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

[Hunta]

My review on the game with Celtic, well first of all i think we deserved to win..even though we didn't play to our best ability which is understandable in my opinion seeing as though we were basically through before the game begin...(although i was still worried for some reason). I think Emmanuel Eboue was our best player tonight along with William Gallas and Thomas Vermaelen.

Moving on though and i would like to have a little rant at ITV and the disgracefull bias (in my opinion) they had against us yet again. I admit, Eduardo was poor by diving..and a lot of respect from his fellow footballers and fans will have been lost by him doing this. However, the way the commentators kept mentioning it every two minutes was a real disgrace..especially when you think to yourself, if that was Steven Gerrard or Wayne Rooney then we would have heard nothing from them the entire game about a dive or anything...just look at Michael Owen v Argentina a few years ago when he dived to win a penalty...they said he "Earned" the penalty...total rubbish.

I should be used to this by now, but i am fed up with the media constantly using Arsenal as the 'scape-goat' so to speak. I expect the back of the newspapers tommorow will be full of crap about Arsenal and Eduardo's dive..and to be honest with you, i cannot wait untill we win something to shut every critic out their up!

Rant Over

 

[OohtobeaGoonerGal]

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...

no way in hell can you put eddy in the same bracket as gerrard,etc. why does he deserve that? for diving once, compared to others who have grown a rep, e.g "starfish"g.
No way.

 

[AshburtonGhost]

I'm with Prog, big deal. Stevie Me and Rooney Tunes have taken plenty of dives in their time with minimal flak from the media and fans. At the end of the day, as cheap as it is, it calmed the game and allowed us to ride it out with minimal trouble. We have been on the receiving end of it before, I'll take it.

 

[Cruisio]

My point was Kel, is that if thats how you want to feel, then so be it. It wont change anything. Im not going to argue with my fellow gooners over this considering enough other rival supporters (Sp**s, who else) are trying to have a go about it.

We won, we're in the champions league, he made a mistake. End of really.

 

[Don Pacifico]

I'm with Kel on this one and I don't see how anyone can really disagree. Cheating goes against the integrity of sport and just because others do it, there is no reason why we have to do the same.

It's not OK because others do it.

 

[kamikaze80]

i'm with don and kel. if you can't apply the same moral standards to yourself as you would to your opponents, then you're not much of a person. diving is disgraceful and i would be more than happy if eduardo got a 3 match ban and everyone else who dives (ie zero contact) from here on out gets the same.

 

[OohtobeaGoonerGal]

For heavens sake guys eddie made one mistake (possibly a rush of blood to his head or something) but he is such a nice character and this type of thing is beneath him which is why it's so dissappointing, but he does not deserve to be placed in the same light as gerrard, ronaldo, drogba and so on who are much worse.
We still dominated both ties leading up to the penalty, but by God he doesn't need to be treated like a hate figure. The media will blow it out of proportion, you guys don't need to aswell.

 

[Don Pacifico]

For heavens sake guys eddie made one mistake (possibly a rush of blood to his head or something) but he is such a nice character and this type of thing is beneath him which is why it's so dissappointing, but he does not deserve to be placed in the same light as gerrard, ronaldo, drogba and so on who are much worse.
We still dominated both ties leading up to the penalty, but by God he doesn't need to be treated like a hate figure. The media will blow it out of proportion, you guys don't need to aswell.

You see unfortunately, that's where you're wrong. If you see Eduardo's reaction afterwards to the camera, you can see that he knew what he was doing. Also, it wasn't as if he just fell over, he stuck his leg out, so that it made contact with Boruc. He knew what he was doing and just because he comes across as a nice guy and he had a terrible injury, you should not let that cloud your judgement.

Nothing is being blown out of proportion. As supporters, we're disapointed that a member of our own club has intentionally cheated. I hope Wenger has a word to him.

 

[Cruisio]

Oh yeah, he completely knew what he was doing. Hell, i'll be honest about this - I liked the fact he was so sly about it. Yup, thats me firmly with my Arsenal bias for all to see because obviously if it was against us, i'd be calling the player every name under the sun. You cant agree with it, obviously, it WAS wrong, but its the past now.

 

[sammy89]

Am I the only one who saw the contact Boruc's leg made with Eduardo's leg? Those of us who have some sort of TVO or PVR recording thingy can rewind the game to the reverse angle replay and see the contact made with Boruc's thigh. Eduardo did not dive. He made a meal out of the slightest contact, which is opportunism. The keeper should know better than to touch a player in a 5050. (PS, I'm checking out the replay on a HD big screen, so I know what I'm talking about)

 

[Don Pacifico]

Cruisio:

So it's OK because the decision went our way? Do you have a moral conscience?

We were nothing special before that dive and the penalty changed the shape of the game for good. Once we scored our first goal, Celtic knew the tie was effectively over and it showed in their commitment towards the rest of the game, making it a lot easier for us.

Until Eduardo dived, Celtic still had a chance. Once he scored that illegitimate penalty, it was game over.

 

[scruzgooner]

nice little piece on the mirror:

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Arsenal-3-Celtic-1-Wenger-s-boys-cruise-into-Champions-League-group-stage-article133623.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Ar ... 33623.html</a>

eduardo disgraced himself and the team diving for the penno (a la pires during the unbeaten run against pompey). however, i agree with everyone who says garrard, rooney, etc. would have gotten far, far more kid glove treatment about it. the article above is full of a vitriol i've rarely seen in the media. clearly martin lipton has it against eddy for more than the dive last night.

here's an article for a little balance, looking at ruud van horseface's qualities of disgrace...<a class="postlink" href="http://www.betalogue.com/2003/09/15/pires-and-diving/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.betalogue.com/2003/09/15/pires-and-diving/</a>

 

[USArsenal]

at the end of the day, we won the game.. yeah, we dont like what he did, but we'll all get over it.. the minute he scores a "proper" goal against the Mancs (either side) or sets up someone else for a great goal, that'll be the end of it..

enough harping on about it.. we would have won the game with or without his dive and subsequent penalty goal

 

[Don Pacifico]

Am I the only one who saw the contact Boruc's leg made with Eduardo's leg? Those of us who have some sort of TVO or PVR recording thingy can rewind the game to the reverse angle replay and see the contact made with Boruc's thigh. Eduardo did not dive. He made a meal out of the slightest contact, which is opportunism. The keeper should know better than to touch a player in a 5050. (PS, I'm checking out the replay on a HD big screen, so I know what I'm talking about)

The keeper made the most minimal of contact and it did not constitute a fould that warranted a penalty. On top of this, the only reason Boruc made contact with Eduardo is because Eduardo pushed his right leg out, so that it clipped Boruc.

 

[qs]

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!)

Winning games like this is what makes championships. The pundits keep saying "we'll find out if this Arsenal side are the real deal on their 2 trips to Manchester" but thats just bollox. You don't have to win the tough away games to win the league.

 

[Klaus Daimler]

Am I the only one who saw the contact Boruc's leg made with Eduardo's leg?

I thought so too, but it was a dive anyway. It's been blown way out of proportion here though. I'm not gonna sit here and defend it because I don't like it when our players are being unsporting, just as I don't like it when they're putting in dangerous tackles or when they're injuring their opponents with dangerous challenges. But let's not lose the perspective. It was what it was, a dive that resulted in a penalty. It felt a bit unnecessary perhaps, but it doesn't take away anything from the team effort tonight. Not any more so than Pires' dive against Portsmouth on the final day of the 04 season took away the team effort of the invincibles at least.

Eduardo was having a very good game otherwise, I thought. I really liked Eboue and Denilson as well. On the whole they were the best players for the night together with Gallas. Great to see Arshavin grabbing a goal too. It was just what his confidence needed. Now do the same thing against United on saturday, please.

 

[Cruisio]

Cruisio:

So it's OK because the decision went our way? Do you have a moral conscience?

We were nothing special before that dive and the penalty changed the shape of the game for good. Once we scored our first goal, Celtic knew the tie was effectively over and it showed in their commitment towards the rest of the game, making it a lot easier for us.

Until Eduardo dived, Celtic still had a chance. Once he scored that illegitimate penalty, it was game over.

Im just happy we won the game and that its in the past. Thats literally all it is

 

[Klaus Daimler]

So... does anyone know what happened to Ramsey? Did they mention anything after the game?

 

[Don Pacifico]

So... does anyone know what happened to Ramsey? Did they mention anything after the game?

From Wenger's press conference:

“Aaron Ramsey is injured. I do not know how bad it is. I know they checked his knee but I have not spoken to the physios yet. Cesc looks to be short for Saturday. I could take Diaby off because he has not played for a long time. Three games in the same week would be a lot, apart from that, everybody looks alright.”

“Diaby can’t play three in the trot because he has not played for a long time. I took him off in case I want to play him. After playing 60 minutes, the last 30 minutes can make a difference.”

Rosicky to step up?

 

[A_G]

So... does anyone know what happened to Ramsey? Did they mention anything after the game?

On injuries ahead of the Manchester United game…
“Aaron Ramsey is injured. I do not know how bad it is. I know they checked his knee but I have not spoken to the physios yet. Cesc looks to be short for Saturday. I could take Diaby off because he has not played for a long time. Three games in the same week would be a lot, apart from that, everybody looks alright.”

Also found this comment interesting...

On diving…
“Is it acceptable? I have never asked in my life any guy to dive to win a penalty, but sometimes players go down because there is no other way to escape the goalkeeper’s tackle, sometimes they dive. We got a penalty against us two years ago in the Quarter-Final of the Champions League that made the difference when Babel dived. Nobody ever apologised to us, it was a blatant dive and nobody spoke about it.”