WENGER MOANS BUT DOZY XHAKA IS TRUE SCANDAL

Rightly, the FA’s diving panel ruled that no further action should be taken against Richarlison of Watford over the penalty he won against Arsenal on Saturday. it was a difficult call, but repeated replays showed there was some contact and the worst that could be said is that the player made the most of it. that’s not the same as diving — and it certainly wasn’t ‘scandalous’ as Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger stated. What was scandalous was granit Xhaka’s casual observance of Watford midfielder tom Cleverley, standing unmarked in the Arsenal penalty area before scoring the winning goal. it should come as no surprise, though, having seen Xhaka’s previous comments on the Premier league. ‘it is not as good as the Bundesliga from a tactical point of view,’ he said. ‘teams want to pile forward the moment they get the ball. the six or seven top clubs play a cultured form of football but the others favour the long-ball approach. One week you can be up against Manchester City, and they play one short pass after another. then you face Burnley and it will be nothing but long balls.’ that would be Burnley, who are on the same points and goal difference as Arsenal, on a fraction of the budget. Perhaps the most amusing aspect of this overview is Xhaka’s presumption that he can make insightful tactical comparisons, when he hasn’t the wit to be alarmed by an unmarked opponent in the area in added time. Maybe he thought that, being out of the elite six or seven, Watford wouldn’t be smart enough to simply pass it to a player in space. he won’t have liked seeing his defence roughed up by troy Deeney, either. Never mind, though. he’ll be back in the Bundesliga soon — well, as soon as Arsenal get a manager who realises such a superficial understanding of the demands of the Premier league is just not good enough.

THE select committee of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will quiz the FA about former England women’s team manager Mark Sampson tomorrow. Maybe they could then look at the debacle around the hosting of the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the Government having initially let Birmingham go forward with a non-compliant bid, at the expense of the city of Liverpool. This would mean calling executives from — ahem — the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. How these clowns get to lecture anyone on governance, heaven knows.