When I woke up this morning I fully expected to see that the kangaroo court had been convened at midnight & that Ivanovic had already received a retrospective ban…. Possibly leading to International suspension ..such was the severity of his violent conduct last night.
Don’t make me laugh.
From my front row seat in the East Middle it looked more like he was trying to break up the melee. Call me naive if you like. Obviously I am certainly biased. But seriously? Even the media are struggling to come up with a sensible way to describe “the incident”
“Ivanovic first put his arm round McCarthy’s neck before moving his head towards the Everton midfielder,” quote The Telegraph.
What???? Just reading that sentence makes me chuckle -as does Martinez’s almost playground complaint
He grabs him around the neck in a forceful manner then puts his head against him.
Boo hoo!
If you really want to see someone grab a player around the neck in a “forceful manner” try looking at Nigel Pearson’s recent touch line behaviour… & if you want a perfect example of a player “putting his head against another” try Tim Howard on
Azpilicueta at Goodison earlier this season. These incidents were not deemed worthy of tough sanctions by the FA…but if Chelsea personnel been the instigators…??
Finally! I have just seen a sensible article in the press, written by John Cross in The Mirror. He appears to feel the whole headbutt accusation is ridiculous. Even more so the “biting” claim.
As for the suggestion that he bit James McCarthy in the fracas. Don’t make me laugh. Come on, sometimes still pictures can make it look like anything you want. He didn’t bite him.
… And I think we all know that Ivanovic knows what a bite looks like.
In my opinion much of Martinez’s reaction was sour grapes. We won. They lost. It is also a perfect cover up for Barry’s lack of discipline. Mourinho, amongst many others, feels he was lucky to even be on the pitch for the second half & that his red
card was fully deserved.
..a red card that should have been given in the first half, because Barry should have been sent off in the first half. He pulled Hazard. The second yellow should begiven then.
So what started out for me as a football match has actually turned in to a bit of a pantomime- with Ivanovic taking the role of villain in the enforced absence of Costa. I can imagine cries from the media of, ”He’s behind you!”, Martinez leading a chorus of, ”Oh yes he did!”, & Mourniho, looking back over his shoulder with a wry smile, replying, ”Oh no he didn’t!”.
Rant over. Keep the Blue Flag flying high.
