Would we really be that surprised to learn that Michael Ballack is a cheat?
Thursday, 27 December 07, 08:05 AM · Comments (23)
I think Michael Ballack dived and I also think he's a cheat for doing so - but are any of us surprised that he's come out defending himself and telling us he didn't dive?
Surely, none of us can really be that surprised that he dived in the first place, can we?
I won't go into detail as it's not my place but the game is full of cheats; look at Joe Cole going down for the free kick yesterday.
It's not a case of was it a free kick or not but look at the dramatics used by the player when he did go down. It's not sportsmanship and well, it's not really surprising.
Michael Ballack is quick to defend himself on this matter. "For me there is no discussion about this. I had the ball and two guys, not just one, came and one pushed me. It was a clear penalty."
When I was a kid physical contact was part of the game and you'd expect a little bit of pushing if you were in the penalty box. You can't even get away with a shoulder barge these days!
If Michael Ballack did to me what happened to him yesterday I'd have him up on sexual harassment charges, not complaining that he pushed me over. Sure there was physical contact but he also cheated. No real surprises though.
I never thought I'd say this but I think it's time we had a referee watching replays and getting involved - there are too many mistakes and the game needs to move away from these mistakes. It's clear that nobody is going to take responsibility for what is wrong with the game - they're all earning too much money to rock the boat - so change at ground level is needed.
In related news, the red card that was issued to Zat Knight for Michael Ballack's impersonation of Swan Lake, will be appealed against and there is a hearing tomorrow. At the same time, A$hley Cole will also appeal his red card for handball.
Ricardo Carvalho on the other hand will not be appealing his red card. Instead, the player has publicly apologised for his two footed tackle on Gabriel Agbonlahor.
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23 Comments · Add yours
I didn't notice many of your players telling the ref that Ashley Cole didn't handle the ball, isn't that a form of cheating?
Mark
Why didnt any Chelsea players horde the referee like they usually do when Gareth Barry was elbowed in the face by Mr Ballack and demand he be sent off?
;D Come on, wise up lads. The Villa were the better team and deserved the 3 points..cheating is all part of the game these days...I do still like Chelsea as a footballing team. God forbid anyone stoops as low as Man Utd CHEATS.
Villa will not win the league this season..so good luck Chelsea
Thats because Mr Cole used the top part of his arm to get the ball off the line, Handball includes the part of his arm that he used to push the ball away with.
:)
Mark2 - You're saying that we should have forgot about Ballack's and Cole's simulations earlier on in the game and told the referee it wasn't hand ball? It wasn't hand ball I agree, but you are being unrealistic.
We all know players dive, and let's not act blameless, i've seen Ashley Young dive pathetically on at least 3 occasions this season, and i don't like it. But the place where we are better than Chelsea is our attitude to the officials. Whenever a decision is given against chelsea every single player shamelessly harasses the referee into making a decision. If Villa did this, I'd be ashamed. But we don't, the pen was given against us, and we accepted it, we didn't whine to the ref and Wilfred Bouma didn't sprint from his half to get involved in decisions not concerning him (hello Ashley Cole). And when Baz got beasted in the face from Ballack, which was as much a sending off as any of the decisions, we didn't whine to ref about that. I hate Chelsea, only because this is general practise for them.
ash young has dived for us all season just not really got away with it yet i remeber him doing it at v.p against chelsea
If you ask me its our players that need to wise-up. Yes, Ballack made a meal of the situation but the fact is Knight made a clumsy challenge in the box and gave him the opportunity to fling himself into the air for all he was worth. The red card was very harsh but the top 4 tend to get these kind of decisions, especially at home, we should all know that by now. As for Joe Cole wasn't it a flashback to Steven Gerrard on the first day of the season? Another innocuous but badly timed challenge in a dangerous area and you knew what was coming next. Still, who'd have thought we'd be talking about 2 points dropped away to Chelsea this time last year?
To the tune of so lonely by the Police, MALONEY, MALONEY, MALON-EEE. Maybe someone a bit more lyrical can come up with a verse.
>:( How can you say that Ashley Cole didnt handball on the line.
Hand ball is anywhere between the shoulder and the hand. Unintentional maybe....but still a handball ;)
Handball is below the elbow. The shoulder is legitimate.
Match of the Day replayed all the events in close detail. It showed Knight both trip Ballack and nudge him over his outstretched foot. It showed NRC and Laursen both contact Joe Cole's foot as he was trying to strike the ball and it showed Ashley Cole head the ball down and make no further movement as it passed his arm. Picture 5 shows it clearly after Cole heads the ball down: LINK
Match of the Day also showed 7 Villa players surround the ref to intimidate him to give a penalty for the non-existent handball, before MON blatantly accused Ballack and Cole of diving and Dowd of being biased to give the free kick. He's going to get screwed by the FA for that.
By the way, does anyone know why Villa got the free kick that led to the 3rd goal? No, me neither...
Chelsea is on their way down the table- they've lost a step and don't have a legit coach. Villa will finish ahead of them this year. Ballack has lost a step and is trying to make up for it with dirty play.
"Handball is below the elbow. The shoulder is legitimate."
Wow.
[i]That[/i] is thick.
Chelsea have turned 'playing the ref' into an art form and so have a number of other teams, top 4, plus a few others. The refs need to get a grip of this and quick, before all the others have to follow.
Ballacks forearm smash to Barry's face was a disgrace, not shown on MOTD though, why! The refs should take a look at that before any of the appeals.
Knight was clumsy, prop a penalty, but never a sending off. All the other decisions OK, apart from the free kick.
Villa have come a long long way and Chelsea are slipping, first half with 11 versus 11 it was all one way, Villa's at thats away to Chelsea! UTV
so from your elbow to up to your neck is your shoulder? i can only assume your a chelsea supporter ya langer. alot of players dive these days, it still shouldnt be accepted as normal practice. it should be reviewed like tackles the referee hasnt seen and a yellow or a second yellow should be issued taht might get it out of the game. the heading should be changed from ballacks a cheat to chelsea are cheats.
R you all blind or just want to argue for the sake of. Look at the replay - it clearly didnt hit his shoulder, elbow, hand or any part of his arm.
Well yes every team has at least 1 player who dives and ill admit like others that Young does dive and i dont like it. But Chelsea every time a decision is being made they crowd the Ref. This really needs to be stopped. Did you see yesterday and towards the end our boys were even trying to hold them back so they couldnt crowd him.
Some stupid idiots on 606 seem to think that Carvalho's challenge on Gabby shouldnt have been a red and whats more stupid some even said that Gabby dived and stayed down. I think Gabby did the best he could and if he hadnt jumped over him he would have injured either himself or Carvalho or both. He didnt stay down for too long and got up as soon as he checked he was ok. He landed badly.
at Squiddy
so, what you're suggesting is chelsea did no wrong?
the picture you are referring to shows only the ball in close proximity to his head and arm .. not if he hit the ball first - however i'd agree that it could be seen as not a sending off or even penalty offence ...
but in the same breath the ballack falling over wasn't a penalty
the reason the referee gave the penalty and sent off cole was to even things up - at half time he probably watched what happened, figured out he made a mistake and thought it fair .. i'm not saying thats how it happened - only that it probably made his decision a little easier
the point i'm trying to make is, if zat knight hadn't gone off and ballack got a yellow for diving then we would have beaten chelsea by 2 or 3 goals - they only got back into the game becaus ethey played against 10 men for 35 minutes
There is no dispute for this, i was there and first instinct was he dive, it didnt seem right to give the penalty. They way ballack went down was as if he'd been shot and minimal contact was made. He came on and after 20 seconds ballack made his first dive, followed by anoother 5 minutes later in an attempt to get reocoka booked. Joe cole aswell, he was diving everywhere making a meal of it all. Ridiculous. This is ruining the game. Did any1 watch the 1957 cup final on BBC 4 the other day, it was compared to the 2007 final. A villa player ran through and blatantly shoulder charged the keeper after hed made the head 10 seconds before and broke the keepers cheak bone, yet the commentator said oooo thts a fair challenege. Whilst me and my dad sat there thinkin what on earth is goin on, the physicalness has been taken away. I say bring it back and get rid of these foreign wimps hu cant take a challenge.
I think Ballack made a meal of some very light contact, still a dive, but he had enough contact to say it was a foul.
Still, i would've preferred Ballack to be sent off for that horrendous elbow to the face on Barry, that was purely intentional, as replays showed he looked behind him, and that deserved a 10 year ban. Bloody Germans ;)
Anyway, it was nice to see Villa beat Chelsea at their own game when Ashley Cole allegedly handballed and most of the team surrounded the ref, that will be something for the Chelsea fans to moan at us for ;D
I don't think there was even enough contact to say it was a foul. If it had been outside the box he would have stayed on his feet, simple as that.
MON has made good progress but thinking that we will finish above Chelsea is a little unrealistic. The African Nations will be a worry for them but they are still a good side and Avram is sure to bring some quality players in the transfer window.
I've just heard that our appeal has been turned down, so Zat's out for 3 games. Does anyone know if Chelsea have successfully appealed against Cole's card?
Anyway, Curtis comes in perhaps for a game or two, he may make the position his if he plays up. It could be a silver lining.
I think either post-match review by an official(s) or panel of "experts" (former players/managers) would be a start, but the penalty should be fines out of the players' pockets, not the clubs'.
It's a tricky thing to legislate in all but the most egregious cases as one has to judge intent. Still, a few big fines levied against some of the more notorious and consistent offenders would probably help clean things up. In fact, a few fines for marginal decisions would also help players keep their feet. A base fine for diving outside the box, doubled inside the box. I doubt many players would be willing to cough up 10 or 20k quid of their own paycheck to earn the odd free kick or penalty. Clubs would be prohibited from reimbursing players.
(In American football, the NFL regularly levies fines against players for hits that break the rules based on post-game review by the league. They've sought to protect expensive players and reduce injuries. They've got other officiating weaknesses, but in this regard they've fined most of the worst violations out of existence.)
You see atrocious defending because players are so timid and afraid of conceding penalties. Players go down in the box on any contact. It's great if the referee can get it right and penalize with reds or yellows on the spot, but it can be a very tough call to make correctly in real time. But more and more games are won and lost on these decisions, so something must be done to get the cynicism out.