Arsenal v Celtic, UEFA Champions Lg., 26th Aug - 19:45 (ITV)

[SPF103]

I don't understand why anyone gives a sh*t about public opinion. Most English football fans dislike Arsenal, so obviously there will always be a lot of criticism if one of our players is out of line. Eddy had a great game IMO and that's what should have been remembered. Every established striker in Europe has dove at one point in their career, so I really could not care less about it.

Now we need to shut everyone up by getting a win this weekend.

 

[Cruisio]

Best thing for Eduardo to do at this point would be to just smash a few past Utd on Saturday. I'm currently getting it from all angles but frankly I couldnt care less. Players WILL dive against us this season, we arguably lost a whole championship based off the back of one dive (Rooney)

 

[AFCG7]

Not the best thinking from Eduardo...really unnecessary from him , we were well in control of the tie, i'm disappointed.
We had a hard enough time with Pires , now all the **** stirring will come back up again ( didnt stop us from going unbeaten though ).

 

[patrick42uk]

Must say that technically Eboue must be in the top 6-7 players we have .

Maybe higher. He's always had a decent touch and he has always been a decent short passer but what shocked me tonight was his efficiency. There were final passes and a goal as well. Tremendous performance. I loved his reaction to shooting wide in the first half, seemed pissed off that he hadnt hit the target. He was the link between midfield and attack and the fufilled the role well. I dont think squad players get much better. I mean how many can operate in defensive positions one game and then act as the creative hub of the team in another?

Diaby was piss poor tonight. The problem he has is that when he's not doing what he did at Pompey, Villa, Fenarbache or Newcastle, i.e. scoring impressive goals, you kinda wonder what the point of the guy is. Bendtner was bad as well. Had one of those nights when his brain and legs were working from different scripts. Arshavin looked class. Glad he got his goal finally.

I wonder if Eboue has snuck himself into the team against Man U.

 

[True Gooner]

Don't give a **** about what other people think of us. Usually that means we're getting to them in some way or the other.

 

[asajoseph]

Eboue was lazy as **** tonight.

Anyway, for me, this was by far and away the worst performance I think we've put in so far this season. Both Scottish teams we've played have been so devoid of creativity it's untrue. Front to back Celtic are an incredibly ordinary side, who, based upon their performances against us, would struggle to finish top 14-15 in the Premiership, let alone challenge for European spots. Even Portsmouth, despite having Younis Kaboul at the back, have 5 times the attacking ability and flair that Celtic do, and our performance against them was 5 times better than what I saw tonight.

The fact that we won 3-1 is testimony to 3 things:

1) Vermaelen and Gallas are forming an excellent partnership at the back.
2) Celtic are as creative as a movie directed by and starring Steven Seagal
3) Even playing badly, we are still capable of putting together one or two very, very good moves.

 

[Nela]

We all agree it was a dive, wrong and none of us want to see that.

But some of the reactions on here says more about the canonization of Eduardo among Arsenal fans, and how you've built him up in your heads, more than anything else.

 

[progman07]

Eduardo diving? I was surprised, but then many players dive now and then. Gerrard dives often and gets away with it. Rooney also dives. But of course they are English, so they are safe from any criticism.

 

[asajoseph]

Don't get me wrong though, of course I'm happy to win, and I think we've really progressed so far as a team.

I just don't feel that either of the home games I've seen so far this season have been anything more than formalities, and that's a little disappointing (though I'll happily win 25 formalities at home this season if we end up winning a trophy I suppose!)

 

[Kain]

Eduardo diving? I was surprised, but then many players dive now and then. Gerrard dives often and gets away with it. Rooney also dives. But of course they are English, so they are safe from any criticism.

Prog the English players simply learned to dive off all the foreign **** who have infiltrated the Premier League and are therefore excused, didn't you listen to Dalglish?

 

[tam1886]

I'm not sure I reaaly watched the same match as ITV, because what I watched was:

TV and Willy giving a masterclass in defence.
Dominating Celtic for pretty much 180 minutes.
Celtic not having a meaningful shot on target until their goal.
Bendtners backheel.
Denilson's side flicky thing.
Eduardo's all round game.
Our dominance in midfield.

No, all I heard was "blah blah blah penalty boo hoo hoo shouldn't be allowed blah blah boo hoo" from a bitter old c**t that hasn't got over '89. ******.

You should have seen STV (the Scottish ITV) then, we had Craig Burley! ****anta goes down the pan and Craig Burley somehow finds himself flushed up on my tv for an Arsenal game.


Disappointed with Eduardo, really disappointing to see that from him as he's better than that.

Although it was almost worth it for that stupid little John Travolta-like move that the fat **** Boruc pulled before diving

Their goal left me feeling gutted at the end, despite the win and despite going comfortably through to the next round. That was purely because I hate Celtic though, although the defending was disappointing on our part.

 

[McIntyre]

Must say that technically Eboue must be in the top 6-7 players we have .

That's crazy. The guy miscontrols the ball, gets it stuck under his feet, makes touches/passes too heavy or too light all the time, his crossing was probably better than Sagna's but it still wasn't great.

That shot he had tonight, where the ball flicked up and he shot it wide showed just how bad, technically, Eboue actually is. First of all he failed to control Diaby's pass to him, admittedly difficult given their close proximity but not technically sound either. Then despite being on the turn, hitting a ball on the drop he still somehow managed to hit it partially sidefooted and dragged wide, when in the feet of a more technically gifted Bergkamp/Henry/Arshavin type player that ball would've been going top corner, not dragged low and wide.

He took his goal well tonight and the guy can play a nice pass here and there in general interplay but his technique really isn't up to much. He's certainly not in the top 6-7. Arshavin, Eduardo, RVP, Cesc, Rosicky, Nasri, Denilson, Gallas, Vermaelen, Wilshere, debatably Bendtner, Diaby, Ramsey as well all better or on a par with him.

 

[kel varnsen]

Eduardo diving? I was surprised, but then many players dive now and then. Gerrard dives often and gets away with it. Rooney also dives. But of course they are English, so they are safe from any criticism.

so diving is no big deal now? i wonder if arsenal fans felt the same way whenever ronaldo went down easily last season...

seriously, there is no point in defending or even explaining eduardo's pathetic dive tonight. piss poor attitude from a player whom i thought was better than that. i guess not.

 

[Cruisio]

Kel, nowhere has anyone said that diving isnt a big deal, and certainly nobody here has said that they are happy about it. Its just one of those things, if you want to be disappointed in him then you do that, it wont change anything. Players will always take a tumble, whether it be ours or opponents, its not nice to see obviously, but unfortunately its a part of the modern game

 

[kel varnsen]

apologetic bullshit. just because "it's part of the game", does in no way mean one should accept it, look the other way or simply discard it as "meh, one of those things that happen"...

in my book, eduardo is now no better than gerrard, drogba, ronaldo and the rest of the cheaters...

 

[OohtobeaGoonerGal]

It was disappointing from Eddy, but I've forgiven already - he's still a lovely man with great personality and talent. He is better than what he did, for sure. I don't think he was proud of it, you could see it in his face.

Never wanna see it again though but doubt we will, he is still an inspirational player for his injury comeback, and he'll do better next time.

 

[otfgoon]

Who gives a ****, well done Eduardo I say.

Solid win, nothing else really needs to be said.

 

[progman07]

Eduardo diving? I was surprised, but then many players dive now and then. Gerrard dives often and gets away with it. Rooney also dives. But of course they are English, so they are safe from any criticism.

so diving is no big deal now? i wonder if arsenal fans felt the same way whenever ronaldo went down easily last season...

seriously, there is no point in defending or even explaining eduardo's pathetic dive tonight. piss poor attitude from a player whom i thought was better than that. i guess not.

Pires dived. Vieira dived. It wasn't constantly in their game, but every player does it once in a while.

Diving is bad, but isn't the end of the world, and especially isn't that bad to make you a bad guy.

 

[Gooner_Stu]

I think AW will be speaking to Eduardo, maybe a couple of the players too. Im not saying any of our players are saints, but if ITV couldnt stop talking about it, then you can bet a remortage this is gonna be all over the back pages, and the last thing Eduardo needs is a rep for being a diver, which i dont believe he is. Yes it was wrong, but all strikers are oppatunists, and this was nothing different. The only person to have been given a penalty and say it wasnt is Robbie Fowler, and even he didnt stop to think about putting away the rebound (let alone blazing it wide like any "moral" person would have). I honestly dont think we'l be seeing Eduardo going down like that in the future, im pretty sure i can remember him trying to stay on his feet in similar situations before this evening, and the best way to get away from this is to bag a brace (mimimum) this Saturday.

 

[awooga83]

Haven't seen Eduardo dive if it was as I have only seen it live at the game and it looked like a pen but seems it wasn't. Really disappointing if thats the case and is a mistake he needs to get rid of nobody needs to do that.

Overall decent performance and we got the result needed but by no means a stunning performance but we are all about results so we are doing what we need to when we need to which is good