Edit: Probably Smiling a Little Now
A little less than half hour in and Spartak London are given a bullshit penalty. Good to see that rewarding all that is unholy with dodgy refereeing will continue to be rewarded in the New Year.
Currently still scoreless early in the second half of the Old Frim battle royale.
I’ll get the rest of the day’s fixtures up in a bit.
7:45 AM ET
Rangers vs Celtic
8:30 AM ET
Chelsea vs Aston Villa
10:00 AM ET
Athletic Bilbao vs Deportivo La Coruna
11:00 AM ET
Wigan vs Newcastle
El Ahly vs AC Milan
Noon ET
Barcelona vs Levante
Sporting Gijon vs Malaga
definite penalty – he was all over him! Frank’s back! Villa lucky not to be down to 10 men.
Collins went up for the ball, Malouda undercut him. Then Malouda threw himself to the turf. Terrible call.
meh. Fat Frank could have at least let Malouda take the PK for some fantasy points
Did he get the ball? He stopped a clear goal-scoring chance – easy call for the ref.
Uh-oh. 1-0 to Celtic.
The tims are going mad on my facebook – I guess Celtic scored. Anyone else but Dunne finishes that for Villa – Carlo needs to buy a defender.
Young almost missed that PK
FFS Essien – no way Villa end with 11 men.
Double uh-oh. 2-0 Celtic on a Samaras penalty for his brace.
Going back to the first call. Getting the ball or not has nothing to do with whether it’s a foul and it wasn’t a clear goal scoring opportunity. Please… Both the match commenters even said it looked a poor call when it happened.
The audio in my Celtic – Rangers stream is a good 30 seconds behind the video.
HA! Fuck off, Chelsea.
PR – the comments are particularly jacked this morning. In addition to typing name/email every time, I’m getting different comments to show up depending on if I look on my computer or phone. IE/FF doesn’t seem to matter, either.
More importantly, c’mon Villa.
How can getting the ball have nothing to do with whether it is a foul or not? Of course it does – this is not American Football where you can push off. Both commentators said it was an obvious penalty – once again don’t let anti-Chelsea bias get in the way of the facts. Doesn’t matter anyway – we gave up on the league weeks ago!
Thanks berg: I’m on Safari and not having problems. But… for the UF contributors, when you’re logged in, things behave differently (specifically better) than for users.
Go read the laws of the game, there is nothing about getting the ball. The whole ‘he got the ball first so it can’t be a foul’ is one of the biggest misconceptions that fans have about the game.
It’s nice to wake up to Chelsea losing, get in Keith!
Jesus, 7 bookings for Villa?
Wonderful reaction from Friedel!
FML. That is all.
Friedel is abusing Chelsea. I love it.
The whole not getting the ball when you go for it is pretty important when reading the laws of the game. It was a blatant penalty – blind bias toward your home team is one of the worst traits of many a fan!
@ballisround66 @PreciousRoy
This is exactly how the ruling bodies wanted the laws to be: vague enough to be interpreted from both sides.
A) Then why is not explicitly written in the laws of the game? Going for a ball and not getting it doesn’t necessarily mean you committed a foul.
B) It’s not bias. At game speed when it first happened I thought it was going to be a foul. It was on the replay that you could see not only that Malouda backed into Collins just as much as Collins came over the top of him but that Malouda also threw himself to the ground to try to get the call, which he did.
Neither Villa nor Chelsea is my “home” team. Hell, even the side I pull for isn’t my home team as I’m not from London.
Chelsea looked like one of the best teams in Europe in the first 2 months of the season. Now it seems anyone has a shot at beating them.
BAH! Stoopid Drogba
Damn, Drogs levels it
Uh, I know I’m biased and all but on replay that looked like a total handball on Drogba for that equalizer.
Oh fuck you, Terry
fucking John Terry is a fucking useless fucking cunt
Or not.
What a bunch of diving, whinging c*unts. Most thoroughly unlikeable team in organized football. DIAF, CFC.
I meant about beating Chelsea. John Terry is indeed a cunt.
Hey… finally a legit goal.
/Mark Albrighton is complete pants for that giveaway.
LOL @ my censorship FAIL
Yes!!! 3-3!
Kieran Clark!!!!!!!!!!
Clark is my hero.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA and the prawn sandwich brigade have been shocked into silence!
Albrighton should have sealed it there, and Drogba is a diving c*nt.
There is a God!
Wow what a match, glad I woke up for the second half
How much do you think John Terry pays to get his hair cut like a 10 YO boy from Appalachia?
Ha ha ha…
/Albrighton is still pants for not getting the winner.
This was the play into the box on the second goal… but I’m biased.
Are you trying to claim that was a handball? Funny how nobody else has mentioned it – it has to be deliberate to be handball – according to those laws you mentioned. But once again don’t let the facts get in the way of your anti-Chelsea bias!
No Carroll for NUFC this morning…Harper starts over Krul.
Leon Best in the subs and is transfer listed, so expect him on for Lovenkrands at some point. Good god, we really need to sign a striker.
Howay the lads
All I did was post a pic. But yeah… totally, Drogba is accidentally playing the ball there. He was just jumping and the ball randomly happened to be there. There is no possible world where that is deliberate.
I agree.
Shola you HAVE to put that away.
Prada, you might need two strikers once Citeh turn up with their checkbook.
@PR City are blowing that cash on Dzeko. Carroll is staying put unless its a deal in the $30-$40 mil range. I dont think he’s worth that yet and I think other clubs think that as well.
I think.
Prada: You are likely correct. However, a) last I saw Dzenko wanted £180K and City were only at £150K and b) the only things City have been really good at are collecting players and overpaying for most of them… So if the Dzenko deal doesn’t happen I can see them ringing up Ashley and writing a check.
good follow from Sholer Amoeba
Classic NUFC striking right there. Hit everything before you put it in.
This match was actually better before there was a goal.
We should be up 2-0. Wasting too many chances.
Yes, I’ve turned back to being very pessimistic on the likelihood of a Dzeko deal. Still, by all accounts Hulk is next on Mancini’s list. No Carroll in this window I think.
Why is Carrol out? Hurt or suspended? I’m so bad at fantasy football. . .
What a terrible effort from Gomez there.
Hey Shane, how did Rangers do today?
dirty, dirty Joey Barton
Quote of the day: “Newcastle v. Wigan is like watching old people fuck”
The best part of Chelsea’s capitulation was their over-celebration of the go ahead goal. So awesome.
God forbid FSC show actual live soccer tomorrow. I mean, there’s only 11 Powership matches to choose from.
Ugly, but valuable. Could’ve used some of those wasted chances for goal diff…
And god forbid FSC and FS+ broadcast in HD. It’s lovely paying $15 a month for one channel and getting it in 480p.
Man Chelsea suck dong.
@ Ryan: foxsoccerteevee has Tractor Boys and Forest but no others; it is surprising they don’t have something else though
@OM: Ever since Ned was seen being taken away in Handcuffs from the FSC studio screaming “SHOW ME MORE NORWICH CITY!!!” they have not felt the need to show more cola matches.
@Pete – that wouldn’t happen if you moved out of the sticks.
/in the same boat
Sad news for ‘Arry.
“Dozens” of clubs want Beckham.
@ Ryan: Thanks for that bit of good news; really don’t think Goldenmort’s needed.
Dzeko deal is allegedly done. 27million, with a medical on Tuesday.
Are those dozens of clubs all called “Wigan”? Cos, you know, they could use him so they can have people actually at their games.
I call shenanigans on the Sky Sports article, I would think that if there are that many clubs interested in Beckham, they would report at least one of the club’s names besides Spurs, seems fishy that they would just say dozens of clubs instead
Yeah, I’m sure dozens is overdoing it a bit. (A lot?) On the other hand, ‘Arry now says he might even buy him outright.
Or to be more accurate, that’s what the headline says. The actual quotes from the ‘onest one seem to say something different.
In equally bollocks-y news, Kaka to Man United for 50miillion.
Triple post! Speaking of these “dozens” of clubs, William Hill has Beckham loan odds for the following:
Tottenham…1/3
Arsenal…….11/1
Aston Villa….14/1
Valencia…….16/1
Everton……..20/1
Malaga…………20/1
West Ham……..20/1
Man Utd………25/1
Real Madrid….25/1
AC Milan…….33/1
Blackpool….40/1
Leicester……40/1
.
Maybe that’s where Sky got the number?
Also, Ronaldinho to Blackburn.
@Ryan, that is weak reporting then considering that Beckham himself ruled out a move to Everton
Anyone else read the Football Transfer League page? I like it for transfer nonsense, since they take the paper reports and keep the history of how accurate said papers are for rumours on each team…which means nothing really, but at least they’re more believable than Kaka to Man U or whatever.
It gets better with every story. ‘Arry has never seen Beckham play for LA.
/All Beckham all the time
I thought I was the only one allowed to write about Goldenmort constantly.
Who gets the boot at man city if dzeko shows up?
/laughs heartily at adebayor
@Clemme: In regards to Ade, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little happy to see how far Hleb has fallen since his departure.
@clem, rumor I saw was that Moyes was considering bringing him in on loan for the rest of the season, I don’t see him going anywhere permanently this month, but a half season at Everton could really see him boost his stock for the summer transfer window
The puhrcaess I make are entirely based on these articles.