Sir Alex Ferguson has called for more red cards to curb the growing problem of two-footed tackles, even if it means referees apologising for their mistakes the following day.
The Manchester United manager will begin a two-match touchline ban later this month after the Football Association punished him for a furious rant at Mark Clattenburg during his side's recent defeat at Bolton.Ferguson felt Clattenburg had not acted strongly enough as he dealt with Kevin Davies' late tackle on Patrice Evra. Since then, the United chief has watched on as the rows over two-footed challenges continue to grow.Liverpool's Peter Crouch was the latest player dismissed for a wild attack on Mikel Jon Obi at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, although 24 hours earlier, Steed Malbranque escaped a red card for an equally poor challenge on Vedran Corluka during Tottenham's Carling Cup win over Manchester City, even though referee Steve Bennett had sent off Didier Zokora for a less malicious tackle on Elano.
Ferguson feels referees are too quick to view a yellow card as an escape clause, which only heightens the problem as the FA have no powers to turn a yellow card into a red by the use of video evidence.However, they can rescind a red card, which has led Ferguson to reach a rather quirky conclusion."We have hit a problem this season with these tackles," he said. "Eventually, someone will be put out of the game and that player will end up suing the other one, which doesn't do the game any good."I honestly believe the directive from (referees' boss) Keith Hackett about two-footed tackles has to be stronger because, as long as the referees have the yellow card option, they have an escape clause."It is easy to err on the side of caution but this problem needs sorting out. Even if it was one of my own players, I would prefer the referee to give a red. At least then he can look at it the following morning and rescind it if he feels the decision was wrong." Ferguson is still bemused by Clattenburg's refusal to dismiss Davies and is more confused given he has now been told the official, who did not send Dirk Kuyt off for an awful tackle on Phil Neville during this season's Merseyside derby at Goodison Park, went to Newcastle during pre-season and warned them of the stark consequences facing players who jump into tackles.
"Some of the players told me he had gone up to Newcastle before the season with video clips and said 'this will be a red card'. But he hasn't given one for a two-footed tackle yet even though there have been at least two occasions when it has happened in his games," he said."It is difficult. Sometimes a player can win the ball and carry through because the impetus of his challenge is so strong."But when they start to go above the centre of the ball, you have to think it is dangerous. If the ball is on the ground then it is harder, but that is where good refereeing comes into it."Ferguson admitted he is still trying to convince himself of the merits of his argument, although he is more certain that tackles of such an extreme nature should warrant more than a three-match ban.He still refers back to the video evidence which saw Wayne Rooney banned for three matches for effectively pushing Tal Ben-Haim in the face during a festive duel with Bolton at Old Trafford three years ago.
And he cannot see how that incident is equal in severity to the potential leg-breakers that seem to be so commonplace just now. "Is three matches enough for these kind of tackles?" he said. "Wayne Rooney got three games for slapping Tal Ben-Haim in the face a couple of years ago. It is crazy."The problem is that FIFA can dominate that particular field in terms of what the length of the ban is and what constitutes violent conduct, so we are in their grasp."But I also am sure they must also feel it needs stopping too for the best principles of the game."
Just about any fantasy team that's had any sort of success this season has had either Tony Romo or Tom Brady as their quarterback. Both have had outstanding seasons that few expected; in our own league, one guy has Brady and Randy Moss. He has been dominating all season. Until yesterday. Yes, this was the traditional first week of fantasy football playoffs, and it ended up screwing a ton of people who have rode Romo and Brady to dominant regular seasons. Romo threw three interceptions, and Brady suffered from Bill Belichick's perverse decision to run the ball on, of all days, yesterday. So we're betting there were tons of fantasy upsets yesterday. Perhaps we blame it all on Jessica Simpson.
Frank Lampard has given his backing to Fabio Capello as England's new manager as the Italian prepares for talks with Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick.Although former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho's decision to withdraw from the running was expected to have disappointed the Stamford Bridge international contingent, Lampard said: "Fabio Capello has shown what he can do by winning titles at all levels of football and would be a very good choice.
"He has proved himself a winner with success everywhere he's been. I honestly don't know who is going to be the new England manager but Capello is certainly the kind of personality that would be good for England."Former AC Milan, Juventus, Roma and Real Madrid coach Capello, 61, has emerged as the outstanding favourite to succeed Steve McClaren after Mourinho made it clear earlier this week that he did not want the position and would seek another top job in club football.But there has been no reaction so far from England captain John Terry who kept his own counsel on the matter after Chelsea's goalless draw against Valencia in the Champions League last night.
But another former Chelsea favourite Gianfranco Zola, who is being tipped as a likely England assistant to his compatriot if, as expected, Capello gets the nod, has said: "I think he possesses the ideal pedigree to create a new era of success for England."Even when Jose Mourinho was in the running I believed that Capello had even more charisma, talent and experience for a challenging job like this one."
Roy Keane could face his first run-in with the Football Association as a manager after a finger-pointing rant with referee Peter Walton.The Sunderland boss was furious that Chelsea had been given a soft penalty and with Walton's handling of a foul on John Terry which led to Liam Miller's sending off. He said: "The penalty killed the game for us. We were having a decent spell and when you're 1-0 down you always have a chance, especially given how many late goals we've scored this season.
"I didn't see the penalty properly but when you come to a place like Chelsea there's every chance the referee is going to lean towards the home side."For the red card, there's no doubt that when you raise your hands you don't give the referee any choice."But it could have been avoided. Clearly you're not allowed to tackle the England captain because there was a big issue made of it by Terry. "John and Claudio Pizarro had a go at Liam. Obviously it was a foul but that was it, there was no nastiness to it."Now he'll miss the next three games. Maybe the referee could have stepped in five second earlier."But John and Pizarro's reaction disappointed me."
Chelsea have been put on transfer alert after Nicolas Anelka claimed he deserves to move to a "great club" rather than stay with relegation-threatened Bolton.In an interview on his website which will be seen as a come-on to Chelsea manager Avram Grant and his rivals at both high-flying Manchester clubs, Anelka said he is desperate to play for a big team again.
Grant is expected to bid for the striker in January to cover for the loss of Didier Drogba either to the African Nations Cup or for surgery on his troublesome knee.Chelsea will face a fight from City, with Anelka having already played at Eastlands, and with Sir Alex Ferguson being among his biggest fans.Salomon Kalou is also set to be away with the Ivory Coast for up to five weeks and the manager knows that he needs more firepower than Claudio Pizarro and Andriy Shevchenko provide.Bolton will listen to offers for 28-year-old Anelka, but their hopes of getting a £15million fee would appear optimistic.Asked if Sunday's 4-0 defeat by Liverpool had strengthened his resolve to move, the Frenchman said: "It is true that after this kind of match I think [that] more than ever, but it's life."One day my work will be rewarded and I can move again to a great club.
"It's very hard to live with this kind of defeat. To recover, I just went home and sat in front of the TV so I could think about nothing and empty my head."Anelka's performance at Anfield did nothing for his reputation — he missed an open goal — but his ability has interested Chelsea and City. He said: "They are clubs who are at the top of the league. City's stadium is magnificent, the team is very strong and extremely motivated to qualify in the Champions League. Chelsea have similar qualities and more."A decision on whether Drogba's knee injury needs surgery has not yet been taken but it could rule him out for the period of the African Nations Cup or longer.
Bristol City have said that they are unconcerned at accusations the FA Cup third round draw was flawed after millions of people saw former Arsenal star Sammy Nelson pull out what looked like ball No.25 but say it was ball No.24.This meant that Aston Villa were drawn against Manchester United when they should have played Middlesbrough and City lose a plum home match against the Premier League champions.The Football Association said there was nothing awry with the draw and a Bristol City spokesman told Sportsmail: "We've had assurances it's not a problem and we're not worried about it." Supporters have complained to both the BBC and the FA but they claim it was just studio lights shining on the No.24 and distorting it.
But when Nelson called No.25 later, he had his fingers over the number so it is impossible to check it. An FA spokesman told the Daily Star: "It's a number 24 but because there's a line underneath the numbers, at that angle on the film it does look like a 25. It's been verified by our competitions department."There's no mystery and absolutely no problems with the draw. We can understand how the confusion might have taken place."We can have a look at the ways the balls have been designed but we've never had a problem with them before."
Tottenham captain Robbie Keane has lost his appeal against the red card he received for serious foul play in the Barclays Premier League defeat to Birmingham.The striker, 27, will now serve a three-match domestic suspension as a result of the dismissal for a challenge on Blues' Fabrice Muamba as Spurs crashed to a 3-2 defeat courtesy of an injury-time wonder goal from Sebastian Larsson on Sunday. Tottenham had argued the decision was harsh and that referee Phil Dowd had consulted with the fourth official before producing the red card.Keane will miss Premier League games against Manchester City and Portsmouth and a Carling Cup quarter-final against the former side.Meanwhile, Spurs have been boosted by the return of Ledley King for tonight's reserve team clash with Fulham.King has been out of action since the win over Manchester City earlier this season with persistent knee problems.
Lawrie Sanchez has vowed his Fulham side will attack Manchester United when the two sides clash at Old Trafford tonight.The Cottagers have won just two games this season but Sanchez insists his side will show no fear against the Premier League champions, who can climb back up to second place with a win tonight.
"I like my teams to have a go, so we'll go there and attempt to have a go," said Sanchez.
"The fact of life is that United have a terrific home record. But if you don't go there with some ambition you tend to leave with very little but a walloping."If you sit back and hope that for 90 m"
The Fulham boss started with two forwards at Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal and indicated he will once again resist the temptation to pack the midfield.He said: "Obviously, the only point we got was the one gained at Chelsea, but we've been in every one of those games."
Fulham's plan of attack is set to include David Healy, but Sanchez has expressed concerns that the Northern Ireland striker is struggling to adapt to the Premier League."He's a great impact substitute but long term and short term we want to get him to be a 90-minute player," said Sanchez.
"I like my teams to have a go, so we'll go there and attempt to have a go," said Sanchez."The fact of life is that United have a terrific home record. But if you don't go there with some ambition you tend to leave with very little but a walloping."If you sit back and hope that for 90 m"
The Fulham boss started with two forwards at Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal and indicated he will once again resist the temptation to pack the midfield.He said: "Obviously, the only point we got was the one gained at Chelsea, but we've been in every one of those games."
Fulham's plan of attack is set to include David Healy, but Sanchez has expressed concerns that the Northern Ireland striker is struggling to adapt to the Premier League."He's a great impact substitute but long term and short term we want to get him to be a 90-minute player," said Sanchez.
Shortly before the start of this tour, Duncan Fletcher's book was published and included some negative comments about me.Unfortunately, I would have to say that spin was not his speciality.Duncan is a batting coach and I think he found it challenging to understand spin bowling.All the players he's done well with are batsmen.He hasn't done well with a spinner, has he? I can understand that, because batting was his thing. Spin wasn't.He was quite strong on the over-the-wicket approach because he worked with Ashley Giles.But who else has he worked with as a spinner? I have to say that he taught me a few things about bowling over the wicket — about angles and stuff like that, which kind of made sense. But his strength was coaching batsmen.
Panesar reckons Fletcher was better with the batsmen
In the book it says I joined England without an arm ball, but Nick Cook, who coached me at Northants, taught me a lovely arm ball and I've still got that, as you saw in the series against the West Indies during the summer.Some of my dismissals tended to be from balls that slid on.Like I said, spin was not Duncan's department.I'm not someone who looks at individual records too much, but I have already taken six five-fors in Test cricket.I didn't like the suggestion in the book that Northants haven't really helped much.I have been there for a long time and I've worked with various coaches there.They should get credit for that and shouldn't be undermined or underestimated.
I think Duncan could have shown a bit more thought before saying: 'Northants haven't done this or haven't done that.'I wouldn't be here playing for England without them, simple as that.They must be doing something right.Since arriving here, Peter Moores has said that I am the team's No 1 spinner in Test cricket and it is great to have the backing of the coach.He is a wicketkeeper, which really helps because he can see things that you don't.He also really understands spin.People may think there is extra pressure on me going into this series as a spinner up against Muttiah Muralitharan, but that's not how I see it.
How can I be a rival to him? How can the student be a rival to the teacher? The student cannot become the master, there is only one master and we all know who he is.I'm just a servant! Murali is incredible.In some ways I feel fortunate that — even though it will be against us — I will be there to witness it when he breaks the world record for Test wickets.He is so successful because he has so many different ways to attack a batsman.He knows how to bowl with different degrees of turn, bowl different angles and use all the tricks of a spinner.He has the whole package.Murali definitely turns the ball more than anyone I have ever seen.It is amazing what he has done for cricket and for spin bowling — both he and Shane Warne.They are the reason why the rest of us spinners get a bit of a mention. I have to thank those boys — before they came along, no one cared what spinners did. Sri Lanka have some seriously good attacking batsmen and, you never know, they could teach me a lesson here. It's going to be tough.In their own country, I'm sure they will look to dominate the opposition spinner, but I see that as an exciting challenge.Someone like Sanath Jayasuriya is capable of the same sort of assault that Adam Gilchrist hit me with in Perth last winter.He has all the shots and the confidence to go after me.But I believe I have more to fall back on now — different angles, different pace, different field settings and more experience.I'd like to think I'm better equipped to cope now compared to a year ago when Gilchrist went after me.David Parsons, England's spin coach, wasn't really involved then and he has been a great help to me — working on the thinking side of spin bowling as well as on the technical stuff.
