Good old fashioned refereeing from Probert. Ref review of FA CUP FINAL

Posted on by WalterBroeckx

By Walter Broeckx

After a hard days work and having to type every line again in the columns as it otherwise wouldn’t work the referee review is finally done.

Referee of the FA cup Final was Lee Probert. We predicted what and how he would do it before the match. Did he lived up to our expectations? Time to find out.

Technical note: If the table below appears too wide for your screen press “Ctrl” and “-” (that is control and minus) together and keep tapping until it is the right size.

 

Min Type Foul from
 FOUL ON C/NC COMMENT POINTS WEIGHT ON
1 FOUL ARS HULL C Trip 1 1 1
2 OTHER C Corner given assumed correct 1 1 1
3 GOAL C Correct goal 1 3 3
6 FOUL HULL ARS NC Giroud is bundled over, no foul given 0 0  1
8 FOUL ARS HULL C assistant signals foul, assumed correct 1 1 1
9 GOAL C Ignoring the ball was 10 meters off the spot from the foul, ignoring a possible foul on Sagna I will give the goal as correct for this time 1 3 3
12 FOUL HULL ARS C Trip on Sagna 1 1 1
12 FOUL ARS HULL C Trip 1 1 1
15 FOUL HULL ARS C Push 1 1 1
15 FOUL HULL ARS C Push 1 1 1
16 FOUL HULL ARS C Kick from behind 1 1 1
17 GOAL C correct goal 1 3 3
18 FOUL HULL ARS C Hangs over Arsenal player 1 1 1
24 FOUL HULL ARS C Came in late and from behind 1 1 1
24 YELLOW HULL NC Came in dangerous and late, always a booking 0 0 2
25 FOUL ARS HULL C Pull 1 1 1
28 FOUL HULL ARS C Push 1 1 1
29 FOUL ARS  HULL NC  Both players jumping up cleanly, I see no foul 0 0 1
30 FOUL HULL ARS C Pull 1 1 1
35 FOUL ARS HULL C Trip 1 1 1
43 FOUL HULL ARS C Push in the back, not shoulder against shoulder as some suggested 1 1 1
48 FOUL HULL ARS NC Hull player comes in from behind, Özil has to jump up to save his legs 0 0 1
Half Time 18 24 29
Correct % 81.82% 82.76%
 CORRECT TOTAL Correct %
 DECISIONS
 YELLOW  0 1 0 %
 RED
 PENALTY
 GOAL  3 3 100 %
 OTHER
 TOTAL 3 4 75 %
 OFFSIDE 0 0

Second half

Min Type Foul from
 FOUL ON C/NC COMMENT POINTS WEIGHT ON
47 FOUL ARS HULL C Trip 1 1 1
51 FOUL ARS HULL NC Player acts as he has been shot, no foul, no contact 0 0 1
57 FOUL HULL ARS C  Trip 1 1 1
 58  PENALTY HULL ARS NC Huddlestone pulls Giroud down with his arm in his neck, clear penalty not given 0 0 3
59  FOUL HULL ARS C Came in wild 1 1 1
59 YELLOW HULL C Came in late and wild 1 2 2
60  FOUL HULL ARS C Pull 1 1 1
64 PENALTY HULL ARS NC  Hull defender went with his hands to the ball and touched it clearly, hands not in natural position, should have been a penalty 0 0 3
68 PENALTY HULL ARS NC  Hull defender first plays the ball but then swings his leg further and catches Cazorla on his ankle and brings him down. 0 0 3
 69 FOUL HULL ARS C  Meyler cuts off the path of Koscielny  1  1  1
 69 YELLOW HULL C  Meyler came in a bit wild  1  2 2
 71 OTHER NC  Probert gives a corner to Arsenal but it was Sanogo who touched the ball as the last one 0 0 1
72 GOAL ARS NC As the corner was not correct, the goal cannot be given as correct 0 0 3
 73 FOUL ARS HULL C High foot from Sanogo 1 1 1
 76 FOUL ARS HULL C Doubtful but no replay so given as correct 1 1 1
79 PENALTY HULL ARS NC  Meyler runs in to the back of Cazorla who wants to take a shot at goal, nothing given again 0 0 3
85  FOUL ARS HULL C Giroud hits Hull player 1 1 1
85 YELLOW ARS C Giroud came late so correct card 1 2 2
86 FOUL HULL ARS C Davies brings Giroud down who went past him 1 1 1
86 YELLOW HULL C Davies gets shown a yellow card 1 2 2
89 FOUL ARS HULL NC Hull defender jumps in the back of Sanogo who gets a foul against him? Last minute attempt from the ref? 0 0 1
91 FOUL HULL ARS NC  Giroud is being held by a Hull player no foul given, no advantage signaled 0 0 1
93  FOUL ARS HULL C  little push, this time the ref gives it. Probably as it was a foul against Arsenal 1 1 1
95 FOUL HULL ARS C  Foul on Arteta but this time signals advantage 1 1 1
95 FOUL ARS HULL C Sanogo jumps in the back of defender 1 1 1
105 FOUL ARS HULL C Push in the back, first foul in extra time 1 1 1
106 FOUL HULL ARS C Sagna was tripped 1 1 1
107 FOUL HULL ARS C Jumped in the back 1 1 1
108 GOAL  ARS C Correct goal 1 3 3
110 FOUL ARS HULL C Giroud trips Hull player 1 1 1
111 FOUL HULL ARS C Push 1 1 1
112 FOUL HULL ARS C Pull 1 1 1
113 OTHER NC Hull keeper keeps out a shot from Sanogo and tips it in to a corner but goal kick given 0 0 1
114  OFFSIDE HULL C Offside 1 1 1
116 FOUL ARS HULL C Push from Sanogo 1 1 1
119 FOUL HULL ARS C Foul on Sagna 1 1 1
 Second half  26 32 52
 Correct % 72.22 % 61.54 %
 DECISION  CORRECT TOTAL CORRECT %
 YELLOW  4 4 100%
 RED
PENALTY 0 4 0 %
 GOAL  1 2 50 %
 OTHER
TOTAL SCORE  44 56 81
 CORRECT % 74.58 % 69.14 %
 DECISION  CORRECT TOTAL CORRECT %
 YELLOW  4 5 80 %
 PENALTY  0 4 0 %
 GOAL  4 5 80 %
 TOTAL SCORE  IMPORTANT DECISIONS 8 14 57.14%
 BIAS SCORENOT CORRECT DECISIONS 1ST HALF 2ND HALF TOTAL IN %
 FAVOUR ARS 0 2 2 13.33 %
 FAVOUR HULL 5 8 13 86.67 %

The first half was rather fine from the ref.

I could have gone for having the second Hull goal to be disallowed but as I am still warming up again after having been out of the review business for a year I showed my compassionate side of me and let it go. I thought there was a strong case to give a foul in favour of Sagna when the free kick was given in at first as a Hull player jumped in his back. I could have said that the ball was not in the right place (some 8-10 meters closer to the Arsenal goal) but I let it go.

Only  few mistakes from the ref with all mistakes going against Arsenal. Not giving a yellow card against Roserio was a terrible decision but in line with what we predicted.

The second half was a bit problematic. In a way outside the penalty areas he did rather well. But once the ball went inside the penalty area…he just lost it.

The equaliser from Arsenal came from a corner that wasn’t a corner. So the goal shouldn’t have been around the way it came. So should Hull feel aggrieved? Not really.

Because, as Untold Arsenal predicted before the match, we would get no penalty no matter what became reality on the field. Once again a great prediction based on our earlier reviews and numbers. Probert to give Arsenal a penalty would require a player being chopped to 7 pieces. As this wasn’t the case Probert closed his eyes on each and every occasion when Arsenal should have gotten a penalty.

How on earth do you miss 4 penalties in one match? I don’t know but Probert did it. And on top of that all the appeals came against or in favour of one team. Maybe that was the reason he missed them all. Because as we have shown in the past Probert has a very big bias against Arsenal.

If pundits, ex-referees and other people in the game say that Probert did an excellent job they might be saying the truth. Probert did an excellent job in trying to prevent an Arsenal win and certainly within 90 minutes. And I do think that this was his job.

The appointment of Dean in our lost League Cup final a few years ago and this appointment gave me the smell of the gutter. It stank for miles around. Sending a ref with such a negative bias worked in 2011 but as this team was stronger (and had fewer injuries than in 2011) we could overcome both Hull and the referee.

If he would have been the man he should have been and give the penalties for Arsenal even with Arteta missing half of them we would have won the match 3-2 within 90 minutes. Or 4-2 if he had scored them all.

Final score was just under 75% and when we put weight on the score he only got 69% and that is below the acceptable level.

When we look at the important decisions themselves we see that he only got a score of 57%. Completely unacceptable.

I remember a pundit on TV saying during the match when he let go another foul on an Arsenal players:  ‘good old fashioned refereeing from Lee Probert’. And this sums it up. He was doing it with the rulebook in his head from when he started watching football.  Or started refereeing when he was 14 years young. But that is a few years ago and the game and the rules have evolved since then. Probert showed no sign of knowing this.

And we don’t need good old fashioned refereeing any more. We need modern refereeing. Refereeing as it is meant to be in 2014. And if possible a ref that is less biased than Probert. His past has shown his anti-Arsenal bias and this match only confirmed it.

Shame on those who have appointed this ref for such an important match. Oh and you plan didn’t work.

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53 Replies to “Good old fashioned refereeing from Probert. Ref review of FA CUP FINAL”

  1. Liverpool get four penalties in one game and The Arsenal denied four penalties in one game. Agenda much?

  3. Watched the game in Australia the pundit was Shaka Hislop is take was Lady Luck was smiling on Hull and you need a bit of luck in a game and the same remark was made with the Sanogo incorrect corner then goal scored I supose thats what they call it even out in the end 4 to 1 againts Arsenal never heared the ref called lady luck before.

  4. Excellent review which was pretty much as we expected. One thing I disagree with is that if you call the second Hull goal correct (even though as you say the placement of the ball was wrong, which constitutes a technical mistake by Probert) then the same must apply to our second goal also the result of a technical mistake.
    All other major errors by Probert were judgmental, and as such a complete disgrace.

  5. Good old fashioned BS among the media pundits, backing Probert.

  6. Great review, highlighting everything we at untold, and anyone else with fair and unbiased eyes, already knew.

    Probert is a cheat.

    The PGMOL are a disgrace.

    But all he did was referee to his bosses expectations, and they all unanimously concluded he had fantastic game.

    And who are his bosses exactly?

    Well that would be Sky Sports, TalkSport, The Sun, ESPN, BT Sports etc. etc.

    All of whom can rest easy in the knowledge that next season Arsenal are going to get well and truly screwed, even more than they where this season.

    I know it is slightly of topic but I have heard a few people suggest that the answer to this problem of disgraceful, biased Refereeing is technology.

    Sorry, I just don’t see it.

    Commentators, Pundits, ex players, ex Referees, and of course all manner of hacks, had there say on the 4 penalty shouts.

    They all watched the same TV images we saw. In slow motion, from all angles, as often as they wanted, and they still concluding……….EVERY DECISION WAS CORRECT.(except the corner of course)

    What chance have you got of addressing Refereeing bias when everyone who judges them is as biased as they are, if not more so.

    Technology or no technology if the will isn’t there NOTHING will change.

  8. Thanks for the review Walter.

    To be fair to Steve Bruce and Hull they are not thugs and they did make fouls but by no means did they take advatange of lax refereeing the way Villa did with Taylor in charge of the first match in the league last season.

    He was biased but not as terrible as a Dean or Taylor would have been. They would have not called that particular foul on Koscielny. The one that would have left the Hull player one on one with Fabianski.

    I am not happy but the nature of the opposition luckily meant of we played well enough we would win. Whereas against the most thug like kicking teams – where the referee does not penalize them.- we struggle. Chelsea. Villa. Norwich. Off the top of my head. Contrasting with say Newcastle who play football and apart from Tiote and a few diehards don’t go out kicking in their present incarnation.

  9. Sav from Australia

    To an extent I agree with you.

    Apart from those 4 penalties he wasn’t terrible.

    But jeez it’s come to something when you taking small crumbs of comfort from that.

    Honestly, 4 blatant penalties. Not one given!!

    That is beyond disgraceful.

    Every man and his dog praising him for it, now that’s beyond worrying !!!

  10. Right again jambug. The only way we can overcome the inevitable anti Arsenal onslaught next season will be by being so good and scoring so many goals that any bias becomes superfluous.

  11. Gooner 48

    Or kept making us re take them until we missed.

    Arteta Re take?

    Girud booked for encroachment?

    Can you imagine Gerrard being asked to re take one, and by heck they had enough chances to.

  12. We won despite Pro-berk’s attempts because we we the better team and did fight all the way for this .
    Welcome back Ref Review and thanks Walter .

  13. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Probert is dishonest, and if (or not) his orders came from above is also something I’d not comment on in a public forum. He had a very, very poor cup final which was littered with errors, but to say he’s a cheat would suggest it was deliberate. I saw his Friday (before the game) interview on BBC Points West where he said he wanted to treat it as a normal Saturday or Tuesday evening game. That was his first error, and the rest just followed on pilling up one on top of another.
    The fact that a Premiership referee had a crap game is not surprising, it’s a regular occurrence, but when you consider that PGMOL was formed due to media complaints of football league match officials (pre 2001) it’s odd that the media is so silent now.

  14. Walter, a good review and many thanks for taking the time and trouble to work through it.

    Probert confirmed our worst fears with a wretched performance, but in the end we managed to prevail.

    Can you imagine the screams from the media if Diverpool or the Manures were denied four penalties in a cup final?

    As others have indicated, we need to be able to beat the opposition and PGMOL match after match after match if we are to win anything next season. This looks a daunting task, but, we were able to do this in many matches this season, even with very biased officials, so it is possible.

  15. I think he reffed like he didn’t want to influence the scoreline and bottled out of giving penalties. We would only see real bias had he given Hull a penalty.

  16. How Arsenal got NO pentalty have been puzzling me ever since and because the team won, no one picked that up anywhere anymore.

    Out of all those, the second one with the ball hitting a player who is raising his hand high up is the most unbelivable.

    The one on Giroud is a clear foul. I forgot which streaming I was watching but even those doing the comment said its a foul. They just say sometimes its hard to see… Well, if the person can’t see a critical decision, may be he should not be calling the game?

    I am a bit loose with my standard so may be one of the two challenges on Cazorla should not result in pentalies. You can say attacking players go down easily in those areas but from how I see it defenders shouldn’t try those “high risk” moves in the penalty area. Given the bias against Arsenal, any gunner must try to avoid it.

    Sometimes, I just think that some player or club should just sue the FA when a player’s leg is broken due to rackless tackles. You know health and safty guys… failure to protect the players against injuries.

  17. NW
    It can be done, there are solicitors who specialise in sports compensation claims.

  18. NW

    Try and go back and listen to different commentaries’ to hear how they put different interpretations on different incidents.

    Arsenal V Liverpool. Fa Cup. Co commentator: Andy Gray.

    Suarez gets caught with minimal contact. On viewing the replay a rather unconvincing Gray, on seeing such slight contact says:

    “It doesn’t say there has to be a lot of contact, it just says there has to be contact”

    By ‘it’ I presume he is referring to the rules.

    So where exactly in the rules does it say:

    ‘Any contact between a defending player and an attacking player is a penalty’

    Arsenal V Manchester Utd. PL Match. Co Commentator: Michael Owen.

    Giroud gets blatantly shoved to the ground from behind in the penalty area. On viewing the replay a rather indignant Owen dismisses it out of hand and says:

    “No, not enough in that for me”

    So when it suits against Arsenal any contact (Suarez) IS enough to validate a penalty being given. On the other hand a blatant shove in the back on an Arsenal player (Giroud and Cazola) somehow ISN’T enough contact to validate a penalty being given.

    This kind of double standards by commentators, annalists, pundits, hacks etc. etc. when referring to Arsenal incidents is the absolute norm, every weekend.

  19. great summing up of this ref. It looked to me like he was desperate for Arsenal to lose, did not quite how to arrange it, was given the bonus of an early two goal Hull lead, and did everything he could tokeep Hull in front. Yes he made a mistake on the corner, but four penalties! the man is an embarassment to the PGMOL, if that is indeed possible.
    All credit to the team in over turning this. There has been an agenda to get Wenger out for years, the AAA are just the pawns of someone or something else, who knows , if we had lost to Hull, they may have even succeeded. it is almost as if the players realised this in the way they responded, I am sure that comeback was for Wenger as much as anything else.
    But as you say, their plan failed.
    Whatever Arsenal did last season to keep Taylor away, I suggest they do the same with this ref…..and quite a few others

  20. Well done @walter. The only aspect that I disagree with is one error should not effect the next action in a review. Each action should be taken on its own merits.

    I would like all those who can to tweet this link on twitter with hash tag #anotherPGMOLcheat

    We need to publicise our grievance to ensure all of football sees the unfair officials of England. My challenge is to all ex Arsenal players to openly mention the penalties that the FA cup final official ignored.

  21. @Mandy Probert is not an embarassment to PGMOL. He is an embarassment to the game.
    PGMOL are worse than an embarassment. They are an organised group of cheats. They cheat the Game of fair standards of officiating. The FA condone this cheating by employing them.

  22. Thanks Walter.

    Probert showed the world that Arsenal’s opponents can kick and cheat as much as they like.

    Probert showed all refs aiming for “elite” status that this is how Arsenal FC are to be “done over”. There’s no mistaking the intentions of those responsible for appointing Probert to “manage” the final.

    I don’t think the ref had a good first half. He simply got even worse in the second half, which is the way it often goes.

    Very good comments above – following on from this article.

  23. Sadly, I think you are right Menace. Since Blatter and co came along, since the advent of online, and often illegal betting, dodgy agents, organised crime entering the game, dirty money, things have certainly deteriorated on many fronts within football. The authorities running the game, the media and PGMOL are certainly doing their bit, and tragically, some of our ex Arsenal players are some of the worst offenders. Maybe they feel they have to try harder and go to greater lengths to prove they have no time for Arsenal to earn any money in our media.
    It is sad to hear the likes of Robson, Wright, Merson, Alan Smith…when it comes to Arsenal, regularly trying to outdo morons like Hansen, Shearer and Owen…men clearly with their own private agendas.
    Of course there are honourable exceptions amongst our ex players, Keown being one of them but not so many.

  25. When a Referee enters the pitch he has a choice to make.

    There shouldn’t be, but disgracefully, without a shadow of a doubt, there is, and it’s this:

    A) Does he Referee the game according to the Rules?

    B) Does he Referee the game according to what the media want?

    The first thing he has to consider before he makes that choice is exactly WHO will be his ‘judge and Jury’ after the match?

    Will it be the PGMOL?

    Will it be the Media?

    I think WE all know the answer to that question, and if we know, so does the Ref.

    In which case it’s hardly surprising what choice he makes is it?

    Believe it or not Referees are only human, and given the choice between public humiliation for going against the agenda or universal praise for towing the line, what would you do?

    Not only that but there is the real possibility if they don’t tow the line, at least to some degree, they won’t be in the job for long.

    The media are running our game and it’s a fucking disgrace.

  26. Excellent news bjt, been saving a nice bottle of Champagne for this one, even refrained from touching it after the cup final.
    Three years as well…..

  27. The news we have all been waiting for… Arsene has signed a new 3 year deal. Heard that AAA? THREE MORE YEARS OF ARSENE. Lets have a party Untolders

  28. Great news.

    Considering the shit he gets. The obvious problems with FFP and lack of real intent to stop the ‘oilers’ ploughing on regardless. The flak he gets from the Clubs own supporters, I think he really must believe he is on the brink with this squad.

    If it wasn’t for the ‘firestorm’ I am expecting from the media and Referees next season I would be supremely confident myself.

    Lets hope I’m wrong because given a fair run with injuries, a couple of good signings and a fair crack of the whip from the officials, we will be more than capable of giving the title a go.

  30. So Wenger seems to be staying for 3 more years. Exellent! Not that it’s unexpected of course, although I had moments of doubt or worry that something would go wrong. As it is, I’m waiting for Arsenal to announce it.

    jambug @12.43

    I agree completely. If only we didn’t have to worry about referees we could just approach the game as a game and judge the team entirely on merit. I think we’re good enough to win the league, even if we need a bit more in the squad.

    This year itself, we’ve seen our errors cost us, but we’ve also seen the referees cost us (and nearly cost us the FA Cup final too) But somehow it’s considered bad form to talk about that.

    Next year ManU will be back as the media and ref darlings. Liverpool will struggle but might be bigged up and propped up for a bit. City and Chelsea are immune from any criticism since they are spending daddy’s money. Spurs are the great entertainers (well, they have that right at least) and Arsenal will be the ones that everyone is told to hate for various reasons.

  31. I just had a look at Le Grove and they are depressed and frustrated at the news.. I’m not a sadist but that made me smile for some reason 🙂

  32. Thanks Walter.
    Probert got the gig as a reward for sending off AW for kicking a water bottle at Old Trafford. Fortunately Arsenal won. Unlucky Riley. The Mob will be back next year.
    –
    The funny thing is that in Spain no one has any problem in admitting that the big two use their own media for their own purposes. Marca is a newspaper for Madrid fans!

    This is is understood. Propaganda is not a ethereal concept, it is a craft.

    e.g. di Maria speaking exclusively to Marca, who are then copied by other ‘news’ sites:
    ‘Speaking to Marca, the Argentine – who is expected to play a starring role for his country in the upcoming FIFA World Cup tournament in Brazil – said: “It hurts when you’re always doing your best for your club and then you hear that you might be going to Tottenham.’

    Similarly in Britain all newscorp orifices were previously seen to be supporting Slur Alex’s team. Politics and football, they do still mix. Always have, always will. It’s why Abu Dhabi bought a football team in Manchester, England, why Gazprom invested in several clubs around Europe including Gazprom-upon-Fulham.

    Arsenal need to buy up a newspaper (again!)?

  33. off topic, but IF this is true, could be doing us a favour:
    http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11667/9331579/transfer-news-barcelona-expect-cesc-fabregas-and-javier-mascherano-to-stay

    If Cesc was to leave, not sure where we would fit him in, but equally, him going to a rival when it is widely reported we have first option might not be the best situation either.

    Agree with your post above Shard, can see a bit of a decline for Liverpool next year, next season may also come to early for any rebuilding at Utd or Spurs. Cannot see Martinez getting such good loan players either. I expect us to contest the top 3, despite ref interference.
    The way we play takes a while to build into players, the longer our core are together, the better they will get.
    Yes, the media will have their darlings, but from what we know of the UK media, it is to our clubs credit we will never be amongst them. Whatever is going on, it is clear our club have nothing to do with it, yes we pay a price, but it is well worth it, especially on sunny days in May.

  35. “yes we pay a price, but it is well worth it, especially on sunny days in May.”

    And that sums it perfectly Mandy. Very well put.

  36. Considering the generosity shown to the referee in the above review for the first half the numbers above are truly appalling.

    There is no defence. The numbers are there for all football fans and journalists to see. I’m off to have a cup of coffee.

    Thanks again to Walter, Andrew, Tony, Dogface, Billy the Dog and all the regular commentators for the good grace an dignity they have shown in handling the transparent trolls upon this important site and resource for football fans.

  37. Good review Walter. Because Hull got 2 early goals, even if the second was ‘assisted’ by the officials allowing the free kick to be taken from a more dangerous position, this afforded Probert some leeway regarding overtly biased decisions. Once Arsenal got the goal first goal and looked increasingly likely to equalise and probably go on to win, the situation demanded more and more intervention from Probert and his linesmen in order to maintain Hulls slender advantage. The plot was obvious but how ironic that it was thwarted by the officials own hands in wrongly awarding us the corner from which we equalised. Cheats never prosper as the saying goes!

  38. @jambug please understand the Game. The Game is governed by The International Football Association Board who authorise The Laws of the Game. So it is not rules but Laws that referees have to implement and oversee.

    I find it incredible that many footballers & commentators do not know the Laws nor have they read them yet based on ‘experience’ claim authority of the Game.

    @Walter perhaps a brief publication of the Laws with referee interpretation over the next few weeks might help us understand some of the incidents reviewed.

  40. Probert is just a small cog in a large apparatus. The penalties were all blatant; denial itself blatant. Excusing thereof – blatant. Lack of accountabilty inexcusable and blatant. Agenda overt and unmistakeable. Yawns. Moves on.

  41. Shard @ 1.46pm

    “I just had a look at Le Grove and they are depressed and frustrated at the news.”

    Hope you had a post Le grove shower! 🙂

    But it is always good to see Le Grove unhappy! It is particularly pleasing that AW has signed for three years, it gives him time to develop this team further and hopefully reap the rewards.

  42. So let’s look at what happened last season Arsenal win the FA cup despite the corruption of officialdom.
    Did not win the PL because of officialdom penalties not given against WBA,Chelsea and man city and the penalties given against us stoke and villa.
    So even with an injury list that would destroy any Primeir league’s team any chance of winning the league that includes man city.
    So on the day Mr Wenger signs a new contract Arsenal are not that far away and with little luck with injuries and officials that are not corrupt we would be their already.
    4 penalties 4 penalties how does that happen

  43. Menace

    Don’t understand why you are having a pop at me.

    Laws, rules, whatever, we all know what we are talking about.

  44. I was fuming when the penalties were not given, but in the end i am so glad that Arsenal showed their class and won without them.

    This team is going places now, and has been growing for a while now. With our additions this summer, i am confident we will now have a big enough squad that is ready for the many games we are going to have next season, and we will have many, no doubt about it.

    I think our new strip should be a reworking of the invincibles strip, just my thoughts.

    With Sagna, Bentdner and Fabianski going and probably Viviano, Kallstrom ending their loan, that is already 5 players needed to be replaced, plus the 2 we already needed before that.
    So although we would really need 7 players, i can see a possible 5 players being bought/got, and other Arsenal players coming through.

    I would really really really wish that Diaby makes it this year and shows why AW has kept his faith in him.

    Who ever AW buys, i am sure that Arsenal is going to be strong, stronger than ever next season, AND, other teams WILL learn to fear Arsenal AGAIN. It has been long time coming, but they cannot stop us now, even though they try with their corruption(I think they were/are really frightened of another invincibles team that is not Manu, Liv or ManC), we are on the way again.

    Forward for ever Arsenal.

  45. Bravo, Walter,
    Really fine form! A true blast from the (recent) past. Even one of the two presenters on NBC Sports in the States said (in passing and nearly under his breath) that there were at least 3 few generous major non-calls by Probert. It was never picked up on by his partner, so excluded from being an actual theme for the audience to ponder/absorb.

    As we threaten for a title next season, it’s exciting to watch Arsene jumping so well into the mounting fray with the new contract and the brilliant words (people wanting to play for us gives us an advantage! OMG!) and true Ambition to match our freshened finances. CYOG.

  46. Probert is a disgrace, even a work colleague who doesn’t follow football(doesn’t understand it either) said to me after that weekend what was up with the ref.

  47. Word reaches me that the much match fixing discussed Scotland Nigeria game this week was reffed by Probert…..if not, I stand corrected.

  48. Welcome back to the ref reviews. Many thanks Walter. You provide an invaluable service and quite frankly the only truly impartial reckoning of referees performances anywhere. Slowly, slowly, the word is getting round among the fans. Next year we need to push on by shouting it loud and clear within the ground when we are blatantly cheated by the officials. Enough is enough. How much evidence does it take to see that there is organised collusion against us from PGMOL, Media and so called experts?

  49. Mandy:

    https://vine.co/v/MdJ2YX32P2U

    Fortunately for the Nigerian ‘keeper LP had been reading the funny papers before the game and had checked his messages, and he disallowed the goal for some reason? The clip is poor quality but my untrained eyes could not spot a foul (could be wrong).

    Tony’s favourite paper ‘The Telegraph’ described events thus:
    “Video clips of the comical error were posted almost immediately on websites, drawing responses which combined bafflement and amusement.” Yeah. Right. That’s all that people were saying! 😉

  51. Very odd. I think you would need at least three different angles to be sure, but it’s very hard to spot the foul, maybe there was a knock on the ‘keeper?

    But why did he disallow a goal after the ‘keeper had slapped the ball into the net? I mean, he didn’t have a problem with Livermore’s two fisted tribute to Superman, or Carzola getting tripped or pushed 😉 ?
    So, what was wrong with that challenge on the ‘keeper?

    “bafflement and amusement” wrote the Telegraph. That is one way to react to a referee who can be observed to be changing the laws of the game from one game to the next depending upon who is playing.

  52. I was at the game, and this review re-inforces the ‘gut’ feeling.

    The ref was bloody awful.

  53. Always knew that referee’s especially with Mike Rileyat the helm was anti- arsenal. Mike Riley was resposible for us ending our 49 unbeaten run at Manure.

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