There in the Porto defence at the age of 41 was a certain Pepe. Probably the most despicable player to have played the game in the modern era. Gawd, even the look of him makes my skin crawl. For me, he epitomises everything that is wrong with the modern play acting of so called professionals.
I first came across him while living in Madrid. He was playing for Real (not a good start) and he was a dirty player. In the big pressure games he would lose control and fly into potentially career ending tackles. When the ref wasn't looking he would stamp on a prone player's hand or ankle. And he was constantly over reacting to any touch from an opponent to try to get them sent off. They were usually comic dives. Once a player flicked his wrist and he dramatically fell to the ground, rolling around clutching his wrist. It was utterly pathetic.
But he finally made it into the big league in 2009 with his outrageous assault on Getafe player, Javier Casquero. Getafe were winning 1-2 at the Bernabeú with minutes remaining. Guti equalised for Real. Then Casquero got free and ran into the Real box where Pepe pushed him over. The ref blew for a pen and Pepe completely lost it and ran over and kicked a prone Casquero two times with extreme violence and then stamped on him. It was shocking. The guy was completely unhinged. He had to be dragged off the pitch and was banned for 10 games, if memory serves.
Fast forward to Saturday's visit by Arsenal to Brighton. During the game Estupiñian and Ben White had words in passing. The Brighton player then tried to push White and lightly touched his throat. To my surprise and disgust, White went over like he had been hit by a sniper, clutching his throat. Really? Is this behaviour still acceptable in the Premier League? For me it is unbecoming of the professional game, never mind from title contenders. White is English so we can't blame Johnny Foreigner.
This behaviour needs stamped out. It is infuriating. And don't get me started on players going down holding their heads knowing that the ref must stop the game. This law was brought in to the game to protect players from concussion events, given the prevalence of dementia among ex-pros. Now the pros are using it to game the system. For me the clubs need to stamp this out. We need the managers and chairmen to tell the players that enough is enough. We can't rely on the authorities to end this nonsense, it must come from within.
I first came across him while living in Madrid. He was playing for Real (not a good start) and he was a dirty player. In the big pressure games he would lose control and fly into potentially career ending tackles. When the ref wasn't looking he would stamp on a prone player's hand or ankle. And he was constantly over reacting to any touch from an opponent to try to get them sent off. They were usually comic dives. Once a player flicked his wrist and he dramatically fell to the ground, rolling around clutching his wrist. It was utterly pathetic.
But he finally made it into the big league in 2009 with his outrageous assault on Getafe player, Javier Casquero. Getafe were winning 1-2 at the Bernabeú with minutes remaining. Guti equalised for Real. Then Casquero got free and ran into the Real box where Pepe pushed him over. The ref blew for a pen and Pepe completely lost it and ran over and kicked a prone Casquero two times with extreme violence and then stamped on him. It was shocking. The guy was completely unhinged. He had to be dragged off the pitch and was banned for 10 games, if memory serves.
Fast forward to Saturday's visit by Arsenal to Brighton. During the game Estupiñian and Ben White had words in passing. The Brighton player then tried to push White and lightly touched his throat. To my surprise and disgust, White went over like he had been hit by a sniper, clutching his throat. Really? Is this behaviour still acceptable in the Premier League? For me it is unbecoming of the professional game, never mind from title contenders. White is English so we can't blame Johnny Foreigner.
This behaviour needs stamped out. It is infuriating. And don't get me started on players going down holding their heads knowing that the ref must stop the game. This law was brought in to the game to protect players from concussion events, given the prevalence of dementia among ex-pros. Now the pros are using it to game the system. For me the clubs need to stamp this out. We need the managers and chairmen to tell the players that enough is enough. We can't rely on the authorities to end this nonsense, it must come from within.
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| Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports |
This season may turn into the best ever for one of the top 3 in the P L . Anyone care to make a prediction for winners of the remaining 4 competitions ? I will go with - Arsenal in the Prem , City for the F A Cup & C L , Reds in the Europa . Unfortunately the best team in Europe ( Leverkusen ) are in the latter . Alonso fancies his chances of winning the C L there next season & then decamping to Madrid in # 2025 .
ReplyDeletePepe is dirty no doubt but nothing on Ramos. I'm no Liverpool fan but breaking Salahs shoulder on purpose in the CL final should have resulted in jail time.
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