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One season ago, a man who had his leg broken in a horror tackle made a foolish error and decided to dive to earn a penalty against a side that was arguably already beaten. Fast forward one year and change Eduardo for Jermain Defoe, and Celtic for Young Boys, and you have the same situation, a player cheating to gain an advantage.
However, we are missing something from our story and that is the tabloid press deriding the player in question for cheating. The question is, why on earth has the tabloid press decided to spare Defoe from the flack that dogged Eduardo? Is it because he is a really nice guy who wouldn’t hurt a fly? Well, probably not. So, if it’s not that, perhaps it’s because Defoe has suffered a horrific injury and might be deserving of a break? Hang on, wrong player, wasn’t it the Croatian Eduardo who almost saw his career come to an end? So perhaps, just maybe, the reason that Eduardo suffered the abuse he did is that he isn’t English, his boss isn’t the current hero for the tabloid press, and the side that he plays for were fully expected to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League. The Spurs betting made them overwhelming favourites when he dived, so why bother?
With all this in mind, is it right that the crime committed has been left relatively unreported, or is it the case that with the stakes so high, players are now under more pressure than ever before to look to gain an unfair advantage? Cheating should always be condemned in the press, no matter who the perpetrator is.
At the weekend Spurs face Wigan and although no one will make Wigan betting tips to win the game, Roberto Martinez’s men will expect a fair crack of the whip.
It will be interesting to see how the officials react if a Tottenham player goes down in the box at any point during the match. Let’s hope the same trick doesn’t work twice.
Scores from Saturday on the 2nd week of matches (21 August):
Arsenal 6-0 Blackpool
Birmingham City 2-1 Blackburn Rovers
Everton 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Stoke City 1-2 Spurs
West Brom 1-0 Sunderland
West Ham United 1-3 Bolton Wanderers
Wigan Athletic 0-6 Chelsea
Top 10 Conclusions :
- Arsenal put six past Blackpool. Who knew Walcott could score a hat-trick! Would he get better and stronger with games to come or is this a one time affair? You speculate.
- Before the game, Blackpool goal difference : +4 . After the game, Blackpool goal difference : -2. What 90 minutes can do!
- Birmingham City sure know how to pull themselves out of the gutter and score when you least expect them to, especially at St.Andrews. Rovers realised this with a 2-1 loss.
- Are Everton trying to do what they did last season? Loss and draw this time around in two games. (Last season they lost first two games to Arsenal and Burnley)
- Spurs beat Stoke 2-1. You would want to watch the 2nd Spurs goal by Gareth Bale!
- Same game, video technology again being the talking point. Did the Stoke City effort cross the line?
- Its pleasing to see promoted teams get a win especially against a resiliant side like Sunderland, West Brom beat Sunderland 1-0.
- Are West Ham United going into another deep pothole? Lucky last time around, would this be the end of their lucky road? Lose 1-3 to Bolton at home.
- Wigan 0-6 Chelsea. Please remind Chelsea that they are NOT playing Tennis!
- I have sort of no other comments to make so how about a question? Which 6-0 thrashing was pleasing to see? Arsenal v Blackpool or Wigan v Chelsea?
(Image source : Getty Images)
Well not entirely football style but keeps with the World Cup 2010. Playing K’naan – Wavin’ Flag in the background and visuals of the problems and diversity of our culture in the video. Happy Independence Day everyone in India. 
Just like we welcomed a pretty unknown Burnley to EPL last season, this time around lets do the same for another side which would desperately want to maintain its status in the EPL after languishing in the Championship for a very long period of time.
- Nickname : The Seasiders, The ‘Pool, The Tangerines (reference to the colour of their kit
- Stadium : Bloomfield Road
- Stadium Capacity : 12, 555 (Wikipedia)
- Manager : Ian Holloway
- Local Derby : Preston North End (called the West Lancashire Derby)
- Official website : http://www.blackpoolfc.co.uk/
- Blackpool beat Nottingham Forest and Cardiff City in the semi finals and finals of the playoffs to progress to the top tier of English football.
- This will be Blackpool’s first Premier League appearance (since its formation in 1992) and first in top flight football since 1971.
- The club won the FA Cup in 1953 which is their biggest tournament victory to date.
- They have climbed four divisions in nine years. Have won nine of their ten previous playoff involvements between 2001 and 2010.
- They began the 2009/10 season in the Championship as second favourites to go down!
- Man to watch : The club broke their transfer record by shelling out £500,000 for Rangers’ Charlies Adams prior to last season. He showed his worth by being the top scorer with 18 goals and 11 assists.
- First game vs Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium on 14th August.
- Transfers : Their biggest signing thus far has been of former West Ham forward, Marlon Harewood on a free transfer from Aston Villa.
- Pre Season form : 2-0 victory vs Tiverton Town, 2-1 win vs Accrington Stanley. 2-2 draw at Kilmarnock, 1-0 defeat at the hands of Crewe Alexandra and 2-1 loss to Hibernian.
With the World Cup going on am pretty sure there would be some problems going in someone’s relationships and at house with regular quarrels. But why do some women hate football? This video explains 3 situations, why!
Enjoy!
World Cup brings with it mad rush to watch each and every game. Each and every minute and second. Even pre-game and post-game reactions and analysis. Pretty much everything! It won’t be easy to follow if you’re in a relationship. So for your best interest, here is a note you can put up for your wife/sweetheart/girl friend/partner/whoever else to read.
Consequences of it are not my responsibility!
(Click on image for better reading)
Google has been enjoying much with its doodle business be it Pacman, hologram image yesterday or many others that have become quite often on the popular search engine.
Now with four days to go to the World Cup, its preparing itself for that as well. There is no doodle in place as yet but changes are gradually coming as you can spot from the following two images.
Shows what all matches are coming up and at what time. So don’t have to head to Google Calendar or anywhere else to look!
I’d let you answer what the cool part about this image is. Comments section is below!
You would have seen 1998-99 Champions League final where Manchester United were triumphant vs Bayern Munich in probably the best European final ever. For those who don’t know, Manchester United were 1-0 down to Bayern at Nou Camp, Barcelona up until the 90th minute. Then in injury time, two goals courtesy Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer put United ahead and in dream land! Many moments of that day have been captured and been added to DVD’s and many other spectacular video compilations.
This footage that I stumbled across is captured from a single camera and is truly amazing! Enjoy!