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| All as bad as each other |
A
controversial series of moments whereby no one comes out of it in any kind of
positive way? Football’s back. Hurrah!
Let’s
just make a few things clear: Alex Song stamped on Joey Barton. That was
disgraceful. There was minimal contact on Gervinho in the penalty area late on
but no where near enough to make him
go down. It was not a foul. Joey Barton should not have reacted in the first
place but what followed was ludicrous, steeped in hypocrisy and, if it wasn’t
so disappointing, almost laughable.
Gervinho
was naïve in raising his hands to Barton in any fashion – it might not be
against the rules but everyone knows the raising of hands can be dangerous –
and Barton should not have thrown himself on the floor as if, to use the old
cliché, he’d been shot.
There
is an argument that says there was contact in the Gervinho tackle and the
‘slap’ (it was actually more of a brush on the cheek) so both are entitled to
go down: the referee and his assistants might not have seen the incident so
going down helps make their decision. Barton has, seemingly, made this point on
Twitter
– although one assumes that he hasn’t actually seen the incident because, by my
reading, he doesn’t believe there was any contact on Gervinho.
Now,
while I do think that Gervinho was incredibly stupid to raise his hands, he
should not have been sent off, in my opinion, nor should he have had a penalty –
because there clearly wasn’t enough contact to make it a foul. If Gervinho and
Barton had both stayed on their feet (a phrase which, by the way, is ruined
thanks to Rio Ferdinand) there wouldn’t have been an issue.
Going
to ground under minimal contact isn’t strictly conning the referee but it’s not
completely honest either. And it’s certainly not good for the game. If the
referee hasn’t seen an incident... then he hasn’t seen the incident. End of.
Players should not have any involvement in their decisions. If it’s a foul,
you’ll either fall to the ground or – at the very least – be stopped in a way
that is clearly ‘illegal’.
The
‘slap’ wasn’t enough to send Barton to ground – indeed, some would say the slap
wasn’t enough, full stop. Gervinho shouldn’t have been sent off but he has been
– and will miss games – because of Barton sub-conning the ref. Gervinho
shouldn’t have had a penalty so he’s just as bad. Somewhat ironically, Song
should have been sent off and hasn’t been, although he could face disciplinary
action later on from the FA because the referee didn’t see it. I’ll believe
that when I see it.
The
point is though, this situation – where we are somewhere between being helpful
to the referee and just downright cheating – is completely nonsensical. Just
let the referee get on with his game, and you concentrate on your game. The
fact that Barton
is hoisting himself up into some sort of hero status in all of this is
pathetic and Arsenal fans calling Barton all manner of names when two of their
players are just bad is just sheer, blind stupidity. Yes he’s in the wrong –
but don’t heap all the criticism on to him and don’t let this detract from what
was a ruddy awful performance against Newcastle.
Barton
is being incredibly hypocritical when he has a go at Gervinho for diving, and
maybe Gervinho does have a case for going to ground – but the issue just
shouldn’t be there at all. The FA reaffirmed their ‘Get
on with the game’ programme this week, focusing on such things as feigning
injury and players surrounding officials – I’d add ‘highlighting’ a foul to
that list.
