Reading boss Nigel Adkins believes the Royals must beat his former club Southampton to keep alive their hopes of staying up.
The Royals slipped to the bottom of the league on goal difference last weekend after Adkins’ first game in charge following the 4-1 defeat to Arsenal, a result which leaves the Berkshire club seven points from safety.
The former Scunthorpe boss admitted it would always be a big ask to get something at the Emirates Stadium and felt Reading’s fight against the drop realistically didn’t start until this weekend’s match with the Saints.
Adkins is set to put aside personal feelings for the clash with his old club in order to make sure Reading get the three points they need to keep their hopes of survival alive.
“We talk about the long term situation that we’ve got, the way I want to go and play, but first and foremost, the here and now – we’ve got to go and win the game on Saturday,” Adkins told Reading’s website.
“We are where we are at this moment in time in the Barclays Premier League and we need to win. The next game is always the most important one, it’s the first home game for myself and Andy Crosby, and we’re really looking forward to the game.”
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As reported by The Mirror, West Ham are interested in signing Barcelona midfielder Andre Gomes this summer.
What’s the story?
With the Hammers fans having to endure another difficult season, manager David Moyes is expected to make significant changes to the first team squad at the London Stadium if he stays on as manager.
One player that could be on his way is Barcelona man Andre Gomes.
That’s according to The Mirror, who say the player is open to a move to the Premier League but that West Ham face competition from London rivals Tottenham Hotspur for his signature.
Rated at £13.5m by Transfermarkt, can the Irons convince him his future is with them?
A good addition?
Andre Gomes is a player on the fringes of the Barcelona first team this season, although is apparently a valued member of the squad, getting plenty of action from the bench with 30 appearances in total.
With close to 200 appearances between spells at Barca, Valencia and Benfica, it’s clear he is a player of quality that would likely add class and composure to the middle of the park at the London Stadium.
It’s the kind of elite experience that doesn’t usually find its way to the West Ham United first team.
As you’d expect from a Barcelona player he has excellent technical passing ability and a football intelligence that could add a new dimension to their midfield play.
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If he’s available this summer then he’s someone the Hammers should be pursuing.
Saturday’s win over struggling Sunderland was West Ham’s first Premier League win since January 18th, putting an end to a dismal run of form that was in stark contrast to the Hammers’ start to the season. More importantly though, it has put paid to their hopes of European football for next year.
The West Ham fans have never warmed to manager Sam Allardyce. His style of football doesn’t match the Hammers fans’ expectations of how their team should play. Maybe this is fair enough, though it’s possibly a picture of Allardyce that is coloured by his time at Bolton and his pragmatic approach to getting the teams he inherits to achieve their objectives.
Either way, the locals aren’t happy, and now even the club’s top brass are starting to pile pressure on the manager.
Karren Brady, who is West Ham’s vice-chairman, is reported in the Telegraph to have written that West Ham are ‘underachieving’ and that it is up to Sam Allardyce to ‘identify the reason and rectify it.’ Clearly she is not happy with West Ham’s current form, and she feels that the high league position that West Ham occupied until Christmas was not overly inflated for their current squad.
Sam Allardyce responded to these comments after the win on Saturday, telling Sky Sports that although his team haven’t been getting the results, their performances have been very good. He said: “We’re not under-performing, we’re under-results-getting so she’s wrong in what’s she’s saying.”
Big Sam’s comments seem to rest on either a misunderstanding or a misquotation of what Brady said. She didn’t say that the team were ‘underperforming’, but that they were ‘underachieving.’
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Allardyce is probably right to a certain extent – West Ham’s performances in defeat haven’t been terrible of late, though they haven’t been at the same level as they were before Christmas. But Brady did say underachieving – nothing to do with performance. If they are playing well enough to win and not managing to do so, that is almost a perfect definition of underachievement. If the team has been performing well, only one win since mid-January is definitely underachievement.
But there’s a bigger issue at stake here, and that’s Big Sam’s contract and his future at the club.
The mirror are reporting that Eddie Howe, the manager of (maybe overachieving?) Bournemouth, is being eyed up by the West Ham board as a replacement for Allardyce in the summer. Howe’s team have been wonderful this season in the Championship, playing attractive and attacking, passing football, retaining possession when they can and looking to release strikers with through balls. Surely that’s the kind of football Irons fans have in mind for their team, and the principle reason that Allardyce is unloved is because he doesn’t provide that. With Big Sam’s contract up in the summer, this move makes a lot of sense.
But in that Sky Sports interview, Allardyce seemed to drop a hint that he is eyeing new recruits in the summer. He suggests that the poor run of results recently is down to the size of the squad he has at his disposal, and that means they need to strengthen in the summer.
Maybe Allardyce is simply stating a truth here. Maybe he’s not looking to buy in the summer, and instead will just leave at the end of his contract and find somewhere new, though it is strange that he’d say something like that – it’s the kind of thing managers say when they’re looking for the owners to dig into their pockets and stump up some cash. But maybe he’s just defending his record and defending his players.
Either way, there is certainly much intrigue at the Boleyn.
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Sam’s position doesn’t seem to be a tough one, though. If the board and the fans are both against him and his contract is up in the summer, what does he stand to gain by staying?
A solid end to the season would keep his stock as a Premier League manager high, and ‘the most sophisticated manager in the league’ may well himself have some new suitors come May.
Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic has refused to suggest the race for the Premier League title is over, despite his side extending their gap over Manchester City to 15 points.
The Red Devils took full advantage of City’s 2-0 loss at Everton by claiming a 1-0 victory at home to old Trafford on Saturday.
With only nine games remaining apiece, many have predicted that United have all but secured English football’s top prize.
But, Vidic is adamant that the battle for the league title is far from finished, citing last season’s late drop in form, where they surrendered an eight point lead, as an example of what can happen:
“It is a big gap and we shouldn’t let that change. We have the title in our hands,” he told Sky Sports.
“What happened last season is the reason why sometimes you can feel the fans get nervous.
“But I don’t think we should allow that to happen again. We can’t allow that to happen again.
“But we still have some tough away games at places that are traditionally hard for us so nothing is finished yet.”
City won the league title with the final kick of the campaign last time out, as Sergio Aguero netted an all-important winning goal against QPR.
Chris Smalling echoed Vidic’s thoughts, stating that nothing can be taken for granted:
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“Last season is a massive incentive to make sure we hold on to this lead.
“We can’t rest on our laurels. We have to make sure we finish it well before the season is over.”
Newcastle United took a massive step towards English Premier League safety on Saturday after a 1-0 win at home to Huddersfield Town.
Needing a victory to ensure they don’t get drawn further into a relegation battle, Rafa Benitez’s side produced the goods thanks to a late goal from Ayoze Perez.
The Magpies ended the day seven points clear of 18th placed Southampton, with five teams separating the two sides. With just seven games remaining that gives them a healthy enough cushion that should be enough to ensure they don’t drop down the Championship.
Fans were delighted with the win and singled one individual out for particular praise – midfielder Mohamed Diame.
The 30-year-old wasn’t the most popular figure with Newcastle supporters earlier in the season after a number of poor performances but he’s been one of their most important players in recent months and performed excellently against Huddersfield, the driving force in the middle of the park.
Fans took to Twitter to share their thoughts on his display…
St Patrick’s Day is here, making it a time to celebrate all that comes from the Emerald Isle. While the Republic of Ireland have not truly been a dominant force in football, the nation have supplied the Premier League with a one-man entertainment show… Roy Keane!
The no-nonsense ex-Manchester United man is one of the true characters of the English game, and while his approach is not always orthodox, he has created some moments all footy fans will remember.
We’re sure he’ll be enjoying the festivities of this special day later, and here’s some advice we thing Keano would dish out…
Don’t take any s***
Keane takes no prisoners, it’s key part of his whole persona. If something’s wrong, he’ll let you know, just like he did with Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy in 2002. According to team-mate Niall Quinn, Keano hit back at his boss with this outburst when criticised in a squad meeting…
“You’re a f****** w*****. I didn’t rate you as a player, I don’t rate you as a manager and I don’t rate you as a person. You’re f****** w***** and you can stick your World Cup up your arse. I’ve got no respect for you. The only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you are the manager of my country! You can stick it up your b*******.”
He also hit out at Alan Shearer!
Revenge is a dish best served angrily!
If someone wrongs you, let them know! Man City’s Alf Inge Haaland fell foul of Keane, literally, after the then Man City man had inflicted an injury on the Irishman years before…
“I’d waited long enough. I f****** hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you c***. And don’t ever stand over me sneering about fake injuries.
“Even in the dressing room afterwards, I had no remorse. My attitude was, f*** him. What goes around comes around. He got his just rewards. He f***** me over and my attitude is an eye for an eye.”
Say it how it is…
Don’t pull any punches… here are some examples of Keane doing just that!
“I don’t think some of the people who come to Old Trafford can spell football, never mind understand it.”
“Sometimes you wonder, do they understand the game of football? They have a few drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches, and they don’t realise what’s going on out on the pitch.”
Let any idiots know they’re idiots
Anyone says something stupid, let them know! As Roy did with Adrian Chiles when debating how much rain constitutes a downpour…
Have a laugh!
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At the end of the day, have a good time. Keane can be serious, but even the Irishman had a good laugh when chatting on air with Gareth Southgate about a ‘clash’ the pair had in their playing days
Not only did Saturday’s game with Leeds end unfortunately in defeat, it also had a massive shock to some.
It has finally happened, the prodigal son Liam Trotter has not only been dropped from the starting XI, but the entire match day squad.
To non-Millwall fans this will be a surprise, other teams fans would highlight him as one of our, if not our best player. But they don’t know the truth. Yes, Trotts started the season well, putting in great performances consistently, but this seems a long time ago.
Come to this point and Trotter is nowhere near his earlier form. He is known as an attacking midfielder, but now he doesn’t seem to get forward enough, and he cant defend well either. So he’s an a attacking midfielder who isn’t scoring and can defend, a “nothing” player, let’s just say I’ve washed a few quid on Trotter FGS in games…
Some people describe Trotter as a “luxury player” but there is not much luxurious quality about him at the moment.
We all know he has the potential to “change a game”. Yes he does, but one game in six doesn’t cut it, KJ has been quoted in the past in saying he has “Premier League quality” well he needs to hit consistency in the Championship before even thinking of the Premier League.
I still believe he is a very good player; he just needs to find more consistency in the way he plays. Lets be honest, he is our best centre midfielder by far on his day.
Josh Wright, not exactly an attacking midfielder, but not defending either, has a great pass though.
Jimmy Abdou, the best defensive midfielder we have, but can’t go forward for love nor money.
And that’s basically it, I never thought Trotter would be dropped, he’s our best attacking midfielder. But we only have three out and out centre midfielders so what can we do?
Let’s just hope this wake-up call has the desired effect on Trotter, maybe he needs to look at James Henry as a prime example.
Last season Henry was being kept out the team by Liam Feeney, that’s how bad it got.
But he worked hard to regain his place, and he did. Before he was lazy and uninterested. He then became a driving force in the Lions hunt for survival, plus he added a new factor to his game, tracking back helping the defense.
I like Trotter and still think he has the potential to be a Premier League footballer, but he needs to buck up his ideas and fast.
Also, a quick side note to the 160 ‘Wall fans who made the trip to Leeds. We’ve had enough of being treated like dirt due to past reputations. An early kick off, massive prices and having to stop on the motorway services to collect your ticket, how many other clubs suffer this?
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No wonder this was considered a boycott…
Leeds have dealt easily enough this season with a few thousand Everton, Chelsea and Spurs fans, but can’t handle which would be 1,000 ‘Wall if it wasn’t for restrictions?
Motorway services are for petrol, not football tickets…
As football fans we’re always looking back on the good times; the moments that made us laugh and cry and the moments we’ll either never forget or do our best to wipe from our memories forever.
But what about the future? What do we have to look forward to? Can we get excited about what’s to come or should we continue to yearn for yesteryear?
As part of our Premier League 25 years celebration this season, we’ve decided to boot up our copy of Football Manager 2018 and simulate 25 years into the future to see what exactly we’ve got to look forward to. And without wanting to wish our lives away, we’re in for a real treat if this is what the future holds.
With one season per article, we’re looking 25 years in to the future. Below we take a look at the 2024/25 campaign…
Reigning Premier League champions Arsenal are quiet in the summer window, bringing in 33-year-old Lorenzo Insigne on a free transfer alongside Afonso Sousa from Porto (£12.75m) and AC Milan goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma (£30..5m). In February, 20-year-old Anier Rivas arrives on a free.
Arsenal’s departures include Granit Xhaka to Southampton for £13m and Thiago Almada to Chelsea for £22m.
Up in Manchester, Jose Mourinho is busy plotting Man United’s return to dominance after a season that saw them massively underachieve compared to previous years. However, just three players arrive at Old Trafford in the summer, the biggest one being the £40m capture of AC Milan wonderkid Mohsine Gavioli. The other two are just youngsters who go straight in to the U18s.
Manchester City, still desperate to overtake United as the strongest force in the city, spend £209m across both transfer windows. AC Milan centre-half Augusto Martinez signs for a whopping £75m while Julian Brandt (£52m) and Ruben Dias (£39.5m) are the other high profile arrivals at the Etihad. Out the door goes a handful of youngsters and no one of particular importance. City clearly make a statement early on in 24/25.
Tottenham, as they continue their long-running bid to fully establish themselves as a top four club (they’re failing so far), throw £70m at five new faces; Bordeaux’s Franck Robert is the most expensive arrival at just £22.5m while Almamy Traore joins from Monaco for £18.25m. Serge Aurier is sold to Roma for just £6m, Stefan de Vrij is loaned to Benfica for the season and, after 226 Premier League appearances, centre-half Inigo Martinez leaves New White Hart Lane for Bilbao in a £3.6m switch.
Chelsea also go big in the transfer market. £190m is spent on six players. Yvan Berthier is their most expensive signing as he joins from Saint-Etienne in January for £72m. Former Real Madrid hopeful Achraf signs from AC Milan for £30m. After just 13 Premier League appearance in two seasons, Shkodran Mustafi leaves Stamford Bridge for Villarreal for just £6.5m and Lucas Digne is sold to Bordeaux for £12.5m.
Over at Liverpool, the biggest name coming in to Anfield is Barcelona’s N’Golo Kante who returns to the Premier League in a £10m deal. The biggest name leaving the Reds is a shock one as Lautaro Martinez is allowed to sign for Monaco for just £48.5m – the striker had netted 59 goals in 146 first team appearances during his four seasons at Anfield.
Elsewhere, Victor Wanyama returns to Southampton 10 years after leaving for Tottenham in a £1.4m switch from FC Metz. After leaving Spurs he spent three years in China and then four seasons at Everton before his single year in France. Saints also bring in Marcus Rashford on a free transfer after the 27-year-old’s release from Man United and a 33-year-old free agent Pascal Gross.
The League Campaign
It didn’t take long for Mourinho’s United to return to the top as they completely dominate the season, losing just three games and winning the title by a huge eight points. All that without much investment in the transfer windows, too.
Man City are forced to settle for second once again while Arsenal concede their title with a third placed finish. Chelsea beat Spurs to fourth for second consecutive season and Liverpool are sixth again.
Leicester continue their prominence in the top eight and although Bournemouth are two places worse off than the previous season, they still impress everyone with yet another good season in the top ten.
West Ham finish 10th for a fourth consecutive season. Mid-table mediocrity at its best.
Everton, Newcastle and Southampton are all left disappointed and have to settle for a finish in the bottom half of the table despite hefty investment in the windows.
Ipswich are the only newly-promoted side to survive relegation as Sunderland and Leeds join Middlesbrough in the bottom three.
The title race was over pretty quickly. United had to face Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool in their opening four games of the season and won two of them as the Gunners record a 2-1 victory at Old Trafford. Then Mourinho’s men go on a 21 game unbeaten streak, 19 of which were wins. That run is ended by a shock 2-0 defeat away at Stoke in February and United only lose again on the final day, but the title is obviously all wrapped up weeks before Leicester record a 1-0 win.
It was the race for fourth and the relegation battle that had to provide much of the entertainment instead, and both failed to disappoint.
Spurs looked dead and buried in their hopes of taking fourth when they went seven games without a win between November and December, a run that included three consecutive defeats to Man United, Liverpool and Chelsea respectively. But they rallied to lose just once between the end of January and the beginning of May, including a 1-0 win over Chelsea, before Southampton stopped them in their tracks with a 1-0 victory at St. Mary’s.
That defeat handed Chelsea the initiative once again. The Blues had a stop-start season and only drew two games throughout, either winning or losing the rest of their fixtures. Back-t0-back defeats to Spurs and Man City in April looked to have ended their top four hopes but on the same weekend Spurs lost to Southampton, the Blues ground out a 1-0 home win over Stoke to give them another five point advantage over Spurs going in to the final two weekends. Both teams won their remaining games.
Down at the bottom and while Leeds were comfortably relegated, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Ipswich and Crystal Palace all played out a battle to stay in the Premier League.
In the end, Ipswich can consider themselves extremely lucky. They lost all four of their remaining league fixtures, a run-in that included a trip to Anfield sandwiched between home games against Man United and Chelsea. They were expected to drop.
But Boro could only muster two points from their final four games, three of which were away from the Riverside, and Sunderland couldn’t save themselves either in a run-in that included games with Man United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.
Here’s how the season looked as far as team records are concerned…
End of Season Awards
One of West Ham’s summer signings – the £25.5m capture of Augsberg youngster Felix Bremser – goes on to claim the Premier League Golden Boot with 18 goals from 33 league appearances.
Hammers fans are seen dancing in the streets in celebration after finally seeing a striker score regularly for them.
Man City’s Pietro Pellegri comes in just behind Bremser with 16 goals, as does Ipswich’s Jhon Miranda and Harry Kane. Dybala nets 15 to take his Man United tally to an impressive 116 Premier League goals in 247 appearances. Pellegri’s City record is even more impressive, though – 76 goals in 117 league appearances.
Harry Kane’s return of 16 goals sees him take his Premier League goal haul to 213. At 31-years-old it’s fully expected that he will eventually break Alan Shearer’s record of 260, but will he?
Arsenal’s Naby Keita tops the assist charts with 13, one ahead of Spurs’ new signing Franck Robert.
David De Gea wins the fifth Golden Glove Award of his career with an impressive 18 clean sheets as United romped to the title – runner-up Jack Butland could only keep 12 clean sheets for Man City.
The Premier League Player of the Year is awarded to Man United’s Paulo Dybala for the third time in the Argentine’s career, thanks to his return of 15 goals and 10 assists from 31 league appearances.
Manager of the Year is, once again, Jose Mourinho – for the eighth time in his career. He needs just three more to match Sir Alex Ferguson’s record.
There are a number of familiar faces in the Premier League Team of the Season, but there is a welcome appearance from West Ham’s Golden Boot winner Bremser.
It’s worth noting that before the season started, Cristiano Ronaldo announced his retirement from the game. The Portuguese legend netted a career total 506 league goals in 706 league appearances for three different clubs over a 25-year career.
Lionel Messi, on the other hand, is still going strong at 37-years-old and scores 21 La Liga goals to take his career league goal haul to 498 in 671.
Manager Movements
On August 1st t Garry Monk resigned as manager of Crystal Palace before being named as the new England manager a month later – Palace replace Monk with former Wolves boss Vedran Corluka. England, by the way, are the current World Champions. Yes, that’s right. Gareth Southgate led England to the 2022 World Cup!
Anyway, the first sacking of the season comes at the beginning of November when Tim Sherwood is relieved of his duties at Southampton and is replaced by Patrick Vieira. Everton’s Jorge Sampaoli loses the Everton dressing room and is also sacked in the same month, being replaced by Middlesbrough’s Paulo Sousa. Boro replace him with Sampaoli.
A poor run of results after Christmas leads to West Ham sacking Paul Heckingbottom and replacing him with Sunderland’s Anthony Gerrard. Sunderland appoint Alex Neil as his replacement.
In other managerial news at the end of the 24/25 season, Kasper Schmeichel is the manager of Tranmere Rovers, Joey Barton is in the Mansfield hotseat, Emmanuel Adebayor is in charge at Aston Villa, Albert Adomah is at Brighton, Francis Jeffers has popped up out of nowhere to take the top job at Cardiff, Phil Neville is at Millwall, Graziano Pelle replaced Gary Neville at Reading and Wayne Rooney is at League One Lincoln.
What to expect next season?
Once again, everyone will be looking to knock Man United off their perch. They’ve now won 26 Premier League titles and Jose Mourinho has six of them. Can Arsenal return and win it again, or can Man City finally snatch the league off their neighbours?
What about Tottenham? Can they finally beat Chelsea to fourth spot? Will Liverpool ever get back in to the Champions League via a top four finish?
West Ham – will they ever break away from the shackles of 10th, or will they succumb to mid-table mediocrity and remain there forever more?
And how will Patrick Vieira get on with management in the Premier League at Southampton?
Newly promoted sides Millwall (yes, Millwall came up as Championship champions), Burnley and West Brom will only have survival on their wish list. How many riots will there be in Stratford when Millwall visit West Ham?
The 25/26 Premier League season is going to be an interesting one.
2024/2025 Overview
Premier League Champions: Man United
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Champions League qualification: Man United, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham
Europa League qualification: Tottenham, Liverpool and Bournemouth
Relegated to Championship: Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Leeds
Promoted to Premier League: Millwall, Burnley and West Brom
Community Shield Winners: Arsenal
FA Cup Winners: Arsenal
Carabao Cup Winners: Bournemouth
UEFA Super Cup Winners: PSG
Club World Championship: Arsenal
Champions League Winners: Arsenal
Europa League Winners: Tottenham
So despite Arsenal failing to retain the Premier League, they do win a second consecutive Champions League title and add the Community Shield, FA Cup and Club World Championship to their trophy cabinet. Pep Guardiola is fast becoming a legend at the Emirates.
Bournemouth secured their place in next season’s Europa League with an emphatic 2-0 Carabao Cup final victory over Man City, but amazingly could’ve made it in to the Champions League.
That’s because the Cherries defied all odds to reach to the Europa League final but unfortunately fell to a 3-0 defeat to Tottenham in Rotterdam. It was Spurs’ third consecutive Europa League final appearance and they were finally able to lift the trophy having lost their previous two finals. Spurs finally return to the Champions League.
<< Click here for the 23/24 season | 25/26 season coming soon!
Manchester United star Jonny Evans has claimed that his teammates are starting to understand manager Louis van Gaal’s philosophy and tactics, according to reports from the Express.
Upon being given the Old Trafford hotseat, Van Gaal insisted that it would take time for players to get used to his formation and style of play, but the fans and some squad members have already grown frustrated with the Dutchman’s approach.
The former Bayern Munich manager has changed his formation several times but now seems adamant on playing a 3-5-2, which resulted in the supporters shouting for a change to 4-4-2 during United’s 2-0 win over QPR a few weeks ago, while youngster Adnan Januzaj has publicly admitted that he’s struggling to adapt.
But centre-back Evans believes that, following a run of 16 games with only one defeat, Van Gaal’s methods are starting to pay dividends.
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He said: “The lads have had to take a lot on board. At times, you know, it has been tough and it takes time.
“We’ve been used to playing a certain way for a number of years then the change happens and the new manager wants us to play a certain way.
“It takes time for those things to become second nature but I think you are starting to see that now.
“The fact that the formation has changed a lot has taught the lads an awful lot. Using three at the back against Spurs and Liverpool for instance really suited us because of the way those teams play.
“The experience of using different formations can only benefit us in the long run.”
And the Northern Ireland international has suggested that Van Gaal is aiming for a slow possession style of play, one that is different from the Red Devils’ former quick-passing attacking mentality.
“I think when you get as many attacking players on the pitch as we’ve got you are always going to entertain,” he added.
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“But the manager has done a lot of work in trying to steady the team and making sure everyone knows their jobs. Once we get that nailed on, and everyone knows their defensive jobs, then I think we’ll be able to push on from that and be really entertaining again.”
United continue their fight to stay in the Premier League top four when they visit West Ham United this weekend.
How do we solve a problem like diving? How do we even define a problem like diving? It’s rarely a black and white, yes or no issue that can be correctly evaluated and dealt with in the blink of an eye.
Of course there are the painfully obvious examples where individuals hit the turf as though someone has stolen their knees but what about when players genuinely come together? Unfortunately, in these common scenarios, ‘going to ground’ is usually the decisive factor in convincing a referee that a foul has taken place.
A perfect case in point is the penalty Steven Gerrard tucked away in the opening stages of Liverpool’s recent visit to the Britannia Stadium. Luis Suarez surged past Ryan Shawcross into the penalty area only for the Stoke defender to start physically undressing him.
The shirt tugging on its own will never be enough to bring Suarez to his knees, so he decides to throw his arms back and plummet to the earth, in an attempt to communicate to the officials that he has been clearly impeded. Is that unsporting behaviour? Perhaps, but if he doesn’t go to ground then he is unlikely to be awarded the penalty he undoubtedly deserves.
Another point for debate surrounds the antics that occur during set-pieces. Attackers and their designated markers repeatedly clash as they jostle for position, like two Mexican wrestlers putting on a show. However, because this is regular occurrence and happens between every couple in box, it’s very easy to miss or deem unimportant.
It is remarkably straightforward however, to spot during post-match analysis and has therefore put unnecessary pressure on referees to clamp down on it. Mark Clattenburg’s decision to penalise Norwich in their defeat to West Ham – for a typical and rather low-key incident – incensed the usually composed Chris Hughton. It’s simply impossible to develop a level of consistency in such instances, as players will always feel aggrieved when they concede such fouls and infuriated when they are not awarded at the other end of the pitch.
The reason this ‘contact = foul’ argument crumbles in our hands concerns the philosophy of Gareth Bale, who believes he is entitled to go down if he feels even the slightest whiff of physical connection.
“There is nothing I can do about it – the referees have to look a bit closer. If I get contact there it is a penalty or free kick.
“What do you expect me to do if I there is contact and I go over – hit my head on the floor? I am not going to stop going because it is a foul.” (Sky Sports)
The Tottenham talisman’s opinion is understandable but deeply flawed considering football is an unofficial yet recognised ‘contact sport’. If a foul were awarded every time players touched one another, the game would never end. The referee’s job is made impossible however, when he has to determine the impact of such a connection. Was he really knocked off balance? Could he have stayed on his feet? Are those screams of agony authentic?
The unfortunate truth is that the human race cannot be trusted. We are all instilled with a will to win, a trait that is magnified in the personality of professional athletes. Players will always seek to find a competitive advantage, consciously or not and when the margins between success and failure are so fine, their dishonourable actions may make all the difference.
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If an individual’s unlawful theatrics have decided the outcome of a game then they can expect a torrent of abuse from the stands, negative exposure in the press and irritated fans clogging up radio phone-ins. All is forgotten however, once the next batch of fixtures arrives and a whole new set of talking points has arisen.
At the end of the day, once the dust has settled, the only thing that remains is the result and the smile that has been concealed from the culprit’s mouth. Their actions may make them heroes in the dressing room but they have no right to complain when their reputation comes back to haunt them.
The only apparent solution appears to involve an increase in retrospective action, where players can have cautions rescinded and awarded by an independent panel. Fines are somewhat futile, only the threat of suspension is likely to instigate change. Such punishments may not stop diving or even deter a player’s natural instincts but at least it will provide suitable reprimand to those who deserve it.