The Untold ref review: Arsenal – Swansea 1-0

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By Ref Reviewer 02

First win of the season for Arsenal. Was the ref also a winner in his game? Only one way to find out how ref Attwell did on Saturday: read the ref review

Min Type Foul from On C/NC Comment points weight
2 Other N/C Ref gives a foul against Arteta, poor decision 0 0
3 Other N/C Both ref and assistant miss an off the ball block on Walcott, poor start from the officials 0 0
3 Foul Graham Frimpong C 1 1
3 Foul Willaims Arteta C Williams tackles with studs showing 1 1
7 Foul Frimpong Allen C 1 1
9 Offside C 1 1
17 Offside C Gibbs just Off 1 1
20 Foul Ramsey Allen C 1 1
23 Foul Walcott Taylor C 1 1
24 Offside C 1 1
24 Foul Augustien Arteta C 1 1
24 Yellow Augustien C Correctly cautioned for pulling back Arteta 1 2
25 Foul Frimpong Dyer C 1 1
39 Goal C Swansea gift Arsenal a goal 1 3
44 Other C Good advantage played after a foul in Frimpong 1 1
Half time 13 16
CORRECT 86,67% 88,89%
YELLOW 1 1 100,00
RED 0 0
PENALTY 0 0
GOAL 1 1 100,00
OTHER 1 3 33,33
TOTAL 3 5 60,00
OFFSIDE 3 3 100,00
Second half
48 yellow Walcott C Theo is looking for a foul that is never their, the assistant gives nothing, Theo lashes out stupidly. 1 2
52 Foul Koscielny Sinclair C 1 1
52 Yellow Koscielny C A reckless lunge for the ball 1 2
53 Mertesaker Graham C 1 1
67 Foul Rangel Walcott C 22 mins in 2nd half and Swansea commit a foul 1 1
67 Yellow Caulker C I thought it was harsh but the ref was entitled to give a yellow and he did 1 2
73 Foul Arteta Dyer C 1 2
73 Other Arteta N/C If Caulker was a booking so to was Arteta, consistency please! 0 0
77 Foul Arteta Dobie C 1 1
77 Yellow Arteta C After the last foul this was inevitable 1 2
78 Foul Coquelin Williams N/C A clean tackle wins the ball 0 0
80 Other N/C Deflection from an Arteta shot should be a corner, ref is well placed 0 0
84 Foul Gower Arteta C 1 1
86 Foul Moore Arteta C 1 1
93 Handball Moore C 1 1
2nd half score
TOTAL 12 17
% CORRECT 80,00% 85,00%
YELLOW 4 5 80,00
RED 0 0
PENALTY 0 0
GOAL 0 0
OTHER 2 2 100,00
TOTAL 6 7 85,71
OFFSIDE 0 0
TOTAL SCORE
TOTAL 25 33
% CORRECT 83,33% 86,84%
YELLOW 5 6 83,33
RED 0 0
PENALTY 0 0
GOAL 1 1 100,00
OTHER 3 5 60,00
TOTAL 9 12 75,00
OFFSIDE 3 3 100,00
Correct calls For Arsenal 13 52,00%
For Swansea 12 48,00%
Total correct calls 25
Wrong calls Against Arsenal 4 80,00%
Against Swansea 1 20,00%
Total 5

Swansea will qualify for Europe this year mark my words, the fair play league awaits.

Anyone could have reffed this game. Two sets of players, playing within the laws and determined to win by fair means not foul. However despite that Attwell does not inspire confidence, there is just something about him that says disaster lays just around the corner, I do not know what it is, but for me he lacks authority and an ability to read a game.

The statistics say Stuart Atwell had a good game, but the review also reveals that it was a fairly uneventful match, and he was asked to make few decisions. Despite that he still got some wrong; I would worry for him in a high pressure game.

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16 Replies to “The Untold ref review: Arsenal – Swansea 1-0”

  1. Walter, All Ref Reviewers,
    For the future reviews, please begin the review with the final score, even if you think everyone is going in knowing it, because that’s not the case – especially in the non-Arsenal match reviews – and when people go back and research previous articles, knowing the score will help people better follow and understand the rev review as it unfolds by knowing where it is going. It doesn’t take much to start with the final score.

  2. Beg to differ. Walcott’s booking was stupid but the lino did indeed miss a very obvious foul on TW14 right in front of him. All the crowd in that area of the ground knew it (including me) but the cameras were on the other side of the ground and show the opposite angle. Not the first time I’ve noticed that a horrendous/decent – foul/not a foul – good/bad tackle etc. look entirely different from opposite sides of the ground.

  3. Brian

    Long time no see! Can you send me an e-mail – click on my name in this post and it will take you to my personal website. I need you to do a book review.

    Andy

  4. Agreed with Brian – the Swansea player grabbed Theo’s arm and pulled on his jersey near the badge.

  5. It was a weird thing: I watched this match in a New York bar rammed with Gooners (including a few English expatriates), and the general consensus agreed with me: As long as it was 0-0, Attwell seemed to be fine; but as soon as it became One-Nil to The Arsenal (TM), he began acting like, “Uh-oh, Arsenal is in position to win this now, I’d better please my masters at the FA can stop them, even if the opponent isn’t exactly English they’re more English than that French club Arsenal!” We were flipping out in the 2nd half as the cards piled up.

    On the other hand, it was in the heat of the moment, and as a game progresses we’re not giving the officiating the careful after-the-factanalysis that is usually provided here. Perhaps our perceptions that Attwood was out of his freaking mind with some of these calls was colored by the fact of Arsenal’s record over the last few years — and the records of certain officials, thought Attwell is not among those as far as I know, but the names are too well remembered. Reading your account, it looks a lot better than it seemed at the time.

  6. Off/On topic here but SkySportsNews just tweeted:

    FIFA referee tells us how to fix a game. Special Report on match fixing from 7.30pm on #ssn tonight.

  7. Just missed a second yellow card by adding the final score to the game. and now I can only hope to remember it next time…

  8. Dogface,

    Now that is mighty interesting. Damn wish I could see it somewhere on the internet…

  9. @ Brian Dawes
    I can assure you i was at the game; i had an excellent front on view of the Theo booking from above.

    What i saw was Theo looking for a foul, backing into the Swansea player, and then having a go at the player, kicking him, then moaning at the linesman and arguing with the ref. Van Persie was bemused by Theo reaction. TV confirmed what i saw, and the best view of all was the assistant who was 3 yards away and watching very closely as Theo screamed at him for a decision.

    someone correct me if i am wrong but, Theo now has 3 bookings this season all for the same thing, moaning at an assistant, i believe the one in Udinese was also silly. Did he listen when Wenger said a lack of discipline was costing us. I am pleased to see aggression in his game but for god sake if you are going to get booked make it for something worthwhile. And I have also noticed Theo moaning at team mates quite a bit this season, not quite sure why, but he is certainly giving it large

    From the perspective of the review, i watched it 3 times and asked myself the following questions.

    Could i see the defender impeded Theo – No
    Did Theo kick out – Yes
    Was there dissent – yes

    In truth Theo could have had a red, one for the kicking out and one for dissent, two yellows.

    The single yellow was inevitable and unneccessary

  10. How was he backing into a swansea player? Theo was doing his best to run past and got held back. Theo was absolutely fouled.

    That said, I thought it was a bit soft all things considered, and wasn’t surprised it wasn’t called. Theo’s reaction was WAY over the top and he absolutely deserved to get the yellow.

    I think the early obstruction set the tone for Theo’s night, and ref’s need to be very aware of this. Theo is fast, but not particularly powerful, hence it’s generally fairly easy for the defender to hold him back or obstruct him. I remember him being held and obstructed like that almost continuously in every game. They’re blatent professonal fouls, and the defender’s should be getting yellows for many of them, but instead, they’re not even being called.

  11. @ Johnny Deigh
    Regarding Theo, I saw what you saw. He should have just got on with the game, but it was extraordinary that it wasn’t called as a foul.

  12. I also saw Theo get his arm pulled back in around the 56th minute or so, he got on with it but it threw off his timing and Theo misplaced a pass. I suppose that being on a yellow, he wasn’t going to moan about it.

  13. Walter someone got stamped on in the chelsea game the weekend did you see it ? are we doing a review and whats your thoughts will they get a ban the same as song did for the barton incident as it wasnt seen by the ref at the time.

  14. Walter,
    If this were UEFA, I’d have to make sure that you were not sending an e-signal to Dogface or it would be a two-match ban!

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