Flog - WWCBD?

Shock horror, this week’s hot topic is Manchester City.
Shock horror (2), this week’s hot topic is a Manchester City striker.
After Adebayour sprinted anywhere between 80 and 1,672 yards- depending on which of the 2 billion reports you read- last week, his name was being bounced off every wall up and down the country and beyond. I’m sure he hated that. Simply hated it.
Now, after Sunday’s Manchester ‘Derby’, (I usually refuse to call any game where most of the home fans have to travel 200 miles to the stadium a ‘derby’, but for argument‘s sake in this case, let‘s run with it) we have the case of Craig Bellamy and the clown who entered the pitch and got a bit of a tickle on the chin from the Welshman.
Crazy though Adebayour’s celebration was, he didn’t directly come into contact with the Arsenal fans, but whether that stems from him genuinely not wanting to get hurt or that he fell to the floor exhausted, after sprinting the furthest he had ever ran on a football field, is another matter altogether.
Two cases, and undoubtedly entirely different punishments from the ever inconsistent FA.
The valid fear amongst football players- and indeed fans- is that Bellamy’s reputation will precede him when the tiny arm of the FA’s law comes for him. We’re not likely to see any wristbands with ‘What Would Craig Bellamy Do?’ on them anytime soon. But ponder over this ‘fan’ who could have had anything on them, which includes quite simply a bloody good punch. Had he reached a Man City player, the unthinkable might have become a horrible reality.
The FA, however are unlikely to scrutinise the ineptitude of the United stewards who allowed the cretin through in the first place, although they did weigh in on him once he had made very good ground onto the pitch- bravo guys- and instead go for the easy target, in this case the fiery Bellamy.
It was hardly a pasting from the striker, just a shove in the face while he was being held. Still, this prompted John O’Shea, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic to all come over and have words with him. Not the fan- Bellamy. Whereas were it a City fan coming at them at Eastland’s, they would try to calm things down with words of course, not that a) anyone would be remotely stupid enough to have a go at Vidic and b) anyone would be able to understand a word the duck-mouthed Ferdinand said anyway.
I’m not condoning any sort of violence to do with football, whether it be from fans, players or indeed both. My point is that the FA need to look at the bigger picture- that sooner or later, things could get a lot uglier than a fan getting a nudge on the chin, and that scenario could just as easily come about from a spectator acting first or a player inciting fans with a celebration.

As for the actual football, we had a great weekend of action. The obvious place to start would be at Old Trafford, where Michael Owen scored deep into Fergie time. No matter what anyone says, there is definitely one rule for the bigger clubs and another for the rest. Owen’s goals certainly wouldn’t have cheered up the man he replaced, either. Dimitar Berbatov- the walking equivalent of a Smiths song- hasn’t exactly lit up the place since he arrived from Spurs last summer, and to be honest doesn’t look too bothered about it. A surprising error of judgement from Fergie, quite possibly.
Meanwhile Chelsea silently took the top spot back by brushing Spurs aside, who ended up with pretty much a defence with a minus number of defenders in it. Wolves and Everton recorded home wins, as well as Arsenal and once again Burnley, who look like they could be tough to beat at Turf Moor this season. They would be delighted with 17th of course, but then so would Bolton or Portsmouth at the moment. It’s also hard not to laugh whenever people refer to Pompey as ’pointless’, not because of the situation, more the choice of words.
Liverpool showed their good and bad points against West Ham, scoring excellently worked goals before deciding a ’zone’ is more dangerous than a real player at set pieces. It seems Rafa simply will not learn from past mistakes Give it time though, and he might well be asking 'what would Craig Bellamy do?'

Fact of the Week: Clive Mendonca is the nephew of former West Indian cricketer Ivor Mendonca. Ivor is the eldest of 10 brothers and sisters. I know! I couldn’t believe it either.