The Rolling Football Thread: Season 2025/26 - thread 2

[DuncinToffee]

Previous thread

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/sports/5383976-the-rolling-football-thread-season-202526?page=40&reply=147893728

I have only seen the results, will catch up tomorrow and find out what our red cards were about. DH and DS were there tonight for their visit to new stadium, I am sure they enjoyed it despite the result.

@JasonTindallsTan Things no denying he’s not only gorgeous but strategically excellent at CB. Very sad to see. We need to do some business in the transfer window as Botman is just back. I hope we keep Fabian on to get his coaching qualifications before he goes back to his boyhood Swiss club. That’ll be a nicer ending for him.

Great result for Brighton last night. However slightly crazy game that could have gone either way multiple times.

I thought that Frank using a Arsenal coffee cup was a joke but it looks like it was true!

I hadn’t realised that clearly teams now even take coffee cups that have a logo on it

I can see how it happened though given Arsenal played last either deliberately or someone just accidentally thinking it wouldn’t matter reusing coffee cups and no one noticing!

I personally find it odd he didn't notice. I'm guessing it was someone having a laugh and I know there are bigger issues than what's printed on his cup, but it's something I would notice if I was handed a Bromley cup at a Gillingham home game 😂

There are some people who would not see the funny side. I cannot imagine a Rangers cup being given to anyone at Celtic, or a Liverpool cup at Old Trafford.

Gabriel Martinelli is an absolute prick. What the hell did he think he was doing? Since when is it okay to first throw the ball at an opponent who is down injured and then compound that by going over and pushing him when he is on the ground?! Little shithead.

Yes, really bad. He could have made his injury worse.

He might get a retrospective red and would deserve it.

It is one of the worse things I have seen because rash bad tackles are in the heat of the moment, no maid aforethought

what he did for me crossed a line in terms of fair play and there is absolutely NO excuse for it at all.

Not great from Martinelli. However, even Slot understood how he was feeling;

"There is so much time-wasting and players pretending to be injured...I am 100% sure that if Martinelli knew what the injury might be, he would never do that."

Yeah sorry even if a player was time wasting you don’t knee them in the back or throw a ball at them. You at least look first as it is often pretty clear when it is and isn’t time wasting. and it is never on him to get involved.

He let his frustration spill over

Slot was being diplomatic it was a very bad look and given the fact it is feared to be an ACL from reading between the lines one he needs to reflect upon

Absolutely agree. I can’t believe anyone is trying to excuse it. Hopefully he comes out tomorrow and publicly apologies.

No excuses.

But we've all seen it done to our players too.

This, absolutely. What Martinelli did is inexcusable. Since when are you allowed to throw balls at players who are on the floor, knee them and try to shove them off the pitch because you think they're faking injury? You're not.

I haven’t seen anyone behave like that, that I can remember!

I have. On more than one occasion.

But don't worry, I'm sure all your players are above reproach.

Sorry, I don't understand your point here at all. "We've all seen it done to our players too" - and? What's the relevance? Martinelli's actions were wrong and indefensible, full stop. Nothing to do with what club he plays for, which player he did it too, whether or not he thought Bradley was really injured, or whether anyone else has ever done the same thing before - none of that is relevant.

Trying to minimise Martinelli's poor choices by saying other players have done similar really isn't a good look.

Not at all. We have had our fair share of idiots and I have said so at the time.

I've already said, no excuses. What he did was awful.

But somehow he is now the only ever bad person...

Absolutely nobody has said that, though. You're putting up a straw man argument. Obviously, it's not the worst thing anyone has ever done to an opponent either and nobody has suggested otherwise, so I don't understand what point you're trying to make here?

The ball in the first instance yes I think happens a lot, maybe even a knee in the back o have seen before. Bit the actual push, the bit where it is 100% clear to everyone that a serious knee injury has occurred.

Heat of the moment things are IMO far more excusable - he lost his head he wasn’t thinking clearly but he was there for quite awhile surely he must have seen it

Roy Keane himself likened it to the Haaland tackle that took him out for a year.

The FA should review it I think and come to a conclusion because that is unsportsmanlike

I see this morning that he has indeed apologised online, hopefully he will think twice before doing something similar.

To be honest, I can see why Nelli thought he was time wasting - Frimpong and Wirtz were flopping about all over the place in the second half and he was chasing a winner. Then Bradley went down and deliberately rolled himself back on the pitch in order to stop the game, which is what players tend to do when they are time wasting.

But I guess the meedja have to have something to froth about...

I hate the defence of time wasting - players shouldn’t be pushing other players off the pitch anyway - any and all time wasting should be handled by the referee.

It will be interesting to see if as a result of only captains being allowed to talk to the referee this happens because players want to make the point about time wasting

I think everything up to Sbzobolai coming up was ok (although I don’t like it generally) at that point I think other players indicate at that point it is serious and indicate so. He was so caught up he didn’t notice

And that is something Arteta needs to balance - the desire to win and getting blinkered about it. It is Arsenals to lose and what could lose it for them is fine margins and getting that in check

That said Martinelli needs handling now - he’s young an can be impetuous and getting the line right is jmportant - he strikes me as someone who could take this quite badly