metalgear
Luka Modric
The Man C game reminded me of how well behaved a team we are. We don't gang up and pressure the ref, we don't really have any dirty players (or not for long), we don't instigate fights, we don't bite 
Sure its a think line but football is still a contact sport and a even more so today, a high pressured psychological environment where every bit of spirit and morale counts. And while the "street fighter instinct" is a bit unsportsmanlike being overtly aggressive, it is also within the rules of football, and referees don't bloody care about sportsmanship or the spirit of the game.
OK bale's antics have gotten a lot of attention, but having been a speedster on the pitch myself, getting hacked down at speed is something you never get used to, so I forgive him. But sometimes against the more physical teams who seem to get away we everything, we look nothing short of "soft".
So credit to the players like Dawson and Parker who try to engage the ref in a sensible exchange on the pitch. When that fails...then I look to one or two players who can take matters and their own hands and exact their own 'justice':
Two players come to mind, and played a critical role in our comeback in the Emirates Marketing Project game:
Sure its a think line but football is still a contact sport and a even more so today, a high pressured psychological environment where every bit of spirit and morale counts. And while the "street fighter instinct" is a bit unsportsmanlike being overtly aggressive, it is also within the rules of football, and referees don't bloody care about sportsmanship or the spirit of the game.
OK bale's antics have gotten a lot of attention, but having been a speedster on the pitch myself, getting hacked down at speed is something you never get used to, so I forgive him. But sometimes against the more physical teams who seem to get away we everything, we look nothing short of "soft".
So credit to the players like Dawson and Parker who try to engage the ref in a sensible exchange on the pitch. When that fails...then I look to one or two players who can take matters and their own hands and exact their own 'justice':
Two players come to mind, and played a critical role in our comeback in the Emirates Marketing Project game:
BAE - now here's a player who learned his football in the street and could see through the game that Emirates Marketing Project (especially Naszri) was playing and was dishing it back in a tit-for-tat fashion.
Dempsey - now this is classic american passive-aggressive; he gets manhandled - he goes to ground... not in a simulation but he kinda invites himself to be taken down, and trains his aggressor to do so. He has won us countless freekicks in good areas by putting his body on the line. Brave man.
Dempsey - now this is classic american passive-aggressive; he gets manhandled - he goes to ground... not in a simulation but he kinda invites himself to be taken down, and trains his aggressor to do so. He has won us countless freekicks in good areas by putting his body on the line. Brave man.
