Long went absolutely looking for that. Let's see if the pundits scrutinize Long the same way they have Richarlison. That was more of a dive than Richarlison's.
Dele Alli puts in a disgraceful dive against Hudds: yellow card that has zero impact on the game. No ban as the ref saw it. Pundits condemn but move on. Charly is clipped twice and pushed: pundits scream for a two game ban. I wonder what it is about English Alli and Brazilian Richarlison that causes this discrepancy? Still don't think it was a pen though.
Deeney made a very good point. He said when incidents happen against Watford they get glossed over quickly and everyone moves on. He said it's just little Watford. When it happens to a bigger club it gets far more coverage. He referred back to the City game where we conceded TWO offside goals and nothing is said about it. Had Ozil scored that great chance he had it would have been another offside goal. Ozil was clearly off but it would have been glossed over and everyone would have said Arsenal would have won anyway so it didn't really have a major impact. But as we all saw, it did mean something. We went on to win a game we would have lost had Ozil made it 2-0. EVERYTHING matters. It would be a travesty if Richalison gets a two match ban. It shouldn't even be up for discussion. But Wenger has made it an issue. What should happen is Wenger gets a touchline ban for his comments saying it was a "scandalous decision", when it was nothing of the sort. Today we saw Shane Long dive for a penalty and got it. The commentary said it was a definite penalty. There was contact with the player but it looked like he dived as his fall didn't look natural. Richalison was fouled and the way he fell was a natural fall of someone losing his balance and being pushed in the back. I love the stir we are causing, but I hope we don't get derailed by unfair punishments. I think Silva has summed it up perfectly. http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co....inst-arsenal/story-30530501-detail/story.html
Some comments on twitter about Long's dive "Shane Long loves buying one like that!" - Saints fan "Shane Long, Lol. Basically kicks the ball away and stops running. Gets a cheap pen." - Palace fan "Still as clever as ever @ShaneLong7." - Hull City fan someone responded "That fella must have never seen him play before." - West Brom fan "Well played @ShaneLong7! He kicked the ball out of play before the challenge came in as he knew he was about to get flattered! Superb." - Spurs fan These are just some examples from football fans of other clubs so no biasness and what Long did is being praised. The only fans ticked off are the Newcastle ones. If Richarlison is banned I hope Silva does everything to highlight what Shane Long did because his was an actual dive. Not only did he kick the ball away from the defender and out of play, he continued to run in the direction of the defender without the ball, left a leg out and initiated the contact himself and deliberately went down. Edit: another tweet from a saints fan "@ShaneLong7 conned the referee there."
Incidentally a stat from the BBC live coverage: No side has been awarded more Premier League penalties in 2017 than Southampton (seven, level with Bournemouth).
I thought it was a daft tackle from the Newcastle player considering the ball was going out tbh. One that encouraged Long to go down which all the pundits say "is part of the game"
I'm not sure Wenger would gain any advantage by us not having Richarlison against Chelsea so maybe he should shut the **** up (unless of course he sees us as a threat to his Europa League place).
Just seen footage of that and.. i give up. He's proper clattered into him! Far more a clear cut penalty than ours was. I think some of you must be wearing the thickest Horn(et) rimmed glasses available
That is a good point.. You can see a Jose or Klopp complaining if a player who gets done for diving misses a key game against one of their rivals.
I think it’s a completely different situation to ours and not really comparable, but I think the issue people have with it is that he just kicks the ball out of touch and waits to be clattered, he very much bought it. Not a dive and technically he was fouled, but he wasn’t going to do anything from where he was whereas Richy was in a dangerous position.
That bit in bold, is something I entirely disagree with. I have never accepted that. He was caught as he ran past one of the fastest defenders in the league. He was going full pelt and stretched to touch the ball beyond the tackle which upsets balance. In my view the reason why he should not get banned is because, even though it has been seen from loads of angles and at slo-mo, we cannot be sure whether he fell over from the contact he received to his knee, lower leg, and upper body, or whether he dived. I saw that Keith Hackett agreed with Poll today, calling for the ban, saying that "contact" can be "manufactured" that a player can leave a leg behind, or can run across a player. Now that is what Sean Long did this afternoon. He touched the ball to the left, and ran to the right where the defender was. Still a blatant clattering and a pen though! In Richardson's case he was running in the direction of the ball, and Bellerin was running slightly to the left. The panel cannot be used to make an example of someone, who may be innocent.
It'll be bad for the game when any contact equals a foul. Your post is spot on. No-one knows the extent of the contact so a ban would be pure guesswork, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's a foul.
Perhaps he's just got a **** control of the ball? It was a toe poke. Two things i dont get there. Firstly if you suspect you are about to get clattered by a defender why would you kick the ball away deliberately? What advantage does that gain you in claiming a foul over having the ball? Secondly.. it doesnt matter if you are in a dangerous position or not. It's not relevant to whether or not a foul is given. You could also say that our boy had played the ball a bit too far in front of him. Not deliberately but under the pressure of the tackle.
Also from BBC: Pope announces religious persuasion and scientists finally solve the Ursine defecation conundrum...
yes it was soft, but there was contact. So far I haven't seen any conclusive evidence that it was a dive
Not quite sure what went wrong with that last post. Anyway, let's move on. I'm pretty much with Stevohorn on this one with maybe a couple of caveats. Back in the day when men were men and Harvey Weinstein hadn't emerged to f.ck everything up you only 'went down' when you were clattered so hard, or tripped, or pushed in the back, or 'leant on' so hard, or elbowed that you had no other option. There was no 'thinking about it' involved at all. Either immediately pre-event, or during it, or immediately post it. It's a game of football ffs. A contact sport. Not some production on the stage at Stratsford-on-Avon asking the question 'to fall or not to fall'? Now some on here would seem to dispute the way things should be considered now. Including a bunch of pundits. Man up I say. As for yesterday's incident? Too close to call. As evinced by the disagreement amongst the 'pundits'. Ref's call all day. A number of 'incidents' involving Zaha, Ali, Wilson (and the rest of the Muff diving team) aren't close to call at all. So, no further action required on yesterday's incident then. Were there to be, then let's all go down there and kick a few heads in.
It wasnt a dive, but not sure it was enough contact for a pen, but the fact is he was clipped. All Wenger's moaning has done is deflect from his terrible subs and weakminded players. He would not have moaned if it was the other way round. No doubt he wouldn't have seen the incident. All we have done is stir the big boys who dont like their top 6 club being gate crashed. Not saying we will be anywhere near come May but at the moment we look the biggest threat to their cartel. They have this panel, they now have a soft pen against a big team and the chance to set down a marker..2 game ban which inadvertently helps Chelsea so all good. Which will leave me and all Watford fans fuming.
This is breathtaking. It is really difficult to understand what kind of glasses you are viewing these two incidents through. Yes, it is a penalty for Long, just as it was for Richarlison, but it was as cynical a ploy to get a penalty as you will ever see. He kicks the ball deliberately to his left where he isn't likely to see it again until tomorrow, it was not poor control, you can see him shape his foot to the ball; but, to answer why it was important for him to play it (see another of your posts above) if he doesn't play the ball, the defender will - therefore no penalty, possibly not even a corner; Long had to make sure the defender could not get the ball. He knew the challenge was coming, and if he didn't play the ball, the best he could hope for was a corner. I assume you are suggesting that in this case he was justified in his action in order to cynically win a penalty. Richarlison, however, is stretching in an attempt to play towards the goal when he is impeded, and would have attempted the same whether or not Bellerin was there or not. Just wondering why a less cynical, and equally justified penalty call offends you so much. You don't have to get clattered to be impeded, in fact, going back to your much lamented good old days of outstanding sportsmanship, a light clip on the ankle was a very acceptable way of taking out or putting off a player to gain an advantage that couldn't be obtained within the realms of honest fair play. If I remember correctly, the review body was brought in to examine deliberate play to draw a penalty, such as leaving the trailing foot where it could get caught. I don't believe it is specifically there to identify diving retrospectively, which can be dealt with by the referee (diving is a yellow card, where as the deceit of such play is a two match ban). I think Long's penalty was far closer to that type of play than Richarlison. I know we are not going to agree on this, but again, I just want to make the case for our boy with some perspective alongside the case you are putting for Long.
It's becoming a witch hunt. How dare Watford beat Arsenal. . Keith Hackett says RDA should be made an example. Why should he be singled out? Because he isnt English? Is black? Plays for Watford? The racist football establishment is starting to gang up on us again.
Richarlison vs Bellerin is one of the fastest sprint contests in the league. As a sprinter myself, I can say that the slightest contact at full speed will make you lose balance. Calling it a dive is like saying Mo Farah dived at Rio 2016. Sent from my G8141 using Tapatalk
100% with you there. Cannot stand the way this is used as an excuse for players to fall over too easily and in that respect Richarlison went over a little easily. But that’s the thing though. Pundits around the country have been saying it for so bloody long, wildly wrong in its message, and yet are now saying that this is a dive. Cannot have it both ways. I’m with Deeney and the MotD guys here, happens at the other end and they’d use the “earns the right to go down” and you sure as hell wouldn’t hear a hint from Wenger it was a dive.
He dived. Yes there was contact, but it's a contact sport. He definitely throws himself to the floor a split second after, and despite what moron pundits and ex- players might tell you, there is no 'right to go down'. Would be amazed not to see him banned.
I would be disgusted to see him banned given its not "clearly" a dive. I wouldn't be surprised though.
I liked this from the remarkably sensible 'onlinegooner' forum: Re: watford away thread Postby Perryashburtongroves » Sun Oct 15, 2017 2:01 pm I see Wenger called the penalty decision "scandalous" I hope the FA ask him to explain that comment and follow it up with a hefty fine. I know the money is meaningless but it's nice to see him questioned without being arrogantly and airily allowed to dismiss the question. I wonder what he thought of the nailed on penalty not being awarded to WBA... or didn't he see the incident? I'm hoping for a touchline ban which lasts for about 18 months.
