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Buendia's sending off - Times article

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Yes I got the impression the ref didn’t take a look at the entire event, just run the elbow gently impacting the player. That said Buendia should have known better, but had the entire event been looked at then a yellow would have been given in my view.

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I dare say I will be shot down for this.

Here you see where the lack of supporters has a detrimental effect. Whilst we now have a lot of spectators and coaches in stadiums, even ours, at Norwich we still have thousands of supporters. By that I mean those who spend 90 minutes supporting their team. Those who believe every refereeing decision against us is wrong for the duration of the game. Whether Buendia was a silly boy or not is for the inquests on MOTD. But during the 90 mins Westwood is a cheat and will be booed until he either loses it or is subbed. And the referee will constantly be told "he doesn't know what he's doing". This is home advantage and a full Carrow Road still has enough supporters to make a difference.

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Ashley Westwood should say sorry for stitching up Emiliano Buendía

 
Tommy Conlon
 
Sunday July 19 2020, 6.00pm, The Times
 
 

The theatre was Carrow Road, the stage was the pitch, the thespian was Ashley Westwood. It looked to me like a bravura performance of ham acting.

Watching the Burnley midfielder writhe in agony, medical staff may have been caught in two minds, not knowing whether to give him the last rites or a standing ovation.

He had tangled with Norwich City’s Emiliano Buendía in the 33rd minute on Saturday evening. The Argentinian was in possession; Westwood lunged in and the ball broke away; a few afters followed. The English midfielder kneed Buendía in the thigh and pinned him momentarily using his arm and leg, preventing Buendía from walking away. Buendía turned to extricate himself and in the same movement dropped his elbow on to the back of Westwood’s head. Replays showed he applied moderate contact. One would doubt it left a skin mark, much less a bruise. The whole incident was nothing.

Buendía’s arm makes contact with Westwood, inset, who overreacts in a way that brought the Norwich player a red card via VAR
Buendía’s arm makes contact with Westwood, inset, who overreacts in a way that brought the Norwich player a red card via VAR

It was Westwood’s reaction that escalated it. Had he done the decent thing and walked away, it would in all likelihood have petered out. Instead he enacted a pitiful display of victimhood. Westwood collapsed on the floor clutching his head. He got to his knees clutching his head with both hands. Then he lay flat on the ground clutching his head. He executed one roll, then a second, still clutching his head. He managed then to haul himself on to all fours. At this point there was some sign of an improvement in his condition, for now he was applying just one hand, albeit he was using it vigorously to massage the afflicted area. From there he made it on to his knees and finally into an upright position.

By this stage, play was suspended and VAR was investigating for possible violent conduct. After multiple viewings in the video room, Kevin Friend, the referee, was advised to have a look for himself on the pitch-side monitor. It appears the incident was not shown to him in full on the monitor. It had been edited down to the split-second where Buendía’s elbow made contact with Westwood’s head. Without any context to complicate his considerations, Friend quickly made up his mind: red card.

Letter of the law? Probably correct. Violent conduct? Not remotely. Had Friend been able to assess the whole sequence, he’d have seen at least some possibility for mitigation in that Buendía was trying to extricate himself from the tangle – and that Westwood had been looking to extract a reaction. One would have thought the Burnley player was entitled to a yellow card for his part in the proceedings.

Instead he is entitled to a black card in the court of public opinion. In my view, his was the classic stitch-up job of long and ignoble tradition. It requires two acting roles, the first as the provocateur who goads his opponent into retaliation, the second as the injured party when said retaliation arrives. But this was a particularly shameless performance. The feigning on the floor was not so much laughable as contemptible. Westwood is 30, a senior professional who ought to have some sense of duty to the wider game.

And he ought to have it for another reason too: his own manager has previously condemned this kind of behaviour. In fact, Sean Dyche was preaching about it only last August. “The game’s in a really poor state for people diving, feigning injury, all sorts,” he declared. A few weeks earlier he had attended a meeting of the Premier League where he was told that a yellow card was the only sanction available for such conduct. “And I said, ‘So that means basically that every player in the Premier League can cheat at least once a game?’ . . . It’s about the greater good of the game. The game’s in a really poor state for people just literally falling on the floor.”

Did Westwood’s behaviour on Saturday therefore trouble his conscience? Or did he just think, great, Norwich are down to ten men? It would be taking idealism into pie-in-the-sky territory to expect that Dyche might publicly distance himself from one of his players. Even a charge of hypocrisy against him would be unfair, given there is no evidence that he encourages his players to cheat in this fashion. If the buck ultimately stops with the manager, it doesn’t mean that a player should be spared the obligation of taking responsibility for his own actions. This one is on Westwood. He owes Buendía an apology.

Notwithstanding the fact that one of his players failed dismally to practise what he preached, Dyche did the game a service last August.

As he also pointed out at that press conference, very few other people in the industry are talking about the issue any more. This form of cheating has become normalised to the point that it is barely even noticed, much less discussed. It continues to poison the water.

Maybe it is because there has never been more at stake for clubs financially, that players feel under greater pressure than previous generations to salvage results, by fair means or foul. In a time of supercharged professionalism, perhaps the ancient ideal of sportsmanship is seen as a dying relic of amateurism. But the game in its entirety is played overwhelmingly by amateurs, including the millions of children and juveniles who are daily watching their heroes behave with dishonour. And of course the behaviour becomes learned and replicated.

It is an abiding plague on the game, this particular brand of cynicism, and there is seemingly no desire to find a cure.

 

 

   

Edited by OldRobert
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1 minute ago, ......and Smith must score. said:

I have tried that before but it doesn't always work.

I see Old Robert has cracked it anyway.

Old Robert knows his onions.🙃

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18 minutes ago, OldRobert said:

Ashley Westwood should say sorry for stitching up Emiliano Buendía

 
Tommy Conlon
 
Sunday July 19 2020, 6.00pm, The Times
 
 

The theatre was Carrow Road, the stage was the pitch, the thespian was Ashley Westwood. It looked to me like a bravura performance of ham acting.

Watching the Burnley midfielder writhe in agony, medical staff may have been caught in two minds, not knowing whether to give him the last rites or a standing ovation.

He had tangled with Norwich City’s Emiliano Buendía in the 33rd minute on Saturday evening. The Argentinian was in possession; Westwood lunged in and the ball broke away; a few afters followed. The English midfielder kneed Buendía in the thigh and pinned him momentarily using his arm and leg, preventing Buendía from walking away. Buendía turned to extricate himself and in the same movement dropped his elbow on to the back of Westwood’s head. Replays showed he applied moderate contact. One would doubt it left a skin mark, much less a bruise. The whole incident was nothing.

Buendía’s arm makes contact with Westwood, inset, who overreacts in a way that brought the Norwich player a red card via VAR
Buendía’s arm makes contact with Westwood, inset, who overreacts in a way that brought the Norwich player a red card via VAR

It was Westwood’s reaction that escalated it. Had he done the decent thing and walked away, it would in all likelihood have petered out. Instead he enacted a pitiful display of victimhood. Westwood collapsed on the floor clutching his head. He got to his knees clutching his head with both hands. Then he lay flat on the ground clutching his head. He executed one roll, then a second, still clutching his head. He managed then to haul himself on to all fours. At this point there was some sign of an improvement in his condition, for now he was applying just one hand, albeit he was using it vigorously to massage the afflicted area. From there he made it on to his knees and finally into an upright position.

By this stage, play was suspended and VAR was investigating for possible violent conduct. After multiple viewings in the video room, Kevin Friend, the referee, was advised to have a look for himself on the pitch-side monitor. It appears the incident was not shown to him in full on the monitor. It had been edited down to the split-second where Buendía’s elbow made contact with Westwood’s head. Without any context to complicate his considerations, Friend quickly made up his mind: red card.

Letter of the law? Probably correct. Violent conduct? Not remotely. Had Friend been able to assess the whole sequence, he’d have seen at least some possibility for mitigation in that Buendía was trying to extricate himself from the tangle – and that Westwood had been looking to extract a reaction. One would have thought the Burnley player was entitled to a yellow card for his part in the proceedings.

Instead he is entitled to a black card in the court of public opinion. In my view, his was the classic stitch-up job of long and ignoble tradition. It requires two acting roles, the first as the provocateur who goads his opponent into retaliation, the second as the injured party when said retaliation arrives. But this was a particularly shameless performance. The feigning on the floor was not so much laughable as contemptible. Westwood is 30, a senior professional who ought to have some sense of duty to the wider game.

And he ought to have it for another reason too: his own manager has previously condemned this kind of behaviour. In fact, Sean Dyche was preaching about it only last August. “The game’s in a really poor state for people diving, feigning injury, all sorts,” he declared. A few weeks earlier he had attended a meeting of the Premier League where he was told that a yellow card was the only sanction available for such conduct. “And I said, ‘So that means basically that every player in the Premier League can cheat at least once a game?’ . . . It’s about the greater good of the game. The game’s in a really poor state for people just literally falling on the floor.”

Did Westwood’s behaviour on Saturday therefore trouble his conscience? Or did he just think, great, Norwich are down to ten men? It would be taking idealism into pie-in-the-sky territory to expect that Dyche might publicly distance himself from one of his players. Even a charge of hypocrisy against him would be unfair, given there is no evidence that he encourages his players to cheat in this fashion. If the buck ultimately stops with the manager, it doesn’t mean that a player should be spared the obligation of taking responsibility for his own actions. This one is on Westwood. He owes Buendía an apology.

Notwithstanding the fact that one of his players failed dismally to practise what he preached, Dyche did the game a service last August.

As he also pointed out at that press conference, very few other people in the industry are talking about the issue any more. This form of cheating has become normalised to the point that it is barely even noticed, much less discussed. It continues to poison the water.

Maybe it is because there has never been more at stake for clubs financially, that players feel under greater pressure than previous generations to salvage results, by fair means or foul. In a time of supercharged professionalism, perhaps the ancient ideal of sportsmanship is seen as a dying relic of amateurism. But the game in its entirety is played overwhelmingly by amateurs, including the millions of children and juveniles who are daily watching their heroes behave with dishonour. And of course the behaviour becomes learned and replicated.

It is an abiding plague on the game, this particular brand of cynicism, and there is seemingly no desire to find a cure.

 

 

   

UIt is an abiding plague on the game, this particular brand of cynicism, and there is seemingly no desire to find a cure.
 

what a brilliant piece and absolutely on the money football  talks more about “contact” than the cheating . “Was there contact” cry the commentators , not “was there any need to throw yourself on the ground as if you were near fatally injured “ is the real question. 
 

Referees and in particular British refs have brought this into the game. If the player falls to the ground they tend to get the decision against those that unusually stay on their feet. It has become the norm. 
 

Afterwards the player will be quietly congratulated for being “professional” and the hypocrites such as Dyche will stay quiet . 
 

Pathetic. 

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IMHO I felt Buendia was fouled in the first place, being close to the dug outs didn't help either. When Westwood fell to the floor with what appeared to be a near fatal injury the whole Burnley bench appeared to be on their feet arms in the air pleading for Buendia to face the firing squad. As has been said this 'looking for a foul' has got to be ignored, perhaps if the Ref had wandered past Westwood and said get up you big girls blouse, you are making yourself look a complete wet blanket, he might have jumped to his feet thinking perhaps I should 'Man Up'.

Edited by First Wazzock

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Tricky one. Odd as it sounds, I feel a bit sorry for the referee there - if he'd let that one slide, I'm pretty sure the assessor would have given him both barrels as elbowing is generally pretty much in violent conduct territory, especially when off the ball. He might have had some trouble selling that one to the FA as unsporting behaviour and trying to get a yellow.

Yeah, Westwood was, to use the euphemism, an old pro (I prefer the phrase "wind-up merchant"). Buendia really does only have himself to blame on this one. I'll readily agree with any dissenting voice who says it was a soft one and frankly I think most people **** harder than his elbow, but he gave the referee a decision to make. Unfortunately, the referee did precisely that.

By the letter of the law, it's the right decision, but the circumstances certainly make it a soft one of its type.

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Emi should have turned the other cheek, squeezed, and guffed in Westwood's weasel face......

 

Emi should have got a yellow card and Westwood an Equity Card "Alas poor Yorick".....Gamesmanship = professional cheating..... 

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1. "After multiple viewings in the video room, Kevin Friend, the referee, was advised to have a look for himself on the pitch-side monitor. It appears the incident was not shown to him in full on the monitor. It had been edited down to the split-second where Buendía’s elbow made contact with Westwood’s head. Without any context to complicate his considerations, Friend quickly made up his mind: red card."

this succinctly puts the case why such nonsense (VAR) should not be part of the game

2. The report also shows why genuine football fans are better served reading reports on games from 'quality 'papers (irrespective of supposed political allegiance) than they are reading shy te from the likes of the sun

3. That can quite easily be achieved by using Mozilla Firefox browser and using the Bypass paywall' add on

Edited by Bill

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Said it at the time, that’s one of the softest red cards you’ll ever see. Can’t get too wound up by it as it was a meaningless game for us but unfortunately that was likely to be Emi’s last action for us. Just another **** decision to add to the long list of **** decisions that VAR has ruined the game with this season. 

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3 hours ago, JF said:

Said it at the time, that’s one of the softest red cards you’ll ever see. Can’t get too wound up by it as it was a meaningless game for us but unfortunately that was likely to be Emi’s last action for us. Just another **** decision to add to the long list of **** decisions that VAR has ruined the game with this season. 

You can't do what he did, you can't legislate for it ,he did not do it with any great force but it's always gonna be a straight red,if a Burnley player had done that ,what would you want to happen.😚

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What you would want is a ref to book both of them and tell them to behave.... then get on the the game. 

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4 hours ago, Surfer said:

What you would want is a ref to book both of them and tell them to behave.... then get on the the game. 

That would be nice, but if he did, you can be relatively certain that the referee's assessor would pull him up on it.

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