Arsenal - 1 Tottenham - 1: Throughout the saga of Thierry Henry's uncertain future mention has been made of how much Arsenal will miss the striker if he departs. Over the past 15 days their fans have received painful confirmation of the gap he would leave. None will doubt that Arsene Wenger's gambles in not starting the captain against Manchester United and Tottenham contributed to taking one point from those two matches. It now looks as if the team will have to win the European Cup to play in it next season.
Wenger is entitled to point out that Arsenal only drew at Portsmouth in between with Henry and that sparing use of the 28-year-old in the Premiership may make the difference between the club lifting the European Cup for the first time or going out in the semi-finals.
The manager cannot be blamed for wanting to take a rare chance to prevail in that tournament and correctly predicted that Villarreal would rest 10 players against Real Sociedad on Saturday. But failure in Europe and a finish below fourth in the league will leave his selections looking unwise.
Whatever the rights or wrongs of omitting Henry here, his impact after coming on in the 62nd minute spoke volumes. Though one of his first duties was to watch Robbie Keane's incendiary goal, he responded by making a chance, equalising and helping to push Spurs ever deeper in Arsenal's best spell of pressure.
Henry psychologically boosts his team while deflating opponents, and Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie were mainly quiet. Henry's celebration after he finished sweetly from a rare penetrating Adebayor pass, running almost the length of the field towards the away fans, is unlikely to bring Football Association censure, though the governing body will take guidance from the referee Steve Bennett on that as it sifts through the fallout.
It will today study footage of Jens Lehmann's and Robert Pires' confrontation with Edgar Davids after Keane's goal to decide whether charges are required. It will also examine Wenger's claim that Martin Jol lied in saying he had not seen two Arsenal players on the floor after colliding as Spurs began the move that ended in them scoring and the managers going eyeball to eyeball.
He may be asked to explain his comments and can expect a fine if subsequently charged and found guilty. He was still consumed by anger that Tottenham had not kicked the ball out to allow treatment when he addressed his selections.
"People will criticise because Thierry Henry didn't start," he said, "but at the end of the day I think if Tottenham had not stolen that goal we would have won."
Talk of lying and thieving reflected Wenger's frustration at Arsenal's performance and the latest failure of his rotation but should not obscure one important fact. Jol made one of Saturday's more unarguable observations when he said: "Tottenham deserved something from this game."
Spurs were superior in the first half and could have won with sharper finishes or final passes. Aaron Lennon exposed Philippe Senderos and Mathieu Flamini when running at them but needs to improve his delivery.
This season Arsenal have won two of the eight Premiership games Henry has not started. On Saturday they were not helped by vapid displays from Jose Reyes and Pires and the inability of Abou Diaby to help Gilberto Silva gain a grip on a midfield in which Michael Carrick and Teemu Tainio were outstanding.
Spurs are guaranteed a Uefa Cup berth and wins at home to Bolton and at West Ham will secure fourth spot.
They were helped by a clever performance by Keane, who could hardly miss when set up by a cross from the busy Davids, whose late red card for a second booking could not ruin Tottenham's joy.
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Best quote of the day from Jol.
"He doesn't know how strong I am, otherwise he wouldn't approach me with a head-butt," smirked an unrepentant Jol afterwards. He was though, "disappointed" to be called a liar, insisting he had not seen Eboue on the ground"
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Spurs leave Highbury with a lasting legacy
By Clive Tyldesley (Filed: 24/04/2006)
Match details
Arsenal (0) 1 Tottenham (0) 1
In pics: Premiership action
Your View: Premiership forum
The last goal scored by a Tottenham player at Highbury could prove to be both the most famous and infamous of them all. A glory, glory moment for Spurs will be forever recorded in Arsenal folk history as an act of treachery. Whenever 'the Robbie Keane goal' is drunkenly debated in years to come, it will be remembered differently on each side of the north London divide, particularly if it is all that divides Tottenham from Arsenal in the Champions League race.
The two managers traded insults and locked touchline antlers over it. Arsene Wenger accused Martin Jol of lying about it. On the field, it led to Edgar Davids being set upon by Jens Lehmann. Even up in the stately Highbury directors' box, suited and booted VIPs openly bickered about it. The legacy of a goal that broke no laws and no bones, and was no more than Tottenham deserved, could run into millions. Because of it, Arsenal's most direct route back into the Champions League is now to win it.
For once, the referee did not get blamed by all and sundry. And yet, Steve Bennett's quick spot-check on the condition of the two Arsenal players who collided and went down as Tottenham headed for goal is the key to settling the controversy. If he had considered that either was in need of immediate attention, he could have stopped the game. Michael Carrick and Davids merely followed his lead and their instincts in playing on to set up Keane's simple finish, rather than kick the ball out to allow Arsenal to treat their wounded. Only Emmanuel Eboue subsequently required treatment, and he was able to continue.
The whole incident was unfortunate, but Arsenal's reaction was unacceptable. Lehmann raced from his goal to join Robert Pires in hounding and haranguing Davids. Wenger confronted and accused Jol, who stood his ground in an unseemly clash of eyeballs. Soon after the restart, Pires kicked through Jermain Defoe with a crude and vengeful tackle. Something was thrown into the Spurs section of the directors' box, where the Arsenal managing director threatened to expel one visitor. Worst of all, Thierry Henry followed his brilliant equaliser by running towards the Spurs fans to provocatively celebrate before them. "We are responsible for our behaviour," Wenger said defiantly. "Tottenham behaved like they behaved. It's their responsibility, but I think if they had not stolen that goal, we would have won the game."
Methinks Arsenal protesteth too much. Without their over-reaction they might not have found the momentum to rescue anything from a weary display. Wenger rested five key players ahead of tomorrow's Champions League semi-final return with Villarreal and Tottenham could have been a couple of goals up even before Keane struck. Aaron Lennon led Arsenal a merry first-half dance, and Carrick was imperious throughout. The watching Sven-Goran Eriksson has probably settled on his World Cup team, and doesn't need anyone changing his mind now. He had better stay away from Tottenham games. Carrick's poise, presence and pass selection were immaculate. Unhurried and unerring in his use of the ball, he was a whisker away from capping a pedigree performance with a stunning individual goal before the break.
Such goals are weekly occurrences in the life of Henry. Released from his substitute's cage with half an hour to go, the revved up Arsenal captain saved the day with a sumptuous late offering. His first touch to control Emmanuel Adebayor's pass was almost as deft as the casual flick of the foot with which he caressed the ball past Paul Robinson. Arsenal's final onslaught was reinforced when Davids needlessly got himself sent off, but all Wenger's frantic Basil Fawlty impressions on the touchline could not contrive a happy ending.
The Arsenal manager's frustration was deepened by Philippe Senderos limping off at Highbury with a knee injury that will probably rule him out against Villarreal. So a north London derby without the added spice of a Sol Campbell appearance may prove to be the game that returns the England centre-back to centre stage.
The dust from this game will not settle until the final Champions League place is settled. The destiny of fourth place in the Premiership is Tottenham's to do what they will with - at home to Bolton and away to West Ham. But thanks to Uefa's muddled ruling, in the wake of Liverpool's win last year, Arsenal's Champions League destiny is still in their own hands. And Tottenham's with it. No wonder the two managers are not quite ready to shake hands.
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Karlos you have implied that anybody neutral is a so called neutral.Originally Posted by KarlosIRL
I might prefer to be called a liar and a cheat but a so called neutral hurts
I will rephrase the question. Have you found anybody anywhere in the media (outside the Arsenal box) who thinks the goal was tainted as a result of an unsporting act, that Carrick cheated, that Davids cheated?
The battle for places in the Champions League and the FA Cup Final - coupled with the increasingly puzzling search for England's new manager - provided the perfect backdrop to a weekend of high-drama.
It started with a very public spat between Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger and Spurs counterpart Martin Jol, had the filling of Liverpool and West Ham reaching Cardiff, and was rounded off by the emergence of Luiz Felipe Scolari as favourite to succeed Sven-Goran Eriksson.
I feel Wenger should apologise to Jol for labelling him a liar
Let's start at Highbury and the controversy over Robbie Keane's goal in the 1-1 draw at Arsenal that saw Spurs edge closer to sealing fourth place.
Arsenal clearly felt Spurs should have put the ball out with two of Wenger's players down injured.
I have to beg to differ, and I feel Wenger should apologise to Jol for labelling him a liar over his insistence he never saw the incident.
The pictures are conclusive. Jol did not see it. He was looking at Edgar Davids all the time and Wenger has got it wrong.
I now feel an apology is in order from Wenger. People will understand the stakes were high, and things are said in the heat of the moment that are sometimes over the top.
I speak from experience. When my Liverpool team-mate Jim Beglin broke his leg in a challenge with Gary Stevens in a League Cup tie at Everton, I was asked what I thought of the tackle.
My response was: "Apart from being a mile high and an hour late it was fine."
I was speaking right after a game when I'd seen a mate badly injured by what I thought was a bad tackle. It was heat of the moment stuff on my part and it was later sorted out.
The issue of putting the ball out of play when someone is down injured is a thorny one - I believe Spurs were completely within their rights to play on at Highbury.
The injuries were not bad, referee Steve Bennett had checked, and was happy for play to continue.
I must stress I am not talking about Saturday's situation, which was a genuine collision between two players, but there is a growing fear that this recent piece of sportsmanship is open to abuse.
If there is a clash of heads or a very obvious injury, play should not go on, but there may be cases where if a player goes down and the opposition are attacking, they are not going to get up in a hurry and may hope play is stopped.
You can bracket it with diving. They are seeking to gain an unfair advantage.
Arsenal were not doing this on Saturday - but Jol still deserves an apology from Wenger
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Michael Carrick. The most defining comment on the incident of the whole weekend.
Foot.ie - NFL Fantasy Football Champion, 2006!
Karlos, Carrick said he did not see it but if he had seen it he would have kicked the ball out of play. Wenger has called Jol a liar and Spurs liars. He should say sorry for that. Carricks judgement is that if he saw it he would have kicked the ball out of play, fair enough but I honestly think the decision should rest with the ref and not the players and the ref clearly was happy with the play going ahead. If we have a game officiated by players discretion it will result in anarchy. As I said earlier the refs whistle must be the key to the start and stop of the game.
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Speaking of bias - there's no one better at it than Clive Tyldesley but I'm sure you know that history already. He couldn't even get the shaking hands incident correct at the end.
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Should also just point out that Spurs have qualified for Europe through a league postition which is the 1st time since 1982/83 season. Of course they would have done so 1987 but English teams were banned from Europe.
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I agree with most of that Neil but Carrick's own admission proves that Arsenal had a genuine complaint over the incident. People are asking me for proof that an injustice was done and I don't think you can look any closer than the player who committed it. What some media people are saying about means nothing, look at the person involved. The player accepts the ball should have gone out, Martin Jol on the other hand does not. Carrick is a bigger man in my view.
Nobody on the other hand has jumped on Jol's refusal to shake Wenger's hand (another highly unsporting act), in fact people have actually accused Wenger of it and the media nor the posters here have moved to correct this, even after Jol has confirmed it was HIM. I think you'll see a Wenger apology when Saint Martin is willing to admit his sins too.
"It is just disappointing. I usually shake hands with the other manager, but he walked away."
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I just posted up the medias view so people could have a read of it. I do this on other threads and by me posting them does not mean I am endorsing the view held within the articles.
I think its Carricks Judegement that he should have kicked it out of play but I actually think he is wrong and so does Martin Jol and many other observers. As I said the ref is in control of the situation not Michael carrick. It is he who should stop and start the game. It is not as if the ref did not see the incident and was caught upfield. He assessed the situation and let play go on. Even if Carrick looked up saw the two players and then played on I would say it is fine due to the fact the ref let play go ahead. I think that is the key to the whole incident.
I think the Arsenal players and managment lost the cool after the incident without lookilng at what actually happened. Wengers challenged Jol on the touchline and Jol stood up to him. If Jol refused to shake hands well then he is wrong to have done that. I have a feeling that Wenger probably called Jol a liar to his face and not just to the cameras as you can clearly see Jol saying to Wenger "I did not see it I did not see it" This could possibly be the reason the 2 managers did not shake hands after the game which is wrong in my view.
All in all a good game and the correct result.
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It just proves they're both a pair of ar*eholes.....F*ck 'em.
Football doesn't need the likes of them, Moan-rinho & Old Beetroot Face.
What a stupid comment that is.
Ferguson has brought on most of the best English players in recent time.
Wenger has introuduced or improved so many good players over the last 10 years. The attacking football is sublime from them
Martin Jol is very popular in Holland for nurturing of young Dutch talent is now doing the same for many English players for Spurs and has helped Robbie Keane with his game no end also.
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Two? only looks like one to me in that example. At least Fergie & Wenger have always offered the hand. The people & clubs who have't been at the highest level for a little time seem to struggle with common courtesy a bit.
Looks like no-one is going to condemn Jol for this.
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You said that football does not need them and I would argue that the footballing world would be a poorer place without Ferguson, Wenger, Jol, and Mourinhio. Do you happen to support Liverpool by any chance cause Mr. Benitezis not whiter than white. Every manager is guiltly of bad behaviour during or before or after games no manager is free from this.
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Am I right in thinking that Wenger actually went halfway to the Spurs bench but Jol wasn't there to shake hands, so he went down the tunnel instead? Jol's got to be culpable here.
Either way, I think Wenger has been foolish. By antagonising other managers and whipping up controversy it only makes the opposition even more determined to beat Arsenal the next time they play. No matter how upset he is I maintain that Wenger should constantly look to take the high moral ground and avoid all these disputes. Surely he can let off steam in another way, or privately with his own players.
Also, the English media do a good enough job portraying the Premiership in the same vein as WWE Wrestling (which I utterly despise) without the star characters doing the job for them.
There is an old truism: "You cannot bear to see your own faults in other people". Thus when Wenger heard that Jol suffered from the same myopia that he has suffered from constantly over the years, he got enraged. Calling Jol a liar basicially meant that he too had been lying all those times he said "I didn't see it".
The ref checked whether the players were injured. Neither was. Absolutely no need to stop the game. The game has survived a 100 years or more with this putting the ball out when an opponent goes down - hopefully this stupid "code of honour" (when we know many professionals these days possess no such thing) of putting the ball out (except for head injuries) will disappear up its own posterior where it belongs.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
As a neutral looking at the thread, it seems that you've backed Wenger, as almost everyone says Spurs goal was perfectly valid.The game should have been abandoned yesterday so with all these free kicks taken without the referree blowing a whistle - are you serious.
There is absolutely no difference under the laws of the game between a direct free kick on the centre circle or in your own corner or indeed just outside the box. The referee is not required to blow a whistle for EVERY free kick under any law.
There's not much point giving out to me; we had enough of the, will we or won't we? 4th spot debate last year. If you lose 4th this year, it won't be down to the goal you're moaning about, but rather throwing up points at Bolton, Blackburn, Boro, Chelsea, OT, Portsmouth, etc, and
our place. You've had plenty of chances to get 4th this season, they are the reasons why it looks like you won't.
Lets now say that you concede that 100 % of all known media report thinks the goal was not unsporting.Michael Carrick. The most defining comment on the incident of the whole weekend.
That leaves you with Carrick's quotes.
Carrick revealed he had spoken to Arsenal skipper Henry immediately following the game to explain there was no bad sportsmanship from the Spurs side.
He said: "I did not cheat. I said to Thierry straight away afterwards that I would have put the ball out if I had known, but it happened so quick. If I knew someone was injured I would have put it out.
"You can only play to the whistle and I played on because I thought it was the right thing to do.
"But I am not the sort of person who takes advantage of someone being injured."
I take it that that quote is your sole support.
What is Carrick saying? he is saying he is not a cheat, he is sporting, he was right in his action to continue with the play and the goal was not unsporting. 100% media pundits/reporters etc agree with him.
"If I had known someone was injured"
so he did not know, breakaway play moved on at a speed.
Was there somebody injured?
Eboue after carelessly clashing with own player actually sat up, strained his neck had a look at where the ball was and clutched his leg and went back down again hardly qualifies as being injured. Some say he even clutched the wrong leg but thats harsh
As a Spurs fan I have to say I always more than impressed with Martin Jol when it comes to any controversial incidents. The way he dealt with the goal that never was at Old Trafford last season showed the measure of the man. I feel Arsenal made a mountain out of a molehill.
And you ask me to help you??!! Man is evil!!!! Capable of nothing but destruction!
Martin struggles with the truth but he's not a LIAR!
Jol to the BBC "'I was going to the referee and shook hands with him."
Jol to Skysports "I hate it when I'm right and I offer somebody a handshake and they walk away. That's very difficult to take."
Apology, my arse!
Over and done with now however - Arsenal have a big European Game tomorrow and Spurs have an exciting episode of Eastenders to watch.
Time to move on.
Last edited by Karlos; 24/04/2006 at 11:39 PM.
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