Kind of agree with you. By the letter of the law he probably should get have got a red card but some people would have you believe that Gallas went in with intent to kill rather than going for the ball and mistiming the challenge.

Mis-timed or not, it's no excuse for raising his studs in the challenge, is it?

I never said otherwise, the fact that his studs were up is the reason he should have been penalised. I don't think you can start banning everyone for having their studs up when going for the ball though, if you are diving in for a ball it is inevitable that your foot will get in such a position, like I said if Gallas was the faster of the two it could quite easily have been a role reversal.

I don't think there is any doubting it was a 50/50 and he had every right to go for it, the challenges that are a problem are wild lunges where players go in studs up for balls they have little chance of getting, these are the ones that often cause bad injuries as players desperately lunge after balls they have no chance of getting.

Everyone is different in terms of height, physicality, speed etc and it is therefore inevitable that some 50/50's are going to end in fouls and injuries, at worst the Gallas challenge was a mistimed attempt at a 50/50 that should have been penalised, not an "assault" or a wild lunge by any stretch, but there seems to be a general hysteria about the smallest of things these days.

His challenge was worse than Mascherano's at Pompey, which was an indisputable red card, apparently.

I think it probably would have caused more of a fuss/problem if they did it on a Premiership weekend. As it is, with it being FA Cup weekend, seems that they're using this as a small taster for new members in the hope of attracting new subscribers.

Couldn't agree more. Hysterical reactions, whipped up by the media, leading to fans being taken in. There was zero intent from Gallas, and it's unfortunate the kid got injured, but it's a physical game, and people occasionally get hurt. Just because the lawmakers are constantly trying to have the game played to it's own Health and Safety rules, doesn't mean a player might not cop an injury in a tackle anymore. Sheesh!

Does anyone think this/next year will see a ground shift in the thinking of the football authorities towards financial responsibility and even a salary cap based on revenue?

West Ham have announced they are £110m in debt. Yet they are boasting today about how hard they are looking for players of sufficient quality to keep them up and prevent a 'disastrous' relegation. They have offered a player in excess of £100,000 per week today.

For a club as small as West Ham, with crowds and sponsorship as low as theirs, the debt figure has got to be an eye opener? Portsmouth are another club which seems to be teetering on the edge of doom, constantly being taken over and managing at the last minute to pay player salaries. But they exist under the shadow of winding up proceedings and potential trouble with HMRC.

There was an expert commentator on the radio the other day talking about football saying they thought at least one Premier League club would go out of existence in the next 12 months. I can't remember who it was, a former Chairman I think.

Is there any games on ESPN this weekend? If so, who?

Juve vs. Roma. Should be class!

Isn't the Milan derby sometime soon?

Could be this weekend, actually. Seen it advertised so I'm guessing ESPN will be showing it. Forgot about that.

Sunday evening.