Originally posted by Poolman:
Koptalk : Having heard after the
game what had happened to Manchester United's Alan Smith, I really
felt for the lad. It looked and sounds a really bad injury and I
still haven't seen a replay of what actually happened.
The reason for this brief editorial is because I sense tomorrow's
newspapers are going to slaughter Liverpool fans for singing about
the injury.
When Smith went down, people around me in the Centenary Stand and
of course the Kop did poke fun about the incident, not a lot of
people, but enough to make it heard.
However, I can not stress enough that when it became clear that
Smith was seriously injured, not one person said a bad thing.
Everyone was genuinely concerned about the lad. It was just typical
match banter until it was evident that he wasn't going to get up
again.
People have to take into consideration the important of the fixture
and the rivalry. Also, people on television would have immediately
realised that the injury was serious where as those in the stadium
had no idea what was going on. Personally I though that he'd been
hit in the nuts or something, I was too far away from the action to
see what had happened.
I didn't sing the song but I did laugh at it at the time just like
everyone else around me but it didn't take long for the laughs to
stop when he stayed down. Ironically he had broken his leg but
nobody knew this at the time.
When he was stretchered off - when it was obvious he was seriously
hurt - [b]
every Liverpool fan clapped him off. I didn't hear one sarky remark
or anyone laughing. Had anyone laughed at this point, they would
have been brought into line immediately.
Smith was clapped off by every single Red I could see. Rarely do
you see opposition fans showing their respect and appreciation in
such a way.
I hate Manchester United, it is simply programmed into me to hate
them and I expect the same back from a Manc. However, I would never
wish any rival player to be injured. There is a difference between
banter and real malice. I just hope that some national journalists
are intelligent enough to report what really happened.
By the way, I also heard that someone threw half a pie onto the
pitch during the match. Well it will come as a no surprise that I
can confirm that the culprit wasn't me .[/b]
reminds me of de injury coz by Lampard to Xabi Alonso...looks
intentional...i nt sure.. 
