Your thoughts on Eduardo’s dive?

Unfortunately I simply have not had time today to get up a decent match report from last night’s 3-1 win over Celtic. I can assure you, however, that I will have it up in tomorrow’s post as well as a full preview of the Manchester United game.

Most of the fallout from the game has of course been focused on Eduardo’s dive to win the penalty for the first goal (yes, I can admit it was a dive). I’ll have a bit more to say about it tomorrow but in short I have to say that Mick Dennis’ opinion of the dive (included in the video below – LINK) pretty much echoes my own:

I think he’s got it spot on. What about you?

Have your say on Eduardo’s dive against Celtic by leaving a comment.

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Comments

  1. Um. That Mick Dennis is a little bit of an idiot. How many times has Dudu dived? One. Did it matter? No.

    How many times have guys like Gerrard and Babel and Torres and Owen and Rooney and Ronaldo dived in games were it ACTUALLY MATTERS towards the outcome!

  2. Don’t be like that Xabier, it was a dive. End of story. Yes, the mass outcry is ridiculous and indicative of the hypicritical press, but Mick Dennis did not say anything wide of the mark.

  3. Diving is despicable in football, whoever the culprit. However, what is surprising is that a dive from an Arsenal player (or lets say a non- English player) attracts so much criticism when a dive from the crown prince of English football (Rooney) is never even mentioned. Rooney dived blatantly against Arsenal to end the most magnificent of unbeaten runs. I don’t remember it being mentioned anywhere with such venom. i don’t see Rooney mentioned amongst the likes of Nistelrooy and Pires. I agree that diving is wrong, and should be considered cheating, but it’s disgusting that after all the diving around by gerrard and rooney for their clubs, now they finally have an arsenal player clearly diving, all of a sudden its a big deal. Looks like its going to be another season of the media overreacting to everything negative about arsenal while turning a blind eye to the other teams. Don’t they ever tire of this. More Johnny foreigner bashing. Will you be as scathing when Gerard or Rooney dive? I despair.

  4. Permit me to be the first to say – ‘Bring on The Scum!’ – We’re on the crest of a wave and we KNOW we can beat them – but whatever happen they’ll know they’re in a game come 5.15 Saturday.

  5. Agree with both Xabier and Tom.

    Sure it was a dive and I hate seeing Arsenal players do that. Hopefully AW points it out to Eduardo that he shouldn’t do it again.

    But his public vilification is just laughable.

    I liked what Goodplaya would’ve said insted of Wenger with regard to the dive: “I believe in this country you have a saying that goes ‘he’s not that kind of player’.”

  6. I have tried to justify it to myself under the pretext of “it didn’t matter or make a difference”. But does that mean it would be okay if he dived at a moment in the game where it did matter?

    I hope we Gooners don’t act totally blinkered on this – Eduardo cheated and although I am not disgusted, I am certainly disapointed. He’s been my favourite player and I really can’t believe he did that.

    Last season against Pompey, when Arshavin told the referee that he had not been fouled in the box, we were all so proud. And when Eboue dived we made it clear what we thought.

    Yes, decisions go against us alot and yes, Ronaldo, Giggs, Rooney, Drogba, Gerrard etc have all dived. But that doesn’t mean that an Arsenal player should ever do the same.

  7. @Ramon – don’t let the media bother you, mate. Every supporter thinks the media’s against their team. Actually Arsenal have a lot of supporters amongst sports writers, largely due to their entertaining style of play and Arsene Wenger’s amicable and often amusing press talks. If the media start climbing on Arsenal’s back it probably means Arsenal are doing something right. Which they are. They are winning.

  8. ” Alex Ferguson stopped him(Christiano Ronaldo)doing it (diving)”

    Absolutely priceless Mr Dennis – a new career beckins in stand up 🙂

    As for Eddy – you dived mate – you did not need to dive – I/We do not want you to dive – even if it was the CL final – NO

    Leave it alone – you are far too good a footballer to need to dive, and too much of a man – I hope – to need to cheat

    Learn a lesson

  9. It was a joke for god sake. But a joke with a point. It is easy to just argue against my point, but as i said, there were about 5/6 clear examples of poor first touches from Diaby last night and nobody seems to even take note.

  10. what was in euardo’s mind when he fell over!

    Is there any chance of him getting injured, if he doesn’t dive.

    pls don’t forget that he lost more than a year only for a ridiculous tackle at birmingham

  11. My opinion on the Eduardo dive: I didn’t cancel my order for his shirt this year. He dived, players dive and until there is retrospective punishment will continue to do so. Of course then you have to bring in retrospective punishment for career threatening tackles but I digress…

    I must admit I’ve never felt this much hatred towards the Arsenal from the press pack as I have right now and it’s upset me to the point where I’ve really got an ‘us against the world’ chip on my shoulder right now. I could go on but I reckon Andy and most other readers will know what I’m talking about so I’m gonna calm down and just enjoy what will be a very succesful season to come.

    And Tom, I’m not Diaby’s biggest fan either but he was good last night. You were blinkered if you couldn’t see it.

  12. Please don’t confuse my comments on Diaby’s first touch with my opinion on his overall ability/performance.

    I think he is a decent player with good skill, great finishing and a pure athlete, but his first touch is crap, his football brain is weak and he cannot defend to save his life.

    These components are vital to a top central midfielder, I don’t care what anyone says.

    I only bring it up because of the refusal to see that he has a bad first touch.

  13. I’m a gunners fan but yes he should be suspended! Its just as simple as this…HE CHEATED! yeah Gerrard, Babel, Torres, Ronaldo, Owen, Drogba, Lampard, Cole and pretty much every other footballer around do it too but does that make it right? no! Ban him for a couple games and see if he does it again. Ban the others for doing it. A precedence needs to be established! At least rules must be brought in for it so that bans can happen from now!

  14. @ Tom14 – OK. It’s just, I don’t know, getting a little bit boring. Things are going well, why not speak about some of the positive things going on instead of picking on the negatives?

  15. I watched the match kast night and at first i though penalty until the replay showed a dive. Diving is wrong and cheating and Eduardo should not have done it. However we were already 2-0 on agg and we were dominating. Pedersens dive last season was worse, he never got the pen but still a dive. However Ronaldo and Rooney dive all the time, its in their game plan, but nothing gets mentioned, when we do it. Its an outrage, killing the game, dark day for football. UEFA are even considering banning Eduardo for a couple of european games. While I feel diving should get a big consequence like suspension, I am not happy that Eduardo could get banned when so many other players dive and nothing gets said. Yes Eduardo cheated but the media are going mad like its the first time anyone has ever dived and thats what im not happy about.

  16. Unfortunately, it WAS a dive. Remember, he is part Brazilian. He’s probably thinking, “What’s all the fuss about?…”

    Gamesmanship/Diving – sometimes it’s difficult to draw the line on what’s acceptable, and what’s not. However, if the act is committed by a native-born Brit (Rooney, Gerrard, etc.), there’s not the same response of outrage. There’s a double standard.

    All that said, I think that after-match video review should be used to punish cheaters. HOWEVER, that’s a real can of worms, etc…

  17. We shouldn’t be diving in any situation. We have what’s required to beat any club on our day. At least it was Dudu though. I shudder to think of the backlash from the fans if it had been Big Nik, Eh-boo-hey or Diaby.

  18. retrospective punishment is not a good thing, every single player in the history of football would be banned.

    Pretty much every free kick is given because of a dive, even if they are less obvious.

  19. Well as we have seen there was minimal contact and people are saying what if the shoe was on the other foot, and it has been….As i remember it has plenty of times ie…rooney dived to earn a penalty that ended our 49 game unbeaten run..,also liverpool got two penatlys against us in the champions league with kuyt and bable and we were not given a clear cut peno with hleb at the emirates…Get over it people the best team won..

  20. Maybe Boruc caught him. A tasp at that speed and you’re and down.
    Its not conclusive.
    Only because he’s a gooner the media sharks have gone into another feeding frenzy…………bizarre.

  21. Retrospective as in on video footage the day after the match. Not for Rooney falling over his own feet 5 years ago to end the invincibles (what’s happened to me? I’m so bitter all of a sudden!). Bring it in at the start of the European season so it’s fair for everyone.

    But UEFA would never do it. Technology is too scary. Change is too scary.

  22. Yes he dived but the only angle that it looked like a dive was from behind the goal, ref and assistant could not see it. Makes eff all difference though as they lost 5-1 anyway!

  23. Any form of diving is despicable, and it hurts me a lot that an Arsenal player is the culprit in this case.

    I used to be proud that there were no Arsenal players guilty of serial diving, like a van Nistelrooy or a Ronaldo or a Drogba. I was proud when Wenger publicly reprimanded Eboue for diving in a CL match in 2006..

    I hope Wenger reprimands him, even if its not publicly… And that we never see a player n an Arsenal shirt diving again

  24. Just browsed down the boards posting and yes it was acting. I think that in such cases where the player would have no chance in hell of scoring, if they are brought down so far away from the goal mouth, no penalty should be awarded , maybe an indirect free kick from outside the box? Anyways, even though he’s irish, little has been posted of the tackle by McGeedy which could have ended up in a fracture or end of a career. Now which is far worse, a dive which let to a goal or a tackle which thankfully only stung for a few mins but could have been far worse. Remember Eduardo 18 months ago? Perspective. Face it Celtic were out from first night, we scored 2 other goals and could have had more. So discounting the penalty they were still out of it. If we are to really tackle the diving, then bring in 2 things – 1) Video Referees & 2) Citing commissions. But we wont – will we!

  25. Yes, I agree it wasn’t a tackle but its not eduardos’ fault. He tried to simulate and he maneged it. There is now such a law that forbides simulating. All world class strikers do that when they see that there is no way out. Refree was blind and didnt see it so its up to blame him not eduardo. And celtic fans can cry how much they want, but they cant beat INVINCIBLES. COME ON ARSENAL

  26. 1st of i’m real disappointed in Eduardo’s dive. If i want to see goals like that, i’d support man u. 2dly, nice assist Diaby and what a finish by Eboue. 3rdly, only one word can describe Arshavin: Genuis! Another nice victory for Ar…senal. Now for the real games to start. Play time is over.

  27. Am I the only one who thinks Eduardo isnt a disgrace? If you watch you’ll notice that he controls the ball- it doesnt get away from him. SO he could have stayed there and waited for Boruc to plow through him, or he could have went down a little early to protect himself… Maybe Im being biased but the amount of attention this incident is getting is an absolute disgrace. Why weren’t there calls for bans every time CR7 took the pitch? Or Drogba? The hate is ridiculous for a call that to me is not as obvious as people make it out to be…

    Untold Arsenal had a god way of looking at it by comparing it to the Pires outcry back in the day…

  28. Yes. twas a professional dive but in a crucial game as long as technology and the referee at hand never ruled it out it stays out of contention period.

    Lets focus on being drawn up for the UEFA CHAMPS tables and the big of all time fixture with the red devilish Manchurians.

    Arshavin:PURE GENIUS….DO I NEED TO SAY MORE.

  29. Just watched the video- Manchester United stopped Ronaldo’s diving? Thats the funniest thing I have ever heard. The english media is ridiculous in its xenophobic bias…

  30. Drogba, Gerrard, Shrek etc, these players dive all the time. Why is it such a big issue when Eduardo does it (for the very first time in his Arsenal career)? its hypocrisy at its best. I dont condone what he did but sheesh, a ban? he didnt break someones leg or punch someone in the face. If he is banned, ill know for sure that Platini and his crew are a bunch of clowns.

  31. dont forget that bentner also dived last night near the corner flag well after the celtic defender had left him alone. im a gooner but alot of players are at it and it needs to be stopped.

  32. @ Mark – It is conclusive. Boruc didn’t catch him, Boruc made sure he didn’t and that’s why it was so unfair.

    Everyone who is justifying it is doing so with a ‘two wrongs make a right mentality’. They don’t.

    The only silver lining is that Celtic are getting a taste of their own medicine after years of biased decisions in the SPL. But that still doesn’t excuse Eduardo.

  33. Andy,if i remember very well,you work in a hospital where you counsel people with mental problems,you have a mental patient in Tom14,please help out urgently and his mental problem has been verified Diaby! Seriously am laughing and am correct!

  34. I’m disappointed in Eduardo, but a long way from thinking his a disgrase. It just really irritates me when other teams resort to that, and i don’t want to see that type of shit at Arsenal. We play straight up football, and win or lose, thats what i respect the most in my team.

  35. as we all know the so called best ever player to grace the premiership (under theirry) Mr C.Ronaldo, was well known for his dives and cheating game playing. but i can not recall the media asking for him to get a ban?? the nuber of times he score freekicks cause by him falling to the floor and raising his arms is a disgrace to football!!

    the top 10 ronaldo dives – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REjkbdvwpcA

  36. So he dived? I’m not an Arsenal supporter or a Celtic fan, but as a neutral it doesn’t bother me.

    Why? Because if you take sanitise every dubious incident in football matches nationwide, the game will become stale, boring and there will be no talking points.

    Celtic could and most probably would have done the same thing given the same circumstances.

    It’s all about a dive this week, last week it was Crystal Palace’s goal at Bristol City, next week it’ll be something else. It’s all part of the beautiful game of football.

    Was he wrong to dive? No – because other players will do it and get away with it. The only way you’ll eradicate this problem is to ban the player afterwards, but it cannot change the result. If it’s a Champions League Final and a dive gets a penalty, who cares about a 5-match ban in the future if you’ve won the game as a result of taking a dive?

    Celtic would have lost anyway, get over it and move on. Bigger talking points are West Ham / Millwall but this takes the attention away from that when really we should be looking to sort the violence out first.

    Eduardo WON – Celtic nil.

  37. It is not a dive. The guy run for the ball. See what he did before he gets to the ball. Got face to face with the goal keeper. He had a small touch from the goal keeper and because he was running, he fall down. The refree gave a penality. He wouldn’t say “NO” to the penality. He scored it very nicely.

    Leave the guy. He is such a talent and the refree should be questioned…….

  38. it is indeed unfortunate what Eduado did but i dont think he intended it. he is a high quality player whom i beleive in so much and i never can believe that he is a cheat. Any lady who is arsenal fan and would like to be my friend? reach me on owekmenocharles@yahoo.com

  39. why does a precedent need to be set now against an Arsenal player? Okay Eduardo DID dive, but why set a precedent with retrospective punishment now? Why wasnt it set when Rooney belly flopped to end our unbeaten run? The countless times Ronaldo and Drogba cheated the officials to earn their scummy teams penalties and free kicks? Not to mention when Ryan Babel cost us a place in the champions league semis. All this Arsenal bashing is absolutely disgraceful!

  40. Well it was dissapointing no doubt but the magnitude of him being called a cheat is shocking. Gerrard, Ronaldo used to do it but the media didn’t go into a frenzy.

    No matter what I won’t called him a cheat. Eduardo dosen’t do this every game, come on guys he did one mistake, Wenger will surely reprimand him behind closed doors.

    Celtic has the right to complain but using this reason to mask their incompetencies is really just a saving grace exercise for them.

    The most important matter for Arsenal now is this sat’s game. ManU is up for it, if not Ferguson won’t be at the game yest, he can claim he’s there to support the scottish pride but we all know he’s getting prepared for saturday.

  41. I don’t like to see Arsenal Players dive which is what Eduardo did,
    but this media backlash is a total joke, if that had been gerrard or rooney there would not be none of this media hounding trying to get players banned,
    but when an Arsenal player does it its the most disgraceful thing anyone one has ever seen,
    all Arsenal fans know how much the media hates us and this is just another thing for them to jump on ,
    lets just go and beat MAN U and give them something else to talk about

  42. hahaha! that’s funny. Yeah, Charles thinks this is a lonely hearts site!

    By the way, the precedent was already set when Mikoliunas (Lithuania)dived against Scotland. He was retrospectively banned for two matches.

  43. Wtf, this is just getting absolutely crazy. So what if Dudu dived?, Although to be honest I did’nt think he did. Because I thought he just did an evasive manouvre and then ref pointed to the spot. Edouardo is a fair minded guy who would’nt cheat when he can do it fairly. The smile and celebration after penalty indicated that he believed he was fauled.

    Hey, Nony Mouse, you are outrageous but i find you exceedingly pleasant. Why dont these others just copy you?

  44. When you are in full speed, and hten someone changes your run track, would you stand up in that situation. Im not sure everybody would.

  45. Ramon! You took some of my quotes from other sites and crossed it with quotes from other cooments I’ve seen as well!
    I should sue you for this lol

  46. Mamo & Jack d
    Totally agreed with both of you. Psychologically, everyone will try to protect oneself from being hurt by falling down.

  47. Enough of this dive or no dive, yes the guy did it ,it could be for protection and so be it. let us be happy that we re in the CL finals, I cant understand the whole talk since last night cou we out played them simples.

  48. he didnt fucking dive, look at the replay 100 times and make sure to look at his foot, it got stuck in the ground and he lost balance, a real fucking dive was the one between Italy and Australia in the 2006 world cup, THAT WAS A DIVE, eduardo did NOT dive, use your fucking eyes, and look at ronaldo how many times has he dived in his career and hardly anyone seems to go on about it and those were actual dives, so stop going on about this bullshit

  49. Football is all about tricks.One must do all it takes to win a game.Eduardo was very right. I call it a proffesional way of doing things.

  50. It is becoming increasingly apparent how much dislike there is for our team out there, this penalty thing has been blown out of all proportion, lots of people calling for Eduardo to be banned, there have been far worse dives that have gone unpunished, how can Uefa say they are looking into it when the blatant dives against us by Liverpool went totally unpunished. I have looked again and there was clear contact with Eduardos ankle by Borucs thigh, maybe not enough to bring him down but contact without touching the ball is a foul and it was in the area so its a penalty. Its plain to see why we get so many people on this forum who are not real fans but just here to wind up the true supporters, no matter what goes on if its done by an Arsenal player its far worse than if done by other teams players. On tyhe main forum we have the mancs and bindippers going on about the “dive” when their teams are the greatest exponents of it, yet there is never a call for their players to be banned, I have also never heard the TV pundits have a go at other teams, we are clearly singled out for special treatment.Celtic were nevr going to win the match they probably only had 2 shots on target in 180 minutes and were totally outplayed, the SFA are also calling for Eduardo to be banned but I cant recall them ever banning a player in Scotland for doing the same,double standards

  51. Before deciding if it was a dive or not you need to look at the shots from the camera behind the goal, from that angle it is plain to see that Boruc’s thigh made contact with Eduardo’s foot. whether that was enough to bring the player down may be open to question. The referee was seen to indicate to Boruc, as they left the pitch at halftime, that he thought that was the case.

    I certainly don’t condone cheating in any form but, before accusing somebody of doing so we must look at all the evidence and be 100% sure of what we see.

    The evidence in this case, from the camera behind the goal, is sufficient to cast doubt and so the player should not be vilified the way he is in the media in general.

    Even if Eduardo did cheat last night, his misdemeanor pales into total insignificance in light of Harlequins RFC “bloodgate” scandal.

  52. I will never condone diving. I think it’s a disgrace. As an American, all I hear from those who aren’t fans of the sport and don’t really know the game is how overdramatic the players are. Players diving and “making the most” of minimal contact give the game a black eye.

    On the other hand, look at Eboue. If sir fergie has stopped Rooney from diving then surely Arsene has curbed Eboue’s diving and will do the same for Eduardo!

  53. Oh…I almost forgot. Everyone forgot to mention that our strikers scored two more goals. Watch out world, this is the beginning of a great season.

  54. i dnt get it…..ppl lik ronaldo nd drogaba do it every week nd get away wit every week…den eduardo dos it nd der plannin on givin him a 2 match ban….and 2 yrs ago in de champos leagua agenst liverpool babel dived gt a penalty which knocked us out nd notin hapened 2 him…nd r ppl 4getin dat we still one 5 -1 on aggregate so it doesn make a diffrence

  55. I don’t think the dive had an impact on the final result, we won by a margin of four goals and played better football across the two ties.

    Nevertheless, I lost some respect for Eduardo. Reyes and Eboue were my least favourite Arsenal players for a time because of how easy they went down. It makes me miserable to see someone of Eduardo’s ability doing it. His finishing is sharper than an obsidian blade, he doesn’t need to be diving. A stern telling off and a fine should be in order.

  56. For any of you lucky Gooners out there who missed it the CL draw has pulled AZ Alkmar, Standard Liege and Olympiakos out of the hat

    Anything less than 12 points and I wil eat the hat

  57. Has to be considered a good draw for us. Though Greece is never an easy place to travel…

  58. I would be happy to see any strikers doing the same.Just imagine if edu would have injured if he haven’t dived.It spoils his career , so a cheap dive is not that much bad when situation needs.

    Watch Cristiano Ronaldo he dives even if the goal keeper is 20 yards away .

  59. honestly, who gives a f##k? we scored 4 more goals and honestly celtic had no chance of winning… plus all the hypocrisy involved with the english media is laughable… gerrard and rooney dive all over the place and not one mention… but let it be a foreigner? all hell breaks loose… disgusting…

    and most of these people who are ‘outraged’ by diving honestly probably never played the game or weren’t good enough to understand its a part of the game, for better or worse… so those who dive, make sure you are good at it otherwise you’ll get booked…

  60. @ Tom 14, point taken! I few years back when Gilberto was playing for us, someone mentioned that his first three passes always went to the opposing team. Sure enough, I started oberseving and came up with the same conclusion. Yes, when Diaby had a poor first touch, he would lunge with cleats up and end up clattering into the other players. There were complaints about poor first touch against Bendtner too. Don’t despair, this is something that improves as time goes on.

    As to Eduardo, yes he dived and got a penalty. It is wrong and should be punished if UEFA has rules in the books to punish in retrospect. If there is a rule, it should be applied across the board. So, let’s move on! It is not as if we do a diving contest at Arsenal. Plus for a guy who came back from a terrible injury, it’s understandable to avoid contact when the goalie comes out flying on the ground. May be he should have told the ref that there was no contact, but that’s a whole different story.

  61. Justifying Eduardo’s dive by saying that other players at other clubs dive is not a valid argument. It’s not good enough. This is the first time I’ve seen Eduardo dive so obviously, if he keeps it up then we should not support the player, or that kind of behaviour at the club. It’s not what we want to see in football.

    Very regrettable.

  62. @MoMONEY – You’re right about Greece. The public transport system is poor and the roads dangerous. However thescenery can be nice, the climate is delightful and there are some wonderful historic places to visit.

    @Goonerbeall – love you too, ducky!

  63. Why I love bing an arsenal fan is that (frustratingly or not) our footballing mentality is different from many other English clubs and teams in general. We tend to be consistently at the top of the fair play league and i think we have very few ‘dirrty’ players. Which is why it saddens me that Arsenal fans are using the medias double-standards as an excuse for Eduardo’s blatent cheating. Let United or Chelsea cheat and play their unglamourous football and Arsenal play the ‘beautiful game.’ Playing the beautiful game in my opinion also includes fairness and repect to your opponent and of the rules. Granted, Eduardo’s penalty goal would not in all probability have changed much looking at the event retrospectively but goals change maches and had celtic scored first (assuming the penalty was not given) arsenal could have faced a more grueling match with the consequences subsquently felt on saturday. So in short I only hope our football club remains dignified even if such a thing is going out of fashion. P.s remember Arshavin at the end of last season when he waved away claims that he had been fouled and it was a penalty? That’s the kind of players we should want at arsenal. shame on you Eduardo.

  64. gotta agree with most of you here. It was a dive, wether or not he indended/contact was made is irrelivant, the referee gave us a penalty and we scored. But the reaction to this incident is what really angers me, tabloids sporting the title that celtic had a chance before the ‘cheat’ that is ed scored that penalty. WHAT THE FUCK? celtic had 2 shots on target against us over 180mins, we ran them out of the park, and out of the grove! I understand that losing teams need something to direct their anger act and it seems fitting Eduardo should recieve it, had it gone the other end, we’d be angry as well. But these things happen in football, they happened long before, and will happen again after yesterday, if punishment is to be agreed, then lets not forget about other so called ‘divers’. I know its easy to say that but at least with our game in particular, it wasn’t a deciding factor, had we been tie and the penalty was given, I could only imagine the crucifying our beloved Arsenal would have recieved, but we were 2 up, celtic hadn’t a chance despite what they claim. It’s just a shame the dive stole the spotlight from what was a solid qualifying leg. I wanted to wear my arsenal shirt today ( a number 9 eduardo ) but felt a bit embarrased. Either way, what’s done is done, and I hope we can bring the game to Manchester, we’ve started extremely well this season, and I’m highly optimistic ahead of this match. UP THE GUNS!!!

  65. what if he jumped to avoid a tackle like the previous one that almost ended his career? we are playing judge but no one knows what was playing in his mind. diving is wrong! but let us not demonize eduardo coz it’s not like he’s always doing it like ronaldo used to. Celtic should also concentrate on winning what do they say about the first leg or the other two goals. GO GUNNERS GO!

  66. We got a good draw. We avoided Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Lyon, FC Porto, Fiorentina etc etc. Standard Leige, Olympiakos and AZ Alkmaar. We got it easy. Indeed Greece and Belgium trips wont be easy but if we are to show everyone what a force we are, we should be beating these teams. Very happy with the draw 🙂

  67. do i like diving players? No.
    never liked it, never condone it.

    do i still like Dudu? Yes!
    1 mistake doesnt change the fact he clawed back from injury to play for us!

    i agree there is heaps of sensationalism on the dive but none when it was vs us. Nistroy. Gerrard, Rooney, Drogba, Babel, do u see the trend here? everyone in Top 4 dived! The highly competitive nature of the game makes it easy for temptation to get an easy point.
    The fact that no manager in the top 4 said anything about it means despite their personal thoughts, they would still look the other way when the advantage was theirs.

    the game was over in the first leg despite Celtic’s belief. They were outclassed. 2 shot on goals? Sore losers.

    We have a good draw in Champs league. I see, Wenger rotating players again and tbh, the Celtic game showed we have enough depth to play in both leagues without it taking a toll on our fragile midfielders and strikers.

    Bring on United!

  68. I almost gave up watching when I saw what Edu had done. At the time it was inexcusable until afterwards when every so would-be-analyst started coming out of the woodwork and every nook and cravice to slate the poor boy that I thought enough was enough. I listened to that ginger-Arsenal-hating bufoon on Talk Sports, Adrian Durham, and realised for the 1st time the venom with which he hates Arsenal. The guy doesn’t have a clue!!
    YES EDU DID DIVE, BUT WHO AMONGST US WOULD NOT DO THE SAME TO GAIN AN ADVANTAGE? HOWEVER HE NEEDN’T HAVE DONE THAT SEEING WE COULD STILL HAVE TRASHED THEM EVEN WITHOUT THE HELP OF A DUBIOUS PENALTY. All of a sudden all had forgotten how Arshavin behaved when he was awarded a penalty that clearly wasn’t. In all honesty Edu has been made a scapegoat because it feels right to do so and because he is Arsenal. As Jesus Christ said in His word, ‘He without sin let him cast the first stone’ And all those now stepping out and shouting, ‘cheat, cheat’, must remember not to be so certain about their purity!!

  69. Pimp! I just got my two new Arsenal kits in the mail today. Now I can look sexy like Dudu when I dive on the dance floor.

  70. Right ok now I must say one thing about this so called dive.Eduardo did go down ,but like Johno said you need to look at the shots from the camera behind the goal, from that angle it is plain to see that Boruc’s thigh made contact with Eduardo’s foot. whether that was enough to bring the player down may be open to question. The referee was seen to indicate to Boruc, as they left the pitch at halftime, that he thought that was the case.
    Also nobody has said if the referee thought it as a pen he should have sent of Boruc as he was the last player also the way the Celtic players the were around him should have booked a few of them.Also when Eduardo step up to take the Pen a laser was being put on to his face nobody has said about that {ITV highlites pick that up]Yes one does not like to see players going down like that but it happens a lot .So I say just look at the facts he was touch and the Ref gave a pen end of story Not Eduardo gave that Pen

  71. I am not justifying Eduardo’s actions by saying others do it- Im just pointing out that the outrage itself is outrageous because these other players don’t get this kind of criticism at all… Plus I don’t think its as blatant a dive as everyone is making it out to be

  72. Tom14, your comments are extremely annoying and don’t seem much more than flamebait.

    Perhaps we should fire Wenger and get you to manage the team. I’d figure you’d get rid of every player except Denilson. Make 10 clones of him, and field that team against Manchester United.

    Does the 14 stand for your age, or perhaps the weight of your brain in grams?

  73. I have to admit before we start that I am totally unbiased towards either side here, I just enjoy watching football.
    However, it was a dive – not in the ex MUFC Ronaldo class, but Edu has obviously been taking diving lessons. The sad thing for football is that this is becoming more commonplace and is being ‘accepted’ as part of the game more and more, which gives me the s***s! If players want to dive let them go and play in Spain/Italy/Portugal where they have it off to a fine art but don’t spoil the premier league by bringing it down to that level – I’d like to think we’re better than that. If these so called players are so fragile i.e. Drogba that they almost need to have the rescue helicopter called in every time they are tackled maybe they should take up stamp collecting or something a bit more delicate. Football is a contact sport, a mans game, and players are going to get bumped, kicked, knocked over etc etc it goes with the turf but we don’t need to see Oscar style performances every time it happens. The sooner referees start clamping down on this the better it will be for everyone, especially the fans.
    The players need to get some balls and play the game with some guts instead of poncing around like a load of prima donnas.

  74. if it was really a dive, yes, i would say “He,s wrong”. But FOR SURE THAT HE’S CONSCIOUS OF IT AND SO I DON’T HATE HIM FOR THAT. I DON’T BACK HIM TO DO THAT, of course, I JUST HATE THE WAY THE MEDIA IS DOING WITH THIS ISSUE. SO UNFAIR!! is it not right? I am very annoyed about this.

  75. I think our group is not easy at all. AZ is no pushover so is Olympiakos. Standard Liege has proven they belong when they met Liverpool in the previous CL qualifying stages. I feel that ManU has an easier group with the exception of Wolfsburg. The other group that interest me is Barcelona and Inter Milan. Football is back.

    Cheers

  76. Vermalean must have enjoyed the draw, playing against a Dutch team and he is also Belgian, maybe he has a touch of Greek in him too!!!

  77. tom14, your talking kockypop, Diaby had an excellent game and his skills are second to none. I can tell that Im winning you round to my thinking because you actually admitted that he does posess attributes, where as before you did nothing but slag off and exaggerate his dificiencies. I could locate many instancies where Denilson lost the team posession because of his lack of strength, touch or incorrect decision making which could be more multiple than the great Diaby himself, praise unto his name, but….. i beleive he also had a good game. In relation to the dive…., its a large shit sandwich but everyone takes a bite. Well done the Arsenal on another victory. The question I would like the answer to from you Gooners is, based on the opening games, what is Arsenals strongest starting lineup. Based only on performance and contribution not name. For instance, Eboue is really beginning to show me that he has alot more in his locker as an attacking player in the final third than we all give him credit for. He never stops running, beats players for fun, has drive and forward momentum and to top it all, an eye for goal. By forgetting his bad spell last season would he make it into your first 11. Or is he just a right back with a nose bleed?

  78. YOU GUYS I HAVE A DIFFERENT VIEW ALL TOGETHER. I TOO WATCHED THE MATCH. WHAT SEEMED TO ME VERY CLEAR IS THAT EDWARDO FELL. WHETHER HE SLIPPED OR WHAT NO ONE KNOWS. THE WHOLE BLAME SHOULD GO TO THE REFREE WHO GIVES A PENALTY HE WAS NOT SURE OF.

    THE MEDIA WOULD HAVE BLAMED THE REFEREE MORE, BUT I THINK BECAUSE OF A.WENGER’S POLICY OF BRINGING IN FOREIGN PLAYERS, THE CLUB IS HATED. DOES NOT THAT ONE EXPLAIN WHY THEY ALWAYS WRITE US OFF EVERY SEASON?

    MY REQUEST IS FOR THE WEAPONS TO WORK AT OLD TRAFFORD TOO AND THAT’S IS THE ONLY WAY TO SILENCE THE NEGATIVE MEDIA.
    PLEASE WATCH HOW THE GUYS ARE GOING TO BE DIVING IN THAT MATCH AND THERE WILL NOT BE ANY MENTION OF THAT.

  79. A dive or not. if uefa give him a 2 match ban. I hope that they will go through video footage and Give the likes of Shrek, Ronaldo, Gerrard etc will get the same criminal sentece

  80. Oh my god!!!! people say too much about this as if Eduardo was the worst player in this world. Who knows exactly what happened???? Agree with Anonymous!!

  81. Diving ruins the game and should be punished. Eduardo dived. However, a 2 match ban “out of the blue” would be outrageously arbitrary and inconsistent, given all of the diving and cheating perpetrated by countless other players and teams. If diving is going to trigger a 2 match ban – fine, but announce it ahead of time, and apply it uniformly to all players and teams.

  82. sad the coach’s quote was im quite happy that this penalty had no outcome on the game this game is for children and you can keep it ashes ashes they all fall down

  83. As a player, sometimes it’s better to dive to avoid someone rather than try to stay on your feet and possibly get injured on the way through.

  84. IS EDUARDO NOW ODDS ON TO WIN
    SPORTS PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR
    OR DOES HE NEED TWO DIVES
    LIKE MICHAEL OWEN DID ?

  85. Shame to see someone who gained enormous sympathy when he broke his leg, instantly make himself a pariah through a moments idiocy. I wonder what Arshavin said to him after the game??
    He cheated and was caught (evetually), others cheat and are not caught. This does not mean that Eduardo should not be punished, it just means that MORE players SHOULD be punished. Anyone that tries to defend a cheater is not a football lover – they are just a lover of their own team. I love football, I hate cheating whoever is doing it. In my book it’s indefensible – well done to those Gooners who have admitted that they are embarrased by Eduardo – those are true football fans. Well done to Tony Mowbray for not making a meal of it – shame on Arsene for defending a cheat – if he was trying to protect his (fragile?) leg – what was the cheeky grin to the camera for??. Whilst we’re on the subject, I’d also like to see cautions given out to those who openly celebrate the award of a penalty – makes me sick every time I see it…

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