Wenger fumes over Eduardo 'witch-hunt'

Sat, 29 Aug 09:12:19 2009

Arsene Wenger has branded UEFA's decision to charge Eduardo with diving a "complete disgrace" and accused them of staging a "witch-hunt" against the Arsenal striker.

European football's governing body has opened disciplinary proceedings against the Croatia international for "deceiving the referee" in Wednesday's 3-1 victory over Celtic.

"I find it a complete disgrace and unacceptable. We won't accept the way we have been treated in this case for two reasons," said Wenger. "I believe that you can debate whether it was a penalty or not. For me it's a witch-hunt that we see and not an objective judgement of a case."

He added: "This charge implies there was intent and a desire to cheat the referee. Having watched the pictures again there was nothing conclusive.

"It singles out a player in Europe to be a cheat and that is not acceptable. UEFA has taken action that is not defendable."

Eduardo went down midway through the first half of the Champions League qualifier despite there appearing to be no contact with Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc.

Referee Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez still awarded a penalty, converted by Eduardo who was subsequently condemned by Celtic.

Meanwhile, Celtic boss Tony Mowbray was reluctant to become embroiled in the controversy and said: "I haven't given it a second thought.

"I have seen the incident again but it doesn't matter, we are out of the Champions League. The bigger picture is UEFA want to clamp down on simulation, to make a mark and if they feel they need to do it, then so be it.

"Sometimes there has to be a fall guy. But it is not my decision, I don't want to condemn anybody."

 

Comment 25 - 44 of 44

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  1. Eduardo take Ronaldo place . The only thing Ronaldo­ worry about EPL is that who gonna dive if he is not­ playing for EPL anymore , now Ronaldo must be the­ happiest man on earth .

    From badboyz, on Sat 29 Aug 3:27PM
  2. wengers talking s%4^t definite dive hes a cheat

    From Timabhouy, on Sat 29 Aug 1:05PM
  3. it's only good if they punish ALL the divers­ especially in 1-0 win, arsenal still scored 4 without­ that penalty, bur he should not do that. and should pay­ a fine

    From Rita, on Sat 29 Aug 11:17AM
  4. ArsenalWhinger # 7

    Are you Arsene Wanger?

    From Stevie O Jay, on Sat 29 Aug 11:06AM
  5. If I'd been in goal instead of Borat, I'd have­ made sure that Eduardo had gone down with a few swift­ uppercuts to the head and I'd have got away with­ it. And poor old Wanger, he's talking himself into­ a very deep hole, just like Patsypool FC, Benny The­ Ball and those Patsypool fans who never seen anything­ either. Ha, ha. LMAO

    INWA

    From Stevie O Jay, on Sat 29 Aug 11:04AM
  6. If Rsole Vanker had any balls he would describe­ Eduardos dive as a "complete disgrace"

    From offmymash, on Sat 29 Aug 10:24AM
  7. If Edwardo can be charged by Platini et al for cheating­ a referee, why cant they do same for referees cheating­ on players and teams? Like Ovrebo cheating on Chelsea

    From Michael, on Sat 29 Aug 9:59AM
  8. One of the all time great British Diving Championships­ (move over Brian Phelps) was Alan Shearer, who admitted­ diving to try to con a penalty whilst playing for­ England, because he was frustrtated at not being able­ to score. The big Geordie Nugget scored most of his­ goals by conning penalties, and he's still regared­ as a great striker! So papa_gooch (#31) may be right­ when he says that 'diving is an art form, and­ should be embraced...'
    It just isn't as­ artistic if your team is on the receiving end of the­ roguery

    From Paperboy, on Sat 29 Aug 9:18AM
  9. I think he deserves to be punished....Just think abt­ this....looking at the replays, it is clear that he­ goes down without any contact....And even if we take­ Wenger's words in his defence "that he goes­ down to avoid another injury...." it does not add­ up....

    As a player, when u go down like that, u know­ it is not a penalty because there wasnt any­ contact....So the least any honest player would have­ done, was to just get up and be quiet....But what does­ he do?
    He gets up, sees that the ref has awarded a­ penalty, shamelessly goes and picks up the ball, and­ takes the penalty himself....I think THAT makes him a­ CHEAT....

    I don't know about anybody else, but for­ me....he has cheated, and hence deserves to be­ punished....

    From Melony A, on Sat 29 Aug 8:03AM
  10. number 30 papa gallos shut tha fack up you greek idiot

    From VictorS, on Sat 29 Aug 12:43AM
  11. Unknown U # 36

    Watch you don't wet yourself.

    From Ronaldo in ten years time, on Fri 28 Aug 11:43PM
  12. the way i see it is uefa as much as they are fools had­ to start with someone it just happened to eduardo, it­ could of been ronaldo, drogba gerrard all first class­ divers its just eduardo's was in one of the first­ high profile games of the season and for wenger to­ claim its a witchhunt after he had said he lied about­ not seeing incidents well nothing else to say after­ that....

    From craig, on Fri 28 Aug 11:43PM
  13. Premier Talk Sh*it League

    1) Benny The Ball (­ by default )
    2) Arsene Wenger ( new entry, man,­ what a lot of sh*it )
    3) Mark Hughes (­ Lescott )
    4) Barry Fry ( he just­ does )
    5) Sepp Blater ( can't help­ himself )
    6) Jimmy Armfield ( commentary )
    7)­ Rafaforpope ( well you all know (c: )
    8)­ Martin O’Neill ( ummm and ahhhh )
    9) darren m ­ ( Man City delusions )
    10)Ronaldo ­ ( stay or go, no top ten complete without­ him )
    11) Stan Collymore ( commentary )
    12)­ Florentino Pérez ( let's see how they get on )

    From Ronaldo in ten years time, on Fri 28 Aug 11:42PM
  14. BARCELONA 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5­ CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS
    In 12 months 12 months 12­ months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12­ months BARCELONA 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5­ CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS
    In 12 months 12­ months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12­ months 12 months BARCELONA 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS­ 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS 5 CUPS
    In 12 months­ 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12 months 12­ months 12 months

    From Unknown U, on Fri 28 Aug 10:38PM
  15. I've got loads of respect for the gunners, but­­ Wenger's got it wrong this time. Mind you, nobody­­ will ever out cheat that W @ N K E R Ronaldo. Without­­ Ronaldos cheating I doubt Man U would have won­ anything­ over the past few years. The man's a­ total PENDEJO.­ Look it up. It's a wicked word­ init. GOOD LUCK TOMORROW. BEAT THE SCUM

    From SHAUN, on Fri 28 Aug 9:05PM
  16. At the end of the day diving is an art in itself and­ should be embraced by us all. After all these­ ridiculous derogatory comments you should ask yourself,­ if eduardo had done a pike and two and a half twists­ before landing at Boruc's feet would you not be­ impressed and tempted to applause him, well would you.­ All he is guilty of is not doing it as extravagantly as­ he could

    From papa_gooch, on Fri 28 Aug 8:26PM
  17. Bang out of order Arsene....................he cheated ­ and got caught and you back him ........ now pay the­ penalty
    ( pun intended )
    .PS............. hope they do­ it across the board now whoever the player,club or­ competition.

    From aligater, on Fri 28 Aug 8:06PM
  18. Wenger should be axed with eduardo on this issue for­ uttering such statement on an issue that only a blind­ will claim after a 2nd and 3rd watch of the replay will­ still claim there was a contact that deserve a penalty­ against celtic.

    He told us about 2 weeks ago that he­ defends his boys who are clearly in the wrong even if­ he knows they are wrong in order to encourage them and­ now he is in defence of a cheat. He is even accusing­ uefa of witch-hunting

    He is shameless person who will­ claim publicly he can tell lies and still did. I've­ not seen such a character of a public figure. very sad

    From papaogos, on Fri 28 Aug 7:54PM
  19. Uefa could really use this now as a starting block to­ sort out divers. Make players be honest.... if they­ fall over but there was no contact and they dont let­ the ref know this when he gives a foul then ban him for­ decieving the ref, i play football and on a few­ occasions have slipped over and been given a foul when­ i know it wasnt..... i could easily turn to the ref and­ say ref i slipped it wasnt a foul and the game could be­ easily restarted with a drop ball

    From ware685, on Fri 28 Aug 7:24PM
  20. The English game is by far NOT the worst league for­ diving. Look at the Italians and Spanish/ God help us­ when the World Cup arrives. There wont be too many­ strikers left for the final if they ban everyone they­ consider to have dived. Platini and his foggies are­ always on an English witch hunt. Lets hope that­ everyone who dives receieves the same punishment, but I­ doubt it.

    From WILLIAM, on Fri 28 Aug 7:08PM
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