Ref Review: Arsenal – Leicester

55 Replies to “Ref Review: Arsenal – Leicester”

1. Understand that Clattenburg has been demoted following his wrong award of a penalty against City in the Spurs game.This detailed analysis shd act as an impartial guide to the performance of refs.
   Then its up to the FA to take action against error prone refs. The punishment shd be more severe especially with regard to the award of penalties.
   This is a game changing decision.

2. I went straight to the penalty decision for the Monreal foul on Vardy and I was surprised to find this: “.. Monreal who was inside the penalty box stretched out a foot to tackle the ball but missed it. Monreal quickly retracted his foot and tried to move away from Vardy….”

   Except he didn’t retract his foot and that’s why Vardy was able to initiate contact with Monteal’s outstretched leg.

   I have no problem with you calling it a dive, although all referees on record who looked at it called it a pen, but I have to question your description of the play. It is simply inaccurate.

   Just strange.

3. Shocking, but now par for course.
   The romantic, heartwarming, feel good story of Leicester City, and Spurs who clearly mirror their tactics and disrespect for the game.
   I am intrigued to know what changed at half time, I suspect this inept ref knew Leicester were making a mug of him, and despite clear orders, he at least attempted to salvage what is left of his reputation and professional pride.
   Well done the crowd, we need more of this.
   And Ozil and co, sorry to say this, but it has got to the juncture……when you are fouled, go down. Put pressure on these refs, it may not work, but the only way we stand a chance.
   This is what football ….and refereeing in this country has come to.
   Expect more of the same at Everton, Hull, Spurs , Utd and City

4. So much to look at with this one. Got to start with the sending off. It represents a big challenge to my beliefs.

   Basically, no way, no way, no way will you get that from Atkinson- or at least that was my belief. Nearly 40 minutes left of a huge game, us losing that game. I can’t explain it at all.

   The idea that it came about because he was embarrassed by the first half showing, annoyed about being conned by Vardy, worried about looking bad, or shaken after being blasted by Wenger…none of that works as an explanation for me.

   The opportunity was there on a plate to try manage the 2nd half towards what would be an immense win for Leicester and a crushing defeat for us…so what the hell happened?

5. This link leaves me with foreboding for tomorrow http://www.turkish-football.com/controversial-turkish-referee-to-officiate-arsenal-v-barcelona-champions-league-clash/ it appears we have a referee who is rated third in Europe behind Rizzoli and believe it or not Atkinson!!!. Ye gods what chance have we got.

6. what the hell happened indeed Rich.
   Maybe a combination of factors causing meltdown?
   Seems I get a dislike every time I mention Spurs and Leicesters cheating approach- perhaps a fan of Dele “Kick in the belly” Alli on here?

7. Tom, you need to watch it again as that is completely incorrect.

   Not only was Monreal retracting his foot when Vardy dived over his leg he was also turning away from the player.

   You can easily tell it is a dive by the way Vardy made contact with his left leg, the one furthest from the ball swung wider towards Monreal and there was no attempt by Vardy to even turn or move towards where he actually played the ball.

   Even lots of the media and commentators were saying Vardy was ‘clever’ in winning the penalty, a term reserved solely for English players when they take an obvious dive.

   The apologist former refs always stick together when it comes to decisions against Arsenal and barely knew the rules before they retired let alone now.

8. Walter, I always thought that a defender whose feet are planted BEFORE an attacker gets to them and drag their legs across them for a penalty(aka Vardy), gets the benefit of the fact that his foot is set and not moving. I saw it as Monreal having placed his foot on the ground and Vardy then doing as I described. please can you explain what the situation with that is according to the rules, as that is the case in other sports like basketball too. If a defender is set when an attacker goes past them and they don’t move, it is the attackers responsibility to ensure there is no contact…..

9. Tom

   Can you offer up a better, more accurate description of what happened then?

   Here’s mine. Monreal makes an uncharacteristic error in even going for that ball. Quite hard to explain but for some reason he has his body in the wrong position while Vardy is far enough away to correct it. Almost certainly this is a consequence of the chaotic events immediately before this bit of action.

   Vardy exploits this superbly- if you like that sort of thing- by driving directly at Monreal, leaving the ball there to tempt the defender, who moves forward with his wrong foot, his body turned the way it shouldn’t really be, and his weight not right either.
   Vardy reaches the ball comfortably with his great speed, touches it off to the right but obviously has not the slightest intention of pursuing it and never did. He weighed up the situation at some point in that second or so and had his mind set on penalty. He commits fully to earning that pen with his last decisive movements by making as much contact as possible, working hard to connect with some force with his left leg against Monreal’s right.

   The best shot, if there’s anyone in the world honestly struggling to understand what Vardy was up to would be the front view of Vardy just as he takes that last touch. If he had any thought of something other than penalty, his hips and body weight would have continued twisting to the right after that touch, but no, the work is complete after that touch and the trap is set, now just for the finishing detail of carrying on into Monreal and making it look as good as possible.

   You’re quibbling and putting the main emphasis- instead of even stating firmly that you think it was a dive (just strange)- on whether Walter is correct to say Monreal retracted his foot seems odd to me.

   Technically, you may be rightish and maybe Walter could have found a way to word it with more precision or something (I don’t know; it was good enough for me; I saw what happened and am an Arsenal supporter who is pissed off when my team are cheated).

   More accurate might have been : ‘at the first possible instant he could after his move towards the ball, Monreal began moving his foot back and turning his body away; but unfortunately it was too late; this all takes place in a fractions of a second and it was completely impossible to get away from Vardy, charging at speed into him; Monreal did all he could to make clear he had not initiated the contact, but he had been well and truly done by ‘clever ‘ Vardy.

   Now, would that have satisfied you,Tom? Would you have had to move your magnifying glass elsewhere if it said that.

10. Mandy

    I have absolutely no idea! Combination of factors is the best logical guess, but it still leaves me not able to imagine what they were.

    The rare instance of Mike Dean not taking the excellent chance to send off Kos is more understandable. You and I both felt he would be on better behaviour than normal this weekend. I think a generally sound performance, two good pens denied and that generosity for Kos adds up to that (though it’s pretty hard to even know ,from our perspective, what kind, average or normal refereeing looks like at this stage)

11. Mark Bright (the player who broke Andy Linighan’s nose with a deliberate elbow in 1993)has stated that Vardy cheated in diving into Monreal in order to win the penalty.

    There must be a keen rivalry between Atkinson and Dean for the PGMOL award of who can inflict most injustice on Arsenal.

12. Rich/mk
    Predictably Tom has to find extenuating circumstances to mitigate the severity of the oppositions misdemeanors whilst simultaneously shifting all or some of the blame back onto the team he supposedly supports.

13. Mick

    Quite comical. Take Walter’s description, and the dispute is with the wording of that one bit- ‘Monreal quickly retracted his foot’- all the rest, either equally vital to the overall picture or more important, is ignored.

    ‘Vardy moved forward towards the goal and kicked the ball away to his right, at the same time Monreal who was inside the penalty box stretched out a foot to tackle the ball but missed it. Monreal quickly retracted his foot and tried to move away from Vardy. Vardy instead of going towards the ball, deliberately ran in to Monreal and made contact with Monreal even though Monreal moved back away from Vardy’

    I guess if it’s good enough for top lawyers and media people it’s good enough for us humble fans and commenters to do the same.

    Was there a foul, i.e if Vardy were playing honestly would there have been any contact or foul, and can it be a foul if it requires a player to take actions to create the supposed ‘foul’ against him, is surely the main thing to think about.

14. Rich.
    Spot on mate.

15. I have taken some pictures of the Vardy/Monreal incident and Monreal planted his foot, retracted his leg and turned away from Vardy. Vardy ran in to the back of Monreal and stuck out his left leg.
    Alas I can’t publish the pictures in a comment as this is not allowed by the software.

16. Walter
    You do not have to try to justify yourself to most of us, just the few doubting Thomas’s who persistently seek to undermine your excellent work.

17. Walter,
    I don’t disagree with you on Monreal retracting his leg. The only problem?- his retraction came a little late- there was no way he could have avoided Vardy’s left leg then.
    The top 3 pictures on this link indicate that.
    http://s17.postimg.org/ysehqb0tb/Clever_Jamie_Vardy.png

    The position of Monreal’s leg left little room for Vardy to turn and go in the direction of the ball. The fact that Vardy made little attempt to do so is another matter. He made sure that Monreal’s ‘crime’ was magnified as much as possible by going straight into him. Hardly original stuff and nor have we seen the end of it.

    In situations such as these, the referee should consider if Vardy’s momentum would have allowed him to dodge the leg if he wanted to do the sporting thing. He reckoned not.
    In a match full of inept refereeing, Atkinson got that one right, at least, in my humble opinion.

18. 29 minutes that is how long the ball was in play in the first half. 29 minutes was how long the ball was in play in the second half but the ref decided that there was only 5 seconds of time to be added on (if you take away substitutions, goals and freekicks) how? How did the officials not see all the time wasting that was going on, one throw in took over 25 seconds to take. It’s becoming a joke now, time keeping needs to be taken out of the refs hands, giving him one less thing to worry about.

    The given penalty I can see why it was given, Vardy played for it and the ref fell for it but as has been pointed out the foul on Ozil should of been given and so no yellow to Kos and no penalty to LCFC. After looking at other penalties that have been given over the past few months you have to question why Arsenal are getting so few, I can’t wait for the game that all these decisions even themselves up in happens

19. The thing is IF just IF once in a while we were to be given such decisions perhaps we would not make so much fuss of these things.
    Sadly the fact is we are almost never given these sort of calls in our favour.
    Lately I wonder how clear cut fouls and handballs in the area need to be for us to be awarded a penalty. It cannot be because the officials are always unsighted. The laws of averages must dictate that the officials saw at least some of them so why do we not get at least an occasional decision go our way.
    The officials must be aware that unlike a lot of other teams our players are not renowned divers.
    It’s a mystery and it’s costing us dear.

20. 3 remarks: I think I said that I could understand Atkinson giving the penalty. It looked like one. I’m not even crucifying him for that decision. The not given foul on Özil that lead to the penalty is why I dislike him.

    Second remark: I see some reactions saying things like “biggest pile of shit” and so. That will not get your comment published. You could always try to bring argument to the debate.

    3rd remark: also a few comments saying that we always moan when we lose a match…. for those who have missed it: Arsenal won this match 2-1…and yes still we moan about the ref. Because we want him to do the right things and not just run away with the points and keep silent when we win. As most other fans do.

21. And the Mahrez trip in Arsenal’s box? Still looking but am unable to find a commentary on the thwarting of that goal-scoring oppo here.

    Again, the Koscienly ‘take-down” of Kante was a clear red. Vicious assault with intent long after the ball was released. Had such violence occurred in public a GBH charge would quickly follow.

22. From season 2010/11 to date. Penalties awarded as far as I can see.
    Man city 42………………………………………………..Liverpool 39
    Chelsea 38………………………………………………..Man Utd 36
    Arsenal 28………………………………………………..Spurs 26
    Everton. 24

23. porter
    Given the number of players Spurs have had over the years who are/were not averse to the occasional dive it appears they are hard done by as well.

24. Looks like Arsenal are starting to take note of major decisions going against us. For the second time this week, Adrian Clarke of Arsenal.com mentions the failure of the referee to award a penalty for Arsenal.

    In the video “Breakdown vs. Hull City” This is what he said.

    ‘So looking back, Mike Dean’s failure to award a clear penalty in the 7th minute proved to be a determining moment. Walcott’s pass to ElNenny from the corner is in an inventive spot but the block made the Hull player is definitenly illegal. Leaning into the path of the ball, Alex Bruce diverted the goal bound effort with his left arm and found himself very lucky to have got away with it.’

25. In other news, Martin Atkinson is named as the second best referee in the world. Sorry for the next line but… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAH 😀 My word, My word.

    http://www.turkish-football.com/cuneyt-cakir-named-the-worlds-third-best-referee/

26. Another superb report, highlighting not only the PGMO incompetence and horrendous bias but also the professional cheating that the Foxes resort to – nearly in the Chelski class!

    We did not lose points – but no thanks to Atkinson – it was a close run finish.

27. Also in the other other news, fans of Turkish club Trabzonspor marched and protested in tens and thousands in the streets against the referee and against Turkish Football Federation.

    The reason they protested in numbers is because in the match against Galatasaray, their team had 4 players sent off, and lost the match in the 90th minute when the referee awarded a penalty against them. (Sounds like a Turkish Mike Dean 🙂 )

    Also the referee for our match against Barcelona tommorrow is from Turkey. His name Cuynet Cakir.

    https://twitter.com/tribundergi/status/701493991435595776

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnuh-xXiZ90

28. That is surprising that Cüneyt Cakir is going to be the ref again. He was the official for the Arsenal-Bayern (2-0) match and the Barcelona-Roma (6-1) match. I thought there was better rotation in Champions League.

29. It’s absolutely right that people are picking it up now. Every poor decision from the referee rots a larger chunk of the authority of referees.

    As I saw it – I forced myself back to the screen to watch the second half after Atkinson had delivered on Vardy’s con – Atkinson was clearly in a state of panic. All cool had gone. He had to get the game back to level pegging because he’d shoved it so hard towards Leicester.

    That penalty he’d given could decide the title.

    If that stood, he wasn’t the only one up for it. He’d take down the rest of the mob with him. That was why I was certain he’d been rung up at halftime and told to get his finger out and recover the situation because he was blowing their ship out of the water.

    The bias was so evident, so in your face, all trust that the refs would interpret the rules fairly, this goes out of the window. You could start to put your bets on how biassed the ref would be. You might even get some jokers posting articles about how football exists as a sideshow to the real football game – how referees run football.

    A week later I’m remembering a trial back in the day. Michael Mansfield was the lawyer for the defence. The judge was summing up at the end of the trial before sending the jury out to reach a verdict. The judge was going through the trial evidence and the rule of law as it applied to the evidence.

    Right in the middle of the summing up Mansfield rose to his feet and in the loudest, clearest, voice you’ve ever heard, he told the judge – ”You are not being fair.”

    The judge started squirming. Sweat poured down his face. Mansfield took apart what he had just said, showed the bias of it. The jury got the message – the judge could not be trusted. The jury acquitted.

    Football is a dream. It is an idea. It provides moments of indescribable beauty. It sits at the pinnacle of human achievement. It is a multi-billion industry. It has to be fair.

30. Usama Zaka

    Unbelievable.

    Where can we find the analytical data that has been used to make this judgement?

    Nowhere I would bet. My guess is it’s done arbitrarily by one individual, but maybe somebody can show me otherwise.

    Worse, maybe they make there decision on data sent to them by PGMOL?

    Surely not. Wouldn’t surprise me though to be honest.

    Alas, it seems the official assessors are as secretive as the odious PGMOL.

    All this is in stark contrast to untolds assessments which are open to scrutiny. Open to intelligent challenges. Open to reasoned debate. People could, if they so wished, challenge Untolds analysis with equally in depth analysis of there own. The fact is though, they either chose not to, or simply cannot.

    Just disagreeing with one phrase or conclusion here and there, or just pronouncing that ‘this is bullshit’ is not a convincing counter argument, as much as some would like to think it is.

    I really wish one of the assessors critics would do one of there own. A proper one. One where they highlight each decision, there interpretation of it, accompanied with the relevant ‘Law of the game’ to support there conclusion.

    A counter view to Untolds.

    Take my word for it. It will NOT happen.

    .

31. Thanks Walter and Usama. You guys are getting really good at this. This would probably make for very good training material for referees.

    —

    Some of the next referee appointments are out. Three games missing as I write this. One being ours against ManU. Perhaps you can gleam the reasons.

    Saturday 27 February 2016
    K.O. _MATCHES _ _ _ _ REFEREE _ _ _ ASST. REF. 1 _ _ASST. REF. 2 _ _4TH OFFICIAL
    15:00 Leicester – Norwich _ _ _ _ Neil Swarbrick _ S Ledger _ _H Lennard _ S Attwell
    15:00 Southampton – Chelsea _ _ _ Martin Atkinson _M Mullarkey S Child _ _ A Marriner
    15:00 Stoke – Aston Villa _ _ _ _ Kevin Friend _ _ S Beck _ _ _P Kirkup _ _E Ilderton
    15:00 Watford – Bournemouth _ _ _ Anthony Taylor _ S Burt _ _ _D Cann _ _ _M Clattenburg
    17:30 West Brom – Crystal Palace _Jonathan Moss _ _G Beswick _ M Wilkes _ _L Mason
    12:45 West Ham – Sunderland _ _ _ Mike Dean _ _ _ _J Brooks _ _S Long _ _ _M Jones
    Sunday 28 February 2016
    K.O. _MATCHES _ _ _ _ REFEREE _ _ _ ASST. REF. 1 _ _ASST. REF. 2 _ _4TH OFFICIAL
    00:02 Liverpool – Everton _ _ _NONE!
    00:02 Newcastle – Man City _ _ NONE!
    Sunday 28 February 2016
    K.O. _MATCHES _ _ _ _ REFEREE _ _ _ ASST. REF. 1 _ _ASST. REF. 2 _ _4TH OFFICIAL
    14:05 Man Utd – Arsenal _ _ _ _NONE!
    14:05 Spurs – Swansea _ _ _ _ _ _ Mike Jones _ _ _ A Garratt _ M McDonough L Mason
    Tuesday 1 March 2016
    K.O. _MATCHES _ _ _ _ REFEREE _ _ _ ASST. REF. 1 _ _ASST. REF. 2 _ _4TH OFFICIAL
    19:45 Aston Villa – Everton _ _ _ Roger East _ _ _ G Beswick _ H Lennard _ N Swarbrick
    19:45 Bournemouth – Southampton _ Mike Dean _ _ _ _J Brooks _ _M Perry _ _ K Friend
    19:45 Leicester – West Brom _ _ _ Mark Clattenburg S Beck _ _ _J Collin _ _J Moss
    19:45 Norwich – Chelsea _ _ _ _ _ Lee Mason _ _ _ _M McDonough D Eaton _ _ M Oliver
    19:45 Sunderland – Crystal Palace Anthony Taylor _ S Bennett _ D Bryan _ _ C Pawson
    Wednesday 2 March 2016
    K.O. _MATCHES _ _ _ _ REFEREE _ _ _ ASST. REF. 1 _ _ASST. REF. 2 _ _4TH OFFICIAL
    19:45 Arsenal – Swansea _ _ _ _ _ Robert Madley _ _P Kirkup _ _S Burt _ _ _K Friend
    20:00 Liverpool – Man City _ _ _ _Martin Atkinson _M Mullarkey S Child _ _ C Pawson
    20:00 Man Utd – Watford _ _ _ _ _ Mike Jones _ _ _ I Hussin _ _R West _ _ _J Moss
    19:45 Stoke – Newcastle _ _ _ _ _ Neil Swarbrick _ L Betts _ _ E Smart _ _ G Scott
    19:45 West Ham – Spurs _ _ _ _ _ _Andre Marriner _ S Ledger _ _D Cann _ _ _M Dean

32. Gord, Walter, Everyone brace yourself for another tag team performance against Man Utd on Sunday.

    Craig Pawson will be the referee against Man Utd and Mike Dean will be the 4th official. They are back again after putting out the worst performance of the season in the match against Stoke. Un-f**king-believable.

    For anyone who is confused or did not know what happened when these appeared together, here it is http://untold-arsenal.com/archives/49757

33. Still nothing up at PremierLeague.com (or should that be .con ?) on those 3 games. I guess the EPL is still looking for some kind of excuse to give the medja.

34. Regarding Vardy’s penalty decision when has it been that a defender has to get out of the way of an attackers he surely can stand his ground and as long as he does’nt move into the attacker path no penalty should be given , unless as Vardy’s did purposely ran into the defender to make the referee make a decision ( he had already lost the ball pushed it too far away ) he had nothing to lose and everything to gain knowing Atkinson’s history

35. Good Review!!

    I agree, Walter…I can understand why Monreal got called for a foul on Vardy. I might not agree but at full speed…meh..What got me was the foul that wasn’t called on Oezil in the build up. It wasn’t a 50/50 challenge…the guy came through and on top of Oezil from behind…I can only understand Coquelin’s foul IF other yellows had been handed out to Leicester players earlier. Apparently they get a talking-to for their first foul and our man doesn’t, unless we are to understand that the Leicester foul counts as a warning to all players on the pitch like foul starts used to in the 100m dash. And lastly, how does Drinkwater’s foul on Ramsey not get called? Was it Ramsey’s fault that he was there first? Was the ball slippery and poor Drinks slid over it by accident? Was it a 50/50 thingo…in which case my brother was right all those times when he took the bigger piece of cake? Bizarre.

36. If a defender is not moving, he may have a claim to the ground he is “standing” on. If he is moving, I think the usual presumption is that the defender is at fault.

    But, if a person was to stand with one leg outstretched (not a natural position) and another player was to fall over the extended leg, it is likely the stationary player is still at fault.

    Monreal is (according to testimony above and other) trying to avoid contact by retracting the out of natural position leg. He was not successful in avoiding contact. Likely because Vardy moved in such a way as to incite contact.

    So, maybe that explains circumstances better? I think that some referees will call the foul, and some may not. I don’t think many would not call the foul, but would issue a yellow for simulation.

    But it is probably better to look at the non-call on Ozil earlier. The proper call there, would have stopped this play from happening.

37. It’s getting worse.

    It feels like they’re saying:

    ‘Yep, we are screwing you, and guess what? We don’t give a f**k who knows it, because nobody else gives a shit.

    In fact everybody else loves it.’

    Down to 10 men.

    At least one bad injury.

    As I say, it feels as bad as it’s ever been this year, and it’s only going to get worse.

38. Now the only match still without an appointment- it’s a bit odd innit?

39. That’s a sick touch to have Dean in as 4th official for Sunday. Riley is clearly so f***ing confident that he can still get away with this shit; that or he’s desperate.

    It is absolutely set up for them to try for a classic pgmol job where United get away with a ton of fouls, don’t get properly punished for those that are called, don’t get done for any fouls they might make in the box…while we are screwed if the slightest opportunity to award them a pen of a sending off occurs.

    It was too soon for Dean to do the game and he did not feel he could reintroduce him for it, but he just had to have him there, miked up and offering any guidance Pawson needs throughout the day.

    Makes me sick. Utd are there for the taking and in a clean properly officiated match we’d have a superb chance to do so, maybe in real style.

    With what we’ll have instead it will be much more difficult and is to a certain extent out of the players hands. They shouldn’t have to get an early goal to have a really good chance of winning, but they do. They should get a pen if one occurs, but they won’t. They should have a ref calling all the fouls he sees, and issuing cards appropriately, but they won’t.

    What we’ll have instead are these fucks doing their very best to screw us yet again, with our players less safe than they should be, and injustice only being avoided if we have real luck to go with good play.

40. Well, PremierLeague.con (led by TheFA.con) is now verifying the Pawson/Dean partnership for our game, the other 2 games still not showing officials.

    > 14:05 Man Utd 0 – 0 Arsenal Craig Pawson L Betts M Perry M Dean

41. Rich and others,
    I suspect the way Atkinson ignored Morgan climbing on Ozil was just too blatant for him to continue with the way he had been in the first half. Someone must have told him this was going to cause a storm.

    Check out the image here, there is no way he’d have got out of this one. He’s standing like 10 yards from the action, with a clear view of the incident. He knew he’d messed up big time,so tried to be more even in the second half.

    This weekend’s referee appointments has got to be a joke. How about a bunch of us march to Westminster and demand to see the minister of sport in England so he looks into these anomalies. If it was to happen i would be well up for it. Actions like these require drastic measures. It’s clear the pgmol have decided none of Arsenal or city should be allowed to win the league this season. We as fans have to take action to stop this rot; the club can’t do it without permanently and critically damaging the club’s reputation and standing, what with all this political correctness madness.

42. Dean miked upto the ref at Utd…..no surprise at all, is it spoon le he could do WHL as well……if not there , then City?
    All entirely predictable, the more of a threat we are, the more the team get screwed…and the club, if not the manager just seem to accept it…..
    Maybe our execs need to wake up a bit, this could cost the club money, and players, as I am sure everyone knows what goes on with the refereeing Arsenal get…..our opponents certainly do as Leicester , Chelsea, Stoke, Spurs, Southampton and others demonstrate.
    why are those in Europe who are jealous of the wealth of the EPL so silent, surely it would be in their interests to bring this all down?

43. Great analytical work! Commenters hve said it all nd am amazed dat refs in England can be so openly biased witout conscience; wat do these refs hve against Arsenal? Its wat I cannt fathom,its so comprehensively disgustiing! What’s Arsenal’s crime? Playing beutiful futball? Being run nd doing well witout Oil Sheiks?is it d state of d art Ems?is it d iconic French boss?wat really is going on?why is Arsenal board silent?does d law forebid teams frm protesting glaring injustice of officiating officials-refs;?am baffled.Bravo Untold for d gud work, bt I tink we nid to kno why these refs hve decided they wiill be d 12th player in every Arsenal match nd maybe we nid more social net working to highliight PGMOL’s refereeing foolery !!

44. @austinpaul agree with your comments but I find it difficult to understand your spelling/text talk.

45. Why have we got Dean two games in a row? Surely the FA can’t allow this to happen! We need cameras permanently on Dean and another on Pawson. Or Arsene needs to place somebody right next to Dean and record everything he says!

46. Al

    The problem we have is we will just be laughed at.

    I’ll explain.

    I know what I SEE every week, and every week I read what I believe to be accurate, and fundamentally unbiased reviews on Untold that more or less confirm what I thought I saw.

    I know what I read and hear in the media. The bias. The double standards. The hypocrisy.

    The problem we have is people who aren’t as passionate as us simple absorb the headlines.

    They are just not interested in the kind of in depth analysis carried out by Untolds assessors. That’s for nerdy paranoid types.

    All they care about is there own team, the next result and who to buy in the next ‘fantasy league’ transfer window. They don’t care about trivial things like ‘facts’. They believe what they want to believe, and basically that’s the shit poured down there throats every day by the media.

    They still fundamentally believe:

    -It all evens out.

    -The big teams get all the decisions.

    -Arsenal get loads of penalties.

    -Arsenal players always dive.

    -Arsenal are a dirty team.

    -Arsenal players are too soft.

    -Arsenal players should surround the ref more.

    -Arsenal players are a bunch of whingers.

    -Same old Arsenal always cheating.

    -The little teams get screwed.

    -Wenger never sees it.

    -Wenger is the biggest whinger out there.

    -Every other manager always ‘has a point’

    -Arsenal always bottle it.

    -Arsenal haven’t had a leader since Adams.

    -Arsenal have actually always had as much money as everyone else.

    -Arsenals ticket prices are the most expensive.

    -Arsenal don’t get screwed by referees they get favoured, ergo Le Coq and Flamini getting away with murder.

    -Wenger is an out dated coach.

    -Wenger doesn’t do tactics.

    -Wenger hasn’t got a plan B.

    -Arsenal always try to walk it in.

    -Wenger buys shit keepers.

    -Wenger buys shit centre halves.

    -Wenger makes the wrong substitutions at the wrong time.

    -Arsenal have the most injuries.

    -Wenger injures his own players.

    -Our players get themselves injured.

    -The pitch at the Emirates is to blame for our injuries.

    -Wenger is a control freak.

    -Wenger panic buys.

    -Wenger dallies over transfers.

    There’s probably more but that’s just off the top of my head, as to the criticism, lies and abuse that gets thrown at Wenger and Arsenal every single minute of every single day it seems, and it seeps into the public psyche.

    Show that list to any average fan and ask them to tic what they think is true and I guarantee you that most boxes will get a tic.

    Despite all the factual data we have produced about penalties, cards, expenditure, wages, ticket pricing, injuries etc. that debunk 90% of that, nobody is interested.

    As hard as it might be to face up to, despite the dozens and dozens of Referee reviews done to a depth that any University would be proud of, without a shred of counter evidence, they will be dismissed out of hand as the ravings of a paranoid fan.

    The really sad and unpalatable truth of the matter is, to the average fan ,what they hear on Talkshite, SKY and BTSport, or read in the sun and Mirror is THE truth.

    They may say things like ‘you cant believe a thing you read in the papers these days’ but subconsciously it still becomes the truth to them.

    If you could take one of these ‘average’ fans for a couple of hours and run through all the data we have. Show them the video of game 49, and how it was accepted as all fair and above board. Show them how the stats changed so dramatically from almost that day onwards and how it aligns with the appointment of Riley. Show them the secrecy of PGMOL, the geographical bias, the acceptance of ‘Northern’ style refereeing. The limited pool of Referees. The total lack of London Referees.

    They may ‘tut tut’.

    Run them through some referee reviews and they may shake there heads.

    Show them some of the leg breakers we’ve endured and you may hear a sharp intake of breath.

    I bet, at the end of the day they will not quite believe a lot of what they have seen.

    Equally I bet they still don’t give a shit.

    Why should they, it’s only Arsenal and after all, when all’s said and done it’s still only THERE team that really gets screwed.

    Bottom line is, why the media hate us and treat us like they do we haven’t got a chance of changing a thing.

47. Usama & Walter -thanks once again for your good work. There were several tackles from behind where contact was made with opponent & then ball (foul & cardable) that you seem to omit.

    Paul clinton – Mahrez cheated, dived got caught & grinned like a kid with his hands in the cookie jar.

    Kos didn’t touch Kante. Kante should have had a red card much earlier as he had more contact with opponents from the rear (without touching the ball) than a rutting buck.

    hrishi – your humble opinion is wrong. The cheat was aided & abetted by the PGMO cheat. Both contrived to obtain unfair advantage by foul means.

48. Unless my machine is refusing to download an up to date copy, that pair of games (not involving us) still has no officials assigned. Has anyone seen them assigned elsewhere?

49. I’m calling these cnuts out on Twitter. #PGMOcheats is the tag. I use some quaint language.

50. Gord,

    Here it is.

    http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/news/2015-16/feb/220216-match-officials-appointments-27-28-february-1-2-march.html

51. Liverpool v Everton postponed due to League Cup requirement.

    Newcastle v Man City also postponed.

    So, all games to be played accounted for. Now back to your regular programming.

52. Thanks Usama.

53. Jambug
    I’m afraid you’re absolutely right. It’s so frustrating to say the least. You can tell just from the way some of our so-called fans subject the meticulous reports done by Walter and Usama to a critical analysis with a fine tooth comb and pick on the tiniest insignificant detail such as where Monreal’s foot was pointing and latch onto that as a basis to dismiss whole report, not commenting on the other 20-30 important issues raised in the report.

    We can point out which ref we’re likely to get for future fixtures, and accurately predict what will happen and yet these people still need to be convinced there’s something wrong??? What kind of people are these?? It’s frustrating that, I’m not a violent person, but I sometimes really wish I could meet these idiots face to face.

54. Al

    That is spooky.

    Word for word covering every point I was venting to poor Mrs Jambug yesterday.

    Frustrating doesn’t even begin to cover it.

55. Well we all see the kind of advice Dean *gollumn gollumn* gave to his hapless colleague last week:

    ‘Yup. It’s 5pur2 (I did one of those games you know! You all remember my hop skip and dance?) The ball hit the player somewhere near the armpit. Definitely a penalty!’

    Riley’s Rotters in action.
    It’s a good thing there’s no one from the south of England the county with the most volunteers and amateur football clubs who is competent enough to referee top flight pgMOB football.
    &
    2+2 = 5
    🙂