I hate Ronaldo

[thetank]

all of this doesn't change the fact that he's a smarmy little sh**.  Always has been, always will be in my book.

That's a fair point. He has much more smarm than most.

[The Baron]

Rod, good post but I dont buy the "all he did was defend his team mate" one bit.

The pre match wind up, the winking, the admission of wanting to leave England - that's not defending your team mate.

To me this is clear cut, he is not a good professional.

There were 22 cheats on the park then.

Just two IMO.

Rooney AND Ronaldo.

(Although after the Holland game you could make a case against virtually the whole of the Portugese team.)

[Rod Paradise]

Rod, good post but I dont buy the "all he did was defend his team mate" one bit.

The pre match wind up, the winking, the admission of wanting to leave England - that's not defending your team mate.

To me this is clear cut, he is not a good professional.

Right - say a German had stamped on Beckham? Would everyone be expecting Hargreaves to defend the German? Or to be complaining at the ref that his teammate was assaulted? Can you imagine the abuse Hargreaves would take if he sided with a German teammate?

Pre-match wind up - not nice, but it happens all the time.

The wink - about 2 minutes after the stamp... no-one knows what it was over apart from Ronaldo and whoever he was winking at. Seized on by moral authorites like Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, to help the agenda of blaming everything on Johnny Foreigner.

Admitting to wanting to leave... sorry? This marks someone as unproffessional? You'll want Gerard sacked then.

Seriously, the vilification of Ronaldo is well out of order. Add it to the ref who was forced into retirement after the Euro championships and we're starting to see a nasty pattern.  Time for FIFA/UEFA to put the spotlight on the English press I think.

[marcro]

Rod, good post but I dont buy the "all he did was defend his team mate" one bit.

The pre match wind up, the winking, the admission of wanting to leave England - that's not defending your team mate.

To me this is clear cut, he is not a good professional.

Right - say a German had stamped on Beckham? Would everyone be expecting Hargreaves to defend the German? Or to be complaining at the ref that his teammate was assaulted? Can you imagine the abuse Hargreaves would take if he sided with a German teammate?

Pre-match wind up - not nice, but it happens all the time.

The wink - about 2 minutes after the stamp... no-one knows what it was over apart from Ronaldo and whoever he was winking at. Seized on by moral authorites like Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, to help the agenda of blaming everything on Johnny Foreigner.

Admitting to wanting to leave... sorry? This marks someone as unproffessional? You'll want Gerard sacked then.

Seriously, the vilification of Ronaldo is well out of order. Add it to the ref who was forced into retirement after the Euro championships and we're starting to see a nasty pattern.  Time for FIFA/UEFA to put the spotlight on the English press I think.

From what I saw I do not think that anyone can definitely say Rooney stamped on him.  This guy was sitting on the ground kicking away with Rooney in between his legs.  Pretty hard to keep your balance in such a situation and to conclusively say he deliberately stamped on his gonads is a bit of a stretch even if you do not like the England football team.

[Jim-D]

the whole situation has been blown out of proportion IMO.

 Ronaldo's part and Rooney's part  (I personally dont think it was an intentional stamp)

[Rod Paradise]

From what I saw I do not think that anyone can definitely say Rooney stamped on him.  This guy was sitting on the ground kicking away with Rooney in between his legs.  Pretty hard to keep your balance in such a situation and to conclusively say he deliberately stamped on his gonads is a bit of a stretch even if you do not like the England football team.

If you are bent forward it's highly unlikely to step back to keep your balance - you would need to step forwards.

I don't support England true, but I'm not a huge fan of the Portugese tendency to cheat either. I still think this has been seized on rather than a frank assessment of what went wrong.

[Jim-D]

Rod im worried....You seem to be talking an awfull lot of sense today

[Rod Paradise]

Rod im worried....You seem to be talking an awfull lot of sense today

Backhanded compliments always gratefully accepted... 

[marcro]

From what I saw I do not think that anyone can definitely say Rooney stamped on him.  This guy was sitting on the ground kicking away with Rooney in between his legs.  Pretty hard to keep your balance in such a situation and to conclusively say he deliberately stamped on his gonads is a bit of a stretch even if you do not like the England football team.

If you are bent forward it's highly unlikely to step back to keep your balance - you would need to step forwards.

I don't support England true, but I'm not a huge fan of the Portugese tendency to cheat either. I still think this has been seized on rather than a frank assessment of what went wrong.

I agree that this offered an easy focus point to hype up and deflect from what really went wrong which everyone knows is that Sven was not able to pick a balanced team.  However, it is a shame for any big match to see somebody sent off from either side and I am not sure that the ref would have sent Rooney off had Ronaldo not ran over and drew the shove from Rooney.  

Anyway, on a general note I think that the level of poor sportsmanship and cheating that went on in all the games was an absolute disgrace for what has been described as the beautiful game.  It is very hard for the referee to make on the spot decisions to punish this and I think the way to "stamp" it out is trial by video following the game.

[Nem]

[/quote]

[Rod Paradise]

I agree that this offered an easy focus point to hype up and deflect from what really went wrong which everyone knows is that Sven was not able to pick a balanced team.  However, it is a shame for any big match to see somebody sent off from either side and I am not sure that the ref would have sent Rooney off had Ronaldo not ran over and drew the shove from Rooney.  

Anyway, on a general note I think that the level of poor sportsmanship and cheating that went on in all the games was an absolute disgrace for what has been described as the beautiful game.  It is very hard for the referee to make on the spot decisions to punish this and I think the way to "stamp" it out is trial by video following the game.

'Drew' the shove? He didn't even look at Rooney... and there's plenty of England players who'd run to the ref in the same circumstances.

On the general note I totally agree. Feigning injury, diving, hairpulling etc - all should be punished retrospectively. My ex'es Dad always said if a player rolls over 3 or more times after a foul they should be booked, because if you are really hurt the first thing you do is stop rolling.

[thetank]

I'm not liking that turn of phrase either - Drew the shove.

It's has connotations of excusing behaviour coz the other party was asking for it.


Did the Crystal Palace fan draw the Kung fu kick?

Tiffany fae Eastenders shouldn't have been giving Grant all that earful, but I wouldn't say she drew the shove down the stairs?

[Gryff]

I'd like to watch football for the football - not the attempts to win Oscar nominations.
Every dive, roll etc detracts from the game and turns people away from it.

Video referees and sinbins please so the game is actually played as intended.

[Scottish Dave]

I guess Ronaldo's middle finger to Benefica fans in the Champions League this year wasn't him inciting the bitter rivals of his ex club Sporting Lisboa?

Of course, he was trying to defend himself!

Baron if were going to go by Track records:

Wayne 'the Granny hooker humping, slapping colleen in a night club infront of all his mates' Rooney is fekked!

[Scottish Dave]

Rod, good post but I dont buy the "all he did was defend his team mate" one bit.

The pre match wind up, the winking, the admission of wanting to leave England - that's not defending your team mate.

To me this is clear cut, he is not a good professional.

Right - say a German had stamped on Beckham? Would everyone be expecting Hargreaves to defend the German? Or to be complaining at the ref that his teammate was assaulted? Can you imagine the abuse Hargreaves would take if he sided with a German teammate?

Pre-match wind up - not nice, but it happens all the time.

The wink - about 2 minutes after the stamp... no-one knows what it was over apart from Ronaldo and whoever he was winking at. Seized on by moral authorites like Alan Shearer and Ian Wright, to help the agenda of blaming everything on Johnny Foreigner.

Admitting to wanting to leave... sorry? This marks someone as unproffessional? You'll want Gerard sacked then.

Seriously, the vilification of Ronaldo is well out of order. Add it to the ref who was forced into retirement after the Euro championships and we're starting to see a nasty pattern.  Time for FIFA/UEFA to put the spotlight on the English press I think.

this has got to be the post of the thread, astoundingly put IMO