David Seaman: Was he to blame? (Shaun Botterill/Allsport)

Uncomfortable memories of Dietmar Hamann's 35-yard effort skidding across the greasy Wembley turf last October and bouncing out of Seaman's grasp were dredged up when the Arsenal goalkeeper did his best to repeat the episode in Tuesday night's defeat by Leeds at Highbury.

If that was not bad enough, Seaman compounded the agony by later asking for a clarification of the laws after Ian Harte's quickly-taken free-kick caught him still organising his defensive wall.

Caught napping at Wembley, caught napping at Highbury. Never mind alarm bells ringing ahead of Munich, better to invest in an alarm clock, David.

In case you still have not been told, the free-kick law has been modified.

Given similar non-plussed noises from manager Arsene Wenger in the aftermath of a severe setback for Arsenal, it seems obvious that news of this summer's changes to the beautiful game have not yet reached north London.

Except that Leeds already knew when they pulled up at Highbury. Even worse for Seaman, his England rival Nigel Martyn knew.

Martyn did not share his knowledge with his international colleague as his Leeds side gave an important early-season pointer to the hardened attitude they have adopted to claim victory. The Leeds goalkeeper's analysis of Harte's goal will have hurt the less-than-divine ponytail.

Martyn said: 'Hartey took the free-kick quickly but that was down, I think, to a new rule this season whereby the referee asks the free-kick taker whether he wants the 10 yards to be marked out or not.

'If the player says he doesn't, then he's allowed to take the free-kick as quickly as he wants. Hartey was obviously happy to take it quickly and he made it count to the full. Even so, he still had to bend it round and into the far corner, which he did brilliantly.

'I was aware of the new arrangement, so I had told Mark Viduka to sort out our defensive wall whenever Arsenal got a free-kick in a dangerous position. I didn't want to be caught out trying to organise the wall myself and see the kick taken suddenly.'

Hard to get out of that one, David, although a quick referral to the so-called unity of the goalkeeper's union may be in order.

Martyn did, however, offer support to his opposite number over Viduka's winning goal, which gave Leeds their first victory at Highbury in seven years. The Leeds goalkeeper also walked on the more bizarre side of football life towards the end of the match, kicking for touch whenever he had the ball in his hands.

Speaking on his personal website at icons.com, Martyn said: 'I was asked after the game if I had ever played rugby union because I was kicking the ball out and into touch so often in those late stages.

'But it was a case of having to do that because, with nine men, we had pulled everyone back to defend and there was no one up the field for me to kick the ball to.

'There was no point just kicking it as far as I could upfield because an Arsenal player would kick it straight back into our penalty area. Kicking into touch bought us a little more time.'

As for Arsenal, Wenger's preparations for the visit of Leicester on Saturday will no doubt include launching an inquest aimed at discovering just why everyone at the club could be unaware of the law changes - especially when the secretaries of Premiership clubs are notified as a matter of routine by the Premier League.

Philip Don, the FA Premier League Referees' Officer, said last night: 'Clubs, like the media, were also invited to a meeting at Lilleshall with the referees on July 27.'

Seaman's error, while inexcusable - either on his or Arsenal's part - will be forgiven by England coach Sven Goran Eriksson as he looks ahead to the Olympiastadion and a match England must win.