Liverpool FC Forum

john craig wrote:It's all very well criticising players in the world cup for cheating (Henry's one was laughable), but lets not forget it wasn't so long ago that Gerrard took a ridiculous dive in a warm up game to win a penalty.  The general view on this forum was 'it's fair enough as people do it against England and Liverpool'.  It's now part and parcel of the professional game, sickening as it may be, and even our own players are at it.

It's the money in the modern game. Money...the root of all evil!!  Sad but true.     

dawson99 wrote:i still say there is a difference between diving to win a penalty, and grabbing your face like youve been shot. its a bloke thing maybe. dont be sucha  pu$$y people, a brush on the face and they are rolling around the floor, they wouldnt last long in any local bar

GOAT wrote:Rather interesting, in the cl final puyol faked an elbow by henry and went rolling round on the ground, now henry has done the same back to puyol in the spain vs france match, revenge maybe?

Is that right, mate?  That is interesting.  I know the old saying: 'two wrongs don't make a right' but then there's that other old chestnut: "what goes around comes around."   

Anyway, Henry made a meal of it but it may well have been a free-kick anyway, since Puyol was coming across him.  Above and beyond that, Spain did not defend the free kick particularly well and they paid the price.  Unsavoury as the face-grabbing may have been, then, I'm not sure it affected the outcome (goal).

Bad Bob wrote:

GOAT wrote:Rather interesting, in the cl final puyol faked an elbow by henry and went rolling round on the ground, now henry has done the same back to puyol in the spain vs france match, revenge maybe?

Is that right, mate?  That is interesting.  I know the old saying: 'two wrongs don't make a right' but then there's that other old chestnut: "what goes around comes around."   

Anyway, Henry made a meal of it but it may well have been a free-kick anyway, since Puyol was coming across him.  Above and beyond that, Spain did not defend the free kick particularly well and they paid the price.  Unsavoury as the face-grabbing may have been, then, I'm not sure it affected the outcome (goal).

2520years wrote:The biggest disappointment for me in the World Cup is how often the games are broken up by the referee's whistle.  (How many of them have even considered 'playing on advantage'?)  Football is becoming less of a spectacle at European club level and International level.  Give me the Premiership anytime.

Bad Bob wrote:

adamnbarrett wrote:I did expect better from him, he seemed a decent honest bloke, he probably is but my estimation of him has gone down.

I agree and think it's interesting following the Henry arc on this board and in the wider media. 

Prior to the CL final, when it looked like Henry might be off to Barca, there was, I think, some expressions of regret that one of the league's classiest players would soon be off to pastures new, depriving us of watching one of the game's consumate artists week in, week out.

Now, however, it seems to me that whilst most people still respect his ability as a player and would love to have him in their team:

1) There's a concern about his ability to step up in big games
2) There's a sense that his commitment to fair play is, shall we say, selective

It was at the Cl Final in Paris where this new perspective on Henry emerged (or, more accurately, an old one resurfaced): he couldn't quite hit the heights on the big stage.  A horrible scuffed shot when through on goal against Barca was the glaring example, I think.  Was Henry 'un choker'?  Add to this his distorted and rather pathetic post-match diatribe about referee bias and his halo could be said to be well and truly slipping.

The transfer saga didn't help of course.  Many people thought he was being a tad callous stringing Arsenal fans along for so long before announcing a decision.  Then, when he did decide to repay the organization and fans and re-sign, he came off sounding like a right tit by suggesting that perhaps the CL run had demonstrated that Arsenal's young squad had grown strong enough to earn the privilege of keeping their captain.

With this latest incident against Spain I think his image has been further tarnished.  Legitimate free kick or no, his face-clutching antics were disgraceful and seem to run quite counter to the 'dignified professional' personna that Henry has always cultivated in the media.  The whinging about the foul play of others, will ring a little hollow now, Thierry, mon ami!

Moreover, should he go missing against Brazil on Sunday (and France be sent packing), the questions about his ability in big matches will resurface.

None of this has much to do with Liverpool, mind you, so, ultimately, how Henry is perceived is of little concern to me.  I bring it up because, from a dispassionate perspective, it is an interesting case of the ebb and flow of footballing hype.

Well, either that, or it's a wee break from the ongoing Kuyt's right/Kuyt's sh!te or the OOTers vs. Scousers rumbles.   

I agree with what you say, Bob. Henry has always portrayed himself as angel who wouldn't dare cheat or do something deemed unfair to gain an advtange and in recent times this image of Henry the angel has been somewhat tarnished.

However it's the same with Gerrard coming out and deeply condemning cheating of any sort, along with Benitez and the next week he was diving. So all players do it, it's a norm within football and in actual fact it's FIFA clamp down on cheating which is having a larger negative impact on football than the cheating it'self.

This World Cup could of been so much better had the matches been allowed to flow more. 

bng89 wrote:Australia got knocked out by a dive. Why don't FIFA do anything- because they are corrupt

What are FIFA going to do? replay the whole game and throw the World Cup schedule into chaos.

Teams get hard done by often, Italy shouldn't have had Materazzi sent off for starters.

Inept maybe, but corrupt? I'm not sure you know what the word means.