“He can do what he wants and he stays on. Everyone else that responds to him has to be sent off. It’s unacceptable. But he always gets away with it. He will do the same again next week, and the week after, and he always gets away with it….
“If you look at the pictures and what he does to [Laurent] Koscielny, he pushes him down and hits him in the face. He is always provoking and he also uses the naivety of [the referee] Mike Dean in this game, as well as my players. Gabriel deserves it but I don’t understand how Costa was not sent off.”
Arsene Wenger
“Technically Costa didn’t commit a single foul during Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat of Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.
“No: not one. Despite appearing to spend pretty much his entire 81 minutes in a state of malevolent contact with the opposition. Despite appearing to do very few things that weren’t semi-fouls or almost-fouls or simply fouls. And despite that two-minute spell at the end of the first half during which Costa conceived, directed and ultimately delivered the pivotal sending off of Gabriel, Arsenal’s centre half exiting the field as wide-eyed and pale as a prize tuna wriggling on the end of a hook shortly before having its brains bashed out on the harbour wall.
“Let’s be clear. Costa was horrible here: sandpaper made flesh, a blue-shirted jab in the eye and above all lucky not to be sent off himself. It is often said certain players they could start an argument in an empty room. Costa could start an argument alone on a deep space asteroid somewhere past Betelgeuse. He niggled, he provoked, he stopped the flow of the game, he deliberately and skilfully got an opponent sent off….”
“Costa was aided by some terribly naive refereeing from Mike Dean and his assistants, who appeared to have never actually seen him play before, to be have been ambushed – who knew? – by Costa’s mastery of pushing the rules in plain sight, and of nipping beyond them whenever the back is turned.
“This was never more apparent than in the game’s central incident, that outbreak of all-Brazilian jogo feio just before half-time. Tangling under a high ball, Costa gouged and then swiped at Laurent Koscielny’s face. Pushed away by the Frenchman, Costa leapt up and chest-bumped him to the floor. So, three potential yellow cards right there, two of them for Costa. At which point Costa was pulled away by Gabriel. Bad move. Like a virus, he had a new host. And so he was off: chuntering, jostling, niggling, muttering in Gabriel’s ear and basically begging, pleading with him to kick him. Come on. Do it. Kick me.”
Barney Ronay, The Guardian
“I wouldn’t like to be Mike Dean tonight” Arsene Wenger.
“Zouma and Hazard score as Arsenal implode in fiery London derby at Stamford Bridge” The Telegraph.
Football should be an art
20 September 1913: First use of “Victoria Concordia Crescit” – Victory through Harmony – in the club’s programme. It was used by Henry Norris (although may have been suggested by George Allison) to symbolise the hard work and dedication that had taken Arsenal to Highbury, and was only later taken on as the club’s motto.
You think Costa does that without instructions? He just implements what that maggot of a coach tells him to do.
Why does the Guardian writer say Costa didn’t commit a single foul? This is clearly untrue. The rest of the article doesn’t matter if that is the premise with which it starts. The picture at the top says it all. Raising your hands to a player’s face is violent conduct.
60 million people world wide + have see what Costa did photos, video but the people who get paid to SEE the action sore nothing how can that be Please explain
Diego ‘Fighter’ Costa should be banned from football entirely.
Every team should have one player each who is not on yellow to have a kick at Costa in rotation. Costa will combust and Chelsea will play with ten men after that. I know its horrible what I just said.
I bet the Fa will maintain silence as we explode. the damage is done. if Costa gets a nasty tackle any time, no one should complain.
Costa is just another vampire in the making!
If you really want a laugh go on to the official Chelsea site and read the match report. Absolutely unbelievable !
Think what the guardian writer is saying is technically he didn’t commit a single foul from the officials point of view as he was never carded for one. The only card he received was for pushing and shoving with Gabriel.
Dean is a coward, abusing his authority to punish an innocent man. Garth Crooks nailed it…
I was at the game yesterday and yes Costa stepped way over the line and should have gone
What you are all failing to see is that we are just plain awful this season and every team we have played against had a plan and played in such a way as to exploit our weakness namely right back
Try looking beyond the obvious talking point and focus on how you set up. Ivanovich had his best game of the season, time after time Cech launched the ball wide expecting him to get the better Ivanovich in the air, your fullbacks failed to push on and the time Fabregas was allowed to look up and play a pass in this one game was more than for the rest of the season in total.
Matic has been unable this season to get going he looks poor when he is pressed yesterday you failed to press allowing his confidence to seemly return
We aren’t going to win the league this season. We haven’t improved from last season.
The dilemmas for you is that Ozil and Sanchez need to perform and for whatever reason neither really seem to be on the money and whilst that can change in a blink of an eye like us the chances of winning the league will probably be gone by Christmas.
Al that is how I took it – and that fact is a total indictment on the game, and on the way Chelsea are playing it. It is the destruction of football.
Yes. Costa must be censored. But Arsenal players must keep their heads down and play their football. Referee and their assistants sometimes cannot cover 360 degrees of the pitch, and be able to see every incident in the pitch. Now, red-cards due to dissents are costing the season.
There only one word that can explain how Costa can get away pretty much every week with such nasty behaviour : plain and simple corruption.
The FA might give him a 3 or 4 matchs ban (like they did when he stepped on Can last season), because they don’t have any other choice if they can keep a minimum of credibility, but he will come back and keep elbowing, kicking people and diving all over the field with the support of referees.
Untold does love an excuse. Ref was and is useless. That’s 5 league games not scoring against Chelsea, wenger has never beaten him in league and the bigger picture seems to be he doesn’t know how to. I’m very disappointed with the result but expected nothing less. However we lost we lost. We bought into their game plan with costa. I expect more from players and wenger informing players not too. Might be worth mentioning the blatant penalty Chelsea should have had. That might at least indicate your trying to look with a tiny piece of balance.
D did as been done let prepare 4 d next match we are still 3 point ahead of dem
Dean was standing next to Costa and Gabriel when Gabriel “stood” on Costa`s foot. Costa had planned that. He moved towards Gabriel`s back as Gabriel was walking backwards. Gabriel did not kick out at Costa it was simply the motion of walking backwards not knowing someone was behind him!
Costa planned that! Just watch it in slow motion!
Dean signaled a kick-out when he delivered the red card, but he could not have seen this as he was literally standing next to the pair of them, looking up not down. Repeating myself, Gabriel stood on Costa`s foot because Costa placed it there to be trodden on
As Crispen says, “do you think Costa does that without instruction?”
Then Mourinho names Costa “man of the Match”
Sick! and as always, just look at the amount of Chelsea players scrambling around Dean telling him to send Gabriel off
As the Guardian sarcastically writes Costa “did not commit a single foul”. But just with Kos alone, twice hands in his face and then striking out at Kos`s face then chesting Kos down. Than is 4 red cards and according to Dean not one single infringement.
Not only is Costa a problem but Dean should not be officiating a park game
@Mike T
Ivanovich is another of your filthy players who has got away with far too much over the years.
But look, there is no point you trying to distract from the obnoxious scumbag that is Costa, the shitty instructions he must be playing to and the appalling acquiescence to cheating that the PGMO have displayed.
IF I had been a Chelski supporter this morning posting on Untold I would have felt more than obliged to start my post with an apology for the thuggery and callous cheating displayed by my team. That you have not done so suggests you are no better than the other Chelski supporters who applauded the psycho and main cheat when he left the field.
Chelski have been cheating for years – but yesterday was beyond anything I have seen over many years watching what should be the beautiful game.
Mike T Chelski in disguise YOUR full backs you failed to press thats not a Arsenal supporter.
Mike T: true words from a Chelsea supporter. Costa is whatever he is, Mourinho the same. Wenger himself said as much about Costa. They will be worse when they are not scoring and winning. In the end every person needs to look to what they can control (i.e. their own actions) and not what they cannot (other people’s). Moaning and complaining that Mourinho and Costa are cheats, Dean is incompetent, the FA is spineless etc, is ridiculous – everyone knew all of this before the match kicked off. We need to have an approach to games based on reality, not some fantasy world where everyone is a gentleman. The reality for Arsenal is that this ‘Mummy its not fair!’ mentality has cost Arsenal the last 2 games. I hesitate (especially on this site) to criticise Arsene, but maybe Mourinho has a point about the incessant complaining. It is surely listened to by the players, and infects their mentality. In the real, grown up world, things are not fair and you just have to deal with it and get on with it.
Mike T, before the sending off neither Cesc, Hazard, Oscar or even Costa himself had played very well. Arsenal was playing very well, in fact it was a matter of time before we would score. I want you to scratch your mind, to point at any time in the first half, when you would say we were in trouble. You will find none. In fact even after the red card and the first goal, Chelsea for all their possession, could not create dangerous chances, Cech was comfortable. So when you say our right hand side was not up to scratch, i don’t understand you. As for me, yesterday’s performance from the referee would be put on the FA’s attempts to bring back to life, last season’s champions so that the league does not look bad. I remember one time when we were about to send ManU into relegation positions and they got help from the ref.
I’ll tell you what this slimey little worm called Mike Dean will do, he’ll protest his innocence on Monday or whenever he’s called into the FA office to explain himself and will probably get away with it.
Over the next couple of months he’ll keep a low profile, probably be in charge of some low key Arsenal games, Arsenal v Newcastle, Sunderland v Arsenal etc. and he’ll probably do a good job, infact he will most likely give decisions Arsenals way to put out the message that he has nothing against Arsenal at all, infact it’s just Arsenal fans being paranoid.
Low key games, games that don’t really have much impact on the Premiership title race.
After a couple of months, when all this conspiracy shit has blown over it will come up to a real title impacting game, like Manchester United v Arsenal at Old Trafford, or Man City v Arsenal and the Etihad and guess who will be in charge?
The he will resort back to his old tricks of basically stitching Arsenal up!!!
What will his excuse be? this –
‘Why would I intentionally stitch Arsenal up in this game when I have been in charge for a couple of Arsenal games running up to this and not only was I fair, but, I also gave controversial decisions in Arsenals favour?’
YEA BECAUSE THE OTHER GAMES YOU WERE IN CHARGE WHERE NOT TITLE IMPACTING GAMES, THAT’S WHY YOU ‘BEHAVED’.
It is so transparent, I guarantee over the next 2 months he will clear his name, do a good job refereeing, convince Arsenal fans and the footballing world that it’s just us being paranoid and just as the sun rises each day, when it comes to the next big match that can severely impact the title race and he is in charge, we will be stitched up again.
Mike Dean will get away with it again, why? Because he has been planning it for months and spend the last few Arsenal matches convincing Arsenal the he’s not against them, he loses a few battles in order to win the war!
Col, I think we have to keep things fair in the adult world otherwise its people getting gassed and experimented on by psychopathic shits like the Nazis,getting exploited trafficked and bullied,prostituted abused and shat on by capitalists and thieves and being exploited in dogshit jobs and lunatic people spreading guilt and fear and the total destruction of the environment.Everyone and everything deserves respect and the right to live without insecure fascists or corruption and exploitation,sometimes we have to fight and moan to achieve that.Remaining silent sometimes isnt possible, and without some form of ethics the whole planet would just deteriorate into shit.Anyway, the lads at Le Grove arent going to stop moaning thats for sure until AWs gone!
Mourinho can try to stop people moaning but its not going to work and Im glad: unless youre the dharma kid.JM’s a mercenary and doesn’t give a shit other than the pay cheque(imo), if it would have been the other way Im sure he would have had some things to say, and even if hes sacked he would soon pick up another job somewhere else.And dont forget many Chelsea supporters were pretty angry at the opening of this season.
Im not sure how we are supposed to be “just dealing” with it? And the next Adolf, “just deal” with that? The world is still dealing with it, and not doing so well.If this was at this level week after week(and some make the case that it does)then as Tony and Rich wrote-“whats the point”
If the FA had people leaving the game in droves under protest then they would do a quick U turn,as they would see the cash disappearing.
However I get your point and to a degree agree with it, but that means going deeper in the mind and then all sorts of questions come up which probably mean walking away from football.I just think yesterday was so farcical that something now needs to be done.I just dont think this one should go away, but it probably will, and we will just all be dealing with it on some way or other.I think ironically that the “gentlemanly” element you speak of is linked with “just dealing with it”,certainly what humans are putting into and trying to get out of football has never been at this level of emotional instability.
Just some thoughts, its really complex to get to the essence of though.
Dean was not naive, he knew exactly what he was doing, mourinho predicted what he would do. The fact that Costa was allowed to carry on his antics until minute 80 without being substituted means he and his manager knew he would get away with virtually anything.
The reason Wenger does not beat the eye gouging one, Jose cheats, Wenger refuses to. Jose especially cheats against Wenger.
There is a saying if you cannot beat them , join them. Under Wenger, arsenal will never use the Jose approach to the game. Should we become a bit more cynical…….I am not sure at this moment, to win major titles, to get instant justice, you have to,say yes, but there would be a cost, helping to destroy the game. That is the choice.
Wenger clearly is only about football, corruption, agents, the antics of the media, the money side of it, cheating, eye gouging is just not him and never will be.
As for the post saying he should not complain and just get on with it, name me one manager who wouldn’t complain after being on the receiving end of that. Jose? Fergie? Rafa? …..any of them.
The fact is, for whatever reason, there are people in power who clearly do not want Arsenal winning the league. Whether this is about protecting the perceived brand and biggest spenders, a wider Asian bookmaker led criminality, the media favouring certain teams and managers,…Sky have serious form on that, or some petty long held grudge from the head of the pgmol, you decide. But there is something, and it is up to our execs to get to the bottom of it. This seemingly risk averse board might think silence buys top four, if so , maybe they are being over optimistic, maybe it is our excellent manager who has kept us there, sometimes against the odds. I know they rate Wenger, but hope they do not take his abilities for granted in this climate.
A long time ago but mike Dean really is not fit to referee, and serious questions need asking as to why he still is, though some of us have a pretty good idea. This man is clearly compromised, to who is anyone’s guess
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2005/feb/27/newsstory.sport4
I am waiting to see if the FA will charge Diego Costa and referee Mike Dean, for violent conduct on another player and match officiating incompetence for the former and the later as from Monday working days. Certainly, the FA can’t fold up their arms and refused to take the necessary action to arrest this flagrantly cheating to win a high status football game like the one we had yesterday between Chelsea and Arsenal. Coming back home to Arsenal, the lack of timber & caliber at the heart of the Gunners defense line at Zagreb and Stamford Bridge had cost us the results of both games. The sickness of Rhino’ had not allow him to start the Chelsea games. The Gunners have twice been caught in aerial defending which obviously had cost us a possible result at Zagreb. The moment the Gunners are to play 10 against Chelsea 11, I tweeted to them not to concede any goal. But they went ahead and conceded a cheap headed goal to Zouma. What is that? Lack of concentration or incompetence? And to add Salt to injury, they conceded a 2nd goal with even the help of Chambers. Arsenal defending was poor in their last 2 games. We don’t have Sol Campbell anymore or the like of him. Otherwise, who is Diego Costa? Notwithstanding, the Gunners defending must be totally ready to face the baptism of fire in their next 6 fixtures against tough teams who will all like to beat Arsenal to glory. Arsenal should put the result of the Chelsea game behind them now as they wait to see what the FA will do, and focus totally on how they are going to beat Spurs unfailingly. By the way, why are a large group of referees across the Premier League in particular and in Europe generally hate Arsenal, as they look to intentionally denied the Gunners the good results they would have had this season alone? Is it because Arsenal were once invisible? Envy?
Didn’t see the game. First Arsenal game Ive missed in a long long time. Family commitments…
I drunkenly read the reports and and boy am I glad I didn’t go through the pain of yesterday’s match…..
It sounded just awful……
I can take the defeat.. t’s fine.
The news I am strugling to digest this morning is the fact that COQ is injured……
Why, when Palce were battering us and Coq was on a yellow did wenger not trust Arteta to come in straight away into the firing line.. It’s clear wenger doesn’t trust Arteta for those situations…. So why, Oh why did we not sign another DM##
Wenger is destroying himself….
EVERYONE i know said what happens if Coq is injured??
Now he’s injured….
Can anyone on here please explain to me what the hell wenger was thinking not getting in a DM
THis will be Arsenes last season, he’ll leave in disgrace
sad thing is he has nobody whatsoever to blame but himself
This summer wasn’t about spending stupid money….. It was about filling the gaps that we have
SO last year we had Diaby in the squad, presumably with the intention to actually play him
We release diaby so we are one DM lighter than last season….. What was arsene thinking>? Wheres Flamini?
What apppened to wenger not loving players over 30?
Arteta is 34 and not played in a year, plus he was losing his legs before that….
Im pissed this morning
and it’s nothing to do with the game yesterday
It’s to do with Coq being injured and there being noone good enough to replace him in the squad..
It’s actually a disgrace…… btw I’m not and never have been a wenger outer….. but this season he is digging his own grave and making his own coffin… He’s even carving ornate patterns on it in his spare time….
I am waiting to see if the FA will charge Diego Costa and referee Mike Dean, for violent conduct on another player and match officiating incompetence for the former and the later as from Monday working day. Certainly, the FA can’t fold up their arms and refused to take the necessary action to arrest this flagrantly cheating to win a high status football game like the one we had yesterday between Chelsea and Arsenal. Coming back home to Arsenal, the lack of timber & caliber at the heart of the Gunners defense line at Zagreb and Stamford Bridge had cost us the results of both games. The sickness of Rhino’ had not allow him to start the Chelsea game. The Gunners have twice been caught in aerial defending which obviously had cost us a possible result at Zagreb. The moment the Gunners are to play 10 against Chelsea 11, I tweeted to them not to concede any goal. But they went ahead and conceded a cheap headed goal to Zouma. What is that? Lack of concentration or incompetence? And to add Salt to injury, they conceded a 2nd goal with even the help of Chambers. Arsenal defending was poor in their last 2 games. We don’t have Sol Campbell anymore or the like of him. Otherwise, who is Diego Costa? Notwithstanding, the Gunners defending must be totally ready to face the baptism of fire in their next 6 fixtures against tough teams who will all like to beat Arsenal to glory. Arsenal should put the result of the Chelsea game behind them now as they wait to see what the FA will do, and focus totally on how they are going to beat Spurs unfailingly. By the way, why are some groups of referees across the Premier League in particular and in Europe in general hate Arsenal, as they look to intentionally denied the Gunners the good results they would have had this season alone? Is it because Arsenal were once invisible? Envy?
I would like to know how soon after the game, a referee is meant to submit his match report. Surely before they leave the ground? Maybe, in this case, the despicable Dean was allowed to watch a re-run of the game, so as to ‘adjust’ his decision-making on the day. I hate him and his paymasters. I have never been so angry after a game. I went out for a long walk, but it just festered in my mind, the total injustice of it all – time after time we get this treatment. Costa is a disgrace to football, as is his arrogant, smirking manager. What is the betting, neither Dean nor thugface, get any punishments. One thing I know, I love Gabriel and my wonderful club even more.
Friends relax.
Mike Dean is a complete idiot. No doubt about that.
Costa has now gotten a reputation that will haunt him throughout his career.
Mourinho is such a spoilt little brat.
All in all, we’ll move on and up. We all need to be united in our resolve against Dean.
News Flash: Mike Dean becoming the next man when Riley steps down
Costa is a cheat should have been sent off for grounding Kos.Dean has acted like a bigger cheat and failed to act fairly.
Tks the whole media criticized Costa atleast if not Dean was criticized which he deserves.
I hope Costa and Chelsea Will get the curse and will finish below Arsenal this season.
It’s interesting to re read your own postings and then see what others say you said
John W when did I say that Arsenals right wasn’t up to scratch? Or when do I even suggest we were the better side? In truth both teams were poor neither keeper really was tested nor indeed did either look like scoring.
Of course the sending off changed things but to suggest he didn’t kick out is denying the facts . I started my first post by agreeing Costa should have gone he is a nasty piece of work and the sooner he goes the better but just like you on here support your players and manager I will do them same and belie me at times that can be uncomfortable
As an aside I am 50-50 as to if Costa will be charged.he probably should but it will depend on the officials reports as to if they had a view of the incident/s
But do not be at all surprised if both Gabriel and indeed Carzolaare charged as they both failed to leave the field of play immediately and also Wenger may wellbeing charged over his comments for no matter how ell deserved they may wellbeconsidered he questioned the referees integrity
In an ideal world Dean would be fired after his non performance yesterday – but we know that will not happen. The level of corruption goes much higher than Dean.
Also, in an ideal world Costa and or the Odious One would be charged with bringing the game into disrepute – but that will not happen. I doubt if there will even be retrospective punishment for Costa – possibly a slap on the wrist to try to preserve the reputation of the PGMO and to pretend it is capable of doing the job it has failed to do for many years.
We also know that despite the very best efforts of Walter and our other in house refs the PGMO, FA etc has steamrollered on with whatever their agenda is – no attention has been paid to the freely available UA ref reports – they have not even tried to challenge them. (It would be fun to see them try!)
So, something more needs to be done to change this evil cloistered set up. That will not be easy, the PGMO protect and or co-operate with certain clubs, the media protect the PGMO and the thug clubs. While I have suspicions as to some who would be involved, the level of protection and deception is at present difficult to break through.
However, it time, indeed past time, for some additional approach – e.g. from the wider fan base, to bring much greater attention to the inadequacies of the PGMO under Riley – not forgetting the Minister of Sport – who is ultimately responsible for this nest of vipers!
Can someone answer my question
What was wenger’s plan for if Coquelin got injured?
If it’s arteta then during the palace game when Coq was on a yellow Wenger would have brought arteta on as his replacement rather than using Caz/rambo pivot and waiting for the game to calm down before bringing Arte on….
If it’s Flamini, where is he? He is three years younger than Arteta…..
Where is our diaby replacement? Or in wenger’s mind is Coq diaby’s replaement?
I dunno peeps,,,, I love Wenger but the gaps he left ENSURES us another season of nearlys….
Dont think the players will be happy with the transfer market…..
Wenger is trying to make them play for him by saying you are Good enough you are my team, BUT when a player like Giroud is our ONLY striker, then the players willl start to wonder/./….. Is arsene’s judgement off? and if so what does that say about me?
I’m looking forward to Karma coming back to Costa, Jose, and the rest of the cheats at Chelsea. I’ll wait all my life if I have to.
MTLM-no none of us can.We arent Arsène Wenger, we just have an opinion that he still has great qualities and on a straight playing field he and his teams might have been more successful than they have been.
If its his last season then fair enough.But its too early to speculate whether he will leave in disgrace or not.Only the passing of time will tell.If he only has himself to blame then thats perhaps conjecture too.As for the carving ornate patterns, again its conjecture, better see all of the game yesterday before going too far.perhaps your right, but perhaps not.The future will click one way or the other, or maybe something left-field.
Who at this moment can say whether Arteta will step up( I agree with many that he isnt a natural DM) and have a great season or whether another midfielder might change into that role?Maybe maybe not, none of us can tell.Certainly the Coq was less of a player(although Ive always personally admired him)before he was called back from Charlton last season, when he suddenly became a true force. Peering into the future is a bit murky and only a bet situ.Wenger believes in the ability of his players,often when others dont see it.
I understand your concerns though, Le Coq has matured into a great player.And you guys at Lg really suffer over Wenger, as one of the posters from there came over yesterday, blaming us and not being too friendly.Which was kind of misplaced a bit, kind of felt a bit sorry that he had to come kicking our arses when we felt at boiling point too over the bullshit we witnessed.
The future remains unwritten,no matter how pessimistic or positive we wish to look into it.
I certainly agree that Dean is not naive. His actions were deliberate, ignoring Costa’s assaults, just as he ignored McNair breaking Wilshere’s leg.
Even before I discovered the insights on UA, I was well aware of Dean’s hostility to us for several years. I wonder whether anyone has a record of how many Arsenal players he has sent off. My belief is that there have been quite a number, also that they have been early in matches, so that there impact has been all the greater. I am thinking of Kos against Man City at home and Eboue away at Spurs, which were both in the first half. I have a feeling that there may be more examples, but I can’t recall specific cases.
Walter – please correct the Guardians interpretation of Laws of the Game. The hands on the face are red card offences as is the slap & the violent chest push. All unsporting conduct & violent behaviour. Look at the game 2 minutes before this & Costa is at it but not picked up by the corrupt media/TV /officials.
I think Costa should be put down mercifully & buried under the media & TV pundits & Fred stuck on top to mark the grave.
Peering into the future is a bit murky…………………….
Kenneth…
See your point, but surely predicting these things as best as possible is part of the Job.?…
Most people I know predicted that If coq is injured we are screwed, he is now injured and granted Arteta may just may come good….
But consider this,….. What is the chance, the actual probability of arteta being able to step up this season? From an objective stand point?
In my mind, he is 34, not a natural DM, he has been out for a year and was losing his legs quite cleary before that injury….
All these factors reduce the probability that arteta will step up so DRAMATICALLY that it as tantamount to negligence not getting in a replacement…..
I cited the Palace game as an example when Wenger could and should have brought on Arteta but didn’t…. was that because he knew he couln’t handle the pace? It’s real strange stuff…
It’s funny, I have spent years and years defending Wenger on LG, years, and I still don’t want him to leave.
I see ALL the Good things you guys talk about, you don’t need to convince me of that.
But WOW Arsene likes making it difficult for himself, and his TEAM
YOu think the team are Happy with the summers transfers?
Obviously nobody can predict the future, I don’t really see your point
YOu could theoretically win the league with a squad of 11, but what are the chances?
What is the probability?
Wenger by not signing a DM good enough to compete with coq or a striker to compete with Giroud has STATISTICALLy almost ensured we will again do no better than top four…
It’s basic, and that’s what wenger is paid to do, improve our chances of success
Many aspects of his management does this , an increasing amount seems to do the opposite nowadays
He didnt need to go mad, just buy the couple of players the squad neeeded, again they didnt have to be superstars just fitter and more hungry than Flameta
Sammy
Karma isnt an invisible force that permeates the universe
Its the actualisation of human conscience
That means Maureen and Costa would actually have to feel bad about what they did in order for Karma to take effect
This , in my mind is unlikely!
fair points MTLM. Im as baffled as anyone was some guys didnt come in.I made the point about not predicting the future as many times over the Arsenal years players step up and feel a need thats missing in the team. If not then perhaps your speculations will come true.I dont know.Im not much of an AKB, more an admirer and liker.
Got to go.Cheers!
spellings: ways (not was) and feel should be fill.
kenneth
I agree, at some point we step up
but never for a whole season
that,
is to do with squad depth
nothing else
have a good day squire
think the negative and unwanted publicity that Chelsea have brought on themselves will ultimately serve them ill. I mean if it was a slight favour it would go unnoticed and Chelsea would benefit. But from next game onwards they will feel the heat. Had it been any other season the quality of the opposition may have aided them but this season with the TV money from next season will be a fight to the bones. Think we will ultimately prevail over them.
@MTLM
From what was said by the WOB’s and pundits after the first match lost, aren’t Arsenal already doomed and have no chance of winning the title, and that’s with Coq playing? So whether there is Coq or not to some we a doomed already.
You keep mentioning about why Wenger didn’t buy a DM, what evidence to suggest he didn’t try? You do understand buying players it’s not like buying an item in a supermarket, there are other factors involved eg availability, contract terms eg the said player wants to be a permanent starter not sitting on bench, price etc. For the arm chair managers they think they know all and believe everything is so simple. Wenger has faults like any other manager but he is not stupid.
MTLM
It becomes a more understandable decision if you force yourself to say who of Ramsey, Coquelin, cazorla, Ozil and Wilshere you would be ok with seeing leave in the near-to mid future. I’m guessing that was the decisive factor.
Same deal when Cesc was being discussed by all- I could accept people being adamant we should go for him, but it seemed right to me to insist those same people told me who of Ozil, Wilshere and Ramsey they were up for sacrificing. I found almost no one would answer me, but those who did said Wilshere. I look at the form he hit at the end of last year, his potential, and also his history and think ‘no way’, to that suggestion. Well, I said no way from the start, and that form just illustrated why I’d said it.
As for choosing not to sign another midfielder because of the implications for the good midfielders we have, it is not the way I’d have looked at it, but my unwillingness to pick any of those players constitutes a pretty big defence- in my mind but hopefully objectively ,too- for why Wenger went the way he did.
Alongside my hypothesis (all it can be, as there’s no way of knowing Wenger’s actual thoughts) I factor in the difficulty of the market, and the fact I have no clue about what happened behind the scenes; one possibility is that Wenger is holding out for a central midfielder he believes represents a big improvement in our options. Maybe we got close.
Like it or not, that is Wenger’s way of doing things : I believe he would accept limiting the opportunities of any player in any position, if the person he was bringing in is one he is absolutely convinced represents a step up in quality. That is out of keeping with the way of it for most managers at big clubs. If they can’t get who they want, they’ll bring in someone else. It’s a policy much more suited to those with outrageous finances behind them, but also to those who have not been at a club all that long and have a justifiable fixation on the short term. There are benefits to holding fire, as well as risks, and they are different for each club.
With less job security the risks change and a manager is more justified thinking to himself ‘well, he’s not who I really wanted, but I do think we’re short in this area, so **** it, pay the money and fingers crossed’ Hey there, Balotelli!
Whatever I say, the decision is one I have to work hard to understand and justify. I felt Coquelin demonstrated the value of a defensively-adept midfielder with great legs to the team, and that it would ensure a determination to try always have such a player available.
Today is a bad day for me to be going over this- any day is a bad day for me to question Wenger’s decision in such a way,really- but there was no way I could honestly address your question without admitting I struggled with our decision this summer about our midfield make-up.
Like I say, though, a lot of the mystification does disappear at a stroke, i think, if you pick which of the players you would have been ready to see leave or set on the path to leaving soon. Wilshere’s injury has yet again delayed our having to face up to how he fits in the team. We could suggest it was inevitable and we should plan for him not being there, but I think that is unfair and not the way a manager could think.
You just need to look at Gibbs- after all our years of injury woe with left backs, both have, in a piece of dark comedy almost, normally been fit for the last year or so. If that continues, sooner rather than later Gibbs will surely be looking for the exit door. Sods law that if we had an overstocked midfield, working on the basis a player or two is normally injured, we’d have a long run of everyone being fit.
Mike T
Like I said on the previous thread, tactics, player and manager performance become secondary in face of such a blatant failure on part of officials to do their job.
No one on here is interested to hear how Arsenal have become predictable ( they have) and not just in the PL but also in Europe.
Every manager of every team we face basically says it after games against us.
The point you seem to be missing in your original post is that Arsenal didn’t have to win this game, Chelsea did.
And Mike Dean made damn sure of that.
So please spare us your tactical analysis of the game. I’m well aware of Arsenal’s shortcomings and I don’t need a Chelsea fan to come on here to point them out , especially after what your team’s star player and the manager served up for all to see on Saturday.
Perhaps you can tell us if you agree with Mourinho that Costa was the man of the match , that I would be more interested to find out about .
Also, a word of advice. Every time one starts the post with “I was at the game ” it implies one has a better knowledge of what went on. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I have gone to many PL matches in person, quite a few at The Bridge too, and other than a better feel for the atmosphere you don’t get a better perspective of what went down during the game than when you watch by yourself in high definition with ability to replay, slow motion playback every play.
By my count and the letter of the law, Costa should have got the minimum of 6 yellow cards. Most of which would be next to impossible to see in the real time from the stands.
So save your Arsanal game plan analysis for another day.
@john, there was a red card for Wilshere at Old Trafford (two yellow cards). Nothing wrong with that except Cleverley escaped his second booking just a few minutes before Wilshere’s second. Double standards, at best.
Arsenal should raise all the alarms out there right now. If we remain silent, we will be ran over by PGMO-assassins week in and out. Mourinho did the same thing in 2014 after their home defeat against Sunderland where Dean was in charge. He made a sarcastic congratulations to Dean after that one.
It’s time for Arsenal Football Club to act or this whole work of the Untold reviewers is pretty much pointless and will remain just a preaching to the choir.
Think we should go easy on Mike T, folks.
He’s not the ideal Chelsea fan- the ideal Chelsea fan would be one coming here to say ‘you lot are right,you know : Mourinho, Costa, what c***s!- but bloody hell he’s about the best I’ve seen here or elsewhere.
Said it before but you need to put in effort to grasp what we’d be asking of rival fans to see their clubs as we do. In the unlikely event there are any such fans, we would not here from them. They would have turned their backs on the sport as well as their club, same as it would be for any of us if we decided we couldn’t stick it. Make no mistake there’s a fair chance of us being put to the test a few years down the line.
https://www.change.org/p/the-football-association-the-fa-prevent-mike-dean-from-refereeing-another-arsenal-game
It is with a heavy heart I write this, I am not a so called WoB nor a AKB I have though been over the past 15 years a supporter of what the board and Wenger have been trying to do. They held a hope of the new stadium being able to push them on to the same level as the big clubs in Europe when it was first built, like Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
Unfortunately this project coincided with the influx of cash from Russia and the Middle East that has twisted how fans and the media see how clubs should be run. It is no longer about living within your means, buying and selling to make a profit, trying to build a squad and bringing through the youth players. Today it is all about winning, if you are not winning it is nothing you are only as good as your last game. It doesn’t matter if you won a trophy last year it’s all about the here and now, what I am disappointed about and unhappy to write is that it is time for Wenger to leave the club, this has to be his last season in charge of the club that he has made in to what it is today.
I do not want him to leave because of his tactics (which I have a problem with) nor his transfer activity (which could be better) nor his stupid 70 minute substitutions. Yesterday’s game and others over the past few seasons have shown that Wenger is the wrong man in this modern world of football, his view of football and the way it should be played is too honest, he believes in a game that to my mind has died with the influx of money.
Is he a dinosaur? No he is a principled man who believes that football should be played a certain way, to entertain he believes in the beautiful game. The fear of losing now surpasses the will to win in most teams, we now live in a world where ‘parking the bus’ is the norm and that is not Wenger’s style he is about free flowing football and trying to entertain. If the PL is not carful it will just turn into a game of defence and not attack with teams playing two banks of four not allowing space for the other teams and waiting to play on the break.
Wenger sends his teams out to play football the right way, we do not surround the referees if a decision goes against us (as was demanded of teams last season by the FA), he does not send his players to trip over at the slightest touch (Hazard etc), look at Kos’s reaction to the slap and push in the face how many players would of fallen down and rolled around as if they had been shot? How many times have we seen Theo fouled but he has tried to stay on his feet and then the officials just play on. I could go on about offside goals and penalties not given and before you say no they do not even up over a season.
For these reasons it is time for Wenger to leave Arsenal, he is now due to the way the game is going the wrong man for the job we have to swallow our pride and just become like the rest, spend shed loads of money, fall over at the slightest touch, play percentage football, not worry about how we win games but just win them at any cost. I could easily blame owners, the PL, The FA, UEFA, FIFA and/or the media for this and how football is going but I won’t I blame Wenger.
I blame Wenger for trying to give us the beautiful game and trying to play the game on the whole the right way.
@dan
Good link.
The official airbrushing of history has begun. Below us the Premier League website match report from yesterday.
http://www.premierleague.com/content/premierleague/en-gb/matchday/matches/2015-2016/epl.match-report.html/chelsea-vs-arsenal
In a game where a dedicated DM was absolutely necessary, Arteta probably would ahve been brought on. Depends on how higly you rate Rambo defensively (I rate him rather highly) and how you see Santi’s contributions too, considering the way teams play against us, someone who is positionally savvy and knows how to tackle is mostly all you need, and we have players who can do that.
Of course, if Coq is out for 6 months and it is patently obvious that our midfield is the reason we’re dropping poitns I’d concede I’m entirely wrong but I suspect that won’t eb shown to be the case.
There is very little difference between the Costa nail scratch & the Suarez bite. One is a question of where it has been the other is what has it eaten. In both cases a vile amount of disease can be transmitted. The thing that is amazing is the media just love the anti Arsenal propaganda.
@Rich
I really like your posts and ideas, but I cannot – yet – agree with your thoughts about Mike T.
I expect Mike T to apologise for the display served up by the Odious One yesterday (just one more in a series of callous pieces of theatrics and thuggery) – before he posts here and tries to distract us by analysing our game.
Lets hear his apology first and then I might have some respect for him. Until he distances himself from the Odious One he is really showing us the same contempt and lack of respect that the Odious One specalises in!
Does anyone know?: Is there a petition out there to bar The Dean from officiating our games? This from the noeasygames.com blog: “it is now to the point where Arsenal fans have set up a petition to the FA to make sure Mike Dean NEVER officiates a game again involving Arsenal, and to be fair when you study the evidence and the numerous footage of their claims, they are quite well founded.”
@bob
Good to see you posting again.
See the link posted by dan at 2.35 pm today, this thread.
bjtgooner,
thanks, mate. it’s good to be weighing in on all this serious rot. Just to further the cause, dan’s link – everyone please notr – is to a petition to bar Dean from officiating any AFC matches: can we all spare a moment to click and plant a seed toward an even playing field, if only (but not limited to) our own defense? Here it is (with thanks to dan): https://www.change.org/p/the-football-association-the-fa-prevent-mike-dean-from-refereeing-another-arsenal-game
if, indeed, this was game 51, then Dean has passed the audition – stealth in plain sight – and has eclipsed all rivals for Riley’s successor.
It seems to me that the only way the situation is going to change is if either a whistleblower steps out, or the bent refereeing damages the reputation of English Football so badly that it ruins it beyond repair.
With the media cartel blanking any speculation on this issue, this is just the way it is.
Bent refs, bent clubs, bent players… We are watching an ornately choreographed “bung ballet”, not a sport anymore.
I’ve no doubt Wenger and the board know what’s going on, they just can’t do or say anything without risking their careers and reputations (and maybe more).
For ordinary folk like us… depends how long you can keep going before you get sick of it.
I have no problem with what Mike T had to say…a) Costa should have gone b) Chelsea hasn’t played well this year c) We didn’t take advantage of Ivanovic’s difficulties/or Ivanovic played well
bjt
What on earth are you on about?
i have acknowledged that in my opinion Costa should have walked but any apology for him not doing so should come from those who failed to make the decision not me or indeed any supporter.
Tom
The reason I mention being at the game is to make the point that I am not one of those that has never been to a game but if you have read my posts in the past I have always maintained that when you are you have the opportunity to see things that the camera isn’t following for instance just like Costa jestered for a yellow card ( and yes he himself should have been booked for that) the exact same happened when Pedro handled the ball and I think Monreal did the exact same thing
We look a poor team at the moment and we were there for the taking.Our confidence is fragile players are still lacking in match fitness and deservedly so dropped points against Swansea and lost to Man City, Everton and Palace and I was really fearing the game
Neither of the teams played well I can’t recall other than bread and butter saves neither of the keepers were called on and whilst as I have already said the sending off changed things can you honestly say that there was any evidence in the first half that Arsenal will be challengers or come to that I can’t point to anything from our play that would lead you to believe we are reginging champions and certainly no indication to suggest we will be capable of mounting any sort of creditable defence
Petition Signed!!
“Now take the next step to victory
You’re one of 32,210 people to sign this petition. Now help find 2,790 more people to reach the goal.”
a@Josif,
Thank you. I now recall the Wilshere red card. Also I think that Frimpong was sent off (once or twice) and Dean may have been responsible for at least one of them.
On another Dean point, I recall a penalty award for a Rooney dive over Almunia at OT, to allow MU back in game after Arshavin put us ahead.
No Mike, you came to this site bringing an analysis of our deficiencies – as a distraction from the obvious vile instructions that your team play to.
My point (which you failed to follow) was if I had been a Chelski supporter and chosen today to lecture Arsenal fans on how their team failed, I would first of all have apologised for the thuggery, playacting and callous evil extreme gamesmanship that Chelski employ.
Your acknowledgement that Costa should have walked is not quite the same thing – yes he should have been sent off – that he was not is Dean’s fault and also the fault of whomsoever is pulling his stings.
But, your team are set up to cheat, they do that in most matches and certainly every time we we play against them, but the incredible level of despicable behaviour yesterday, including but not exclusive to that of Costa, should warrent an apology from you – especially before you try to lecture us on Arsenal’s deficiencies.
Just to be sure you understand how I feel – I don’t like your vile owner, your odious manager, your team of thugs, divers, playactors and I don’t like the obvious unstructions they play under. So before you try to lecture us on our team lets see you separate yourself from the evil anti football system that Chelski has become.
Mike T – I am not questioning Mike Deans integrity. I am stating that he is a cheat & that the PGMO are a corrupt organisation that are protected by the FA who as a result are also corrupt.
Wenger has been very gracious in his response. The incidents shown on TV are not complete because Costa was assaulting Koscelny before the two hands on the face incident. One only has to watch the match footage to realise that the officials were working with their Crimean counterparts in the farce at Stamford Bridge.
There’s 30000 signatures on that “prevent dean from reffing Arsenal matches” petition which Bob mentioned at 3.54pm. There’s a proper embedded link on 7amkickoff provided by one of the commenters on there.
bjt
Suggest you take up religion because you clearly have no grasp at all about professional football. Of course managers or coaches tell players things along the lines of go in hard in the first whatever as he or they don’t deal with whatever but in reality most are only too well aware what to do
Did you go around apologising for Viera, for Adams for Bould for Keown or come to that Ian Wright who anyone that was involved in football was far from an angel?
Of course you didn’t nor would I expect you to
If you had even bothered to try and read what I said I talk about how poor we are at the moment the trouble is in every game you feel a sense of injustice and to a degree I understand but there comes a point where you surely have to accept that AW or your players have failed to deliver
apo and serge
what happens when 35000 people sign a petition? is it like the West Ham petition? Do the government or some other influential body make a reply to this?
@Mike T
As usual you avoid the points made to you.
So – you try to blacken the Arsenal of the past.
But my point is the same – before you come on this site telling us how we should play lets have you apologise for the cheating that Chelski undertook yesterday.
And, before you similarily come on this site trying to blacken the Arsenal of the past – the day after your team behaved like scum – lets hear you apologise for their behaviour yesterday.
Once you do that then we could have a more reasonable debate – until you seek safety in your usual cyclic arguments and distraction.
We know what you are
We know what you are
Mike Dean
We all know what you are
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/4301613.stm
Whatever you do for pity’s sake don’t mention Godolphin. Neiggh, don’t go there. You might upset the gloating neighbours (see above)
Yes, a very amusing petition Serge, all a bit of a laugh, but anything that keeps this in the news can only be a good thing. The only problem is, Riley will now just make sure we get Atkinson every time we play Chelsea in response if he gets to hear about it.
Here’s the petition link
https://www.change.org/p/the-football-association-the-fa-prevent-mike-dean-from-refereeing-another-arsenal-game
Sign the petition
https://www.change.org/p/the-football-association-the-fa-prevent-mike-dean-from-refereeing-another-arsenal-game?recruiter=388704624&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_page&utm_term=des-md-no_src-no_msg&fb_ref=Default
just did it
The MO for the sending off yesterday was similar on the bungling witnessed when he sent off Kolo and Ade.
Gollum is and has been helplessly transparent.
A wraith.
With his associations and his record he should not be allowed anywhere near a football pitch. Not even a kiddies five a side.
Gazprom can intimidate and have officials they dot like removed. As the whole world saw with Fisk.
And the world can also see that those that they do like appear to prosper. and get a strange and frankly remarkable number of AFC games. And so we remark upon it:
All. Very. Odd.
But we can understand why they don’t want VR which has been proven to work fine in the hockey or rugby. Oh yes. That is crystal clear!
MikeT
My list of complains against my Arsenal is quite long, Mike and I’m never afraid to express myself after a sub par performance of my club , to some noticeable annoyance of UA regulars most of the time 🙂
The reason I took exception to your comment wasn’t because I believe Arsenal would’ve won the game based on their superior performance on the day or the recent history of this fixture( Arsenal didn’t score in the last 5 league games against you), but precisely because Chelsea has been shit this season and Dean has just given you a major leg up.
This could be the result that sends Chelsea on a run ,as you don’t play a real top opponent for the next month an a half.
Also, this was always going to be a scrappy game with a few chances for either side.
If I had my way( and I said this in the past) I would always set up Arsenal for a boring nil- nil draw against Mourinho at the Bridge.
As for your stating that ” Costa crossed the line and should’ve been off”
Crossed it?
No Mike. He ripped it to shreds , put it in a nice bundle and shoved up our collective asses, with Mike Dean’s approval of course.
AFC didn’t score during the 0-0 in N5 two seasons ago for one reason only. Dean was tilting. Sorry I mean appointed or the game by the pgMOB.
Let’s recall some context for the cards given yesterday. Shall we? It’s not hard, let’s give it a go:
The non-red for Mikel and the non-pen on Willian.
The red for gabby and for Cazorla.
Which were the more obvious fouls and cards? It’s a tricky one eh? 😉
We know he is
We know what he is
Mike Dean
We all know what he is.
Hopefully this petition thing really takes off. It is already in the news and will have the effect of exposing the pgmol to uncomfortable scrutiny, which they won’t like……at all. Has anything like this been done before?
But not just the petition, the world wide media coverage is damaging to the pgmol, the player and manager.
Costa is now a marked man, officials…..or at least the honest ones will be ever more aware of his tricks, as will opposing defenders
Chelsea won a battle,but possibly with longer term damage inflicted, as this player clearly cannot change. Being a mendes player, he has friends in high places, but not all referees will be as prepared to embarrass themselves as Dean.
I just watched the All Blacks vs Argentina – what a pleasant change!!!
Officiating: TOP order!!
Players behavior toward the ref: TOP order!!
The rules of the game being adhered to 100%
That is whet people go to a top flight match to watch…no cheating, no underhand tactics. All transparent and fair!!
And football people call Rugby people thugs; we have much to learn fro Rugby!
“after seeing this image I can’t believe that Diego Costa remained on the pitch.”
https://mobile.twitter.com/pablo_zabaleta/status/513766794923106304
I could. Because it was clear last season that this cheat was a protected player. Protected above and beyond others by the PGMOB.
Nothing that happened yesterday surprised anyone. And that’s why compared to the Rugby Football, Ass. or PGMOB Rules Football’s credibility is in the shitter, pardon me. And has been for some time.
I don’t think we should blame the Crimeans for Mike Dean, Jose Mourinho and Diego Costa being a bunch of cheats.
Heard Utd got an offside goal given. Have not seen it, but if so, guess help where help is needed.
@Pat
September 20, 2015 at 7:38 pm
I would imagine that Abramovich is not entirely happy with the A the football he is seeing, and B the publicity (cheats) his investment/label is getting.
Wouldn’t bet against him giving that Moorinhoo the boot soon.
RA certainly has history there Apo. If Jose wins nothing major, could easily go wrong for them. Think this could be a tough season for Chelsea, hence they were given help yesterday.
finsbury – their mates down a passenger plane & annex part of a country so what is PGMO for these people?
Mike T,
as you were on the game could you confirm that the Chelsea fans song “you should have died, that day in Reading you should have died”?
I have seen tweets from a journalist at Stamford Bridge confirmed by another.
Mandy apparently the sun was in the assistants eyes. They didn’t mention what was in his bank account!
Bjt
Yes I am sorry we won yesterday- not.
I am not trying to blacken the Arsenal of the past far from it my point was and either you choose to ignore it or just don’t get it is that all supporters celebrate and support their achievements or are you saying that you didn’t when when you had players that played in a different way to you players of today?
You come over as a victim, it’s always someone else’s fault.
Professional football isn’t a ballet or a dance where you get awarded points for artistic quality it’s a brutal hard business and you should rightly be proud of the players I mention . Football is a contact sport yet so many on here fail to realise that and cry foul when they neither understand the rules or indeed the fact that other clubs play in a different way. There is no declared must nor are the rules as clear cut as so many seem to think.
Tom
I think if you read my posts I am in effect saying the same as you. You had a chance yesterday to put our season to bed but didn’t. as you said earlier it was a must win game for us but you had a real chance to inflict almost terminal damage on our season but for whatever reason that didn’t happen.
Finsbury
Either I am missing get the point of your comment fast out best look who did or didn’t play for Chelsea yesterday but hey why let the facts get in the way of a good story!
Finsbury,
If my memory serves well, Zabaleta was red carded, dont know if this was the game!
@ Walter
I sit in the west lower and I can’t comment on every chant but I can assure you that Cech was given a very good reception and as far as I a m aware no such chant was made indeed if you listen to Cechs comments and indded what I saw and witnessed no such chants happened so either they were were a figment of someone imagination and therefore someone is mischief making or if they did indeed happen, which I doubt, then there can be no defence whatsoever
Interesting conversation…
In the early 1970s, the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League decided that the way to win was to intimidate all the other teams. They took advantage of rules that didn’t adequately punish thuggish behaviour. And they won 2 Stanley Cups. All was rosy in Philadelphia but the sport, the drawing great crowds when Philadelphia came to town, took a thrashing amongst the general public in the USA and Canada. Many youth teams tried to imitate the Flyers and the result was a generation of unskilled players rising through the youth ranks. The two national teams were regularly beaten in international competitions by the Russians. The sport in North America has only in the last 10 years started to recover from that cynical attack on the game.
I only hope that football in England can recover sooner than ice hockey in North America from the cynical, ‘win at all costs’ attitude promulgated by J. Mourinho and as evidenced by D. Costa. The opaque manner in which referees are governed in the UK, which was the case in North American ice hockey has been replaced by immediate video replay from the league office, 2 referees on the ice and a league official that regularly, retrospectively hands out bands for violent and dangerous conduct whether or not it was detected by an official.
Walter
Don’t know for sure, but I’d guess that’s internet nonsense. Seems to be on the rise in a big way on twitter.
Seen a fair few times people have retweeted things from supposed journalists which turn out to be pure crap. There’s even a couple of names I’ve seen repeatedly doing the same sort of ones- about fans being attacked, despicable terrace chants, etc.
The appetite for anything which will show your enemies in a bad light is absolutely phenomenal now, and there is no shortage of weirdos who will make anything up to feed this- for the sake of mischief, attention or whatever the hell it is that motivates these saddos.
They are just yet another species of weird, internet-enabled idiot
john at 1:01 pm
So far Mike Dean has sent off 6 Arsenal players in 46 PL games:
– Feb 09 Spurs – Ars 0 – 0 Eboue 2 yellows by 38.
– Nov 10 Ars – Newcs 0 – 1 Koscielny straight red 90.
– Nov 12 ManU – Ars 2 – 1 Wilshere 2 yellows by 69.
– Jan 13 Ars – ManC 0 – 2 Koscielny straight red 9. (Kompany straight red 75.)
And then there was yesterday…
I can recall instantly only the home loss to City. Kos wrestled down Dzeko from behind to concede a pen and a red. Dzeko himself missed from the spot.
In between Jan 13 and yesterday Dean officiated 9 league games for us (W 5, D 3, L 1 / 11 yellows, 0 reds) including the famous 2-0 -victory at Etihad last Jan as well as 1-0 -win at WHL March 14.
Dean’s first involvement in our matches was way back in September 2000 (15 years ago). We won the first 9 matches on his watch, and it wasn’t until November ’06 that we lost away to Bolton.
But somewhere along the line Dean must have decided to turn his back on us. I guess.
Mandy Dodd
Yes indeed Manure got yet another offside goal given. And it was much clearer than many of the recent two-inch cases.
Walter
From what I’ve heard this twitter journo is a well-known internet troll whose ‘collegue’ always happens to be witnessing anything, if not the Kennedy assassinations. I sense a sick joke here.
@GoingGoingGooner
September 20, 2015 at 8:48 pm
Genious post!!
@Mike T
Firstly, what you are doing, deliberately or otherwise, is taking the debate away from its main point – which should be Dean’s antics towards Arsenal.
If Dean had being doing his job the Chelski thugs would have been well “yellowed” and/or numerically depleted long before the Gabriel incident.
Then looking at what you wrote: –
“Professional football isn’t a ballet or a dance where you get awarded points for artistic quality it’s a brutal hard business and you should rightly be proud of the players I mention . Football is a contact sport yet so many on here fail to realise that and cry foul when they neither understand the rules or indeed the fact that other clubs play in a different way. There is no declared must nor are the rules as clear cut as so many seem to think.”
This would imply, taken with with your previous paragraph, that you approve of the very brutal way in which Chelski play.
Further you insult this site by implying that we do not understand the rules.
Mike – we do not need an arrogant and sanctimonious lecture from you differentiating football from other art forms. But look, in your efforts to excuse the inexcusable you have dug an even bigger hole for yourself.
Why don’t you either stop lecturing us – or if your mental make up insists that you continue – then, especially the day after your team behaved like sub humans – apologise for your support for their antics, come clean and then your ideas may be better received.
Mike T, you say and I quote “cry foul when they neither understand the rules”
I do understand the rules (laws) very well I would say. Better than most with my 15 year of ref experience in Belgium with matches from the lowest divisions up to matches with Jupiler League teams (=PL teams in Belgium).
What Costa did was not allowed according to the rules. Period. A ref should have acted against Costa and send him off.
So when a ref doesn’t do his job why shouldn’t we cry foul?? After all Mourinho does it each time he thinks he is the victim. 😉
bjt
If you don’t like how football is played, you don’t like how’s it’s run, you think that everything is loaded against the team you support, you can’t accept others views the simple question jumps out why on earth do you bother watching football at all,
I have read on many occasions how this site is viewed by your fellow Arsenal supporters, that doesn’t make them right or indeed you right it’s opinion. They want Wenger out they see things vastly differently yet they are Arsenal supporters or do you think otherwise?
The aggression, the persistence almost petulance that comes through in your comments is something you need to reflect on, but won’t.
The need for someone to apologise for something that they them self had no part in is strange but even if such an apology was forthcoming would that make it all alright in your mind? I think we both know the answer to that.
Walter
At no point have I ever said that Costa was dealt with correctly nor indeed do I believe that having been a referee for X number of years means that that same referee is correct otherwise I am sure Mike Dean would be able to justifiably argue his even greater experience means his decision making gives him a trump card in that respect. Dean is not a good referee in my opinion yet others think he is. I believe I am right but have to accept that I may be wrong
My point was that on many many occasions people that post on here make comment about the rules yet I suspect that many, if not most, have never read the rule book let alone FIFAs comments on how said rules should be interpreted
“Professional football isn’t a ballet or a dance where you get awarded points for artistic quality it’s a brutal hard business and you should rightly be proud of the players I mention . Football is a contact sport yet so many on here fail to realise that and cry foul when they neither understand the rules or indeed the fact that other clubs play in a different way. There is no declared must nor are the rules as clear cut as so many seem to think.”
Mike T
I think I understand your problem here Mike.
You’ve been drinking from the Mourinho spring for too long and I can see how the rules can get all fuzzy after a while of doing that.
Like with the whole Eva Carneiro mess, right?
She probably thought she was just doing her job, but unaware Mourinho has changed the rules on her.
But since football is, like you say, ” a hard brutal business ” then calling her “a daughter of e whore ” – allegedly, is a proper response I suppose.
So Costa is this hard man who plays football the right way , slapping defenders around – no problem, but why does he dive theatrically in the middle of the park, three minutes into the game with no contact whatsoever?
Perhaps football is a ballet after all 🙂
bjtgooner
Hard to keep track of all the posts today. You’ve made good arguments at various points though and, going by what you’ve quoted above, it looks like I was wrong in thinking Mike was embarrassed by Costa yesterday and those antics in general.
You either hate that stuff or you don’t. You can’t hate it but be pleased it helped you to a win yesterday. Or hate it and not despise Mourinho. It’s his game.
In order to thrive,though, he relies on the game in general not being as bad as him. It’s getting closer. When Wenger leaves it’ll most likely be another big step in that direction.
Could be wrong, but I sense it’ll hurt the league a bit if, when Wenger’s time ends, we join the ‘pragmatism’ club. So much of that in football now, in fact it has effectively won, but the game would quickly lose its appeal if everyone is at it all the time. It would not be sustainable.
i think for instance there’d be no better way to illustrate the nonsense of Costa than to send out a team with each player instructed to play like him. Every one of them slapping away till the game is abandoned about ten minutes in. Maybe someone should actually punch him properly. My thinking is- they’ll fuck us anyway whatever we do, let’s highlight the problem properly and create a crisis for the game. I’d sacrifice a season and risk our future if it meant hugely damaging Mourinho, pgmol and creating the conditions for a fresh start.
Crazy talk and thankfully Wenger and the team haven’t been driven as crazy by it all as me this weekend. It simply can’t get better with PGMOL, and I fear that completely destroys Wenger’s chance of achieving the end to his career he deserves.
It’d be a maybe, definitely possible, that he could pull off something special- with relatively normal officiating. Would be exciting to watch, a close run thing most likely, and I’d be able to accept it whatever happens
@ Mike T
You are wide of the mark and starting your cyclic and attempted distracting arguments.
You would be better concentrating on the aggression form your own player(s) starting with Costa rather than trying to criticise others for telling it like it is.
You have consistently tried to avoid the initial challenge – to apologise for the thuggery, cheating and playacting we saw from Chelski yesterday. Fine – that is your perogative – but when you try to present yourself as a knowledgeable football person and try to lecture our fans about our team – cheated by yours only yesterday – it is foolish of you when repeatedly avoiding showing remorse, to expect to be treated other than as if you were one of the yobos cheering your pet psycho as he left the field.
Time to swallow your ego.
See Tom this is where things get a little blurred and people thirst for such allegations
At this point in time Mourinos comments , or at least the interpretation you want to believe are no more than allegations dangerous ones at that
Of course Mourino , based on what we know for sure,was out of order but the press and in this instance the DM , where I suspect you have picked this up from are on very dodgy ground and when the full story comes out, if it ever does, it might not be as clear cut as things seem.
Costa is a menace and as I have read on many sites he is very much a marmite sort of player some of your very own supporters on the other site you’re regularly post on would love him at your club others wouldn’t . You never know one day he might just roll up at your club and before anyone suggests you wouldn’t sign such a player I would point you in the direction of Suarez and before anyone talks about vapour transfers and all that there is no doubt that he would have been worshiped had he signed for you, and rightly so.
I guess one crumb of comfort, when the media in general, and the likes of Colleymore and Shearer are slating Dean , Costa and to a lesser extent Mourinho, maybe there is just a very small whiff in the air.
What they do with Costa will be very very telling. If he claims he dealt with Costa with his yellow, Dean looks incompetent to a level that provokes suspicion. If Dean claims they didn’t see anything, doesn’t look good either. My suspicion, they will bury it under yellow and try and punish Arsenal further, Riley will not like this.
This is why our execs really must step in here. Wenger can only say so much. Our players are getting reds if they do anything. Only Ivan behind the scenes can act with impunity, and if for whatever reason he cannot or will not, maybe he needs to bring back David Dein as a consultant.
Tom
Its good that we basically agree for once – we must do this more often!!
Rich
Thanks for your 10.34 post. I agree with your sentiments, but we don’t really want to lower ourselves to the level of the Odious One.
I do admire the restraint shown by our players yesterday – in spite of continuous provocation from the thugs. The temptation to fill in the bully and coward must have been great – but I really admire the way our guys stuck to their task – despite Gollum!
But, more generally, much more needs to be done to start the momentum to clean up the PGMO and the EPL. The pen is indeed mightier than the sword – and I wouldn’t be surprised if your superb writing style and well conceived comments have a part to play.
Mike T – I don’t know if you have kids but Costa is not a role model to follow neither is Jose. Both of them are antisocial & should be banned from sport. Chelsea won the game with a huge amount of help from Dean. Chelsea are not going to be anything near the top 4 this season because they are overpaid & lazy. Costa will get destroyed by his antics.
You can support Chelsea forever but you can never ever show a young player Costa as a role model to follow. If you do, you are just as depraved as Jose & Costa.
Menace
I agree we aren’t going to win the league this year, have said from the off. So no arguments from me on that score but as for any of the other competitions we are involved in who knows.
Footballers are footballers and not role models in my opinion . I do and always have found it odd that someone whose only skills that people judge them on is their ability to kick a ball could ever be considered anything other than a footballer is a sad state of affairs.
Bjtgooner
So it is you who’s given me all those thumbs up then 🙂
@Tom
Not just me, but no problem!!
Revealing new footage of the incident.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcgRaf38uCQ
Mike T
I don’t expect you to apologise for the actions of anyone from Chelsea as you are a supporter not an employee, nor should you ask me to apologise for the actions of anyone associated with Arsenal, which I support. I do expect you to acknowledge facts. Costa’s behavior on the pitch start to finish was atrocious and he was very ineffective as a footballer. Mourhino says he’s man of the match which indicates to me he likes the way Costa played. As I’ve stated in previous threads the game looked like nil nil or 1 nil for EITHER side. We can live with either result. However, the match was decided by the ref not the players. That was obvious. That’s what Arsenal fans are angry about. And stop the ‘it’s not ballet’, that’s a bit insulting. Arsenal players are kicked and clattered as much as any side in the league and give it back but whine less about it than most and usually respect the officials. You don’t see them surrounding the ref. Also, after the match Wenger agreed with Gabriel’s red card (I didn’t) but asked why wasn’t Costa booked at all?, in fact not even 1 foul in 80 minutes? So, the result of this fixture was largely determined by the referee. And as badly as Costa played, if he’s MOTM your team is in trouble.
Just to give notice I signed the Mike Dean petition via the Daily Mirror Web site and it Is just over 5,000 votes short of 50,000 K wow get on and sign up please
RICH!
On a day we can all use a laugh……………
Thanks mate
“Costa is a menace and as I have read on many sites he is very much a marmite sort of player some of your very own supporters on the other site you’re regularly post on would love him at your club others wouldn’t”.
Mike T
I’m not sure I get your meaning correctly but I can assure you I don’t post on any other site. Maybe that’s why, even though this site probably doesn’t claim me as one of their own since some of my opinions on all things Arsenal have been in the past and surely will be again in future different from most on here,
I do feel certain kinship with the regulars on here and I wouldn’t as a matter of principle come on here after a devastating loss like that one to Chelsea( mainly due to special circumstances) and spew my thoughts on tactics.
Just a matter of bad timing on your part I guess.
Still, look forward to reading your comments on future threads.
Mike T
You’ll justify everything on behalf of Chelsea.
You should have been banned from these pages for minimising the actions of your co-fans/racists.
Here’s a portion of the UA article, followed by your reply:
“The man who was racially attacked has said that he has continued to suffer as a result of the attack and the fact that his picture was on TV thereafter. He has made a statement about the affair…
“There are French Chelsea supporters in my neighbourhood who jeer at me. I’m afraid to go out. The people were identified, we know who they are, they know who they are and they know what they did. But they’re walking free, while I feel like I’m in a kind of prison. I just want a trial, I want justice to be done. What happened was serious – it wasn’t a minor issue – and if justice isn’t done, then what message does that send?” ”
Mike T comment:
http://untold-arsenal.com/archives/44800#comment-846942
What does this tell us about you!
I agree with the Gooners on this site about Mourinho and Costa but I have to say that I though I may disagree with Mike T, he has always been respectful and brings a different point of view to the proceedings here without being abusive. I find much more at fault with the AAA trolls than with him. I know he is a Chelsea fan and don’t expect him to change his allegiances.
In the news –
A preacher wanted to raise money for his church and on being told that there was a fortune in horse racing, decided to purchase a horse and enter it in the races. However, at the local auction, the going price for horses was so high that he ended up buying a donkey instead. He figured that since he had it, he might as well go ahead and enter it in the races. To his surprise, the donkey came in third!
The next day the local paper carried this headline: PREACHER’S ASS SHOWS.
The preacher was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again, and this time it won. The paper read: PREACHER’S ASS OUT IN FRONT.
The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the preacher not to enter the donkey in another race. The paper headline read: BISHOP SCRATCHES PREACHER’S ASS.
This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the preacher to get rid of the donkey. The preacher decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent. The paper headline the next day read: NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN.
The Bishop fainted in shock. When he came to he informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she sold it to a farmer for $10.00.
The next day the headline read: NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10.00.
This was too much for the Bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the donkey, lead it to the plains, and let it go.
Next day, the headline in the paper read: NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE.
The Bishop was buried the next day.
There was a king who had 10 wild dogs…
He used them to torture and eat all ministers who made mistakes.
So one of the minister’s once gave an opinion which was wrong, and which the king didn’t like at all…
So he ordered that the minister to be thrown to the dogs.
So the minister said, “I served you 10 years and you do this..? Please give me 10 days before you throw me in with those dogs!
So the king agreed…
In those 10 days the minister went to the guard that was guarding the dogs and told him he wants to serve the dogs for the next 10 days…
The guard was baffled…
But he agreed…
So the minister started feeding the dogs, cleaning for them, washing them, providing all sorts of comfort for them.
So when the 10 days were up…
The king ordered that the minister be thrown in to the dogs for his punishment.
But when he was thrown in,
Everyone was amazed at what they saw.. They saw the dogs licking the feet of the minister!
So the king baffled at what he saw… Said:” what happened to the dogs ? ”
The minister then said;” I served the dogs for 10 days and they didn’t forget my service…; Yet I served you for 10 years and you forgot all at the first mistake!”
So the king realised his mistake and got crocodiles instead of dogs !
In Spain and Brazil the punchline of the joke is changed from crocodiles to Deigo Costa ;
while in Portugal , Milan , Italy and Spain (again !) especially in Madrid and Barcelona, they have great joy in changing it to Mourinho !!
Ranetta
That I have to say is perhaps the strangest comment I have ever read
I made one comment on that thread and it was made before the court had come to its decisions. At no time did I condone the supporters actions, and I certainly did not deny they happened my comment was in relation to process and how in any fair society we afford the benevolent phrase presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Tom
Apologies . That’s what happens when you put one and one together and make three
See Bjt . Whe I am accountable for a wrong doing an apology is forthcoming
LOL Brickfields
The measure of a person is not on how well he prepares for everything to go right: but how gracefully he stands up and moves on when everything goes wrong.
Nishan Panwar
Note to Gabriel , Koscielny and the Arsenal team – please move on , but remember
When you are able to forgive others, even if they are unapologetic for the wrongs that they have committed against you, only then will your mind truly be free. Those who are willing to hold grudges against those who trespass against them are only doing their own selves a disservice. Being unforgiving to someone doesn’t benefit any person at all.
Unknown.
Forgive , never forget .
David Ben Gurion .
But if that piece of shit ever tries it again , ignore both of the above , rearrange his face ( It’ll be an improvement !) and kick his teeth in , so that when he passes them , they’ll bite him in the arse !
5O,050 have signed the petition .
Have to say, I read with interest the posts of Mike T, sometimes good to get a different and well articulated perspective from the likes of himself, or for that matter Tom, as well as the views of the esteemed regulars on here.
A Chelsea fan will defend the club to a degree, but I will not put Mike in the same sentence of some of the antics of Costa or Mourinho in this game. Let’s be clear, Chelsea careers were on the line, possibly even serious pressure on the manager, The antics of some of Chelsea’s players disgraced the game, I thought Cesc ran Costa close in terms of the spirit of the game. Mourinho sent them out to do that, knowing the game was being officiated by a man who needs no invitation to do Arsenal. Chelsea , Mourinho and Costa will be remembered for this . Mike is right, Chelsea will not win the league this year, neither will we, for very different reasons. Costa will now be a marked man, every defender will know what buttons to press. Dean won’t always be there to hold his hand. Jose is facing unprecedented criticism in the media this season. Some good may yet come out of this, not least in exposing the pgmol for what they , as an organisation, not necessecarily as individuals truly are. What we saw went worldwide, it damaged the brand. I think there will be repercussions beyond the effect of a manager who sent out a team to do whatever it takes…..repercussions that may eventually lead to something a bit better than we have at the moment.
Jose did what Jose does when allowed, but Dean has truly embarrassed our game. Even Scudamore cannot ignore that.
@Brickfields
Fantastic news about the petition! People are angry and they want to say so.
@Mandy
Perhaps Ivan Gazidis is putting on pressure behind the scenes. He wouldn’t be making any public statements if he was. Anyway, I hope he is doing so.
Media are sickening. They mention Costa’s appalling conduct and then state that Arsenal are to blame for defeat. They completely ignore the obvious related points that Chelsea won by cheating, only because a bent referee was in charge.
When it was 12 v 11, Arsenal looked the better team. Even when it became 12 v 10, Chelsea were not comfortably on top. Therefore Dean had to make it 12 v 9 to secure the 3 points for them.
Brickfields Gunners
September 21, 2015 at 8:15 am
yes Brickfields, agree.
If you can’t beat them join them. Sometimes one twofooter a season will keep thugs and cheats away for the rest of the seasons.
Gandhism won’t do as by the time they get tired of their own antics the sufferer might as well be in a situation from where recovery is next to impossible.
Mandy
Thanks for you comments
My postings reflect my opinion which I realise on here will not be the same as the majority but it’s what it is my opinion based to an extent on bias just as others will have their opinion shaped by way of alliegence.
I stated from the off that Costa overstepped the mark that seems to have been missed or ignored by many. He isn’t my kind of player but he plays for the club I support and no doubt just like the manager will be gone way before I move on to whatever comes next after life on Earth.
Other than the odd highlight I haven’t had the luxury of the number of replays played at different speeds that is afforded to TV audiences but it does interest me that you tag Cesc to a degree as I clearly missed most of what influenced your comment.
I know some don’t think another clubs supporter can have a view on another clubs tactics or performance even though they put forward theirs on yes on a site with clearly defined alliegence but on a site that is open to comments
Not once has Tony or Walter , whose views I often disagree with and who have openly stated they disagree with mine, have seen fit to moderate or delete any of my comments yet today I have been accused of being racist by one poster who waves an imaginary yellow card asking that I get banned . As I said earlier I found his comment strange .
I am not sure Saturday was a must win game for us I guess I would agree it was a must not loose game and yes it did suprise me with how Arsenal were set up and indeed the options Cech took time after time in clearing longtime either Sanchez and Walcott who both have undoubted strengths but I would suggest not in the air against Six foot plus powerful defenders
I would not be at all surprised if Gabriel’s ban is reduced to 2 games and if I were Arsenal I wouldn’t concentrate on appealing the card itself but focus more on the extent of punishment .its what we did when Matic reacted and kicked out and also how the FA approached Rooneys sending off in a WC qualifier. The only trouble is that he failed to immediately leave the field of play and that could well be an issue
The one I personally feel for is Santi Carzola for his first booking he had to take for the team and yes he did catch Pedro his second was more about getting there a second after Cesc. His one game will be against Spurs and I wonder if he would have played anyway but one thing is for sure he won’t now.
@ Samrat Jha – September 21, 2015 at 9:32 am – I was disappointed that Grabriel didn’t inflict any actual pain on Costa . I would have waited for a high ball and ‘accidentally ‘ kick him , and taken the second yellow card graciously ‘ !
Am sure when the time comes (maybe early in the League cup /FA cup ?) , our players will be fluent in Portuguese and will be ‘in conversation ‘ with Costa from the beginning of the game !
I can’t wait .
I am waiting with great anticipation on the retrospective action the FA will take with Costa!
There is enough damning evidence to remove this thug from the field for at least 3 games!
Of course my anticipation of what will be FA’s stance with Deans performance is equal to the move if not greater.
Video Technology (thanks to Mourinho,Costa and Dean) has just received a major boost!
Pleasing to take a glade at the table; see 6 games played, we sit on 5th and Chel$kie on 15 all be it they won through underhanded methods – all that carry on to go from 17th to 15th; hardly seems worth the negative publicity!
Roman is watching!
glance NOT glade 🙂
Great posts from bjt and Tom and Brickfields. Notice how Costa’s bullshit has covered up Zoumas neck grab? The other officals were too busy looking up there arse cracks for an idea or anything else they might find to see anything.
Zouma should have been off, unless grabbing people by the neck is now allowed.Zouma will get no punishment what so ever.No Zouma on the pitch no goal from Zouma.
The whole farce of this seems even more pathetic in the cold light of Monday. Utterly pathetic.
Chelsea, thats one club in denial.What a load of kack.
There will not be a banner at Chelsea (or any other club the eye poacher has managed) with his picture on and linking football to art anytime soon I think…
This is the biggest injustics since Mike Riley in that 50th game.
The big debate is teh fact that it wasnt one incident of hand in face.
First offence Diego Costa pushes Kos in the face. Next, he puts both hands in his face. Then he swings his arm to bank hand slap Kos in the face. if Kos had gone to ground with any of these, Cosat was off. Next he grabs Gabriel around teh neck, we have seen the scratches which prove the viciuousness.
Now can someone please expalin to me the following:
1. How did Costa not see red for any of this incidents?
2. How did Costa not see red for teh combinaton of these incidents?
3. How does a pundit like Danny Murphy get away with claiming a yellow card for both players was right?
Thsi reminds me so much of the 50th game. I accept referees can miss things. I accept that sometimes they may let things go. What I cannot accept is when there are so many incidents and whenthos incidents happen in front of the referee.
What I cannot accept is when we get dinosaurs in the media claiming Gabriel had to go for that gentle flick, when in fact it was absolutely nothing compared to the variius incidents of Costas hand to face.
For years commentators and pundits go on about the fact you cannot ‘raise’ your hands but when Costa does it with intent, all of a sudden they change their tune.
I am fed up with people/pundits/media and blog writers accusing Arsenal fans of being biased, I think we can prove beyond any doubt that we get different decisons to other teams. There is no way Giroud would have been allowed to do what Costa did. No way. He would have been slaughtered by the media, the pundits and the FA would have thrown the book at him too.
What Costa did is not a part of football. It is not in the rules.
A retrospective ban is no use to Arsenal. We should have been playing with an extra man. I am sorry but nobody can tell me Mike Dean made an honest mistake, nobody. He gave Chelsea three points through sheer incompetence. I hope it was just incompetence because if not, there reall is something disgusting and corrupt going on.
PS: I was not surprised to see elements of the WOB blaming Gabriel and Wenger. What kind of fan would do that, when the club is being attacked and treated so disgustingly? They aren’t true supporters, no way.
*injustice
@Mandy & goonersince72
Further to your comments this morning I would like to try and clarify my debate with Mike T.
I was not asking him to come out with an apology for the sake of it.
I felt it was a bit disingenuous of him to lecture us on the failings of our team – without first distancing himself from the appalling behaviour of his team.
When challenged Mike dug in but avoided the challenge – prolonging the debate.
In his efforts to distract he dug a much bigger hole for himself, when he wrote: –
“Professional football isn’t a ballet or a dance where you get awarded points for artistic quality it’s a brutal hard business and you should rightly be proud of the players I mention . Football is a contact sport yet so many on here fail to realise that and cry foul when they neither understand the rules or indeed the fact that other clubs play in a different way. There is no declared must nor are the rules as clear cut as so many seem to think.”
He was indicating that I should be proud of Viera etc i.e. the way Viera played. The implication of this is that he is proud of his physical players – including one Costa.
He complained that I was aggressive and petulant.
So it is OK for him to be proud of Costa (and all the mad aggression generated by him) – but he does not like it when he himself is challenged.
Double standards I believe.
Mike was given a number of opportunities to distance himself from the tactics (i.e. pre planned thuggery) of the Odious One – but sadly failed to do so.
My view, rightly or wrongly, is that when Mike posts on this site in his well mannered way, he is being less than sincere. I hope he proves me wrong.
proudkev,
You did not mention Costa chest bumping Kos to the ground, nor Costa kicking out at Ox, or Zouma grabbing Gabriel by his neck.
Without wishing to defend Dean in any way I think he took advice from one of the lino’s or the 4th official Oliver regarding the red card for Gabriel as he appeared to be listening intently in his earpiece before taking action. Still amazing that they detected that insignificant small flick by Gab but all four of them failed to see any of the far more visible multiple Costa fouls. Collusion by all the officials in my opinion.
Mike T.
I think you have tried to be fair but to say 50/50 is a joke. 4 times he went for Koscielnys face. FOUR times. So I guess if 50/50 is about right that means he needed to do it 8 times to get you agreeing he should have had a red card? You did not win the game yesterday. The 3 points should be scrubbed and we should have a replay. That decison was as bad as the goal we scored when we failed to give the ball back against Sheffield United. We gave them a replay.
I would be embarrassed if I was a Chelsea fan because surely no football fan wants to win like that.
When you consdier a slick, skilful player without a nasty bone in his body gets sent off for nothing more than slightly mistiming a tackle, whereas a thug like Costa gets away with soem pretty distatesful behaviour, you do have to wonder where this will all end.
As football fans, we want to see skilful players and good behaviour. None of us want to see cheating, play acting, diving or thuggery.I dont want to see games decided by cheating or referee errors.
Any football fan that condones what Costa did is an idiot, who is also a hypocrit. If that happened against your team you would be as angry as we are. You know you cannot put your hands in another players face – Costa didnt do it once he did it 4 or 5 times. He also kicked out at the Ox.
The fact our players don’t fall over to get players sent off, should be applauded. Instead, we get punished for it.
Football games should not be won by referees. They are there to protect the players and make sure the rules of the game are being applied. That is all.
I have noticed that nobody has picked up the 1st attack by Costa on Koscelny. Look at the game on Arsenal Player minute 42.53. It is before the corner that leads to the second attack. The officials are very obvious by their blindness. The Assistant must have seen it as Koscelny was last defender.
I would click the like button a thousand times Proudkev for your comment !
Oh good, the fallout from this disgraceful refereeing is already exposing so many things and everyone is asking the right questions at last, not just us…
The Premier League has written a very boring Match Report. I suppose the report itself cannot take sides and has to go along with the ridiculous refereeing in reality. No big surprise, even though it is very disappointing when you read it.
On a very positive note, the excellent petition brought to our attention by so many on here now has well over 50,000 signatures. That is quite something. I doubt that the PGMO can ignore it and you would hope that attention is not limited to Dean but to PGMO refereeing of the last few years, which has been atrocious! What a shame that the improvement last year has been totally eclipsed by this outrageous display.
I do not think we are the only ones to suffer. Liverpool may not have suffered quite so much from referee decisions but they have been crucified in the press whenever they looked like any kind of a threat to United.
So what has changed since the second half of last year, when most of us fans had begun to believe that referees wouldn’t make it impossible to win big games? I am not sure, it is very weird. It is remotely possible, as a couple of people on here have suggested, that in supporting Chelsea in such a ridiculous way, Dean was following a scheme to bring Chelsea back into the title race to make it more exciting. I doubt that somehow, as his anti-Arsenal bias is so rampant and has been going on so long. Even if so, that would be ridiculous as well and just as unacceptable to anyone who cares about the integrity of the game.
I remember shouting and dancing when last year I watched the first big game for years in which Arsenal weren’t receiving the majority of poor decisions against. It was my reaction to good this surprise good refereeing and relief that we finally had a level playing field that finally made it impossible to doubt that what we had witnessed over the previous several seasons was a complete anti-Arsenal bias. It had for years always been just enough to just prevent us from being title contenders. I hope I am not alone in believing that we have had 3 teems in the last 10 years which could have won the title.
I have read most of the comments on this post. I do not feel that Mike T has done much to deserve abuse, so fair play to a Chelsea fan who can see the aberration that was Mike Dean objectively. It seems that there is not just a big outcry there in the UK but that all over the world, people are in derision of Dean and the organisation which has allowed him to prosper. It is clear that anything short of demotion for him would not be enough for the majority of the world’s Arsenal fans and probably, for the first time, neutral fans as well. So many people watch the premiership. They hanker after a sport which is actually not a pantomime in the country which created it. As many here have pointed out, the US has done a great job in making its sport wholesome for all the family. I expect that we will get there and as I said yesterday, I don’t think that there is much choice now, there is too great a risk of losing millions of fans and supporters and money etc all across the globe. I agree with Going going Gooner that we have to hope it doesn’t take 10 years to get cleansed. Chelsea have themselves been the victims of a lot of bad refereeing in Europe. I remember a game in which they were denied 5 clear penalties against Barcelona. I think that that was the most biased match from a referee I ever saw in Europe. We have been there as well with Van Persie’s sending off for kicking a ball after the offside whistle. Saturday’s match was beautiful in that it was so blatant and that Dean’s ‘petulance’ and lack of punishment for Costa is completely unarguable by anyone with any sanity. Only Mourinho could warp it to look like Costa had played well. The mind boggles at what goes on in his head…
I come to this site because on the whole it has good articles and decent comments. Nowhere is perfect but this is as good as it gets at fan sites. Kenneth, Tony, Al, Brickfields, Menace…., everybody else who really cares about Arsenal and the game and there are so many valuable and well researched posts on this site. Samrat Jha, I agree that this won’t serve Chelsea in the long run. But really, we don’t want other teams to suffer, we just want corruption taken from the game, so that when we watch a match on a Saturday, we can simply admire good football played on a level playing field and not the disgusting behaviour of a silly little man who has now become a joke to so many around the world. Can the PGMO be self-correcting? Riley, Dowd, Dean…There have been and still are too many problem referees. It is a hard job but I feel that most of us could do a better job than some of them.
One last point I would like to raise. Does Gary Lineker not appear to be an intelligent human being? Is he not capable of being unbiased and not belittled by any lingering anti-Arsenal agenda? Even when he is, it is a bit wishy-washy. I wish he would show some cojones and say what the rest of the world can plainly see. Little Danny Murphy as well, he is intelligent but his comments are often beyond insulting in so many ways. Alan Shearer isn’t the best pundit the world has ever seen. He went half way to saying something sensible about the Costa incidents but then backtracked fast for fear of actually speaking the whole truth. Are these men or mice? Do they believe in football being honourable? Shearer is no mouse, none of them are. Which of these men has honour and will join with the commendable Garth Crooks in pointing the spotlight exactly where it should be pointed? They have enough money, do they have honour?
Proudkev
Please re read my post. I said I am 50-50 as to wether he would be charged. I then said he probably should be.
Again if you read my comments I have already stated I feel for Santi also I have stated that Costa probably should have gone
But hey why let my comments get in the way of a passionate response!
In the 42.53 minute.
In the MOTD recording the commentator says ‘Diego Costa in the middle’ while Costa elbows Kos & takes a swing at him. Amazing how it escapes his eyes (another case of selective blindness). This is before the second attack that the cameras show. It is such a clever move to make a nasty set seem like a single attack.
Mike T.
I always give a passionate response because I love my club and hate cheating.
Koscielny not going to ground clutching his face was the reason Costa got away with all those offences. In many ways, that sets both clubs apart.
As an Arseanl fan, I am the first to jump on the back of any of our players who cheats. I detest it. I would rather lose fairly than win by cheating. I used to manage a team and I would fine any of my players who dived, play acted or abused a referee. If I managed Chelsea, I would be a very rich man!
I enjoy banter with rival fans, its all part of the game. However, I find it offensive that so many are happy to be hypocrits, despite the evidence before them.
Any Chelsea fan that does not think they were handed the points by Mike Dean, is an idiot. Any Chelsea fan that is proud of the way Diego Costa behaved, is an even bigger idiot.
I always hope football fans would stick together to erase this cheating and play acting that is ruining the game. It appears some Chelsea fans condine it. That is sad for everyone Mike.
Proudkev
Yep, it’s the worst since game 50. I think what got me so badly is that it effectively hit me when my defences were down.
I had a moment, as I saw Costa knock over Kos, and the game get stopped when I believed we were about to get to play a half of a big game against ten men. We’re talking only a few seconds here, but my feeling at that moment was probably informed by all the stuff from the last decade or so.
I’m not sure but just maybe I was excited not only because ten men in that close game would be such an opportunity for us, but just maybe it meant there was something to the talk of things improving. Or maybe I was just excited because Costa happened to have screwed up by losing his emotional control so spectacularly out wide in the open there, where even Mike Dean would struggle to avoid punishing him for it.
So the guard automatically went down for a moment. Quickly I realised that bastard had decided he could get away with a yellow, even worse he would use Gabriel’s actions to try go with the impression they had both done the same- i.e. a bit of pushing and grappling.
That would obviously mean either that Costa was being given a yellow for knocking down Kos, and nothing for his grappling with Gabriel, even though he was more aggressive and used his arms more liberally; or that the Kos incident, which Dean had originally gone to the scene to deal with, was counting for zero, and only the Gabriel thing was being dealt with, wrongly- with a yellow apiece.
As this unfolds we are then seeing the replays of what happened before Costa had pushed down Kos. A clear red card offence. So already there is a sense of sickening injustice, and this wild swing from hope to anger and dismay.
And then, for something which only in a quite spectacularly bizarre and divorced-from-reality world (i.e modern football) can count as either serious foul play or violent conduct, Gabriel is sent off for softly flicking his leg back into the fool who the ref has permitted to keep breathing into his ear.
Amazing- the two kinds of injustices we have suffered for years, refs refusing to properly deal with the fouls of others against us ,and refs taking every chance they can to punish us heavily- compressed into one nauseating two minute package.
I’m embarrassed by how bad an affect that had on my whole weekend, but, now I’ve finally got the necessary distance a person needs so they aren’t controlled by their emotions, I can see what it was that made it so hard to take.
Defences down, the hope, then bam, bam, bam.
*condone it.
Rich.
Like you, I was certain Costa was getting a red card and we were going to be playing against ten men.
Some refereeing performances are hard to fathom but in the main I think they just make honest mistakes. If Mike Dean submits a report that he saw what was going on yesterday and stands by his decision, he will prove he was 1. Biased and 2. Incompetent. He should never referee a top flight game again.
After that Mike Riley performance in the 50th game, I decided that football was not as honest as I beleived. Saturday further supports my opinion our game is rotten.
Mike Dean stats:
2009 -2013 Arsenals win rate with Mike Dean was 7%, Chelsea and Man City 63% Man U 68%. Thats a difference of around 60%….!!
2009 – 2015 after he had been questioned, our win rate is around 25%. Interesting that should still be 50% lower than the other teams Chelsea, City and MU.
Now I have applied no weighting to those numbers but even so, I find they show a pattern of biased refereeing. As Mike Riley proved in the 50th game, referees are not as honest as they should be. The fact that Riley selects referees for games, really does open your eyes to the high probability that these numbers are not coincidence.
One day we may find out the truth.
Graham Poll has just been on Talk Sport and said he thought Dean had a good game. The red card was justified according to the laws of the game. He conceded Costa should have been sent off and if he had the Gab card wouldn’t have happerned but Dean cannot act on things he cannot see. He also said Coq should have been carded for pulling Costa back early in the game and Chelsea should have had a penalty for Gabriel wrestling Hazard to the ground so Chelsea had more reason to be dissatisfied with Dean than Arsenal. No mention of Zouma or the Costas kick out at Ox.
Unbelievable.
proudkev – it is not bias. It is blatant cheating. The game under the FA is institutionally corrupt. The FA deflect correspondence about PGMO. PGMO are a secret Limited company that has no legal comeback. The BBC are complicit in their selection of pundits & commentators who choose what to see.
Again I ask ‘Would you want your children to play football with people like Chelsea’s Diego Costa?’.
@Mick
Re – The incident early in the game between Costa and Coquelin.
I have watched this several times, two camera views were provided by BT. No contact could be seen on either view, indeed Coquelin appeared to be about 2 feet away from Costa when the latter dived. The slomo shows Costa sticking his leg out hoping for contact – even so there was none.
It should have been a yellow for Costa – who then followed his dive by asking for a yellow for Coquelin!!
I don’t to pre-empt the UA ref report, but I would appreciate Walter’s view on the incident.
Noted Fabergas got involved with Dean as the latter organised a free kick for a non foul!
So far , 64,363 supporters have signed the petition . They all appear to have perfect 20/20 eyesight ! Unlike the experts and ostriches . So come on guys , only 10,637 needed to reach 75,000.
After that lets see if true fans can double it ! No cheating though ! One sincere vote is worth a thousand words .
Sally Pally
Football has ceased to be a game. It’s a business nowadays. If the pundits can earn money by bashing Arsenal then this is what they are gonna do. Believe me commentary plays a huge part in attracting viewers. So the commentators are not gonna say what is what. They are expected to say the company lines. And considering the economic situations they are not gonna be otherwise any time soon. With foxes we must play the fox.
POLL OMG – more bollix from the man most famous for issuing how many yellows and no red?
This alleged meeting between the FA and Dean is, to my mind, taking far too long.
It should have taken half an hour at most involving the 6 main issues (including the Kos “foul” at the end).
Show video – ask Dean “Did you see that? Answer “Yes” no current action. Answer “No” OK we’ll do something/nothing – NEXT
Once they have dealt with the players, they can deal with Dean.
Unfortunately, my fear is that they are cooking up a story with an ecuse for every incident, and claiming TV pictures are not proof of any wrong doing.
Another sad bit of news today. Seems Jeff Reine-Adeleide will be out for a couple of months, missing the chance to make his debut for us, missing the under 17 world cup which would have surely been career highlight so far, and losing the confidence and momentum he was building week by week.
How did he get injured? Why, he was taking a shot at goal late in an u21 match and perhaps didn’t understand that despite being in a position which ensured the chasing defender could not get to the ball, this wouldn’t stop the defender from smashing into him as he was completing his shooting action.
Does football, which considers Gabriel’s flick an indisputable red card, for violent conduct, feel any need to address these challenges? Of course not. They are dangerous freebies and so long as you apply some sense in who you target- i.e Messi, Ronaldo, Man utd players, etc are probably a bad idea- all is well.
As I’ve been saying a lot in the last few days, it is alternate reality stuff, where precedents, such as that any sort of flick with the leg when play is stopped are a red and ‘violent conduct’ are not questioned by anybody (honourable exception to Garth Crooks on this one).
A child, any child, could tell you smashing into someone deliberately at speed is the more violent of the two acts, in fact that one act isn’t violent at all, but football apparently can’t. The best our combined journalist might can muster is to allow something in their tone when denouncing Gabriel’s stupidity make clear that, really, it was nothing, but it just happens to be a nothing that can be an indisputable red when the ref decides to make it so.
What was a sensible rule- striking someone off the ball equals violence and is a red card offence- becomes, over time, less and less sensibly applied, giving referees easy opportunities at the same time (because you know there will be times when suddenly striking isn’t an automatic red after all, and they can point to it not really being a strike,etc) to shape outcomes.
Honestly, the push to walk away from football at the moment is so strong in me.
I am sure that this year’s conventions of ophthalmologists ,optometrists and opticians , there is going to a wealth of Mike Dean , referees, linesmen and PGMOB ‘vision’ jokes . Am also looking forward to quite a few ‘knock , knock ‘ jokes as well !
Costa jokes ? They’ll probably all be shitty and anal retentive , just like him !
Rich – I’m there also. Walking away from the game I love is not an easy decision. It all depends on Arsenal. If Arsenal do not follow this through every avenue -I walk. There is so much evidence & so much at stake. Chelsea must be punished severely because their Coach has condoned the unsporting conduct. There again the last one who condoned such behaviour got a knighthood.
Anyone else getting the feeling that Sweet FA and the PIGMOB are deliberately delaying their decisions and hoping at some stage we will all calm down?
Also, what’s the betting that their statement includes something to the effect that they are not going to be told what to do by a bunch of disgruntled supporters?
We wait, and wait, and wait ………
Mike Dean was as bent as a nine bob note ,
this from the bookies I doth quote .
Cleared of any wrongdoing he was ,
and not only received Mike Riley’s vote ,
but also his bosses knuckles up his arse !
It doesn’t look like the FA are going to make a statement tonight does it?
Now that Kurt Zouma has stated publically that Costa cheats and they all love him for it – isn’t there a case for Chelsea to answer for bringing the game into disrepute? Admitting your team cheats in the papers is either extremely courageous or extremely stupid – or both! Or do they think they are above the law?
@norman14
September 21, 2015 at 5:13 pm
“Or do they think they are above the law?”
I would say they KNOW they are!
Zouma after the game:
“No, we’re not surprised because we know Diego. Everyone knows Diego and this guy likes to cheat a lot and put the opponent out of his game.”
Later, Zouma said on Twitter:
“Sorry for any confusion, English is not my first language & I did not mean to accuse anyone of cheating. Simply to say …….Diego is a player who puts pressure on his opponents & who I have huge respect for.”
If nothing else, for a guy who is not good at English, he sure learned pretty damn quickly!
Costa charged with violent conduct.
Gabriel further charged with improper conduct (following the sending off)
Santi warned over his behaviour following his sending off
Both clubs charged for failing to control their players
Gabriel’s charge will probably mean Arsenal’s appeal of the 3 game ban will be lost. So, the unPGMO and corrupt win again. Like @Rich and @bjtgooner I’m just about done with football. Before I shut up I’d like to make one comment to the pundits and ‘fans’ who’ve criticised Arsenal and Gabriel in particular for a lack of leadership. What I saw from Gabriel – coming to the aid of a teammate, not backing down from thuggery is REAL LEADERSHIP. Give him the armband!If his name was Terry he’d be lauded by the media. I’ve seen reference to Patrick Viera in some of the threads, some positive some not. To me Gabriel was Viera-like on Saturday and I respect and appreciate him more for it. Arsenal players aren’t tough enough? When they get physical they are punished by the referees and excoriated by the media. GABRIEL FOR CAPTAIN! COYG!
I meant @Rich and @Menace.
Rich, just saw your 1.05am link, bloody brilliant! This links for you mate:
https://youtu.be/SibgDQWU85g
Zouma got nothing? Only more people on his twitter account?
Amazing conclusion. They did not see the black hand on Gabriels throat!!! What an awful bunch of morons in charge of English Football. They didn’t see the cheat diving, they didn’t see the initial elbow & slap; and they ignored the referees assistants blindness. They’ve only looked at the footage after the return of Hazards retrieval of the ball. Even then they have ignored Deans snooty ignorance of Costa’s continuous vocal antagonizing of Gabriel. The evasion of Jose bringing the game into disrepute is also an indictment of the FA.
They are corrupt in their lack of due diligence before charging the players. The FA are not competent to run football.
Kenneth
Cheers man. I’m still finding it amusing on about the 20th go! The way Diego’s moving in the last second kills me.
Really good song,that.