West Bromwich Albion v The Arsenal – Referee preview

West Bromwich Albion v The Arsenal – Referee preview

The Match officials are

  • Referee – Lee Mason
  • Assistants – S Ledger and M Perry
  • Fourth Official – J Moss

Mr Mason is another Lancashire referee and has been in the Premier League since 2006, he is chairman of the Bolton Referees Society and was born in 1971 so no chance of him retiring any time soon.

Walter’s summary comment on Mr Mason in his review for 2012/13 was pithy – “The referee with penalty area fever and Arsenal phobia” http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/archives/31036.

How did he reach those conclusions?  The review team looked at 15 of his 24 games in the PL last year and awarded him an underwhelming 74.5% correct in important decisions (foul, free kick, cards, penalties and goals).  He got 3 out of 10 penalties correct (or 7 out of 10 wrong!), 1 out of 9 red cards correct (even worse 8 out of 9 wrong!), 39 out of 79 yellow cards correct (49%) and 2 out of 6 second yellow cards correct (33%).

He also got 5 out of 38 goals wrong so overall not the best referee in the business.

Looking at his Arsenal performances last year in more detail we have two games :-

Stoke v Arsenal 26/08/2012 (0-0)

55% overall weighted rating bias against 26/74 and 5 key wrong decisions (second yellows, reds, penalties and goals).

  • Minute 7 Wilkinson threw himself in front the ball that was going into the goal with arm outstretched and stopped the goal – penalty should have been awarded and Wilkinson should have been sent off.
  • Minute 38 Arsenal should have a penalty for attacker being stopped with arm.
  • Minute 57 Gibbs shoved Pennant in penalty area – penalty should have been given to Stoke.
  • Minute 63 a Stoke player should have been sent off for a studs up challenge.  So three penalties not given, 2 against Stoke 1 against Arsenal; two Stoke players should have been sent off the first in the 7th minute.  A game where the referee decided the score and cost Arsenal points.

Aston Villa v Arsenal 24/11/12 (0-0) 80% overall weighted rating bias against of 0/100 – yes all wrong decisions against Arsenal but no key wrong decisions.

There were two incorrectly given offsides and a number of minor fouls but nothing game changing.  His first half performance was excellent, the second much less so.

Mr Mason was only reviewed in one West Brom game last year – WBA v Swansea 09/03/2013 (2-1) 72% overall performance and bias against of 29/71and there were two key wrong decisions :-

  • In Minute 60 an own goal was scored by Swansea but the Swansea keeper was fouled in the build up and the goal shouldn’t have counted;
  • in Minute 86 a Swansea goal was ruled out for offside but the final ball came from a WBA defender and so the goal should have stood, Mr Mason should have over-ruled his assistant.

In this game the referee’s decisions tilted the result from a Swansea win to one for WBA.

Going back to 2011/12 Mr Mason’s performances and Walter’s team reviewed 6 of his 24 Premier League games.  Overall he got 68% of his decisions right or 32% wrong (depending on how you want to look at it) so worse than last year.

In the major decisions he got 3 goals wrong out of 14; 4 penalties wrong out of 10 and 4 red cards wrong out of 4 so rather poor to be charitable.

Looking at his bias table, Arsenal were firmly his least favourite team (net bias against of 14)  with West Brom also out of favour (net bias against of 8).  His favourite teams were Everton and Stoke (net bias of +13 and +15 respectively).  As Walter said “Oh Dear.  Oh Dear.  Oh Dear” http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/archives/24264

Lee Mason has a long history of bias against Arsenal and has cost us points on a regular basis.  He is also consistently one of the lowest scoring referees when subject to independent review.  His performance in our Stoke game last year was the worst of all reviewed games with a weighted score of 55%.  On it’s own that should have been grounds for a full independent review by the Premier League.

Mr Mason is quite capable of producing another performance on that level of bias and that might be sufficient to end our run of away wins despite the magnificent team performances we have been producing.

If you are in to betting you might look at the odds on there being no penalties, on disallowed Arsenal goals and Arsenal to draw or lose.

 

The books…

The sites from the same team…

 

84 Replies to “West Bromwich Albion v The Arsenal – Referee preview”

  1. With this kind of ugly record, i do not think this referee will this crucial game for Arsenal professionally.I just pray that he performed to his best today, because i am not sure whether he can be changed now.

  2. What nonsense!
    ‘Minute 57 Gibbs shoved Pennant in penalty area – penalty should have been given to Stoke.’
    You forget that Pennant used to be an Arsenal player. You cannot expect referees to keep up with changes like this. Obviously he was doing what he thought was…well, I don’t know.

    But seriously, great work UA and I agree with the comments above.

  3. I hope our boys will turn it around and give him no chance… 2-1 win for the Arsenal.

  4. I am sure that our players must be now aware of how a ref can influence the game and will be able to counteract this by playing their best and avoiding the “silly” tackles by just closing down the opposition and halting their run rather than an immediate tackle(depending on where they are on the field), which should be used as a last option. This may look to be an easy thing to do, but it is not. Full concentration is needed.
    We do not want another “Aston Villa” type game.
    I go for a 1-4 result.
    Come on gunners.

  5. He actually predicted EIGHT BLOODY ONE. I hoped then he didn’t know more than the rest of us! I still think that we have more than enough class to win the game by a couple of clear goals but I suspect that we will have to do it on a very ‘sloping’ pitch this afternoon. I’ll just have to trust the magnificent away supporters to be on his case every time he tries anything less than honest. COYG

  6. I dont think its corruption as such. You know, with regards to match fixing for gambling etc.

    It’s just a mind set that is prevelent in English fotball that basicly it is okay to ‘skrew’ Arsenal over without fear of reprisals. In fact it is a possitive boon to your CV if you do.

    As anyone who has ever read my posts will attest, until this anti Arsenal mind set that is perpetuated so veraciously in the media is reversed nothing will change with regard to how we are refereed.

    I firmly believe that if by some chance we suddenly bacame the ‘Media darlings’ a la Man Utd or Spurs (look how they are refereed) we would be refereed more favourably. Fat chance of that happening any time soon !!

  7. Another thing regarding how dificult this situation regarding referees is, is that the more we bang on about it the more we will be ridiculed as being ‘paranoid’ or ‘deluded’, or whatever other insult they can throw at us that helps them avoid having to face the unsavoury facts that are put in front of them.

    It’s like being wrongly put in an asylum, the more you protest the madder you seem !!!!

    In other words you can’t win and saddly I don’t believe we can.

  8. Jambug, I see some green shoots that might just be the start of changes in some of the media coverage. Probably because we have just ‘spent some bloody money’ in line with their exhortations. Not that that influenced Arsene in any way in his decision to buy Ozil – even the most blinkered of the sports hacks seem to accept that he is a world class player. Some journalists are also crediting the signing of Flamini even though his arrival didn’t involve a transfer fee.
    It will take a while for the tide to fully turn but if we keep producing performances like the Napoili game they will have no alternative but to accept the evidence of their own eyes. It will take a while to filter down to the referees but I honestly believe it will happen.

  9. @Andrew Crawshaw

    I really hope you are right but alas I do not think there is any particular coralation between us having a good, atractive, or even successful team, and the way we are treated in the media, and subsequently by referees.

    If you go back to the invisibles I don’t think you can deny that, by and large, we was given credit by the media of being a fantastic football team. That didn’t have any bearing on how they derided us as ‘Foriegn/french whineing wimps’.

    I give you the tragady that was the day at OT that the invinciples where finaly undone. Not by the Man Utd football team I might add but by Fergie and his media cohorts who spent the 2 week run up to the game depicting us as a bunch of ‘Southern softies’ who ‘Don’t like it up ’em’.

    Or in other words, ‘Take note REF we are gonna be giving it large to this bunch of foriegn pansies and woe betide you get in the way’.

    Well they did and he didn’t.

    And the rest is history as they say.

  10. Do hope we play well and solidly as we have been doing of late. We should have enough in reserve and should win. 2-0 for me.
    Up the Gunners !

  11. Have a feeling west brom might play a bit of a physical game today, especially with a ref who has a rep of not especially liking us. It they fail to protest jack, could be England’s loss, hope you mention that in your corridors of power Roy hodgson

  12. Mandy,
    Yes, Hodgson had better have a look, or Jack, at Mason’s blunt instrument also known as a blind eye, has become a target. And then Wilshere gets the yellow card (for a foul). This is a stitch up.

  13. The Arsenal Player presenters are saying that Jack’s been knocked down 4 times already in the first half without even a free kick.

  14. Seems our numbers are rather correct.. from what I could see on my blurry stream.

  15. Looks like Mason and his assistants are following orders. He refuses to give Arsenal a free kick for anything, disgraceful.

  16. If Mason is a referee I’m a ballet dancer! He is absolutely incompetent. Fortunately equally bad for both teams. Jack very frustrated – not surprising getting a pole in the eye with the ref two yards away and not seeing a foul. Hopeless. I can see someone getting seriously hurt in this game.

  17. Now this total disgrace, and un acceptible. We cant play our game cause every stupid time we attack, to open theit defences all they need is a tackle, and there u go a counter…..this is total disgrace,2 yelloe cards in the game, and for who? Arsenal

  18. I take it back about even handed. Not given offside for Anelka and Jack then fouled in the WBA penalty area.

  19. Just seen Jenkinson felled in an aerial challenge…clearly a foul. If a ref doesn’t give these sort of fouls CONSISTENTLY throughout the match to one team, or whenever he refs that particular team, it ceases to be an issue of incompetence, and becomes one of bias.

    BIAS.

    Pure and simple.

  20. We played OK and were just a little shy of getting a 2nd. We were never going to get anything from the ref but fair play to West Brom. Good to see Spurs lose.

  21. Mason y little as***e
    Not acceptable no
    Every one who is gonna defend this disgrace is not an arsenal fan, dont try to say anything just stay out of here y aint welcome today

  22. Walter, I think we called tMr Mason for what he is. Anti- Arsenal and with no idea what constitutes a penalty. A disgrace to referees worldwide. Surprising no comments on his performance, at least on the stream I was watching. Was there anything where you were?

  23. 5 points ruined by refs, keep counting AAAs, and then at the end of season come and say why are we 20 pts from champion, stupids

  24. There must be a new law in football that states Arsenal will never be awarded a penalty. How were the two fouls on Jack in the penalty area any different from the one for which he was booked in the first half?

  25. We’ve had a couple of streaky games re the refs; but this is more than allayed by the systematic rigging we have seen in 2 significant matches now.

    As usual, it feels like AFC will do only as well as the system allows.

    I don’t even know why I bother following this wretched nonsense

  26. I have just seen the second penalty shout involving Jack in slow motion on Sky. The WBA player slide tackles from behind, he takes Jack’s leg first and then the ball. Stonewall penalty, though Jamie Carragher thinks it was a good tackle!

  27. Lee Mason, you incompetent piece of faeces!

    This guy is so poor and biased, it’s sickening. This was the opening day all over again. Thank goodness for JW, the most fouled player on the field for salvaging a point. TBH, this feels more like 2 points drop to me.

    Is there a rule that Arsenal can’t get penalties in the league?

    On a positive note, the scum were beaten 3-0 by West Ham. And we are back atop the league table.

  28. Mason was very poor, especially in the second half. However, the team stuck at it well and gained a valuable point.

    West Brom are not a bad outfit and I can see other teams dropping points here – unfortunately today Mason allowed them to add some rugby (and a lot of time wasting) to their repertoire.

    Lets hope Ramsey is not too bad, but it would be good if he got two weeks rest.

    The disappointment at not winning is certainly compensated by the Spuds losing – I will not be blowing bubbles, but I might blow the froth off one or two!

  29. I have seen ref performances like that against us for a fair share number of times but it still manages to piss me off. Lee Mason made his mission to ensure he ends our away winning run and the prick got what he wanted as he gave us f all. The fact that he booked Jack for dishing back what he got and let the brom players get away with kicking him says it all. It was a blasphemy to give Arsenal a free kick and as usual, it seems somebody must either handle the ball with both hands or get busted wide open for us to get a penalty. Atypical bent referee performance

  30. 3 possible penalties, none given. These refs are muppets, and so is anyone who thinks they’re not.

  31. Mick @6.11,

    That decision took the biscuit. In what universe is that not a penalty? It was a tackle from behind and the force applied was just ridiculously strong. To be fair to the offending player, there seem to be a “kick me” note signed by the referee taped to Wilshere’s back. He was kicked all over without a wimper from the ref.

  32. @ malaysiangooner,
    I think not, look at how flamini was stopped from physical play, due to the yelliw card, and how west brom players were fouling, we couldnt try and foul anyone and he signals it….. In rugby both teams go physical, today he just f*** us

    Please anybody had a link for the first penalty on wilshere

    Arsenal fans should stand against this, u just cant see the second penalty on wilshere and accept its incompetence u just cant

    If this is how football has to be played, then i dont want to watch no more.

    And if u are not an angry arsenal fan right now, then u aint one in the first place

  33. @btjgooner
    I disagree
    They are not that hell of a team, when u have ramsey injuried from there play, when every attack they do is a counter after a foul so obvious they make on our players.
    When we try going physical, he gives a simple foul too easily, he did ruin us, and its unbelievable how people accept it….. Am really angry now cause of what happened, i know u are and so all others here, but 30 min and those dumb people are gona get out of sewers
    And i cant take their opinion no matter what.
    U know am sh** at football, and i cant get another 10 players like me and play against barca, bayern u name it
    They wont win us if the ref allows what he did today, csuse every time messy is gonna go between me and my teammate am gonna break his leg and so ……
    No team can overcomr this bias, no way

  34. The feeling I got watching the second half was that the refereeing was the same as the Villa game, but better disguised, and hence not as damaging. Except however, we probably should have had 2 penalties. (Although I didn’t see the second one too clearly)

    However, we started the game too slowly, with no real intensity. And this cost us as well. West Brom are a good team, and have some players who can (and did) cause some problems on the counter. We missed Sagna today, not just defensively, but also in attack. And without Walcott we also lacked width. WIthout Cazorla, our lack of width could not be compensated for with more creativity.

    On the whole, I’m not too disappointed with the result. I am with the referee performance a little, but I expected as much. All weekend our rival teams seem to be have gotten lucky. Not all of them with the referee, but lucky nonetheless. I expected us to get unlucky today. A point at WBA is not a bad one. It was hard fought.

  35. Yes same feeling i had shard after the yesterday game of united, and chelsea today, i knew we were going to be unlucky, and u could see it from the above ref review

  36. Yassin

    ManCity were probably the luckiest of all. They got a very soft penalty, and Everton should have had a clear penalty before that. And even apart from that, the manner their goals went in. Negredo was crossing and it hit Howard’s legs and went in. Aguero missed the penalty but it bounced off the post, onto the keeper and into goal. Even the good goal Aguero scored came because Coleman was fighting with Negredo while the game was going on, forcing Everton to play deeper.

    Chelsea today should have conceded a penalty, and only won in the end because Norwich made a series of silly errors.

    All in all, we’re still top of the league heading into the international break. After that, hopefully we’ll have Cazorla and maybe Podolski and Walcott back into the squad. They would be invaluable heading into next month.

  37. Still we didn’t lose and are still top of the table. We need our wide players back, can’t happen soon enough after the internationals.

  38. The BBC report doesn’t even mention Wilshere being taken out in the area ! Maybe we all imagined it and it didn’t actually happen ?
    Also they quote us having had 56% of possession which is quite the opposite of what Sky was saying during the match. They kept showing figures which showed WBA having the most.

  39. It would have been awesome to get a 2nd, just to see the expression on Mason’s face. Still, a point is a point, which is better for instance than what we got from Norwich away last year. Mason is a disgrace.

  40. @Micko

    The BBC don’t report on many things, that includes the savages in 10 Downing st. and the White House murdering people in the name of Peace. Polical BBC has out lived it’s relevance, as many now take for granted, freedom of free speach and access to all knowledge. If you want a fair and non opininonated match report may I suggest learning an new language.

  41. @Dan

    But it is always reassuring to remember that in matters of real moral concern, the Prime minister will weigh in on the side of righteousness. Take for example the proposed slaughter of thousands of Syrians by the US. Oh ok, scrub that. Let’s try something else. Take for example Luis Suarez biting Ivanovic. Ok, it was a pretty lame bite, but it is wonderful to know the PM will stand up and not tolerate the most sickening moral outrages.

  42. These refs really are shite, but at least they are predictable, or predictable from the volume of research people on this site have carried out. We just know that whenever this team start building up a head of steam, we are going to get one of these officials. Still a point at a place others may drop more. We were not on the end of a villa score despite the best intentions of this ref. Roy hodgson you really should be doing a bit more about getting fair protection for one of England’s key players. Ivan Gazidis should also be using his influence to demand answers, I can guarantee you the execs of Chelsea, mancs and the spuds if they were consistently on the end of ref performances as we are.
    Positives, we did not lose, hopefully Ramsey not too bad but will be another of ours getting an inter lull rest, and there are no spud lovers on here this eve!

  43. @Adam — You have to remember it wasn’t just 8-1, but 8-Bloody-1. I actually thought the BBC were going to put the scores the other way around, but either I was reading too much into it, or they missed the joke.

    On the game, there isn’t much more to say, but was the challenge on Wilshere in the 77th minute a scissor tackle? The guy got the ball, but his legs seemed to wrap around Jack’s legs from behind. (I’d like to put a name to him, but the challenge didn’t appear in the BBC commentary for some reason — funny that).

    The reason I asked was I thought that sort of tackle is a real no-no and will get you a card even if you get the ball, and in Jack’s case a penalty.

  44. Walter, Mandy
    After a compilation of stats: seems there needs to be a petition to the league by AFC and Lions fans to demand protection for Wilshere. And write-ins to ask that Gazidis and Hodgson protect this player – a human being first and their “asset” second – for many good reasons, including the protection of all players from the mendacity of this weaponized refshite. Wilshere was a pinata for these scum; but it couldn’t have happened without the full blind-eyedness of Mason, the enabler.

    Rufusstan, Walter:
    Is there such a thing as retrospective carding? That at least would send some sort of message. Isn’t there precedent?

    The idea of keeping it close enough via a few targeted games like Mason’s and the other unmentionable and we can be “a near miss” at the business end of the season. Tsk-tsk, pity; such a valiant lot. Just not quite up to snuff. Bringing an ocean of red cards to show at Mason and Atkinson’s matches at the Ems may escape the “highlight” reals, but the message will be delivered and it will be harder to get away with this ref-abetted license to inflict career-threatening injury on any player, let alone one Jack Wilshere.

  45. Information please:
    In the world of betting, aren’t there plays for a large number of otherwise trivial events: How many cards? Which teams gets the first card? Will a team finish with 10 men? Is this an area of potential match-bending that has been hidden in plain sight?

  46. I was on the road at match time so stopped to watch in a pub (about 20 mins after kick-off).

    I don’t have to say anything as you all spotted what was going and have reported above.

    Lee Mason. How do they get away with it? (Rhetorical).

  47. @Bob — Walter will know better but in theory they can punish any incident that was missed, The FA do not like re-refereeing stuff unless the circumstances are ‘extreme’. I don’t think they can assign cards though; just bans.

    It used to be that they couldn’t do anything, and their hands were tied by FIFA, until it was pointed out that wasn’t true.

    Now I think they will look at things that were missed, but if Mason had the incident in his notes and decided it was not a foul, I think the FA will do Fa.

    Watching Match of the Day 2. Just waiting to see if either of the incidents are discussed or if they are just conveniently swept under the carpet.

    Actually, just seen Hansen is on, so it will be all about strong defending; the usual bollocks. Hope I’m proved wrong, but…..

    Oh and Bob, yes those markets all exist as far as I have seen. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24354124 makes interesting reading.

    As a final thought, I had a look before the Villa game, and you could easily get 8.5 to 1 odds on Villa winning in a two horse race. The Favourite lost down to 2 penalties and a red card, and nothing is mentioned….

  48. Just watched on motd, they didn’t even the second stonewall penalty on Wilshere. What a f*cking disgrace! Instead they replayed the koscielny incident over and over. With the media refusing to put the refs in the spotlight like this we have no hope. This is a joke.

    Meanwhile, vertonghen almost pulled Morrison’s shorts off as he was bearing on goal. Seems he likes undressing other players on the pitch.

  49. The way Hartson and Hansen were going on about how that was a definite penalty from koscielny makes me sick. They did this knowing deep down they were not talking about the real penalty shout in the game, how do these people sleep at night. How was that scissors tackle on Jack edited out? I feel like I’m wasting my time watching the premiership. I really do.

  50. I don’t want to dance around the subject too much:
    Lee Mason is a cunt.

    What game did MOTD just show?
    What about the fouls (including 2 penos) on Jack.
    We get Hansen gloating?

  51. @Al — beat me to it. When Hansen actually started saying nice things about us, I knew there was something nasty waiting.

    Apparently we should have lost because of the Anelka chances in the second half and the ‘Stonewall’ penalty in from Koscielny.

    It meant that Giroud’s chance clearly was not important, one of the Jack challenges was not worthy of discussion and as predicted, the other disappeared.

    I really should stop watching Match of the day. In theory it is to get a second look at things, but when key incidents disappear; whats the point.

  52. two identical tackles.
    First is a yellow for Jack, he tackles from behind but gets a bit of the ball first. yellow not a lot to argue about, maybe a bit harsh.
    Second is by a Baggie inside his penalty area, he tackles from behind, but gets a bit of the ball…..

    See a problem anyone?

  53. I am curious as to what our collective economic weight would be. Clearly the mainstream media have chosen to not see what we see and not report evenhandedly. Were we to do what the Liverpool fans did to the Sun to whatever website or whatever newspaper would our boycott have any affect? On this vein, are Arsenal obliged to let in clearly biased newspapers and media agents into their media scrums? After all, SAF got away with banning the BBC and it is not as if we could get any worse coverage from these outlets. Just sayin’

  54. GGG
    You are on the right track,
    But what to do with the publicly owned BBC?
    Punching Linekar, Shearer or Hansen on sight is already a given.
    What’s next?

  55. So then the question has to be asked: What is the club doing about this situation? Is Arsenal FC a collection of naive stooges that accept the status quo? (it reminds me of something a cynical Canadian diplomat once related to me…A Canadian-American exchange of views was simple. The Canadian went to Washington with his views and came back with Washington’s) I would hope not; The club’s actions have always seemed straightforward and purposeful.

    It would really be nice to coordinate anything we do with action by the club…

  56. Listen: either everyone accepts that EPL is a complete load of horse shit, which is the easiest thing, since it is all big fat money interests and I doubt any of the MOTD ****s give a shit as long as they trouser 20K a sitting.

    Or, Tony sets up an online petition for a transparent independent refereeing Body for the EPL. He has 10 million site hits annually. There are millions of football supporters worldwide.

    Just start a campaign and see how many names he can get. Then take it from there. There must be a million AFC fans worldwide to start with, and I am sure other clubs are pissed off with the shit refereeing too.

  57. Marcus

    There are plenty of unused black bin liners lying around outside the Ems.
    Just saying.

  58. In the Matrix, Leo has the option to opt out.

    In life we rarely get that option. Many of us are stuck in shit jobs, our wages are stuck while inflation gallops up, (you know, not the 2% inflation the govt talks about, I mean the 10%+ inflation of food and housing). Our lives become more difficult and constricted daily.
    Likewise the football world is a carefully constructed matrix we are all stuck in.
    I enjoy football, I really enjoy watching a great team like Arsenal. I find it very difficult to just abandon that interest. So it’s the same thing. we know its a heap of crap, but we carry on, watching, and getting irate. And all the people in the system carry on making oodles of money out of it.

    What gives?

  59. Hansen is still traumatised by a game involving arsenal. hartson has ex arsenal player trying to make it in the biased media syndrome ie he feels he has to up the anti against us whenever he can like wright Merson robson smith and woodcock to name but a few. The media are a very big part of the problem but fuck them all we are still top of the league and just look at who we have to come back

  60. It wasn’t just us,
    Everton got shafted this weekend too.
    Palace have been whipping boys a few times. Easy target there.

    It’s almost like a certain mystery group of people want a certain group of teams to do better than others.
    But that’s impossible, it that was the case, the BBC would let us know about it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *