Spurs’ Goal: Fair or Farce?
April 22, 2006
After a thrilling final North London derby at Highbury, much of the post match analysis will focus on the build up to the opening goal.
For those who missed it - two Gunners, Eboue and Gilberto, clash into each other unchallenged by any Tottenham player, referee Steve Bennett waves play on after seeing the two begin to rise to their feet and Spurs go ahead to open the scoring. Wenger loses his rag enough to square up to considerably larger Martin Jol and all hell breaks loose in the stands.
The Gunners boss also demonstrated a hazy memory by declaring that the incident marked the end of fair play in English football.
So were Tottenham required to put the ball out of play when players from the same team simply ran into each other and were already on their way back to their feet shortly after? Since when were teams required to compensate for the incompetance of their opponents? Is Arsene really in any position to complain about fair play given the oft-documented antics of Pires and Reyes?
All we know is that this bitter rivalry just got a whole lot more bitter.
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Yeh, it is NOT required to stop. I do not expect a small club like spurs to have sportsmanship. That’s why they still looking for their 1st europena match in long long time.Also the fact that spurs only can score from that. You dun expect them to score a similar goal that henry scored, don’t you
You conveniently forget that when Overmars scored against Sheffield Utd, within the rules but against any sense of fair play, the Arsenal board immediately offered to re-play the match, an offer which was accepted. This was unprecedented and a typical act of decent behaviour by the London club.
I was delighted to see that even after Spurs’ display of gamesmanship leading to their goal, that Arsenal continued to stick to their principles of fair play by not taking advantage in similar situations.
Great to see English traditions being upheld in one part of North London and shameful that they’re being overlooked in the outposts.
I do not expect Spurs to do any favours for Arsenal. All’s fair in love and football.
I doubt seriously whether Adebayor, Diaby or Reyes would have kicked the ball out to touch if Dawson and Lee had collided. The match could have ended 0-0 had Keane not scored, because this incident so infuriated Arsenal for a late reply. So all’s fair and square for the last Highbury derby.
The season for both teams depends on how each holds its nerve for the last few matches. Spurs have 2 crunch matches to play for, while Arsenal has Champions League and 3 EPL matches to worry about.
If Spurs can get 6 points from their last 2 matches, its a Champions League dream they deserve for this year’s sterling efforts.
You clearly haven’t even seen the incident. eboue was still on the ground when the ball went into the net. the spurs bench told carrick to play on, which is why wenger called jol a liar. i was at the game. get your facts right. if you’re going to talk about history you should also give a mention to the fact this is the SECOND time spurs have done this.
Mike David
The ref had a good look at both Eboue and Gilberto, determined that they were fine and waved play on.
Carrick hesitated until he got the go ahead from the ref, so what’s the problem?
What the hell do we owe Arsenal if their own players run into each other?
If a defender slips to allow a striker through on goal, should play stop as well?
Wenger is such a bloody hypocrit
Clearly you’re incapable of reading. You’re own link (hazy memory), ostensibly to show Wenger’s lack of fair play, was in fact, an article praising Wenger for bringing fair play back to England. For an incident very similar to this one.
Perhaps you missed the entire point of that article.
We have done extremely well this season without spending billions of pounds like our friends from West London !
The point is that Wenger is complaining about something his own side have done, and arguably a worse offense as play had been stopped for the injury.
That Arsene then went and offered a rematch was the least he could have done given the obvious and blatant offense whereas in this case the ‘unsporting’ nature is very much debatable
At the end of the day. Tottenham cant beat there rivals Arsenal fairly. They knew when Henry and Fabregas had come on and tottenham run out of gas that they was going to lose the game, so they took any opportunity they could to score and if that meant to arsenal players colliding and landing in a heap the so be it.
All i say is cheaters never prosper so good luck against Bolton and West Ham. Just hope you can try and win those games when no one is down injured!
Also glad you pleased with a result where arsenal started a team without any of the below which lets be honest would walk in tottenhams team all day long!:
Henry
Fabregas
Helb
Ljungburg
Cole
Clichy
Campbell
Lauren
Eboue
“hazy memory”
Do you write this kind of crap just to get traffic, or are you just an idiot?
The fact that Keane looked embarrassed when he scored suggests that even he felt uncomforable with his club’s lack of class.
And he thinks girly cartwheels are the height of sophistication.
Arsenal players switched off expecting Spurs to kick into touch…which is the norm when a player may be injured. Unfortunately Spurs have no interest in fairplay and kept on going…
That’s why good guys finish last…
If two players from the same team run into each other and injure each other the game should go on. Ohterwise players will be doing that in the future to prevent the opposition from scoring. The fact is that if two premiership footballers do not have the awareness to stay out of each others way they deserve everything they get. Bloody idiots.
P.S. I don’t support either of the two teams
ha ha ha ha ha ha. poor old arsenal. never mind, next time your players run into each other we’ll kick the ball out. no surprise though to see an arsenal player on the floor untouched by the opposition is it? come on you spurs!
Interesting neither Wenger nor Gooner supporters have a problem with Adebayor clearly fouling the Spurs player on the way to setting up Arse’ goal
No offense to Spurs, but i think its very unsportsmanship of them not to kick the ball out when players are injure. most comments if obvious bias against Arsenal. Pemier League has been actively promoting anti-Racist and Fair-Play, but seems like the lure for Champion League spot n deby game has deter Spurs from being Sportsmanship in the match lead to the first goal.
Why should they put the ball out when Arsenal players run into each other, and neither is actually injured?
Although it’s a bit embarrasing that MJ decided to borrow a line from the Arsene Whinger book of interviewing, I really don’t see what the problem is with the goal. Carrick was in no way to blame for the clumsiness of the Gooners, and had the injury been serious enough Steve ‘I’m a Red’ Bennett would have blown up. Regardless, he more than evened it up by allowing Adebayor to foul the Clown (sorry, Stalteri) for the equaliser and then sending off Davids having failed to give a free kick for the blatant foul which prompted his retaliation. As far as I’m concerned, Wenger acted like a petulant child as he usually does when anything goes against him, and this non-controversy is just his excuse for an abysmal showing from his home team. In the Mirror this morning was an article: ‘Wenger Tells Jol: Just Stop Moaning’. Maybe he should take his own advice and concede that Arsenal were lucky to scrape a point
what are you going to do in Europe next year ? Get knocked out in the qualifying rounds aka Everton ? Cant blame you guys for being so desperate to be in CL. We had it for 9 years.
*shrug*
Thats life.
Class will prevail.
Yeah been in it 9 years and won it…uh…well…how many times?
If anyone was cheating in that incident it was Eboue as he was clearly getting up, saw that spurs were on the brink of scoring and went down feigning injury to try to halt the game. You know it, the whole world saw it, even the ref who was standing over them saw it. Whats the problem? I cannot believe that Wenger has the nerve to say that was bad sportsmanship when his own side are known to be one of the biggest cheats in the premiership. Remember your double season when you went on a 49 game unbeaten run How many times did Pires dive, or Cole, and Vieira going down like he was shot 10 times a game. And if I remember rightly the only reason arsenal offered to replay their game when a similar incident happened was from the outcry from press and public. Arsenal had built up a nasty reputation as cheats by then and they were almost forced into playing the rematch. Anyway, you say cheats never prosper…you did. And so are chelsea this season. If your players are too stupid to get out of each others way then suffer the consequences. Did your players kick the ball off when Stalteri was kicked and down leading up to your goal?
ahahha 9 years and won it how many times ?
does it matter when you were never in it ?
hahaha i dun believe the cheek.
email me again when you guys ever get into CL.
bad comments all the way. For those who say it that it is fair for spurs to carry on, you are bias. Turn the table around and think about what you would be saying if a couple of spurs players were down and Arsenal did the same i am sure all the cheat remarks about arsenal would be sounding pretty loud right now. It is irrelevant that they ran into each other, players were down injured and not in play, tottenham took advantage of that fact and that is most definitly unsportsman like. For those who talk about bennett evening out the score by letting a Adebayour foul Stalteri prooves that you think something was worng with the spurs goal, because if he sent off Davids and let the arsenal goal stand to even things out then surely the people who suggest that realise that the spurs goal was not entirely fair. Stalteri incident looked 50/50 really anyway. There was hesitation about the tottenham play prior to the goal. Lame Spurs fans for being so blind, i am sure you all know really but are not going to admit to the arsenal fans. You had the better of the play, but i thought a draw was a fair result, however your goal never should have happened.
I don’t support Spurs or Arsenal as I am a Manchester City fan I feel I can give quite an unbiased opinion with the exception that I would prefer Arsdenal to be doing weel because they have more chance of diminishing the fortunes of Manyoo Yankees. There is too much of this kicking the ball out of play because a member of the other side is “injured” Spurs were quite within their rights to continue play. The only bad sportsmanship came from Arsenal. Lehman and Wenger should both have recieved red cards for their reactions. I don’t think I have ever cheered Spurs on before butr I was doing after that goal and to top things off the most ironic of ironies Arsenal fans chanting “cheat cheat cheat” pmsl.
I hate to say it but the spurs do lack class.
any news on the two injured arsenal boys? due to all the controversy of wenger and lehmann’s reaction after the goal I missed the two poor fellas getting their treatment. do we know if either will be able to play again this season? were their injuries career threatening?
Good to see the MOTD boys speaking sense. The two Arsenal idiots run into each other; Jol was yelling at Davids to stay onside; the goal was perfectly fair (unlike the Arse equaliser which included a blatant foul on Staltieri); and Spurs were the better side for most of the game. And to hear the Whinger complaining about coaches not seeing things - this from the original Blind Man himself. Well done Spurs: good performance, well deserved result.
come on you spurs well done lads
we can not wait to see that french dick
lose there game next week.
that from having a go at our boss.
and team. may the 4 be with you.
good match
the game should have not stopped but when carrick slowed down all the arsenal players stopped….they thought he was going to kick it out but then he gave it tanio and to davids who had so much of space because pires stopped tracking back after carrick slowed down…therefore davids had so much space and also keane had so much of space to finnish….you could see that djorou had to run back fast to go towards keane….in conlcusion, the game should have not stopped but when he slowed down he should have kicked it out
You kick the ball out so a player can receive treatment if they’re injured. Neither of the Arsenal players were injured, so it’s fair to play on. As someone said above, they were starting to get up, and then went down again.
If you stop play in a situation like this, players will just start feigning injury every time the other side is in a goal scoring position.
You Pikey’s are shitting yourself. TH will be leaving for another club come the end of the World Cup. ARSEnil will lose the Championship Final to the might BARCA (managed by another top Dutchman like Jol). The 10 million that comes with the Champions League ain’t gonna happen. how is you team gonna pay the bills for the UNITED TERRORIST EMIRATES stadium? You gooners have 3 games to play in the PL within a 8 day period. Who the fuck are you gonna rest if you reach the final ? The balance of power in London is shifting to Tottenham and ChelSKI. You bunch of South London Nomad bastards.
COME ON YOUR SPURS
hey…let me give an objective opinion here because i don’t care for either side.
On one hand, you can make a case for lack of fair play. However, this is a match that could mean the difference between a Champs League spot and a UEFA cup spot. I cannot count how many times I’ve seen a player from a team with a lead go down late in the match, only for the other side to keep possession and push forward….i know Keane’s goal didn’t come at the end of the match, but the whole match was like the last 5 minutes of a big match. So it shouldn’t really be surprising..Additionally, to all you Arsenal fans, do you remember Kanu’s antics in the FA Cup? Yeah, you offered to replay it, but I’m sure that was no real consolation to your opponents..they were as good as you that day and didn’t deserve to go behind like that and the replay was always gonna be a completely different game…Basically what I’m saying is that both Spurs fans and Arsenal fans are full of sh*t. Spurs fans, admit it may seem a bit shady but it was justified given the circumstance and importance of the match and Arsenal fans…you of all people should not be accusing opponents of playing dirty. (see Pires, Reyes, Keown before retiring…you’ve had loads of dirty players…)
West Brom fan, so no axe to grind…..
Perfectly fair goal in my opinion !
Have the Arsenal players not heard the phrase “Play to the whistle?” It was poor play by several Arsenal players. Added to that the ref was in exactly the right place and waved play on. A perfectly fair goal and one that Spurs deserved. Wenger’s comments are a disgrace and I’d be happy to see the back of him. He brings the game and the club into disrepute.
Its got nothing to do with the players clashing on the same team. The fact is Eboue could have been badly hurt and however inconvenient it is only right that Spurs should allow the game to pause. Its not any spurs player or manager’s decision whether he is genuinly injured because they cant know for sure. Eboue never rose. In the Arsenal v villareal, villareal constantly went to ground and even though we knew they were faking we put it off.
A number of the Spurs players have subsequently claimed that they would not have played on if they had seen the incident properly.
Jol claims that he didn’t know what was going on, but Sky showed some footage on Football First last night that clearly shows Jol with a full view of the incident. Carrick pauses, maybe to put the ball out, but Jol screams “Play!!!” FIVE TIMES as Spurs play on.
Jol’s claims that he was merely telling Davids to stay on side are ridiculous. The man is a liar. The footage proves it and that was why Wenger was so upset.
The two Arsenal players ran into each other and the only reason they stayed down was because Tottenham had advantage and the player down was caught out of position, you even see him look up. There was no head injury, in fact was there an actual injury at all? So why should they stop play? If Stalteri had gone down after being fouled would Arzenal have stopped play? Of course they wouldn’t have!
My opinion is that if it had been a serious injury like a head injury then Spurs should have stopped play but it wasn’t.
Had it been an injury caused by one of our players then yes they should have stopped play but again it wasn’t
Tottenham can not be responsible for the Arsenal players incompetance.
How can Wenger claim Jol is a cheat for saying he did not see the incident… how many times has Wenger somehow managed to miss an incident where an Arsenal player has been sent off or been on one of their frequent trips to the floor with no one near them?
The sky sports audio of Jol saying “play” is irrelevent as he is clearly telling Carrick to “play” the ball and is not even looking at the incident.
He did not say “play on”.
Bullshit! Of course he saw it - he’s right in front of Eboue. He has much a better chance of seeing Eboue on the ground that he has of seeing whether Davids is offside or not. He knew exactly what he was doing shouting “Play”. The fat, Shrek-faced liar. It’s a shame Carrick was caught up in it. He’s a player with a touch of class playing for a club with none.
Just look at Wenger’s defence of the the indefensible over almost the last
decade.
He conveniently NEVER sees anything done by his players but always
manages to see the mote in the opposing player’s eye.
Not only is he a self-righteous hypocrite, he is one so often that the liar
tag should be worn by him and him alone. Even Mourinho and Ferguson
at their most arrogant are not blind and you know that they “saw it”.
Contrast him to Jol after the MU “goals that never was” and his response
which was about as much proof of a gentleman as you could find.
Poor Arsene!! he never was a good loser at the best of times and it just
gives us more reason to pity him.
Watch the “re-fall” in the replay as the Eboue realises that Davids
is away on goal.(That is, if the editor allows you to see it).
Arsenal are famopur for this sort of behaviour and especially so over the last decade. At least the UK GG sides had some sort of an idea re ethics.
Arsenal were never good losers abut this side didn’t even lose.
How is that for arrogance?
We have admired the quality football coming from Highbury for a decade. We have never admired the one-eyed gamesmanship of wenger and the Eurofakeinjury habits of his players.
Irony is so saltridden!!
Wenger just ensured that the neutral UK supporters will be backing Villareal.
You can clearly see him looking down the line at Davids.
Arsenal are just bitter because they thought they would beat us and would finish above us but now it is looking less likely.
They are a group of moaning cheaters and when things don’t go their own way they spit their dummies out.
They acted pathetic by Wenger not shaking hands after the match and acting like a spoiled brat and why referees never act on Lehmann I never know because he gets away with cheating, over-reacting and generally being a c*** on the pitch all thet time.
Bitter, bitter Arsenal!!
it doesnt matter where jol was looking or what he said. the two arsenal players tackled each other and neither was really hurt. in fact gilberto was already on his feet and eboue was sitting up. the players were not injured and if it was seriousthe ref would have blwn up. he asked both players if they are ok. then waved play on.
this is purely sour grapes by the arsenal team, manager and supporters.
if the two players had fallen over like that, the ball gone to an arsenal player and they were on the attack do you think they would have stopped…? of course not. they werent even hurt. i dont even recall either of them receiving treatment. neither of them were hurt or had to come off. there was no need to put the ball out.
ps lehman needs a smack in the face. maybe then we would think twice about beings such a horrible b@st@rd
Hope this riled the guys enough to make them furiously wanting to win the CL.
Villareal would be dirtier than Spursin any case. Aresnal must learn the lessons from the derby and never take sportsmanship for granted. Play to the whistle !
There was no need for sportsmanship in the game because nobody was injured. The Arsenal players made a stupid mistake by clashing into each other and are making excuses. Tottenham were the better team on the day and deserved more than a draw from the game.
I am sure at the end of the season when we finish above them they will have all the excuses lined up and this is just another one they can add to it.
You guys seems to have forgetten that spurs kicked arsenal off the pitch. arsenal only came back into the game because of the controversy of the goal. arses were lucky to get to get a point after being torn apart by lennon, carrick and keane.
arses..worthless lots..think u gonna win the champs league..haha…spurs rules in islington
its not our fault the two arse players slipped on squirrel shit
oh ya, THAT squirrel that had 10 minutes more of CL experienc than you
I love your blog. KarlaX
“The fact is Eboue could have been badly hurt and however inconvenient it is only right that Spurs should allow the game to pause.”
- Balls. It is the referee’s decision, and he made it.
“Its not any spurs player or manager’s decision whether he is genuinly injured because they cant know for sure.”
- Then they have as much right to play on as they have a requirement to stop.
[quote comment=”1590″]bad comments all the way. For those who say it that it is fair for spurs to carry on, you are bias. Turn the table around and think about what you would be saying if a couple of spurs players were down and Arsenal did the same i am sure all the cheat remarks about arsenal would be sounding pretty loud right now. It is irrelevant that they ran into each other, players were down injured and not in play, tottenham took advantage of that fact and that is most definitly unsportsman like. For those who talk about bennett evening out the score by letting a Adebayour foul Stalteri prooves that you think something was worng with the spurs goal, because if he sent off Davids and let the arsenal goal stand to even things out then surely the people who suggest that realise that the spurs goal was not entirely fair. Stalteri incident looked 50/50 really anyway. There was hesitation about the tottenham play prior to the goal. Lame Spurs fans for being so blind, i am sure you all know really but are not going to admit to the arsenal fans. You had the better of the play, but i thought a draw was a fair result, however your goal never should have happened.[/quote]
The two players in question were already out of position and therefore them being down would not have effected things. As someone said before, one of the players started to get up that fell back down when he realised he had cocked up! I am not a Spurs fan, but in this situation I dont think they should have kicked the ball out of play. Also Stalteri was fouled for Arsenals goal - should Henry have kicked the ball out????