Rooney, Eduardo and the "art of diving"

There are times in which clearly, I can hardly understand things and today, Rooney's actions seem to be one of that odd, ill-fated world of dreamy machineries. In any case, the alleged penalty that gave England the advantage at Wembley on Saturday's night was in the middle of controversy, as well as his penalty against Arsenal a week earlier and Eduardo's Celtic incident



Paola is really talented, and her style seems to have been studied by several footballers.


Whether the monumental array of opinions that was summoned by Eduardo's diving (involving from major blogs, to football forums and message boards and David Beckham's "voice of reason") is going to stop in fewer days than Djorou's injury, the incredible amount of opinion is poised to deviate even the sharpest of readers or critic into a certain position.

This little incident has become something of a Pandora's box, and in the discussion of it has led to the most drastic mentions such as the fifth official, new repetitions with special cameras and special technologies and so forth.
So many things have been said since the home match against Celtic and the latter encounter at Old Trafford (opinions which will be given here later, hehe!) that I am completely sick and tired about them

As if it was not enough lull, England face Croatia on Wednesday. Strange but expected. Eduardo scoring a hat trick? Erhm... we'll see.



The most "honest" players? Well, you could see a very slight tear coming from each corner of his eyes!


It seems that as Spanish red wines (mostly every wine ahem) Phil Ball's comments just keep getting better and better. he has coined some new fantastic terms into our football vocabulary but the "Post-Modern" manager seems to be one that we will be hearing of in the course of the years. When I escape from the lull of school I will get a good grip to the book he recommends there.

More to come?

I wasn't quite excited about Tomas Rosicky comeback to tell you the truth. As well as the boss I was very reluctant to put his name on the list of "options" because of the extent of his injury could deepen to certain extremes such as the one we are watching. Again he has fallen into the hands of the nurses and the most positive deadlines put him at least a month away. By that time Samir should be available, a pity for the Czech.







Certain comparissons are just rubish. I admit that I made a mistake concerning the comparisson between Jack and Dennis, which now seems closer and fairer but coarse and wide similes are made just in order to drive or attract attention from whoever wants it. Arseblogger sums it up succinctly:

"By all means let's be excited by his potential but let's not build him up so high that when reality bites we're not distraught and hysterical. His talent is obvious, but he's just 17 and playing in a no pressure pre-season environment. League football is different, European football is different, and believe it or not he might not play well some days. So while there's nothing we can do about what the press say or the hype merchants at Sky say, we can do the right thing and, like the manager says, respect his development.
Then we can all celebrate Jack's ascension as our new God and worship him like the deity he is."







The other important batch of news coming -aside from the tedious and horrid Goal.com's 'exclusives' on transfers- is regarding Arsenal's Champions League qualifications draw. The pool of options offers a relatively easy and comfortable layout. Previous clashes involved Twente, Sparta Praha and while the prospect of facing Anderlecht and Timosoara appears relieving, the most difficult draw would certainly be agaisnt La Viola and Celtic.
Italian teams in the course of the last years have proved to be difficult but the London team has had a good record, especially when going to San Siro. We will see what the draw delivers.







All in all I think that 'Paddy' will not come to the Emirates. It is a shame but when one realises the truth and actual shape of the French international things suddenly turn agaisnt the ex-captain. In any case I think that the area that requires strenght should be the one he left empty, and the already psychological boost would be of great gratitude. We will see how the final hours of the transfer saga develops, hoping not to bring someone of the likes of Lassana Diarra.