the aid of TV replay. True - I can sympathise with the referees view but IMO it was still fairly clear the ball had been played from the way it moved away. I don't understand why it can't be appealed though?!
May 5, 200916 yr No question the better team went through on the night. Might have been a different game had those two early goals not gone in but those kistkes basically killed Arsenal off. Crowd went dead and then the players just lost it. I thought te sending off was he right decision tbh as well. He can count himself a bit unlucky but my gut instinct was a red card, but he was last man and took the player out so it warrants a red card in the rules.
May 5, 200916 yr Nah the penalty decision was an absolutely awful one. From the referee's angle he could see the ball clearly moving directly in front of Fabregas and then it jolted out to his right. Heck it even bounced once in the outwardly direction before Fabs went to ground. All in all the ref had a bad game tonight. There was one spell after the penalty when we must've had roughly 6-8 passages of play whereby we'd have ball being kicked down the field > 'foul' on defender > freekick launched up to the other end of field > repeat. No ref should intervene that much. Apart from that minor note though I can't complain with the performance of United tonight. Rooney on the left is really impressing more than anyone in that side right now. And if we're 'peaking' in the Champions League atm then the final looks promising indeed.
May 6, 200916 yr If we get Barca in the final I'd be gutted for Fletcher because I'm pretty sure he would play if that was the case :( I do have a feeling it'll be Chelsea again though who I have much more confidence in beating! Nice to see both Ronaldo and Rooney on fire in a big game :cheer:
May 6, 200916 yr 0Now Utd fans know how we feel after what Howard Webb did ;) I naturally wanted Utd to win last night for obvious reasons but will be cheering for Barcaor Chelsea in the final
May 6, 200916 yr 0Now Utd fans know how we feel after what Howard Webb did ;) What? Nah I think we knew that feeling precisely 6 days before the Spurs match when Danny Welbeck didn't get a penalty that would've arguably took us into the FA Cup Final..
May 6, 200916 yr What? Nah I think we knew that feeling precisely 6 days before the Spurs match when Danny Welbeck didn't get a penalty that would've arguably took us into the FA Cup Final.. Lol! I was about to say the same thing when I saw what Craig said :lol:
May 6, 200916 yr Well in relation to dodgy penalty decisions anyway, obvs not if he's referring to conceding penalties that shouldn't have been penalties.
May 6, 200916 yr There's no point argueing over referee decisions. They suck most of the time, as they get a lot of stuff wrong but that's football for you. Decisions normally weigh themselves out in the end. If Barcelona beat Chelsea tonight then I really couldn't see anything over than a Barca victory in the final. Well, that is unless Fergie decides to play defensive as if Man Utd let Barca play and let their midfield get on top then its gonna be a really difficult game for Man Utd. But i've got that feeling that Chelsea will get through tonight.
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