Debate rages on over the penalty awarded to Manchester United against Arsenal on Saturday. Here is my take on it.
Rooney dived. There can be absolutely no doubt about that. In the clip posted below (albeit a clip uploaded by someone with a definite agenda) you'll see that Rooney made absolutely no attempt to run on to his first touch. Speaking of that first touch, just look at it again. He basically smashed the ball into the crowd. To me, this is the touch of a man with no intention of getting on the end of it. In my opinion, this is what was going through Rooney's head:
Just get to the ball before Almunia, and go to ground as soon as it leaves your foot. He'll more than likely make contact with you.
If diving can have different moral grades, then this particular one is certainly not the worst. However, the irony is that Eduardo -- the player whose every touch was booed by extremely forgetful United fans -- performed almost the exact same maneuver as Rooney, who I'm sure won't be subjected to booing by his own fans or those of any other team. I'm not defending Eduardo, any more than I'm attacking Rooney. I'm just making the observation that both players did more or less the same thing: got a foot to the ball before the goalkeeper and went down expecting/wanting contact.
The difference, of course, is that Almunia did make the contact Rooney wanted, whereas Boric didn't comply with Eduardo's wishes.
Was Rooney's a penalty? Yes, but he won it through a well executed dive. Had Manuel Almunia demonstrated Boric's sense of what was going down he would have pulled out as best as possible and Rooney would have been branded a big dirty cheat...or not. Unfortunately for Arsenal, Almunia did the silly thing by doing exactly what Rooney wanted him to do. In a rather bizarre marriage, it was both a dive and a penalty. Is such a thing not oxymoronic? Let the reader decide.
Anyway, here are the two incidents. Judge for yourself whether my assessment is correct or not.
Showing posts with label rooney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rooney. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
My Post Written By Me
I must confess, I've never read any footballer's autobiography, and it's doubtful I ever will. Maybe if Zidane releases one, or even Dirk Kuyt (wouldn't you like to know how exactly this man got to become someone who's payed thousands of pounds a week to play football?) then I might consider it, but right now the desire to pick up one of the several millions of them polluting bookstores nationwide is just not there yet, and I kind of hope it never is.
I bring this up because during my brief visit to Eason, I noticed that Jamie Carragher has jumped on the bandwagon and released an autobiography. Of course Carragher is as entitled to release such a book as any of the others are, but it's the names of these books that I just can't get over.
In this instance, Jamie Carragher's autobiography is called "Carra: My Autobiography". Not only is this title void of any imagination, but its entirely redundant too.
Random guy - "So let me get this straight Jamie - this is your autobiography, not someone else's, right?"
Jamie Carragher (or "Carra" if you'd like) - "Yep, its mine. Didn't you read the title of it?"
I just think that when people hear that a footballer -- any footballer -- has written a book, they automatically think that it must be dumb, and with good reason. But when a footballer calls his book "My autobiography", he's really putting the final nail in the coffin.
To flesh out the title of Jamie's book, you could actually objectively call it "Jamie Carragher: The biography on Jamie Carragher's life that Jamie Carragher wrote himself, that also belongs to Jamie Carragher". I'm being ridiculous I know, but stupid things like this really annoy me.
Steven Gerrard released an autobiography also entitled "My Autobiography", which is perhaps good reason to think it's a Liverpool thing as opposed to a footballer thing.
Then there's the matter of Wayne Rooney, and his 5-book deal. That's right. Wayne Rooney has a deal that obliges him to write not one, but five books over the coming years, presumably about himself (somehow I can't see Rooney writing an intricate novel or discussing the finer points of the platonic influence in modern society, but I could be wrong).
This begs a number of important questions: Can Wayne Rooney write? And if so, does Wayne Rooney have enough interesting things to write about to fill one book, not to mention five?
Well I know he has already released at least one of these books, so I can only assume the answer to the first question is yes. However, I very much doubt the second question would produce a similar answer. I mean can you imagine the depth of misery someone must find themselves in to have read all five of Rooney's books when they're released? Think of all the great literature they will have avoided in favour of reading "Wayne Rooney: My Autobiography That I wrote Myself about Me - Volume 5". It's disgusting really.
Speaking of depths of misery, Michael Owen has an autobiography out aswell, and since he at one point played for Liverpool, it of course has "My Autobiograpy" in its title. However, it also has the intriguing phrase "Off The Record" thrown in there too, so that somebody who doesn't know that Michael Owen is the most boring man alive can pick it up and think "Hmmm...this might be interesting". Well, I've never read it, but let me tell you without a second thought that it isn't, nor will anything Michael Owen says or does ever be.
You see Michael Owen is uninteresting personified, and that's just the way it is, ergo no need to go writing a whole book about yourself there Micky. I remember seeing a small portion of a documentary about him in which a camera crew followed him around, and I swear I was this close to hurting myself, just so I could take my attention away from the TV screen.
There are countless other footballers looking to make even more money than they already do who have released books. Ashley Cole released quite the controversial one when he penned "My Defence", which as far as footballers book titles go, is actually quite good ("Totally Frank" wins for sheer comedic value though). I remember reading a quote from Cole's book, where he called a former Arsenal teammate an "unproven featherweight". He said this in reference to one Cesc Fabregas, and boy is Ashley Cole eating his words now (and fingers crossed, choking on them). I have no doubt Cesc had this quote in mind when he lunged into Cashley in last seasons Premier League game at the Emirates, but even if he didn't, a good old fashioned dig into Ashley Cole's legs is welcome by anyone at any time, just for the record.
I suppose the most harrowing thing about all these autobiographies is the fact that there is obviously a market out there for them. People -- real, literate people -- actually buy these books and then read them. Now I'm sure a couple of these books are quite good. Some footballers have good stories to tell, and may tell them in an interesting way to boot. But does anyone really care about someone who hasn't at one point been an alcoholic with a penchant for high stakes gambling, or a footballer acting as a double agent who sold secrets to the communists in exchange for Russian prostitutes to help stock up his elicit call-girl business? Doubtful.
I think Joey Barton -- yes, Joey Barton -- said it best when he commented on the plethora of books emenating from the English camp after World Cup '06:
"We got beat in the quarter-finals, I played like s***, here's my book."
I think the only thing we can hope for is that people like Jack Wilshere, or even Jaap Stam don't start wri...(receives a quiet word in his ear that Jaap Stam has in fact already written a book called "Head-to-Head", which has sold quite well).
OK we're screwed.
I bring this up because during my brief visit to Eason, I noticed that Jamie Carragher has jumped on the bandwagon and released an autobiography. Of course Carragher is as entitled to release such a book as any of the others are, but it's the names of these books that I just can't get over.
In this instance, Jamie Carragher's autobiography is called "Carra: My Autobiography". Not only is this title void of any imagination, but its entirely redundant too.
Random guy - "So let me get this straight Jamie - this is your autobiography, not someone else's, right?"
Jamie Carragher (or "Carra" if you'd like) - "Yep, its mine. Didn't you read the title of it?"
I just think that when people hear that a footballer -- any footballer -- has written a book, they automatically think that it must be dumb, and with good reason. But when a footballer calls his book "My autobiography", he's really putting the final nail in the coffin.
To flesh out the title of Jamie's book, you could actually objectively call it "Jamie Carragher: The biography on Jamie Carragher's life that Jamie Carragher wrote himself, that also belongs to Jamie Carragher". I'm being ridiculous I know, but stupid things like this really annoy me.
Steven Gerrard released an autobiography also entitled "My Autobiography", which is perhaps good reason to think it's a Liverpool thing as opposed to a footballer thing.
Then there's the matter of Wayne Rooney, and his 5-book deal. That's right. Wayne Rooney has a deal that obliges him to write not one, but five books over the coming years, presumably about himself (somehow I can't see Rooney writing an intricate novel or discussing the finer points of the platonic influence in modern society, but I could be wrong).
This begs a number of important questions: Can Wayne Rooney write? And if so, does Wayne Rooney have enough interesting things to write about to fill one book, not to mention five?
Well I know he has already released at least one of these books, so I can only assume the answer to the first question is yes. However, I very much doubt the second question would produce a similar answer. I mean can you imagine the depth of misery someone must find themselves in to have read all five of Rooney's books when they're released? Think of all the great literature they will have avoided in favour of reading "Wayne Rooney: My Autobiography That I wrote Myself about Me - Volume 5". It's disgusting really.
Speaking of depths of misery, Michael Owen has an autobiography out aswell, and since he at one point played for Liverpool, it of course has "My Autobiograpy" in its title. However, it also has the intriguing phrase "Off The Record" thrown in there too, so that somebody who doesn't know that Michael Owen is the most boring man alive can pick it up and think "Hmmm...this might be interesting". Well, I've never read it, but let me tell you without a second thought that it isn't, nor will anything Michael Owen says or does ever be.
You see Michael Owen is uninteresting personified, and that's just the way it is, ergo no need to go writing a whole book about yourself there Micky. I remember seeing a small portion of a documentary about him in which a camera crew followed him around, and I swear I was this close to hurting myself, just so I could take my attention away from the TV screen.
There are countless other footballers looking to make even more money than they already do who have released books. Ashley Cole released quite the controversial one when he penned "My Defence", which as far as footballers book titles go, is actually quite good ("Totally Frank" wins for sheer comedic value though). I remember reading a quote from Cole's book, where he called a former Arsenal teammate an "unproven featherweight". He said this in reference to one Cesc Fabregas, and boy is Ashley Cole eating his words now (and fingers crossed, choking on them). I have no doubt Cesc had this quote in mind when he lunged into Cashley in last seasons Premier League game at the Emirates, but even if he didn't, a good old fashioned dig into Ashley Cole's legs is welcome by anyone at any time, just for the record.
I suppose the most harrowing thing about all these autobiographies is the fact that there is obviously a market out there for them. People -- real, literate people -- actually buy these books and then read them. Now I'm sure a couple of these books are quite good. Some footballers have good stories to tell, and may tell them in an interesting way to boot. But does anyone really care about someone who hasn't at one point been an alcoholic with a penchant for high stakes gambling, or a footballer acting as a double agent who sold secrets to the communists in exchange for Russian prostitutes to help stock up his elicit call-girl business? Doubtful.
I think Joey Barton -- yes, Joey Barton -- said it best when he commented on the plethora of books emenating from the English camp after World Cup '06:
"We got beat in the quarter-finals, I played like s***, here's my book."
I think the only thing we can hope for is that people like Jack Wilshere, or even Jaap Stam don't start wri...(receives a quiet word in his ear that Jaap Stam has in fact already written a book called "Head-to-Head", which has sold quite well).
OK we're screwed.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Deh Roo Ron Ron
Pat Dolan -- who's doing for the wig this year what he did for the waistcoat last year -- wrote a quite shocking piece in today's Irish Star (I didn't buy it...honest). I can't really remember specific quotes, but the general idea presented is that Wayne Rooney is rubbish. OK I'm exaggerating, but he basically said that Wayne Rooney isn't even near as good as he's made out to be. The headline of the piece was something along the lines of 'Rooney Myth is as Big as Loch Ness Monster'. I'm sure other possible headlines eventually canned were 'Roo Are Not That Good', 'Ron is Better Than Roo' and others of the sort.
The main thing that struck me is that Pat thinks Rooney isn't intelligent enough to be considered world-class, whereas Ronaldo is. He says that he admires Rooney's work rate as opposed to Ronaldo's, but Rooney is not a defender, so it doesn't really count for too much. Pat complains at length about the English media also, saying that they're deluding themselves into thinking Wayne Rooney is something he isn't, and that there is only one great player at Manchester United - Cristiano Ronaldo.
I of course disagree with much of this, as I do with much of everything Pat Dolan says. Rooney may well be an idiot outside a football stadium. He may well have the IQ of a small child, or Paris Hilton. But when it comes to playing football, he possesses without doubt a good footballing brain. You can't explain it, you can't teach it, but I can safely say that Rooney has it. There are varying degress when it comes to footballing intelligence of course -- Zidane being at one end, Kuyt at the other -- but in my opinion Rooney is up there with the more intelligent players plying their trade today.
In fact footballing intelligence is right now pretty much the one thing Rooney actually has on Ronaldo, so Pat is well off with this remark. Ronaldo may be a lot of good things, but he's not an intellligent player. He's basically Theo Walcott with a better shot, better physique, and less sideburns. That makes for quite the effective player no doubt, but it doesn't make for a 'genius' of the game, which is what Gary Megson and many many others have called him without considering what the word really means.
However, one thing Pat is right about is the hyping up of Rooney from the media (though the media are just as guilty of hyping up Ronaldo too). Rooney really hasn't done it for United since his arrival. He's scored some goals, he's put in the work, he's showed flashes of excellence, but he hasn't been a consistent performer. He hasn't really dazzled or stood out like a Cesc Fabregas for Arsenal, and that should set United and England fans ill at ease.
His form wasn't great all of last season, culminating in a woeful performance in the Champions League final. And worryingly, he's continued that form on into the new season. Tevez is basically everything Wayne Rooney should be, but isn't. In Ronaldo's absense, it's Tevez who has stepped up to the plate, and if things stay as is, it's Tevez who should be starting ahead of Rooney if that's what it comes down to.
While certain aspects of Rooney's play annoy me, I can appreciate that he does have something speical about him. However, if he's not showing that week in week out, then it's foolish to have him on a team sheet without question. By merit, he should not be starting for England next week. If hard decisions like this are made, he will hopefully get the required kick up the backside, and his career will stop spiraling downwards. However, if his mediocrity goes unpunished, then he will have no reason to rise above it, and his 'potential' will never be fully realised, which would be a shame.
The main thing that struck me is that Pat thinks Rooney isn't intelligent enough to be considered world-class, whereas Ronaldo is. He says that he admires Rooney's work rate as opposed to Ronaldo's, but Rooney is not a defender, so it doesn't really count for too much. Pat complains at length about the English media also, saying that they're deluding themselves into thinking Wayne Rooney is something he isn't, and that there is only one great player at Manchester United - Cristiano Ronaldo.
I of course disagree with much of this, as I do with much of everything Pat Dolan says. Rooney may well be an idiot outside a football stadium. He may well have the IQ of a small child, or Paris Hilton. But when it comes to playing football, he possesses without doubt a good footballing brain. You can't explain it, you can't teach it, but I can safely say that Rooney has it. There are varying degress when it comes to footballing intelligence of course -- Zidane being at one end, Kuyt at the other -- but in my opinion Rooney is up there with the more intelligent players plying their trade today.
In fact footballing intelligence is right now pretty much the one thing Rooney actually has on Ronaldo, so Pat is well off with this remark. Ronaldo may be a lot of good things, but he's not an intellligent player. He's basically Theo Walcott with a better shot, better physique, and less sideburns. That makes for quite the effective player no doubt, but it doesn't make for a 'genius' of the game, which is what Gary Megson and many many others have called him without considering what the word really means.
However, one thing Pat is right about is the hyping up of Rooney from the media (though the media are just as guilty of hyping up Ronaldo too). Rooney really hasn't done it for United since his arrival. He's scored some goals, he's put in the work, he's showed flashes of excellence, but he hasn't been a consistent performer. He hasn't really dazzled or stood out like a Cesc Fabregas for Arsenal, and that should set United and England fans ill at ease.
His form wasn't great all of last season, culminating in a woeful performance in the Champions League final. And worryingly, he's continued that form on into the new season. Tevez is basically everything Wayne Rooney should be, but isn't. In Ronaldo's absense, it's Tevez who has stepped up to the plate, and if things stay as is, it's Tevez who should be starting ahead of Rooney if that's what it comes down to.
While certain aspects of Rooney's play annoy me, I can appreciate that he does have something speical about him. However, if he's not showing that week in week out, then it's foolish to have him on a team sheet without question. By merit, he should not be starting for England next week. If hard decisions like this are made, he will hopefully get the required kick up the backside, and his career will stop spiraling downwards. However, if his mediocrity goes unpunished, then he will have no reason to rise above it, and his 'potential' will never be fully realised, which would be a shame.
Friday, August 29, 2008
United They Fall
I don't exactly know what it is about Manchester United, but I absolutely love seeing them lose. I have done as far back as I can remember. They were playing Zenit St Petersburg -- a team I have zero affiliation with, and have never even seen before -- in the European Supercup tonight, and I was desperate for Zenit to win. Desperate. Never mind the fact that it's a completely worthless, meaningless cup. Rationality seems to just go out the window when United are involved. Heck, Man Utd could be playing a team made up entirely of former Auschwitz guards in a one-off friendly, and I'd still want the Nazi's to win. In fact I'd be disappointed if they didn't.Like I said, it's completely irrational, and in the case directly above, even debatably immoral.
Well Zenit did win in the end, so happy days. I only saw the second half, but from what I gather they deserved it, with United only coming to life when they went 2-0 down. After they pulled one back I was like 'Aw man - here we go again', but they failed to convert some half-chances, and in the end it all finished up rather comedically, with Paul Scholes getting sent off for a second bookable offense - his first was a vintage Scholes tackle (read: repeated kick into the opposing players calf muscle) and his second was a very impressive handball which resulted in the ball flying into the top corner. It was one of the most unsublte handballs I've ever come across, with Scholesy making absolutely no attempt to in any way conceal it. He basically just spiked the ball into the net, and received his marching orders as a result. Very funny indeed.
One thing that remains abundantly clear is that United need to buy a striker. If not Berbatov, then someone else. Ronaldo coming back will obviously be a boost, but he can't be relied upon as heavily as he was last year. He just can't. Getting in a good target man is a must, and it may spark Rooney into life, because in all honesty if a new frontman comes in and it's a toss up between Rooney and Tevez to start, then Tevez is way ahead of him on the basis of form over the past year or so. And what's more, Tevez is even showing more of a work ethic than Rooney these days, so a little competition for places might just be the best thing for the former Everton prodigy.
Moving slightly off topic, with United out of action in the Premier League this week, Chelsea have the opportunity to go 5 points clear of them as they play Tottenham at Stamford Bridge, a game I'll hopefully be watching on Sunday lunchtime. The other game I'll be keeping a close eye on is Arsenal v Newcastle at the Emirates. With Newcastle on a bit of a high these days, I'm interested to see how this potentially fragile Arsenal team square up to them. Part of me thinks Arsenal could annihilate them, but I also have that sneaky feeling that Newcastle may just get something from the game. The ambiguity of my feelings is, I suppose, the reason for my intrigue.
There is another big game over the weekend, as Aston Villa take on Liverpool. I honestly don't think I'll watch that one though. I can only take Liverpool in very small doses you see, and having watched them for about 50 minutes in midweek, I feel like that's enough Dirk Kuyt and co. for one month.
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