Joseph Caron Dawe
As part of our enhanced match coverage on Setanta.com, we will be providing blog entries from our reporters after each Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup match.
These will allow our reporters to provide an honest opinion on the match and the issues arising from it away from the more traditional match report they will be writing.
The idea is to generate debate and give the sort of view that you would expect to receive in any open discussion at the pub after a game.
For instance, there will now be the opportunity to explain some of their player ratings - why somebody was ranked particularly highly or very badly. The reporter will also be able to add his response to any points you may raise using the feedback forms.
Our reporters will also be tasked with keeping their blogs up to date on any other topics that crop up at regular times so why not get in touch with them?
Drogba got off lightly
News of Chelsea considering an appeal against the bans imposed on Didier Drogba and Jose Bosingwa doesn’t come as much of a surprise, but accompanied by the wider issues surrounding the matter it raises further questions over certain aspects of the integrity of the game at present.
At a time when a proposed transfer fee of £80 million for Cristiano Ronaldo is driving the market up to such an extent that Inter are holding out for close to £76m for Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Spurs £10m for Didier Zokora, there is obviously a clarity of perspective that is lacking in the football world.
That seems to have transcended itself to the punishment and appeals level, with Wednesday’s news of the Chelsea duo’s bans.
If Chelsea do appeal Drogba’s six-game ban (with two games suspended) and Bosingwa’s four-game prohibition with just one suspended match, it would be a laughable response to an even more comical sanction. The fact Chelsea are yet to issue an application – they have one more day in which to do so – signals that sense may have prevailed at Stamford Bridge.
So the focus returns to the actual severity of the ban. Forget the suspended games, Drogba has been let off lightly with four. Yes, Chelsea will more than likely feel the full force of his absence in the early stages of next season’s Champions League, but on an individual level he can feel very lucky to have escaped with such a light sentence. The same goes for Bosingwa.