Sorry, gotta disagree. It would be an improper message - responding to violence with even more violence and then getting away with it.

I'm all about deterent personally. The fan knew that if he attacked the keeper he was going to end up in trouble whether the keeper reacted or not. NOT punishing the keeper, means they are allowing (unpunished) self defense. If I am going to attack someone now, knowing they can fight back without worry about how they will be punished would make me think twice about doing it because I could end up getting a beating as a result. Whereas if he was going to be punished, he'd be an easy target as he might not want to fight back and face punishment himself.

Disagree with the red card, but I agree with how they've handled it in not charging the keeper.

Why did he get sent-off?! This has nothing to do with football, he was defending himself, the 2nd kick was a bit unnecessary but this is above football.

I guess everyone's forgot about the Seles incident.

So,if someone hits you,you just don't react to him?

Exactly. Unlike precedent cases, the fan went straight to the goalie with the intention of kicking him. It's only natural he'd react that way, though I agree with Ash that the second kick was unnecessary.

Anyway, the Dutch FA has discarded the red card. And Ajax has banned the fan from the stadium for life. Goalie wins!

If he was defending himself he would have kicked him to the ground and be done with it. The fact that he kept on kicking him after the man went to the ground, and you can really see that the keeper wanted to get him real good, than the red is justified imo.

Push him to the ground in self defence but let the stewards handle the rest, I've seen players do this countless times when an invader goes directly for them. Going for multiple kicks after the guy was already subdued and on the ground was pointless

Agreed han.

Come on,stop being unrealistic.Everyone gets angry,you can't expect everyone to react the way you would....

I'm not saying that I would react differently, but I wouldn't go crying and stomping my foot if I got a red card for it. That is what I feel was justified. The fact that he lost it and started kicking him while he was down on the floor is why I feel that the ref was justified in showing the card. I'm not judging him because he did that, but the reaction towards the ref sending him off is what I'm judging. If he didn't want to suffer any consequences than he shouldn't have done that, simple imo.

You can't expect that you'll get off free for doing something like that simply because you weren't the instigator

The FA could have punished him, his own club could have too. But the ref had absolutely no right in showing him the red card.

He was on the pitch during a game, I would think that the ref had every right to do so. And it really did not look like the club had any problem with him kicking the sh!t out of the guy

Does it say in the regulation that the ref can ban a player for reasons not related to the game?

To be fair I didn't see the reaction of the goalkeeper.

He was still on the pitch during a game, and behaved like a total idiot. Imo what the ref did was just.


He practically tried to attack the ref, and only didn't manage it because he was held back by others.

Well, the red card has been taken away and the goalie has not been punishied by the police. The Dutch are 100% right in their final decisions because the goalie did nothing wrong. Fortunately law appreciates that we are human and have emotion. If you're talking about a robot han, I agree completely. But I think being attacked like that, the reaction of the goalie was both understandable and expected.

Like I said, I never said that he shouldn't have hit out at the guy, but don't lose your sh!t when you get punished for it. Imo, the way he reacted was excessive. Giving him the initial kick to defend yourself is all well and good, but the 2nd 3rd and 4th kicks were nothing short of excessive violence. But again, we're human so reacting in such a way is not something that can be ruled out, but if you're punished for such behaviour, than accept it.

I don't think it was right for the FA not to punish him, maybe not for the red card directly, but that kind of behaviour shouldn't be acceptable. How many times have we seen pitch invadors going straight for a player? Usually they just get him subdued and let the correct people take care of it. Yes the invader was also guilty and should be punished, but imo excusing the player for those actions because he didn't start it is also un-just

What do you want him to do? Hold him down? What if the guy has a knife? He did what he thought was necessary to keep the guy on the floor. If you stop kicking, he gets back up and attacks you again.

Oh come on! If he had a knife he probably would have gotten a good piece of the goalie on impact. He'd already had him good with the first kick, as the guy was on the floor while the goalie wasn't. I really don't see any justifcations for it. Heis reaction was only human as you say but not being punished for it is a kop out from the FA who didn't want to deal with any more trouble than necassary for the club. Removing the red card was probably alright, but upon revieweing the video evidence of what happened he at least should have been fined

So 8 games for Suarez is barely enough for saying "negro", while this goalie kicking the sh!t out of someone is more than ok because it's only human to react in such a manner. But Suarez has to make sure to follow the English ways and not say such words, even if in his own culture there is nothing wrong with it.

I can only assume the following 2 things: Self defense is not a crime in Holland. Racism is a crime in England. Anyway I'm not getting into the Suarez thing again!

Big game in Scotland tomorrow night. 1 point seperates Rangers and Celtic after 20 games and they play at Celtic.

I'm sorry but I don't think those extra kicks had anything to do with self defense.

Old Firm (that's Rangers V Celtic to the lesser informed) tomorrow.

Celtic aren't exactly on fire, but Rangers have been really struggling recently. It's at Celtic Park so I'll take a draw before the match even starts.

Celtic won 1-0.

From minus 13 to plus 2

That's pretty awful. Still think Rangers will take the title personally.

Can't see it but hope you're right.

Ancelotti to be unveiled as new PSG manager.

Official. We'll meet him in 5 days (a friendly in Dubai).

Happy for Carletto.

Same

PSG has a good future for sure.A great coach,with some quality players...and more to be bought.

Yep, it's a nice little Milanesque gathering there.

I don't see what future they can really have, they'll just take over from Lyon in winning consecutive titles and picking up all the good players in the league

But they have a proven CL coach .

One man can only do so much. He still needs to have a top side to compete in Europe, teams like Barca, Real, even Bayern are still imo head and shoulders above the rest atm

They'll build a good enough team to compete for the CL.

Yes they are, but why compare them with something even Chelsea or City fail to achieve? I think they are building, investing, signing. Sure, there ain't there yet, but it's a good direction.

I agree with both of you. However there are certain ristrictions that they have. Chelsea and City are in the strongest league around, Cheslea were a penalty away from actually winning it, while City are a very new team and like Chelsea, they have to be a dominant force in their domestic league before they can actually do anything of note in the CL.

While PSG imo are in a league which will hold them back in the long run, like Lyon, even when they were at their best and won a gazillion consecutive league titles, they only managed to go so far in the CL.

...because Lyon was restricted in a financial matter. They reached however the CL semi finals which isn't bad either. PSG will have the financial and tactical edge, so, I do think they have the chance of going further.

I think when you play in a league where competition only goes up to a certain level, and week in week out you're playing at that level, and then going out every fouthnight or sometimes even longer than that and face the biggest clubs in Europe who play at a higher level week in week out in their harder leagues, than that could have a huge affect. Of course you can't say, Porto won it a couple years ago, never say never and all that jazz, but atm, the CL is pretty much un-attainable to most clubs given the strength of a select few clubs

As for the tactical edge, I have a feeling that PSG is a stop gap for Carlo until the Roma bench in free for him. It's his dream, and right now with the project Roma are building is the best time for Carlo, of course if he starts winning with PSG you can never say if he might decide to stay, having a top class coach is a key factor in going far in a competition like the CL, not just the names on the team sheet

Hmh, I see it differently then. I can't really tell that the league's strength means that much. You had Porto and Monaco in the finals, and teams like PSV, Ajax, Lyon reaching the semis or going on far. Is Barcelona playing on a high level week after week in the Primera? The Spanish league is a big joke, I must say it's not that big of a quality difference between Santader, Deportivo or Bordeaux and Montpellier.

As for Carletto, we really can't tell. I think Roma will hold on to Enrique as much as possible. I see Ancelotti more of a Italian NT coach then anything else, after Prandelli gets the boot.

Mamadou Sakho: "Milan is my favorite team. Every weekend I check the Serie A results to see how Milan did"

Sakho is a good defender. He'd be an ideal signing to replace the aging Yepes and incapable Bonera.

I dunno. Defenders in the French league? After Taiwo ?

Sakho is on a whole new plateau of awesome!

Ok...I don't want plateaus. We already tried that with dhorassoo and taiwo. Only peaks of awesomeness please.

Just think of Desailly

Former 'Ger Kris Boyd signs for MLS side Portland Timber. He will do well over there.

MLS is stronger than the SPL. Boyd has failed horribly since leaving Ibrox. Unless you're being sarcastic, what makes you think he'll succeed in the MLS?

As an aside, Nikica Jelavic completed a last minute deal and is now an Everton player.

Glad the saga's over and we can move on.

Thiago Motta: "I've always followed PSG"

Defending for the most part is really poor over there. I think someone whos game is basically just a finisher and nothing else will be alright.

But yeah, his failings in the Championship is not really a great advert for the SPL.

Ah, he must be related to Robbie Keane.