Charlton Athletic Online

Did you see it? Could you believe it? Was it French arrogance or cheeky or innovative? Whatever it was, it didn't work!

Arsenal, 1-0 up against Manchester City blew the chance of adding a second penalty to the score when Robert Pires and Thierry Henry conjured up a farcical moment at Highbury yesterday. Pires, who had scored minutes earlier from the first spot kick Mike Riley awarded Arsenal, tried to touch the ball to his left for Henry to run in and shoot toward the goal. This is entirely legal as long as: a) the ball moves forward its full circumference; b) the penalty taker does not kick the ball a second time until the ball is touched by another player.

What actually happened was extremely controversial.

Pires took a shorter run, and tried to run his foot across the top of the ball, thereby knocking it to his left. What he did though, was miss the ball (or arguably give it the merest touch; it certainly didn't move the full circumference). All the players converged on the ball, with Henry there first. Henry though, did not think that Pires had touched the ball, so he stopped, and stood. Pires thought about kicking the ball again but dallied and City defenders then hacked the ball clear. The ref blew his whistle, and you could see the frustration as the City players thought that he would order a re-take. But no, Mister Riley gave a free kick against Arsenal because it is illegal for a penalty kicker to touch the ball twice in succession. Did Pires touch the ball twice? No. Did he touch the ball at all? I didn't think so!

Only once before have I seen something similar - and I'm not talking about the Cruyff - Olsen Ajax goal from the seventies - at Ayresome Park in the early eighties. Then, Charlton were awarded a penalty, and Derek Hales stepped forward to take it. Killer had missed a few of his recent penalties (saved, rather than wide or over) but he was king, and took charge of the situation. He placed the ball on the penalty spot and started to run up, but a yard or so before he got to the ball he pulled up and stopped. I presumed he was injured but no, he had been "ordered" not to take it by manager Lennie Lawrence, shouting from the touchline. Hales was promptly booked by the ref for unsporting conduct, and Carl Harris, Lawrence's choice to take the kick, then saw his weak kick saved by the Boro keeper!

So, what happened at the Arsenal? Did Riley book Pires? No. Did he make the right decision over the penalty? No. He got it so badly wrong that his performance just added to the French farce!

Amazingly, both managers accepted the situation and will hope it passes into folklore pretty soon. Wenger will quickly forget it because it didn't work, and any claim that it should have been re-taken will falter due to the initial arrogance shown by Pires and Henry. Pearce will not want to argue the point as City got away without conceding...

Crazy Frenchman? Je ne sais pas!