Obviously it’s completely unwelcome in this day and age for a player to react how Ilunga did. Rolling about like that was embarrassing. His season thus far has been a far cry from the honest performances we saw from him last year and it’s becomming hard to remain patient with him.
However, and this applies to Sunderland fans who have defended Jones and their side, you are not squeaky clean. Steve Bruce is not a manager who gets his teams playing attractive, flowing football – you are notoriously physical and with the like of Cattermole and Cana in the side it’s not going to get any prettier. Cana himself was just as sinful as Sunderland were sinned against at the weekend. Equally, Jones being sent of was entirely the correct decision – no matter how Ilunga reacted. Arguably, it was because of his sending off that you managed to muster enough team spirit to leave the Stadium of Light with a draw, so perhaps you should infact be grateful that he reacted petulantly.
Another incident that appears to have been filtered from the ‘everything is rosy at Sunderland because Newcastle got relegated’ tinted glasses is that as much as you lot think that Ilunga should have seen red for acting like a moron, Kovac should not have seen red for what happened between him and Bent (to say ‘his challenge on Bent’ would have been wrong, because it wasn’t a challenge at all). That, along with the following list from ‘Steve Clark’ on this post from SalutSunderland.com:
- Cana’s two 2-footed tackles (potential career enders)
- Cana’s disrespect and swearing towards officials
- Malbranque’s dive for Reid’s free-kick
- Nosworthy’s professional foul at 2-0 down
- Malbranque feigning an injury when Upson won the ball clearly
- Bent “screaming” in pain to get Kovac sent off for nothing
Back to Ilunga
Now that rant is out of the way, back to why I started this post. I don’t like the fact that Ilunga reacted like that, hopefully that is clear. But is does beg the question, had Upson reacted the same way against Stoke when he was no less than physically punched in the face, would Huth have been sent off? There is a strong argument that he would have been – it would have changed the game entirely and there is every change we’d have gone on to take all three points.
But Upson didn’t react – and neither did the referee.
I think the problem with what Ilunga did at the weekend actually stems from completely inept and arrogant referees. Ilunga probably thought to himself that what Jones did was a sending off offence, but if I don’t react in an over-the-top way then it’s highly unlikely that the referee will actually punish justly against Jones (or something along those lines).
I do want to stress again though that there is no place for play-acting like that at West Ham and I would encourage Zola to stamp it out. It was never in Zola’s character and it’s never been in West Ham’s.
IRONS
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Wore these to every game this year. They may not be lucky, but they're comfy:
if you dont show you were hit or pushed in the face then the officials wont see it and it will go unpunished, so i think he was right to flout the laws everyone else does. But ! heres the thing, if you get found out to be play acting after the event on camera) in order to get someone booked or sent off then you should get a massive fine and ban, but where the laws state a hand to face is OFF then fair play to the guy.
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I would have to agree don’t like play acting but when players “take it like a man” referees take no action including players who attempt to stay on their feet when fouled in the box When if ever have you seen a penalty given when a man is fouled and makes a genuine attempt to stay up and yet a double back flip with pike when breathed on is usually well rewarded (esp if you play for Man Utd or are called Steven Gerrard) Referee’s encourage players to exaggerate misdemeanours and although Jones’s sending off was letter of the law the only player that truely deserved a red card on saturday was Cana a reckless and dangerous tackler if ever there was one
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sam H, footballutd and mark simons, West Ham United FC. West Ham United FC said: The West Ham Process >> Was Illunga wrong to react like that? http://bit.ly/3ROphN [...]
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I could not of put it any better. Im also pleased to be not the only person to have seen the dive that lead to reids goal plus after 20 minutes cana should fo been off the pitch.
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of course Sam knows perfectly well that in the quite heated debate(s) at salutsunderland.com – in which he has taken part – most if not all Sunderland contributors have said Jones probably had to go or at least can hardly complain (some refs would have made it a yellow but players know they face red if they raise their hands). I think Cana and Cattermole are the sort of players many fans want in their own side but loathe when they are opponents. That said, Sam must also accept that a number of SAFC fans have also acknowledged:
1 that Kovak was very unlucky for his secondyellow
2 that Cana, though we’d say he is hard but not dirty, was lucky not to be sent off
3 that cheating should be stamped out whoever does the cheating
Also, a lot of us are overlooking the fact that many people thought it was the game of the weekend. The ingredients that maybe made it so included some quality play by both sides, plenty of goals and – yep – controversy.
.-= colin randall´s last blog ..Salut! Sunderland AFC (Against Football Cheats) =-.
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Just uploading the audio discussion now btw Colin – run into a couple of problems, and had to cut quite a bit out. You’ll find it on the FootballUnited homepage http://FootballUNITED.com
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guys – let’s be honet our beloved hammers are now the villians of the prmiership – the FA see our name on any ruling & go against us – everything that happens at our club is scrutenised & we just end up shelling out for £m’s for the fun of it – I for one do not expect anything from referee’s this season, or next – or even the next one…… so I will not blame Llunga for his actions – not in the slightest.
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