Premier League 2012/13 general thread

[ETC]

Why is he lying down in the first place?

[parkinho]

That was the worst piece of simulation since Alcock took a tumble following Di Canio's nudge many moons ago.

little bell end deserved a kicking anyway, posted on twitter beforehand that he was gonna time waste. The whole thing has overshadowed Swansea's excellent result, though surely they will be underdogs in the final against the mighty Bradford City.

[Kieran76]

Good to see the majority of Bordersdown football fans are calling this correctly. The ball boy rolling around on the floor was pathetic. I hope he gets a kicking at school today.

[sj33]

I think now that the dust is starting to settle, people are starting to look at how the situation came about in the first place. The ball boy did himself no favours, starting with the comments on Twitter earlier in the day about how he actually intended to time waste, to laying on the ball and rolling around on the floor after the incident. I've heard some commentators say that ball boys are instructed to waste time in such situations and even justify it as part of the 'home advantage'. This is obviously true on the ground, but it's not a good situation - ball boys shouldn't be having any influence on the game whatsoever, it should be treated just as if a member of the public was influencing the game.

At the same time, Hazard loosing his temper will be costly. I don't think the result would have changed, but he might find himself with a lengthily ban. Even if the referee had missed the incident, the hundreds of cameras around the stadium wouldn't have. The burden of being a player in the top flight.

[Team Andromeda]

Good to see the majority of Bordersdown football fans are calling this correctly. The ball boy rolling around on the floor was pathetic. I hope he gets a kicking at school today.

Nope sorry, What a so called professional did to the ball boy was totally unacceptable (he did kick him) and will just give those that love to bash football another reason to bash Football. Wow ! boy balls waste time like that something that only happens at Sawnsea, or does Eden Hazard go around kicking Chelsea ball boys for time wasting and are Football players really that thick, that they think the Ref doesn't stop the watch, when the ball is out of play ?

No wonder football has such a negative image, when you have plebs like Eden Hazard playing the game

[sj33]

I dunno. Both parties admit that they were wrong to come degree. The ball boy admitted to sitting on the ball and time wasting. Hazard tried to kick the ball (not the ball boy himself - no rational person believes that Hazard tried to kick the boy), admitted to making a mistake with that, and both have apologised to each other.

In ever context other than the media, this is a closed book.

[nakamura]

Hazard made a mistake, end of story.

The ball boy thing should be stopped, they should be instructed to return the ball as quickly as possible. If not, fine the clubs. This sort of thing would never happen in Tennis and the like.

[EJG1980]

Pretty much agree with the above two posts. The ballboy was acting like a twat but Hazard shouldn't have reacted the way he did. He let his frustration get the better of him and made a mistake, which he was punished for. As Shakey said, that really should be an end of it, but the TV and newspapers will milk it for a little while yet.

The ball boy thing should be stopped, they should be instructed to return the ball as quickly as possible. If not, fine the clubs. This sort of thing would never happen in Tennis and the like.

Football is a bizarre sport in that it has rules with a lot of grey areas, or rules that are seemingly only enforced if the officials happen to feel like enforcing them on the day. I'm sure that if a rule to speed up ball boys was introduced it would end up being enforced on a very irregular basis.

[Kit]

What on earth was the ball boy doing lying on the ball in the first place? stupid little fool. Hope it ends here with the red card and we don't hear about this getting taken to court.

[Team Andromeda]

The ballboy was acting like a twat

Yes and all ball boys do it, usually cheered on by the home support . I've seen at almost every ground I've been too

A top level so called professional should have known better than to get involved in it , much less kick the boy - for which there is no excuse for at all and I'm by no means a Swansea supporter .

[sj33]

That's the thing though, he didn't kick the boy - he kicked the ball held by the boy. I'm not trying to defend Hazard - indeed, I think he was naive to do what he did, and should have left it to the referee. He failed to keep his temper in check and will suffer the consequences. And as you say, all ball boys do this. But I think people are being disingenuous by suggesting that Hazard intended to kick the boy.

[Kit]

I saw the image the papers put on the back page first when hearing about this in the morning. It's laughable how they've tried to create such a fuss after seeing the gif.

[Kieran76]

Nope sorry, What a so called professional did to the ball boy was totally unacceptable (he did kick him) and will just give those that love to bash football another reason to bash Football. Wow ! boy balls waste time like that something that only happens at Sawnsea, or does Eden Hazard go around kicking Chelsea ball boys for time wasting and are Football players really that thick, that they think the Ref doesn't stop the watch, when the ball is out of play ?

No wonder football has such a negative image, when you have plebs like Eden Hazard playing the game

I am not trying to defend the player, he did something stupid and was quite rightly sent off and will serve a three match ban. My point was that it will, and has been, blown out of all proportion by the media and people who want to have a pop at Chelsea.

[nakamura]

It's amazing that people cannot allow for someone making a silly mistake in the heat of the moment. We all say nasty things to people we love in anger, we have all done thing we regret in life. Hazard simply made a bad call at a time of huge emotion.

[Team Andromeda]

I am not trying to defend the player, he did something stupid and was quite rightly sent off and will serve a three match ban. My point was that it will, and has been, blown out of all proportion by the media and people who want to have a pop at Chelsea.

I wish these so called top players and so called professionals would stop acting like kids and start acting like grown men and grow up.

I think people are being disingenuous by suggesting that Hazard intended to kick the boy.

I don't think people have been saying that, he did kick the boy its quite clear - Sure he was going for the ball , but his foot made contact with the boy .