Manchester Dean v Arsenal. A preview. Of sorts.

By Tony Attwood

We won 5-7.  I mention it for the 2% of the away support who left before the end.  Mike Dean is the ref.

Does anyone have anything we can say about this match which doesn’t rattle on about the 8-2 defeat last season?  If not, then fine, here is a vague approximation of the teams…

Mannone

Santos Vermaelen Mertersacker Sagna

Wilshere Arteta

Carzola

Walcott   Giroud  Podolski

On the beach (sorry bench)… Martínez, Jenkinson, Yennaris, Djourou, Koscielny,  Coquelin, Gnarby, Arshavin, Chamakh

And the injured list:

  • Ox-Ch
  • Szczesny
  • Gibbs
  • Rosicky
  • Diaby
  • Gervinho
  • Fabianski

The Penalty Story

And this story is that in the matches between Arsenal and Manchester U there have been nine penalties.

  • All of them have been at Old Trafford
  • Seven of them have been for Manchester United
  • Five of the nine penalties have failed to result in a goal

But the real problem is the ref.  Just read the review from last season to see a level of bias so extraordinary that it is well, just extraordinary.  PGMOL have failed to respond to this, no commentary on this is ever made on the mass media apart from when the BBC did their piece on us, and yet here is a man who…

Well, why don’t I just reprint the conclusion of the review of this referee last year….

Strange referee decisions can be

a) random – just having a bad moment

b) the result of poor refereeing – the ref is not good enough

c) the result of the ref trying to help his own career

d) because of a match being fixed by a club

To look for a moment at c) there are people who have a great feeling on doing what is best for their own personal career. They don’t do things because they dislike a team or a person. But they think, “who can I make happy so he can help me along with my career.”  And when I look at the career of Dean I have the impression he is one of those people who have a great feeling of serving the right person at the right time.  I stress that is just a personal feeling – there is no evidence other than the evidence that something is wrong.

Of course it could be a coincidence that Arsenal almost never lost a game under him when Dein was an important person in the FA. Of course it could be a coincidence that Arsenal started dropping points under Dean when Dein was no longer at the FA.

Likewise it could be a coincidence that he gave Manchester United and their manager a few happy moments when turning a blind eye since Mike Riley became the head of the referees. Of course it could be a coincidence that QPR, who sponsors the referees in the PL are the team that gets most of the decisions under him. Of course it could be a coincidence that Harry Redknapp the media’s favourite club manager/destroyer/next England manager got more wins than normal when Dean was in charge of his games.

It all could be coincidences. Coincidences do happen.  But if you look at the bigger picture you also could ask yourself: are they really all coincidences?  Or are we seeing a very clever man who does what he feels need to be done to launch his own career?

But at the end we come back to the fundamental basic point: we have no independent evidence.  We just have the views of a group of referees monitoring another referee on the pitch.

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Everyone is somewhere most of the time (and dancing with Elaine)

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The books…

The sites…

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23 Replies to “Manchester Dean v Arsenal. A preview. Of sorts.”

  1. Hopefully he knows that he is being watched.
    Mike Dean, we are watching you.
    Who are you?
    Villain or fool?
    It’s not too late to be Mike Dean, Referee.

  2. This is just the sort of game that Arsenal have won since their early days. And I can tell you why……
    1. We are not the favourites.
    2. We have 7 on the sick list.
    3. We are away from home.
    4. The ref will favour United.
    5. We lost 8-2 in the same fixture last season.
    Just the odds when, over the years, Arsenal have triumphed.
    We have nothing to lose in the eyes of many, whereas United with their suspect defence will worry about the fast passing attack facing them.
    This is just the occasion when our new signings will blossom, along with Walcott and the returning Wilshere.
    And it may well be that Referee Dean will forget the far-reaching punitive arm of Ferguson and control the game fairly.
    That’s not much to ask.
    For those Gooners who can attend, please act as an additional man and give 100% support from beginning to end to every player that Arsene selects to wear the shirt.

  3. I thought I would never here my self saying this on a arsenal positive site give van persi hell do not listen to the show him respect view yes in his way he got more money and maybe just maybe he has a better chance of glory but he sold us short if that’s the correct way to conduct yourself then we might as well all give up he will not be at u.t.d long enough to be a legend in the Charlton best gigs cantona mould if he had stayed at arsenal he would have been immortalised this generation would have been talking about him in the same mould I talk about Bergkamp how it will hurt everyone of us traveling tomorrow if he were to score against us If your wife or girlfriend left you under the same circumstances you would never forgive them So do not show someone who showed us contempt respect. GIVE HIM HELL

  4. Nicky:
    ad2- last year the were 2 suspensions and many major injuries too.
    ad3- Arsenal play better away han home so far.
    ad4- I’m not so sure. Arsenal is not targetted by the refs( and Dean too) this season as it used to be.
    ad5 -only one player from last year defeat(Walcott) will probably play tomorrow. Only about 6 players from last year match squad may be in this year squad.
    +
    6. Arsenal have the best defense so far(only 6 goals conceded). MU has already conceded 13!

  5. Strange referee decisions cont:
    e) The Referee and/or players are instructed to be bias towards Manchester United by an outside agent (e.g. betting companies, unknown organisations with influence)

    If there is any conspiracy, then the notion that Arsenal FC are completely uninvolved with any match fixing is unlikely in my opinion. I feel a tribal connection to Arsenal, but am increasingly feeling cynical towards the game. Then again the entertainment it provides is huge.

    On a separate note (and referee) I was greatly intrigued by Wenger’s comments about Clattenburg’s “incident”. How could he have had any inside knowledge of whether or not Chelsea FC had privately discussed any untoward utterances made by Clattenburg? I feel like he’s speaking for the FA’s best interests and that makes me feel that any unravelling of corruption will soil our club as much as any other.

  6. Also I’m REALLY looking forward to seeing the Vermaelen vs RVP deathmatch.

  7. Arsenal should have enough experience of van Persie to close him down, I repeat should have, whether or not they will we`ll have to wait and see. Mertesacker will have to read his game closely to neutralize him and whoever is at left back has to stick to Valencia like glue. Meanwhile, Rooney is all yours Kos. Get the ball to midfield in their half and let Arteta, Carzola and Wilshere do their stuff. Podolski, Giroud….now`s your chance to shine.

  8. “that any unravelling of corruption will soil our club as much as any other.”
    Theo Van Nasrigone,
    That’s juicy bait you’re fishing with; and you do nod toward the heights of the FA, then and now.
    Also, the problem with your marquee billing VanPursey/Verminator is that The Dean makes it two for Don Fungus and only one for the forces of Good.

  9. Apparently we put in another flat performance. It seems centuries ago when we actually gave Manu a game at OT. Everyone says the scoreline flattered us and Fergie was incandescent with rage that his side didn’t put four or five past us. I hope Wenger was as livid with his players.

    Our worst league start since 1994 I believe. 15 pts out of 30. Those statistics do not a league title side make.

  10. Apparently another cyberattack on Untold Arsenal. And 3 of my articles are lost at first sight. Never mind two of them but one was rather good I thought 😉
    Still have it on my laptop…I hope…but not here so can’t reload now.

  11. I too was having a problem trying to read your blog yesterday, Tony .I had thought that it was my home computer which acts up often .

  12. Walter,

    It seems nobody could get through to Untold yesterday (sad indeed because there was a real need for some sort of balm for the wounds, so to speak 🙂 ) and we do appear to have lost comments too. I remember this thread being longer.

  13. Well that was a bizarre match. If you want to look at it from a neutral perspective, United achieved their primary goal of scoring first, then stifling Arsenal’s attacks with some good defensive play from Rooney and RvP. Santos was left horribly exposed again (hard to see how his offensive play can compensate for the extra cover he needs – Gibbs seems to be much better in this regard.)
    To be quite honest I’m getting rather sick of the fact that we never seem to vary our tactics on our visits to OT and neither does Ferguson, the difference being that his tactics are highly pragmatic – he doesn’t believe his team can win in a straight football match anymore. For once I’d like to see us do what we did at the Emirates two seasons ago, play for a draw and try to nick something on the break. United lack the quality to break down a stubborn massed defence.

  14. I dont understand whats happening. Nothing to show for in attack??…..

    I think Cazorla should play wide for a change. Ramsey drop back to the middle with Arteta in front of him and Wilshere along side. Double pivot with Ramsey and Wilshere as pivots.

  15. it’s beyond a joke now. again we will have some1 one come and say, ‘too many injuried players’, or ‘we need to put this one behind us’ etc, etc…….simple fact is, WE JUST DON’T HAVE THE BALLS! When Evra called us an academy, we should have given them a trashing, but we lost, we lost 8-2 there last time, but do the players care or do they have any self-respect? Reading from various comments, I didn’t think we did. [missed the game as i was playing with my kids, which is good as i would have smashed my TV].

  16. Whatever you may say about Wenger he does like doing the bizarre. Why play Ramsey on the wing? What happened to the pacey Arsenal teams of ten years ago. If a snail started its journey from our goal to the opposing team’s it would get there before we had a shot on goal.

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