Of all the annoying trends in the modern game that turn me off the clutching of the face following any contact on or above the shoulders is probably the worst.

There were two incidents yesterday in the Portugal V Azerbaijan game that illustrated the good and the bad, unfortunately the bad involved one of our own.

At one point the ball bounced loose in the Azeri box and Ronaldo tried to launch a bicycle kick as the defender headed it away, [More on the bicycle kick later]. Ronaldo's foot brushed the side of the defenders head, the ball went over the bar and the ref gave a freekick. The defender gave Ronaldo a filthy look, rubbed the side of his head and that was it.

Not more than 60 seconds later Moutinho was out jumped by a defender on the half way line, the defenders knee brushed Moutinho on the rear of the shoulder, Moutinho promptly rolls around on the ground holding his face.

I know it goes on all the time but do we really need this from a Wolves player? It's just despicable to me.


Back to the bicycle kick. If Ronaldo had thrown himself into the air and kicked an opponent on the head in any other part of the field it would be a straight Red card, or should be. Why not in the penalty area? It's just as dangerous.

Rant over.