Everton's midfielder search: Vieira out with the old
DAVID MOYES is chasing a central midfielder who can combine physical presence with the ability to chisel out a perceptive pass.
And Inter Milan's Patrick Vieira has suddenly become available at a knockdown ã4m.
But mention his name to Moyes and you're likely to get a reaction akin to shoving three-day old dog droppings under his nose, on a copy of Per Kroldrup's contract.
Why?
Perhaps Moyes was at Anfield the night Vieira came on and looked more of a spent force than the Labour party.
The Blues boss wants a young and vibrant Everton future of Aaron Ramseys and Tom Huddlestones, not Paul Gascoignes and David Ginolas.
And that's enormously refreshing.
Technically right, morally wrong
IT'S the most widely debated offside goal since Jeff Astle ran onto a forward pass at Elland Road in 1971.
Yet the officials undoubtedly got it right in allowing Ruud van Nistelrooy's goal against the Italians to stand.
You see, even though Christian Panucci had been bundled a couple of yards over the goalline, he was ruled to be 'active' and interfering with play.
The explanation was that without such an interpretation, a cynical defender could step off the field of play to leave a centre-forward faced with a goalscoring chance offside.
Except that Panucci clearly did not act cynically.
But when you take away the facility for common sense from robotic match officials and insist on intransigent adherence to the rules, that's exactly what you'll get.
Robots who are technically correct but morally wrong.
Sometimes the law is an ass.
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