Jackie boy has looked awful the last two games and deserved to get sent off today.. that was some of the most cynical shirt pulling I’ve seen.. baited the red, but he should’ve gone as well.. what are you supposed to do if someone has hold of your arm/shirt for half a field?
Who does England take to Russia in his place?
A lot of the squad predictors have are just going with three out and out strikers. Kane, Vardy and Rashford. An England team with Kane in it will be a 4-5-1 formation - playing as a 4-4-1-1 with Alli playing off Kane (IMO)
I have not played competitively in many years but shirt pulling has become endemic in today's game. When I played, if there was obvious shirt pulling like that to gain an advantage you would have been sent off. Any egregious professional foul, and it didn't matter where on the field it was, you were gven your marching orders. Now it seems that in most cases, it's denial of an obvious scoring opportunity that results in a red. Shirt pulling was not as common back then ...now refs turn a blind eye to it, and it ends up being a complete clusterfuck in the box when there is a free kick etc. It's one of the things that has really turned me off 'modern" football. I think for most players, if you are trying to go past an opposing player who is pulling the shirt of your back, the natural reaction is lashing your arm back to try and break free. Then it gets into violent conduct territory.
The shirt pulling in the box has become especially awful. At one point they said it was going to be seriously looked into and every tug was going to be a pk. That seemed to last a game or two (at least in the EPL).
I know I’m being a homer here, but England fucked up massively by letting Wilf Zaha go to Côte d’Ivoire.
Back when I was playing "serious" football which was in the 80's, shirt pulling was regarded as being "girly' the lowest of the low, other than spitting at someone. The Italians were famous for it, I remember we played an Italian club that was on tour in the UK, I had never seen so much shirt pulling in my life. Spanish teams were a close second, that and theatrical diving. They tended to be far superior skills and talent wise, but I was always baffled why they resorted to such "cheating".
One reason, of many, I admire Messi is that he doesn't dive (or at least not often) and tries to stay on his feet.. also don't seem him tugging shirts either. I agree there's a 'right' way to play the game and pulling someone's shirt doesn't belong... now a professional foul is ok with me.
