Arsenal Fans: Henry was fouled. World: No he wasn’t.
It’s really cute how Arsenal fans are saying that we should ‘move on’ and ’stop living in the past’.
These be the same fans who took their frustrations out on Barca players for several days after the Champions League Final? These be the same fans who scowl, spit and swear the moment they hear the name of a Barca player? The fans who kept complaining and complaining about Ruud’s knee-high tackle and Rooney’s ‘dive’?
In that case folks, I think these same Arsenal fans are due for some more truth.
You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to try and prove that Henry did not dive. I’ll try to prove that indeed, this is a foul, and a serious one at that.
Let’s look at the evidence.
Exhibit A
Rooney is blocked off by two Ecuador defenders in England’s second-round 1-0 win. The incident happened in / near the opposition penalty area where Rooney pushed the ball passed the defenders and was bodychecked as he tried to get through them. Rooney fell to the ground, then got back up immediately when he saw that the ref hadn’t given the foul (not before shouting at the ref though).
Rooney gets bodychecked by two men in front of him, and there’s no foul.
Exhibit B
A video of the foul by Puyol on Henry. Surely this must prove Henry right - that he is not a diver, and that this truly was a serious foul.
Puyol’s foul on Henry (courtesy of CaughtOffside.com)
Please see the video for yourself.
Verdict
You have GOT to be kidding me. Of course Henry was fouled. Why? Because Puyol is a fkn cheat. Right? Ok, what about this one: Henry was fouled by Puyol because Puyol ‘flung’ his elbow into Henry’s chest?
Look at the bloody video again. It’s Puyol trying to prevent Henry from crossing him. Yes, there is body contact, just as there is when Henry decides to shoulder barge opposition players off the ball. No foul then, is there, even when the player is thrown off balance and goes to the ground?
It was obvious the first time I saw it on TV (in realtime) that Henry had gone down too easily. You dont get thrown backwards or stop and just fall to the ground if you run into someone from behind who is also running in the same direction as you.
There would have been no whistle blown and no foul called if Henry had not gone down.
Message for Arsenal Fans
I just have one thing to say to you guys…
Now that your holier-than-thou legend, god, master, whatever has shown himself to be as human as the rest of us, drop the ‘we’re so better than the rest of you all’ act as well. You guys have always used Henry as an excuse for your dominance, now we know how you got to the top - on the same path as Barca, Chelsea and yes, even United, have followed.
So stop calling a black spot grey, and then we can move on.
Update
This was just too good to leave out.
Exhibit C
Henry and Puyol collide while going for the ball. Is it a foul? Really? REALLY?
[tags]Arsenal, Henry[/tags]
- My Issue With Henry’s Diving And Arsenal Fans
- David Beckham diving video
- Henry Dives Again, Arsenal Fans Say: He’s Playing For France!
- Henry’s a diver? A Response.
- Barcelona Roundup - Season preview and merry Scotland
Discussion - 49 Responses
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your point being…
So the whole point of that article was to show that Arsenal have players that dive aswell as ManUSA and Chelski?
Fair enough, I as a gooner have never said we dont, but to compare an Arsenal player who made a meal of a challenge, (not even in the Arsenal colours i might point out) to Van Nistlerooy stamping on someones knee whilste they are standing up, yes standing up is quite frankly, absurd! Add to that Ronaldo’s frequent penchant for dropping to the floor like hes been shot (without contact, atleast henry was tackled/fouled)!!!!
To compare us to Chelsea with the mutitude of divers they have in their midst is almost as ludicrous, Im sure Henry maybe pretty good at it, but to say hes on par with SWP, Drogba, Robben, Ballack, Duff and not forgetting Mr handball himself John Terry, shows the seriously one eyed and rose tinted view you take on this subject.
Try and be a little more sunjective, seems like you almost have a vendetta on against him?
Surely not!
Pointless article based on nothing at all…
Very Bizarre.
I’m sure you will calm down soon enough. Take some aspirin.
My point is this:
1) Arsenal fans think that their club is above everyone else - a sentiment that the Arsenal team itself has shown under Wenger’s reign. That is absolute BS.
2) Arsenal fans think Henry can do no wrong. Well, your saint just rolled himself in mud.
3) Not comparing you with Chelsea and United - all I’m saying is that when other players dive, you raise hell for weeks. When one of your own dive, you want to brush it under the carpet and move on.
Gimme a break, man. I don’t see any long winding post when Steven Gerrard dived during the England WCQ which resulted a penalty kick given to England nor did i see Joe Cole lambasted after series of dive during friendly match against Belarus. Or even Grosso’s dive resulted a penalty kick which gave Italian the victory against the Aussies. Yes, Henry did simulate and feign an injury but the most important thing which most of the pundits fail to see: it resulted a harmless freekick 35 yrds out which Spanish team fail to defend. If anyone’s guilty, its the horrendous Spanish backline not Thierry Henry. Its a clear obstruction by Puyol and should be given a freekick no matter if Henry stand up or dive. And Puyol was not red carded, end of story and get on to yr usual gameplay.
Did Rooney comes out and admit he dive during Man Utd against Arsenal 2 seasons ago after blatantly fell down which resulted a penalty kick and end of Arsenal 49 unbeaten winning streak? Hell No.
everyone knows arsenal is the biggest cheats on this planet - we all know manu and chelsea players in history have never cheated, dived or lied before
c.ronaldo, ruud, rooney, terry, drogba, robben and joe cole are the cleanest and most honest footballers on earth. everyone knows that
what a twat! you a yiddo supporter mate? i apologise that your team doesn’t have a thierry henry im very sorry. I will be first to admit as a gooner that henry made the most of the foul by pretending puyol smacked him in the face. The reason? oh maybe cos against arsenal in the champions league, barca we’re diving all over the place and so henry decided to try and get puyol punished for the littlest thing. But oh no cos he’s an arsenal player its all blown up 10 times. Don’t worry bout robben or droghead’s diving no just titi from arsenal. Seriously with you people get a life. Henry still has hard feelings towards puyol and barca for that night you could see it all game as the pundit said there was no love lost. So please stop getting excited and pissing your pants at the chance to rip an arsenal player. you mug.seriously mate get a life! Henry makes one stupid decision and he’s a cheat to you people. Anything to rip one of the best players in the world who happens to play for arsenal. Pathetic.
Do you have any evidence, please, to back up your comments Ahmed?
What I will say, is that Arsenal fans support Arsenal, and will generally back the team in most incidents. I think you will find that most supporters of most teams will do this.
Your article is pointless and unamusing. If you are that upset by Henry’s actions (which took place, as pointed out by someone else, whilst playing for France, not Arsenal), perhaps you should see a therapist. Clearly you have “issues”.
hey moron…a dive is only a dive if there was no foul…if their is a foul then its not a dive, its just making it obvious for the referee that you have been fouled. fool! a dive is when no-one fouls you and you pretend you were. like gerrard in the friendly or robben every week, or horseface and ronaldo.henry gets fouled all the time and it doesnt get called. hes sick of it so now hes gonna go down when fouled…bad luck
“1) Arsenal fans think that their club is above everyone else - a sentiment that the Arsenal team itself has shown under Wenger’s reign. That is absolute BS.”
Only Arsenal fan? Ask any fan - Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, even Forest, all of them thinks that their team is above everyone else. Thats why they call themselves a fan. Only a muck will say their team is inferior to others.
Don’t get ther point of this. why not critique every foul every other star player has been victim of to see if they ‘dived’. This is utterly pointless, and I’m not even an Arsenal fan.
Alright mate, take a chill pill! calm down!
None of us think we are any better than yourselves or Chelski, it sounds like a litlle bit of paranoya and insecurity creeping in there mate, maybe wanna get that checked out eh?
None of us have also said he was a saint, i think that was your words and yes he can cheat aswell as any of the more experienced cheaters at the club you support!
Maybe when you have a striker caapable of scoring 25 goals a season 5 years in a row you will also be protective of him, but to say we think he can do no wrong, thats way off base!
As mentioned above, i didnt see you guys castigating Rooney for a far worse infringement of the rules when he dived (without any contact) to win a penalty against us!
Now who is the one being 2 faced lol what a joke!
Ruud’s been topping the charts for as long as I can remember.
As for everyone else…read the article first, and then comment. ranting on without reading everything above isn’t going to help / add to the discussion
I’m a guuner fan, and here’s what i think:
1. It was a foul, as Puyol clearly did more than ’shoulder barge’ or prevent Henry from crossing him. He elbowed Henry, a serious offense which could have hurted a player and deserves the yellow card.
2. Henry did cheat, as Puyol only hit his stomach, not his face.
3. So, in short, it was a foul, but Henry cheated.
4. Either way, the freekick leading to goal still should stand, and Puyol still would have gotten the yellow card.
5. Henry should be condemmed for doing it, but his play-acting didn’t really made any difference. and it’s only his first time doing it.
There was no discussion from yourself just a one eyed argument/rant that has seriously back fired on you and made you look a bit of berk to be honest!
Henry career goals
Current club totals
Apps As sub Goals Yellow Red
Total (Club) 342 (29) 214 43 1
League 237 (18) 164 29 0
FA Cup 21 (6) 6 4 0
League Cup 3 (0) 2 0 0
European/Others 81 (5) 42 10 1
RVN Man Utd goals
Current club totals
Apps Assub Goals Yellow Red
Total (Club) 218 (19) 149 21 0
League 150 (13) 95 16 0
FA Cup 14 (3) 14 1 0
League Cup 6 (1) 2 0 0
European/Oth 48 (2) 38 4
now i think you’ll see henry has 219 goals and RVN has 149! I think that settles the arguement over who is/has the better record!
I wont lie i was left slightly dissapointed by Henry. I have never see him dive before. As an Arsenal fan i might be slightly biased but sometimes what goes around comes around. Puyol basically got a way with next to raping Henry along with Marquez and a few other and went unpunished. After the game Henry said maybe i will have to learn to dive to get a freekick. There is his revenge for that. Also aragones racist remarks meant his team deserved to be eliminated. How can you have a coach in charge who says those kinds of things.
Staying with what goes around comes around. Italy diving for the penalty? True but Italy got shafted 4 years ago by some blatant officiating decisions not going their way. 2 Offside goals, no penalty and a red card that wasnt. Who was the manager that day? Gus Hiddink the same Hiddink that managed Australia so it does show sometimes you get what you deserve.
Sorry in advanced for any grammar mistakes and speelling errors as i am typing fast while at work.
You sad weirdo, gettin all wound up like that about a player for France in a game against Spain.
1) he was playing for France at the time, not Arsenal (who he never once cheated for)
2) most sane people agree it was a foul anyway as Puyol elbowed him
3) Puyol cheated for 90 mins against him in May and Aragones called him a “black shit” so I reckon he owed them that.
4) You should try and move on now and get over the fact that Spurs missed out on CL place in their best ever season in the history of football ever.
Can’t even see an entry point to this discussion, how can you mix international soccer with Club soccer ? ? different managers, different Shirt, even different sets of fans ! ! For example, I’m a Gooner, but not a french supporter. Please mate, wait and show us when King henry dives while platying for Arsenal, I’ll show you a flying horse.
Blah Blah blah…boring…and by the way Arsenal is best
Nuff said!
Some math for you.
Henry: 214 goals in 342 games - an average of 62.57 percent
Nistelrooy: 149 goals in 218 games - an average of 68.35 percent.
Thanks
although I think Nistelrooy has 200 games, not 218, but that only further proves my point.
As for everyone else (those that had rational responses) - having other people cheat is no justification for your own players cheating, especially since Henry himself has said that he is ‘not a cheat’. Liar? Under pressure? what ever, just drop the holier than thou attitude.
Saying that he was playing for France and how that doesnt apply to Arsenal is the worst excuse for avoiding responsibility that I’ve ever seen. Henry is Henry. I’m calling Henry a diver, not Arsenal.
What else…I wasnt writing when Rooney dove or Nistelrooy tried to break Ashley Cole’s knee, so bugger me if I don’t write about the past.
Gerrard’s dive was awful, but no one came out and said that it wasnt a dive, not Liverpool fans, not even the player himself.
In this situation, Henry has said that he isnt a cheat, when even the fans say it was a dive.
Lastly - if that’s a foul, then we’ve got serious problems with referees.
Stop trying to justify the chip on your shoulder, every player dives…just deal with it!!
The stats prove one thing and one thing only, Thierry Henry has scored 70 odd more goals than RVN, having a .2% better strike ratio doesnt get you to the top of the scoring charts, only scoring goals does and i thinkyou’ll find Henry has out scored RVN in more seasons than he hasnt so dont try and get all technical mate, your point was “RVN has topped the scoring charts nmore often than not!” or something similar, Well there you go, NO he hasnt!
Fouls are given for less, check out italy’s penalty against the aussies! so yes we are probably intoruble, but of you mean easy/soft decisions then maybe we should allow hacks at players like ferdinand on ljungberg or RVN on Cole or hey how about Roy Keane’s great tackle on Alfie Haaland, thats how the game should be played right? sort it out mate your in a dream world!
Rooneys incident was in the past and so was henry’s!
Why didnt you criticise Gerrard for a dive, but jumped on the “im jealous of henry bandwagon”?
One swallow does not a summer make.
What comes around goes around basically. Puyol kicked Henry around the Stade de France seemingly with impunity from the referee. In fact, Puyol also flung his head back and grabbed his face when Henry\’s elbow caught him in the chest.
Everyone has their limits and even the fairest of competitors can only be pushed so far before they turn to the dark side.
It was a foul because Puyol ran across to block Henry without attempting to play the ball - that\’s obstruction.
This revenge has come at a price to his reputation but he won\’t care if he gets to lift the world cup again and at least he didn\’t take a leaf out of a certain Royston Keane\’s book when it comes to revenge.
I just want to make a point on the holier than thou comment.
I was told by a Man City supporting friend that he would rate Arsenal fans as the best amongst the more successful English clubs. Reason being, when he expresses an opinion about football we don’t shove how many thropies our club has won therefore we know more about football down his throat than a lot of Man Utd, Liverpool and now Chelsea fans regularily do!
Holier than thou, I think not. Classier than thou, by a country mile!
The Henry “dive” thing is old news so find something else to comment on!
You’ll find that Ruud has had fewer years and games in the Premiership than Henry. You will also find that Ruud scored 90 goals in 2 seasons, and 100 in less than 2 and a half years.
I did criticise Gerrard for a dive mate.
And I’m bashing Henry now (and baiting Arsenal fans) because of the ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude i’ve seen over the past few years.
Yea, every clubs thinks they are the best, but there’s a difference between being a fan and being myopic to your team’s flaws.
Oh, and for the record, I have no problems with cheating and what not - if that’s what floats your boat, then rock on.
but what I DO have an issue with is people saying they never dive or cheat and then they dive.
Henry said he didnt dive, the whole world is saying: yes you did.
Gerrard never said a word after that dive. Keano admitted that he went into that tackle deliberately.
And Ferdinand on Ljunberg? a body block similar to what Puyol did (almost like that).
And if you’re so concerned about off-the-ball fouls, look at Exhibit A above. Is that a foul?
Henry has been topscorer 3 times to RVN’s twice since they both played in the same league!
I guess that settles in really!
RVNs history
http://www.11v11.co.uk/index.php?pageID=537&playerID=6693
Henry’s history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Henry#Career_statistics
As a Man Utd fan, you are the last person who should be criticising supporters of a “holier-than-thou” attitude.
Goals equal records not ratio’s as you seem to be harping on about and mentioned before! RVN is clearly miles behind Henry’s current goalscoring total!
Yeah, ferdinand’s trip on Ljungberg, was a foul, as you mentioned above, You said Puyol didnt foul henry, which he clearly did and of a similar vain to ljunbergs treatment!
I notice you didnt comment on roy keanes tackle on Haaland, whats your defence for that? My point is cheating goes on unfortunatly your clubs recent history is a lot blacker than ours! Oh and we dont run after the ref the length of the pitch every other game when it comes to decisions against us! unlike others i may mention!
Sorry to say mate.. It was foul.. He was hit pretty hard.. not in the face but in the chest as replays show.. and the ref saw that clearly and awarded the free kick some 40 yards away from the Spain goal, and the yellow card to Puyol, not to mention the ref-assistant is on the same side and would have seen the incident as well. Henry fell clutchin is mouth, some people do react like that when hit in the upper body. Either way, I don’t think you have every played football to suggest that wasn’t a foul. Lots of gunners fans justifying that Henry dived cause others did it and its his turn, etc… You guys are crazy too. I am Gunner Fan.. That was a foul.. No doubt about it.. Puyol looked up.. ran towards and stopped him.. End of story.. Foul, yellow card.. as i said.. since the ref saw.. else it was a Red..
2001/2002 - RVN leads
2002/2003 - RVN leads
2003/2004 - Henry leads
2004/2005 - Ruud is injured for a big part of the season, plays only 16 Prem games. Henry leads
2005/2006 - Ruud is leading the tables in January when he is benched and plays very few games for the remainder of the season. Henry leads.
For three full seasons that each player played, the score is RVN 2, Henry 1.
Yes, Henry is a great player, and a fantastic goalscorer. But this isnt about Ruud and Henry.
LG - read my earlier comments for my reply about Roy’s tackle on Haaland - Keano had the balls to come out and say it was a deliberate foul. He was wrong, but he stood up and said yeah, i did it.
I don’t see Henry holding his hand up and saying he dove. If he does, I’ll be the first to congratulate him.
You guys dont run after refs? Gimme a break.
Excuses, excuses, excuses! You didnt say FULL season, Now, you mean “full” seasons, should of thought you’d trot that same old rubbish!
Your point was “So who has outscored who the most in each season?” That was your question, so stop making excuses and accept the facts as they are! 3-2 to henry.
If a player gets benched thats down to him and his form or attititude, as henry has neither problem at arsenal id say thats another black mark against RVN! Your not doing a good job at defending him here mate!
So that makes Keanes challenge ok? Because he had the balls to say, yes i nearly crippled the guy, if thats what amnusa fans admire then no wonder you are so dispised by all and sundry!
Eeeerm as for the ref chasing, i’ll have a wager there’s about a million examples of the “oldtrafford chase the ref relay” compared to the ref chasing we have done!
Look you quite clearly change the goal posts after every post i make regarding records and the such, how many times do i need to prove you wrong? Enjoy the prawn sandwiches and remember the seagulls follow the trawler.
Laters loser
you’re kidding me right? Arsenal players don’t run at the ref? :O Shit man, Vieira doing his best-buddy-of-the-referee must be just a mirage then, right? Freddie’s dive in this year’s match at Old Trafford? I saw Arsenal fans scream “that’s a fucking red card” before shutting up. Our history blacker than Arsenal’s? Damn man, you’ve got the most red cards, all the silly body checks by Campbell and a couple of cunty fouls by Vieira. Keane’s no saint but damn if Arsenal players don’t cheat. I think between Wenger, Ferguson and Mourinho, Wenger’s the most vocal one on cheating and diving and it was a shock (and good) to see him criticize Eboue for his dive, but otherwise? “I didn’t see it”. Haha, come on, look at the video, I’ve always respected Henry for staying up until he’s brought down - he would not have fallen on this before, trust me, and as a player I respect quite a bit, I’ve seen a lot of him.
Oh look a “johnny come lately”
Well mate when Alex Fungamoan slates one of his players for cheating (and hes had plenty of opportunities to do so, believe me) we can agree hes on the same moral ground as Wenger, until then………. well yo get the picture!
Your fucking persistent in pursuing your personal agenda. I’d divert all that energy into supporting my own club rather than wearing yourself out on this pathetic display of petty prejudice. You don’t like Henry, fair enough. Like, he’ll be bothered.
http://soccerlens.com/tags/manchester-united/
By the way, I like Henry - I just dont like how Arsenal fans (after complaining so much about Henry being fouled) are now so quick to brush the dive away and react like their mothers have been insulted when someone says that he was wrong to dive.
Guys, all emotions apart, i think we agree on two things - Henry dove, and that he shouldn’t have.
The rest, well, you’re entitled to your opinions. I don’t think it was a foul, and I think it’s very pathetic of Henry to say all that he said after the CL match and then to go ahead and do this.
Justifying it by saying that ‘others do it’ and ‘Puyol had it coming for him’ is not only hypocritical, it’s childish and illogical.
Oh and…keep those wonderful, reasoned and thought out comments coming.
ok his a manc no wonder he’s moaning
Henry the Angel dived and cheated which resulted in a freekick that led to a goal. Good to see him crying and whinging about fairplay and commenting on other teams not having gamemanship do the dive of the year. Yeap, it definately tops the poll for divers of the year (poor Robben, maybe he might win it next year if he is more consistent in his diving) as it was witnessed by more than a billion people around the planet watching the World Cup.
The issue here is not Ruud vs Henry. The issue here is this:
1) Henry makes a huge fuss about the opposition diving in the CL final, and then says after the France vs Spain match that he will never dive, that he never dove.
It was a dive, clear and simple.
2) I don’t think it’s a foul at all, and if Henry had not gone to ground the whistle wouldn’t have blown.
Now will everyone direct their criticism / opinions to that?
As far as everything else…read my post again and then decide for yourself if it is ontopic or not.
The same Arsenal fans that stayed behind after the final whistle in Paris and TO A MAN applauded Barca lifting the trophy. I take your point on Henry, personally I think it was a foul but I was surprised by his histrionics, but don;t just invent arguments and then deconstruct them. If you had been in Paris on May 17th you’d realise that we do not hold any grudges towards Barca, because we respect them as a good team.
Oh and another point, funny how Gerrard, Owen and J Cole were not even nearly questioned for their blatant cheating, yet Henry and Robben are being sentenced to death, uncross your wires and perhaps listen to the words of Malcolm X, “yOU’RE NOT SO BLIND WITH PATRIOTISM THAT YOU CAN’T FACE REALITY. WRONG IS WRONG, NO MATTER WHO DOES IT OR WHO SAYS IT.” An article on Joe Cole getting Ljungberg booked in the Sweden game please!
You might want to look at my articles on Robben and Reyes and my match review for the England vs Hungary warmup game (Gerrard dive).
Please, let me clarify one more thing - this is directed towards Arsenal fans, not Henry. He is an outstanding footballer, who did something really really stupid.
The reason i’ve persisted with this issue (4 posts in 2 days) is because of what Henry himself has said, and more importantly, of how Arsenal fans have put him on a pedestal when he is just like all of us.
If you guys can accept that, then we’re good to move on.
Tim: Wrong is wrong, definitely. But who will tell Henry that (who said he did not dive)? Wrong cannot be justified by saying ‘they did it, so we should do it to them as well’.
I think you’ll find most Arsenal fans have said the theatrics were out of order. It was a foul though, no question.
And I’m bashing Henry now (and baiting Arsenal fans)
Good to see you’re being objective then. Grow up.
The snippet you quote is absolutely out of context.
This is the full line:
And I’m bashing Henry now (and baiting Arsenal fans) because of the ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude i’ve seen over the past few years.
It’s a comment half-way through, so you might want to read it again.
Would do you well to read my last comment as well.
Ahmed, you run as fast as Henry was and let someone else obstruct you. you’ll fall down aswell. When have Arsenal fans said henry is perfect? never! For you to think obstruction without even going for the ball is not a foul shows that debating with you is not even worth it.
So you spoke to the WHOLE WORLD and they told you they feel henry dived right? thats what your title says. It was a foul or was there no contact? Your just a typical rival fan who cant think from a neutral perspective.
It’s not out of context. I just left a bit out.
If you were a regular Arseblog reader you’d know my ‘in the past’ comments were not to be take 100% seriously.
However, you’ve said you’ve written an article to bash Henry and to bait Arsenal fans.
Maybe you should have linked to my post yesterday where I said that what he did in terms of clutching his face was not right and that we expect better from him.
How is that holier-than-thou?
so your posts are not meant to be taken 100% seriously now?
Yes, I do realise that such comments (and sports commentary in general) is not 100% serious - that writers often take creative liberty (as I did with my post title) or allow emotions to creep into their writing.
I\’d suggest that you allow others the same liberty. You might be interested in reading the rest of the site and checking out other articles on our Arsenal channel ( http://soccerlens.com/tags/arsenal/ - you\’ll find that it\’s not all hype and \’baiting\’ as you think.
The post you\’re referring to is this one:
http://arseblog.com/WP/?p=86
I agree with your analysis on the most part - it was out of character and hopefully its one off.
But from where I sit it wasnt a foul (by the way, now that you\’re here, see Exhibit A in the post - is that a foul?).
The rest well - the holier-than-thou comment is for arsenal fans in general and is my opinion based on what i\’ve seen/read/heard in the last few seasons (especially after 2001). It\’s not personal, as almost all comments seem to think it is.
Have I written an article to bash henry and bait arsenal fans? Really?
You, as a serious blogger, should know better than that. Read the rest of the site, then make your judgements.
I still stand by what I\’ve said here though, so if you disagree with anything I said in the post let me know (the foul bit I guess we\’ll never agree on).
What’s your problem and what’s it got to do with Arsenal fans? At the end of the day it was a free kick, even if he did hold his face, all players act and if you watch football you should know that. Let me ask you, was Rooneys dive in the penalty box from a tackle from Sol Campbell really a penalty that brought Arsenals unbeaten run to an end? I don’t think so.
Can I say this people?
1 This is to all Arsenal Fans.
To fans all over the world, when a player goes down “unnecessarilly”, he is called a diver and a cheat. In modern football, there are rules. Within these rules, some infringements are not given if its extent is not evidenced by a response. In such cases, the referee assumes, such contacts are acceptable to the player and would wave play on. I am not saying all players should go down whenever they are touched. In todays football, a lot of gamesmanship goes on and is fast becoming part of the game. Infact, it is now deciding who wins a very crucial game, like we’ve seen lately. I saw the game. The closest defender to Henry was not Carles and Carles took it upon himself to cut across him and barge him off.
A referee’s rationale here would be, WAS THERE A BALL IN SIGHT TO BE WON? NO
This is not just the point. Puyols motive was malicious. It was very obvious they were like cat and mouse throughout the game and objectively I think Puyol went just a little bit too far.
WAS IT A FOUL?
YES! WITHOUT A DOUBT
WAS IT SO BAD THAT HENRY HAD TO HOLD HIS FACE, DESPITE CONTACT MADE TO HIS CHEST?
NO, INFACT HENRY COULD HAVE NOT REACTED AT ALL
HAD HENRY NOT REACTED AT ALL, WOULD THE REFEREE HAD GIVEN THE FREE KICK?
NO, HE WOULD HAVE WAVED PLAY ON!
2. AHMED — To me, this is the bare truth. It is not fair to single out a player as a diver. The term “diver” is for players like PIRES DROGBA & RVN. You dont know which club I support. I’m just objective here. To dive is to cheat. Don’t allow the cliche (A dive is a dive ) to get in the way of reasoning. Not all going downs are dives! At times, players have to show the referee they were caught, particularly if it happened very fast.
All this argument is really unnecessary if you can differentiate a dive from an infringement call.
FOR ME, Henry was fouled.
He over-reacted.
But there was no other option to get his call.
END OF.