Disgraceful

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
26 Aug	7:45 PM	CL	Celtic (H)	3	1	Win

Well, this afternoon Celtic, ITV and the rest of the footballing world at large, showing themselves to be a staggering bunch of hypocrites in the process, got their way as UEFA charged Eduardo for "acting with the obvious intent to cause any match official to make an incorrect decision or supporting his error of judgment and thereby causing him to make an incorrect decision.''

Wow. Whilst an effigy of Eduardo is burning outside Celtic Park as I type, Ronaldo is presumably down at his local El Corte Ingles stocking up on a whole new set of underwear to replace the set he will have soiled at this news.

Seriously though, if this is a watershed moment in football and from now on all divers treated the same, then I'm all for it. I have my doubts however. Will it be as it was nearly 15 years ago when George Graham was sacked for taking bungs from football agents, and was the only football manager to suffer that fate, despite the fact that everyone was at it? Neil Warnock, always a man you can rely on for a sensible opinion, apparently thinks Eduardo should be banned for six games. Let's get this straight then, you can put a player out of football for a year and be banned for three matches, but taking a fall in the penalty area should see the punishment doubled?

Frank Skinner used to say there were two words that would make him believe anything, they were "in America", I say only in England could such a point be made. Actually, only Neil Warnock would say such a thing, so perhaps it's not so relevant. But I feel there is a point to be made here about the values we have as a nation of sporting watchers- championing the underdog, even when they are so out of their depth they have to remove skill from the equation, watching someone shatter someone's leg and saying"Oh, but he's not that kind of guy, it was an accident", but a player commits a small act of deception and all hell breaks loose.

Don't get me wrong, I hate that Eduardo did what he did and I do think there will be a huge karmic payback for it, probably in the semi final of this competition in a position where we won't be able to come back from it, but he didn't kill anyone, he didn't hurt anyone and all his action did was to confirm a result that was never in doubt. No matter what Tyldesley and his ITV cohorts think of it.

But we move on.

The draw, that Arsenal cheated their way into, for the group stages of the Champions League was made yesterday evening. And boy, did we get it good. Ivan Gazidis was keen not to sound too confident, but confident he is of Arsenal's progression. And in a group containing AZ Alkmaar, Olimpiacos and, our first opponents, Standard Liege, I should think so too. The campaign kicks off on September 16 at the Maurice Dufrasne Stadium and ends on December 9 in the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium. A good result in the first fixture, with three home games and a short trip to Holland to follow, will hopefully render the trip to Greece irrelevant as Arsenal have a tough assignment in Liverpool following the conclusion of the group stage.

Speaking of tough assignments, we've got one tomorrow haven't we? Alex Ferguson says that he "couldn't understand" why Arsenal were written off pre season. Which is funny, because when he said that you could throw a blanket over United, Chelsea and Liverpool and there wouldn't be much between them, he basically did just that. Nice to see him complimenting the boss though, the two longest serving managers in the Premier League may never be best of friends, but there seems to be a healthy respect between the two now. I wonder if that will still be the case should the Gunners come away with the points tomorrow night. If we manage to do it, it will have to be without the captain, as he has been ruled out of the Super Staurday, Best Football Match Ever! clash. This drop out means that Asser Ghozlan's assertion that the Arsenal team is still much the same one that got turned over in April is even even more wrong that it already was. Did we have Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Arshavin and Eduardo available across the 180 minutes? I think not, but we did have Cesc.

I got interrupted there. I came back to my computer to find that Arsène Wenger is not so sanguine about the UEFA charge levelled at Eduardo. He has labelled it "not defendable ... a complete disgrace and unacceptable". He warns of a "dangerous door" being opened where every decision is now up for debate. And you have to think le boss has a point. I like that he's promising to challenge every decision made in a Champions League match. It might sound childish, but perhaps that's what it takes.

When you look at the last two seasons, okay Manchester United outplayed us, but the Ronaldo free kick, nefariously won, was a dagger in the heart. Likewise, the penalty on Hleb, clear as the north London sunshine two years ago, not given. The penalty given to Babel after his dive in that heartbreaking return leg was salt in a festering wound. And nobody spoke up for us, but ITV and the media at large have decided now that Eduardo is a disgrace.. He is, of course, on familiar ground with his talk of media conspiracy and the influence wielded by the Scots at UEFA. Let's face it, it's only there that the Scottish are ever likely to have a European influence.

You might find some Arsenal blogs thinking Arsène has over reacted, this is not one of them.

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