Official Premier League 2009/10 thread

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Bentley three assists and a goal?!?!

I hope he stays actually cos he WILL make good backup, especially now we have Crouch as a target for him.

Nice to see Crouch and Pav score too.

EDIT: Also nice that we can win so easily (albeit against Doncaster) with what is, for all intents, our second team:

Cudicini, Hutton, Bassong, Corluka (no chance to change our centre backs though!), Naughton, Bentley, Huddlestone, O'Hara, dos Santos, Crouch, Pavlyuchenko....With Danny Rose on the bench, along with (UGH) Boateng.

[Zaz]

Boateng has improved, he was one of our best each time he played in the friendlies (going off reports) and he put in an awesome pass for Pav's goal.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

There isn't a Champions League thread so I figure I'll throw this in here. Arsene Wenger's comment on Eduardo's blatent dive to win a penalty against Celtic:

"I believe it was not a penalty but I'm not sure if the keeper touched him. Eduardo might be a bit cautious because of the injury that he had. He might have jumped out of the way."

:lmao:

Except for the fact it was one of the most blatant and obvious dives in a long time. They need to stop pissing around with booking people for taking off their shirt, but allowing people to get away with blatant diving, certainly when it kills off a game like it did there. If anything, the guy should face a one game ban for conning and cheating the official, which is exactly what he did. Of course nothing will happen and this will just give him more confidence to do it again.

Edited August 27, 2009 by JohnnyPerfect

[Adam]

Bentley three assists and a goal?!?!

I hope he stays actually cos he WILL make good backup, especially now we have Crouch as a target for him.

Nice to see Crouch and Pav score too.

EDIT: Also nice that we can win so easily (albeit against Doncaster) with what is, for all intents, our second team:

Cudicini, Hutton, Bassong, Corluka (no chance to change our centre backs though!), Naughton, Bentley, Huddlestone, O'Hara, dos Santos, Crouch, Pavlyuchenko....With Danny Rose on the bench, along with (UGH) Boateng.

I'm sorry, but, if you and I had played in the Rovers defence last night Spurs would have scored less goals. Bentley's goal was a good finish, and he put another one just over the bar, but we were shocking at defending at times. That's a shame, too, as Cudicini pulled off three superb saves, and we hit the bar and the post in the second half. Really, you took your five chances, and we missed our five. >_<

Edited August 27, 2009 by AdamDRFC

[TheArsenal]

There isn't a Champions League thread so I figure I'll throw this in here. Arsene Wenger's comment on Eduardo's blatent dive to win a penalty against Celtic:

"I believe it was not a penalty but I'm not sure if the keeper touched him. Eduardo might be a bit cautious because of the injury that he had. He might have jumped out of the way."

:lmao:

Except for the fact it was one of the most blatant and obvious dives in a long time. They need to stop pissing around with booking people for taking off their shirt, but allowing people to get away with blatant diving, certainly when it kills off a game like it did there. If anything, the guy should face a one game ban for conning and cheating the official, which is exactly what he did. Of course nothing will happen and this will just give him more confidence to do it again.

You're right - it was a dive. I wasn't happy to see it as an Arsenal fan because I don't think we needed it to win the game.

However, I maintain that if that had been Gerrard or Owen in an England shirt then the pundits would have been saying how "clever" they were.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I hate it when players for England or Spurs dive. I also hate it when they make dirty fouls, cheat and generally act as scumbags.

[Pesci]

There isn't a Champions League thread so I figure I'll throw this in here. Arsene Wenger's comment on Eduardo's blatent dive to win a penalty against Celtic:

"I believe it was not a penalty but I'm not sure if the keeper touched him. Eduardo might be a bit cautious because of the injury that he had. He might have jumped out of the way."

:lmao:

Except for the fact it was one of the most blatant and obvious dives in a long time. They need to stop pissing around with booking people for taking off their shirt, but allowing people to get away with blatant diving, certainly when it kills off a game like it did there. If anything, the guy should face a one game ban for conning and cheating the official, which is exactly what he did. Of course nothing will happen and this will just give him more confidence to do it again.

You're right - it was a dive. I wasn't happy to see it as an Arsenal fan because I don't think we needed it to win the game.

However, I maintain that if that had been Gerrard or Owen in an England shirt then the pundits would have been saying how "clever" they were.

This is true.

I don't like to see players dive if the team doesn't need the goal. Arsenal didn't really need that first goal last night, they were already leading 2-0 and probably would've contained Celtic rather handily. But if Liverpool are 1-0 down in the Champions League final and Stevie decides to flop down in their penalty area, I'm not gonna condemn him. I don't exactly like to see it, but whatever it takes really.

[Scott McFly]

There isn't a Champions League thread so I figure I'll throw this in here. Arsene Wenger's comment on Eduardo's blatent dive to win a penalty against Celtic:

"I believe it was not a penalty but I'm not sure if the keeper touched him. Eduardo might be a bit cautious because of the injury that he had. He might have jumped out of the way."

:lmao:

Except for the fact it was one of the most blatant and obvious dives in a long time. They need to stop pissing around with booking people for taking off their shirt, but allowing people to get away with blatant diving, certainly when it kills off a game like it did there. If anything, the guy should face a one game ban for conning and cheating the official, which is exactly what he did. Of course nothing will happen and this will just give him more confidence to do it again.

You're right - it was a dive. I wasn't happy to see it as an Arsenal fan because I don't think we needed it to win the game.

However, I maintain that if that had been Gerrard or Owen in an England shirt then the pundits would have been saying how "clever" they were.

This is true.

I don't like to see players dive if the team doesn't need the goal. Arsenal didn't really need that first goal last night, they were already leading 2-0 and probably would've contained Celtic rather handily. But if Liverpool are 1-0 down in the Champions League final and Stevie decides to flop down in their penalty area, I'm not gonna condemn him. I don't exactly like to see it, but whatever it takes really.

Honestly, I'm just fucking sick of seeing it. I'm not even a Celtic fan, but they were working their arses off trying to get something out of the game and to have that happen is just ridiculous. People can say it's gamesmanship or that it's part and parcel of the game, but let's call it what it is - it's CHEATING. And the fact that FIFA and UEFA seemingly do fuck all to try and stamp it out just boggles the mind. It's sometimes hard for a referee to spot it when it happens (although last nights was blindingly obvious) so why can't they go back and hand out punishments for players who are caught doing it? I've said it before, start handing out 3 match bans for them and they'll stop overnight. I'm just sick of seeing cheating cunts go down like they've been shot whenever somebody goes anywhere near them. And pundits just gloss over it like it's some sort of unspeakable action and then carry on like nothing's happened. "Oh, he went down a bit easy there". Just say that he dived will you! And then within 2 minutes they're singing that players praises again and going "oh Arsenal, silky smooth play, great accuracy... *cumshot*", all whilst ignoring the fact that Eduardo is a cheating bastard, who I had a lot of sympathy for after his leg break but he can go fuck himself now.

I'm not singling Arsenal out on purpose here, this is just a sort of straw that's broken the camels back moment. I'm just sick to death of it, it's all over the place and FIFA and UEFA need to grow a fucking set of balls and do something to combat it. It's not fair on the teams, the fans and it's getting embarrassing to have it in the sport that we all love.

Now I need a lie down.

[Liam]

UEFA have already said they are investigating, meaning Eduardo may pick up a two match ban.

[Captain Kirk]

All I can say is what goes around comes around. Celtic are happy enough to dive all the time in the SPL but when someone does it to them they spit the dummy tit out.

If Eduardo hadn't turned away to dive his next stride would have booted Boruc in the face.(which I wish he had)

[Crybaby Bunting]

Ultimately, no matter how much of a chance Arsenal had of beating Celtic without the goal that was the goal that made it impossible, and you can see how Celtic almost completely collapsed after that.

It's pretty much like the Carrick penalty against Spurs last year, where momentum shifted completely thanks to a momentum killing move.

It's possible to kill a teams momentum without cheating, that's the whole premise of the counter-attack. But when it's a dive so bad that even Arsene Wenger cannot cover for you, you know that you're going to get a ban. The thing is, this ban won't matter because they have six games in a Champions League group and even if they mess up without him, he'll have at least 4 games to rectify it.

Diving should ban a player from the next round (or two) from the competition that it was in. If it was a league, then it'd be something like a 2-4 game ban, it it was in a knockout round it'd be a 2 game ban, it it was a group qualifier game, just kick him out of the group.

[IAceI]

Bah, any reason to see Artur Boruc out-tool himself. I didn't actually think he could act a bigger tosser, but he can, and now I think he isn't even pushing himself.

Hate that man something rotten.

[therockbox]

I have my doubts as to whether FIFA or UEFA are ever going to go after diving in a serious manner, in the ridiculous way they've gone after celebrating a goal. It's all very well and good retrospectively punishing the likes of Eduardo and that Lithuanian bloke, but if it was Ronaldo, Gerrard, Rooney, Torres (although he only gets free kicks when he dives, if he does actually get fouled the ref ignores it) or the other 'world class' players, especially in a high profile tournament, they'll turn a blind eye.

Edited August 27, 2009 by therockbox

[Dynamite]

I love football but I really hate the people who play it. I especially hate it when a United player dives or does something to act like a prick. Even though it is just one individual, it really does reflect badly on the entire team and lets face it, we're hated enough already without providing the rest of the country with further reasons. Ronaldo was singled out a lot for diving and the negative image of him really rubbed off on the team. Rooney will take a tumble when things aren't going his way and Owen will undoubtedly dive a couple of times in the box this season. Then there's the whole needlessly berating of the ref when the player is clearly in the wrong. Rooney, Fletcher, Neville, Ferdinand etc. are all regularly guilty of this and it does make it hard to like the footballers when they are behaving like utter pricks. People will blame the foreigners for bringing this sort of behaviour into the game but I just named 5 British players in this post who act like this almost every week. Hopefully FIFA will try and stamp down on this sort of thing but I'm not holding my breath. The whole anti-technology stance is really holding the game back and if the governing bodies were just willing to trial it rather than put even more pressure on the refs then maybe this problem would lessen. The issue of diving and gamesmanship will never go away completely but any sort of decrease would be hugely beneficial.

[IAceI]

While I don't condone it any way whatsoever, I have to commend Eriksson, Guillit and Gray (yes, Gray, and yes, it's really me!) for actually being honest about it on air. Even Wenger saying it wasn't a penalty, and I'm sure he'll have a word with Eduardo (although possibly only because of the publicity.)

I'm happy that people can be open and honest about it rather than be like "Diving! Bad! English players dive? No! How dare you! Gerrard/Owen/Rooney/Joe Cole are model citizens! Get out!"

Actually from the build up to the Fiorentina/Sporting match that I watched (then went to the pub to watch Arsenal) I have to say how good it was to have Eriksson on and just listening to him talk about football. Not to mention his massive haul of achievements, I really enjoyed him being there and listening to his thoughts on football in England, Italy and Portugal.

[TheArsenal]

While I don't condone it any way whatsoever, I have to commend Eriksson, Guillit and Gray (yes, Gray, and yes, it's really me!) for actually being honest about it on air. Even Wenger saying it wasn't a penalty, and I'm sure he'll have a word with Eduardo (although possibly only because of the publicity.)

I'm happy that people can be open and honest about it rather than be like "Diving! Bad! English players dive? No! How dare you! Gerrard/Owen/Rooney/Joe Cole are model citizens! Get out!"

Actually from the build up to the Fiorentina/Sporting match that I watched (then went to the pub to watch Arsenal) I have to say how good it was to have Eriksson on and just listening to him talk about football. Not to mention his massive haul of achievements, I really enjoyed him being there and listening to his thoughts on football in England, Italy and Portugal.

See that's the thing - diving, etc. is not commonplace for Arsenal. A lot of people assume it is because of that Pires dive against Portsmouth - but that was in 2003, a few months short of six years ago. That's why it bothered me when I saw it, because Gerrard does it all the time for Liverpool and Rooney/Ronaldo did it for United when they got frustrated, but that's not the way Arsenal do things. I honestly believe that Arsene will take Eduardo to one side and tell him that we don't play the game that way. Publically, he hasn't said "Yes, he dived" out of support for the player, but he has said it was an extremely fortunate penalty and no-one would have complained if it hadn't been awarded. So read between the lines - he knows what happened. I found it interesting that over the summer Arsene came out and said a lot of the incidents he "didn't see", he actually did but out of support for his players he avoided commenting on them. I think we might start seeing a more open side to Arsene now.

I find most pundits are hypocritical when it comes to the England players (whether playing for their clubs or country). Gerrard is one of the biggest divers in the league, Rooney, Owen (when he's fit) and often Lampard are not far behind him. I laugh at how these players are simply "looking for a penalty" or "playing the game" rather than "cheating, diving, scum" who are "ruining the game".

Another related point.... if we don't want players to dive, we need to get the referees sorted out. There was one incident in last night's Arsenal game where Bendtner was fouled, but stayed on his feet, then when the ball ran away from him, he went down. The result was a goal kick. Plenty of times, whether it's Arsenal, United, Liverpool, or whoever, players are fouled but the reward of a free kick/penalty isn't given unless someone goes to the ground. What's to stop "Football X" from falling to the ground because he knows it's the only way he'll get the free kick he deserves? Especially when there's no reward from staying on his feet because the foul results in him losing the ball. If HAVING to go to ground is needed to win a deserved freekick, it's only encouraging players to fall and diving creeps into the game.

[IAceI]

Not sure why I was quoted, but you appear to be in agreement so I guess it doesn't matter.

At the Sunderland Blackburn match last week I found that Diouf got a lot of freekicks because he went down, whereas Cana would be fouled but always stay on his feet so he never got anything. So I can relate to that one and agree with it, players feel they have to go down to get a foul given and if anything it probably encourages players to go down at the slightest touch to make sure they don't lose possession or anything.

[TheArsenal]

I was in agreement. Somewhere in that mini-rant I spoke about Wenger probably pulling him up on the incident. I'm sure he's done it to a player or two in the past.

[Pesci]

I think I've just accepted that diving is a part of football and the only time it phases me is when it goes against my team/in favour of Man Utd. Like I said, I don't like to see it, and handing out bans in very obvious cases is a good idea, but there are some times when it's not so obvious and it's gonna be impossible to stamp out completely.

[Scott McFly]

I think when I said it would stop overnight if they started handing out bans I was overstating it a bit. UEFA charging Eduardo with it is a good step in the right direction though, and while we'll never see it stamped out completely, it will hopefully discourage players from doing so. Maybe Platini's right (never thought I'd say that) and that extra officials behind the goal line will also help with the spotting of a dive and will increase the number of correct decisions and yellow cards dished out there and then. But obviously even still you won't spot everything.

As I said, I'm not having a go at Arsenal specifically, it's just they (or Eduardo more specifically) happen to be the scapegoats in this instance. Obviously there's teams who do it far, far more than they do and hopefully with UEFA showing that it can be done, maybe the FA can take a stance against it too. I'm not sure what power they have to hand out bans for "deceiving match officials" as in this case, but hopefully they can and will use them, because as I've said I'm just sick to death of it happening week in week out. I want to see good football and exciting games, not a bunch of nonces falling around all over the place.