Entertaining Weekend

well well well, whatever next eh? How the fuck that wasn't a goal, we will never know but hey ho life moves on - and despite the fact Palace have got just one point from the first two games, the positives are there for all to see.

Freddie Sears, for one is turning out to be an excellent loan signing, and frankly I'd be stunned if he didn't walk into the West Ham first team for the 10/11 season. Indeed, comparison's have been made to a certain Andy Johnson - he plays in a very similair style to the great number 8. Meanwhile, Speroni may have cut his hair, but he's still got what it takes, and my money's on him getting player of the season once again, come the May award ceremonies - providing he stays clear of injury/isn't snapped up by one of the bigger clubs. He's fast becoming a Palace legend, and let's hope he stays for a while to come.

Talking of Palace legends, I was at Walsall - Southend on Saturday, and none other than Dougie Freedman scored what should have been the winning goal, had it not been for a 92nd minute penalty for the Saddlers. Twas a neat finish aswell, and it's pleasing to see him still playing at a decent level, and doing very well indeed.

Back to the major incident of the day, and what do I think should be done? Well, I'll go against the trend here and say we shouldn't introduce video replay or an appeal system. What else would we talk about after a match anyway? Of course, mistakes happen, and today's was a big one - but for example, take this goal against Stockport http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXocmIHoVXM - quite obviously, that was a handball from Hopkin in the build up to the Doug's goal. It was a goal which kept us up - and sent Huddersfield down, a team who have failed to come back up since. Furthermore, in the 03/04 season, we had an awful lot of luck from ref's, as Darren Powell practically rugby tackled the Sunderland defender to send the semi-final of the playoffs into a penalty shootout - shown here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9Xuzxz8MHs, before the non-award of a blatant penalty in the playoff final for West Ham, which was famously declared as the "30 million pound blunder", by the Sun. Yes, you'll get days like today, when you feel technology is a must - but the problem is where do you stop? If goal line technology get's passed, then eventually you will be able to appeal for penalties/offsides/red cards, and it would just become ridiculous. On the whole, referees do a pretty decent job - and although mistakes are made, they're rarely on this scale, shown by the furore this has caused.

All in all, a very entertaining weekend, with many talking points. There's no doubt it was a goal, but in my mind, there's no doubt that we can't let technology meddle in football any more than it already does. The commericalized rubbish that is called the Premier league bores me mostly now, and if we take away one of the last remaining original features of the game - the Referee, it would be a ridiculous move.

RAG