9 May 2013

'He's not a bad guy' - Molby defends €25m star Hansen called a 'loose cannon'

Chelsea star David Luiz is usually the whipping boy of choice for ex-Liverpool players, and in the past, Mark Lawrenson, Alan Hansen, Steve Nicol and Graeme Souness have all slated the 'embarrassing' and 'erratic' Brazil 'defender'. Reds hero Jan Molby has, however, broken ranks this week, and become the first Anfield legend to show some support for Luiz, with the Dane defending the player Hansen described as a 'loose cannon' over his part in the recent Rafael red-card furore at Old Trafford.

After Man Utd's 1-0 defeat to Chelsea on Monday, Alex Ferguson's rampant xenophobia reared it's ugly head yet again as he accused Luiz - who cost Chelsea €5n - of going down like a 'dying swan', and play-acting to get Rafael sent off. He told reporters:

"Luiz rolled about. You see that with these European, foreign and South American players. He was smiling. It's bad. What kind of professional is that? He [Da Silva] was elbowed and he retaliated"

Ferguson comes out with funny stuff, which is one reason why he'll be missed when he retires. European, foreign *and* South American? I guess in Fergie's world, European and South American players are not classed as 'foreign'; or 'foreign' is a nationality all by itself :-) But, I digress...



Molby saw things differently, and although he admits that, at first glance, it looks like Luiz is laughing about getting Rafael sent off, on closer inspection, this is not the case. He told Eurosport:

"He [Luiz] is on the ground smiling before a red card has been shown, he's not laughing or winking, thinking he has got a man sent-off.

"I look at Luiz and see an inoffensive character. I don't think he is a bad guy and I just can't buy that he was lying on the floor thinking: "Rafael is about to get sent-off."

"I refuse to believe that is why he was laughing. I just think he was looking at the fans, having a little smirk and thinking 'why did Rafael do that?' – because it was a ridiculous challenge".


Molby is clearly right here. Luiz is smiling before he even knows what's happening behind him. As for the incident - Rafael kicked the Brazilian in the back of the leg; yes, he goes down, but it's not an opportunist Gareth Bale special, though it does look like Luiz raised his elbow with intent prior to the challenge.

Considering some of the infractions we've seen this season, this is a comparatively piffling incident, and if it was Luis Suarez in Luiz's place, I'd be arguing exactly the same thing.



NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)


5 comments:

  1. Fergie being "selective" again! if it was Rafeal being fouled and Luiz getting sent off Fergie would be saying the opposite, can't wait for him to go, hypocrite!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fergie should get a grip, it's not like Luis falsely accused anyone of racism to get him suspended for a quarter of a season.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Luiz even :-) I'm so busy being a Suarez enabler I just can't stop thinking about him :-p

    ReplyDelete
  4. That laughing bit was amusing, could imagine Sideshow Bob doing that with an evil laugh of his.

    Shock, horror, a manager coming out with rubbish or saying things in the heat of the moment that they may regret or may not make sense. They are all at it. Yawn. Just depends on how high-profile you are as to what spotlight it gets.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Alex get good present during retirement...hahaha

    ReplyDelete