I am not sure but I say no, there still is a chance. The club has been charged but not punished. Good news is the PFA says don't take away points.
I just wish the FA would come out and say what the potential punishments are. Then we could plan accordingly.
The FA has its collective head up its collective ass. Seriously, you'd think they'd have more to worry about, like figuring out how to pull the national team out of its pattern of consistent mediocrity, or how to ensure that there's a place for smaller clubs in the modern game. But, no, instead of focusing on what's truly important, they're lightning quick and overly sloppy to (over)react to this incident, missing, among other things, Fortune's Darren Purse-like attack on Lehmann after the extremely questionable PK was given. (As a sad aside, I have no doubt that the spiritual home of football will accomplish "F.A." - get it? - as long as the current group of imbeciles and sycophants are in charge. England fans, I feel sorry for you.) To paraphrase the famous chant, "You can stick your charges up your arse!"
Rami would be good to watch. I think he's had enough time to be 100%. Maybe start Rami against the Scousers or Newcastle and let Taylor start against the Fulham-esque ones. And two matches from now, we play Lokomotiv. This means we have 2 keepers with little CL experience. What to do, what to do...
Well, the ambulance chasing media have whipped the sanctimonious FA into a proper lather, haven't they? My feelings about these charges vaciliate. Part of me is dismayed by the thought of reserve players filling in at both fullback positions. Sure, we went through the revolving door at fullback in 01-02 but that was only on one side. Also, I'm perplexed by Lauren's reaction to the injustices foisted on us that fateful Sunday afternoon...the guy has been about the calmest player on the pitch without fail. Rarely booked, never violent. But then part of me also says, "Wenger wanted a siege mentality- now he's got it in spades!" Remember our form after the Paul Durkin (or was it Graham Poll? I'm pretty sure it was Durkin the Gherkin) incident in December 01 and Henry's outburst? Damn, but we were unstoppable after that! Also, at least our attacking players were unscathed by the charges (is anyone else shocked that neither Bergy or Henry got involved in the fracas?). Also, our CL roster will be unaffected by all this so we'll be able to field a fully rested and fired up squad for those ties. So, now thinking rationally, we have a few options. First, buy back Matt Upson- har har. OK so that's out. Recall our loaned players if possible. Put Toure at fullback, where he played a bit last year. Suck it up and put Cygan in. Assume that Martin and Sol aren't suspended for the same matches. Play both brazilians at midfield. Still leaves massive holes back there but its a start.
I saw the game for the first time last night. There's one thing the announcer said about Viera's ill advised kick that has been repeated in all the press, "The intent was there." A damning phrase, but it didn't really appear to be there. Yeah, he kicked out at Ruud, but he didn't really have to miss. He pulled the kick, and didn't contact Ruud. It appeared to be more of a warning gesture. Not that it makes it all right, but from all I've read prior to watching the game I had expected something a lot worse. The play is oddly reminiscent of Beckham's 1998 WC bouncing. Stupid but clearly blown out of proportion.
instead of buying back upson, i really really really want wenger to buy phillipe mexes. i think the kid is class, and he isn't as old as cygan, so can partially mold him into an english quality player. he already is world quality
Just finished watching the highlights on Arsenal Plus (about the only good thing about the service is getting the video highlights). Anyway, I watched Patrick's kick at Ruud over and over, and what I didn't notice watching the game live on TV is that Ruud's reaction was delayed - he didn't recoil until after Patrick kicked out and was pulling his leg back. What I'm getting at is that so many commentators are defending Ruud, saying that anyone would jump out of the way of someone kicking at them. But if any of you get a chance to watch the replay in slow motion, you'll see what I mean. Patrick kicks out his leg, starts pulling it back, Ruud takes a quick hop backwards, then while looking at the ref acts as if he's lost his balance from being kicked. I'm not defending Patrick's kicking out, that was just stupid, but I'm saying that Ruud's reaction and immediate look to the ref, is what got Patrick the 2nd yellow. The ref didn't run over to them when Patrick kicked, why would he, since his view was blocked by Ruud's back, but ran over after Ruud stumbled backwards. Totally taken in by Ruud. Someone at Arsenal has to have noticed this and I hope they'll use at the appeal (especially Arsene when explaining why he called Ruud a cheat).
Just par for the course for our favorite actor. Remember that last year when Sol caught Solksjaer (or however it's spelled) with the elbow, RvN ran PAST his own teammate (who was down) to get the official started on red carding Sol. It's pretty obvious what his agenda is. Pires will take a dive, I hate to admit, but if Henry was popped I seriously don't think talking to an official would be Bob's first move.
The Fiver comes through for a third straight day. Is it any wonder I anxiously await its appearance in my inbox each day? Hot on the heels of The 1900s House, The 1900s Press Box and The 1900s Office comes The 1900s Creaking Analogy, where an idea is stretched beyond reason and also to breaking point. "Disgraceful!" "Shameful!" "Appalling!" "Scandalous!" "Sick!" over-react the sanctimonious Victorian hacks as they demand an apology from Arsenal for engaging in a bit of light shoving at Old Trafford - before pulling on their capes, catching a hansom carriage back to the townhouse, and forcing their wives to squeeze into a six-inch wooden corset thus crushing their reproductive organs then beating them for not being able to bear children how dare you bring shame on the family name you harlot take this. Let's recap. A couple of millionaires acted quite childishly and, er, that's it. Hold on, no, there's this as well: the subsequent gathering together of a baying bloodthirsty mob who want Arsenal docked points, fined, banned, hung, drawn, quartered, sewn back together, kicked, whipped, raped, quartered again and then cubed, with the pieces fed to rabid dogs/columnists. And baying bloodthirsty mobs are always in the right, aren't they? "I thought we over-reacted after the game and we apologise for that," sighed devil-worshipping recidivist Arsene Wenger today, his voice barely audible above the slavering pack. However, stovepipe hats off to Arsene for not conceding too much ground. "On the other hand," he added, before embarking on the longest quote seen in the Fiver for a good while now, "I think you could say that the media response was an over-reaction as well. It was not in proportion to what happened at all. That is maybe not surprising but also not right. None of my players killed anybody. If one of my players had tackled someone round the throat or hit somebody in the face during the game, I would feel much more shocked than I am. We have to be conscious that we didn't behave in a perfect way like we should have, but also not to be too much victimised by what people say." Hold on! He's got a sense of proportion! Quick! Throw some heavy hessian over him before everyone else sees reason!
Harsh On Lehman Lehman man handled the assistant referee, how is that harsh? You aren't meant to even answer back by FIFA rules so how can he be OK to push the assistants arm when he tries to stop confrontation between opposing players. He should get he longest ban of all, especially as Arsenal knew he had a suspect temperament when they signed him.
Re: Harsh On Lehman because the referee touched him first. we had this discussion on a previous post that the ref isn't supposed to touch players because it can lead to retaliation. and come on, is it really called football?
Re: Re: Harsh On Lehman Excellent point. The ref was hanging all over Lehman. The FA has taken itself beyond ridiculous on this one. I've never seen a professional sport's governing organization perpetually bumble things to this extent. I keep trying to decide though whether the FA can really be this incompetent or is it more that some people have anti-Arsenal agendas? Most likely some mix of the two.
Don't forget the FA putting Bennett in charge of the match in the first place. If he can't handle the teams in a community shield game, how the hell is he going to handle it when points are up for grabs?
Very good point, Big Blue. Welcome to the boards, it seems like this is an ideal time to join. I think the ref was wrong in touching Lehmann, but JL1 was also wrong in retaliating, but why should he get the harshest penalty? Once again, what happened was nothing major, and the FA are blowing it way out of proportion. BTW, Gooner, you stole my avatar, you no-good, dirty so-and-so...
If anybody wants to get an idea of how insane the FA is in comparison to other professional leagues, just look at the Rod Smith case with the NFL. For those who don't know, Smith took a swing at a Raider on Monday night, missed, and conked a ref in the side of the head. He got ejected, but the league is just fining him $20,000 for the incident, not suspending him. And he actually did punch somebody!