Jay-Z and now P. Diddy.
It seems as though despite the club’s lack of major glory for half a decade, Arsenal FC’s swagger on the pitch has attracted most hip-hop’s pioneers.
Latest to declare his backing of the Gunners is the prestigious Sean Combs .
Listen!
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Reaction to the game against Liverpool for Jamie Carragher’s testimonial will appear here….
Alan Stubbs hopes Everton’s young players will learn from their experiences in the Jamie Carragher testimonial game.Both sides featured current players and former stars but the Blues fielded plenty of…
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Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas admits Barcelona did all they could to prise him away this summer, but that he was told he had to stay put by the Gunners.
The Spanish ace has become a poster boy for the Catalans who, according to Sport, will sign him in 10 months.
But reflecting on the summer that has passed, the Gunners skipper said he was left with no choice but to stay at the Emirates Stadium as the transfer saga reached its conclusion.
“Barcelona made every effort to sign me, but Arsenal had told me to stay, which in no way I was going to refuse, and in the end I had to stay,” Cesc told Publico.
Fabregas believes that the season with Arsenal will be “a long one” but above all he wants to “be professional and give it everything”.
On his future away from the Emirates though, the playmaker observed he had not made a decision as he drew the line on Barcelona talk.
“What happens in the future? We’ll see,” he added. “I do not think of anything because if I think of the future it would not let me focus on the present and I would have a bad year.”
Wayne Rooney and other well documented serial divers may soon be spending several nervous days after every match looking over their shoulders. Earlier today, FIFA announced that they will not stand in the way of the Football Federation Australia (FFA) or any other football governing body who wishes to use video evidence to retroactively punish players for offenses that the referee either didn’t see or that the referee got wrong.
This all started last weekend when Sydney FC played Central Coast Mariners to a 1-1 draw. The Mariners’ Argentinian import Patricio Perez won a controversial penalty in the 73rd minute with the referee sending off Sydney keeper Liam Reddy for what he saw as a foul. Perez put the penalty kick away and the teams finished the game at a draw.
That would hardly be the end of that.
After the match, keeper Reddy appealed to the FFAs Match Review Panel (MRP) submitting an Obvious Error Application to have his red card rescinded. This type of appeal against a red card isn’t that unusual. You may remember that John Terry had a red card rescinded back in 2008 after review from the FA upon appeal from the player.
What happened in Australia, however, was that the review panel decided that Patricio Perez had dived and chose to not only rescind Reddy’s card but ban Perez two weeks for simulation.
Perez has no appeal available to him, the MRPs decision is final, and he insists that there was contact. He and the club are so adamant that there was contact that they have hired a team of lawyers and bio-mechanics experts who are ready to prove in a court of law that the player didn’t dive.
But before the club took those drastic measures they looked to FIFA for a ruling on whether video evidence could be used after the match to punish players. FIFA as is typical, saw this as an opportunity to change the rules without going through a formal rules review process and basically said “go for it.” Oh, they also said “we hate diving.”
We deem diving as a serious issue in the game and something we feel strongly about. We hope that with serious sanction it will be a deterrent. We want to stamp it out.
It is a misconduct charge for the players – our regulations allow our match review panel to right wrongs they see that happened on the pitch
The problems here are numerous. Specifically, in Australia, the ruling of the MRP is final and the player is unable to appeal the decision despite the fact that he maintains his innocence and that several experts have come forward to add weight to the player’s appeal.
Moreover, Perez has been quite distraught over being labeled a diver in what was his first match in a new country. As all Gooners can attest, no matter what happens in the appeals Perez looks set to become the poster child for the anti-diving crusade in Australia and likely the rest of the world. I can say that judging by the fact that the Daily Mail is still to this day labeling Eduardo a convicted diver (in their caption) for an offense he was cleared of by video review, by the referee in video review, and by a panel of experts. Zeus himself could come down from Mt. Olympus and declare Eduardo innocent and the Daily Mail would run a week’s worth of columns pondering whether this Zeus guy is really the father of the gods or if he isn’t just some guy who knows a few really neat card tricks.
So, FIFAs ruling raises more questions than it answers. Instead of standing up and making a rule about diving, they have passed the buck and are allowing a review panel from the Outback to create a new rule for them. In the mean-time, they are standing up against a player and his right to clear his name in an appeal process which is simply disgraceful.
But I have to wonder where they will draw the line? Will clubs be allowed to appeal every single incident that does or doesn’t result in a call from the referee? That seems to be the path they are on here in their religious zeal to “stamp out” the worst crime ever committed on a football pitch: simulation.
I also find a deep irony in the idea that FIFA is basically introducing video replay, but only after the match is over. Only after the aggrieved team has lost the trophy will they be able to appeal to the local governing body and receive “justice.”
After all, we can’t have instant replay slowing down our games any more than Gamst and Delap do toweling off their balls. No, reviewing a play when it happens would take too much time. Instead of dealing with the game in the 90 minutes, we need to have the games adjudicated over weeks as lawyers and experts in biometrics argue every detail of whether a player was fouled or not.
In the end, players will not stop diving one bit because of this rule. If Wayne Rooney finds himself in the Champions League final, tied 1-1 with Arsenal, the ball in the box and Almunia rushing to claim, he will dive just like he has done time and again. He’ll even know the consequences and dive. What’s two weeks suspension at the beginning of next season going to mean to him when he has the warm comfort of the Champions League winner’s medal?
Dive on Wayne… dive on.
Good Save.. Or Is It!?
The week has gone and the transfer window is shut and Arsenal have not signed a new goal keeper.
Mark Schwarzer was touted to come in and even handed in a transfer request but the deal did not conclude for what ever reason. I am now not interested in why the deal did not happen but want to look forward.
As a club and as fans, all we can do is simply back and support Manual Almunia and the rest of our keepers. We have no other choice. This has to be one of the biggest gambles of Mr Wenger’s career and one that could easily back fire. If Almunia has a good season and Arsenal wins something then this could be one of the best decisions Mr Wenger has ever made. Looking at it now tells me it is a big risk. Read on..
The goal keeping position at Arsenal is under the spotlight so much that every single shot/cross/touch is looked at closely. The pressure is huge, so big that I do not blame the keepers for sometimes making mistakes.
Another reason why I will support Almunia is because of his personality (I know it shouldn’t be a big reason) because he has always played for the shirt and been proud to be an Arsenal player. He has always stopped to talk to fans and personally, I have had a few conversations with him and he is a lovely fella.
As for other keepers, Fabianski needs to play more games and I really hope he goes on loan because it’s unfair to judge him without seeing him play more regularly.
As a passionate supporter of this football club, I really hope fans back Almunia and give him another chance to prove himself. I do not see any other option, apart from writing this season off and starting a campaign to get Almunia out but I cannot see many people going for that option! So backing our man is the only way. Let’s not forget, he has had good games for Arsenal, if he can cut out those silly mistakes, he can be the keeper we want him to be. I do believe that it takes competition in order to get the best out of Almunia but I am not sure if that will come. He did have a solid game at Ewood Park and more importantly, the fans backed him too.
So let’s get behind him and hope for the best.
The week started with a massive win at Blackburn. We all know the history with Big Sam, so it was a good achievement to win there. We did not have the best of times last season so was great to get the 3 points.
Roll on Bolton at home after the international break followed by Braga in our first Champions League game.
Come on you Arsenal..
Akhil (Follow him on Twitter @10akhil)
Follow 11G on Twitter @11gunnerz
Note: If any of you want to share your views/opinions on the club from N5 (read: Arsenal!), leave Us a comment at the bottom. We’ll get back right away & be glad to give you a chance. Keep Gunning..
PS: Do check Arsenal Interactive – The Home of Arsenal Fans
What Is Arsenal Interactive?
Arsenal Interactive is a Match Day experience centered around bringing Arsenal fans (and, let’s face it, Gunning Hawk supporters, who are the smartest bunch of football fans in the world) together to share in pre- and post-match revelry. You can rate every Arsenal player after every match, write up your own comments on the ratings, give your thoughts on the game itself, share the entire interactive anthology with a host of social networking sites and chat in real time with fellow Arsenal fans!
I have a new Guest Post today from Ralph J, who is one of our more positive posters. There has been much wailing and wringing of hands since the transfer window closed without a new goalkeeper arriving at the Emirates, but Ralph thinks it is best we just forget that now and…….
Arsenal fans unite! [...]
