Having just watched Arsene Wenger's press conference in the wake of the Eduardo diving furor, it appears that his reaction, his unnerving defence of his player, his juvenile defiance against the authorities - and this is far from the first occasion - may bring the game further into disrepute than his player's actions.
Eduardo simulated a foul. Did he dive? Well, in his defence he may have been trying to avoid getting his newly formed leg crushed under a Polish freight train but he certainly wasn't touched, indeed Boruc was attempting to pull out of the challenge. When a player is moving at speed and anticipates a tackle, it is a natural reaction to 'jump' over the outstretched arms or legs; Eduardo barely falls into this category with his heightened fall.
The key to this debate is consistency. If all players deemed to have dived are to be subjected to bans and fines, then so be it. It's an arbitrary accusation unfortunately but so are many other fouls in football.
Wenger is correct in suggesting that the SFA were overly aggressive in pursuing Eduardo for his penalty-winning antics. Scottish football is in fairly dire straights and diverting attention from Celtic's failings will not hide their troubles. The English FA and media's response to Chelsea's far more devastating and ugly defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League Semi-Final last year was far less vociferous and less domestic-centric.
This debate ain't going anywhere soon...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment