The Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Northern Irish FA's know where the national borders are. Journalists don't seem to be as bothered by accuracy if it suits their purpose not to be.

By now all that needs to be said and more about 'Eduardo Gate' has been said, but since that doesn't seem to have effected anyone else, I may as well vent. I have been frankly amazed by the xenophobic nature of many of the articles on-line and in print which have painted Eduardo as the end of civilisation as we know it. And like many 'paranoid' Gooners I can't help but see a darker side to his vilification allowing for the complete lack of similar treatment meted out to British players who have done the same. Note that rather than stick to the tried and tested Arsenal are not helping the English national team, the canonisation has been afforded to anyone from the British Isles. It does annoy me that there seems to be no problem with using whichever national boundary suits to make the point.

Of course it seems to go further than that as I don't recall castigation of foreign players playing for other teams who have blatantly bought penalties and goal scoring free kick opportunities. Let's be honest, there were a couple of pretty dodgy free kicks awarded to Celtic and if they still had a player who could score from free kicks, they may have made more of it. But actually I don't want to get into a slanging match with Celtic supporters although I was amused that a player from a Glasgow team commented about Eduardo not speaking English (sorry, couldn't help being a bit English there). I have seen the nonsensical bile poured out over the Internet by supporters of both sides and it's not been edifying. I thought Celtic gave it a good go and you have to admire their effort over the ninety minutes. But in the end we were the better team as their manager said for whom I have a lot of respect. I still recall seeing a very grainy Celtic conquer Europe in my youth and I hope they go all the way in the Europa. I always preferred them to the blue lot.

I hope that a bit of perspective can be gained after all this. Eduardo didn't knife anyone after a game, he didn't drive whilst under the influence of alcohol. Both these things did happen around the same time and seem to have been lost in the passion of the witch-hunt. He also didn't break anyone's leg, maybe he would have got more journos standing up for him if he had. There is after all a precedent. One thing I would like to be made clear, how come Platini is calling for a two game ban, whilst at the same time publicly admitting he would have done the same? It may be honest, but it hardly gives clear guidance. Looks to be saying if you can get away with it, fine, but we'll act self-righteously if you don't. Hmm.

Anyways, mancs up this weekend and a chance to see whether our two wins so far were due to appalling opposition or whether we do have a chance to avoid relegation this season. Let's hope that for all the lovers of the beautiful game there won't be any Johnny Foreigner antics to mar the blood and guts beauty of the English Premiership. Especially as you can count the total number of English participants on both sides on one hand. Actually that's only a guess, can't be arsed to check. Maybe we'll get another English player before the transfer window closes, then again...