Wayne ‘I have never intentionally dived’ Rooney – The Video Evidence

Wayne Rooney has been giving his take on the Eduardo incident and the penalty at Old Trafford:

“I have never intentionally dived. There have been times when I have tried to stay on my feet and tried to get the shot off rather than going down. I don’t think it is fair for players to dive and cheat the other team.”

This video tells a different story, maybe UEFA would like to take retrospective action on some of this evidence?

Yet the media still like to portray English players as hard-working and honest, while the ‘foreign’ clubs like Arsenal bring in these horrible cheating tactics from Europe.

Take John Terry today quoted as saying:

“I can speak about the England lads and I think it is something we don’t do, I think we’re too honest, sometimes even in the Premier League you see the English lads get a bit of contact and stay on their feet and try and score from the chance they have been given.”

Somehow I don’t think that is quite true.

A bad week ends, the Eduardo affair and Old Trafford

The dust is settling on what was a bad week for Arsenal Football Club. Firstly Eduardo was singled out for very harsh treatment by UEFA after a dive against Celtic. Then we go to Old Trafford, take the lead and outplay United, only to concede a silly penalty and score an own goal.

Eduardo has now been labelled as a diver and the way Man Utd fans treated him at OT was testimony to Wenger’s description of events as a ‘witch hunt’. Eduardo was booed as he warmed up and the fans made diving gestures to the player. God forbid he ever goes down in the box again, because the reaction will not be friendly and the pressure will be on the referee.

The United game was unlucky, we played well, Arshavin scored a cracker, but the team looked nervous. That nervousness led to Almunia conceding a needless penalty, where Rooney was already nearly grounded before Almunia touched him, and then led to Diaby’s crazy own goal. I thought Diaby was good for the most part of the game, so hopefully he can get over it.

I have to admit I was going crazy when we scored in the 95th minute, just like Wenger, and I felt the same frustration when I finally saw the offside flag below. The sending off of Wenger was farcical and he handled it impeccably. He deserves his apology. See the highlights of the game at Arsenalist.com

The game itself gives me hope, as we are still missing so many attacking players, and the team still played better than Utd. I think we can continue our good form in the coming games.

In terms of Eduardo Arsenal have submitted a 19 page document to UEFA in defence of the player. It seems though that UEFA already see him as guilty and he is going to get a two match ban no matter what. This is a dangerous precendent to set, and if they are to be fair then UEFA must take retrospective action on events in every game – something which they cannot physically do. Sam Wallace puts it nicely in this article in the Independent.

Finally today is transfer deadline day, and suprisingly there is nothing to report on the Arsenal front. I don’t think we’ll see any signings for the top four, but I wouldn’t mind Arsenal snapping up one or two last minute bargains.

What are your thoughts on the way Arsenal have been treated by officials in the last week?

Theo takes three, impresses on the international scene

Afternoon all,

I’m not the biggest fan of internationals, but I have to say I am delighted that Theo got a hattrick for England in Croatia last night.

Click for video highlights of goals: One, Two, Three

He needs to score more goals for the Arse, so getting a hattrick for England should boost his confidence. Croatia don’t lose at home so the 4-1 drubbing was a pleasant suprise. He commented on his goals:

“I tend to cross those quite a lot. So I thought I’d be a bit more greedy this time.”

He told the press that he just took his chances, after advice from David Beckham:

“Becks told me to be a bit more greedy in the box, then afterwards he said I was probably too greedy!” Walcott said.

“He has been absolutely brilliant to me and he just gave me so much confidence. He’s given me praise and it’s unbelievable coming from David.”

Theo says he’s not getting carried away though:

“I’m not going to get ahead of myself.”

See video interview here.

Praise came from all quarters, scumbag Rooney said:

“He offers something a bit different. He is probably the quickest player I have seen.

Capello:

“At this moment he is fantastic psychologically and physically.

“It is very dangerous for defenders against Walcott. At this moment, he is difficult to contain.

Wenger on Tf1:

“That’s superb news, he did pretty well for England. But this means I’m going to have to offer him more money (laughs)!”

Great news for Walcott, lets hope he can transfer those goals to the Premiership for Arsenal!

A Cultured Left Foot gives a good roundup of the rest of today’s news.