There’s no doubt that the Premier League season is heating up. The last few weeks have been extremely entertaining. And, for the casual observer, it’s wonderful to see the Big Four teams getting beat. But there were two incidents on Saturday that I found deplorable. The first was Javier Mascherano’s horror tackle on Portsmouth’s Tal Ben Haim. The second was Samir Nasri’s deliberate kick at Hull City’s Richard Garcia.

If you watch the Nasri incident again, you can see the Frenchman deliberately and maliciously kick the back of Garcia’s ankle behind the back of referee Steve Bennett. Arsenal had already won the free kick, so there was no need for Nasri to kick out the way he did. It’s bad enough to get kicked in the ankle, but when someone does it behind you without you even seeing it coming, you can imagine how painful that must have been for Garcia.

Nasri deserved a straight red for the incident. But because the Arsenal player did it behind the back of Bennett and the two assistant referees didn’t see the incident in the crowded area, Bennett ended up giving a yellow card to both Nasri and Steven Hunt. It was bad enough that Nasri got off lightly with just a yellow, but there was no way that Hunt deserved that card. After Nasri fouled Garcia, Hunt took matters into his own hands and pushed Nasri, as Nick Barmby did and a melee then ensued.

Nasri has gone way down in my estimation based on this one horrible decision. But I’m also disappointed with how a prominent Arsenal blog (NSFW) saw the incident, which is one of the reasons why I don’t typically enjoy club blogs in general because they often put blinders on and are very biased in favor of their club. This is how ArseBlogger described the incident:

“Samir Nasri, for reasons best known to himself, bumped into a Hull player and gave him a little kick on the foot while the ref’s back was turned. It was a bit sly, I have to say, and there really wasn’t any need for it. Especially as the Hull player wasn’t that little knacker Steven Hunt. But you know, f**k them. A little bit of aggro is no bad thing and it’s nice to see the lads sticking up for each other.”

“Little kick on the foot”? “Sticking up for each other?” Give me a break. Watch this video (around the 1 minute 30 second mark) and see for yourself:

In the other deplorable incident from Saturday, what was Javier Mascherano thinking? He maliciously went in hard with a tackle with Portsmouth’s Tal Ben Haim and ended up raising his studs and kneeing Ben Haim in between the legs. Not only could that one tackle have ended Ben Haim’s career (luckily it didn’t), but Mascherano injured himself in the reckless tackle.

To make matters worse, co-commentator Nigel Winterburn was awful in his judgement of what happened about whether Mascherano deliberately set out to hurt Ben Haim. As he hemmed and hawed about the incident (“his studs are showing, but I don’t know”), Winterburn sounded incredibly shocked when Mascherano received the straight red. In my book, it was a red card immediately after I saw the incident. And the TV replays solidified my assertion. It was only until the beginning of the second half where Winterburn changed his tune and indicated that maybe Mascherano didn’t go for the ball after all. But even then, Winterburn again hemmed and hawed.

Here’s the video of the incident from the first half:

Mascherano Sent Off (19/12/09) – Watch more funny videos here

Fortunately in the Liverpool game, the referee made the correct decision and Mascherano now faces a three match ban. Nasri deserves the same punishment too. While Saturday was a wonderful day of football, it’s a shame that the actions of two Premier League footballers showed the negative side of the game.

If there is one story that I want to just be over and never have to hear about again, the Carlos Tevez saga with West Ham United and Sheffield United would be that story. When I first read that the FA and the Premier League were going to reopen the case against West Ham and Carlos Tevez, it felt like I was hearing fingernails on an old chalkboard. What more needs to be said about this case, but that has been nothing but one giant farce. As far as I’m concerned, this case has been nothing but hell on earth.

West Ham is correct in saying they have nothing to hide, that’s only because this whole situation has been vetted out in the numerous hearings this matter has had before. To me the questions I want answered are simple ones. What were the FA and Premier League’s intentions back when they made their initial punishment? Why did the two bodies wait until now, knowing what the latest panel ruled, to decide in relaunching this investigation? Does West Ham have any legal options should the FA and Premier League decide to punish the club two times over the same matter? And finally, what can the FA and or the Premier League do to prevent further embarrassment with regards to this matter?

The sooner this matter is over with, the happier I will be. This whole situation right now makes any world renowned circus seem like a man on a standard trampoline. The only hope for all of us is that every organization/federation involved has learned the lesson of this scandal and save those lessons for future use.

Other Stories
The day after Obafemi Martins gets away with driving 106 miles per hour without losing his license, Cristiano Ronaldo totals a Ferrari on his way to training for Manchester United. As the witness interviewed for the story said ‘It’s a shame about the car’. Thankfully Ronaldo was not injured in the crash…that’ll be his pocketbook when he goes to purchase another.

Speaking of Cristiano Ronaldo, when will this nonsense about Real Madrid also stop? Here’s another one of those ‘a verbal deal has been made‘ announcements that I’m sure will be changed in the next few days.

Add William Gallas to the Arsenal injured list. The hamstring got him this time. Funny that on the same day this news is made public, Gary Megson made his feelings know about Wenger’s complaining about Bolton’s physical style.

With the UK FA Cup Fourth Round ties having been announced, Kettering Town is not happy their home tie with Fulham was not picked up.  Hey look on the bright side, this has to be one of the international games picked up…right? (Editor Note: Setanta has offered this game up on delay in the UK. Once the FA gives the green light or not, we’ll let you know).

In a move that I can only think is a move to get him to leave the club, Chelsea are going to ask Michael Ballack to take a pay cut and earn his salary with an incentive based contract. Have a funny feeling the answer will be a loud ‘NO!’

Here’s a strange transfer for everyone. Manchester United must see this is a short term project to sign Ritchie De Laet from Stoke City. I wonder if their partnership with Royal Antwerp had anything to do with it?

Middlesbrough are holding firm to their promise that no one will leave the Riverside. Today it’s Gary O’Neil they are having to reject a bid for…this one from Portsmouth.

Here’s a move I would advise Tottenham not make…a move for Tal Ben Haim. I simply call him ‘the human turnstile’.

The next person to complain about this transfer window, Phil Brown.

And a column to go home by. Matt Hughes discussing Luiz Felipe Scolari and how he needs to prove himself (code word for win) in these big games.

When the Vedran Corluka story broke on Thursday, it seemed nothing more than transfer speculation hitting the news wires, stoked by the usual rumour mongers and agents, desperately trying to earn a bit of corn for themselves, pushing a transfer through. Manchester City denied it, Tottenham didn’t mention it and Mark Hughes came out and said that he had no interest in selling any of his first choice players. Another statement was released last night to the same effect.

Later on Friday, Hughes once again had to came out and said that the owner, Thaksin Shinawatra, had no interest in selling the club and was committed to Manchester City in the long term. Don’t forget it’s only 6 weeks ago they signed Jo for a club record fee of £19 million pounds, adding Ben Haim to the squad on the 1st August for a further £5million as well as chasing Ronaldinho most of the summer too. Surely Manchester City can’t really be facing financial meltdown?

Yet, on further investigation things began to unravel on Friday evening. Corluka was to join Tottenham for the exact amount that City had paid for him a year earlier and on Saturday afternoon, Corluka travelled to London to complete his transfer to Spurs. To all intents and purposes, Corluka is now a Tottenham player but the deal has yet to be announced to the stock market. Corluka’s agent has also confirmed the deal has been completed but City are refusing to release the players registration. Spurs are apparently considering legal action to force the release of the player.

Prior to the Saturdays match, rumours then broke regarding Stephen Ireland, who was nowhere to be seen in the build up to the friendly against AC Milan, was concluding a transfer to Sunderland. This was obviously against the wishes of Hughes who had only found out when he arrived at the ground that Ireland had been sent to Sunderland to discuss contract terms. He quickly called him back to Eastlands to discuss the situation further.

Sunday then saw stories circulating that Shinawatra was not going to return to Thailand to stand trial in the court case against him for corruption charges but nothing was concrete or official until Monday morning. Shinawatra has indeed released a statement stating that “He and his wife would be staying in the UK where democracy is more important”. The Thailand Supreme Court has now issued an arrest warrant for him, making him an international fugitive, which now causes issues with the Premiership’s fit and proper person test. The British Home Office has yet to receive an application for political asylum at present.

Add to this fact that all City’s new arrivals are being paid for in installments and payments have now begun to bounce, the club don’t own the Eastlands ground, so can’t use that as collateral to raise funds and the £200 million loan that Shinawatra borrowed on the proviso that his frozen assets would be released is also due for payment and the worries begin to grow for this great club. Any new buyer would have to pay at least £200 million immediately to clear Shinawatra’s debt’s and make the club secure and the current financial climate doesn’t make an immediate rescue package seem too viable.

How will Mark Hughes feel in this situation is anyone’s guess, but you have to feel sorry for him if this scenario is as real as some people are making out. He came to Manchester City to improve his standing as a manager and push himself on to a different level, this could force him into reconsidering his position as manager. Being in charge of an owner’s firesale didn’t appear on the application form.

Whilst this could all be a massive misunderstanding, under the surface, things do not sound good. In fact, things seem to be taking a similar route to that which befell Leeds United several years ago but Leeds had tangible assets to try and raise some funds. Other than the playing staff, some of whom they still don’t own, City don’t have anything to sell. With 5 days left to go until the start of the season, it seems bad things are afoot at Manchester City and I have heard that some people feel the club has two weeks left as a football club. Let’s hope that this isn’t true and City can hold on to what they have in these difficult times.