Arsene Wenger, is it just me or...

...is he well out of order?

Talking a lot on the radio and TV about his player being labelled as dishonest by UEFA - when clearly they cannot justify it. Let's face it Eduardo dived. There was no reason for him to lose his footing or collapse at that moment, apart from the possibility of a penalty. The goalkeeper did not take him at all, and there was no other reason to go to ground. Arsene Wenger should be looking at that footage and saying 'I expect more from my players'. If Eduardo has thrown himself on the ground anticipating a collision (somehow thinking that it would soften the blow or something) he should've been on his feet telling the referee that it wasn't a penalty.

We won't get this out of football until football managers back the governing bodies and impress upon their players that it's not acceptable to simulate injuries and fouls - this includes the pretend headbuts (trying to get players sent off), it includes the time wasting that goes on towards the end of games, and it especially includes the diving in and around the box.

The argument seems to be that UEFA are wrong to single out this particular player - but the answer to that isn't that Eduardo shouldn't be dealt with, it's that they have to be more consistent in other cases. The fact that others (Christiano Ronaldo for the sake of naming names) have 'got away with it' doesn mean that Eduardo should too. Two wrong don't make a right.

Wenger is bring shame upon himself and his club. Eduardo cheated - and they just can't stand being caught.

 

I think his stance in public may be different from his stance with Eduardo behind the scenes - which happens a lot I would think - and he is viewing it as protecting his player by defending him. I don't think thats right and I don't think he's doing Eduardo any favours at all, but I suspect that may be what he's thinking.

 

Worst arguement defending him is that he was trying to avoid the goalkeeper. Now why on earth would he be trying to get out of the way when if he touched he would have got a penalty. And if he was trying to get out of the way why didn't he just jump over him rather than dive on the floor with arms going everywhere. He's a cheat and should be dealt with.

I can see Wenger's point though, it isn't the first occassion a player has conned the referee, I just hope that it's new season, new attitude. We will see when Ronaldo does it though.

 

The only thing i can think of that is wrong with charging Eduardo

is that how many players before him have been charged for diving. Drogba? Ronaldo? none of em have been done for it before, so why start with Eduardo, maybe because of how much it has been highlighted in the media??? if it had been the other way around, and Celtic had a 2 goal lead, and Eduardo dived and scored a penalty but Celtic still went through comfortably, i think no action would have been taken against Eduardo. Don't get me wrong, if it means singling out cheats in the 'beautiful' game, then i'm all for it, but why is this one the first incident to be punished.

 

RE: The only thing i can think of that is wrong with charging Eduardo

The Scottish F.A highlighted it, they did same with the Lithuania player last year? Got him a 2 game ban for diving over Darren Fletcher's leg to win a penalty.

I doubt the English F.A would have done much about it knowing there's so much of it going on in the Premiership now.

 

RE: The only thing i can think of that is wrong with charging Eduardo

You have to start somewhere. I don't think they do enough with it - what will be scandalous is if Eduardo cops for this and then subsequently very few others do - they created case law now. Just because it's the Champions League doesn't mean that other clubs won't be looking for it to be applied to their own respective competitions. Let's just hope they follow through on it.