You Fat Tweet

Last night’s game had it’s moments but wasn’t really the pulsating game many had predicted. Suarez returned, Bale dived, cat scampered, Spurs defended and Rooney tweeted, that’s about all.

Much of the pre match talk was about the returning Uruguayan and what impact he would have on the game and on the remainder of Liverpool’s season. He came on for the last half hour or so and looked very keen to make up for lost time, full of energy and desire but didn’t really have the opportunity to change the game. There was one chance, a header straight at Friedel from Gerrard’s free kick but there wasn’t enough power on the delivery to help fire the header past the keeper.

Suarez was also involved in one fairly innocuous moment that may turn out to be more controversial than it first appeared. The ball dropped in the penalty area and as Parker headed it clear Suarez swung a foot to try to volley the ball goalwards but caught the Spurs man square in the chest. It looked painful but was a genuine attempt to make contact with the ball and certainly wasn’t a studs first challenge and the only momentum was generated by Suarez’ leg swing, not by his body flying towards Parker. There were no protests from the visitors over the challenge and no arguments from Liverpool when the referee produced a yellow card to an apologetic Suarez. After a visit from the physio Parker got up and completed the game in his typical energetic style. Incident over and dealt with correctly by all parties.

Meanwhile somewhere in Manchester Wayne Rooney decided he didn’t like the challenge and expressed his views on Twitter saying that if the ref saw the foul it should’ve been a red and not a yellow card produced. Players are increasingly taking to Twitter to air their views and opinions and in this day and age where the gap between fans and players is wider than ever any medium that encourages interaction should be welcomed. And Wayne Rooney is entitled to his views just as much as anyone. TV coverage of football doesn’t stop at the final whistle, we all stay tuned in so we can hear the expert opinions offered by ex players and managers in the studio so it would be hypocritical to say we don’t want to hear the views of current players so I have no problem whatsoever with the idea of Rooney sharing his thoughts on the incident. What we need to remember though is that this is the same Wayne Rooney who was sent off for England against Portugal in a major tournament that the remaining ten men were subsequently knocked out of. That red card will be forever remembered not for Rooney’s actions but for the actions of Cristiano Ronaldo in helping the ref come to his decision, there was even talk Ronaldo would have to leave Man Utd and never play in England again as the backlash against him was so strong. What did the young Mr Rooney learn from this incident? That it’s morally wrong and very unsportsmanlike to treat an opponent in this way? No, he simply added what he learned from Ronaldo to his game. How many times have we seen him chasing referees halfway around the pitch trying to influence them into giving a decision against the opposition? Who was the only person shouting at the ref to send off Vincent Kompany in their FA Cup 3^rd round tie? Now it seems he has found a way of trying to get opponents in trouble without leaving his sofa.

As I have already mentioned I don’t have a problem with Rooney sharing his views, I just think in this case the timing is badly judged ahead of what will be a very highly charged encounter on Saturday lunchtime. The Man Utd fans I have come into contact with this morning have jumped on Rooney’s comments and Luis Suarez has changed from ‘racist Scouse bastard’ to ‘dirty racist Scouse bastard who shouldn’t even be playing on Saturday, the FA should ban him from playing in the Premier League again’. Before the FA Cup game at Anfield there were debates as to whether or not Patrice Evra should be left out simply to calm what was sure to be a poisonous atmosphere and those debates will resurface over the coming days about Luis Suarez, should Liverpool leave him at home not from a footballing perspective but simply in an attempt to keep the peace. At any other time I think Wayne Rooney didn’t really do a lot wrong with his Tweet but I think in this week of all weeks he should have stayed quiet and not done anything to fan the flames ahead of another tense encounter between the two biggest rivals in English football.