Arsenal Thread

[prinnysquad]

Nice and gutless from the governing body. It's tantamount to an admission that they singled him out with no intention of following it through elsewhere, then realsied they couldn't be arsed with the flak.

Everything about the manner of this incident has been very annoying. You just knew they wouldn't set a precedent. It makes UEFA look like a joke from all angles.

[Team Andromeda]

Let's not get on our high horses here, members of our very own England team do it, and have done it. Gerrard is a diver for a start, and the amount of English journalists foaming at the mouth to nosh him off alone is sickening.

Well said , and you add in Owen into that . One of the biggest divers in the game .

It makes UEFA look like a joke from all angles.

That isn't hard though . Both FIFA and UEFA look ridiculous half the time , they even make the FIA and Max look half professional, and that's saying something .

[merf]

the joke here wasn't the initial charge, it was the subsequent back tracking saying nobody else would be charged, that was when they lost it.

after that statement this was alwas getting overturned.

lets add Rooney to the list of English divers please

[Pavey]

Re Adebayor.

Someone on Talk Sport the other day said if he had run that fast and far (to celebrate infront of the fans) when he played for us he would still be there. Made me lol.

Silly though, what if an old dear in the front row got hit with something. Could of been my nan.

[Extra Terrestrial]

The last angle seems to suggest there was contact. Certainly isn't the "clearest dive could ever hope for".

You know, I am one of those (odd?) football fans that simply appreciates good football and while I support Ipswich Town and Liverpool, I still enjoying watching other teams with a fairly complete lack of bias.

THAT dive on the other hand is the first time I have ever shot up in front of a television and shouted 'he f*cking dived the cheating little ****!' and my friend who I was watching the match with - who is ironically an Arsenal fan - agreed too. It made it even worse when the replays were shown over and over again.

UEFA have just made a really poor decision.

[merf]

you can't have watched michael owen, stephen gerrard, robert pires, ronaldo, arteta, andrew johnson, wayne rooney, eboue or a host of others much then in recent years.

[Extra Terrestrial]

you can't have watched michael owen, stephen gerrard, robert pires, ronaldo, arteta, andrew johnson, wayne rooney, eboue or a host of others much then in recent years.

Yet Arsenal were already winning on an advantage scoreline and since Celtic weren't posing to be a huge threat, the cheeky bugger decides to spoil the night and dive.

I understand what you are saying Merf but this particular dive - especially after his lengthy lay-off - was truly disgusting. He didn't need to do it.

There have and always will be divers however, nothing stood-out quite as much as Eduardo's 'effort' against Celtic the other week.

[Flabio]

The overturning of the penalty does make some sense though. The maximum that the referee is allowed to give for diving *in the match itself* is a yellow. So it does seem a bit heavy-handed to give a 2 match ban for it when the referee wouldn't have been able to do that if he'd actually seen it...

[merf]

Yet Arsenal were already winning on an advantage scoreline and since Celtic weren't posing to be a huge threat, the cheeky bugger decides to spoil the night and dive.

I understand what you are saying Merf but this particular dive - especially after his lengthy lay-off - was truly disgusting. He didn't need to do it.

There have and always will be divers however, nothing stood-out quite as much as Eduardo's 'effort' against Celtic the other week.

I actually can't decide in my own mind what is worse, a laughable stupid dive in a game you are cruising or a major game deciding dive which ruins the whole event.

[EJG1980]

I've seen worse dives. Robert Pires against Portsmouth a few years ago is one, and I remember Didier Zokora doing a pretty good tumble at WHL (also against Pompey!) a couple of seasons back.

I agree with what Flabio said, it was a stupid punishment seeing as you'd only get a yellow during the game so they were right to overturn it. They should just never have given that punishment in the first place (unless they were going to have a policy of all dives being reviewed and banning those found guilty from now on). UEFA basically cocked it up from every possible angle.

Just looked up the Zokora dive on youtube, definitely worse!

[Jebus]

Does anyone remember Diouf's dive against Blackburn? Good God, I'm a Bolton fan but that was despicable. Mind you, never liked Dioufy.

[abigsmurf]

Adebayor's getting two charges, one for the stamp, one for the celebration. Police are also going to take action against fans identified as throwing stuff

[merf]

to change the subject from all this diving stamping nonsense I'd like to ask a question.

can anybody think of a worse 1st choice goalie for a top 4 side in recent years than Almunia ? Not somebody who's had the odd game, a player who has had a good few seasons and not been binned ?

apparently he is near the top of the stats on shots on target let in and rarely pulls off the wonder saves that top goalies make. I can't fathom why Wenger leaves him in the team, other than the fact out Polish number 2 is an even bigger flapper.

[abigsmurf]

A strong keeper makes far more difference to a team than most people give credit for. A good keeper not only saves more but gives more confidence to the defence who can be better organised and prevent more 'unstoppable' shots from happening.

[merf]

its been proven that the position of keeper is the most undervalued in terms of fees in the transfer market, its why a few million for Given was the best bit of business by a mile City did in the summer.

a solid goalie is just as game changing as a top midfielder or striker.

so back to the question, why has an intellignet man who knows how to 'game' the transfer market better than anybody else let the Almunia problem slide for so long ?