I’ve heard of grasping for reasons and excuses as to why your side didn’t win a match or why a referee might have given a dubious penalty but Martin Jol’s assertion that Arshavin deliberately aimed the ball at Sascha Riether’s arm to win the penalty is laughable in the extreme. For a start, it wasn’t a penalty and shouldn’t have been given so you’d think if you were going to try and actually win a penalty you’d do something a bit more convincing, never mind that the player’s arm was down by his side and he was close to Arshavin.  This is Arshavin, you will remember, who argued with a referee that it wasn’t a penalty when he was fouled against, well, I can’t remember what game that was.

Martin Jol said

He did it on purpose. The ref was pleased not to see it go in. If you get a point and they miss a penalty, you have to be happy.

Have you ever heard anything quite that ridiculous?