Arsenal Thread

[abigsmurf]

BBC have said he's actively being charged with 'deceiving the referee' now. Looks like he'll get a punishment for sure.

[Malavon]

It's about time something was done to drive this out of the game.

He's not the 1st and he definitely won't be the last to do this, but if he gets a ban, which he should, then it will make others think before diving.

Arsene Wenger should be charged also.

What the hell is wrong with these people? The first two are Manchester United supports, and I bet neither of them gave a **** after the countless times Rooney and Ronaldo went down. Probably cheered them on for "intelligent play" like all the other morons.

I wouldn't object to his being punished if there wasn't a ridiculous amount of hypocrisy involved.

[saif]

This could be the turning point. I would be very pleased with that but, as usual, they had to wait until it was another player.
Footballers have been diving for ages and there have been some very famous ones. I hope this is consistent - it may make the £80m that MU got for CRonaldo one of the best bits of timing ever in the history of football. Imagine if he was banned for two games every time he feigned contact to get a foul!

[EJG1980]

What I find strange is that if you get caught diving during the match, it's a yellow card. So why is it a two game ban if they decide you've dived after the match?

The hypocrisy is hilarious though. I wonder how many of the (English) pundits who have said that Eduardo has disgraced Arsenal and let himself down thinks that Owen disgraced England when he dived to win a penalty against Argentina at the World Cup?

Still, whatever the story behind it, if we now get a consistent "you get caught diving, you get banned" ruling in place then that'll be a good thing. The cynic in me says that it probably won't work out like that though

[neoboy259]

I guarantee someone else will cheat/dive/feign injury in the CL this season and UEFA will do diddly.

[abigsmurf]

I guarantee someone else will cheat/dive/feign injury in the CL this season and UEFA will do diddly

The problem I have with it is players getting victimised. Droba has a reputation for going down easy but he does also get fouled a lot with nothing given. If a player is brought down 10 times in a match, chances are a few could look like nothing challenges but were just enough to upset the balance. Will we see bans given out for these kinds of things?

Hopefully UEFA will only get involved if they can demonstrate there is no contact at all but even then, how do you tell if a player hasn't just slipped on the grass? Lots of teams water their pitch before games to make it slick.

[saif]

Especially teams that play against Drogba, non?

It is risky, granted. But something has to be done.
Last year, the most ridiculous "dive" was thought to be MG Pedersen against Arsenal - it looked absolutely ludicrous and he appealed (and was pilloried for it). As it happened, there was a little contact (completely unintentional) and he fell legitimately. He would get punished for it now - but people are often unfairly punished and they are usually defenders. I think Football should be rebalanced as attackers have been advantaged by rulechanges for nigh-on 20 years now.

[prinnysquad]

Lots of interesting views here, and although no system is foolproof I think the authorities do need to do something about this blight on the game. There's nothing more sickening in this game than seeing someone diving, it really makes my blood boil. When it's a member of my team, I genuinely feel embarrased and disgusted.

Obviously some players do get victimised on reputation - I remember Niall Quinn complaining years ago that he never got a free kick when he was fouled jumping for a ball because he was so tall, and maybe played on it on the past. The problem with people like Drogba is they themselves have cultivated this reputation as being a diver, if they'd played it straight in the first place they wouldn't get ignored in legitimate situations. Again, this doesn't make it right, but it does explain the situation.

I would wholeheartedly applaud UEFA if they punished these diving ****s - the ones who look around immediately after a dive usually arouse suspicion - which Eduardo did btw - seeing if their con had worked - or who take a comedy tumble. If a player is fouled he doesn't need to look around with pleading eyes, the foul should have been spotted. It's also quite easy to spot those who fling their legs out into a space where, to the naked eye, it looks like a foul could have taken place. If UEFA punish each and every one of these players in a systematic, consistent manner, then it's a good thing for the game. Mistakes may be made, but they too can be learned from. But if this is a one off, then it is a pointless reaction to a bandwagon, and UEFA should be cussed bad. Eduardo seems like an odd choice to kick off this crusade, ifit is indeed a crusade. All the signs point to it being a pointless, gutless one-off, as the serial offenders have got away scot-free for years.

I'd like to see a league panel meet every week to look into this too. For decisions where's there's no clear decision to be made, due to minimal contact, or watered pitches, or whatever (although in the case of minimal contact, if a comedy tumble is involved, then something could be done about it), then they needn't ban a player - just inform them that future referrals will be analysed carefully. If a player has a clean conscience then there'd be little to worry about.

[neoboy259]

What a f*cking hit by Arshavin.

[abigsmurf]

completely out of the blue but they deserve to be in front. Both from being the more attacking team and being denied a penalty a minute before. Man U will have to attack now so hopefully they'll stop just trying to cancel arsenal.

[merf]

arshavin is true class, we deserved that

to be honest I'm a bit disgusted at a Utd team, playing at home, who set up shop like some newly promoted team and just try to nulify their opponents.

they deserve to be behind but can only be better in the 2nd half

[neoboy259]

Utd still have some quality on their bench, gonna be an interesting 2nd half.............

[merf]

ex-spurs always score against us, that dimitar bertabov (copyright david pleat) will get one

[abigsmurf]

You've got to give that penalty but he kicked the ball out in front of him and made sure he fell over the keeper. Must be frustrating for keepers but then, if you're diving forward like that to begin with you're doing it wrong.

[abigsmurf]

Wow, the luck's with Man U today, poor from Diaby. Man U win was the only result I didn't want ¬¬