Arsene Wenger believes players who dive should be punished with a ban and suggested a three-man FA panel, featuring ex-professionals, should be set up to retrospectively analyse and clamp down on incidents of obvious cheating.
Speaking at the end of a week that has seen Jose Mourinho hit the headlines for claiming his Chelsea squad are unfairly penalised for diving, Wenger stressed that obvious wrongdoing should be stamped out.
“I’m against diving. We should punish after the game. The problem will be to decide when it was obvious diving or not. That’s a big issue and sometimes it’s not obvious.
“There should be a panel and punish only obvious cases, but not mixed ones. And the most suited to this (panel) are people who have an experience in the game.
“Naming alone doesn’t work. You have to suspend the players. don’t know for how long. It depends. I am not a specialist in this kind of thing.
“But the only way that the players will stop doing it, is if they feel they can get punished. Is it Arsenal, or Man United, or Liverpool or Chelsea, it is for everybody the same.”
Arseblog News is almost certain that in light of these comments it’ll be (sod’s law) an Arsenal player who is the next to go down too easily in the box.
The likes of Eduardo and Robert Pires have been been publicly crucified by the media in previous years so we can only hope, if such a thing does happen, that it’s one of the British lads who is guilty…then we can just sweep it under the carpet.
“There’s a campaign in the media agaisnt us”. No mourinho, you’re team are just f*cking c*nts.
I’m sure that he must tell them not to dive regularly. Why isn’t he angry at his players for not listening to him?
Feel very sorry for the referees (first time for everything) as their job becomes even more difficult but Restrospective punishment is the ONLY
way to stop it exactly the same way as the sly punch etc.
How Sterling was not punished on Monday I have no idea and Ferdinand
also on Giroud.
It has got to be consistent and that is just not happening
A committee of blind referees and ex man u/spuds/liverpool players, you know that is how it would work…………
A committe of ex Rugby players would be perfect. They know what it looks like to dive deliberately. All that power being pushed through your legs while your arms move in unnatural directions in relation to the supposed contact. They’d do a job for us. Even if only obvious or theatrical dives were getting punished it would make most players wary of trying it on. What if they accidentally made it look to obvious? Their manager would fine them for failing to look genuine in the dive. Of course, those damned forrin Johnnies would start serious dive training to ensure… Read more »
That gave me a good laugh, thumbs up
Rugby idea is not bad, but they’d figure that the rules on tackles are too harsh. You can’t even grab a man’s shirt?!
It does worry me that he didn’t say that the committees should be run by and include refs (even though no one would want it to), as it could be viewed by refs as AW pushing them sideways. Another reason for them to dislike us.
Why does the world appear to be anti-Arsenal? The refs, the commentators, everyone wants to slate us.
As a fairly recent Gooner, I ask- have we done something to piss people off? Or are our ex players just not that into media?
You’re not missing anything, they just don’t like us
We seem to have the biggest presence on the internet, and insults thrive better online than the nice stuff, so the media know that if they want money, they publish anti-Arsenal stuff to either piss us off or fuel the already fuming dissatisfaction with being unable to beat the second biggest team in the world and two teams with blank chequebooks. Then they watch the numbers get bigger and their bellies get fatter. It’s a good life. I think there’s a few that distrust Wenger too, he’s foreign yet is more eloquent than any of them in (what I assume… Read more »
Spot on! Happy New Year to all Gooners. x
That my friend is 50% confirmation bias – it’s there if you look for it & 50% jealousy – pundits can’t bear the fact that we try to play the game with dignity and style so they would prefer to see us fail. Also, Gooner’s are easy to bait because although we play good football we are pretty unlucky and that is funny.
In the early days of Wenger we used to to have a man sent off every other game. We were a physical team, but it was a seriously physical league and we were just giving as good as we got but it was always an Arsenal player that went into the book and would ultimately get sent off. We had to learn how to win games with ten men, and we were so good at the time that we became masters at it. At the time we were the only challenger to total United domination of the league. We had… Read more »
Almost spot on, but we were not the first team to field a foreign starting XI. Liverpoo did it about a year before we did, but no-one wants to publicize that because it would mean criticizing Liverpoo instead of Arsenal.
In fact, the first team to field an all-foreign XI in the premier league was Chelsea, on boxing day 1999.
Thank you, I confess I was guessing about its being Liverpoo, but I knew we weren’t the first.
I would have said the most anti Arsenal ref was Atkinson, although Probert runs him close.
It’s a complicated question and it’s mostly history as some others have stated. When Arsene arrived he basically gave the establishment the middle finger and told the whole British football world they were badly behind the times and he was going to change things. And he then he did just that, meaning he proved that everything he had said was correct. The football establishment has never really gotten over that. Not so much the being called out part but the having their noses rubbed in it part. The establishment has learned to live with Wenger but it’s never really forgiven… Read more »
Plus Arsene had already blazed that trail…. as the pioneer
Typical Mourinho diversionary tactics. Have a good old rant just to get the press talking about diving instead of your own flaws in the 1:1 game.
Low and behold, the press fall for it.
A commentator on a BBC article (CharlieAdamsTeeth- a name which makes me think that this person frequents this website as well) put it rather well:
“My players do not dive. Except the ones that do dive. When this happens, I deflect attention from it by blaming the referee, other managers and the media. The media will lap it up and call me a genius, a master of mind games. Despite the fact that all I do is say the opposite of what is true.” – Jose
I’m off to buy a hat so that I may take it off to that comment. I’ll be back in an hour.
A cap works just as well (I’ve just doff’d it myself).
And on the very last day of the year, you have pipped all other commenters to the post and won the Internet for 2014.
How does he feel about bombing…or petting?
is it our Arsene in the pic? Hilarious to imagine if he is 😀
I’m wondering the same thing. Although nothing beats that seductive beach volleyball pinup
Do you want some bread for the whine, Arsene?
What whine?
This is modern football, the issue has existed for ages. I believe these comments come as an effect of that Nedum dive when Giroud went Berserk.
He was asked about a solution for diving, and provided one. It’s not whining and while I get you’re inclined towards a new manager and there’s plenty to criticise Arsene Wenger for, it’s tedious when people invent shit to have a pop at him.
blog owns the striker.
I can’t believe that’s what you take from the statement.
MaureenO shouts conspiracy whilst AW answers a hack question….
I suspect striker wears blue.
Completely agree with that statement. Diving is cheating, it should not be allowed in any sports leave alone the biggest sport of all.
The standard of refereeing this season has been pretty terrible. I think there is a lack of common sense, in the decisions. What is a foul and what isn’t I mean they just seem like its a day job and they don’t actually like or understand the game. I honestly believe they should be doing better.
It’s the worst bunch of refs I’ve seen in over 40 years, purely because of the inconsistency.
OK it wasn’t shown so well on TV until the 90s, and before then at the games you rarely get a decent view of a tackle (especially after a few beers) but it still appears to me that they were better then as a group. There were particularly bad ones then but now it’s odd to find a good one.
Although I do appreciate it’s played at a far faster pace now and they really should have much more help.
And video replays of suspected fouls, goal line and any other controversial game changing decisions. And that need not slow the game, not with the tech available…
How would it not slow the game, if it is a suspected foul does the ref stop, get video confirmation and then call a foul?
How does he know its a game changing decision? What if it is a foul in the middle of the pitch, then they lob the ball forward and score? Do we then go check to see if it was a foul and rule out the goal that has happened about a minute later.
Sounds crap to me, I’d rather live with some bad decisions.
Wenger doesn’t go far enough here. We should also have retrospective yellow cards for any player who is seen to be holding onto an opponent’s shirt. Got shirt in your fist? Yellow card. Every incident should be punished by a yellow. Diego Costa could average 27 yellow cards in a game. The way yellows and bans accumulate he could be out for 6 months. Mourinho would order him not to touch opposing players with his hand ever again. Holding would stop entirely after one weekend. In the same way, EVERY dive mst accrue a ban. Do a dive during a… Read more »
At which point do we outlaw pressing and slide tackles?
We don’t. We want to outlaw cheating. That is why it would be done after the game by a panel. You’re Mark Hughes. I don’t expect you t
…to understand that. You used to play for Man United so your world view is highly skewed.
I second, third and fourth this comment. I can’t stand watching players pull shirts (and Arsenal players do it too, they should, their opponents are doing i to them) and hanging on the shoulder at corners so the other player cannot jump. This should all be reviewed by video where the incidents are clear as day, and retrospective punishments given. As stated above this stuff would stop in a weekend and football would benefit by becoming a game of skill rather than cheating. As well, video review should be the norm in a sport where a single incident can change… Read more »
Agree with your point about shirt pulling, but why would you want to do away with the offside rule it’s like the only reason why speed and weighted passing and cohesion and dribbling even exists in football. Also in the past years the offside rule has relaxed bit by bit so being caught offside is less likely than ever. Moreover, would you really want to see a weak team park the bus by perpetually having a defender in his own six yard box?
2 point;
1) Off-side is an Important part of the game. Get rid of that and any Pulis team would have three 7ft forwards who only stood around the oppositions keeper and every kick would be a long-ball to them.
2) One of the issues with diving is that when you’re running full pelt it’s possible to lose your footing or just stumble but if you don’t appeal for a penalty (free-kick), it’s not diving. So ‘appealing’ has to be a key factor in a dive but that’s far to obvious for a ref or pundit to understand.
Aargh! Ref!! Did you see that! That bastard just deliberately thumbed me down! Penalty!
Why doesn’t Wenger punish his own players or at least call them out publicly. Even old red nose had the balls to do that.
It’s true, I can’t count the number of times he denounced Rooney and Young for it.
He probably does. but he won’t do that in public.
One of my sons who is in London for his first time wanted to visit Chelsea stadium just to tour it after going to the Arsenal game against QPR. I refused to go on the tour with him and waited outside for him using the opportunity to place the “Italian Evil Eye Curse” on the stadium. When he came out he told me how the Chelsea tour guide mentioned that in the past the team would try to make the visitors locker room as uncomfortable for them as possible. Keeping it too hot or too cold etc. Gee what a… Read more »
You can hardly blame them for that kind of gamesmanship, every team does it. Arsenal just disguise it better than most. There are far worthier reasons to hate Moronho and his repugnant pack of cunts, and there are major differences between the dressing rooms at Emirates, too. For example, the shape of the Arsenal dressing room is roughly a horseshoe with the manager’s table at the opening – psychologically, the best possible shape because every player can have an unobstructed view of the manager while they dress and vice versa. The visitor’s dressing room at Emirates is a square with… Read more »
It’s the end of 2014. While we might not have scaled all of the heights we’d hoped to, it’s still been a pretty good year for the Arsenal. Two trophies won, several major signings, and despite a rash of injuries that makes our usual rash of injuries look like … well, a minor skin rash, we’re still well positioned for 2015, have many stars returning to action, and will undoubtedly challenge strongly in all remaining competitions.
Happy New Year to all Gooners everywhere!
Technology has to be used more and more DURING a game ,not retrospectively,with a sin bin introduced rather than totting up yellow cards which is daft for obvious reasons.
15 minutes during a match in the bin for bad tackles,diving etc will soon sort it out.
Managers and pundits alike have offered their two cents, while I agree that retro active punishment through video replay is the best way to go. (doesn’t help Fabregas) I have often wondered why the rule regarding fouls in the box is, as it is. In this situation…A player fouled in the box, in a poor position ie. his back to the goal, in the corner, with no chance to score. (Robben vs Mexico) Why does the ball get moved to the spot? Every foul on the pitch is taken from the spot of the foul with this one exception. I… Read more »
You know what! A sign on the wall by where you enter the Chelsea tour area has the following quote which I am paraphrasing because I couldn’t remember the exact quote: “There is no such thing as boring football, only winning football”. Does that mean they are actually admitting they play boring football? I understand they are winning now, but I still believe with a healthy squad our brand of football can be successful AND entertaining.
But we don’t play exciting football any more and haven’t for several years. We are boring and we lose too. Chelsea are far from boring this season. Physical doesn’t mean boring, we used yo be a very physical team and we were definitely not boring. Also don’t get where all the oooh media hate us crap comes from. I think a lot of arsenal fans are very sensitive and take any criticism as being bias. Its not, its just very easy to criticise arsenal because we make the same mistakes every game/every season so you can almost script your post… Read more »