American Dreamers almost give Belgium a Knock Out Nightmare

Wow, the USA ran Belgium close last night didn’t they? Sadly for them, they will not advance to the Quarter Final stage after a 2-1 defeat, but they certainly went down fighting. It took extra time and a superbly taken goal from Romelu Lukaku to finally see them off in a truly excellent Second Round contest.

It was funny that coming into the match, Belgium had been considered to have had a disappointing World Cup, this despite the fact they had won all three of their opening games. Granted, some of the wins were slightly less than convincing, but they were wins all the same.

In contrast, The USA had been considered to have had quite a decent opening round, this despite them only winning one game, drawing another and then losing the final group game to Germany. However, it had taken a last gasp equaliser from Portugal to force the draw and they had lost to the Germans by only one solitary goal.

So the match was set up as the under achieving favourites vs the over achieving underdogs, and pretty much played out as such.

USA were not always the aggressors, but they clung on in the match and had their chances to win. Even in the dying minutes of Extra Time, with the Belgians desperately defending their 2-1 lead, Clint Dempsey forced the Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois into a desperate block to stop the game going to penalties.

Indeed, both goalkeepers had decent games. Everton’s Tim Howard made a record 15 saves in the contest and was woefully unlucky to find himself on the losing side. In a lot of ways, The USA played a positive game but they just lacked that final bit of “oomph” to get them over the line. The Belgians were eventually able to take two of their thirty seven attempts on goal and get the one goal advantage they needed to progress.

So where does this leave both countries now? It was truly heartening to see that so many American’s were getting behind their team. I am sadly of the opinion that this probably won’t be the explosion in the popularity of football in the country that some others think it will. That would have required The USA to get further in the tournament.

A Quarter Final or Semi Final appearance would have probably “juiced in” football to the mass populous. Exiting at this point will probably mean that “Soccer Fans” in America will have to wait a bit longer before the sport they love is finally taken to the bosom of the masses.

In English society, being a gallant loser can raise you up in people’s estimations almost as much as being a winner. I sometimes think we English prefer a good loser to good winner. There’s just something about it that appeals to our messed up national psyche.

Americans are, in a sweeping generalisation, a lot more interested in winners rather than losers. This sort of performance from an England team would no doubt have gained them plaudits from fans and press alike. To lose to a better team but to push them all a way, there’s nothing we English love more.

Americans though are less moved by such things. They want Michael Jordan scoring free throws with his eyes shut, they want a wide receiver running the length of the field for a touchdown, they want Hulk Hogan Body Slamming Andre The Giant in the Pontiac Silverdome. Sure, they won’t hold it personally against a loser if they’ve given their all, but they won’t take them to heart either. “The Miracle on Ice” would never be talked about if the American team had lost but pushed their opponents all the way.

This of course is all an exaggeration and not all American’s are like this whatsoever, but I think ENOUGH of them are that it will make it really difficult for football to take off the way football fans want it to unless the team are more successful than they already are.

There is plenty of time for the game to take off in The USA, but right now I feel it will fall into the category of “summertime fad” and fade away again until The USA either win something or make a substantial advancement in World Cup competition. However, there will have been some budding young athletes who will have watched this game with Belgium and will have fallen in love with the game. Some people will slip through the cracks and when the NBA, NFL and MLB come calling, they will instead decide to pursue football. One of those young athletes could be the one who leads them a World Cup Semi Final. It’s a promising time to be a supporter of The USMNT.

As for Belgium? This marked the fourth game where they won but didn’t look that convincing in doing so. That being said, isn’t that the mark of a good team? To win when you don’t play that well? Belgium have yet to lose in this World Cup. They have won all four of their games and they play an Argentinian side who have also yet to truly impress.

Argentina have benefitted from some truly incredible moments of skill from Messi. Without him in the side they may not have even advanced from the Group Stage. But he is playing for them and with him providing that intangible X-Factor, they can defeat anyone. All in all, I expect it to be a tentative battle between two tired sides. Both needed extra time to defeat their less fancied opponents. This could end up being one game too far for Belgium, but you never know they might just nudge their way through the Quarter Final to a Semi Final with regional rivals Holland. What a game that would be!

This and That: Knockout Drama and a quick Shaw adendum

Back again for another quick column of musings during this festival of football we know as the World Cup.

Well, those were two interesting knock out games yesterday weren’t they? Brazil just sneaked by an impressive and swashbuckling Chile while Colombia coolly and calmly despatched a mentally weakened Uruguayan side. What do any of these results tell us though, if anything at all?

Well, first off it suggests that I was perhaps a little too hasty when I suggested that Brazil had finally taken this World Cup by the scruff of the neck. Indeed they made very hard work of defeating Chile, needing the lottery of penalties to finally finish them off.

That being said, Chile have shown themselves to be excellent value in this tournament. They had difficulty at times against both Australia and Holland, but they showed in this match that they are a very handy side and can consider themselves a tad unlucky that they didn’t advance.

The overall winners in that contest, cliché though this may sound, were the people who watched it. It was a fabulous contest, fought with the intensity of a Derby between two very decent sides. I’m undecided on whether Brazil will advance onward to win the tournament at this point. Supposedly their biggest advantage is that they are the host nation, but I’m really starting to think that this has actually gone over to the point of being a hindrance now.

The anticipation of the crowd has almost become like a weight around the Brazilian players necks. Towards the end of the match the crowd were a bag of nerves and I really got the impression that it was transferring those nerves onto the Brazilian players. The atmosphere for the game yesterday wasn’t of a rabid home crowd thirsting for victory and pushing the home team over the line but rather a desperate crowd fearful of defeat that put the home side under undue pressure. It will be interesting to see how Brazil deal with this in the Quarter Finals.

As for Colombia Vs Uruguay, it almost ended up being somewhat of a non-event in comparison to the pulsating bout that preceded it. Uruguay fulfilled all of my worries by really just melting under the pressure of the contest and looking lost without Luis Suarez to provide the necessary x-factor to get them rolling.

Uruguay looked emotionally frazzled and physically second best to a Colombian side who have looked excellent during this tournament. You could make realistic argument that they could now go all the way and win the cup. James Rodriguez’s goal in the first half was an absolutely wicked strike from outside the box that fizzed under the crossbar past the despairing Uruguayan keeper. It was a goal worthy to win the World Cup, but Colombia will have to settle with it being one of the two goals that booked them a place in the Quarter Finals.

Uruguay will be forced to return home and reflect on a World Cup that might have been. Had Suarez kept his cool and not done what he did, could they have advanced past this Colombian side? To a man, the Colombians appeared to be the better side, but indeed so did Italy in all honesty, and yet Uruguay advanced. Suarez’s ability to galvanise his countrymen was sorely missed in this outing and thus sadly we will not get the re-match of the unofficial 1950 “Final”.

No Maracanazo repeat for Brazil to worry about this time. Pity actually. It would have been an excellent examination of whether Brazil truly had the chops to win this World Cup if they’d had to do battle with the Uruguayans and face those demons from 64 years ago. It would have proved to be a fascinating contest for the neutral also. Oh well, no point crying over spilt Quarter Final I suppose.

 

United "SHAW UP" Their Ranks

We end today by briefly looking at Manchester United’s purchase of Luke Shaw. The Red Devils have paid over 30 Million smackers to bring Shaw on board, a fee which I am gladly going to declare as being ludicrous. This is no comment on Shaw himself, who is a talented young player that United will no doubt benefit from, but more a comment on just how ridiculous transfer fees have gotten in the modern game.

 I’m old enough to remember when Alan Shearer, then one of the best strikers in Europe, was snapped up by Newcastle for 15 Million. This was after he’d scored over 100 goals in the Premier League for Blackburn and had been a key part in bringing the Premier League trophy to Ewood Park. At the time pundits were decrying how extravagant the fee was, and this was for one of the best players in the league. Shaw, though talented and with a lot of potential, is nowhere near as advanced in his role as Shearer was in his and yet he’s gone for double the amount.

I shudder to think how much Shearer would go for these days. I suppose what grates the most is that as transfer fees continue to rise, it will only contribute to the greed within the football industry and make it harder for the less moneyed clubs to compete. And indeed, eventually it will get to the point where ticket prices will rise just so clubs can stay competitive. And on that depressing note, we’ll end this article

Cheerful sod aren’t I?

This and That: Best and Worst Moments of the World Cup Group Stages

Best Moment of the Group Stages

This genuinely is a tough question as this World Cup has had potentially the most exciting opening round since probably Spain in 1982, which had Brazil smashing people to smithereens, mad upsets in the form of Algeria beating Germany, big games between name teams, such as England’s 3-1 win over the French and also a smattering of controversy, such as the “Non-Aggression Pact” between Germany and Austria that saw the aforementioned Algerians getting turfed out in the cruellest of ways.

For this World Cup, I’ll have to go with Holland’s 5-1 demolition of Spain, because it genuinely one of the most bizarre games of football I’ve seen in quite some time. Up until Robin Van Persie diving like a salmon to score his incredible header, Spain were not only in the match but were probably favoured to win.

I expected this match would involve Spain grabbing a 1-0 lead and then passing the Dutch to death until the final whistle. How wrong I was.

Holland were imperious in the second half and completely dismantled the World Champions with seeming ease. Spain, so long so invincible, so long unbeatable, just absolutely wilted under the pressure of The Dutch onslaught. They had no answer to Holland’s pulsating and direct attacking.

One of the most amazing World Cup results of my lifetime. Simply extraordinary.

Spain will be back, of that I have no doubt, with a younger and hungrier team in 4 years. I don’t expect this sort of result, or indeed the one against Chile, to befall them again. But for once, just once, it was nice to see them get leathered and their antiseptic and dull football given a tonking by the very style it was designed to stifle. Love it



Most Disappointing Moment

I’ll have to go with Cameroon for this one. They had their regularly scheduled “Pre World Cup Meltdown™” and crashed out in the Group stages after an absolute walloping from Croatia in only their second group game. A game which ended with two of their players scuffling on the pitch before the final whistle.

I’m not really disappointed about the meltdown, as I think this was the sixth successive World Cup where the Cameroonians have done this and I assure you it won’t be the last, but more so that when they took to the field they were so abjectly poor.

I do think we sometimes expect a little too much of Cameroon. I think it’s because they were so magnificent in Italia 90’ and we all secretly hope at the start of every World Cup that a Cameroonian side will come along that can replicate that amazing achievement. It should be pointed out that Cameroon were in absolute disarray before that tournament as well and their 1st choice goalkeeper got dropped before the opening game for critiquing the manager and the general ineptitude of the Cameroonian FA’s preparations.

But despite that, they provided us with unforgettable moments which will forever be held in World Cup folklore. That incredible 1-0 win over Argentina, Roger Milla making Rene Higuita look like an absolute plum and of course playing England off the park only to narrowly lose to a Gary Lineker penalty.

Maybe this is why I’m so disappointed? That Cameroonian team were an inspiration to a generation of young supporters and players alike. Gigi Buffon wanted to become a goalkeeper after seeing the teams exploits. By comparison, this Cameroon side were an absolute joke and a genuine disgrace. Disappointment might not be a strong enough word.

This and That World Cup: England out, Aussie’s proud, Suarez bites a lad and Brazil finally show up to their own party

England out, Aussie’s proud, Suarez bites a lad and Brazil finally show up to their own party


So yeah, England are out of the World Cup. Sadly they went out with a whimper as opposed to a bang. However, may I please present a dissenting opinion to the consensus here? In fact, I’d like to present a couple of them.

Firstly, I feel placing the blame on the defence is a bit rum considering that they were hopelessly exposed by the players in front of them. If Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka played for a Sky 6 team, the level of complaints lodged against them would be nowhere near as vast as they have been. Now, I must declare an interest here. I am an Evertonian but even I would hold my hands up if I felt Baines and Jags had stunk the joint up, but they really didn’t.

At the end of the day, Wayne Rooney is not a left sided mid fielder. He’s a striker who refuses to actually play as a striker. If someone with some defensive nous had actually been in front of Baines giving him the protection he required, England wouldn’t have been so exposed on that side of the pitch.

As for Jags, well I suppose he is guilty of not having psychic powers to predict that Steven Gerrard would make a colossal fudge up to let Suarez clean through, but I’m not really going to hold that against him. Plus, Jagielka made that line saving header against the Italians and was probably England’s best defender in that contest.

Secondly, I dispute that this has been England’s worst World Cup performance. What actually happened in this World Cup? England went out there against two decent sides, did their level best and lost by an odd goal in each circumstance. I would argue that England did a bang average job and little else.

In 2010 in South Africa, England were abysmal and only got through thanks to a fine bit of luck against Slovenia and some last gasp defending. They were promptly routed by Germany in the knock outs. I’d happily argue that England did vastly worse in South Africa than they did in Brazil. England get back on a plane to come home but they so secure in the knowledge that they had a go. If England had been lucky enough to be drawn in place of France, Belgium or Argentina in their respective groups, I think they would have made the knock outs. As it was, they got a tough group and were forced to play their opening game in the Amazon Rainforest.

Yes, England need to drop some of the old guard and give youth a chance. And yes, Roy Hodgson perhaps isn’t the most adventurous or charismatic manager on offer. But, it should be pointed out that England have only lost 2 competitive games in 90 minutes under Hodgson. Personally, I’m not too bothered with him getting another chance. I’ll reserve judgment until the winter/spring on him.


G’Day Credibility

In comparison, Australia get on a plane to go home but they can do it with their heads held high. They were the designated “Easy Three Pointer” in what some were, wrongly, calling the Group of Death. In the end they did lose 3 games but I can assure you the act of winning for Chile and Holland was far from easy.

Australia played tirelessly and really went for it. They didn’t show up just to make the numbers. They showed up with designs of causing an upset, and goodness gracious did they almost do it against Holland. They were supremely unlucky to wind up losing 3-2 in a pulsating contest. Australia may go out of this World Cup without a victory to their name but they do so with their honour most firmly intact.


Luis from Montevideo Hall

Oh Dear. Luis Suarez. I’ve come to the conclusion that maybe he has the wrong temperament to be a professional footballer. I get the same impression from Joey Barton actually. It just seems like playing football just brings out the worse parts of their character. Off the pitch, Suarez seems like a relatively calm and amiable fellow, but when he gets on that pitch he becomes a right little monster.

In comparison, Barton comes across as quite verbose and reflective off the pitch, but when he gets on it he becomes a whirling dervish of absolute anarchy (Have that as a twitter sub-headline if you want Joey, no extra charge!)

Suarez once again is in the news for possibly biting someone. This would be the third time he’s done it and he’s looking at a quite sizeable ban if it is proven. I should stress in the interest of fairness that nothing actually HAS been proven yet, but it doesn’t look good.

I’m still trying to work out why Suarez did this, if in fact he did, as it doesn’t look like the opposing Italian player had actually done anything to him prior to chow-down time. He DID elbow him, but that was after he’d been bitten. At least when Zinedene Zidane head-butted the tiramisu out of Marco Materazzi, it was a result of the Italian insulting him. Though it doesn’t condone what Zidane did, it does at least explain it. There was an action and then a consequent reaction that all fit into an understandable narrative strand.

Suarez just seemed to bite Giorgio Chiellinifor the Craic. In his post-match interview, he didn’t seem to suggest that Chiellini had insulted him. He did say correctly that Chiellini elbowed him, but this was a result of Suarez biting him. Suarez really did appear to be the aggressor in this situation and I can’t for the life of me think why. I don’t know what motivated him to do it.

With Maradonna punching a ball into a goal you can at least understand his motivation. His punching of the ball into the net was to put his team 1-0 up in the contest. It made sense, it had logic to it, and it was something you could understand whether you agreed with it or not. Once the game was over you knew why he’d done it. With Suarez I just don’t know why he did this other than him having some sort of an issue. There was no actual tactical advantage gained at that particular point from biting Chiellini. There was no reason to do it.

A defender crocking a player when he’s the last man makes sense. A player elbowing another to get to a header first makes sense. A player diving to win a penalty makes sense. All of these things are abhorrent and not in the spirit of the game, but you can at least UNDERSTAND why someone would do them. They are being done so that an advantage can be gained. Nibbling someone on the shoulder serves no purpose on the football pitch. It’s something you more associate with a steamy love scene in a movie rather than a sporting contest.

Maybe this is why such fascination abounds Suarez in this situation? We just don’t understand.


Brazil finally realises there’s a World Cup on

Better late than never eh? Brazil, the World Cup hosts, finally decided to show up on Monday, and boy did they ever. Poor Cameroon, a team in disarray, worried the hosts with an early goal but soon succumbed to the overwhelming pressure of a partisan crowd and the skilful styling’s of “Boy Wonder” Neymar.

Even Fred, the only Brazilian striker to work at a mil in Widnes on his days off, got on the score sheet as Brazil rampaged to a 4-1 victory. Does this now make Brazil the favourites for the tournament? I’d certainly have them in the running but it may also still be too soon to say. I would still say Argentina would be the overall favourites, with Germany and Brazil behind them, while Holland, France and Colombia stand on the periphery after promising first round performances.

Uruguay were a team I expected to do well, but that now depends on whether Suarez is banned or not. Without Suarez, Uruguay look lost but with him in the side they seem like a genuine threat. Even when Suarez doesn’t score, his merely being there galvanises the team. He is a talisman for them in every sense of the word. Without him, I fear Uruguay will crash out ignominiously to the Colombians in the knock out stages. Should he indeed play, they might have a chance to advance onward.

And back to Suarez we go. I’ll freely admit that I thought this World Cup would be to Suarez what 1986 was to Maradonna or what 1962 would be to Garrincha. It would be HIS World Cup. Now sadly it probably will be, but for all the wrong reasons.

England crash out and must now rebuild. It’s a shame that the legacy left by England in this tournament, a tournament that may be the greatest World Cup ever, is that they went out early. But I’m not ashamed. They went out due to no lack of effort. At the end of the day, they just didn’t have what it took. It’s disappointing but it’s not insulting or shameful.

In some ways, I wish we’d gone down in glorious defeat like The Australians instead of just plain old defeat. But what can you do eh? We’ll just have to focus on Euro 2016 (Should we be lucky enough to qualify)

Four Sides Vs Six Sides: Passing The Buck

Everyone is doing a TNA/Impact Wrestling column at the moment it seems. So here’s mine


What seems to have sparked the debate this time is that TNA are considering bringing back their famed Six Sided Wrestling Ring. However, the debate has got rolling less for them considering the change and more for HOW they've considered broaching the subject.


This is because TNA are leaving it up to their fan base to decide which ring they use. They are allowing people who have no direct contact with the in-ring machinations to actually decide what sort of ring the wrestlers will be competing in. A lot of these people have never even been in a wrestling ring before and now the power is in their hands to make a decision that directly effects the working lives of the wrestlers they watch each week.


Most wrestlers will tell you how important it is to have the right sort of ring when it comes to working on a show. There’s a reason that wrestlers get in the ring before a show starts and have a quick bump around before the customers stream in. Yhey want to know what the ring feels like. They want to know what they can and can’t do.


There’s nothing worse than a bad ring. A ring with no bounce, or indeed too much bounce, makes bumping and feeding difficult. A ring with awful slack ropes makes even the most basic of tasks a chore. The sound system, the entrance way, the dressing room, these are all important when it comes to a show but the most important of all is the ring. A decent ring will make or break a show.


Now, I’m all for wrestling fans being allowed to have a say on matters but this is one area where I feel they are totally unqualified to make an informed and adequate contribution. I’ve never been one for the “you’ve never been in a ring” argument. People like Dave Meltzer or Wade Keller have never been professional wrestlers but then again Roger Ebert and Jonathon Ross have never been in Hollywood Movies either. Just because you haven’t done something doesn’t mean that you can’t research it and develop an informed opinion. However, this is one of the few areas where I honestly think it’s impossible for someone to have a relevant and informed opinion unless they’ve actually wrestled.


I’d like to compare it to football, another one of my favourite pastimes. As a football supporter, we all have opinions over who should play in the team and who is at fault when our teams lose. On more than one occasion I’ve put my two pence in on what tactics the manager has used and what individual players have done on the pitch. However, the last thing I’m going to do is show up at training and tell the coaches and the players what to do because, in all honesty, I wouldn’t have a clue. It’s easy to sit in the stands and critique the team, and as a paying customer I would dare to say that it’s my right, but I have no place in deciding what the squad actually do because I just don’t have the required knowledge in that field.


Wrestling fans pay for a ticket to a show, for a DVD or for a Pay Per View Event and they have every right to say what they think about the quality of that show. Commenting on the matches, the physiques, the storylines and the characters involved are all a privilege that come with the ticket. However, wrestling fans with no wrestling experience have no place in telling the wrestlers what sort of ring they should be wrestling in.


Unless you’ve taken bumps and ran the ropes I really don’t see what you can bring to the Four Sided Vs Six Sided argument besides a purely cosmetic point of view. Essentially, the fans are going to pick whatever ring they think is better looking, because that is all they are really qualified to comment on with any real authority. There’s nothing wrong with fans having an opinion to that regard and their opinions should be taken into account in the eventual decision, but the actual decision itself should be left up to the Road Agents and the wrestlers who are going to have to work in the ring.


There is nothing wrong with the fans being consulted on this matter and being asked “Which ring do you prefer?”, but that is as far as it should go. It is madness to leave it solely up to the fans to decide what wrestling ring a wrestling company uses. That’s like asking customers of an airline what plane they’d rather travel in. Some decisions should only be made in house and this is one of them.


I think it’s great that TNA wants to hear what it’s fans think but they have put too much power in the fans hands with this policy. Fans are entitled to an opinion, but in this case that is as far as it should go. It should merely be an opinion and TNA can then use that opinion to base its final decision. If they really do choose what ring they have based solely on what the fans think, I think it will be a terrible dereliction of their duty to their wrestlers.

Dominik Diamonds are Forever - FIFA World Cup 2014

World Cup 2014 review

The “World Cup Fifa 2014, super-duper World Cup, FIFA” game is basically just FIFA 14, with slightly fuzzier graphics and a more arcade style control scheme. EA wants £40 (That’s 8 whole Bison Dollars) for it.



I’m tempted just to end the review there to be honest. I can’t think of anything else you’d really need to know about this game. If you’ve played FIFA 14, you’ll essentially already know exactly what to expect. If you haven’t played FIFA 14, you’ll find this reasonably easy to get in to. The difficulty has been toned down quite a bit, so newcomers and casual gamers (Who I think are the intended audience to be honest) should be able to adapt and thrive quite quickly.



One good thing about this game is that EA have bothered to shell out the money so that every team is represented here, along with real player names and kits. I decided to celebrate the occasion by playing as Wales, who are normally left out on the standard FIFA titles.



You can choose to dive straight into the World Cup or go through qualifying. If you’re playing as a lower ranked team, such as Wales, I suggest you play through the qualifying rounds. As qualifying progresses your player’s stats increase over the campaign, which is essential if you’re playing as a team with weaker players.



The amount of friendlies the game makes you play though is outrageous. If you pick a team in UEFA, the game starts in 2010 and you have to slog through about 7-8 friendlies before you even get to play a World Cup qualifier. I’ve not tried other confederations yet, so this might just be exclusive to UEFA. Still, it’s a massive pain. I’m all for an odd friendly here or there, but this is just overkill and feels very much like padding.



There are over 100 teams in the game for Crepes Sake! That’s plenty of replay time for idiots like me who want to win the whole shebang with Cook Islands “for a laugh”. I’m less inclined to do this now, as I just don’t have the time to wade through all the chuffing friendlies.



The gameplay for FIFA games is something where if you’re used to computer games, you’ll probably be able to pick them up without too much angst. The two button system is great for rookies who want a more simplistic game. People buying this game will either be FIFA fans already, like me, or probably lapsed FIFA fans who feel like playing the game during the tournament. There’s something here that will satisfy both groups to a certain extent, but the price is just too high in my opinion. This should be £20-£30 tops I think.



The gameplay been simplified and feels a bit, what’s the word I need here?, squashy in comparison to FIFA 14. It just feels at times like you’re riding a bike with stabilisers. The graphics also don’t seem to be as tight as on FIFA 14. It just looks a bit misty, a bit fuzzy and a bit less defined on this game for some reason.



And why can’t I change the captain during the match? Seriously EA, why can’t I do this? I mean, it seems like a pretty easy bit of programming that even you should be capable of.



Anyway, even though there isn’t anything technically wrong with this game as such, I just can’t recommend it because it just isn’t worth the £40 they want for it.



Rating - 0/10, because you shouldn't buy it and less because it's actually bad, if that makes any sense?

Garth Crooks is Angry!

Garth Crooks is angry.



He’s very angry indeed.



If he was any angrier, he’d have to change his name to Garth Angry and move to an Angry apartment in Angryville and open an Angry orangery where he sold Angry oranges to make Angry orange cordial.



What’s raised his ire I hear you ask?



Simple, he’s annoyed, and justifiably so I might add, about Everton’s 2-1 victory over Cardiff at the weekend.



Find below, Crooks disgruntled comments. You can literally picture steam coming out of his ears



"After he scored such a lucky winner for Everton against Cardiff I´m almost tempted, if you´ll excuse the pun, to call the right-back ´Shameless´ Coleman. Particularly for celebrating his goal, courtesy of a mis-kick, by doing a lap of honour around Goodison Park.



He maybe should have apologised to David Marshall for the fortunate strike that robbed Cardiff of a deserved point. But the Everton defender has been an extra attacking outlet for Roberto Martinez this season and was in the right place at the right time to net once again.



Did you know? The Irish full-back is the top scoring defender in the Premier League this season with six goals - as many as Fernando Torres and Michu combined."



Quite right too Mr Crooks!



How DARE a footballer celebrate scoring the winning goal in an important home game?



How DARE he be happy to have grabbed a goal that gives his team a valuable 3 points! A 3 points that increases enchances their chances of qualifying for Europe no less.



Seamus Coleman should be ashamed!



You know what though? I think Garth Angry is being too kind to Coleman, when he merely demands that he just apologise to the keeper.



An apology is simply not enough!



Seamus Coleman should be handed a 70 Thousand Pound fine and a 15 game ban. I think this is just about fair enough, and could even be considered lenient in the circumstances. And of course he should apologise, that goes without saying, but a simple hand shake in the dressing room isn’t going to cover it.



As soon as the match finished, Coleman should have got on the tannoy and issued a grovelling 10 minute song of apology, complete with intricate dance moves. He then should have made his way to the away exits and laid on the floor so the Cardiff fans could walk over him while they made their way to their coaches, uttering a sorrowful apology as they trampled over his nether regions.



Coleman should have then gone to Cardiff City centre and have himself tied to the Stocks, whereby the people of Cardiff could have thrown rotten fruit and vegetables at him. He then should have signed a legally binding contract that stated if he ever celebrated a goal in the Premier League again, he would immediately be shipped out to sea and fed to a swarm of Giant Squids.



Everton themselves should issue an apology of their own. They should also have been deducted 20 points and banned from European competition for at least 17 years, maybe even 19 years, just to make sure they learned their lesson and did their upmost to stop a player celebrating a last minute winner again.



This chain of events might go some small way to making the situation right, although to truly make this situation right would be nothing short of impossibility. Everton and Seamus Coleman have disgraced the footballing world this weekend. They have committed an atrocity. The city of Liverpool must wear this badge of shame for years to come.



Everton have committed the ultimate sin in football; being happy to win a match.



No wonder Garth is so angry







Read more: http://www.grandoldteam.com/news/fans-view/2014/mar/17/garth-crooks-is-angry#ixzz2xo2237Tl