Thats the League Cup sewn up for Chelsea then...

Didier Drogba, Joe Cole, Ballack, Ashley Cole and now Deco. Talk about the 'Art of Diving'.

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You'll see, you'll see.

Deco - Player of the Year. There, I've said it.


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I feel very very sorry for my girlfriend on this one. She's a lifelong Chelsea fan (4th generation in fact), and rightly despises Deco as one of filthiest, most loathsome, cheating cunts in the whole of international football. I sent her a teasing email this morning, pretty much along the lines of what E10 said above, and she has not had the heart to reply.

The Fifth Beatle wrote:

QUOTE:
Didier Drogba, Joe Cole, Ballack, Ashley Cole and now Deco. Talk about the 'Art of Diving'.

Ashley Cole doesn't dive.

He just falls over a lot.

A pretty crap thread this when discussion about an undoubtedly great player like Deco descends into the 'he's a cunt' territory.

That's your new OTF for you.

Deco has become a really top player over the last few years. And his desire and ability to get on the ball in high-tempo games suggests that the English game won't be an environment where he'll struggle to perform.

IS, have you seen him for Barcelona in the last two seasons? There's a reason that him, Ronaldinho and Eto'o were listed as welcome to leave by the board after the season Barca have just had. And, well, Deco isn't the one who's been shooting his mouth off or not turning up for training constantly.

I wouldn't have thought many Barcelona fans will be sad to see him go. And I know at least one Chelsea fan (because I was talking to him about it this morning) who is pissed off at the club for signing yet another 28+, nearing the end of his peak rather than about to reach the start of it, type player. Be interesting to see whether Scolari can get as much out of him at club level as he does for Portugal, all the same.

She's a lifelong Chelsea fan (4th generation in fact),

That club hasn't been around long enough to spawn four generations of fans has it?

QUOTE:
A pretty crap thread this when discussion about an undoubtedly great player like Deco descends into the 'he's a cunt' territory.

Dalliance, if by "undoubtedly great", you mean that he has undoubtedly great talent, I don't have any argument with that - his skills (speed, accuracy, vision, imagination etc.) are formidable and he uses them to great effect. Why that should prevent me from pointing out that he's a cunt is beyond me. I happen to feel strongly about cheating (and related gamesmanship), which is one of the things which most detracts from the pleasure of watching the modern game. He is conspicuously one of the very worst offenders, ergo a cunt. If someone has that odious an approach to ethical matters, I don't give a toss how impressive his talents are.

AdC, I take it that that's some kind of QPR in-joke.

You can always predict when a Fulham and QPR might pipe up.

SamLKelly wrote:

QUOTE:
IS, have you seen him for Barcelona in the last two seasons? There's a reason that him, Ronaldinho and Eto'o were listed as welcome to leave by the board after the season Barca have just had. And, well, Deco isn't the one who's been shooting his mouth off or not turning up for training constantly.

I wouldn't have thought many Barcelona fans will be sad to see him go. And I know at least one Chelsea fan (because I was talking to him about it this morning) who is pissed off at the club for signing yet another 28+, nearing the end of his peak rather than about to reach the start of it, type player. Be interesting to see whether Scolari can get as much out of him at club level as he does for Portugal, all the same.

In fairness, Sam, he was carrying an injury for a month up until the first leg against Manchester United and has only come into full fitness recently. I believe, too, that Barcelona's midfield was hamstrung by the lack of movement by their forwards last year. You only have to look at Xavi's performances for Spain when he had people up front who were willing to make runs. I think he'll be a great addition to the Premiership: his performance against Germany was a masterclass.

I was going to say, his missing a chunk of last season seemed to correlate with some of Barcelona's poorest form.

I have no time whatsoever for this arbitrary 'he's a cunt' argument that pervades on here and is based on wholly personal and typically useless prejudice. It's lazy, it's rude and most of the time it's inappropriate.

Were you levelling it against someone like Joey Barton then I could just about get it, levelling it against an excellent player and pretty much model professional like Deco because he goes to ground a little easily like the majority of people in his profession is just banale.

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It's lazy, it's rude and most of the time it's inappropriate.

Heaven forbid.

QUOTE:
levelling it against an excellent player and pretty much model professional like Deco because he goes to ground a little easily like the majority of people in his profession is just banale.

Is bang on though.

I don't get all this righteous indignation about diving anyway. I've just stopped getting wound up by it and accepted it's part of football today. Not a great part, obv, but a part nonetheless.

Lord Mauleverer wrote:

QUOTE:

QUOTE:
A pretty crap thread this when discussion about an undoubtedly great player like Deco descends into the 'he's a cunt' territory.

Dalliance, if by "undoubtedly great", you mean that he has undoubtedly great talent, I don't have any argument with that - his skills (speed, accuracy, vision, imagination etc.) are formidable and he uses them to great effect. Why that should prevent me from pointing out that he's a cunt is beyond me. I happen to feel strongly about cheating (and related gamesmanship), which is one of the things which most detracts from the pleasure of watching the modern game. He is conspicuously one of the very worst offenders, ergo a cunt. If someone has that odious an approach to ethical matters, I don't give a toss how impressive his talents are.

Jesus, what a load of misinformed sh1te. When I think of one of the greatest pleasures you could ever wish for in the modern game, it would be watching Deco pulling the strings of a team in his prime. I honestly never thought we'd see Deco play at his prime ever again, but he was absolutely majestic in the Euro, back to his FC Porto, string-pulling best.

He dives no more that any other player and as for cheating, well, I've never seen Deco rolling around on the floor injured in the last 3 minutes of a game to run the clock down, yet I've seen countless other players do this. I've also never seen him simulate aggression upon him, or any other despicable stuff like that. He dived a lot in Portugal because most opposition players didn't have a chance of catching him so could only stop him by trying to chop his legs off.

Premiership fans really don't deserve him if all they're going to do is toss around bulls1t stereotypes about his bad foreign tendencies. Of course English players don't cheat or dive, they prefer to bully referees and snap opposition players' legs in half.

I'm fairly sure he'll shine in the Premiership, but I've got a feeling there'll be problems at Chelsea if Scolari doesn't improve his English soonish. With so many players speaking Portuguese as their first language, there are bound to be some divisions in the ranks next season.