I Think He Has A Point

Arsene Wenger writes a blog for Eurosport and his latest words of wisdom concern the penalty kick. Here are his thoughts:

Law of the Game: 'A penalty kick is awarded if a player (except for the goalkeeper) handles the ball deliberately inside his own penalty area.'

"In today's game, too many penalty kicks are awarded for the wrong reasons, especially those given when the ball hits the arm of a player inside the penalty area. Indeed, if a player unintentionally deflects the trajectory of the ball when he is trying to protect his goal, it's a penalty. I almost wonder if this rule is not an opportunity for us to train our players to target the arm of their opponents when they kick the ball.

"It's difficult to score a goal. You have to build up forward move, make at least 10 good passes but even then there are no guarantees. But if you are lucky enough to hit the arm of your opponent in the area, it's a penalty. And we can assume that it's easier to score a goal from the spot than from open play.

"That's not fair if you have deflected the ball unintentionally. UEFA should change this for the next round of Champions League matches."

I think it's a valid point, I'd also like to change the referee's interpretation of what actually constitutes a foul. How can it be a foul when an attacking player collides with a diving goalkeeper and leaves his trailing leg (like Lineker and Owen did to such effect for England) in position for the oncoming goalkeeper to hit? At what point has the goalkeeper committed a foul?