Ref Review : Chelsea – Arsenal. How Mike Dean & Co screwed an entire game

55 Replies to “Ref Review : Chelsea – Arsenal. How Mike Dean & Co screwed an entire game”

1. Great work Usama and Walter!

   Just wanted to add a correction to the end, after yesterday’s results, with those 3 points we would have been tied with United for 1st place, and the 2 points from Liverpool would have put us in 1st place outright!

2. Great work chaps, a coherent and descriptive view of the match. Impressed by the level of detail and I am interested in including this in my article later this week. Is it possible to use fragments of this piece in my article?

   Thanks,

   Neil.

3. This is a brilliant piece of work and must have been very time consuming. Well done guys.

   Assuming the petition ends up in Parliament, ths report (along with Dean’s record at Arsenal matches) would give much added substance to the debate.

   Further, the analysis clearly shows the cheating gamesmanship which the Odious One brings to football – we could well do without him also!

4. maybe bypass PGMO entirely and take a case against dean for professional incompetence maybe he will retire then

5. Until today, I had not recognised that Michael Oliver was the 4th official
   He has an even worse record with Arsenal that Dean.
   Dean 28% Arsenal Wins. Oliver only 17% when they have ref`d
   These two are the worst refs for Arsenal reffing by a long chalk

6. really excellent report and this feels like a Rubicon moment. The FA were forced to exonerate Gabriel for the sending off but still managed to cock that up by banning him for a match and pocketing £10k for an offence he should never have been in a position to commit. The poor refereeing of the last few seasons continues to blight this and we are suffering more than most (but we are not the only team affected – witness the game at WHL yesterday).

   The solution seems fairly straightforward to me: why doesn’t UEFA/FIFA allows its referees to referee across the world at club level? Our players, managers, coaches, scouts and owners can be of any nationality so why not the refs? That would give us an almost endless source of referees to chose from and surely reduce the opportunities to influence individual officials?

7. What is so amazing about that game (which surely goes down in the annuals of Arsenal as game ’50A’ or game ’51’)is that four highly trained referees did not/ could not see what a full stadium of over 40 000 spectators could see.

   These same four highly trained referees did not see / could not see are allowed to continue refereeing games.

   You couldn’t write this for it is so unbelievable.

8. What a brilliant piece of work.

   What I would really like is one of the ‘review’ sceptics that frequent this site, to back up there scepticism with a similarly in depth ‘review’ from THERE perspective, and prove all this hard work to be the ‘bullshit’ they so often, and so vehemently, claim it to be.

   But we wont get it.

   They, and THEY, know who THEY are, will remain in there bunkers till the seas have calmed. At which point they will re assert there beliefs that we are simply ‘delude’, or ‘paranoid’, or both, in our beliefs that there is a clear and concerted anti Arsenal agenda within, not only the PGMO, but the complicit Media as well.

   In fact, without the complicit Media, it is highly unlikely the PGMO would get away with they shenanigans in the first place.

   But even more than one of our own naysayers challenging this fantastic piece of work, I would love one of our aforementioned Media haters to challenge it.

   But, not just with a cursory mention, abetted with the customary insults, but with an in depth rebuttable, accompanied with there own in depth analysis.

   But we all know it wont come. The silence will be deafening.

   Well lets hope this wonderfully profession piece of work, with the help of the petition, will attain the wider audience it so deserves. And more, that it proves enough to stir even those most sceptic out of there comatose ignorance.

9. blacksheep63

   “The solution seems fairly straightforward to me: why doesn’t UEFA/FIFA allows its referees to referee across the world at club level? Our players, managers, coaches, scouts and owners can be of any nationality so why not the refs? That would give us an almost endless source of referees to chose from and surely reduce the opportunities to influence individual officials?”

   I’ve been saying this for years.

   A European pool of elite referees.

   If this was implemented, and even if each Country only providing as small a quota as the PGMO see fit to provide, that would give enough Referees to cover every match across the full range of counties within the ‘scheme’ (for want of a better word), without a referee ever needing to referee the same team twice.

   Even beyond that, I contest it would be preferable if a referee never even refereed within his own country.

   I think this is preferable for a number of reasons.

   a) No regional bias

   b) No Club bias (Pro/Anti due to being a ‘fan’ of a particular Team)

   c) Avoiding Media pressure (Inferring how Arsenal are ‘soft’ on the run up to a good kicking at OT)

   d) Avoiding Managerial influence (I think we all know the main protagonists of this)

   I also believe:

   i) The introduction of technology would be much hastened under such a system.

   ii) The possibility of a much more open approach to post match performance evaluation.

   iii) The implication of league tables for referees on the back of these evaluations.

   I think it’s a win win situation, at least for us, although I’m not quite so sure how the Germans or Spanish would feel about being lumbered with the likes of Dean and Co. ?

10. I agree that Dean should never referee Arsenal again. However, I believe also that he should be suspended from all refereeing responsibilities, pending a full disciplinary hearing to consider the potential gross misconduct / incompetence revealed by the evidence of this report (backed by other material from previous experience), with a view to action including the possibility of dismissal.

    This is what would be expected in other industries / workplaces in response to such compelling prima-facie evidence of a serious case to answer.

11. Fantastic work, you 2! This is an amazing piece of work and effort. How does the evil Riley and the despicable Dean get away with it? Most organisations in the democratic world are answerable to their citizens, but not PGMOL. (I’m not talking about ‘the voice of Howard Webb’ either.) Something has to happen now, surely, to end this corruption and injustice.

    ….but no doubt Twatkinson or Taylor are lined up for Sunday.

12. almost wish i hadn’t read that i’m angry again (rightfully) ty guys for your time and effort.

    off course one must remember chelsea fans have never forced a ref to quit for fear of his health.

13. I think we’ve all know now that Mike Riley & his agents are all out to make sure Arsenal will not win the 2015/16 Barclays Premier League title, save the club they’ve chosen to win it. Consequently turning the whole idea of to truly contest for the Premier League title into mockery. I think to save the Premier League officiating in particular and in football generally from falling into further shambles, the FA must arrest this ugly trend to stop more damages being done. Please allow me to deviate a bit from the topic content. Would the Boss agree to do another complete rotation of his Gunners, for the Olympiacos Ucl game on Tuesday night’s at the Emirates Stadium? Would he use the same starters, (save the injured Flamini) he used in the Spurs Capital One Cup game? Would that team be strong enough to beat Olympiacos? YES! Would d Boss rest all his 1st team Gunners he started at Leicester for the all important collection of all the 3 points at stake in the Man Utd game at d Emirates Stadium this coming Sunday?

14. Hi all,

    this review is so good (and so damning) it made me delurk. It reads like a dark farce of the highest order, since Chelsea should have played the entire second half with only 8 players (Fabregas, Zouma and Costa with the forgotten red cards), with Oscar sent off in the second half for good measure. Costa by himself deserved 6 red cards going by the incidents and laws of the game cited here! You couldn´t make this stuff up if you tried. Add to that the non-existent foul that led to the first Chelsea goal (scored by a player who shouldn´t have been on the field to boot), and the tally simply defies imagination. How Wenger keeps his composure in the face of such obstacles I can´t fathom.
    Absolutely fantastic work, Usama and Walter.

15. Funny how people only always see their own side of the story. 1998, David Beckham was given a straight red card for lifting his leg/chin and missed the opponent in an act of retaliation.
    He didn’t get a chance to plea his cause.
    Last year alone, over 3 times, ref got the calls wrongly and booked Chelsea players for simulation and diving even when the camera, tv commentators and all the viewers around the world saw it was a penalty in Chelsea’s favour.
    Now let me even bother to reply you. According to your observation, when a goal bound move is in a dangerous position is halted by a foul, the result is a Red card and a free kick or a penalty awarded if it happened inside the box. We all clearly saw Gabriel put his hands on Hazard and took him out. He shoved and pushed with excessive force(same thing that got him sent off though) and brought him down inside the 6 yard box. Now that’s a penalty and a straight red card, meaning Mike Dean would have solved the problem before it even arose.
    Also leading to the Costa striking his arm out (which was wrong of him) Hazard was with the ball, looked up for the runs of Costa only to find him been firmly held by the hands of Kolsieny. Now that’s a penalty all day, but instead of going down, Costa been the fighter he is did what was necessary to get out of the bear hug. Now at that moment the chance is gone, and Hazard opted for a lesser option and that was to give the ball to a Pedro outside the 16 yard box. I bet non of you all watched the match again leading to that incident, just the highlighted loop of what the English press wanted you you see.
    Now in all your deluded calls you made, I am happy you didn’t mention that at any point the ref denied you a penalty, clear or not. I just gave you 2. My point isn’t to discredit your so called fouls, but show where your selective calls ends.
    Now Costa took an exception to Kosielny bringing him down and standing above him (although that wasn’t a foul, it’s what every defender who can should do) and he stood up at that same spot, making Kosielny hit the ground like probably lots of other footballers would, to gain an advantage over their opponents when it soothes them. And then Gabriel who hasn’t been part of this rushes over and puts his hands on Costa. You know there is only going to be one outcome when this happens. Now judging from their previous history in Spain, it’s obvious Gabriel came fully to a pick a fight….the same way he did against Stoke city, elbowing the opponent and getting away with it as usual….
    Then after the ref cautions both parties he goes ahead and kicks out cleverly I must add, by pretending to back into Costa and lifting his stud to his Knee.
    And then the cry babies justifies this claiming he missed. whether or not he missed, his intentions was to cause body harm to an opponent and in RETALIATION. The rules is very clear.
    So before you go magnifying Costa’s offenses and diminishing Arsenal’s, you should probably look inward and ask yourself, if the ref had followed the law to the letter, won’t Arsenal have been under another 6:0 bashing?
    That’s in the past, we move forward.

16. Reading this made my blood boil, again. Great work, guys.

    Every footy-loving fan ought to sign that petition. The yanks are doing a great job cleaning up the mess that is Fifa for us, even though they’re not famed for their love of football (or should it be soccer?). And we should also do our bit to clean up football, starting with the pgmob.

    Nice to have you back, jambug 🙂

17. Dean not even demoted. On duty in the premiership yesterday. We know referees have been demoted in the past for a lot less than this.

18. Ben, just one question: are you a referee?

19. Ben, a second question: “According to your observation, when a goal bound move is in a dangerous position is halted by a foul, the result is a Red card and a free kick or a penalty awarded if it happened inside the box.”

    How on earth do you come to such an observation?

20. Ben

    “…..all the viewers around the World saw it was a penalty in Chelseas favour”

    I’m not sure you’ve asked ALL of them Ben. Just a few mates at work and down the pub. Family maybe? But not everyone in the World surely?

    A bit prone to exaggeration, as well as delusion it would seem.

21. Al

    Sorry, missed your post.

    Thanks. It’s good to be back. (Hols)

    To be fair it was probably best for my health I missed the shit storm following the Chelsea and CL results.

    I had the misfortune to get to know ONE Arsenal fan whilst away and he did nothing but slag Wenger off.

    You would of been proud of me.

    Suffice to say we didn’t become bosom pals. 🙂

22. This is an excellent review, so much work has clearly gone into this.
    Been awaiting this review with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation.
    What we saw should never happen in a proper sporting arena. But sadly, it was all too predictable.
    But there are positives. This was beamed worldwide, the English game and some of the refereeing laid bare for all to see. Surely mile Dean will never recover from this, whatever his true motives. Jose continues his car crash, lashing out randomly at doctors, Wenger, and now Newcastle Utd. There is some justice, yes, we lost points, but maybe Chelsea have as well, only speculation, i would wager Costa would have converted some of the chances Chelsea had yesterday.
    We lost the battle that day, but there is a bigger picture, one of the most detestible referees, and his organisation were shamed. The normally compliant FA threw Dean under the proverbial bus. I am sure we will pay a price , and look to Saturday’s referee appointment with interest. As Blacksheep has mentioned, maybe a rubicon has been crossed. There have been countless injustices on this team, but none so blatant, and widely publicised as this. Riley will hit out , using his refs with the most prestigious badges who by sheer and utter coincidence seem to be amongst the worst referees for Arsenal. But ,as with FIFA, there is a feeling the pgmol have gone too far this time..
    Dean, Riley and the pgmol should by rights be ashamed, but clearly they have no shame.
    On another note, I hear we have started something, apparently a city petition against the linesman at WHL yesterday has reached 20000.

23. Walter and Usama,

    Quite comprehensive stuff this- but a bit overdone in a couple of places, in my opinion.

    What of the tackle on Oscar by Coquelin at 1:00? Was the ball won fairly there? For a comprehensive criticism of an absolutely disgraceful refereeing performance to be taken seriously- there should be no room for bias.

    Kurt Zouma to be sent off for choking Gabriel? The game had descended into chaos by then and there was a bit of a coming together there and yes, Zouma did rush in to shove Gabriel away. Zouma’s hand was at (or probably near) Gabriel’s neck- but choking?- you must be joking.
    What of Gabriel’s shove on Oscar then, and on Bellerin ;p?

    On Sanchez’s foul on Ivanovic in the first minute- these fouls are given sometimes when a player leans and jumps on an opponent. Yes, there wasn’t much there- Ivanovic did not go down (he was probably too strong for Sanchez)- but they have been given before. The rules that you refer to are not really objective. A bit too much is left for interpretation and that’s where the referee’s discretion comes in. When it’s in the grey, isn’t going with the ref the best possible option?

    And I am not sure if Ramsey was one-two yards behind Fabregas for the foul that led to the first goal. Here’s the link:
    http://s17.postimg.org/ycwllqlnz/Ramsey_Fabregrass.png

    Don’t get me wrong here- Mike Dean was absolutely horrendous in that game- no question. Hell, I even signed on that petition, but not because I believe he has an anti-Arsenal agenda or something but because he is plain incompetent. The game was simply a perfect illustration of that incompetence and hopefully, if something does end up happening because of the petition, who knows?- we might have a more transparent system after all.

24. Great review Walter and Usama. Really appreciate the time you put into it as i am sure it must be a lot.
    Reading this has made me angry all over again. This is scandalous and had he been working in any other organisation Dean would surely have been suspended waiting for further action. Alas this is not any other organisation we are talking about but the PgMOB. An organisation whose leaders and employees can screw over and over again without any consequences. They operate in a mafia type secrecy and are accountable to no one. Shame to the FA and Premier League for still employing them to provide referees as they are clearly not uo to the job

25. Anxiously waiting for the ref appointments tomorrow. Seeing how Riley is utterly shameless, i am expecting he is going to give the match to either Martin Atkinson or Anthony Taylor. Have a stinking feeling it will be Atkinson

26. Mahdain……..think it will be one of those two refs, though thanks to the shambolic Dean, the pgmol are under unwelcome scrutiny. Utd are doing well, Scudamore himself said a strong Utd is needed for the brand. Last year the London clubs won the two main domestic trophies, Maybe Manchester s turn this year. Cannot see Chelsea winning it, think last weekend was a mike Dean thing rather than anything else……but we shall see.

27. An interesting list, some familiar names and intriguing to see Scudamore right at the top
    http://footballisfixed.blogspot.co.uk
    BUT does David Dein still have an influence, and if he does, why do we get such shite refs?

28. Hrishi,

    I will write this here again as I did in one of the reviews before. There is nothing important for me, Walter and many Arsenal fans than to see fair refereeing. I have watched the Chelsea match five times completely while reviewing, as I have also done the same with every other Arsenal game. And I myself report any wrong or incorrect decisions against Arsenal or against the opposition without hesitation. This report then undergoes further review through Walter.

    Firstly, you mentioned about Oscar and Coquelin at Minute 01:00. There was no foul by Coquelin. Just as Oscar received the ball, he turned. Coquelin was running behind him, Coquelin’s feet did not made any contact with Oscar, Coquelin did not charged at Oscar with his shoulder or body. The only contact between Coquelin and Oscar was after Oscar was falling to the ground. This contact was a right hand in the back of Oscar. Oscar fell down while turing quickly with the ball.

    Secondly, you mentioned about Zouma and Gabriel. Read “LAW 12 FOULS AND MISCONDUCT PAGE 129 Violent Conduct” Zouma came rushing towards Gabriel, for what? The ball was not in play. Then he grabbed Gabriel by the throat for a good three seconds. If that is not a form of Violent Conduct or use of Excessive Force then I don’t know what is.

    Then you talked about the shove by Gabriel on Oscar. Yes, Gabriel was angry about the red card and he looking out for Costa on the pitch and was trying to ignore even his teammates. What Gabriel did to Oscar and Bellerin was brushing their hands away from him. This is neither Violent Conduct or even Improper conduct.

    You also mentioned about the very first foul. You see when players challenge for a header of course there will be some sort contact involved. But in that specific foul Sanchez or Ivanovic did not push, shove, kick, elbow, trip or charged carelessly at each other. They both jumped and missed the ball. So the result should not have been a foul. The play should have carried on.

    On the Ramsey-Fabregas incident, I am talking about the rough distance prior to anyone attempting to kick the ball. And if you watch it Fabregas kicks the ball first cleanly forward and Ramsey misses the ball but Ramsey’s foot does not comes in contact with Fabregas. This picture only shows the position of both of these players, yes Ramsey’s foot was near to Fabregas but it did not made contact for it to be a foul. I would like to show you the footage but I am afraid it might cause Copyright issues to Untold Arsenal.

29. Thanks Usama and Walter. Like Mahdain, reading it renews my anger. If Arsenal get screwed with the ref appt. like we expect, all Untolders should be prepared to start the petition again.
    Also, @jambug – good to see you back mate.

30. Jambug
    I think the problem you and everyone else who believes Walter’s ref reviews to be like some sort of gospel run into , is the fact that most challenges and would be fouls can be interpreted in more than one way.

    For example, if it were Cahil bringing down Sanchez the way Gabriel brought down Hazard, more than a handful of UA regulars would cry foul and a penalty.

    Howard Webb stated after the game that he thought it wasn’t a penalty during the game but upon second viewing he changed his mind and would give it.

    Problem with Walter’s reviews is that as hard as he might try on daily basis to be and to sound neutral, his language often times gives him away.

    Arsenal player brings down an opponent and it’s a ” coming together”, (Ospina on Oscar)
    An opposing player brings down one of ours and it’s an “assault “.( Mc Nair on Wilshere)
    Arsenal are called wrongfully for a two inch off side , and it’s ” blatant ”
    Arsenal benefit from a two inch off side , and it’s ” marginal”
    There’s more examples I could cite but you get the picture.

    I personally believe there’s an anti- Arsenal bias in the media and with certain referees, but certainly not to the degree the ref reviews describe it.

    If ref reviews are such an exact science , then why more pro Arsenal and pro Wenger blogs don’t endorse them?
    Surely it can’t be because of internal competition for clicks and viewers since Arseblog or 7AM kick off ,often times recommend each other and other blogs when it is of interest to Arsenal fans.

    There was one of the proprietors of Positively Arsenal visiting on here a while back, and he made a comment to the effect that this blog is playing the victim card too much and nobody likes a victim.
    You personally chased him away and he respectively withdrew his comment.

    Whatever anti – Arsenal bias there is in the media and within the refereeing body, Walter’s ref reviews take it in the opposite direction and that’s quite all right by me. After all this is a heavily pro Arsenal and Wenger site and I wouldn’t expect anything else for a minute.

    Don’t expect the reviews to get any traction outside of this blog any time soon.

31. Tom,

    Have you read the review ? We have used neutral and lawful language. Each incident is detailed with the players involved, location on the pitch, the description before the incident, during the incident and after the incident, the decision by the referee and the rules involved.

32. Tom,

    You are right to question the bias of the reviews but the reviewers are honest and trustworthy and politely accept and answer any questions regarding particular entries. They will make minor adjustments if the argument or rule interpretation is convincing. The key here is integrity and a desire to tell the truth. whether it favours Arsenal or the opposition. If only the worst of the referees reviewed had some of that.

    The reviews may not be 100% because, as you say, a lot of incidents are open to interpretation. But they are very close to 100%, close enough to be taken at face value. When compared to the incompetence of the referee, any minor inaccuracy or dubious conclusions, if they exist at all, become irrelevant. If the referee in question has a competence percentage of 41.5% and the referee review, 95%, which I would say it has at least, then your argument falls apart.

    Your last statement.’Don’t expect the reviews to get any traction outside of this blog any time soon’ sounds misplaced. In fact, we know it is because the reviews have already gained ‘traction’ elsewhere. The paragraph before sounds quite patronising. At the end of the day, though, questioning the reviews is a healthy part of making sure that they are accurate.

    I wonder why Mike Dean has been so silent on this. Maybe the cat’s got his tongue.

33. Neil Ashton – thank you for your comment. I have dropped you an email at the address you provided. If I can help further please email me direct at TonyAttwoodofLondon@gmail.com

34. The incident at 01:55 involving Coq and Costa does not waving an imaginary card at the official carry a yellow card booking?

35. Amazing information I hope this is loked at by someone at the corrupt PGMO but we all know that is wishful thinking.

36. Guys, One slight correction,
    you say “Well he got 50% of his decisions correct in this match. Let that sink in. 50%. Even a coin just being tossed up could have had the same result. But would have been cheaper”
    If they just used a coin they’d still want 4 overpaid northern guys to guard/handle it, so it wouldn’t be any cheaper.

37. Neil Ashton using this in an article….could be interesting, nothing wrong with having a few friends in the media

38. Uzama & Walter good work but 2 glaring omissions.

    01.55 You missed the fact that Costa showed the imaginery card to try to get Coquelin booked.

    42.31 Check MOTD after Ramsey makes nothing of a good chance on my recording it is 19.26 when the commentator says ‘Diego Costa in the middle’ as Costa attempts an elbow in Koscelny’s face and slaps backwards. 30 seconds after this the ball is played back by Hazard & 19.57 Costa assaults Koscelny again. For some strange reason everbody seems to miss the first assault.

39. Andy
    “Let that sink in. 50%. Even a coin just being tossed up could have had the same result”

    Hee. The coin could not have made the decisons he made any worse. The strangest thing for me is that the FA haven’t punished him in any way. I would much rather have the coin over Mike Dean; after all the coin doesnt consciously make bad decisons.

40. The first assault occurs just before Pedro shoots at goal. Koscelny is the last defender & Costa assaults him. The Assistant has to see this because if he doesn’t then he should not be allowed on a football pitch as an official. The cheating by the officials is so blatant that it beggars belief that the FA have ignored this corruption in their midst.

41. I am still a bit unsure about Gabriel’s actions on Hazard as Hazard was trying to get at the ball as it ran out of bounds through the left side of the box…two strong men battling. It is a foul that is almost never given but I think we were lucky to get away with it there.

42. How Diego Costa stayed on the pitch is beyond my understanding. Refs should be ashamed to have allowed such kind of thuggery in a game watched by millions. I feel even 3 match retrospective ban given by the FA is not enough considering this is not his first time.

43. GoingGoingGooner,
    The Hazard-Gabriel incident you talk about was what one could call two players both making minor fouls. Gabriel was in between the ball and Hazard and had the right to shield it out. Hazard then grabbed the arm of Gabriel trying to create a bit of space and Gabriel in turn then also used his arm to remain in control of the situation. I think that if Dean would have had any chance to call it just as a Gabriel foul he would have done so. But that would have made him look like an even bigger fool. If it would have happened in min 88 with the score 0-0 he might have been very very tempted to give the penalty I think…

44. Yes the card waving hand should also be a yellow card. I think our reviews are not biased enough in favour of Arsenal 😉

45. GoingGoingGooner – hazard grabs hold of Gabriel & pulls him towards & then expects a foul/penalty? If Gabriel was the only one holding then there is a case. Hazard is no angel. He is a Jose cheat, just like Fabregas has been converted. Mata refused to follow so he was sold. The Chelsea players have all learnt to cheat.

46. Walter – please check/acknowledge the 42.31 assault on Koscelny.

47. jambug @ 3.49

    Your prediction was almost as accurate as the referee previews 🙂

    And no. No numbers were offered as alernative studies throrough analysis commentary complied by U.Zaka.

    I think it is fair to say after the same ‘individuals’ have been attempting to make their counter claims on this site of the work done by the site without any effort or data being offered, we can all see and observe how weak and lame their efforts are. Because as the next arrticel points out, if footballs less skilled cousin Rugby Football a sport where people grab each others’ bollocks under the eye of an official can use replay and 21st centuary technology, in the 21st Centuary, then…

    …i suppose that in order to troll this site conistently with such gibberish, publishing your gibberish in public view, means that

    a) you don’t care about sport
    b) you do not understand the context of sport in the 21st Centuary
    c) you are indeed just a lame and pathetic troll.

    One. or the other. Or more.

48. Ooops, the typos above are also lame! 🙂

49. @Walter@Menace Fair enough.

50. Finsbury

    To be fair, predicting lame, ill considered, un substantiated responses, would appear from…….well, they know who THEY are 🙂 was not difficult.

    What Walter and Co produce is, on the other hand, something special.

    I loved this from Sally Pally:

    “The reviews may not be 100% because, as you say, a lot of incidents are open to interpretation. But they are very close to 100%, close enough to be taken at face value. When compared to the incompetence of the referee, any minor inaccuracy or dubious conclusions, if they exist at all, become irrelevant.”

    I absolutely agree with this.

    As brilliant as the reviews are they are NOT perfect. That would be impossible because so much about football is ‘subjective’.

    But to suggest they are done with bias, as the following quotation does, is an insult to Walters, and all the other reviewers, integrity.

    “Problem with Walter’s reviews is that as hard as he might try on daily basis to be and to sound neutral, his language often times gives him away.”

    With that in mind I would question, and have done many times, why anybody who holds the proprietors of this blog in such low regard, would insist on visiting it with such frequency ?

    Two faced hypocrites is a phrase that freely springs to mind.

51. Shiiit. Kinda wish I wasn’t taking a break for a while after reading this one.

    Folks, if that’s Neil Ashton for real, that is a very interesting development.

    I wouldn’t bet on it being one you like.

    It would be amazing to be wrong- if this is treated respectfully and fairly, it’s good for us either way. Agreement would be phenomenally good; disagreement would also be good, because it’s our conviction that it would look and be, well, wrong.

    But all that hinges on proper respectful treatment of this work as it is. I can’t be optimistic about that. (I’m glad you called Santi’s yellows as yellows, is all i can say. They were for me, and my only gripe- a large one- comes from my belief Dean would have not done the same thing the other way around)

    If it makes a significant appearance, brace yourselves.

    Remember the use of penalty stats for Chelsea last year. All he had to do was provide the context. Fairness and honesty demanded it. The journalistic in question most likely had those stats there in front of him. He went another way.

    Oh, and Riley opted for Taylor for the weekend. He must be more defiant than concerned.

52. Usama,
    Thank you for your reply. Not in entirely in agreement with your responses though.
    Sanchez on Ivanovic:
    Both jumped? To me at least, it seemed like all the jumping was done by Sanchez in that one. Ivanovic tried jumping and then thought better of it.
    http://s9.postimg.org/9tvc2vorz/When_Ivanovic_threw_Sanchez_into_the_air_and_got.png

    Coquelin on Oscar:
    Oscar has turned and is trying to hold off Coquelin before the ball that was in front of him suddenly goes behind him. What happens in between?- you decide.
    http://s12.postimg.org/n4u4hydnh/Evil_Oscar.png

    Ramsey on Fabregas:
    Not sure if fabregas got the ball cleanly there. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, please send me a link to the footage that helped you decide conclusively that there was no contact. The only thing that moved fairly unobstructed (apart from a faint Fabregas touch) was the ball. Ramsey’s feet took its counterpart on Fabregas along with it or that’s what I could make out from the Arsenal player footage and this:
    http://s15.postimg.org/so3a4ozkr/The_grass_is_always_bluer.png

    Zouma and Gabriel:
    Zouma’s reaction wasn’t mild by any standard. But if that was a red card offence, most red-cards should produce a domino effect of successive red cards. The operative word here is violent- not sure the same shade of the word is being used to describe offences from the two opposing sides.

    I think Tom sums it up quite well when he talks of how the differences in interpretation coupled with our own natural bias for Arsenal can perhaps give us a not-so-objective view of things. This is not an attack on anyone’s integrity. But sometimes, people see what they want to by no fault of their own. It’s confirmation bias at work.

53. Neil Ashton of the Daily Mail – it looks like the email address provided is invalid, so can’t correspond with you. My email is on the home page if you want to get in touch with me.

54. Usama – sorry I miss spelt your name in earlier comment.

    Please check/acknowledge the 42.31 assault on Koscelny. It seems to have escaped all the pundits & your scans. On Arsenal Player 1st Half it occurs 47.02/03. The second set of assaults occur 47.23/25.

    I’m not sure why but everyone seems to have missed the first set of assaults by Costa.

55. Have a look here for a scientific approach
    http://discoveringstatistics.blogspot.co.uk/