Goalkeepers who foul

Not sure if I will be in a minority of one, (it won't be the first or last time) but I thought Owen had a definite penalty turned down against Reading. I don't support either team and have no reason to be biased in any way, but it's not the first time that I've wondered why goal-keepers get away with obvious fouls.

Anywhere else on the pitch, if the player knocks the ball past their opponent and gets taken out in their attempt to chase the ball, it's a foul - no questions asked. In the box, suddenly it's apparently important whether the attacker would have got to the ball before it went out - why? If you are fouled, you are fouled, irrelevant of how far away the ball is. And the keeper's momentum is seen as an excuse - well they shouldn't charge out as quickly as they do then should they? - that is their own risk to take. Owen's looked like a definite penalty to me.

Titus Bramble

Newcastle fans, despite their defensive woes, will no doubt be happy that Titus Bramble finally left the club. The only susprise is where he ended up - Wigan. No Premier League team in their right mind would want to steady up their defense with the inconsistent Bramble. The poor guy needs to be put out of his misery in the Championship at best, if not the 1st or 2nd Division.

Bruce - a whinger?

Steve Bruce seems worried about Gary Lineker's criticism of him as a whinger - there seems little defence for him though! He's argued against decisions that are clearly right, as demonstrated by TV replays, one too many times. It's one thing to be emotional, quite another to ignore the facts.

Yesterday, Bruce got the win he needed though, with Carson Yeung watching, and waiting to meet the manager afterwards. At the end of the game Mr Yeung stretched out his hand to shake co-owner David Sullivan by the hand, only for Mr Sullivan to walk away without even turning to look at him...troubled times ahead perhaps. Bruce though, did himself a few favours with both a win, and some sensible post-match comments.

Team for Russia

A fairly good performance from England today, although not exactly earth shattering. Now it's all about the Russia game. Given Ashley Cole's injury, it's a little tricky to work out who will start on Wednesday, but I'm going for:

Robinson
Richards
Terry
Ferdinand
Shorey
Gerrard
Barry
Wright-Phillips
Cole
Rooney
Owen

I hope McClaren doesn't try and change the formation....fair enough if he prefers someone else at left-back to Shorey, but I hope he keeps the general structure the same. That means leaving Lampard on the bench to start with.

Could this be the start of the end for the actors?

Am I alone in wondering if this could be a turning point for football? Dida has received a 2 match ban for feigning injury against Celtic. It's a pity it's not more, but it at least sets a precedent for players being banned for feigning injury. Could it be that this is the start of a clamp down on the rediculous play acting in football?

Although UEFA did well to ban Dida at all (I didn't expect them to, despite calling for them to), they could have also fined the club for the fact that the physio's went along with the charade. Imagine the effect that could have - players would go go down only for physio's to come on and pull them to their feet telling them not to be so rediculous....everyone's a winner, especially refs who wouldn't have to worry about so much play acting in time.

Fingers crossed this is the beginning of the end.

Great Acting!

Just had to post this because of the absurdity of the dive! Dida deserves to be banned for a dozen games for such idiocy. He must be totally ashamed having seen the replay - it was closer to a tickle than a punch!

The Women's World Cup

You may not even know that it is going on, but England's women went out in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in China. They lost 3-0 to the Americans who were favourites for the tournament but have been comfortably beaten by Brazil in the semi-finals 4-0.

What has been interesting to me is the complete lack of coverage there has been. The BBC took the courageous decision to televise England matches live, and it's a pity that England didn't get to the semi's or final when there may have been a bit of a ground swell of support. I say "may have been" because it doesn't seem that anyone cares. Having watched the first 50 minutes of England's quarter-final I went to the pub expecting to watch the rest on the TV there. As I entered there was the reassuring noise of football supporters so I knew the football was on. Once I'd got a pint I turned round to realise that the game on the TV wasn't England v USA in a crucial World Cup quarter final, but Cardiff City v Preston North End! It amazes me that could possibly be deemed more important!

Not to worry, I thought, women's football is massive in America and they'll all be watching it. Apparently not. I met a football fan mate of mine who lives in America that evening and asked him if it was big the other side of the pond, to get the reply "what World Cup?" and then when I explained, "I don't think anyone knows it is going on mate". So it was also interesting to see the video on the right-hand side of the Brazil-USA match report called "the under-reported women's world cup".

Once again I am clearly in a minority, but why isn't women's football supported or thought to be important?