More and more looking like Leeds part 2.

Instead of money being spend on big signings chasing the dream etc replace that with Millions going on debts.

Big problem happens when the debts gets bigger we need to sell players to fund the debts next thing you know the club/team is in free fall, budgets etc were made with two things happening in the next 12 months a) A good run in the Uefa cup b) European football next season.

It really isn't far away.

1. If the Shawcross incident happened to a Chelsea player you would be crying into your cheerios. Don't give me all this Sh happens rubbish. That was a needless tackle if you ever saw one.

2. De Jong- as much as I think he is a dirty player, the tackle against Ben-A wasn't half as bad as the Shawcross one. It was just a solid challenge, he won the ball, and a free-kick wasn't even given.

3.. Of course has got to do with the clubs involved. You have blinkers on!

4. I don't see how you can defend somebody stamping on someone elses face, unless of course he was an Arsenal player....oh that's right!

Can't believe people are defending de Jong's tackle, deary me.

Any defending needs their head testing, or their MASSIVE blue specs removing.

Not sure if it's been posted, but he's beed [url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/9058532.stmdropped[/url from the dutch squad following the challenge.

Super Kevin Davies

The only people I have heard about criticising De Jong’s tackle are Alan Green, Stan Collymore and Newcastle fans.

The challenge was unnecessarily hard, that I won’t deny. De Jong didn’t need to tackle as strongly as he did. However, it was a fair challenge.

As for the Dutch coach…. LOL at the irony. Van Marwijck (sp?) betrayed Holland’s footballing heritage at the WC by setting up his team in order to kick lumps out of the opposition, rather than out-play them. Now he has dropped De Jong for a strong tackle. Unbelievable.

Best of luck to Ben Arfa in his recovery.

Interesting to hear whether or not you think the tackles on Tevez (by Coloccini) and Milner (by Tiote) were less ‘volent’ and ‘aggressive’ than De Jong’s challenge. IMO they were a degree worse (although I want to make it clear that I am not accusing the ref of bias towards Newcastle, it was quite the opposite. We were very lucky).

I'm not defending it. But its nowhere near as bad as the Shawcross one. De Jongs wasn't even a foul!!

Have a word with yourself.

Only because Martin Atkinson is a clown and didn't give it.

You need to give your head a wobble, fella. The challenges from Tiote and Coloccini were as bad as anything i have witnessed this season. The Tiote challenge was a red card. No question.

You need to watch more football then. You believe Tiote should have been red carded but de Jong's 'tackle' was a fair challenge? This is a prime example of why it's impossible to discuss anything with you.

Ash, I know I can be difficult to debate with at times butbe honest, it's not just City fans who believe this. The general opinion, appears to be that De Jon's tackle was fine. You only have to look at the way the Newcastle players reacted after the challenge. The only one who was upset by De ong was Tiote. Some went in a bit rough on De Jong later on but that was it. Hardly the reaction of players whose team mate was supposedly subjected to a tackle full of spite and intention.

I would be angry if one of our best players was injured from a challenge. TBH I was when Kolarov was injured in the first game of the season. The challenge from King wasn't intentional (although his foot was hip height at the time) but I wanted to someone to blame as it meant having either Lescott or Bridge at LB.

The Tiote challenge on Milner was a disgrace. Simply smashing your boot into an opponents calf (standing leg too) with no intention of getting teh ball. It was a sending-off. It was similar to Petrov's foul at our place a couple of years ago when he was sent-off against Everton (although Petrov didn't have the guts to make any meaningful contact - if he made any contact at all). He was sent-off, but you didn't find any City fan defending him.

He is going to finish somebodys career sooner rather than later, some of his 'tackles' on Saturday would've been shocking in a pub match. Bobby Zamora got a lucky escape.

Because it wasn't a 'reckless' foul or a red card IMO, it was a hard, strong challenge in which De Jong won the ball. The injury was unfortunate but I don't think it was due to the tackle being a nasty one. Had he not been injured or had he not broken his leg I don't think you would be of this opinion mate.

Even if it does mean I'm agreeing with EE

I dont think any player tries to injure an opponent with their trailing leg. He seemed determined to win the ball rather than hurt the player.

The reports I've read seem to be divided on fairly clear lines: Journos (+Collymore) = bad tackle. Ex players (- Collymore) = accident.

Add the Dutch national team manager to the bad tackle brigade. What with Stuart Holdens broken leg, the World Cup final kung fu kick and now this Mr De Jong is making quite a name for himself.

Where is this 'general opinion' from?


On that basis, I assume you'd agree that Boateng and Viera should have been sent off then?

Just because he won the ball initially that doesn't make it a fair challenge. I've seen this written on a few Man City forums today but it's being completely ignored what he did with his trailing leg, the one that caused the damage and the one that made it a foul.

Regardless of whether he meant it or not, it happened and he didn injure an opponent through his poor tackling technique.



When you allow your trailing leg to go through somebody like the above and create a 'scissor' effect, it becomes irrelevant that he won the ball. You simply cannot go into a tackle like this.

Ramsay was the player making the tackle. He just nipped in quicker than Shawcross, who was trying to clear the ball downfield from a crowded midfield area.



If he'd cleared the ball into touch or played it towards a Citeh player he'd have won the ball. That didn't ****ing happen. He basically just managed to stop the ball where it was with his slight contact. It would have been an utterly useless tackle if he didn't also take out the player while doing it.

The fact that a free kick wasn't given is just a terrible reflection on a bad refereeing performance. This tackle is a perfect example of what FIFA have been driving out of the game for the last few years.



I hate Arsenal because of their hypocrisy and the media bull5hit surrounding them.

I don't hate Citeh, I just dislike EE and his hypocritical bull5hit.

When watching a game live, every challenge on a Chelsea player is a bad one and every challenge by a Chelsea player a good one. If a Chelsea player committed a "de Jong" and got a red my first reaction would be that the ref was a bent **nt. But on the second replay it'd be "Well, maybe it wasn't quite a good challenge" and by the third or fourth replay I'd be accepting that he deserved the red and the ref got it right.



Because of the speed and way the incident happened I don't believe that anyone can say that it was a deliberate stamp. I think Adebayor and Citeh should have defended themselves better and fought the charge.

If you're old enough, you're good enough, as Mike Bassett used to say.

www.sportinglife.com/football/ne ... tlead.html

www.sportinglife.com/football/ne ... tlead.html

Why reference a picture that actually goes against what you are saying? De Jong tackled with his left leg. He followed through with his right leg but he pulled it into towards his body. He simply wasn’t performing the scissor that you stated. After the impact, his right leg became outstretched.

Maybe he should have unscrewed his right leg and folded it into his body.

Have you actually played football? I ask because you are coming across as someone who has never made a tackle or been tackled before. I have witnessed heavier challenges from bigger people than De Jong, but the tackled player get up and simply dust himself down. Sometimes a player is simply unlucky. That’s little consolation but we have all seen it happen before.

As for those who don’t think De Jong did any wrong – go on most football forums, read the press, listen to ex-players. You will only find the ‘shock jocks’, Newcastle supporters and United fans (Bitter? Yes) who claim De Jong’s tackle was nasty and made with intent to inflict serious injury.

My argument at the time was that the Adebayor "stamp" only looked bad when viewed in slow motion. I think the same applies to De Jong's tackle. Slow motion gives a very distorted view of the players intent. It makes every movement look deliberate.

If you look at the two controversial tackles over the weekend Henry's tackle when viewed in slow motion doesnt look that bad, De Jong's tackle looks horrible. View them at full speed and its reversed.