Perhaps someone can take the time to explain this to me. What exactly happened at St. Andrews that should cause an affront to human decency and what happened at St. Andrews that has got the media blood boiling. You would have expected that the two were convergent, poison pens (or killer keyboards) pointed at Martin Taylor for his challenge.

Sadly not, for it William Gallas and Arsene Wenger upon whom Des Kelly of the Daily Mail turned his sharp wit and original ideas toward. Sadly the only turning his wit did was to spin in its grave although the agility with which his mind left a ‘Gone Fishing’ sign over his brain can only but be admired.

Kelly is not alone in this, joined by Steve Howard of The Sun. Gentlemen, I commend you for attacking the big issues of the day. Indeed, I am surprised in some respects that they are going after Gallas because there would be more column inches for them to fill with their drivel if an implosion a la Keegan were to happen. Sue Mott on the other hand should just simply be ashamed of herself.

But let us not kid ourselves as to why they have done this. Arsenal sell copies or get hits on their web pages. Birmingham City do not. What better way to drive visitors to their sites than to make the most ludicrous statements over the Arsenal captain’s behaviour? With all due respect to Birmingham, if it had happened the week before, they would have been all over the incident like a rash and probably still going on about how awful Ferdinand / Vidic / Brown / Evra’s challenge was but it was a ‘non-entity’ team that were at the root cause of it all and Frankly My Dear, They Don’t Give A Damn.

Meanwhile, allegations have emerged that Croatian journalists tried to attack Taylor although more disturbingly, I find it difficult to believe that his manager is seriously giving credence to any notion that Taylor is a victim in all of this. It ranks on a par with the crass accusations that the referee only gave a red card because he saw the injury and other players reactions whilst it is scarcely credible that McLeish believes the tackle was on a par with a trip. Now Birmingham are seeking to deflect attention at Cesc who apparently called them a rugby team. Ooh, how awful of him. It has seriously reached the point where the Football Association need to step in and remind Birmingham, its staff and players exactly what occurred. From what I have read, at least three – McLeish, Larsson, McFadden – should be answering a disrepute charge in London in the near future. None will of course.

And at the end of it all, you are left with a ‘compare and contrast’ exercise in human dignity. Compare the rabid excesses of those above with the approach of the victim in all of this, Eduardo,

It was an unfortunate situation but these things can happen in football

Or as the Daily Mirror tried to put it, ‘S*** happens’. Not quite Gentlemen of the Press, by a long way. The Fourth Estate has sunk lower than the council estates that they seek to pillory on a daily basis. Do not fear for them yet though for they have not stopped falling.

Mathieu Flamini meanwhile believes that the point at St Andrews was a bad result,

The way we have only drawn is going to be disappointing because there was an opportunity to win this game. We came back, we showed great character and I think this was the only positive thing from the game…We were very disappointed because it is a bad result for us, and especially when we conceded the goal thirty seconds before the end of the game

It was indeed a bad result, Mathieu but under the circumstances, and right at this moment in time, it is more important that the players do not dwell on it but look ahead to the Villa game.

Carlos Vela meanwhile is getting some good reviews but remains modest,

I lack everything. At 18 I don’t need to hear that I’m a phenomenon, a ‘crack’ – it’s not the case. I’m still growing. Every game sees my gain experience and learn things, and I see that in all aspects

And he has yet to be given the ‘Arsenal’ tutelage but is level headed. His recent form from reading the Spanish media has been relatively good in a struggling team. That Osasuna are not winning everything in sight is probably better for him, making him a stronger player than if he had been on cruise control all of the time. We shall see what next season brings with the young man.

Finally, a couple of housekeeping items. Firstly, anyone wishing to receive their daily dose of my thoughts and ramblings by email can do so by clicking here or under the ‘ACLF by email’ heading on the right hand side. Secondly, Premier League View has been relaunched today following a quiet spell. In fact it was so quiet over there that the church mice made more noise which is completely my fault through lack of time to write anything. The objective of that site is to separate the wider aspects of the world game from here, keeping this one as specifically Arsenal related. Posts will be initially every other day, so feel free to join in. Indeed, on that one, if anyone has any thoughts that they wish to pen contact me at the usual address and you may have the floor so to speak.

‘til Tomorrow.