Re: Manchester United Supporters Thread- Roy Keane = LEGEND!
I'm sure most of you heard or read Vieiras comments regarding United yesterday and how Ruud was a cheat, I fell out of my chair laughing. Now I've always rated him as a player, just always thought he was a sneaky twat....
The times has a cracking article on it...
'SO Ruud van Nistelrooy, the Holland and Manchester United striker, is a cheat. So Wayne Rooney, the England and United forward, is a diver. So Patrick Vieira, the France and Juventus midfield player and former Arsenal captain, has a book to promote.
The accusations levelled at Van Nistelrooy and Rooney yesterday are not new but are sexy selling points as Vieira does the public relations rounds. His new autobiography is the latest in a series of juicy kiss-and-tell football tomes that is guaranteed to titillate the not-so-discerning reader.
But whoah . . . hold on a minute. Is there not a whiff of Gallic hypocrisy as Vieira delves into the dark arts? Has the Frenchman had an unblemished career à la Gary Lineker or Bobby Charlton? Ninety yellow cards and nine red in 407 matches for Arsenal would suggest not.
Only last season, when Arsenal lost 2-1 to Liverpool at Anfield in November, Vieira fell theatrically under the challenge of Dietmar Hamann, the German having barely touched him. That he escaped a booking for simulation and a subsequent sending-off — he had already been shown the yellow card — incensed the chatroom surfers.
“That was the worst dive I’ve ever seen,” Ian Brown raged. “There was not even the threat of contact from Hamann. To go down like the proverbial sack of s***e was disgraceful.” Kurt was not impressed. “The ref bottled it with the sending-off,” he fumed. Nor was DT, who wrote: “No doubt Vieira will say that he just lost his balance.”
Justice was done, perhaps, when, at 1-1, Vieira having cancelled out the opening goal from Xabi Alonso, Neil Mellor struck with a long-range winner in the dying seconds. “When Vieira’s face came on the screen after Mellor’s goal,” Brown continued, “it was two fingers at him from all concerned in my household.”
Myles Palmer, a journalist and author of The Professor, a book about Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, took a more considered view, yet could hardly believe the incident either. Writing on Arsenal News Review, a website, he said: “Hamann went for a tackle on Vieira, pulled out and Pat fell over. A non-tackle has felled him. I’ve never seen Vieira do that. I’ve never seen him fall when he was not touched. A bad omen.”
Cheats? Divers? Marcel Desailly was none too taken by Vieira’s antics when Arsenal took on Chelsea in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final at Stamford Bridge in March last year. Desailly, Vieira’s former France team-mate, was sent off for two bookings, the second of which was for a foul on his compatriot.
“Vieira has been clever,” Desailly said. “He’s seen that I was a bit late and has pushed the ball and jumped over me like I’ve touched him. I didn’t at all. You can see on TV that he just jumps over my leg.”
It is a familiar theme and however Vieira perceives the behaviour of Van Nistelrooy or Rooney, he is not averse to embellishment or play-acting if the situation merits it. That Wenger regularly turns a blind eye to many of his players’ indiscretions can only have tacitly encouraged Vieira during his nine years at Highbury.
In September 1998, Nicky Butt, a midfield player for Manchester United at the time, fell victim to a tumble by Vieira when his team lost 3-0 to Arsenal at Highbury. Butt was sent off for a foul on Vieira, his second booking, but many observers deemed that Graham Barber, the referee, had been “harsh”. Alex Ferguson, the United manager, concurred: “It was a bad decision,” he said.
Cheating and diving aside, do not forget, either, that it was Vieira who spat at Neil Ruddock after his sending-off against West Ham United at Upton Park in October 1999. On that occasion, at least he said sorry.
It is unlikely that Van Nistelrooy or Rooney will receive an apology. After all, Vieira has many copies to shift.'
