Leicester v Arsenal 31 August 2014 – The Match Officials. (“I wouldn’t trust him as a ballboy”)

88 Replies to “Leicester v Arsenal 31 August 2014 – The Match Officials. (“I wouldn’t trust him as a ballboy”)”

1. Mike T

   I think you’ll agree that these findings are unacceptable.

   But following our recent chats I know from what you have said that you ‘Question’ there validity.

   It’s only 2 games so why not do YOUR OWN assessment of the games?

   I’m sure you could communicate with Andrew if you need recordings of the 2 games and then you could challenge him on the decisions you feel he’s assessed wrong.

   If it is not a challenge you wish to take up I will hence forth consider your scepticism to be somewhat without basis.

2. This referee Anthony Taylor made a big mistake against us in a Championship game once against Nottingham Forest, which cost us a win. You guys don’t trust him, but he’s messed us about as well, so maybe he’ll be balanced!

3. Man United just doubled their PL points by snatching a draw away to Burnley. The revival has begun.

4. Jambug

   I doubt Mike T will accept your challenge. You see, it’s just too convenient for him (and his ilk) to shoot down the Ref Reviews without putting anything on the table.

5. You can find full recordings of Arsenal games for the past couple of years at least on the arsenal.com web site. Digital membership is free, then go to arsenal player and follow the search criteria.

6. It is demoralising sometimes, but in the end it will make Arsenal stronger. As long as Untold keeps on about it, the momentum will grow, and others will ask more questions too.

7. In the wrong key decisions chart the one favouring Arsenal was the Wilshere challenge in the Everton game which Walter deemed worthy of a red Reuther than a yellow card. We don’t ignore wrong calls that benefit Arsenal but call each incident on its merits.

8. That’s such a good report, Andrew. And the summary is chilling.

   I saw some bits of Taylor doing a match this season. i think it was Spurs. I couldn’t even watch. Yuk.

   Jambug, whilst Mike T posts some good or reasonable arguments, based on what I’ve read from him, there’s no chance he’ll see ref bias or errors concerning Arsenal.

9. But let’s all remember that Mike T claims to watch Arsenal matches as a “neutral”.

10. Rantetta

    I agree he’s a good poster as I believe he just says what he believes. Whether I, or anyone else agrees is another matter but that’s what opinion is about.

    And that’s what I think lets him down with regards to his scepticism about the referees reviews.

    I think it’s just his opinion that the reviews MUST be biased because this is an Arsenal blog.

    It doesn’t seem to matter how many times you repeat that the reviewers are impartial, and at least where for a time, drawn from a cross section of loyalties.

    I mean, in that case if you are going to suggest an unavoidable ‘bias’ towards Arsenal from Arsenal fans, then you must assume the non Arsenal fans would have a negative bias against Arsenal, but that wasn’t the case, and the reviews at that stage mirrored exactly the reviews just carried out by reviewers with an Arsenal bias.

    But I’ve repeated this all many times and still doubters such as Mike T just say ‘it must be biased’

    Well if he does a couple of reviews himself and challenges the Untold findings with his own he may either, have his doubts dispelled, or alternatively, lay bare the scurrilous deceptions of Andrew and co.

    The balls in Mike T’s court now.

11. Adding a few older matches under him

    05/03/2011 : Arsenal – Sunderland: 0-0. Terrible refereeing performance. Arshavin is meters onside but Mr. Garrat (the assistant from the Everton match yes) raises his flag. Completely unbelievable decision. When Arshavin goes alone on the keeper he steadies himself for a shot. A Sunderland defender runs behind Arshavin and shoves him with both hands in his back. Asrhavin loses his balance because of this blatant push falls over and shoots meters wide in his tumble. A clear foul should have resulted in a penalty, a red card (denying goal scoring opportunity) but Mr. Taylor gave a goal kick.

    05/05/2012: Arsenal – Norwich : 3-3. http://untold-arsenal.com/archives/21007 too much to talk about in this match.

12. Anyone still under the illusion we have competent and unbiased officials in the PL must surely live on another planet. I remember that blatant shove on Arshavin, Walter, and to say it was ridiculous to award a goal kick to the other team was ridiculous is an understatement.

    On the subject of Utd’s revival, just seen a stat that di Maria cost £15m more than it has cost Burnley in player purchases in their entire history. Another one was that this was Burnley’s first clean sheet in the PL in 42 matches. Yes, Utd have turned the corner.

13. Hmm, not sure what I just said there. Meant to say to say it was ridiculous to award the other team a goal kick is an understatement, it was outrageous not to award a penalty to Arshavin.

14. @Jmbug

    You little tinkerbell you

    I wont be able to look at them over the next few days but yea that’s a really decent challenge.

    I will point out however I already find a problem with Andrews conclusions for If Wilshire had been sent off the likelihood would surely it should have been possible that Everton would have gone on to win?

15. Mike T

    I know 🙂

    But that scenario you mention applies to many of the occasions that go against us and is in fact very much part of what we are saying.

16. Jambug
    Thanks for your reply.

    I don’t know if Mike T has commented directly onto a ref pre or review article, so you may have to ask him again after he next makes a post.

    I met an Ars supporting friend yesterday. His eyes glaze over when I talk about the refs. I’d previously asked him about the cup final, and he just sighed, as though saying; Oh, here we go again!

    So if there’s Arsenal fans that can’t see 4 penalties, not given, what hope is there for the rest of the world?

    And the funny thing about this friend is that he loves Formula 1, and is apoplectic about decisions made relating to a certain (brilliant) driver, who has been punished over the years like no other driver I’ve witnessed, and has always been penalised for “mistakes”. When this same driver is “fouled” against, the foulers continue to not get punished.

    One commentator who is usually on this drivers side makes excuses for the foulers.

    Therefore, my friend closely scrutinises F1 to the inth degree (races and analysis), but fails to do the same for football.

17. Oops. Contrition of sorts to Mike T. Whilst typing my last post – he’s here.

    So, Mike T, do a review of the last Chels v Ars game, pls.

18. For anyone doubting our referee reviews and watching Man City – Stoke City

    Read this http://untold-arsenal.com/archives/31036

    Ref review 2012/13: Lee Mason. The ref with penalty area fever….

    Just the title is enough in fact 😉

19. At least he evened the penalty decisions out to one each way this game.

20. Full time:

    Man City 0 – 1 Stoke City

    I wonder what players Man City need to buy now that they’ve been beaten at home by Stoke. Afterall, this is the solution to anything that goes wrong with any club, PARTICULARLY Arsenal.

21. Tut! and thrice tut.

    As Arsenal aren’t playing today, I’d usually avoid the footy scores and then wait to be ‘surprised’ by what MOTD has to show.

    I now know the Bet365 score, and have picked up a hint at the rsults from Chelsea and ManU (though I’m trying to feign some denial of knowing?)

    Of course, I will re-visit Walter’s link re Le-masonic, much, much later.

    Thanks, all.

22. @ LCFC Fan, welcome to Untold.

    Let’s hope that that he is not equally crap, but actually decent (by the law of averages he must have one good game) and football wins. Good luck this season, always have a soft spot for Leicester, as the missus used to be a season ticket holder and we now live nearby. And obviously for that Bergkamp hat-trick.

23. Thanks Andrew. This ref clearly does not like us, nor it seems a ref other refs we have had this season. After the villa game, Taylor wasn’t referee for the rest of the season. I hoped….maybe against hope that someone from Arsenal had a word. Maybe not.

24. Yeah, city need to buy, and fast! 🙂

25. Moyes’ stock must be rising pretty rapidly, after all he achieved mediocracy without spending £150M. Van Gaal could only dream of that right now.

26. Should be a god MOTD tonight.
    Something for Webb if he shows.

27. Good MOTD

28. so, I see offside goals scored by Everton CAN actually be disallowed. Just not when it’s Arsenal playing (at least I have not seen them get disallowed against us in the last 3 yrs or so).

29. AL,

    How sweet would it be Everton to lose point today because of Chelsea’s 2nd offside goal? I know that Karma can be a vindictive bitch but it seems to be riding a jet plane now.

30. Mike T

    Offside goal/s @ Goodison Park?

31. @ Boo & AL

    My thoughts exactly!

32. Bootoomee
    “Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein“ 🙂

33. Who can’t c what’s happening?
    There people who shld lie low like an
    envelope,Mike T ,i think u r among em.
    By the way where do u belong?

34. Quite a cracker at Goodison Park, today.

35. Wonder what Mou says about high scoring games now? Anyone remember what he once said?
    So one by one they all adapt Arsenal’s way of playing football. English football is dying a slow death, but it’s fighting.
    Maybe we can get games like this every game because the teams all want to play football and not rugby.

    Anyway, Mou and his pupil putting on a show for us today.

36. Sure the plundits are queuing up to crown the classless one’s team champions in waiting…..

    Would have been nice for Everton to lose by a one goal margin, then those offside calls would have really come back to haunt them. Left midway through the second half, heard Eto scored, how did he celebrate? Hope like an OAP.

37. Chelsea look like they’ve inherited all the “luck” that deserted Utd. Teams are scoring own goals for them, and they’re scoring offside goals. Football is a funny game, who would have thought that “tactical genius” van Gaal would have mustered only 2 points from games against Swansea, Sunderland and Burnley.

38. Interesting read about how this guy bought referees
    http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/28/sport/football/match-fixing-wilson-raj-perumal-referee-corruption/index.html?c=weekend-intl-homepage-t&page=0

39. Yes our second goal should have been given as offside. Howard was way outside his area should have been sent, Costa was flagged offside when he wasn’t.

    @ Henrie Ug

    If I had a clue what you were talking about I would try and respond.

40. Mike T
    The conspiracy theorists must be confused like hell after a game like Everton v Chelsea . So many missed calls and bad decisions going both ways but I’m sure someone will try to figure it out and tell us who the PGMOL wanted to win it and why 🙂

    All I can say is if you watched it and and your first instinct was to complain about a call , you are not a football fan. What a game! An instant classic.

41. Tom

    Yes surely must have confused them

    One assistant might not be up to the job but it was about ability, or perhaps lack of it, rather than bias. He was off the pace and couldn’t make the calls .

    Its no mean feat to score 6 away from home in the PL or indeed at Everton ( the last time they let 6 in at home was against you in 2010)

    Everton spent a lot of money buying Lukaka and from what I saw of him when at Chelsea (limited I know) and again today he isn’t and possibly never will be a £28 million player. They, Everton, have blown their budget on one player and its clear they haven’t improved this season add in the EL &I can see them struggling to get top 8

    Last season Jose would have set up to contain the game but it is clear that

42. he is far more confident in the squad. As an aside if Torres does indeed leave in one season 12 of our 2013/14 squad have now left the club.
    We are a better , more balance squad with a surplus in transfer dealings and believe it or not a smaller weekly wage bill

43. @Tom, most people on here will say that the refs are at best incompetent or at worst bias/corrupt. At Untold they were calling for video technology, which would have clearly been helpful for a decision on Chelsea’s 2nd goal and what should have been handball and red card for Howard. Today’s game I would say the linesman was mostly incompetent rather than bias since his missed calls and bad decisions affected both teams.

    But when Arsenal have played, I can only think of 1 game where the errors helped both teams which was against Liverpool, Suarez didn’t get his 2nd penalty shout, Cazorla didn’t get his penalty shout after Skrtel karate kicks his leg, Sturridge didn’t get a red for pushing Webb, and Gerrard didn’t get 2 yellows for his wreckless tackling. Actually that’s 3 calls against Arsenal vs. 1 for Arsenal, but I call that even because that’s how low our standards for the refs are, that almost 75-80% of the “bad” decisions will be against our team.

    Chelsea’s offside goal counts vs Everton, Everton draws w/ Arsenal due to an offside goal, Arsenal gets 2 onside goals vs City called offside. What happens if the league is settled on Goal Differential again and Chelsea wins because of that offside goal? Video technology will go a long way at helping the situation.

44. Mike T
    Just for the record you scored 4 today 🙂 I do think the second and 3rd goals helped you massively (an offside and an own goal) as they forced Everton to chase the game and open up at the back.I believe if you hadn’t got those there’s no way this match would have been such a high scoring one. That’s what happened in all our high score loses last season; concede a goal early, and you’re vulnerable to concede more if caught on the break as you chase the game.

    Both teams, Everton and Chelsea, are set up the same way; they sit back and try to hit the other team on the counter. That kind of scoreline isn’t a “natural” scoreline between such sides.

    As for the conspiracy theories, Everton had a goal disallowed for offside(which was much tighter than Ivanovic’s), while Chelsea had an offside goal that wasn’t disallowed. Incompetence? Yes. Possible tilting? Yes. As for Howard’s handball it could have just been missed, or it may have been spotted but the official knowing he’d already punished Everton by allowing an offside goal to stand chose to ignore it. I’m not saying there was anything to be read out of these incidents but I don’t see what’s confusing about them, they can all be explained logically. Unless of course you’re a thick as brick.

45. Chelsea have a very good team much as it pains me to say it. I expect them to win the league this season. Costa and Fabregas were great additions. But of course with Chelsea if they want a player they just dip into their deep pockets. We’re still short of being able to do that though we still have plenty of funds untouched this transfer window. We’re not yet good enough to win the league or CL. I’m sure Wenger knows this and is trying to construct a squad capable of winning one, if not both, in the next two seasons.

46. I know I should let this go, but just need to clarify that if an official/s make a call/s that favour both sides it still doesn’t mean there’s no tilting at play. A call that favours one side can be made as a genuine mistake, while three or four calls against that same side are made on purpose. Remember mistakes will happen. Take our FA cup final for example, we were denied (was it five? Sorry lost count as they were that many) penalty shouts (one being the clearest and most obvious handball you’ll ever see), while we were erroneously awarded one call(which was no doubt a mistake), a corner, which we got something out of. Does that mean there was fair refereeing in that match? A firm NO. It’s not rocket science, unless of course you are…..

47. Chapman
    Plenty of untouched funds where, in your pocket? You’re very funny.

48. @Al, we have about 50 million to spend minimum. There is around 200 million in the kitty but a good majority of that is earmarked for other essentials. This is according to the AST.

49. @Al

    Bearing in mind you never whenever a bad call is made in respect of Arsenal the only explanation I think you have ever come up is that its down to bias I find your rationale regarding to days match interesting to say the least

    I might be wrong but I think the bad calls all came from the same assistant I somewhat doubt he was trying to even things I really think he just wasn’t up to the task

50. Mike T
    I just acknowledged we had one call that went in our favour in the FA cup, so it’s not like I never say we get lucky calls. But they’re such a rarity (unlike in your case) so it appears I’m always seeing things one way.

    I DID say I’m not saying today’s match was biased refereeing-wise, all I said the events could be explained logically, and were not confusing. Does it take 20 decisions to influence the outcome of a match? No. One can be good enough. And that you say all calls were made by one official makes it even easier to explain than if they had been each made by a different official each time. The latter scenario would be slightly harder to explain especially where the calls were going both ways.

51. Mike T
    If you ask for my opinion I don’t think there was anything biased about today’s officiating. I was even silently willing that Everton lose by a single goal margin (see my earlier posts) so they feel the injustice of being on the wrong end of a bad call. I only tried to explain that there was absolutely nothing confusing about the officiating that could be used to rule out match tilting. But I’ll repeat again I did not think there was anything untoward about the way the game was refereed.

52. Mike T
    I could ask you if can explain how the same official managed to spot Distin’s offside which was very tight(and correctly called off), yet fail to spot Ivanovic’s offside which was at least two yards off, if it’s down to incompetence? Do you see that bias is a more logical explanation for that discrepancy than incompetence?

53. @Al

    It wasn’t the same assistant that incorrectly allowed the play to continue when Ivanovich scored and then correctly flagged for offside. Both incidents happened in the first half and at different ends and the calls were made by different officials
    Bias isn’t a more logical explanation at all one was a competent decision and the other wasn’t.

54. Mike T
    Of course I knew they were different officials but was trying to show you how flawed your thinking was as you’d suggested they may have been made by the same official in trying to explain how he wasn’t up to the task.

55. Disappointed by Howard Webb’s non appearance. Maybe they’re saving him to make his entrance when we have a perfect game, which hasn’t happened so far this season. At this rate it might not be till the new year that we see him.

56. Taylor is a cheat in the mould of PGMOL. He knows what he is doing and chaets the game of honesty. He should have been disbarred several years ago. Riley is corrupt. He cheated Arsenal of our 50th undefeated game. He and all his PGMOL officials are not fit for purpose because of their dishonest practice.

    Arsenal will have to win despite the officials and the cheating that we will witness.

57. AL / Mike T – The officials are not fit for purpose. They are not able to referee football at this level. The organisation they belong to has not been set up with sporting clarity. I believe that their competence is questionable.

58. Menace
    I agree with that. I think people who are refs today are hired on a basis that has little to do with football. They’re there to do someone’s bidding first, and referees second. And that’s why if they’re not tilting matches they’re making a hell of a mess of things.

    Anyway, let’s hope we can overcome this tomorrow (oops, later today! Best get some sleep now). COYG!

59. Great article and thred again today. Thank you.
    A few weeks back I made a quip about someone
    working for BT sport. It was the wrong thing for me to do.
    I was wrong. I apoligize.

60. Howard was the ringer not the ref look at his none try for alot of the goals.

    Watch again and you will see, its not just the refs that screw with the so called beautiful game.

61. I see the snide troll just cant help himself and no its not you Mike T

62. Taylor is one of the worst officials in the PL and how he is still refereeing in a top division still beggars belief. He is hopelessly incompetent and biased prick who just like Dean actually knows what he is doing. I thought we had seen the last of him last season but alas here he is again.
    Im totally expecting us to finish with 10 men and ofcourse the mandatory clear penalty denied. Just hope we have enough to overcome his hate against us

63. I thought Cesc started the game well, with the assist to Diego Costa. But he was not his old self after that, turning the ball away a couple of times, and getting a yellow card. The Boss would have taken the old Cesc back but the new Cesc is not as good as the player who went to Barcelona. Man City was tame against Stoke City.

64. MOTD didn’t discuss any of the controversial incidents in the Everton-Chelsea game.
    Offside goals.
    Howard should have had two reds, but not a word was said.
    One lino completely off his game.

65. ….and if Graham Poll thinks it was bad………..http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2738605/GRAHAM-POLL-Everton-3-6-Chelsea-worst-officiated-game-I-seen.html

66. Mike T

    Here you go again

    ‘It all evens out’

    You’ve been set a challenge….prove it !!!!!

67. Jambug

    It is funny how the critics of the stats compiled by the ref reviews, over years, never put up any numbers. Can’t imagine why not. Nope. It’s a mystery.

    🙂

68. Thanks for the review.

    Be a crying shame if Oxlade-Chamberlain accidentally barged into this representative from the PGMOB* during the game today and took him out for the season.

    * it would be a bit of stretch to describe this particular gentleman as a referee, I wouldn’t want to abuse the English language so early on a Sunday.

69. Corr.:

    Be a crying shame if Oxlade-Chamberlain accidentally barged into this representative from the PGMOB* during the game today after he has deliberately lost control of the game, and took him out for the season.

    “Sorry guv, it was an accident”?

    “Oopsy daisy, don’t mind me. I’m really not that kind of player”?

70. Walter

    I remember that Sunderland game too. But what struck me even more than the non-penalty call and the offside as deliberate manipulation by the referee was another incident.

    Arsenal were building momentum, I think around the 70-75 minute mark, and Sunderland were rocking. Arsenal won a throw in from near the Sunderland corner. Clichy stepped up to take the throw in and it was as perfect a throw in as can be, and Taylor gave the ball to Sunderland for an illegal throw (or whatever it is called) That sort of call is so rare even when players don’t throw the ball properly, to call it there when nothing was wrong, I can only say it is cheating.

    And that is the thing. Such incidents will never make it to highlight reels, but it was effectively titling the outcome of the game by destroying one team’s momentum. Of course the penalty incident proved that this was not enough, but at times, it is. But no one really notices that, except those watching closely.

71. IKSUOK @3.09 a.m.

    Thoughts on Joe Hart? Is he just not very good?

72. Shard makes a completely reasonable and fair observation.

    In sport gamesmanship is to be expected. E.g. Carragher hobbling off during the 2-2 two years ago as Liverpool held on for a draw. Nothing to comment on. What is strange is the spectacle of a representative from the PGMOB helping the opposition with their gamesmanship. That is, well, it is remarkable.
    Our official today was clearly “tilting” the last time we saw him “perform” in the middle.

73. Another away-day Premier league fixture after a gruelling midweek Champions league match.

    Throw Anthony Taylor into the mix and it’s soon evident that Arsenal will require a top performance today in order to gain anything from this “fixed” fixture.

    BTW Arsenal will have played 8 Champions League matches before Christmas, after which they have 7 away and only 1 home Premier League Fixture.

    Good luck Arsenal, you will need it.

74. Menace

    ‘ The officials are not fit for purpose. They are not able to referee football at this level’

    Bingo!
    When more people realize this simple fact instead of talking about how incompetent they are, then and only then maybe the governing bodies will do something about it.

    After watching Everton/Chelsea game, I watched Roma/Fiorentina and it was like watching football from three decades ago.

    Football at the highest level is simply too fast for officials to keep up. Studies have shown time and time again that human eye isn’t capable to recognize properly and without any error two or more players running in the opposite direction at a combined speed of 30 mph, while watching the ball being released at the same time in many cases from a distance of 20 yards or more.

75. Al
    Everton didn’t lose because they were ‘chasing the game’.
    They didn’t have to chase it with the score 1:2 at half time. They lost because of their shambolic defending and playing the off-side trap when a simple tracking of runners would’ve been a better option.

76. finsbury

    We all know Arsenal get decisions that go there way. We get some very big and important ones that go our way.

    We all know that every Club gets big decisions that go against as well as for them.

    But you cannot just take isolated games and incidents as a barometer to show who does or doesn’t get habitually favoured by Referees over the season or seasons.

    What you need to do is take a reasonable cross section of games and assess them over a period of time with qualified Referees who do there work without fear or favour.

    Only then can you make a judgement as to who, if anyone, is favoured or otherwise , by Referees.

    That is what Untold aims to do.

    Just saying things like:

    ‘look at that, look at what Wilshere got away with there, see it all evens out in the end’

    That just doesn’t hold water.

77. Szchezney has been virtually faultless for over a season now, but the media still suggest we need a ‘World Class Keeper’ if we ever want to win the league (as well as a new striker, Defender and holding midfielder of course 🙂 ).

    Yet Hart has made more mistakes than Jack does on a good night out, and yet he is still World class.

    Our media, you’ve gotta love ’em.

78. @ Jambug

    Having had the opportunity to see bits and pieces of both your first two league games and already having debated incidents I will put together my thoughts on your game today and if Walter is ok with I will email them either tonight or some time tomorrow for them to do whatever they think fit (probably the delete button )

    Mike T

    @ Tom

    What I was trying to point out yesterday about the assistant.

79. Mike T

    It would be good if you assessed today, but it would be more pertinent if you assessed, and challenged where you see fit, the first 2 assessments because it is those you have already cast doubt over.

    My point is, rather than cast doubt over them, PROVE THE REVIEWS WRONG.

    Or, at least highlight the points in the review you disagree with, rather than just saying the reviews are wrong.

    But a comparative assessment today would be a good start and I applaud you for giving it a go.

80. Tom
    What do you mean they didn’t have to chase the game? They were chasing it from the first minute. They were 2 nil down from as early as the 3rd minute till the 45th minute, and even then they were always a goal down from thereafter, don’t you think they were trying to reduce arrears (be level at least) all that time as the home team? Come on man.

81. And we have consistently said the officials aren’t fit for purpose, we have already gone past that. We want to know why. We’re wondering how and why they got the jobs in the first place. Does it mean we do not have competent people to be good refs in England? We do have capable people, but they’re overlooked because they can’t/won’t tow the line. So am afraid incompetence and biased/corrupt can’t be viewed in isolation, they’re intertwined.

82. Jambug
    “Yet Hart has made more mistakes than Jack does on a good night out, and yet he is still World class.”
    Left me in stitches that one 🙂

83. Al
    Everton didn’t make a single tactile change from being 0:0 to being 0:1, 0:2 to 1:2. They got caught for a quick score but they always played as they lined up from minute one.
    They didn’t lose because they threw numbers forward but rather because they defended teribly for the entire game.

    The meaning of ‘chasing the game’ as I understand it , is to change your tactics and push more players forward. They didn’t .

84. Tom
    You think they didn’t change their tactics because they conceded in the first minute. That’s why it appears to you they didn’t change coz they were chasing the game from kick off. Knowing the way they play they usually like to let the opposition have more of the ball then hit you on the break. But yesterday they had 62% possession, and 17 shots to 12, and corners to 2. This from Everton? I mean those are Barcelona-style stats, certainly nothing like Everton. And you’re trying to tell me they were not chasing the game? For someone who is supposed to have played at pro level you should know this Tom?

85. Sorry, meant 8 corners to 2….

86. Al
    Very good Al, just remember this is against Chelsea ,Everton had more of possession because that’s what Mou likes to do but I did watch the game and I didn’t see a single change in Everton’s play upon going down early.
    We’re just going to have to disagree on this one I guess 🙂

87. Tom
    Ok, 62% is ok because this is Chelsea (your words), but what kind of stats do you think they’d have managed had they decided to chase the game? 99% perhaps? I agree though, to disagree.

88. Tom
    Just one thing, I see you say “I didn’t see a single change upon going down early”, I’m just wondering what setup/tactics you’d managed to see from Everton in the 35 seconds, which was the only time they were level all 90 minutes, before they conceded their first goal. Even by the time they conceded a second probably only 3 or 4 of their entire team had touched the ball I think. Anyway, no longer relevant as we agreed to disagree.