Right, let's make a few key points about "Le Hand of God" incident.....

Is Henry a cheat? Yes he is. I couldn't care less what moral code he's set in the rest of his career and I don't care how good a player he has been. Once you commit fraud, you go from not being a fraudster to being a fraudster right? Snap in sport. Sadly for him, Henry’s name will now always be tarnished which people tell me "is a shame" but is it? I don't think so. And what for? To play in another World Cup finals. He’s played in three already, made two finals and has a winner’s medal. So he goes to South Africa next summer with the worst French side in two decades. To do what? Henry now says he “considered retiring from international football”. Interesting use of the past tense, “considered” not “considering”. I'm sure that’s a big comfort to the Irish players that Henry briefly considered calling it a day but ultimately thought, “naaah”…..

Should the game be replayed? No. Once you set that precedent you make a mockery of the whole sport of football.

But then making a mockery of football is kind of what FIFA specialise in. Here's what I wrote on in the August 16th Figleaf: "So what exactly are FIFA doing?? They are way WAY behind the curve when it comes to using technology in football and it’s high time they did something about it. If they won’t, here’s a plea to Richard Scudamore and the Premier League to start using technology unilaterally of FIFA. FOR CRYING OUT LOUD PEOPLE, SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!" This was in response to the "goal that wasn't" Crystal Palace scored against Bristol City (the ball hit the back of the net but the goal wasn’t given). I also mused about what would happen if such an incident were to happen in a World Cup final: "Is Sepp Blatter and the rest of the shower of mediocrities who run FIFA happy to see the sport's biggest prize handed to the "wrong" team" based on a wrong decision?” Clearly they are.....which when you think about it, borders on insanity. But that's Sepp Blatter for you. The fact of the matter is this: if ever one single incident screamed for the use of technology in reviewing key decisions, this is it.

Your basic problem with complacent administration in any sport is that, over time, it slowly starts to erode at the fabric of the sport. If you create an environment where cheats are allowed to prosper what you end-up doing is slowly turning-off the marginal fan. Any sport where the administrators change the rules half way through to suit certain vested interests also starts to put off your marginal fan. Maybe this is why football attendances and TV viewing figures are beginning to roll over? If Richard Scudamore is serious about protecting his business, his “product” in the UK , the Premier League should start using technology to review decisions unilaterally of FIFA. Force their hands. I reiterate, the reason football has enjoyed a boon in popularity over the last 10-years isn't because of FIFA (far from it). It's because of Rupert Murdoch (and the Sky revolution in British football) and it’s because of Lennart Johannson (who is responsible for the modern version of the Champions League). And all this feeds back to the same point: the longer Blatter and his cancerous cronies sit and do nothing when so much can be done to enhance the game, the more Platini meddles with the Champions League format......the closer we get to national leagues and/or the big clubs clearing off and doing their own thing (and setting their own rules). Smug though he may be, Sepp Blatter’s complacent reign as President of FIFA could well be a death sentence for the very governing body he presides over…..


Quote of the week: “These issues are threatening to overshadow the draw and preparations for the World Cup in South Africa. Clearly FIFA president Sepp Blatter wants action”. Some faceless wonder from FIFA in response to recent goings-on. Sepp Blatter "wants action". He should look up the words “proactive” and “reactive” in a dictionary……if indeed those words exist in Swiss…..


Right, onto the weekend’s Premier League action……

- What a great move for Man City 's second goal. Hustle and tenacity from Tevez down the left, a lethal turn from Wright-Philips (about the only good thing he did in the game) then a great finish by Stephen Ireland. In fact it was such a great move that City players were still congratulating themselves when Liverpool equalised sixty seconds later……

- Lucas....all alone in the six yard box in the 93rd minute......a pretty simple header…..his manager Rafa Benitez under massive pressure and resolutely standing by his under-fire midfielder. His header?….hits the corner-flag. Help a brother out why don't you.

- I think you have to ask yourself if the Liverpool training/fitness regime is just fundamentally flawed. It's simply bizarre how many Liverpool players get injured on a regular basis.

- You see, indulgent performances like that from Arsenal make people like me who are trying to argue the Goons are made of tougher stuff this season look dumb and dumber. The reason I use the word "indulgent" is because when you have 57% of possession in a football match and have only three shots on target.....what exactly were you doing with the ball?

- While we're on possession stats......Man Utd had 63% of the ball against Everton, Chelsea had 67% against Wolves. I think they call that “domination”……

- I said a bunch of weeks ago that if Darren Fletcher could start adding goals to his impressive all-round displays, then comparisons with Bryan Robson could begin to emerge. If Fletcher was from the Continent, people would be raving about him. It’s 2009 though isn’t it…..not fashionable to get excited about Scottish footballers. I reckon Fletcher would walk into every other team in Europe except Barcelona and Chelsea …..that’s how well he’s playing.

- John Motson "I just wonder whether you're watching the champions here as Chelsea are on the march" is the worst example of "take one performance and get too excited" you’ll have the misfortune to come across.

- Player of the weekend: Michael Essien. Completely and utterly sensational against the hapless Wolves.

- What a game Hull vs West Ham was. After all that excitement and controversy though, both teams only collect a point and remain 5th and 4th from bottom respectively. Hull have Everton, Man City and Aston Villa next-up. God it’s a tough school when you're near the bottom of the pile…..

- Stoke have the 4th best defensive record in the Premier League this season……which is kind of why they’re mid-table and looking very secure. What is it they say about always building teams from the back?

- Losing 2-0 at home against Blackburn is not the winning ticket. Massive (giant) stretch up until Christmas now for Bolton whose next six Premier League games include Fulham, Wolves, West Ham, Wigan, Hull and Burnley.

- Remember when Portsmouth beat Wigan 4-0 and we all got excited about their survival prospects? Three things have happened since then: (i) they got stuffed by Blackburn; (ii) they lost to Stoke; and (iii) we’ve discovered that Wigan are prone to having (ahem) very off days. No worries for Pompey fans though…..only Chelsea , Man Utd and Liverpool coming up in their next five league games…..

- So Wigan players are going to refund those Latics fans who made the fateful trip to White Hart Lane. That's a crowd of 37,000 people of which how many were Wigan fans? Say 5,000? Average ticket price £40? That's £200,000. Divided by the sixteen Wigan squad players on the day gives you £12,000 each. That leaves a mark so fair play to them. I'd be fascinated to see what happens if they lose 9-1 at home in front of 25,000 Wigan fans......

- When you concede nine goals, the Chairman (in this case Dave Whelan) has the right to get a little twitchy. Let's take a peek at history though. On two occasions have teams conceded nine in English football's top flight in the last twenty years. Crystal Palace shipped nine against Liverpool in 1989. Within three years manager Steve Coppell took them to the FA Cup final (almost winning it), finished 3rd in the league and won the ZDS Cup. Then there's Ipswich who sieved nine against Man Utd back in 1995. It took a little longer but manager George Burley went on to guide them to 5th spot in the Premier League winning Manager of the Year in the process and securing a UEFA Cup spot. Memo to Dave Whelan: stick with Roberto Martinez.

- Let's check-out the latest England striker tally in this season's Premier League: Defoe 11, Bent 9, Rooney 7, Carlton Cole 6. Even David Dunne has 5 goals. Michael Owen? 2 league goals.....hmmm. Presuming Rooney and Defoe are dead certs that leaves two spots. Capello seems to like Heskey's physicality which leaves one spot. Crouch? Bent? Cole? Agbonlahor? My point is this: if Michael Owen has any ambition of being on that plane he has to score some goals and fast. WIth Berbatov injured, a home game against Everton where Utd run-out easy winners with 63% of possession has to go down as a golden opportunity. Owen was subbed after 74 minutes after a pretty ineffectual performance. Massive chance missed......

- In my Premier League preview back in August I offered up the opinion that Barry Ferguson and Lee Bowyer represented just about enough know-how to preserve Birmingham's top flight status. The winner against Fulham was Bowyer's 4th league goal of the season and it leaves Birmingham in 13th spot four points above the relegation zone. I still reckon they survive......just......

- Frank Ribery has scored one goal this season as Bayern Munich languish in 7th spot in the Bundesliga. Can somebody explain to me how he's worth £45m?


In other sporting news.......

- Paul Collingwood yesterday became England 's most capped one-day player of all-time with his 171st appearance (and what an appearance it was). Just to put that into context though.....Sanath Jayasuria has played 440 ODIs. Dozens and dozens of modern day players have played over 250. Even Courtney Walsh has played 203. When you don't play as much......errmm....stuff as the opposition, chances are you won't be as good......

- Martin Johnson's England team scored one try in three autumn internationals.....which is good news in one respect since a bunch of years ago the turkeys who "run" Twickenham started playing some inane cartoon tune everytime England score a try. What does a ticket cost at Twickenham? £80? That's £240-per-try this autumn. No thanks.

- Is it me or has this season of "autumn internationals" been pretty average stuff? South Africa can barely win a game. The 2009 version of the All Blacks is most certainly not a vintage. Australia have just lost to Scotland. I don't know. I'm not exactly salivating at the prospect of the 2011 World Cup just yet......

- That was some standard of golf Lee Westwood set in Dubai. If it's possible to deserve $1.5m for playing four rounds of golf, Westwood deserves his loot.

- So Jenson Button takes LESS MONEY to go and drive for McLaren. In an age where commentators and former pros can't wait to label modern-day sportsman as "greedy" and "only in it for the money" isn't it refreshing to see a guy who wants a new challenge in a great team going up against a great driver? Apparently not, with everyone from Eddie Irvine to Jackie Stewart lining-up to tell Button he's making a "big mistake". What can a man do?......