During the 1990/1991 season a group of Manchester IOU (then known as plain Manchester Thugs) players ran around some Arsenal players and there was a bit of pushing and shoving. In typical idiotic, insane, pathetic, stupid, disgraceful, bizarre and incomprehensible style the League decided to take two points away from Arsenal, and thus scupper their chances of winning the league.
What happened in fact was that the move reinforced Arsenal’s drive and they sauntered through the season, only losing one match. At the end of the season Liverpool Insolvency (who in those days were just called Liverpool) and Arsenal were playing evening games – Liverpool first on TV, Arsenal second.
Liverpool needed to win to keep the season going – they lost. We poured out of the pubs into the ground, and began singing, “You can stick your ****ing two points up your arse”. Never before or since have I heard one song repeated constantly for an hour before kick-off to way after the match end.
The Arsenal game too was shown live on what my Celtic neighbours call “Council Tele” and I recorded it. Playing it back at 3 the next morning (much to the lady wife’s annoyance) it was hilarious to hear the dope of a commentator say, “And you can hear the Arsenal fans chanting, ‘We are the champions…’,” when it was perfectly audible that we were all singing “You can stick your ****ing two points up your arse.”
That deduction became famous as a way of re-motivating a side. It was so obvious that the authorities wanted Liverpool to win the league that they would go to any lengths to stop Arsenal, and that made Arsenal stronger and stronger.
So it is the same with the wild and crazed attacks on Eduardo in the press and on radio and TV.
Uefa, that most knee jerk of organisations, has refused to look into the incompetence of the SFA but will instead get ready to ban Eduardo from 2 Champs games, citing the 2007 ban on Saulius Mikoliunas for two matches after he was playing in a match against… Scotland. (Do you spot a theme here? SFA making big fuss to cover its own inability to butter a bread roll, Scotland making a fuss before).
So we can rest assured, this will really work for us. We will have even stronger unity in the dressing room, and the squad will grow in strength. I think maybe we ought to go through this every couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, and speaking of nutters, international managers around the world are preparing to use injured Arsenal players in their squad. Fabregas who is only 50/50 to play against the IOU has been picked for Spain. England are ready to pick Theo after he played one half of a friendly before the start of the season (undoubtedly more than enough for England).
Narsi hasn’t been picked – he should be back in October, but Rosicky has been picked for his country after being declared fit enough. Our Jack is playing for the England Under 21’s so except further injury there. Carlos Vela’s foot is in a boot and they can’t get that through the scanning devise at the airport so he can’t play for Mexico.
Elsewhere…
We’re being told that , Ebooooooooue, Fran Merida and Alex Song are getting new contracts which is great news. Fran Merida gets it for being the new Cesc who can also play wide, Alex gets it for being the defensive midfielder that everyone wanted us to sign, and Eboue gets one for being Eboue.
And Jay Simpson has gone for the season to QPR. Coquelin and Sunu have not left the club, so look to be the mainstays of this year’s assault on the Diddly Midweek Cup, which will also probably be the highlight of the season for Manchester Arab and the Tiny Totts. I guess Jack could play in the Diddly games, so he gets some games (except of course he will be injured playing for England).
In passing news Aston “Hold Your Head” Villa saw the final collapse of their bizarre policy of getting themselves chucked out of Europe last year (when they sent the reserves to Russian for a cup match and so got knocked out.)
The plan was to focus on coming fourth in the EPL, which they obviously didn’t. So they drifted into the the preliminary rounds of the Europa Cup this year, and have just been knocked out of that. You can’t have it all, or in Villa’s case, you can’t really have anything.
And there we are. Dealing with yesterday’s assault on this site by some malware I think I have cut some recent posts. Most annoying, and not deliberate. But better to have a safe site than any doubt.
Now, there doesn’t seem to be much coming up, so what shall I do on Saturday?
(c) Tony Attwood
PS Team Talk update: according to a good friend who watches these things, around 40% of the posts on Team Talk Arsenal yesterday were illicit reprints from other sites. They must be going for the record.
Hi Tony
Even I want Eduardo to be banned. We know that we can afford to rest him for 2 days and still win by a huge margin. Atleast the double standards the commentators and media have against us will be exposed. Even more next time when Babel, Rooney or anyone dives will ensure that UEFA has to take action(although i doubt it).
What is more important that if UEFA can allow video usage like in tennis or cricket. I find it really funny why referees should take all the blame. They cannot and should not compete against the cameras, rather it should be a win win situation through cooperation.
PS: Why is everyone shouting so much. Even if he dived, the final score was 5-1 and they were totally outclassed and unlucky. He has not reinvented diving, nor did Celtic lose CL finals.
eboue has entered the matrix, no booing can work on him anymore. is phil brown scottish also? these little tantrums are very similar.
This morning one of the national radio stations is running a phone in on cheating. In the run up they played the commentary from the Eduardo incident. Have they forgotten what happened the day before at West Ham? I know which one was worse.
I remember watching the Liverpool game you write about in 1991 in the Silver Bullet, now the Gaslight. What a dump it was, but it had the essentials: TV, beer, and atmosphere. “You can stick your f@cking 2 points up your @rse, sideways!”
Really Tony. You must understand that Eduardo was the first ever player to have dived. He should therefore (bearing in mind his Arsenal/Brazilian/Croation background plus the mentality of the average FA administrator) be banned for a year, put into stocks and pelted with rotten spuds. Unfortunately females of that specie bearing 34/20/34 figures are not too common at Blight Fart Lane. Those female spuds seen bear a greater resemblance to New York’s famed bag ladies but you can’t have everything.
gud newz for the new contracts is our newly focus for both champs n premier league trophies.go go the gunnerz n win as many as poossible.
for edu’s sake the sfa iz just biased ov the goonerz but dat will not stop our winning pace.
Why they don’t talk about Rooney diving which broke arsenal 49 unbeaten records even though Sol Cambo never touched him. Rooney said u never touched, I know that but it wasn’t my decision, The media never crucified Rooney but all that analysts said was Rooney was young and he will grow. Ronaldo serial diving tricks. Ronaldo had oscar award for diving in each game. When Ryan Babel dived in CL semi final he Babel and Benitez never had decency to keep quiet but defended the dive that clean penalty bcos it it went their ways.
We arsenal FC have self respect to have admitted it was hush decision on Celtic and manager Arsene Wenger said the same. We will never cover it up that it was clean penalty so why the big fuss.
You can stick your 2 fingers and 2 points up your f$$king hole in the highest order
Spanish papers are claiming we bid 7 million for vd Vaart and he wants to go to us. Anything, anyone?
The SFA should clean their cobwebs in the locker room first. They should do their home work first, in other words they should pick the log their eyes first before they pick EUFA.
Just last week Rangers was awarded penalty when they played Hearts that incident took took place outside the 18 yard box according to the reporter. This help them to win the match 2:1. This happened b4 the champions league, I believe they could have done something earlier about this but I have not seen anything in the media yet. Rather they want to get involve with EUFA affairs that is bigger than their functions.
Arsenal for life, you can go to hell, Arsenal was the better team and the better team won in all aspects of game and the two matches. I rest my case !
so what shall I do on Saturday?
B&Q? Or maybe a barbecue? Don’t know, is there anything on telly?
I hate the games against ManU more than any other, so glad to get it out of the way early in the season. I think it’s because detesting them and their manager and their vile support (we all know what they sing – strange the media don’t pick up on the disgrace)so much the thought of not beating them above all others is so painful.
Still we must believe and anyway let’s face it the team that won least top four encounters did all right last season so even a disaster isn’t a disaster. Um.
If every dive would be punished in the same way I would have no problem with a ban. But then it has to be everyone and everywhere.
On the incident self: the ref was in the right position that a ref has to take according to the game development. As a ref you just don’t run around lick a headless chicken you know.
From his angle he saw the keeper rushing out towards Eduardo and I can tell you that from that angle almost every ref would have given the penalty.
So you cant really blame the ref. The only way the ref would have seen it as it happened could be when he ran on the heels of Eduardo but then it could happen that Eduardo got tackled by the ref.
I must say I was really happy with the other goals because I don’t like to win in that way. I think that is the ref in me.
But the way the media are hyping this is total madness and the difference how they react now and on other occasions is to throw up your breakfast.
I really think that all this bashing makes us stronger as a team. Just like last season when they wrote us off after the City game and the players began to realise that they had to dig deeper and they did. Now we seem to have realized from the start that we have to dig deep, again the press was writing us off from the start, and we played excellent and showed a really very good attitude on the pitch.
All this talk of diving is is tres BORING!
It’s a pity the game itself was overshadowed. To that end the two best players on the park IMHO, were –
Eboue.
Quite outstanding – his desire to win the ball back was a joy to behold and his bold runs into space were a constant thorn and difficult to defend. At one point the commentators (dribble-shite that they were) mistook Arsenal fan’s applause as Eboue chased the ball, with enthusiastic determination, across the back 4 as being intended as respect for Celtic keeping possession. I could be wrong but I am pretty sure they were impressed to see this commitment. I never wanted Eboue to leave, he is an excellent squad player and has a point to prove, I hope he continues to prove the booers wrong.
Gallas.
Sublime at times and is for me currently playing his best football since he joined the club.
One further point now that we have qualified I think it is probable that one more signing (at least) will come in. It’s just a feeling in my bones but I would not be surprised if both Matuidi and Chamahk came in – though it may be the case that Arsenal have had a quiet word with the player and promised a big salary if he sees out his contract.
I still worry we are one light in defence (are Silvestre and Senderos adequate cover…?) who knows but no doubt Lord W will surprise us all yet.
If there would be some positive outcome from that decision it would be ok for me. Lets punish Eduardo and set some standards in which all “divers” would be punished.
But again, to do it, you have to know why some player dived at all. Could it be instinct reaction of man whose leg was nasty broken, and who only sow treat for his legs, and all he could do is to “remove” pressure from his legs and fall on ground?
Did anyone sow Dudu asking for penal, I didn’t? So punishment should be for “diving” not for simulating penalty. If thats case than there is about 20 to 30 players each weekend who should be banned.
In fact there are already players who should be banned lifelong (I wont mention here anyone but you all know who should that be).
Jonny Neale,
surely a mention for Vermaelen,he has had three excellent games,performing as if he had been in the team for years,a bit like Sagna in his first season, and that in itself has rejuvinated Gallas,who is playing like a man proving a point.
Hey Tony –
You’re more than welcome to be online and help me with my fantasy (American) football draft on Saturday. 🙂 I’ll need the extra help since our little adventure up north is being played at the same time and my eyes will be glued to the TV.
On a side note, I used to live and work in Russia. If you want any help understanding the Russian translation of the site (i.e. Why what you wrote isn’t exactly what is translated to Russian), I’ll be more than happy to help. My Russian’s not perfect, but I can perhaps help you understand the nuances of how Russians say certain things compared to how we say them in English.
Hi everyone
So Eduardo has been found guilty. Hope UEFA finds all the guilty and punishes them. Really sad but would be fun.
a bit off topic but still a very Arsenal topic: the CL draw.
You couldn’t believe the happines from us Benelux-Gooners that we not only play Standard but also AZ.
So we are all hoping that Arsenal will leave us some tickets for these games because to see our beloved team in our own countrys is something that is driving us wild.
The president of the Arsenal Benelux club has already been stalked since yesterday evening by asking to get us tickets. 😉 The poor guy. LOL.
When it comes nearer and when Tony writes about the CL I will give you some info about Standard Liege and how we over here in Belgium think about the group. In short: 3 teams to play for 2nd place.
How nice it would be to already see our Gunners live in action in about 3 weeks time…. really driving me wild.
guys you have to read this; more on that dunce tyldsey or whatever he’s called
http://www.onlinegooner.com/exclusive/index.php?id=1292
I remember Standard Liege well from the Graham era. 10-0 over two legs wasn’t it?
As for Vermaelen – the measure of how well he has settled is that I didn’t feel it necessary to big him up. He didn’t stand out because he was as I have already come to expect, solid, committed & reliable.
Gallas’ form is certainly due to Vermaelen’s arrival. Heady stuff.
Yes Johnny. Great result.
And in case we don’t get tickets we can be sure that we can see it on TV. But big hope we can get tickets in the Gooner end.
I’ll await UEFA’s decision. If they confirm their double standard, then we Arsenal fans should unite to remind them whenever & wherever a case of diving occurs. If any similar case happens, we should all sign a petition and send copies to FA, UEFA & FIFA. We should ensure that the whole world focus on it such that they will feel uncomfortable sweeping it under the carpet.
Where were all these people all the years that Ronaldo & Drogba were diving? No. Arsenal fans must not let them forget.
double standards revealed eddy has been banned – fair enough but lets see of this stupidity and if they will ban every player that dives
If Martin O’Neill had been foreign, there would have been questions raised about his managerial position. Just look at what has happened to Wenger, Rafa whose job security has been continually questioned every time there is any hickup. Oh yes and who can forget the two dives by young in the space of 10 minutes, and yet not a mention….but thenw why would they – he is english after all, the hypocrisy and the subtle racism in this country continues….
This CL group is too easy for us, we mustn’t get too relaxed in the killings. We can now concentrate on the league more. I liked the way Boruc tried to send Eduardo the wrong way during the PK that clumsy *astard. There is only one pole that is Fabianski. (also Szczesny)
The whole thing is another example of anti-arsenal euphoria that has always existed in the british tabloid press and beyond.
19 months ago Eduardo had his leg smashed in a vicious tackle by a thug in a brum shirt. The media re-action was to jump to the thugs defence, claiming he was a nice lad who wouldn’t hurt a fly and so on, almost to the extent were it could almost have been Eduardo’s own fault for being “too skilful” for the unfortunate assailant, who was now very upset by the incident and was questioning whether he would feel able to play football again.
Now here we are 19 months later and Eduardo has become the first player ever to dive and win a penalty, albeit in a game which was already beyond the hapless Scottish opposition.
We now have the SFA calling for him to be banned, Well I have no interest in Scottish football, primarily because it’s shite, and I believe that any decent side from the semi-pro LOI would have no problem finishing in the top 5 of the SPL. I will this week however be watching very closely to see if there are any dubious penalty decisions, and will be writing to the fucking wanker at the SFA to demand that any player involved in such an incident be banned. I suggest that others on this forum do likewise.
I think as the Arsenal, as a club of high class and stature should take this on the chin….but come out with a statement accepting this but warn FIFA & UEFA and of course the FA of the president which has now been set. (From Now!)
No point acting like a child that lost his dummy as the truth be told we have sufficient back-up up front with the loss of Eduardo.
Should a similar situation happen again the Arsenal FC should be the club to give a “nudge” to the FA and UEFA.
“Arsene! What you view on Rooney’s Penalty?”
“Well, we have to respect the referee’s decisions but I’m sure FA and UEFA and Michele Platini will be reviewing the incident.”
here is the link to wengers interview
http://www.skysports.com/video/clips/0,23791,12606_5520166,00.html
What Eduardo did was wrong and there should be some sort of come back. How we make retrospective action work is for another debate but I would say I see real problems in any suggestion of a system that only looks at incidents highlighted by the media but I can’t see how a retrospective discipline panel can review every incident in every game either.
Putting that to one side I have to say the ITV coverage of the incident was absolutely shocking. Clive “that night in Barcelona” Tyldesley spent the entire time after the Eduardo dive berating him and almost seemed to want to ignore the other goals entirely whilst he continued with his relentless moaning about the shocking cheating on display.
Based on the dummy commentators ou’d think that Celtic had been all over Arsenal by listening to them whereas in truth Eduardo and Bentner missed sitters. Eboue went close and Eduardo produced a good save from Boruc! Cetlic meanwhile put the ball in the net from an offside position and er, well that was it!
In short, Eduardo was wrong but it made no difference whatsoever to the result (so get over it Scotland) and please, please, please somehow get football away from ITV…just look how much better the Grand Prix coverage is now!
Back in the studio Kenny Dalgish seemed to have stepped out of a time-machine with his “those cheating foreigners come over here with their diving ways” comments. His assertion that English players only do it because they see foreign players do it was absolutely laughable. I have to say, if it was Rooney diving with Man U playing against an Italian team I am absolutely convinced the reaction would have been dramatically different.
Finally, all those people coming out and saying that they no longer have sympathy for Eduardo following his shocking injury just because he took a dive should be ashamed of themselves. Are they really saying that if a player dives he can have a horrific shattered leg and they wouldn’t feel any sympathy for that? I have always felt that Ronaldo is an odious character but I would certainly not wish any form of injury on him and if he were to suffer a career threatening break I’d have nothing but sympathy for him. Football fans are notoriously fickle but this level of about-turn in people’s views of Eduardo must be leaving a lot of people very dizzy.
I’m not trying to excuse him or justify it but a little perspective is needed. Eduardo’s dive was not his finest moment but in the grand scheme of things it meant little and he does not deserve the kind of vilification he’s received from some quarters. It was just a dive.
The reaction to it from some pundits has been ludicrously over the top. The first goal last night was always going to be crucial, it’s a shame it came about the way it did, but can anyone really tell me that over the course of the 180 minutes it made a difference to the overall result? Celtic had two shots on target over both legs. One tame effort in the first half of the first leg and one in the 92nd minute last night which resulted in Donati’s goal.
Arsenal scored five goals. Even without the Eduardo penalty we’d have won last night yet they’re bleating on about Eduardo being a ‘cheat’.
It’s funny but these are the same people who told you ‘Tiny Taylor’ “isn’t that kind of guy” when he shattered Eduardo’s leg and ankle and put him out of football for over a year.
It’s easy to condemn a dive, it’s safe, yet you rarely hear the same condemnation for acts of violence or dangerous tackles.
Eduardo is a cheat yet Michael Owen is ‘clever’ when he wins a penalty against Argentina with a dive. Steven Gerrard is notoriously light on his feet yet he carries no reputation as a diver. You can be sure that Eduardo will after one incident.
We all know there are rules that don’t apply to some because of who they play for or what international shirt they pull on.
Another way to look at it is, maybe this is the cynical streak that we need to see from Arsenal, afterall when Bobby Pires was prone to tumble Arsenal were winning things.
Am I right in thinking that the second in charge at UEFA is Scottish?
As per usual the football authorities are making a complete balls up of a situation. We have had one UEFA referee retire because of death threats and at least one other ref has received them. Which club was involved in both incidents – Chelsea. Whose players reacted disgracefully after being beaten by Barcelona and then had bans reduced – Chelsea. Why was no serious action taken after these events?
Also will we have goal keepers banned if TV evidence shows them to have made contact and no penalty is given. If you apply a little bit of common sense to this UEFA are opening up a can of worms that will end up causing chaos.
If UEFA do go forward and ban Eduardo OK but if they do not follow this through and apply it to every other alleged dive Arsenal should take legal action.
Astonishing press conference from Wenger. Bristling with anger. On this showing, we are definitely going to win the league. He is as focused and committed and passionate as I have seen.. Excellent stuff. (Of course, the insane, orange-faced Hull City manager has in the past, been spitting with anger too, but the difference is Arsene speaks absolute sense and with the utmost clarity.) Further reasons to be proud to be an Arsenal supporter.
The CL draw was good for us on two levels, beatable teams and the only real journey is the last group match by which time we should have qualification in the bag. ManU must be furious, Arsenal stole their CL group!
Wenger is right to say that Arsenal will now question every decision that incorrectly goes against us. UEFA are going to have the to do the U turn of all U turns and backtrack before the CL is so tied up in allegations and claims that no football can be played.
Peter S: I thought the generally accepted principle is innocent until proven guilty? Looking at the video repeats on TV, in my view all that can be said with any certainty is that the goalkeeper did not foul Eduardo and Eduardo did fall over. But there is nothing that clearly demonstrates, or even strongly suggests, that he fell over deliberately. If I thought on the basis of the video footage that Eduardo had dived, then I would not defend his behaviour, but the evidence is equivocal. Benefit of the doubt therefore clearly applies.
PS Presumably by Christmas we can expect a season long ban for Ronaldo?
Advice for all of you my fellow gooners,
when ever you are forced to watch Arsenal on TV, try to find broadcaster in language you don’t understand. Believe me its pure joy, to watch game without listening moron who is trying to convince you that truth is not what you see than what he says….
Watching Arsenal on Chinese TV channels, joy which cant be bought with money.
I just cannot believe what is happening here. If the same happened in Kenya, the UK media would be running stories about tribalism in kenyan journalism. Eduardo did not give himself a penalty!
I agree with Armin. Its better to watch the games in Languages you dont know because You’ll watch just the match and not the nonsense. I’d the privilege to watch couple of matches in Korean language. Another thing which you can do is to ‘mute’ the channel. This is not as exciting as one wouldn’t be hearing the noise from the crowd but I sometimes find this as a better way than to listen to lots of negative comments on Arsenal..
Personally I enjoy cursing at commentators on tv during matches.
Why is everyone acting so surprised at the attitude of UEFA and the racist English media, whats being done to Eduardo has been done before.
Platini hates Arsene Wenger and the English media hate him for being French and in charge of the Arsenal.
My problem with our club is that we have no one in the upper reaches of the club at board room level who comes out fighting for the club and tellling the media in no uncertain terms ” anymore anti Arsenal reporting” and certain news media corperations will no longer be welcome at the Arsenal ground.
It works for AF at Manchester Utd so maybe it’s time we did the same at Arsenal.
As for the standard of the commentators on the BBC ITV and Sky, it is so biased i just turn the sound down and watch the picture on the telly, its far better that way or watch it on stream from the far east.
“We are are the Arsenal and we don’t care we’ll win the league anyway”