10 Biggest Blunders in World Football This Weekend of Dec. 20-21
Another weekend in the world of football brought us the usual bouts of spectacular action and goalmouth incidents...and a host of blunders, moments that players hope would be wiped from history and general, laughable ineptitude.
We've taken our usual look around the world game to round up the biggest howlers of the weekend for your joyous viewing...unless of course you support one of the sides featured, in which case you probably want to just skip past that slide.
Enjoy!
Hungarian Dive
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We start off with one of the worst dives of the season—and it's not from the Premier League.
No, indeed, this incident apparently stems from Hungary in the second tier, where an unknown player in an unknown team takes a flying leap over, erm, nothing, in search of a foul.
Watch the awful dive right here.
No Penalty!
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Nobody doubts that referees can have it tough in the modern game, but they don't have make it difficult for themselves sometimes with some extremely dodgy decisions.
Take Shane Long/Phil Jagielka, for example, in the Premier League on Saturday. Long jumps in the area, wins the ball...and then Jagielka boots him up in the air. No penalty!
Watch what is apparently a perfectly fine tackle right here.
More than One Ball Is Apparently Fine
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When a manager doesn't have confidence in his own defence, it's not usually a good sign for the team—but there's not much he can do about it once he sends them out onto the pitch for kick-off.
Except, however, for a coach of Jesina—playing in Italy's fourth tier—who decided he could still impact the defence by firing a ball from the touchline at the attacker running toward goal. And he got away with it!
Watch the bizarre incident here.
Agbonlahor's Red
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As long as Lee Mason is a Premier League referee, we'll always have content for this series.
The top-flight official's blunder of choice this weekend was a diabolical straight red card shown to Aston Villa forward Gabriel Agbonlahor for a 50-50 challenge with Ashley Young of Manchester United.
Young thought he'd conceded the foul, the Villa players thought they had a free-kick, the managers saw nothing wrong with it either...but Mason knows best, and he opted for a red card for the Villa man.
Watch it here.
Konchesky's Backpass
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Andy Carroll isn't generally known for his composed, clinical finishing with his feet, but that's what he provided for West Ham with a goal against Leicester City at the weekend.
It all came about as a result of Paul Konchesky deciding he would play a backpass to his goalkeeper from the halfway line, on his wrong foot, without looking.
It didn't go to plan.
Watch Konchesky's horror moment here.
Andy Carroll Struggles with Standing Upright
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But it wasn't all goals and glory for Carroll, who, for a short moment, looked as though he'd managed to injure himself yet again for the Hammers.
Here he struggles with stepping or walking as he tries to close down a clearance.
Cue a tangle of feet, an inability to stay upright and a collision with the advertising hoardings.
Watch it here.
Just Ignore the Offside
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Time for another poor officiating call now, with Elche taking the lead in La Liga against Malaga right on the stroke of half-time, thanks to David Lomban.
Well, really it was thanks to the officials who opted not to call offside against a line of four Elche players who were all in advanced positions.
Watch Lomban's headed goal here.
Set-Piece Rule No. 1: Always Clear the First Man
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That's what we're always told, right? You take a corner or a free-kick, and you're supposed to get that ball past the first defender. Make it difficult for the opposition to deal with your attacking threat.
Orrrrrr....
Alternatively, you could just let Nolan Roux be that first man, who, being a striker, will helpfully turn the ball into his own net for you.
Watch his own goal here.
Liverpool Defence...
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Liverpool and Arsenal drew 2-2 in the Premier League on Sunday in a match where neither defence covered themselves in glory.
The Reds failed to clear their lines with the one attack they needed to defend in the first half, allowing Arsenal to score off a free-kick after winning three headers in a row in the box. Then there was a terrible lack of communication that saw Olivier Giroud score the Gunners' second.
See no fewer than five defending players totally ignore the centre-forward right here.
...vs. Arsenal Defence
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However, Liverpool did manage to rally and win themselves a deserved point from the game, thanks to a late headed goal from Martin Skrtel off a corner.
It was a standard corner: a decent delivery into the middle of the box. It was not standard defending, however, as Per Mertesacker—not for the first time—opted to cower out of the way of the ball rather than actually try to defend.
See Liverpool's equaliser, and Mertesacker's terrified reaction to having somebody attack the ball, right here.
