I have been involved in the sport since I could remember. Close to 27 years now, if I had to say. Now, as a long-standing fan, both as a spectator as well as a player, there are certain things in my wish list I would like to see change in this beautiful sport of ours.
It does not involve particularly criticizing any particular team or what not, but there are certain actions/gestures that really ticks me off. I will focus on a few here (but keep in mind that there are a lot):
1). Faking an injury: We have all seen the reasonable disciplinary decisions the refs have to take against diving players, but what I hate, and I might be speaking for most of us here, is the fact when players who stay down after a foul, pretending to be hurt, in order to break the flow of game. The referee has the right to stop the game in such situations, and nonetheless, the crowd would play their part in tempting the ref to pause the game. Sometimes, the opposition players kick the ball out, which is obviously, a good gesture from their end. Thereon, the player lying down will gently get up, show his discomfort or disapproval at the tackle (foul) and walk a few steps delicately. By this time, the meds run onto the field, pass on some water to the “victim” and then walk out with him making us believe that “water just happened to heal his apparent injury”. As soon as he reaches the byline, he turns around and looks at the ref, just to enter the game like nothing happened. How annoying is that? I honestly know that pisses the crap out of me as a spectator. There should be some sort of a punishment to change that aspect in the game. I have thought of some but I do not think that it would go well with the governing bodies. FYI: Do not mind the picture of Drogba attached, although I believe he is one of the biggest cry babies in the game.
2). Bitching about bad decisions: How many times have we heard players and managers equally talk about decisions going against them in post match interviews? Yes, I do agree, at times it does happen, but can you stop complaining and get on with what’s next? We have had players and managers talk about this, as in using the term “consistency”. This only happens when a manager feels like the game had been marred by poor decisions and eventually his team was on the receiving end of it. So far it’s been Dalglish who had been quite annoying. Never thought that he, of all people, would come out with these complains as I always took him as an English man who just gets on with the sport. Eventually, he has settled down since, but if you had followed the first 6 or so Liverpool games, you would know what I am talking about. The way I see it, its easier to blame the officials than figure out why his attack is not converting clear cut attempts on goals. Or why his defense had trouble putting few passes together? But who thinks that way right? And it does not end with him here. There are few others here as well, but do not have the time to talk about them.
Now for those who might have noticed, I had mentioned earlier that I would not criticize any team or anyone in particular, but just did. Well, too bad. I guess it stems out of my surprise at Dalglish’s astounding arrogance.
As much as I would love it that this small wish list of mine, be considered seriously, deep down, this list is going nowhere. Who cares, there’s still hope for us fans and I will be happy, so long as Manchester City wins the EPL, Barcelona continues playing the way they do and Neymar changes his hair style. Am I asking for a lot here?
