So Arsenal are through the Champions League group stages after a 3-1 win last night, giving them a 5-1 win on aggregate.
Let’s get the penalty thing out of the way first. In about the 25th minute Eduardo chased through a ball in the area, pushed it past the keeper, went to ground with minimal, if any, contact from the Celtic keeper and the referee gave a penalty.
Was it a dive? Yes. He might have been looking for the contact, but either way it’s not nice to see any player dive, least of an Arsenal player. If we condemn the opposition we can’t excuse it when one of our own does it. Put the shoe on the other foot for a moment and if that penalty had been given against us you’d be furious – that’s the yardstick.
Nevertheless the reaction to it from some pundits has been ludicrously over the top. The first goal last night was always going to be crucial, it’s a shame it came about the way it did, but can anyone really tell me that over the course of the 180 minutes it made a difference to the overall result? Celtic had two shots on target over both legs. One tame effort in the first half of the first leg and one in the 92nd minute last night which resulted in Donati’s goal.
Arsenal scored five goals. Even without the Eduardo penalty we’d have won last night yet they’re bleating on about Eduardo being a ‘cheat’. It’s funny but these are the same people who told you ‘Tiny Taylor’ “isn’t that kind of guy” when he shattered Eduardo’s leg and ankle and put him out of football for over a year. It’s easy to condemn a dive, it’s safe, yet you rarely hear the same condemnation for acts of violence or dangerous tackles.
Eduardo is a cheat yet Michael Owen is ‘clever’ when he wins a penalty against Argentina with a dive. Steven Gerrard is notoriously light on his feet yet he carries no reputation as a diver. You can be sure that Eduardo will after one incident. Jingoism? Xenophobia? Arsenalism? Call it what you want but we all know there are rules that don’t apply to some because of who they play for or what international shirt they pull on.
I’m not trying to excuse him or justify it but a little perspective is needed. Eduardo’s dive was not his finest moment but in the grand scheme of things it meant little and he does not deserve the kind of vilification he’s received from some quarters. It was just a dive. It wasn’t this. It wasn’t this either. Football would be better served if people paid more attention to things that really damaged the game.
Now, regular readers will know I’m all for retrospective punishment. That if there’s a way to punish a player for an obvious dive after the fact then it should be looked at. It would certainly act as a deterrent, because diving is something we should try and get rid of as much as possible. I’ve got some sympathy for the Celtic players because we’ve been on the receiving end of a dive more than once. Rooney’s leap over Sol Campbell to end the Invincibles run at Old Trafford and Dirk Kuyt in the Champions League quarter-final spring to mind – both of them affected us far more than Eduardo’s tumble did Celtic last night. Yet I didn’t hear much in the way of criticism for those players.
So while I’ll happily hold my hands up and admit Eduardo took a dive last night, and I’ll agree with you that it’s not nice to see, don’t expect me to sit here and let the press and pundits go to town a man who does not deserve that kind of treatment. If we had won the tie 1-0 then maybe there’s a point worth making. The fact is Arsenal scored five, might have scored at least a few more than that, Celtic had two shots on target over two games and Arsenal were more than good value for the win.
And I’ll happily fight anyone who disagrees with me. Yes, I will.
The rest of the game was mostly Arsenal. We scored two really good goals, which is certainly what the watching Demento will be taking note of. The first after a lovely move – Clichy played it down the left to Bendtner, he flicked it inside into the path of Diaby who squared it for Emmanuel Eboue, who shimmied past the defender and drilled it home. A lovely goal and, leaving aside his rather stupid celebration which saw him booked, Eboue had a good game and deserved his goal.
The second came after the introduction of Arshavin, Ramsey and Wilshere. The pressing game we’re playing this season paid off when the impressive Denilson intercepted, brought it forward, got tackled on the edge of the Celtic box, and when he lost it Aaron Ramsey came in, took over, played it to Arshavin who turned the defender and fired home his first goal of the season.
As mentioned Celtic’s consolation arrived with Donati’s fantastic late strike. A clean sheet would have been nice, and the goal certainly irked the fantastic Vermaelen who had made a wonderfully committed block just moments before, but consolation goals by their nature mean little. There’s a very obvious gulf between the two sides, I don’t think it was always quite so big, and while I think they might consider themselves a touch unlucky with a couple of the goals I don’t think Celtic can have any complaints.
The draw for the group stages is made later this afternoon, beginning at around 4.45pm GMT, but no doubt there’ll be the usual couple of hours of montages, UEFA waffle and all that while they warm up the ball.
The manager was pleased with things afterwards, as you might imagine, and all eyes will now turn to Saturday’s game against United. The only injury we picked up last night was to Aaron Ramsey but as yet we don’t know how serious that is. Arsene says that Cesc ‘looks little short’ for the trip to Old Trafford but we’ll get a better idea of that closer to the time.
Overall it means we keep the momentum going which is vital going into a big game like the one at the weekend. We’ve played four games this season, we’ve won four games, we’ve scored 15 goals, it doesn’t really get much more comprehensive than that. When you consider that last night’s win saw Arshavin and van Persie on the bench, Cesc out injured, Nasri injured, and someone like Eboue coming in and playing very well then it’s all very promising.
You get the feeling there’s lots to come from this side, hopefully we’ll see a bit of it in Manchester this Saturday.
Till tomorrow, divelings.
