WE ARE ALL GUILTY AT SOME POINT IN OUR LIVES OF NOT KNOWING WHERE TO DRAW THE LINE, WHEN TO STOP, BUT AS INDIVIDUALS THERE ARE BOUND TO BE TIMES WHEN THAT RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD CLOUDS BETTER JUDGMENT. 

You see it on the football pitch every week, at every level. A player is kicked or shoved or has a few decisions go against him and while some will walk away and put all their energy into playing to win, others have a couple of minutes where the rage sets in. If a player then goes on to lash out, commit a foul, or launch a tirade of personal abuse, it is not excusable and has to be punished, but we can at least see and understand how the player has got himself into that state.  

What I’m still struggling to get to grips with, two weeks after the event, is the collective behaviour of Arsenal’s players after the 0-0 draw with Manchester United at Old Trafford. Team spirit is one thing, but the football field is not the place for pack mentality, and four on to one is not a fair fight in anybody’s book. The way that the Arsenal players all turned on Ruud van Nistelrooy at the final whistle was not only unsporting, it was cowardly. What the guilty players also don’t seem to realise is that had they been four Arsenal fans rounding on a Manchester United fan up in the stands in the same fashion, they would have at the very least been thrown out, but more than likely arrested.

What of the real leader of the pack, manager Arsene Wenger? His reaction was to turn the focus on Van Nistelrooy, who had been involved in the incident which saw Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira sent off for the eighth time in his career, a record in the Premiership. Wenger’s See No Evil approach to his own player’s indiscretions is becoming tiresome. No, Vieira didn’t make contact as he lashed out to kick Van Nistelrooy, but equally the Dutchman didn’t go to ground, didn’t go rushing up to the referee, he simply jumped backward, a natural reaction to seeing some studs swirling around your nether regions.  

What Wenger almost implied was Van Nistelrooy brought everything upon himself. What he did not want to pass comment on was why, at the whistle, Lauren felt he could justifiably stand on Van Nistelrooy’s left hand as the player was attempting to get up off the turf, why Martin Keown felt it necessary to leap behind the player then catch him with his left forearm as he crowed inches from Van Nistelrooy’s face, or why indeed Ray Parlour felt he was entitled to slap him across the chest as Lauren then shoved him in the back. Kolo Toure’s attempt to join in the verbal onslaught seemed mild by comparison.

Wenger was shamed by his own chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, who at least had the common sense to hold his hands up on Arsenal’s behalf, labelling the players “stupid”, adding: “What makes matters worse is the fact it was senior players who were involved, experienced professionals who have played more than enough games to know not to react like that. All I can say in our defence is we are not a dirty side and nobody was hurt.” 

Nobody hurt, thankfully, but what if Van Nistelrooy had fallen over after Lauren’s shove? As it was, he walked away, his professional reaction emphasising the petulance around him. It is a common moan along the corridors of Highbury that Arsenal are at times victimised by football’s authorities, that their appalling disciplinary record is undeserved. Self-delusion can be a dangerous thing.

© Jim Munro, October 1, 2003