Charlton 1 Arsenal 3

CHARLTON manager Alan Curbishley has called for an overhaul of the offside rule in the summer after his team fell victim to what is 'active' and what is 'passive' in Saturday's 3-1 home defeat by Arsenal.

With the scoreline delicately balanced at 1-1, Curbishley was furious after Arsenal strikers Robin Van Persie and Thierry Henry appeared to be coming back from offside positions when Freddie Ljungberg regained the lead in the 48th minute.

Even Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger conceded: "It could be true that Van Persie was coming out of an offside position."

Curbishley's retort was more succinct: "I feel as though we've been mugged," he said. "I'm so fed up with this offside rule and this passive and active thing. Van Persie was clearly offside when he came back and put Ljungberg in. Not only was Van Persie offside but so was Thierry Henry.

"This was the decisive moment in the game and it put us behind. I've seen it on television and in my opinion he's offside. And if Van Persie's not offside then Henry most certainly is.

"I think it's about time that we all got together and got rid of this active-passive offside rule because it's causing mayhem. This is the second time Arsenal have done it to us. Henry did it to us a couple of seasons ago at Highbury.

"How do you defend it? We pushed up for offside and they were offside. I just hope this gets sorted out in the summer because I understand the authorities are going to take a look at it. This has left a bad taste because I felt we played well today."