Bleacher Report - Articles by Dave Partridge

Men Of Dishonor: Or, How To Cheat and Get Away With It

Dave Partridge — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:06:01 -0500

Diving, or gaining an unfair advantage using theatrics if you prefer, has been the focus in English football once again this week. During the Liverpool vs Birmingham City game on monday night we saw another example of this disgusting behaviour.

With Birmingham 2-1 up and just about coping with the intense Liverpool pressure, David Ngog got between two players and headed for the byline when Birmingham skipper Lee Carsley slid in with an attempted tackle.

With Ngog seemingly going nowhere, some may question Carsley’s decision to slide inside the penalty area, but Ngog took a swan dive, and with television replays showing no contact from Carsley, Liverpool were nonetheless awarded a match-saving penalty.

Unfortunately this kind of action occurs too often, for example, earlier this season Arsenal’s forward Eduardo was found to have dived to earn a penalty in a Champions League tie against Celtic, UEFA subsequently issued a three-match ban after the incident following public uproar but then backed down when Arsenal objected.

Surely if diving and cheating is to be stamped out of the English game then we need to show these players that it will not be tolerated? I’m all for retrospective punishment, it works in rugby union, so why not football? The same could be said for video referees. Would a football supporter really mind if a game overran by ten minutes while video footage was used to sort out contentious decisions?

UEFA has already been trialling goal line referees in this seasons Europa league so maybe that’s a way forward? But why flood the pitch with more officials when a video referee would be more practical?

One final note, the referee in charge of that game on Monday, Peter Walton, will not be officiating in the Premier League this weekend having been dropped from the fixture list by his bosses, which begs the question, why hasn’t Ngog been punished also?

It's Not Over Yet for Birmingham City…Not By a Long Shot

Dave Partridge — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 21:57:57 -0400

It's been a long time, I've resisted this season to write anything because I knew how it would pan out.

I love my team, don't get me wrong, I will love them 'til I die. Love them over my betrothed, that's how much they mean to me, even when things don't go according to plan.

Which they haven't.

Some how, we've been playing absolute garbage all season yet we're second in the Championship. Does this mean the standard of the league is slipping? No, it does not.

It just means that Birmingham City, the strongest squad on paper in the Championship, has managed to bluff their way to an automatic promotion spot by pure chance.

I may be a dreamer, along with 20,000 other fans, in thinking that we could be a force in the Premiership, but at the end of the day I'm also a realist, and I know that if we get promoted, we will face an uphill struggle just to consolidate our position.

We've been there a couple of times, the first year we survived with our "up and at 'em" attitude, but this bred expectation amongst the fans.

Maybe we could qualify for the UEFA Cup. Yes, we could, one day, not yet though. Under Alex McLeish and the Gold brothers we have more potential than we ever had under Steve Bruce.

Karren Brady can slag us off as much as she wants in her tabloid column. She knows the score, she knows the die'hard Bluenose will never give up.

Let's never forget where we come from and who we are. We are the perennial underdogs. We are Birmingham City. We will fight them on the beaches and we will fight with growing strength in the air.

We will never surrender. Bring on the dingles...We will journey on, tho the way be long. We'll be there, at the end of the road.

Birmingham City: Keep Right on Like It's 2004

Dave Partridge — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:11:20 -0400

With the Premiership season in its twilight, it's not too difficult to sum up Birmingham City's season.

In a word, torture.

But it's with fond memories that we can look back and compare this season to that of 2003-04, when a couple of master strokes during the transfer window by then-manager Steve Bruce turned Blues' season around and ensured Premiership survival.

Back then, Bruce brought Stephen Clemence, Matthew Upson, and the French maestro Christophe Dugarry to the club. This season Alex McLeish brought in David Murphy, James McFadden, and Argentine wonderkid Mauro Zarate.

Having been denied vital points against the likes of Fulham, Reading, and Derby County—not to mention drubbings away at relegation rivals Bolton and Sunderland—it appeared the scrap for survival would go down to the wire. And it still might.

Encouraging performances against Chelsea, Manchester United, a double over Tottenham, and draws against Arsenal and a resurgent Newcastle United have given us Bluenoses a glimmer of hope.

We always knew Derby would go down, even they knew it, and that the other two places would be fought out between seven sides.

The injury to James McFadden, unfortunate as it is, has seen the emergence of Mauro Zarate, who is settling into the Premiership very nicely at the moment. With three goals in the last two games he could well be one of the transfer coups of the season when safety is assured.

He's not too dissimilar to a player we had back in the mid-199's, Jose Dominguez, who liked to run at players, get round the back, and had great pace and a great shot.

The only criticism of Zarate is that maybe he tries to do too much—that and the fact that every time he scores his price tag increases!

But at this late stage of the season, when defenders are tired after 40 or so games, the last thing they want to see is someone running at them with pace.

Alex McLeish did well to keep him wrapped up, limiting his appearances to 10 or 20 minute cameos before McFadden's knee surgery, and now we shall reap the rewards.

However, there are concerns that he'll end up with a big-money move to one of Europe's bigger clubs during the summer, one that can afford the ever-escalating fee set by his parent club, Al-Sadd of Qatar.

Fortunately, the lad has said he wants to stay at Birmingham, so we'll see what happens there. Every Bluenose I know has all fingers and toes crossed on this one, and I'll be discussing this more in the next week.

Zarate isn't the only Birmingham youngster to have caught the eye this season though. Sebastian Larsson and Fabrice Muamba, both bought from Arsenal, have matured beyond expectations this season, too.

Muamba, an England U-21 international, was hailed as the next Patrick Viera, and he's going some way to justify the tag with a string of spirited performances in the center of midfield.

Larsson, on the other hand, has proved highly accurate with the dead-ball in recent weeks, and his performances week-in and week-out have been enough to keep promising Dutch winger Daniel De Ridder (signed in the summer by Steve Bruce) restricted to reserve team football.

So, there's six games left. Away trips to Wigan, Aston Villa, and Fulham couple with tough home encounters against Liverpool, Everton, and Blackburn.

The away games should bring us a couple of points realistically, although many Bluenoses—this one included—will believe we can take all nine!

The home games will be a little bit tougher for obvious reasons. Liverpool are on fire, Everton will be hoping to consolidate the fifth position, and Blackburn on the final day could end up being a game with nothing to play for on either side.

Whatever happens, it's not over until the fat lady opens her mouth, and she's only just entered the building. However, judging by Bolton's run in, Premiership football could be assured at St. Andrews by the end of April.

A Sepp too far?

Dave Partridge — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 03:20:56 -0400

I've tried, really tried to keep my own cousel over this issue: the tackle that's been dominating the sports pages for the last month which left Arsenal and Croatian forward, Eduardo, needing career-saving surgery after a challenge by Birmingham City's Martin Taylor. I agree it was a horrendous challenge and Taylor rightly deserved a red card and a three-match ban.

What it does not warrant is public discussion over whether Martin Taylor should be banned for life or criminally charged. This is FIFA President Sepp Blatter's view, that the three-match ban isn't long enough and that tackles of a similar nature should be viewed the same as criminal attacks. I'm sorry, but Mr Blatter has lost the plot completely. Football is a contact sport and has been since its official conception back in the 19th Century.

It's unfortunate what happened to Eduardo. I wish him a speedy and successful recovery, as do football fans everywhere, no doubt. As for Martin Taylor, he'll be reminded by this incident throughout his career, because some people won't let it lie. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger blasted the challenge immediately after the match but has since retracted his comments about Taylor saying it was in the heat of the moment.

That should've been the end of the subject until Eduardo made a full recovery. Then three weeks later Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas whined to the press that a three-match ban was unfair and that Taylor should be banned for longer. This got FIFA and the ridiculous Blatter involved - more on him later.

I'm a Birmingham fan and I'll support Martin Taylor, although I'm not condoning the tackle. But there seems to be an increase in the kinds of players who moan and complain about the physical side of the game. Unfortunately it appears to be the overseas players who are the most consistant in raising these issues.

So then, how come players like Ricardo Carvalho, William Gallas, and Michael Essien seem to get away with similar challenges to the Taylor incident, and even as recent as last night when Chelsea's Ashley Cole went in high on Spur's Alan Hutton? The end result was different, there was no major injury. So these players are free to get away with it in the next game, also, I believe, because they play for the big clubs.

Don't believe me? Jeremie Aliadiere of Middleborough gets sent off for violent conduct against Liverpool and has his ban increased to four games. Frank Lampard of Chelsea is involved in a similar incident against West Ham and gets his red card rescinded! Double standards for the rich and the poor in England's top division methinks.

Let me leave you with this little gem from Sepp Blatter (who has today repeated his request for the English FA to re-evaluate the length of Martin Taylor's ban*). It has been reported this week that Mr Blatter wants the Bolivian national team to stop playing football matches in the capital La Paz because he believes the high altitude (3,600m) is giving them an unfair advantage against opponents who struggle against them.

Now let me get this straight. He wants a national team to stop playing in their nations capital city because of it's geographical location?????? Anyone with the tiniest bit of common sense knows you need to acclimatise if doing anything strenuous at such levels - it's one of the basic physical requirements. It's not like Bolivia are even that successful in the grand scheme of things. Mr Blatter is either bored or has clearly lost his mind, I can find no other explanation for him sticking his beak into matters that don't concern him.

Good luck with the recovery Eduardo.

* In the short time this article has been online, it has been announced that FIFA will not be taking any further action. Hopefully this puts the matter to rest.

The Magic of the FA Cup Returns

Dave Partridge — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 04:35:00 -0500

Well, what a day of FA Cup football!

Bristol Rovers and Huddersfield Town, the lowest ranked teams left in the FA Cup were looking for a big payday.

Bristol Rovers, facing an abject managerless Southampton side were looking to qualify for the quarter finals for the first time in 50 years.

Huddersfield Town, were hoping to produce the shock of the round by getting a result at high-flying billionaires Chelsea.

Elsewhere, the other potential shock saw out of form Championship side Barnsley visit historic Anfield to face giants Liverpool.

The early kick off witnessed a proper cup tie at the Memorial Stadium, Bristol. A frosty, muddy pitch was never going to allow for attractive flowing football so we were treated instead to the hustle and bustle of two decidedly unattractive teams. Southampton are in a state of quandry so an upset was always on the cards with a draw being the likely outcome. That was of course until Rickie Lambert's deflected free-kick sealed the victory for Rovers with just a few minutes remaining. They are now the lowest ranked League left in the competition and will be hoping to face one of the Premiership big-guns left in the competition, it could be Chelsea who overcame Huddersfield Town 3-1 with relative ease and a superb performance from Frank Lampard. It won't be, however, Liverpool, who crashed out in the final seconds of their with Barnsley.

Forgive me if I trail off-topic for a second, but I have never agreed with big clubs playing reserve sides or resting their bigger players for Cup games. It's mostly evident in the Carling Cup and as Arsenal found out to their chagrin, it can backfire horrendously. For one, it shows a distinct lack of respect to your opponents, the same opponents who do the same job yet get paid considerably less. Liverpool came unstuck today and I for one am glad. They may have been resting players like Steve Gerrard and Fernando Torres for the lucrative Champions League game with Inter Milan later this week, but Barnsley deserve their victory for the arrogance demonstrated by Liverpool - not to mention the heroics of their on-loan goalkeeper, Luke Steele. It's not the first time they've struggled in the cup either this season. A third round tie against cash-strapped Luton Town, went to a replay. They were 1-2 down against the minnows of Havant & Waterlooville in the last round and today they've been beat. The lessons here are this... there's too many average players on clubs books, there's too much money in the game with greedy foreign-based owners who have nothing but even more money on their minds, and UEFA are at fault for making too big a deal out of the Champions League when only a quarter of the teams who qualify are actually Champions!!!

But that debate is for another day so for now I will sign off by saying this, the FA Cup is the greatest club competition in the world and has been since 1872. Days like this will be talked about for years to come, the day the little club, stood up to the rich and said "Your money means nothing if you haven't got the desire". Barnsley and Bristol Rovers will enjoy their success today and we'll look forward to the quarter final draw later this week. As for Liverpool, my bet is we'll see a very different side against Inter Milan.