Referee cost us again. Well Mike how long till you do something about it?

By Walter Broeckx

Arsenal started really well in the opening 10 minutes. It was one way stuff from the start. Attack after attack went in the direction of the Hull goal. As my stream was very blurry in the opening minutes I couldn’t see them all but I did think I saw some pretty good saves from the Hull keeper in the opening minutes.

An attempt from Welbeck that was stopped and the rebound from Alexis also. Another attempt from Oxlade-Chamberlain. And a fantastic shot from Cazorla that went in to the top corner but was tipped over.

The goal had to come and it came after Alexis dribbled past his man on the right and smashed it in the bottom corner. 1-0 and very much deserved. Minutes later another chance but a defender could block Alexis his shot after a nice run from The Ox.

What can an Arsenal match be without a big decision against Arsenal? Flamini stepped in to cover the ball, was pulled on his shoulder but the ref let Diame run towards Szczesny and the Hull player scored. In a way this just seem to be the way things go in the PL. Just give decisions against Arsenal and you get away with it. 1-1.

Arsenal felt wrong done and had to find their flow again, just as my stream. I think my stream protested against another ref injustice against Arsenal. How many injustices a team can take? And then my internet completely blocked in the last 10 minutes of the first half.

I was back in time for the second half but it seemed as if Mertesacker was also having some trouble to get starting again as he didn’t react strong enough and Hull could take the lead within seconds of the second half.

So it would be a very uphill battle but at least no complaints about the ref for this goal.

A big shock of course. Szczesny hadn’t touched a ball and we were 1-2 down. Ramsey came on for Flamini. A big chance after a move on the right hand side. Cazorla got the ball but instead of attempting the shot he tried to play it to Bellerin who didnet expected that at all.

The ref then doing his part when letting a foul on Wilshere giving advantage that was lost immediately but he didn’t come back to it and thus resulting in Arsenal making a foul and Wilshere almost getting injured.

Campbell came on. Arsenal pressing again like at the start of the match now. But Hull defending in numbers. Using all the tricks in the book and outside them. The usual time wasting. Being injured when it mattered.

Chances were wasted and each time Hull blocked an attack one of their players went down with an injury. The ref giving us nothing at all even when he should have had.

Alexis with an header but the keeper got a hand to it and saved it. Corners and more corners but where is Koscielny when you need him to poke it in.

Alexis then with a moment of brilliance when he went on a dribble in the middle and then finding Welbeckk who fumbled it over the line. 2-2 is the least we deserved.

Arsenal pressing for the winning goal but the keeper at first didn’t want to let it in. And again he denied Gibbs. And again a chance for Monreal but we couldn’t force the deserved winning goal.

Another match that we had in complete control and that we lost because of a referee mistake going against us. The quality of the referees in the PL is below the standard as we have been saying for years and as Keith Hackett confirmed.

Another 2 points lost because of referees being not up to the job. How long, Mike, how long do we have to put up with this?

143 Replies to “Referee cost us again. Well Mike how long till you do something about it?”

  1. Hull’s first goal should not have stood but that still doesn’t excuse yet another poor,rudderless and toothless performance!!

  2. Menace, you are right; PGMOL are fraudsters and should be locked up for their crimes! Yet another ugly, bald-headed t*sser of a referee screws us over! Why doesn’t the Arsenal fraternity have any gangsters to sort this out?!

  3. The referee had clla complete shocker as usual. Yellow cards not given time wasting allowed. Dodgy goal allowed. All in all a normal performance from a PGMOL referee. #PGMOLCORRUPT

  4. @Joel,

    Poor ruddlesss toothless? Did you watch the game?

    You know what Joel, take away that Hull goal and that is 2pts extra. Keep them in mind, and we will add all those lost points, so at the end of the season you will see the 7pts from Champions could easily been the other way round.

  5. Poor ref and poor Arsenal performance. That about sums it up. It truth we really have not going at all this season, rocked by injuries and a pretty poor pre season in terms of preparation.
    There is a long way to go but I think we have seen that 4th place is probably the best we can do.

  6. Referees would continue to help Arsenal loose games because the team simply looks cheatable at the moment. Wobble play with no urgency, Our Coach cant even bark orders to d players, Flamini as a DF (with all due respect to him, he should be a backup and not a regular player), BFG slowing down without Kos beside him..cant remember d last time they won 8:0, look how Chelsea played, leading them wt 11 points already. I hope they find their rythm very soon b4 top 4 gets unattainable for them again.

  7. I am sorry that was just dire from us. You cannot blame the ref for not having the correct defenders. What a joke

  8. I dont think we had a poor game at all, and we more than deserved to win this. The only blame is on Gibbs for not covering in their second goal. Other than that we more than deserved to win, and had the ref not gifted them that goal, we were going to a huge score. Trust me, as long as we are seeing this with our own eyes, and not shouting hard about it, we wont win.

    We are the most fair playing team. We dont hold shirts and try pushes, look at how hull pushed and held our players today, and not only hull, all other teams.

    Take Arsenal and throw them in Spanish or German league and see what they can do.
    we are losimg confidence, our players feel this “not again!” Feeling, and thoughts will get into his mind, “Is this one of those days we will get nothing for us”.

  9. OMG, Hector, wow yes you nailed it! Now am changing my mind, its Wenger fault, comr on how did you see that and not us? Wow man you are awesome. What a well thought and amazing writing you did.

  10. but this has been going on for years now. Since 2004 at least, so that is a decade of decadence, to borrow from the Apprentice.

    Look, AFC are also culpable for allowing it to continue. It seems a bit like an old Chicago racket, which everyone has a hand in.AFC are at the very least culpable for letting their fee-paying customers get a seriously substandard product, (and that is an understatement, the serously substandard bit).

    Why is the thing allowed to carry on in such a way?

  11. Disgraceful. Wenger knew what we needed in the summer. Didn’t buy it. Got world class players. Uses them incorrectly. Despite that should be dismissing teams like this but cannot get anything out of them. Gotta go. He’s an absolute joke

  12. Walter, stop talking about excuses; we are talking about a very limited Hull side, this was suppose to be a walk in the park but again Arsenal tactics are killing the team. Why always the players want enter the goal with the ball? Why dont we make long shots?, Why do we waste the time sending useless crosses?

    Its the same story over and over again for almost a decade. The staff has changed, the players have changed, and we still get the same result; and we always complain about the same things like referees, injuries, bad luck. Every season is the same story because we are doing the same every year, same useless tiki taka, same bad defending, same “no plan” on free kicks and corners.

    Arsenal lost the killer instinct; once upon a time we had a team that do whatever it takes to win a game; they shoot for long distance, do individual plays, even change tactics by his own will if it was necessary to win; that was the magic of the invencibles.

    Something needs to change in Arsenal, I dont want to point at Wenger, because its not only the manager, its the whole strategy that is collapsing the team.

  13. We really need to start getting into gear, teams are steaming ahead of us. Thought the way we conceded the second goal was poor, and we lacked fluency at times. To me it seems that the injuries and never ending interlulls are not helping, we really need to get some hard hours in on the training ground if we are to beat refs as well as stubborn opponents. But some credit to the team for sticking at it.
    As for the refs, cannot see anything changing…..the club seem unwilling or unable to do anything about it. The emirates remains the ground where refs set out to demonstrate to the world they are not homers.
    Just hope Jack is ok, any injury with him is worrying.
    Think we miss the likes of Arteta , theo and giroud in these sort of games

  14. I think we now know why Mr East has only been given 12 games in three years! Mind you he has now proved himself to be ‘on song’ regarding Arsenal so I expect him to get FIFA accreditation before the end of the year!

  15. Arsenal very very very wasteful with the ball. Needed to shoot from the edge alot more.

    The play in the final third is still so poor passes going astray, poor decisions people taking too much time on the ball, NOT SHOOTING, mostly low quality crosses and no set plays from corners STILL.

    Defended quite well sort of kept them in their own half mostly.

    Hector was great, Welbeck is a waste of space, Alexis is the star man

  16. I told you, u are gonna write many of these kind of “injustice articles” and i asked you (the writer) a question which you failed to answer.
    u will be writing another one soon about another injustice in an Arsenal game.
    Guaranteed.

  17. @Muhammad – injustice – Do you think that Flamini pulled his own shoulder back? That was about as obvious a foul as can be…even SKY were bleating about it being a foul. Perhaps you have a different definition of the word injustice? We weren’t great…just OK but there was an injustice done.

  18. @ Mandy

    nothing will change if you dont work for it and hold fans who go to Emirates responsible. If you dont make a life of a ref, a living hell when he gives something against your team then you will be served the same dish again and again.
    After all, Arshavin was right
    “People come to Emirates to take a seat and get entertained, like they are going to the movies. They dont come to cheer”.

  19. @ GoingGoingGooner

    We can all talk about this or that. but it does not make a jolt of a difference cuz the end result is u getting robbed.

    I am not talking about how Arsenal performed. I am stating that fact that talking is cheap. u can write thousand articles but if you dont get out and make the problem visible to broader audience then its pointless.

    This is what i wrote in the Chelsea ref review’s comment section and no one took the liberty to answer it. May be you can.

    “k i have few questions and i would like people who run this website to answer it.

    We can all moan about referee did this or he did that. What in reality can you do about that? I mean can you let it all out in the shape of banners or whatever in our next home games at the Emirates.
    I hear every one moan about referees but why cannot PEOPLE start doing something about it (Ideally at the Emirates) to let the millions of fans across globe know about this treatment.
    Its all good doing this on a website but most of the people will just moan. But it needs to be addressed by PEOPLE. If not then you will be writing alot of these in the future, guaranteed.”

    So what can fans do to let the ref know that. enough is enough. at least in our home games.

  20. No doubt about it the oil and gas teams have paid off the FA to make sure Arsenal don’t win the league this season. We would be top this season if it wasn’t for the atrocious refereeing decisions, and everyone knows it.

    Very suspicious that it happens every game.

    Hull doing time wasting in the second half and NO yellow cards despite it being in the rules.. Funny that!!!

  21. I agree with Muhammed.

    We need to stop writing these silly posts criticising the bad refereeing, as it achieves nothing and makes us look silly, and do something about it.

    A banner at the next home game that says ‘We know the FA are cheats’ or ‘Referees – stop being so anti Arsenal’?

  22. The match report at arsenal.com says that podolski missed the game due to illness.

    How did Bellerin and Campbell fit in?

  23. @Muhammad,
    although I strongly agtee with you, but there is nothing the writer of this site can do. A banner is possible, but I dont know if it will be allowed in. Still I support your idea.

    As for the fans voice, I watched the game on Canal+ and the sound of the fans cheering was higher than ever, it has to do with the volume, which Canal+ puts it at higher sound.

    What to do? Really I dont know, its frustrating and am getting bored of every other game, losing points to CHEATNING.

    but go to other pro Arsene blogs, and you will see people still scared of talking that refs are corrupt, unlike here (thanks Tony and Walter,…). Its really strange why dont they talk about it.

    @jonfromwillington,

    I dont think it has.to do with direct money payement from other teams, there is something deeper than that. This Mike Riley is really sick, today was a disgrace, how a new referee will be that biased. Ok incompetence is acceptable, but bias, every single game. Really our players die on the pitch. To get points, and I believe they should be praised for it.

    Just look at how Wilshere responded to his non given foul, by making another which costed him an injury and a yellow. That is how much our players are frustrated. They know any time they lose the ball to a foul, they might get a goal against, they have it in their head. Frustration is killing our players.

  24. @Muhammad – I have no adequate answer to your question as I cannot regularly attend matches. The people at the Emirates are starting to get on to the Referees much earlier than before because they expect poor treatment. As for banners – I don’t know. The news aggregators like NewsNow are picking up these articles so comments here are spreading around the world. And, people are starting to discuss bringing forward questions about our maltreatment by the referees to the club itself to ask what they are doing to deal with the PGMOL obscurantism at fora like the AGM.

  25. Muhammad–

    Writing is one form of doing. More needs to be done, but writing is a start. It’s gotten you to the point that you’re angry enough to take action–that is worth something!

  26. @Gord, Bellerin is fearless, he was never beaten, not one time. And when we needed to push he was brave enough to take matters into his own hands. He wend dribbbling past players, you couldnt feel he was weak in any way. But you must know Hull didnt even try to attack when they were 1-1 (See how ref denied us 3 pts).

    As for Campbell, he was so much better than previous games, I was happy with how he played. All he needed was to get alomg with fellow players, and thay requires time and patience. But we must not lose him in the near future, he can dribble defemders for fun.

  27. I usually agree with most of your views, Walter 7 Tony. I’m a die hard fan & hate this concept of AAA. But today we really did not do well. Let us not hide behind the Referee excuse today. Our defence was there for the taking. Just looking at Welbz covering up at the back made me cringe today. We can go on & on about how the whole world is against us & how we were supposed to be somewhere else. But looking at todays match, a match we ‘Should” have won, we clearly struggled, with both Flamini & Monreal not upto the mark on the Diame goal! Let us, for a change, not focus on how external factors have robbed us of our chances & actually work our way upto that top spot. Well, clearly injuries & transfer miscalculations have taken their toll on us, whichever way we prefer to look at it! 🙁

  28. I like watching Chambers and Bellerin play. They are not perfect because they are so (perhaps too) adventurous. However, it is FUN to watch them play.

  29. Bad refereeing is a constant theme for Arsenal unfortunately and this is something we all have known about for a long while, but here’s some other things we’ve known for awhile Some Arsenal players in key positions are just not good enough to compete at this level.

    Never mind Chelsea or Man City players , there are players on teams in the bottom of the league table who are head and shoulders above some players we have.

    Diame, Sissoko , Jedinak are all players who could and IMO would do a better job than Flamini ,who lacks all the attributes to play the position.
    He was fouled in the build up to the Hull City goal no doubt, but the ease with which he was brushed aside was painful to watch.

    In the league that thrives on its physicality and always has , it’s alarming how lightweight Arsenal have become. The league hasn’t changed , Arsenal have.

    Too few shots on goal is another major worry for this Arsenal team which is so one dimensional on offense that it couldn’t even try to test the concussed Chelsea keeper from a distance for some twelve minutes he was still on the pitch, or Petr Cech when he came on to replace Cortuois , without a proper worm up.

    And it’s not like we didn’t have a player on the pitch who himself suffered a concussion some weeks back and paid for staying on the pitch with conceding a goal. You would think Koscielny might’ve said something to his strikers about how vulnerable Cortuois might’ve been. But that’s another thing, Arsenal players don’t communicate among themselves nearly enough. I haven’t seen another top football team with so little verbal communication during games, it’s fascinating really.

    We better get our act together and quickly, or this league is going to run away from us.

  30. @Tom,

    At Flamini point, it was a foul, and being lightweight is not the reason, we did not lose games because we were lightweight, we lost today because of fouls. Am sorry but I love the free flowing game Arsenal used and want to play, than to win with big players and heavyweights.

    On you second point of shooting less, agree specially after Curtious was fouled, no doubt we should, and we did today, but ot didnt work.
    that said, I believe its the counter attacking of other teams is the reason we are always afraid to shoot and lose the ball. Still I agree.

    As for communication, yes I agree fully about that, and I would like to add something, when we had Henry, he made the team play as he wanted, and then when he left, Came Favregas, then Van Pursy, and after that we had no one. Each playing with different ideas. Now before Ozil was injured, Wenger was trying to make him boss his team way of play, in his last 3 matches. And Ozil did well, but then he got injured. Now we need someone to have our team around, a Captain in attack ( All oir captains are defenders, and we re well organised there, still its little mistakes costing us).

  31. Thanks Yassin.

    —-

    For about the last 6 months, the BBC page where they babble about all the games being played, has occassionally not displayed anything useful. Something to do with javascript, and I have javascript turned off. I tried with lynx, links and w3m today, and they produce the same result as firefox with NoScript. In otherwords, nothing useful.

    Is this what the BBC is striving for? To produce nothing useful in reporting sports?

  32. Tom,

    Flamini actually outran Diame and got position on him–who’s got the better attributes there? I can’t think of a sport where Diame wouldn’t have been called for a foul…even in American football he might have got done for facemasking, as defenders grabbing attackers’ necks often are.

    Anyone getting pulled by the neck/shoulder when running at that speed will be “brushed aside” easily, and Flamini could have done that to Diame, no questions. In fact, that’s one of the fouls that the “lightweight” Arteta is sometimes (rightly) whistled for. It has nothing to do with physicality and everything to do with biased officiating.

  33. I’ve just got home from the match. PGMOL are responsible for the injuries to Arsenal players. East or West PGMOL are a pest that needs to be eradicated.

    Hull were gifted the first goal by a cheating referee and the second by a dozy Arsenal.

    However, the referee has got to officiate fairly and this cnut did nothing for the Game. Tonight at the Ems football lost. There were serial fouls, pushes, pulls and lie ins like a kiddies party. The referee seemed to instruct the Hull players how to cheat. Arsenal have to learn not to pass the ball back to the opposition if they cheat. The referee stopped the game several times for ‘injuries’ that were not to the head nor to any part of the anatomy but were ‘cheats’ to waste time. It is an unsporting way to compete. Hull kicked Alexis, Santi & Jack so many times and the PGMOL cheat ignored them. He actually gave Hull fouls for kicking Arsenal players!!!

    It is time for some correction. I will write to the FA & Arsenal without any fear of prosecution – in fact I challenge them. The FA are custodians of the Game & are abusing their position.

  34. @Muhammad
    So what are YOU doing about it then, apart from moaning about other people not doing anything. I for example have emailed the club on several occasions asking what are they doing about it. Have you emailed the club with your concerns? Maybe emailing or phoning or even writing to the club is something we should ALL be doing. If we did that the club may feel more motivated to try to do something about it assuming they haven’t already.

  35. @Mick,

    Great Idea,
    then lets stop blaming each other and get on with it.
    what is the email of the club.
    still we need something more sounding. Like a banner, or anything I dont know, maybe the red cards raised by fans which Al usually talk about.

  36. For those of you who want to know about the way Arsenal played – Bellerin was brilliant. Campbell was good for the short time he was on. Alexis & Danny were everywhere and gave more than is physically possible. One Alexis crossfield pass in defense was suicidal but it was his only error. Ox was a little off but did what he could. Flamini did a fantastic job but the referee ruined his work by not calling the foul by Diame. Monreal & Gibbs were excellent apart from the minute after half time when they were asleep with Mertesacker.

    Arsenal’s finishing had one pass too many and insufficient technical attempts from distance. Hull parked the bus & the referee played conductor.

  37. Arseblog has had enough. You can blame the ref or the dog next door, the fact that the attack looked so toothless is a joke. What does the 8 million man do about it? It’s time for change and the Wenger’s time is up.

  38. just back from the game and unlike the majority of those posting comments Tony and I were there (he upstairs, me downstairs). We didn’t play well (first 10 minutes, last 10 but little in between) but, (or rather BUT) the refereeing was awful and it broke up the game. Hull were allowed to spoil our game with their constant time wasting (from Harper’s first goal kick onwards), feigning injury, and niggling fouls.

    Personally I think its gone far enough. Whether this is anti-Arsenal bias, poor officials, or corruption I don’t know but its a blight on the game of football. The media don’t seem to notice this (something Tony and discussed) and I noted Wenger’s frustration in his post match comments.

    You can knock the team if you like, and Wenger or the club for not buying more players, but that won’t solve the underlying problem which is that we are not competing on a level playing field. The rules are not being enforced and that, however you dress it up, is unfair. So I agree with Mick et al that we need to make our voice heard and challenge the PL to do something about it.

  39. Menace, totally agree with your comments above (7.37) lets coordinate a response. If you do twitter follow me @blacksheep63 and DM me, I’ll send you an email address if you like

  40. @Hector
    It was the defence that cost us today, not the ‘toothless’ attack who did manage to score two goals. And yes the ref did play a big part in their first goal, or don’t you think so.

  41. Walter. You cannot be Serious ?

    These are desperate writings.

    Can’t believe I’m saying this but all great things come to an end.

  42. Blacksheep. Yes the refereeing was atrocious against us again. In truth it has been since the Paul Durkin and Mike Riley days. Rennie and Elleray too back then had it in for us. Wengers relationship with them deteriorated back then and with the team we had we should have won more, but we coped as we had leaders and battlers on the pitch. Now we have none and allow ourselves to be bullied to the point where it is everyone elses favorite pastime, bullying Arsenal, refs and media included. Football always has and always will be a game where the best teams can ‘mix it’, and we cant. We have not had a leader, a manager on the pitch since Viera left, around the time we allowed ourselves to become the victims.

  43. Mick
    I very sadly see Arsene as a manager who is not improving the team anymore.He cannot go on for ever. Perhaps Ivan is beginning to face up to it.

  44. Wenger looked pretty pissed off in the interview. Think he needs to do something to combat serial fouling time wasting and poor refs.. This is now happening every game. Hopefully a soon to be fully fit theo will be a big help in this. Just hit teams hard and early, this wil take out time wasting, render biased incompetent refs less effective …..and what’s the point of serial fouling when you are a couple goals down after ten minutes?

  45. @Hector – go fcuk yourself. Everyone of those players is Wengers choice. The stadium we play in is Wengers hard work. So anyone including @Freddie can join you if they think Wenger is to blame for a result that is made by corrupt officiating.

  46. InitialsBB
    ‘and allow ourselves to be bullied to the point where it is everyone elses favorite pastime, bullying Arsenal, refs and media included.’
    This statement just about sums it up I am afraid, bullying Arsenal is fun.

  47. InitialsBB,

    Walter’s stats suggest that if Arsenal try to ‘mix it’ and do a bit of bullying back, they are penalized much more harshly than their opponents. Fighting only works if you’re allowed to do it. If you get a yellow card every time, what’s the point?

  48. The day AFC say there bullied is the day I give up supporting them for f**k sake , I surport a team of men not girlie bastards .

  49. @ Mick
    I wish i had been doing the same thing but not livingin the vicinity restrict a lot of fans from doing what the locals should be doing. I can open a blog and start writing (like so many others and moan) or email the club or even call them on Clockend but i think there is a physical action required in this case. I don’t know what physical action that can be, banner? or making refs life hell during home games? i dont know. I wish the people who regularly visit Emirates get on the back of the ref after every single foul given against our team and that’s the least they should be doing.

  50. I could not believe the referee. It his job to create a fair game. He did anything but. I think he lost control in the second half and never once attempted to correct Hulls blatant timewasting. Everytime a Hull player feigned injury Steve Bruce looked at his watch. I suspect to ensure too much time was not added on. Everyone my side of the stadium clearly saw the pull back on Flaminni and the lino was bang in line with it. Having said that our style of play is predicatable and only effective when we up the tempo..normally last 15 when we are chasing the game. Time for a change

  51. Menace:

    That is a very silly answer. I care. Am I not allowed to voice my concern ?

  52. As usual when we don’t get the result we should the doom & gloom balloons crawl out from under the stones.

    With a re-hashed team due to injury it was always going to be a difficult match. Hull started time wasting from the first minute – true to form.

    Time wasting, rotational fouling and parking the bus – the tactics of the Odious One now seem to be the standard EPL method of playing Arsenal and fully approved and supported by Riley. Such tactics when combined with a bent or incompetent ref it do make life difficult.

    Today there were positives. We played with a great spirit and because we did so we equalized, another few minutes and we would have bagged the winner. So lets give the team credit for the way they fought back – despite the theatrical time wasting and the idiot ref. Along the way we did play some lovely football.

    I enjoyed seeing young Bellerin playing – he grew into the game and looks a fine prospect – another Wenger gem.

    I had hoped for three points today, we didn’t get it – now lets back our team and manager all the more as they prepare for the next series of matches and help them get over today’s disappointment.

  53. I think the only think that can be helped is cameras showing instant replays and the ref getting it wrong. Pretty much how Mexico was robbed at the world cup. That is the only way to broadcast what is wrong. And at the end of the first half show all these inconsistencies. People saw what they are shown, some have faith some need scientific hard evidence. Muhammad asked the same question which I asked before, how to show this evidence? Would Arsenal get kicked out for showing replys of the sort questioning the integrity? Or do Arsenal and smaller team have questioning of some of these absurd calls?

  54. The blame for the mess we’re in lies fairly and squarely at AW’s door.You can’t moan, on the one hand, about the negative impact that the world cup has on team preparation, and then try and impose a new system which ends up negating the qualities that players can bring, to the point that no one seems to have a fuckin clue where they should be at any given point.And as shit as that cunt of a ref was today, there isn’t an excuse for not having enough not to beat fuckin Hull at home.Get back to a system that the players know and are comfortable with, before it’s too late even for the usual fuckin scrap for 4th.

  55. And do we ever practice in game management?Days were we’d regularly train 10 v 11, as it was inevitable we’d have a man sent off every other game. So we became experts at winning with a man down.These days, the only ones that seem surprised when we concede are the players. And game in game out, it totally knocks them out of their stride and they can’t recover.Surely they must talk about this sort of shit and work to manage it better?

  56. The ref was appalling in allowing the time the blatant time wasting & should have stamped it out early on.

    I’m a supporter of this site & the manager but really struggling to blame the ref for dropping two poor points today as there was still plenty of undisturbed long periods of play but we failed to breakdown another very ordinary side.

  57. Some constructive critique here, we have to stop losing concentration at set pieces, after goals…..yes, I know it was the ref for,their first goal…..or just after half time.
    I am not going to have a go at individual players, mainly because apart from their second, they did not do a lot wrong.
    But one thing that really worries me, it is getting like a few years back, it seems opposing teams only need a very limited number of shots on target to score against us. Of course not having Kos does not help, nor does missing OG with the sterling defensive work he puts in….often un noticed, but it does seem we have regressed a bit defensively on this front this season. This needs work on the training pitch.
    The other worry, the dark arts being used against us to effect. Unless to the club take this on and try and get the rules of the game enforced when we play, I do wonder…..if you can’t beat them, either join them, or at least combat them. As posted earlier, theo may help, as will the team evolving together….and the returnees. Wenger is a purist to his eternal credit…..should he turn to the dark side? I know there may be consequences, but just throwing it out there.

  58. Why cant people get that breaking the park the bus team is too hard, and all the team struggle against them until they open the score, after that the other team opens up and you see the 3-0 and 4-0. Loom at Aston Villa game against is and against City. All was needed was the first goal, and they werent parking the bus like Hull did today.
    All we needed to get on with the goals was to open the score first and lead. We knew what to do and we did it. And then came the ref, at that moment he took all our hard work and threw it away.
    The only moment this team can be at fault is on the second goal. And please scoring TWO goals against a park the bus team is good enough. And look at tody City stats and compare with us.
    its the goal conceeded we are suffering, and one was the ref fault. So its all the ref fault. Please use logic. Put yourself instead of Wenger and tell me what could he have done?

  59. Whether we have played as well as we could or not is open to discussion.

    However, there is no doubt that demonstrably wrong referee decisions have cost us at least 10 points this season. That’s not taking into account the time-wasting and fouls against which are allowed and dubious “advantage” decisions, which now follow an established pattern.

  60. The referees don’t want the 5th richest team in the world winning the league without buying them off, cos that’s what City, Man U and Chel$ki have done – it would set a terrible precedent, that’s why they behave the way they do.

    We can’t ever win the league until we start getting the message to the fans that go to the games to hold banners saying the referees are bent. Do any of you guys know anyone that goes to the games? Only answer if you do

  61. Having just seen the goal I have to say it certainly looked a foul but who oh why didn’t your defenders carry on playing?

    Ok they probably wouldn’t have been able to stop the shot but the added pressure may have made the difference.

  62. Mike T you have the best team that I can see already and will will win the league breaks my heart but we are not good enough , I appreciate your fair mined and sensible approach , I salute you comrade .

  63. Wenger is a dictator, with total control of the club’s affairs. He is not a manager, he is like a Lord Protector or something akin to that. The club is so precious to him, he is afraid to give it to someone else in case they convert to a 4-4-2 system, overnight with the prospect of upsetting his little prodigies. Until he calls it a day Arsenal will cause 75% of fans heartache and anger every game with his outmoded tactics, 70 minute substitions and blind insistence on playing like the Barcelona team of a few years back. Lets face it, we’re already 11 points behind Chelsea, Man City and Man U are starting to click, Southampton are looking good and Everton, Spurs and Liverpool will hit form eventually. We could get outgunned sooner rather than later. I know Arsenal will have mini winning runs, but if all you want to achieve is 4th place, then leave the situation as it is. If you, like me would prefer a brief step back, but ultimately a new upward direction and new style, then Lord Protector Wenger Cromwell must go.

  64. @Mike T. Exactly, why did the defenders stop playing? That’s a schoolboy error, you always play to the whistle. And how can one Hull player in the box not be closed down quicker on the second goal? Dire defending. Even fourth will be a struggle if we keep playing like this.

    Sanchez looked fabulous though, let’s hope he doesn’t get injured.

  65. AB
    Careful now!

    In this respect its easy to be 100% objective- Far Far easier when your team isn’t playing.

    I have said before on here that my cousin is an Arsenal supporter and is one of those that what change at your club he directed me to LeGrove which today I spent a few minutes looking at. The only word I can say is strange!

    The second goal you let in today was all about the make up of your back four for me Mertesaker is not no longer to the standard required and from what I have seen today it showed that he is being carried by a player who wasn’t today playing and till he gets fit I think you are going to ship a few goals if BFG remains your a first pick.
    Sorry but as things stand I am not sure teams fear you as they have in the past

  66. @ Chapman Ghost

    Sanchez looks a wonderful player. As things stand he will be played and played possibly to exhaustion and with that he will become more susceptible to an injury.
    The trouble is that as things stand you cant afford to rest him

  67. Been saying it all along, Wenger is the problem. You fools berated me but you will see it more and more. Just watch.

  68. Vincelorne,
    Been saying it for years: the referees are the problem. You fools berated us but even Keith Hackett agrees with us.

  69. @ John

    The refs haven’t been good, but ten points? It’s not even close to that. Arsenal should probably have at least a few more points than they do, but to suggest that the referees have prevented them from taking all but three possible points this season is nuts. The refs have been poor, but sadly, Arsenal have been too. This group is not anywhere near title contender material at the moment.

  70. @Mike T The PGMOL official let JT off the hook at the Palace like he did Oscar & Cahill last week at Chelski. There’s a £40 billion gambling racket in China on the EPL and someone somewhere is doing the puppeteering.

    I am upset at seeing a cheat take away joy from a beautiful game.

  71. What I also find interesting is comments like: team x will start clicking, team Y is flying, team Z will improve.
    But for those people it is set in stone: Arsenal will play like today and not improve. So everyone will improve but not Arsenal. Strange comment to be honest. Teams have good runs and bad runs. We are having not a very good run in the opening of the season. Chelsea looks unstoppable. But they will not maintain this form forever. They will also have their stumbles on the road.
    And we will improve.

    Now if only the referees would improve a bit….

  72. Yo arvind that’s me. What’s yourppoint? Yougot a aanswer or is your head up Wenger’s rear?

  73. Wenger is God at Arsenal. He has brought us more than any of you anti Wenger idiots know. The football we play is so good,whole associations have been formed to try to destroy the game we play. Get used to Wenger being God and suck up to the PGMOL cheats instead.

    If you don’t like it support some other team.

  74. @SteveO, we are not good enough to win the title, true. Blaming refs is an easy cop out, they are just as bad in most other games. The standard of officiating is below average across the league.

    @Mike T. unfortunately you may be right about overplaying Sanchez. And we can’t afford to rest him because half the team is injured. Still he’s the one player who can make something out of nothing and reminds me of the dynamic players we had ten years ago so he’s got to be played. Our squad is a work in progress and I’m hoping that Wenger will have the funds to strengthen the team, my main concern is the uncertain ambition displayed by those above our beleaguered manager.

  75. Those of us that went to the game and don’t spend our lives moaning, know we should have won that by 5 or 6. We played well but it’s difficult to break teams down that defend deep.and that’s why the refs decision was so important.

    One goal down they would have to try to score and therefore we would find more space. We all saw the foul and we are nowhere near as close as the referee. There is no way he did not see it. So if he saw it, why did he let it go? I admit that I hate conspiracy theories but after the last two referring performances, I am finding it bloody hard to understand.

  76. @Menace, I think your comments are a little hysterical. Wenger didn’t invent football and our style this season has too often looked ponderous and direction less. Wenger is not a god, he’s human and is prone to error like anyone else. We’ve had incredibly bad luck with injuries and refs are poor but I think you’ll find all league games are littered with ref mistakes. The manager needs our support but slavish sycophancy won’t help.

  77. Menace, good point about John Terry today.

    Whenever referees and their bad decisions get mentioned, there are a small number of fans who won’t accept any excuses. The same with our injuries, it’s always Wengers fault. All this rubbish about over playing players has been disproved a million times with stats of other clubs and their players. Our players are no more over played than other clubs. Everyone’s a fitness expert, tactician and top manager – I have no idea why these geniuses aren’t working in football, it’s a conundrum.

  78. Anyone knows the email for writing to Arsenal? Seriously sick and tired of this refereeing bullshit and its really making me lose interest in this farce called football. We should all write to Arsenal airing our grievances and demanding that they do something about this as one way or another this HAS to stop. The FA and PGMOL cheats are not letting us play on an even field and its really hurting us as a club. Mike fucking Riley and his mob of cheats need to be persecuted and be brought infront of court for bringing the game into disrepute

  79. And for people who still think all is well in refereeing world wake up and get your heads out of the sand. We just had a former chief of PGMOL coming out and blasting Riley and his band of cheats on their “refereeing” standards. One could almost say Hackett has been reading untold because it was like he was quoting Walter’s articles and yet some of you say we are paranoid? Deluded? Seriously? Who knows more about the refereeing world between you and the former head of refs? and you still say referees are blameless? Get real

  80. Chapman’s Ghost
    October 19, 2014 at 12:16 am

    I have watched football for over 50 years on 3 continents and Wengers teams play a beautiful game. There are a lot more teams playing this style now but with the officiating being so blatantly biased for the last 5 years I can see the game descending into a foreign owned mess. A mess owned by gambling cartels and played to a script.

    I watch Arsenal in the Ems from a comfortable seat with good all round view all brought about by Wengers hard work. Like it or not, Wenger has brought Arsenal to this level & there are forces trying to pull it down so that their corrupt control can show financial benefit. You may not see this aspect of what is happening, but I can see cheating in full flow.

    The injuries are not down to bad luck but down to unprotected play. The officials are supposed to ensure the Game is kept sporting but they don’t. Wenger is supported by a team of football people and they all know how good he is and if there are any weaknesses that need addressing. We all have a view and assume our view is better than his. He built this team and this style and he knows better than any of us how to achieve success.

    So stuff your ‘slavish sycophancy’ and ‘hysterical’ comments and replace them with well judged praise and passion.

  81. Its reached a ridiculous point when even the opposition manager knows it a foul. Thats a cost of 4 points this yeat to two ludicrous goals. No Arsenal were not as good as they should have been but its hard to win games when one team is playing to a different set of rules. Apparently neither Everton nor Hull are required to play by the rules. This blatant bias has been going for a long time now (look at last years opener against Villa)and friends who initially thought i was hysterical (Not Gunners fans) about bias are now coming around.
    Not a good enough performance but we are and have been for years getting flat out robbed.

  82. I could not see the game but when we loose or draw it drives me mad. unfortunately that the way I am. but reading some of the comments got me thinking. Especially how to break the parked bus. that the difficult thing to do when you play one dimensional football, when you want to walk the ball into the net. I remember Thomas R, when he joined, he has a proper right foot and used it a lot initially. now? whenever he plays he doesn’t. we very very rarely see long shots. is this a conscience decision by the manager, because it seems like it. recently welbeck is using the long shot, as MU quite regularly do. how long before he is asked to curtail that? we keep harping about stats, I am sure that there is a stat some1 can get to the number of corners we get to the number of goals we score, or free kicks. teams like Hull Stoke and other must be practicing these because they seem to score or get close to it. whenever teams like these get corners or free kicks close to our area I am generally petrified. but we get the same, I have no confidence is us getting near. my honest opinion is that we don’t give it a thought as we feel that we have an awesome attack, which we do have, but as teams are getting clever in parking the bus, we aren’t. we are still playing the same style and getting undone. another thing that is said that “if we get the 1st goal, the team will come out and play”. that’s correct only if its in the dying moments of the game. we have seen a lot of teams still sitting back and trying to get into the last 20 mins of the game with the that 1 goal against them and come out and put pressure in the last 20 mins. its quite a common tactic. we can get around the parked bus syndrome only if we mix our style. I still don’t understand the 70 mins subs. please can some1 explain this to me?
    as for the refs, what can I say, yes banners at the Ems is a great idea, but does the club have the balls? I don’t think so. what are they scared of? even at the clubs website, when they analyse the game, they take extra care not to ruffle any feathers? why? when AW comes from the post match interview, again, he’s extra careful not to say things? why, he will be fined, banned? so what. what’s stopping them saying the obvious? I know its a difficult thing, but can’t they not get some1 to write such things, which sounds like an accusation but is actually not. lawyer’s are good at things like this.
    we can rave and rant all we want about the refs. the refs know we have nothing against them, [this was a similar situation in the 90’s with the cricket. the match fixers and hansie cronje thought that there were untouchable]. they know we take what we get lying down, without a fight. by the way, the clubs doing nothing behind the scenes. so they can continue with impunity what they want to do. there seems to be only one way with this. attack is the best form of defence. banners are a good start, but will it be shown on TV? singing is another good idea, but will it be made audible? why not manager say what’s happening? for a club of AFC stature, a TV channel is not a big deal, Liverpool and Chelsea have it. we can give it free for a few months and actually slaughter refs, there bad decisions and generally what wrong with the way things are run on this. I am sure that the media will pick it up from there. but the BIG question is, does the club and it’s management have the balls.

  83. Yassin,
    I’ve called for an ocean of red cards for the last two years when some of our favorite refs adorn the pitch with fertilizer. It’s gratifying to find people hereabouts considering open displays of disgust and insight and that tsunami of red cards will be picked up somewhere and maybe go viral on YouTube etc. to get the point across that we know that shit’s being shoveled on us and are holding up red cards to bear witness to their treachery.

  84. Arsenal has it’s own cameras, at least at home, and should use them to show the repeats depicting the costly mistakes of the refs, as suggested above, show on Arsenal Player, as Arsenal TV is not yet part of Arsenal(although i hear/had read somewhere that the owner has bought a media company in USA. So it does look like we will get that sometime.

    I am a little surprised that Arsenal has not responded to the constant unfairness of the PL in any way. It makes us (in the eyes of others) look even weaker.

    This world has a policy of “strongest survive” instead of “helping others” even though the latter is pushed so hard as if it is really being done.
    So, in reality, if one wants to play in the world, one has to adjust without losing one’s integrity, which is a very hard thing to do.

    //
    I notice comments above regarding how other teams have “decoded” Arsenal since two seasons ago. They know exactly how Arsenal plays, and exactly how to counter it.

    NOW, on the other hand, we, Arsenal now know how other teams are going to play against us,( you can see that in the reaction of the players when it happens in game ), so we now need to develop a strategy that counteracts this as much as possible.

    It is clear that AW wants to do it (play football) the right way, but we cannot compete in a place where everyone else is playing to different rules.

    We either have to
    1: develop strategies to combat this.
    2: play by the same rules as they do(means over penalisation for us).
    3: get the hell out of hell(go play in another league, but where?).

    We really only have the 1st option.
    This is where I think we need to change our style and patterns, which have become TOO easy to combat.

    Even I can see the same patterns that Arsenal play( and i am not a coach ) so it is obvious that Coaches who are trained will/should see this even more clearly.

    I’ll bet if these pattern were traced from game to game and superimposed over each other, we would probably end up with just the one pattern showing.

    This is why we are failing at places where we used to be the ones dishing out the high score defeats(remember when only us used to win massive? Those days are long gone, we are not ruthless any more, sometimes, we even look sorry for the opposing team!!!)

    I love the idea of those who visit Emirates create banners to show their distaste. Try to not make them disrespectful, as this will cause penalties to the club.

    Imagine:
    Yellow to the Referee.
    Red to the Referee.
    The Ref has gone asleep.
    Wake up Referee, wake up.

    and such, which could all be shouts from the supporters too.

    Things like
    The Referee$ have been paid off.
    Referee$, Referee$, Referee$.
    Who is paying your bill Referee$

    are absolutely not on, at least until the
    non assuming way has failed.

  85. @gouresh
    Concerning the media:

    I do not think they will pick it up, don’t forget they are TOLD how and what to do, but are mostly allowed to do it in their own individual way.

  86. @Gouresh,

    1- Shooting:I agree with you we should shoot more, but you didnt watch today game. Today we got more shots from our of the box than any other game before.

    2- Corners: Yes we are weak here and we nees to improve (specially on the delivery). Now when you look at our corners, you will see the huge job Giroud used to do before. Now its easier for other teams on both sides of the pitch, when a corner occurs.

    3- Counter attack in last 20min: so what? They will wait till last 20? Let them wait. Again as you didnt watcj the match, Hull city didnt attack us other than the times they scored, until the last minutes. So we are winning lets assume, and they didnt stop parking the bus, ok we play the ball and try not to lose it and become more careful. The pressure is on them and not us.

  87. @Bob,

    Yes man I remembered it was you who made this idea, and Al liked it and kept posting about it. I blame my memory here.

    Anyway something must be done, Red cards from fans? Banner? Someone running to the field straight to the ref and screaming cheat in his face? Dont know. I wish I could be in the Emirates just to try and help. 🙁

  88. Just to remind people our attack wasnt as bad, we scored 2 goals. The problem was in our defense, and here 1 goal was totally our fault, and another was torally ref fault. Winning 2-1 was not bad against hull. Look at chelsea win against crystal palace (2-1), still they are called unstoppable.

  89. 2 points today, 1 v Chelsea, 2 v Spurs, 2 v Man City, 2 v Everton.

    @Steve O,

    OK that’s 9 not 10, but the main argument stands.

  90. Everton offside-foul goal (2 pts)
    Tottenham wilshere penalty (2pts)
    Chelsea cahill red card (2 to 3 pts)
    Yesterday Hull City goal (2pts)

    Now that counts to 8 to 9 pts lost due to refshite. Did I forget anything? Now tell me again why is it Wenger fault?

  91. @John, was writng thid when you posted it 🙂

    In mine it should be Chelsea 1 or 3 pts so it should total to 7 or 9 pts lost.

  92. @ Mike T

    “…oh why didn’t your defenders carry on playing?”
    You mean like they carried on playing when oscar fouled them constantly last week?
    That foul was as blatant as the eye gouging incident, it was natural for the defenders to stop playing. Hence all of them ran straight to the referee. Besides, it was clear that Flamini had it covered.

    Also, we accept, Wenger included, that Hull 2nd goal was due to poor defence. For you to write off Per based on that is very mature. I remember john terry fumbling possession which led to van persie scoring during the 3-5 at Stamford. Saw the same thing by vincent kompany vs spurs in the earlier match. Is that at the standard required today? From what I have seen today it’s clear that hull, like Chelsea last week, was carried by a referee.

  93. Guys.. You’ve got to stop moaning about the referees and start DOING something about it.

    Which banners are you taking to the next game?

  94. Also, I’m seeing huge anger from the fans that don’t realise it’s the referees fault and are blaming Wenger over the defense / transfers

    The banners need to say we support Wenger too.

  95. Instead of all you guys complaining about Wenger/our players etc…why don’t you just UNITE and front AGAINST PGMOL – who have an AGENDA against you and the Club??!!! Why don’t you stand up for the clubs’ rights and against the BIAS we get week in week out???!!! Get some banners up and demand FAIR ref performances!!!

  96. Horrible bastard of a referee! It’s done openly now. It’s like watching a president and a thug been equal in a national debate. How this world has come to this? Not only the crucial equalizer by Hull, but the whole game they kick, punch and waste time. I totally lost it with the referee yesterday as were the Emirates’ faithful. The last time we had a moron referee at this level, we lost 3-1 at home. Now, at least we fought back and drew. And the fact that Arsene was calm and diplomatic in post match interview, where every single manager will swear and criticize about the referee shows he had enough of this bullshit. Oh hell yeah, come on you dirty FA and PGMOL, is that the best you can do? If you think you are an unstoppable force, then Arsenal FC is an immovable wall. Just bring it! Let’s see where Arsenal finish this season. And the rest of the fans who moans and groans like dirty concubines, we don’t need your advice and complaints, just go support other ‘glorified’ teams.

  97. @Wengerperson

    Ok he shouldn’t have carried on playing. So if that becomes the expectation be prepared for a few more goals to be shipped. Based on that new approach I was surprised the goalkeeper attempted to make the save

    As for Mertesaker I haven’t written him off based on one incident my point is that he isn’t to the standard of Koscienly, he doesn’t have the pace, the ability to read the game nor anywhere the required level of organisational skills and if he is expected to assume leadership of the defensive unit then don’t be surprised if you let more goals particularly when the ball is played in from wide positions.

    Turning to the point being made about John Terry yes he should have been booked for that tackle but unfortunately for the ref ( not shown on MOTD or Sky ) he didn’t book Delaney for an equally poor tackle and a bit like Wellbeck following the Cahill incident last week the referee made a rod for his own back

  98. Flamini should not have given up when fouled he should have fought on and not waited for the whistle , grave error .

  99. If Flamini had of carried on; what the bet that it would have resulted in a penalty against US??!!! Because after having been dragged back from his shoulder and shirt, for Flamini to have turned this around would have meant he would grab and drag too…by that time being a few steps inside our penalty area…and the player would have DROPED down like a ton of bricks!!!

  100. I got so annoyed, but the real positive war Hector Bellerin. That boy will be some footballer. Someone say something, Monreal played well out of position!

  101. @JohnW
    October 19, 2014 at 10:06 am

    Bellerin was outstanding!! and Monreal surely did his part (out of position) – no complaints.

  102. Well, Well.

    Absolutely no chance of winning the PL.To come in the top 4 will be a massive achievement.

    We have just lost 6 points to really poor officiating in the last 2 games.

    Did anyone notice City were awarded 2 ‘false’ penalties, hence their lofty league position.

  103. I’m at the point where I can take not being able to mix it with the big boys. But when Hull City and Tottenham visit, and comfortably get a result, something is very wrong indeed. The problem seems to be a lack of midfield defensive cover. Hold on, that sounds familiar don’t it

  104. The league is RIGGED – anyone who can’t see that is delusional – Betting and Corruption has taken over – nothing we say or do will change that no matter how well we play!

  105. Unless there is a change in behavior from Refs…I bet you all that this will be the top 4 come May:

    (in no particular order)

    Gazprom, Oilers, ManUre, Liverpoo

    This will make PGMOL/MEDIA and the FA the happiest!!!!

    I hope I am totally WRONG!

  106. I never believed that clowns would ever officiate a match until what I saw in the game. This is just embarrassing. If the referee had called the foul on Flamini, I bet we would have scored up ti four. Like you guys are suggesting, next time a BS officiating occurs on the field, I suggest a fan enter the pitch and give the referee a default-resetting slap and let the whole stadium stands to support him. The message will be clear and loud that enough is enough of this BS.

  107. Don’t write off our chances of winning the League. It’s early days yet. PGMOL can’t influence climate change. There are some thunder storms due that will change everything. The banners at Palace might be an early warning.

  108. When a goal is scored at the Ems, it is usually replayed on the big screen. Hull’s first was not replayed until much later with only the finishing action. From the North bank we thought that there was a hand ball because Diame blocked our view of his choke pull back on Flamini. It is water under the bridge but there is an undercurrent that will pull some cheats down.

    As for the club having millions in the bank – get real. Arsenal is in debt. We have facilities to use budgetted funds but there aren’t millions in the bank!!

    Our defense made a series of bad errors allowing the second goal. None of those were as bad as the deliberate choke pull back on Flamini ignored by the appointed PGMOL cheat.

  109. Greetings from Ted Lasso land.
    Ted Lasso is a truly wise man.
    Buying more defensive players? The PGMOL will card them and the media will accuse “dirty” Arsenal.
    Banners? No, just go to youtube and look at Ted Lasso’s advice regarding poor referees.
    Why do we need to e-mail the club, the Boss, or anybody else on our side of the divide?
    Information about the ref’s e-mail address, home address, and Swiss account code is key.
    And let the people take things in their own hands, as recommended by coach Ted Lasso.
    Believe me, the “truth” (info, see above) will set us free. Time to punish the cheats.
    PS: The same goes about prostitutes/whores who peddle “journalism” on behalf of cheats.

  110. here’s some “magic” results from last year champions ManOil from the first part of the season
    Sun, Aug 25, 2013
    Cardiff City 3-2 Manchester City

    Sat, Sep 14, 2013
    Stoke City 0-0 Manchester City

    Sat, Sep 28, 2013
    Aston Villa 3-2 Manchester City

    Sun, Oct 27, 2013
    Chelsea 2-1 Manchester City

    Sun, Nov 10, 2013
    Sunderland 1-0 Manchester City

    i just don’t see anything special in this year arsenal’s results
    young team (too many new players)
    too many injuries
    TOOOOO many refs shit decisions
    and too many crying babies who called themselves arsenal fans, which they are NOT
    arsenalfantv there are all these so called “fans” talk bull from game to game

    thanks Walter and Tony for your work

  111. @Walter

    Bang on about the referee. Shocking. Was he he the ref from the Villa game last season at home? Not sure about that.Anyway we should still be beating Hull with the side we put out and I don’t mean any disrespect to Hull either.

    As for the game, yes Arsenal did all the pressing but we were not at our best. With the exception of the first and last 10 minutes of the game we lacked a little bit of pace in how we moved the ball around and crispness in our passing. I also thought we struggled with the physicality of Hull as they are quite a big team and they are well organised. Chamberlain had ‘one of those games’ where things weren’t going for him. He kept going though and kept trying to do the right things. I did think Monreal had a good game at centre back. No need to over react, it’s just a case of moving onto the next game now.

  112. 8 games played. 2 wins, 5 draws. 12 goals conceded. 1 clean sheet.
    How many saves has Szchezny made?
    Ref is a problem, but our troubles may go deeper.

  113. Sammy The Snake
    SO!!?!??!
    what we’re going to do about it?
    keep crying that it’s wenger’s fault?

    ManOil where only two weeks on first place last season
    Arsenal more that 120

    there’s a lot of games to play
    a lot of players will be back from injuries
    some new players will com from J window
    and chlencie ManOil will loose a lots of points

  114. I agree with the poor display from the referee, absolutely shocking stuff that such stuff is still gone unpunished at the top level.

    With respect to our performance, I was really disappointed. We are not looking any business this season, and I do worry about if we could look it for a sustained peroid of time.

    My hopes, a fourth placed finish and hopefully another good cup run.

  115. Was at the game. Really very simple.

    Arsenal were poor. Combination of a team wracked by injury (missing approx 6 first choices and a number of able deputies) plus the international break which often throws us (many misplaced passes).

    Nevertheless, they did not deserve to not win. Hull I think had two shots in the entire match and the first one was a clear foul (plus a bobbler late on).

    Liked Alexis, thought defence did OK given makeshift nature apart from one moment (2nd Hull goal). Ox had a poor game. But the radar wasn’t really switched on.

    The referee was a shocker. At the start my son asked me if he was an anti-Arsenal ref. I said I didn’t know – it was his first game. We knew by the end. As with Atkinson, he basically lost control. Players should be yellow carded for simulation (of an injury). The key gain for Hull, which I don’t think others have mentioned, is that it gave Hull a rest during the last 15 minutes of siege. This is normally when Arsenal wear teams down. But if they are having a 2 minute break every 3 minutes.

    As for all the hysteria, it is surreal. A disappointing home draw against a mid-table team. It is not as if it has never happened before!

  116. @Menace, what style? I’m sorry but Wenger didn’t invent possession football, which is probably the nearest description of how we play right now. He seems to have taken quite a strong leaf out of Barca’s book, not a bad blueprint to copy but to play that way takes an awful lot of concentration and if he has copied their style he’s forgotten that Barca used to press teams when they didn’t have the ball, something we rarely do. I always found Barca’s style of football highly tedious and I must admit I find our football these days far from entertaining, often too slow and ponderous, but we now have added pace in the team so maybe we’ll quicken up a bit.

    I loved the way Wenger instructed his teams to play between 98 and 05. We moved the ball with pace and purpose and were the most entertaining team in England.

  117. I get it when Arsenal Fans critise the team because they were poor on Saturday. But what I don’t get is when referees fail to do their job and we still blame the players.
    No matter how poor a team is, this should not stop the referee from doing his/her job correctly.

  118. Ayo
    you’re right
    and the funny part is if ref did his job the right way, arsenal (“poor, powerless”, etc) had 3 points and all those morons from like arsenalHATEtv and other arsenal haters had to talk about arsenal character

  119. I’m amazed people can blame tactics, Wenger, the team for this game. We had five more shots than Southampton and four more than Man City. Southampton had two more on target than us and Liverpool had four less!!! Sunderland had more than 3 times as many shots as Hull so did Koeman get the wrong tactics because Sunderland had more shots than Hull and Southampton had less than us. Criticising tactics or Wenger is absurd.

    What needs to be considered is how awesome the team would be if they knew they were going to be protected and subjected to fair refereeing for once. In our last four games we’ve seen abysmal refereeing and our players are affected by this either with injuries or a degree of demotivation.

    The blame sits very squarely with the PGMOL and the media who do not question them but continue to allow it to happen.

  120. Mike
    the problem with that kind of “fans” are they all want arsenal to win 10-0 all the time.
    all this shit about “arsenal NOW is just mediocre club”, but they just don’t get that if there was no Oil money, spending without any control, shit refs decisions then arsenal ALL THOSE YEARS from when bAbramovitch came to PL to ManMediocre become ManOil arsenal would have fought for first and second with manU

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