Whatever! I watched every minute yesterday. I love how people rip others to shreads, when they wouldn't dare say these things to their face. Ah the joys of the Net, where people are tougher than they really are. All I meant was, it just didn't look clear cut. RVN is the champion diver with his flayling arms. We deserved nothing more than the point we got. Vieira played tough/charging through the MF never giving up and Parlour was his fantastic gritty self. Edu impressed me. I never realized until yesterday how unbelievably tough and valuable Sol is...great defender.
A stone cold dive Pires clearly dived. I thought it was a dive at the game and I'm convinced now I've seen it on TV from several angles. He deliberately moved his right leg to his right in order to make contact with the defender, if he'd have kept running in his normal stride no contact would have been made at all. It's an old trick that all professional players use, if an opposing player was in the same position he would have done the same thing. Pires does dive, we saw it at the end of the Champions League match away in Valencia last year and again yesterday. He'll get a reputation among referees and find he doesn't get decisions when he is legitimately taken down in the box, then he and Arsene will be whining. Anyone who thinks it was a penalty is as much of a fool as the referees who constantly fall for this kind of thing.
Re: A stone cold dive Yes, it was an obvious dive, but he apologized for it, as he should. Refs will start looking out for him, so he definitely needs to watch it. We should have won that game. It was kind of embarassing, the way we were playing. I don't think we even deserved the point, because of how we got it.
laughable Some the replies on here kill me... I don't think it was a blatant dive... he was clipped on his right foot as he went past the defender... and there are MANY better divers in the world... Van NoseDive is truly special at that craft.... did we play well...... no... we expect much more from our team..... with so much talent... but you can't romp thru the league.... international play..... the CL....... etc....... and go unblemished... support the team!!!!!
What do you think these boards are about? They're not rah rah pep rallies! "We love you Arsenal woo woo"??? We dissect, discuss, agree/disagree... and viciously insult trolls. Why do we do this? Because we enjoy our soccer and support our team enough to want to get under the surface of it all. Stag133, you're not going to enjoy these boards if you think that following a team means singing their praises even when they're doing crap; individually or collectively. And, in amongst the negativity you're bemoaning, you'll find plenty of praise for players, along with the crits! Of course there are off days and if there weren't it wouldn't be worth watching. And yes we stand in judgement of players whose level of achievement is collosially above us couch potatos, but, we've seen what they're capable of and that's the benchmark of expectation. Human nature old bean, human nature! Come on you Gunners!!!
Would that matter? Anyone with a rule book handy? I'm thinking it doesn't matter if the ball was playable as long as it was in play.
Good question, but I think it's the at the ref's discretion since the contact that produced the foul was incidental. I may be wrong, but I believe it is judged on the same standard as an "uncatchable ball" in American football, i.e, he tripped due to incidental contact, and the official determines he either can or can't get to the ball and makes the call on that. But then again, I might be as far out in left-field on this one.
I think you're saying that it's not a foul if he couldn't get to the ball. Not true. If a player is fouled a free-kick or penalty should be given, irrespective of whether he can get to the ball. In this instance Pires wasn;t going to reach the ball and decided he'd do the dying swan routine to try and get a penalty. And the ref fell for it. It was a blatant dive. No ifs, buts or maybes. I mean, when you're running, who all of a sudden decides to drag their right leg along the ground and move it out to the right? Unless he can prove he was suffering some sort of tick he has no defence. And just because Van Nistelrooy does it doesn't make it any better either.
LMAO at the way this thread has gone. RVN?? LOL... I saw the replays and it looked like a dive by Pires to me but you got the point.... so big deal.
No, unfortunately, while my tape was of fairly high quality, it wasn't quite that good. Also, soccerchick, where did you read that Pires apologized for his dive? I read this morning on www.soccer365.com where he said no such thing and, in fact, claimed he was not a cheat.
Re: Re: Re: Re: A stone cold dive Need I say more? We played like crap, but a point's a point, and I'd rather we play like crap and still be up one from ManUre than to play beautifully and be in second place. I think (and hope), much like Wenger that we'll see "a different Arsenal side on Wednesday." Rien mais le Treble! OPArsenal _____________ [size=0.75]AW is quoted from an article on Arsenal.com[/size]
Ashley Cole on ESPN They may not show our matches, but our very own AC3 got a spot in the daily slideshow on ESPN.com. The picture shows Steve Stone pulling on Cole's jersey and arm. For what it's worth... Rien mais le Treble! OPArsenal
Certainly a lucky point for us. Hate to say it but Pires' pirouette was a shameful way for us to salvage something. Pompey was well organized and we didn't finish our chances..especially the headed ones! It was one of those days and I'd rather have them at the front end of the season than the back.
I seem to remember an incident in the chamions league, 1999 I'm sure, Man U vs Juventes(?) where a Juve player was brought down in the box by the United keeper. The ref allowed play to continue for this exact reason (he felt the Juve player played the ball too far ahead) and that ball was far more playable than Pires'.
Oh, I'm sure that happened, but what I'm saying is that the fouling player should be penalised. Whether he is or not is at the whim of some increasingly unfathomable refereeing decisions.