I would like to put this disclaimer before I go on to ask a question about Rat boy. I have tagged the liverpool board as I think they are the only other club who can give a fair examination of Gary Neville and his supposedly lack of bias and his great punditry skills.
Disclaimer: The following question is by no means an excuse for yesterdays performance, we would have lost irrespective of how we conceded the first goal.The managers inability to prepare & pick the right team for such big games is well documented and besides I have repeated a number of times that Conte has been by far the best manager in this league and this Chelsea the best and most consistent side.
Question: Now I was not surprised by the silence of Gary Neville & Martin Tyler that followed the replays of Alonso's challenge on Bellerin. I assumed they were gathering their thoughts as it appeared that Alonso led by the arm and probably gained an unfair advantage. What surprised me was the lack of a question by Neville who is supposedly unbiased after his football days of openly taunting city & liverpool fans.
I expected nothing from Tyler, he is the Geoff Shreeves of football commentary, knows nothing about the game and lucky to be in the position he is but for Neville to pretend that Alonso's arm did not knock Bellerin out before he headed the ball was surprising.
I am one of the few who have never bought this hype about Neville's punditry skills and lack of bias. All I hear him talk about is a players arrogance, shrewdness, passion, wanting it more. Nothing he says convinces me he can be a top manager in todays game.
Neville is not the first pundit to get things wrong, look at Merson & Thompson, ripping Marco Silva before he had even managed Hull but I have come to expect that Merson is a football wum.
But Gary Neville is supposedly not.What am I missing here?
Gary Neville
posted on 5/2/17
comment by StringerBell (U11749)
posted 1 hour ago
In open play would that have been a foul? I think the ref may have stopped the game but, I don't think it was a foul.
Alonso jump perfectly, it was a coming together, I think the game would've been stopped right away, but the goal happened at the same time.
No wiggle room for the ref there. It wasn't a foul.
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Fair play to some chelsea fans. I also thought it was a coming together hence I always felt chelsea had every right to claim it was a goal but the reaction to it by the ref and the commentators was strange especially in light of the Ryan Mason incident was shocking.
But Im not surprised by gary to be honest.If you listen to him in commentary those are the only values he seems to be able to draw from football. Swagger, arrogance, toughness, shrewdness (cheating).
I have nothing against Chelsea, deserving chamopions elect with a classy manager.
Neville is everything that is wrong about the english game and its mentality
posted on 5/2/17
wait stringer bell is not a chelsea fan
for some reason always associate bell with chelsea fans. probably because majority of them are bellends.
apologies Stringer
posted on 5/2/17
comment by SWTN Biggish (U7916)
posted 1 hour, 19 minutes ago
comment by FuzzyAlli (U6468)
posted 32 seconds ago
Even as a Spurs fan I thought it was a definite foul.
Alonso cracked a smile while Bellerin was being treated.
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even as a Spurs fan?...............What meaning does that have considering that most Spurs fans hate Chelsea as much, if not more, than Arsenal.
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Hate is a strong word
posted on 5/2/17
Le me rephrase...
Most Spurs fans feel the same way about Chelsea as they do Arsenal.
posted on 5/2/17
comment by SWTN Biggish (U7916)
posted 29 seconds ago
Le me rephrase...
Most Spurs fans feel the same way about Chelsea as they do Arsenal.
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True , regardless of my opinion for the first goal Refs dont always give those as fouls I know.
Chelsea deserved the result anyway
posted on 5/2/17
No problem...
btw, i think Gary Neville, tries his best to be neutral.
he's said some silly things against UTD as well.. but he's got a job to do.
and he is very good at it, but it's all about interpretation isn't it... i mean, if he didn't see it as a foul, then why mention it...
posted on 5/2/17
comment by OllieT (U21372)
posted 2 hours, 21 minutes ago
Planet des Singes.
The producer probably had a word in his ear.
"All you've done for 90 minutes is knock Wenger and Arsenal. You even said that Alonso absolutely battered Bellerin. At no point have you realised that if everyone played 3-4-3 counter attack, the game would be finished. Be kind to Wenger."
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You're probably right. The same faux-neutrality as Tyler.
posted on 5/2/17
I was driving during the game so heard about the incident on the radio before I saw it. The radio made it sound like assault but when I watched it I'm not sure Alonso did a lot wrong.
Both players went for the ball, the arms were up but I wouldn't call it a swinging elbow as such. It was tough for Bellerin but fouls aren't determined by the outcome to another player.
Personally I don't think it was a foul. Bellerin just came off badly from a clash which happens in games. Hope the recovers quickly but I think the ref got it right.
posted on 5/2/17
Respect GNev, Klopp is a fraud
posted on 5/2/17
GN just went in hard on Klopp while defending Wenger