IT’S the topic which is dividing Danish football – was scathing criticism of Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel over the mark?
We told you how the iconic veteran keeper was singled out for flak after the Danes fell to a 5-2 defeat in their Nations League clash against Portugal.
It now transpires that he was also playing through an injury which will keep him out for a minimum of six weeks.
But that didn’t stop some brutal comments heading in his direction, with Ekstra Bladet columnist Anders Olsen calling him ‘plump’ in his piece titled: “Farewell, Kasper Schmeichel.”
The Danish PFA then came out swinging with vile comment that compared Schmeichel’s punching of the ball to being “like a polio child“.
It has all caused a major furore in this corner of Scandinavia.
And now a former Celtic trialist who has claimed in the past he now supports RANGERS has said that there is ‘no way round’ the criticism – and ‘we all saw something that looked a bit off with his physique”.
He also reckons that Schmeichel has never been particularly good at handling criticism, and prefers just to ‘hide away’.
That man is David Boysen, and he spent an ill-fated week on trial with the Hoops back in 2010.
He spoke recently of his time at the Hoops which he claims culminated in him wearing Scott Brown’s clothes to a STRIP CLUB after he had humiliated him so much in training.
David Boysen said: “I probably would have been a bit hurt if those words were said about me, no matter how I looked.
“I think those are some harsh words being used because you’re being put in a certain box with them. That, I think, is tough.
“But on the other hand when you’re Denmark’s national team goalkeeper and have been for a decade, you can’t deny that we all saw something that looked a bit off with his physique.”
“There’s just no way around it.
“Schmeichel is really bad at handling criticism, so he just avoids speaking at all. It’s the same thing when a goal goes in. He just hides away, so he’s not particularly good at taking criticism.”
Boysen words drew support from Lyngby star Lasse Fosgaard, who said: “This past week, there’s been this whole debate raging about the word ‘pudgy’ and Kasper Schmeichel, and whether or not you could call him that, and I just have to say, you absolutely can.
“As a football player, your body is your tool, and if that body isn’t in shape, then that’s completely fair.
“I know myself that as you get older, it becomes harder to be just as fast and so on, and the other thing that happens is that it also becomes harder to say no to béarnaise sauce and pick-and-mix candy and all that other stuff.”
“That’s why you end up putting on a few kilos, and if that happens, then I think it’s completely fair that if you play a bad game and it looks like that’s the reason, then you should be criticized for it.”
He dded: “I think the criticism is completely justified, and sure, we can discuss word choices and so on, but I don’t think ‘pudgy’ is an insulting word in any way.
“I’d almost rather be called ‘pudgy’ than be told I was really bad. It’s not like he called him ‘massively fat’ or something like that.”
“I just feel like, let’s say Kasper Schmeichel was Denmark’s best swimmer and he showed up to a swimming competition in that kind of shape, and we all sat there watching as he finished seven seconds behind the others: ‘I don’t really get it, it’s like he just didn’t quite hit form…’”
“I mean, come on. It’s so obvious to everyone that he’s slow. He doesn’t have the same speed on the line. Has he gotten older? Yeah, yeah. But what else? He’s gotten bigger too. And bigger, yeah, yeah, that’s an ugly word, you’re not supposed to say it, but it’s the truth.”
“I just don’t understand why this is a problem. In every other sport, you’re allowed to say it, but times have changed. Everyone is a victim now.”
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