UNTOLD ARSENAL » 2008 » October » 19

It was there for all to see. All who have eyes that is (which naturally excludes most of the “professional” media, naturally.)

Rotational fouling and institutionalised timewasting. Exactly as perfected by Notlob under the Allerdyce manifestation, and developed further by the Oooze at Blackburn before he wandered off to Manchester Arab.

Rotational fouling is the sourge of the game – player A does a nasty little foul, then player B, then player C… and so it goes on. There is nothing in the rules against this – each foul is the first by the player and the ref lets the first go – it is not bad enough to be booked for. Indeed many of them are let go.

Then round a second time, then a third, by which time we have had 20 or more niggling fouls, and we are only just starting to get to the finger wagging stage.

Meanwhile there is the timewasting – in which the goalkeeper (the player least likely ever to be booked by any referee) suddenly feels the need to argue with his defenders rather than take the goal kick just awarded, or holds the ball when it should be released. Howard held it at one stage for 17 seconds, which is somewhat excessive even in these lackadaisical days. The referee either didn’t know the rules, didn’t have a stop watch, or just didn’t care a toss. I suspect the latter.

Even the manager got involved – deliberately kicking the ball away when it landed at this feet, making the Arsenal player scamper after. It was just so… unnecessary. So childish. It summed up Everton.

That the violent attack on Denilson by Hibbert happened just showed us what rotational fouling leads to. The FA have refused even to consider it an issue. They’ll probably charge Arsenal and deduct 2 points because the Arsenal players were justly outraged.

As for the violence in the visitors’ section – ultimately I despair. The sight of police wielding battons leaning into the away section thumping anyone on the head who gets within range is something we like to pretend only happens in foreign parts. But Liverpudlians have a long tradition of violence at football games, and this was at least just a minor spat compared with what they are capable of. What are they doing? Just because racist and homophobic chanting, combined with threats of violence and attempts to get at the home supporters are accepted at Portsmouth when Tottenham play there, it doesn’t mean it is accepted at Arsenal.

It is hard to know what should be done with these supporters from Liverpool – or come to that their team, which is now, deservingly, sinking into the depths.

We had 22 goal attempts to 7, (14 to 3 on target) which shows just how far ahead we were. We were caught offside five times – but read one newspaper today and if you were not there it would look as if Ade spent the whole game sitting on the goal line behind their keeper. His runs were not perfect, but as a tactic for unnerving a defence that was pushing further and further up to the half way line, it wasn’t a bad idea.

One more thing: Denilson has played every game, and is growing in stature and ability by the second. If we had bought Flamini II we would have missed this – in fact I suspect a lot of supporters have failed to see just what Denilson is doing. There is something quite remarkable happening to that young man, and it is a joy to watch.