Welcome back to another thrilling weekend of the Premier League. I think fans on Sunday saw two great games that really summed up the passion and desire that this league has. We also have to take a moment and recognize the Reading-Fulham game on Saturday. We often talk a lot about the big games and the big teams, but the quality is up and down the table. This really is the best league in the world.
That what makes the mistakes we saw in Sunday’s game at Stamford Bridge so inexcusable. We saw an incredible first half, arguably the best of the season. And then, Mark Clattenburg makes not one but two major mistakes.
There’s two problems here: the first is that we have become obsessed over diving, this “Luis Suarez issue.” I am completely opposed to diving and think it should be drummed out of the game. This is spinning into every game and it’s got to stop. Torres was wrongly sent off for simulation today, no doubt about it. Both managers acknowledged there was contact there. Let’s punish divers retroactively. Learn who the players that dive are. But let’s stop assuming everyone who goes down is flopping.
The second problem goes hand in hand with the first: the refs need help. This a day and age when everyone has a Tivo in their house. We can see a replay four or five seconds after something happens. I am not saying we need to constantly stop the game, just have a man up in a booth who can tell the referee if he got it right on these big calls. It’s simply time this happened, and if you think about it, today we saw a massive win for Liverpool turned into a draw, and a three-point lead for Chelsea turned into one. It’s great for the title race, but it’s bad for the game.
Michel Platini keeps going on about how replay and technology would destroy the game. I would tell him that he’s got bigger things to worry about. Why don’t you let us use technology and UEFA, you confront the very big problem of racism in the game? That’s a much, much greater issue than having a camera and a hard drive in soccer.
One thing I want to add: I did find Suarez’ celebration today quite funny. We were fortunate to have Jurgen Klinsmann in the studio today; I remember playing against him, and you might remember he had a reputation as a diver himself. Jurgen celebrated his goals by poking fun at that reputation with his famous “slide,” and I thought Suarez was quite cheeky in doing the same today in front of David Moyes. That’s good for the game – you want a bit of fun, because you want characters in this sport. You want a bit of humanity.
Some other observations I had on this weekend: City didn’t play a vintage game but what a difference a year makes for Carlos Tevez. It’s quite ironic that he gets City the result they needed when Tevez is the player who would never play in a City shirt again, isn’t it? That was a difficult game against a tough Swansea team and I have to applaud him for his performance.
Arsene Wenger avoided a crisis with their win this weekend, and of course, there’s some controversy there as well. Mikel Arteta’s winner was offside, as we all saw in the studio. Again, replay would have helped the refs. But I do think Arsenal were the better team over the 90 minutes and Jack Wilshere was very fine in his return.
The sending off made it difficult for Mark Hughes, but discipline is a massive problem at QPR. They have had more people sent off than anyone else and you have to look at the manager. I think Hughes has got one game left: if he doesn’t get a win at Wigan, his time has to be up. I’ve also said this on the show, but I’ll say it here: QPR got in a huge number of new players. That’s fine, but it’s a lot of work to get them to gel. And do people really think that they had that number of bad players before at the club? I’m not sure that’s the case.
Finally, I’d like to congratulate Clint Dempsey on getting the winner today for Spurs. He’s done it at Old Trafford and now he’s done it at St. Mary’s so congratulations to him on 52 BPL goals. I also noted that there was a bit of a scuffle over who was going get Brad Friedel’s shirt! Both Americans are really making us proud.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @warrenbarton2 and ask a question at any time @FOXSoccer. Thanks as always for reading and I will see you here next week!
