THERE’S been so much happening in football this week and I’ve not had chance to blog until now!
It’s been a strange week with the expected fallout from training camps abroad but we’ve also had the unexpected with a good away win for Liverpool and, if my eyes didn’t deceive me, a full house at Ewood Park last night in the UEFA cup.
Starting at the beginning I suppose the first issue was the call to scrap replays in the FA Cup. What nonsense this is. Being able to grab a draw in the first game and drag the opposition to your own place is part of what makes the FA Cup great. Teams in the lower leagues thrive on getting the “bigger” sides on to their own patch and the financial payouts can sometimes keep the “smaller” clubs going for several months.
What about Fergie and his ridiculous suggestion that FA Cup replays be scrapped for those in Europe – I’m sorry Fergie but you’ve got that wrong. I’m sick of this mentality where everything possible is done to support the top sides in the Premiership. Not only do they get seeded in European competition, get byes in the early stages of the league cup, they now want special rules in the FA Cup! Sides like Utd have got the squads to cope so Fergie and Wenger should shut up moaning or sling their hook.
Then we had the fracas in Portugal with Bellamy and Riise – I suppose anything I was going to say has been nullified by the kopites excellent win at the Nou Camp – and yes I did offer them praise. It just goes to show you no-one could have written the script better for those two to score the decisive goals. But I think deep down Riise still hates Bellamy – and he wouldn’t be alone in doing that!
On the same night Everton crashed to defeat against Spurs – what a nightmare. Spurs probably just edged it but the criticism Moyes came in for was shocking – what do people want? Spurs boss Martin Jol summed it up for me in his post-match interview when he said he hoped this win would kick start his sides season but then said: “It’s hard – just ask Everton”. So many sides are evenly matched in the Premiership it’s hard for anyone outside the top few teams to go on long winning runs and that’s why Reading deserve so much credit for their achievements.
Sandwiched in between all this we had the fiasco over in Lille when Man Utd played them in the Champions League. I thought ITV’s coverage was very biased towards Utd when they instantly called for Lille to be thrown out of the competition. I don’t think any of the Lille players were going to boycott the match – it was a farce caused by their coach who should be ashamed of himself. Giggs’ goal was perfectly legitimate.
But the crowd trouble was a different matter. UEFA have got to clamp down hard on this because me or any football fans could find themselves in this situation. If that happened in England there would be uproar. However, one ground in England I do think has problems with crushing is Wigan’s JJB stadium.
When there this season the area for fans to go to at half time under the stand is too small. I wanted to go to the toilet at half time but never made it despite three attempts – there was no space at all and it was all one big crush – so come on Wigan, Lille and any other clubs fans safety is paramount so sort it out.