He's Right Of Course

Wenger takes the moral high ground

Diving is something that all football fans abhor. It's also something that for too long has been seen by professionals and ex-professionals as being 'part and parcel' of the game and the 'if I can get away with it' attitude has prevailed for almost as long as I have been watching professional football. I'm old enough to remember when Manchester City enjoyed the service of a Chinese player by the name of Lee One Pen and Tottenham had a forward called Ralph Coates who was remembered for two things, firstly he was a serious rival to Bobby Charlton in the comb over stakes and secondly Coates used to lose his balance once he crossed into the penalty area and this always used to result in Spuds getting a penalty.

West Ham have not been without their 'simulators' either, Mark Ward had trouble standing, and that was years before he discovered Class A drugs, Trevor Morley would fall down at the sound of the words 'man-on' and Mitchell Thomas was crap - mainly because he came from Spuds but also because he had rubber legs.

Arsene Wenger is right when he says that players should not be charged with trying to con the referees retrospectively by UEFA or any other football governing body. He's right because players should be punished at the time of the incident, courtesy of the 4th Official who is sitting in the press gallery watching the game on a television monitor. Two rights don't correct a wrong however and Wenger should have condemned Eduardo's dive in the Champions League match against Glasgow' s second best team outright rather than shielding the player beneath the usual sorry declaration of platitudes.

It is, as the French 'professor' opined, the opening of a 'dangerous door.' How far will UEFA cast their net retrospectively? Personally I'd start with Michael Owen's dive in the 1998 World Cup against Argentina but that makes no difference to the overall result as England lost anyway (albeit on penalties). What about all the times Cristiano Ronaldo won free kicks and subsequently scored match winning goals during the last two seasons whilst helping Manchester United win back to back Premiership titles? What about Didier Droghba every week for the first two seasons he was in England? Or Stevie G for Liverpool every time Liverpool won a penalty at the Kop end when a defender got within five yards of him?

No, punishment should be at the time of the incident. Let's be honest here, Eduardo will sit out two group games against teams no stronger than St Winifireds Girls Choir which Arsenal could win with one leg tied behind their back, in the manner Emmanuelle Eboue plays most games.

Eduardo's reputation has been sullied and following Eboue's booking for diving at Old Trafford on Saturday Wenger's reputation for upholding the moral principles that exist within the Pandora's Box that is football has itself been slightly tarnished. Wenger states, and I am sure he is not alone in this, 'I have never told any player to go out on the pitch and dive,' - that's not really much of an admission though is it, what he should have said was 'I have told all my players that they must not dive or try to con the referee.' Unfortunately in professional football the mentality of the playground and the mental circling of the wagons takes precedence over morality and the 'everybody does it so why shouldn't we?' line of thinking prevails.

So that's 1-1 for Arsene so far but he shoots and he scores on the subject of Manchester United players not being punished for some of their behaviour on Saturday. Darren Fletcher is the player who seems to be the subject of Wenger's ire but what of Wayne Rooney whom Wenger didn't refer to? There's no doubt that the Arsenal goalkeeper touched Rooney and as Andy 'maybe maybe' Gray said, 'forwards aren't under any obligation to stay on their feet' but Rooney is falling over before Almunia touches him. Whilst the use of technology would have had Eduardo booked on the night for his dive I'm sure that it would also have had Rooney booked for his dive on Saturday night. So by the fickle finger of fate and the reluctance to use the avaiable technology at the time of the incident Eduardo misses two games and Arsenal lose two points - a draw becomes a defeat.

It's a shame really because Arsenal have been the team to watch this season for the neutral and as I predicted some time ago Alex Song is going to be a very good player.