Barely 24 hours after Eduardo killed football, the British media was afforded an opportunity to show that it’s there are not just out to get Arsenal. England and Aston Villa star Ashley young earned himself not 1 but 2 penalties in the space of ten minutes in a vain attempt to influence the outcome of the tie.

Reading the match reports you will find any doubt that Ashley Young penalties were won in the true British tradition of fairness and gentlemanly conduct. You see diving is purely a foreign affliction and there is no way an honest English player will go down without being fouled by the opponent.

The only mention of Youngs’ antics was in the live text on BBC by Jonathan Stevenson who wrote

Ashley Young surges into the box and goes down again, this time it didn’t look like much contact.

Sorry to say this, but if Eduardo’s a cheat, then Ashley Young’s not far behind him – let’s not pretend diving isn’t a disease caught by English players too. Young goes down so easily in the Rapid box once more, and once more it’s a spot kick.

Otherwise there is a complete news blackout on the event, cover-up, conspiracy, or pure hypocrisy? you tell me.

Champions League Draw

Arsenal headed up group H in the Champions League draw last night, the group consists of

• Arsenal
• AZ Alkmaar
• Olympiakos
• Standard Liege

Not a bad draw, although as Ivan Gazidis pointed out everyone in our group is champions of their league so we cannot take anything for granted. Having said that, barring some kind of catastrophe I can’t see why we wouldn’t get through to the knock-out rounds.

When Platini opens his mouth it’s mostly rubbish that comes out, so I wouldn’t blame anyone who dismissed his latest missive about clubs spending only what they earn by 2012. It’s a noble aspiration but unfortunately it won’t be workable, especially when people like Abromavich and co can simply dip their hands in their pocket and gift to their clubs. The salary cap doesn’t even work in league II —otherwise Sol would not be there— I can’t see how it can work across Europe.

There was another quote attributed to Platini that was genuinely surprising,

It’s mainly the owners that asked us to do something: Roman Abramovich, Silvio Berlusconi, Massimo Moratti. They do not want to fork out any more.

When people like that are worried about spending levels then there is a real problem in football, or maybe they are just scared of Manchester City’s sending power. One thing is for sure as long as Arsenal continues to be run as it is now then we should have no reason to worry. Then again jabba-the-hut is snapping up shares as fast as he can down pierogis, we should be worried about someone pay £2000 over market value for shares.

Thanks for reading, until next time.