Just when I was getting to like Mario Balotelli and his eccentricities, he goes and does that. You know what I’m talking about: the match between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday and his inexplicable assault on Scott Parker, a player not known for his insolence and policies for ‘winding up’ the opposition. It was lucky Parker moved his head otherwise he could have been looking at surgery to his brain (with one eye) had Balotelli’s kick fully connected with him. Imagine if his studs had caught Parker’s eye(s)?
It could have blinded him. What if Parker’s head was resting on the ground and Balotelli stamped on it with the force in which he lashed out at the England international? That pressure could have brought with it a deep cut or worse, damaged his brain. There was absolutely no need to do it. He had already clattered into him albeit accidently and there was no reaction from the Tottenham man; no provocation. There wasn’t time for him to do so. There may have been occasions when Spurs’ players said stuff in his ears that we don’t know about, knowing that he can be easily wound up. But even if they did, there are still no excuses.
The Italian striker has amused me with his wacky behaviour. In fact, as the camera focused on him on the substitutes bench on Sunday, I was telling my friend who I was watching the game with, how I had come round to liking him and that I found him amusing. The incident with Parker was anything but and all too often, he is a petulant sulk who cannot take control of his actions. It appears that it is simply the idiotic tendencies that we have come to know, love, hate and expect of Balotelli that overcome him.
Although ‘love’ can certainly not be applied to his latest crime. And that it is exactly what it is: a crime. Imagine if the game’s referee, Howard Webb (a policeman on leave), saw this kind of incident occur in the street, would he turn a blind eye to it? You wouldn’t think so.
Anyway, it’s been dealt with now. Or has it? The news of Balotelli’s four-game ban will be of little consolation to Tottenham and their fans knowing that the very same man won the penalty and then converted it to send City eight points clear of Harry Redknapp’s men. A draw would have made a massive difference to how the title race will pan out and if he had been sent off, it could very well have resulted in a Spurs victory.
After Balotelli’s disgraceful behaviour, me and my friend were both saying it will probably be him who grabs a winner. And so it proved. It is another highlight of the staggering inconsistency of referees. They cannot get everything right particularly in terms of whose throw-in it is when there can be deflections that the human eye cannot fathom quickly enough, but aspects like Sunday’s one changes games in an instant and can be the difference between winning the league and coming second or staying up or being relegated; aspects that can be crucial to a club’s future.
In the main scenario highlighted, maybe Webb didn’t see it, which seems to be the case having seen the punishment dished out to City’s temperamental forward in the aftermath, but what about Joleon Lescott? Usually referees give players the benefit of the doubt if they have committed their first foul of the game and may give them a warning, unless it is malicious. But if it keeps happening whether it is a late challenge or a shirt pull, then a yellow card is normally the course of action.
These are the type of offences that Lescott was carrying out and by the time of his vicious use of an elbow on the face of Younes Kaboul, he should have been walking a tightrope on the verge of being sent-off, but for some reason, Webb did not feel that it even warranted a caution, although he did when Parker made his first innocuous challenge. Strange. I recently came across an article written by Joe Bernstein in the sports section of the Daily Mail that was published on the morning of the 2010 World Cup Final between Holland and Spain. This was how it started:
If Howard Webb is faced with sending off one of the superstars of Spain or Holland in tonight’s World Cup final, he will have a professor of psychology at Sheffield Hallam University to thank for giving him the mental strength to deal with the furore that would inevitably follow.
and here’s the nice side of Ballytelly
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Howard Webb is crap ref end of, Balotelli should have been off the pitch but Webb showed his total incompotence in the world cup final last year how he ever got to ref that match is a mystery to me
It was clearly a disgraceful attack on a player that was already lying injured on the floor with his back to him.
However, I think we need to look very closely at the words of David Platt. Instead of condemning what was potentially a career ending attack, Platt feels that he should not have been banned because the referee “must have seen it at the time”.
What Platt is suggesting is that it is alright to act like binge drinking thug on a Saturday night by attacking someone who’s already incapacitated by trying to inflict a life threatening injury on them, as long as you don’t get caught.
What Platt fails to consider, is that had this led to a serious injury, the Police would have been within their rights to bring charges, and had it been a serious injury he inflicted, it would have been GBH, and the penalty would have been more like four years, rather than four matches.
As long as there are people like Platt who fail to condemn this behaviour, which most civilised people have done, then there is a very good chance that Balotelli will give a repeat performance.
You’re right. What else should we expect to come out of that ostrich egg of a head of his?
I still like Ballotelli. He is a good bloke, kind heart, not dirty and I am a fan of Super Scott. It looked bad but it wasn’t malicious (notice it wasn’t with full force). Spuds are moaners and bad losers!
The only reason it wasn’t “with full force”, was because the thug was off balance at the time.
As for being bad losers, being a Wet Sham supporter, you would know all about being a loser. You should watch the interviews conducted with the various managers. They all condemned it. Are the all bad losers too?
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