By Usama and Walter
ARSENAL vs. CHELSEA
- COMPETITION: English Premier League
- MATCH NO. 6
- DATE: 24th September 2016
- VENUE: Emirates Stadium (London, England)
MATCH OFFICIALS:
| REFEREE: Michael Oliver | |
| 1st LINESMAN: Gary Beswick | |
| 2nd LINESMAN: Stuart Burt | |
| 4th OFFICIAL: Craig Pawson |
First Half
Fouls, Advantages, Cards, and Penalties
| Time | Foul by | Foul For | Description & Decision | Points | |
| 02:52 | Francis Coquelin (Arsenal) | Diego Costa (Chelsea) | Coquelin tripped Costa from the side.
CORRECT FOUL FOR CHELSEA. |
1 (FOUL) | |
| 03:55 | Laurent Koscienly (Arsenal) | Diego Costa (Chelsea) | Both players were chasing after the ball, Costa initially pushed Koscienly in the back and moved him out of the way. This should have been a foul for Arsenal but was not given, when a second later Koscienly tripped Costa, which the referee gave as a foul.
NO FOUL FOR ARSENAL. WRONG FOUL AGAINST ARSENAL. |
-1 (FOUL)
-1 (FOUL) |
|
| 09:08 | Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) | Francis Coquelin (Arsenal) | Fabregas made a late reckless attempt for tackle on Coquelin with a stamp on his shoe. The referee correctly played an advantage.
This also should have been a yellow card against Fabregas for committing a reckless tackle, but was not given.
CORRECT ADVANTAGE PLAYED FOR ARSENAL. NO YELLOW CARD AGAINST FABREGAS. |
1 (ADVANTAGE)
-2 (YELLOW CARD)
|
|
| 09:19 | Shkodran Mustafi (Arsenal) | Diego Costa (Chelsea) | Mustafi tripped Costa from behind.
CORRECT FOUL FOR CHELSEA. |
1 (FOUL) | |
| 12:40 | N’Golo Kante (Chelsea) | Francis Coquelin (Arsenal) | Kante tripped Coquelin from behind, but Arsenal maintained attacking possession.
CORRECT ADVANTAGE PLAYED FOR ARSENAL. |
1 (ADVANTAGE) | |
| 19:27 | Laurent Koscienly (Arsenal) | Diego Costa (Chelsea) | Koscienly charged in from behind at Costa.
CORRECT FOUL FOR CHELSEA. |
1 (FOUL) | |
| 22:31 | N’Golo Kante (Chelsea) | Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) | Kante pushed Sanchez in the back while jumping.
CORRECT FOUL FOR ARSENAL. |
1 (FOUL) | |
| 27:37 | Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea) | Alex Iwobi (Arsenal) | Iwobi was tripped down by Ivanovic just outside the penalty area, stopping a clear promising attack.
CORRECT FOUL FOR ARSENAL. CORRECT YELLOW CARD AGAINST IVANOVIC. |
1 (FOUL)
2 (YELLOW CARD) |
|
| 31:39 | Granit Xhaka (Arsenal) | Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea) | Xhaka tripped Ivanovic from behind.
CORRECT FOUL FOR CHELSEA. |
1 (FOUL) | |
| 32:03 | Nemanja Matic (Chelsea) | Matic pushed the ball away with forearm.
CORRECT FOUL FOR ARSENAL. |
1 (FOUL) | ||
| 33:13 | N’Golo Kante (Chelsea) | Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) | Kante tripped Sanchez from behind.
CORRECT FOUL FOR ARSENAL. |
1 (FOUL) | |
| 38:52 | N’Golo Kante (Chelsea) | Granit Xhaka (Arsenal) | Kante was late in his tackle and tripped Xhaka, the referee correctly played an advantage in an attacking situation.
This also should have been a yellow card against Kante for committing his 4th foul. This was a clear act of persistent fouling.
CORRECT ADVANTAGE PLAYED FOR ARSENAL. NO YELLOW CARD AGAINST KANTE. |
1 (ADVANTAGE)
–2 (YELLOW CARD)
|
|
| 41:33 | Nemanja Matic (Chelsea) | Theo Walcott (Arsenal) | Matic tripped Walcott from behind.
CORRECT FOUL FOR ARSENAL. |
1 (FOUL) | |
| 42:55 | Willian (Chelsea) | Nacho Monreal (Arsenal) | Willian made a slightly late kick from behind on Monreal.
CORRECT FOUL FOR ARSENAL. |
1 (FOUL) | |
| 43:18 | David Luiz (Chelsea) | Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) | Luiz was late and tripped Sanchez.
CORRECT FOUL FOR ARSENAL. |
1 (FOUL) | |
| 45:06 | Theo Walcott (Arsenal) | Eden Hazard (Chelsea) | Walcott made a late reckless attempt for tackle on Hazard with a stamp on his shoe. The referee correctly gave a foul.
This also should have been a yellow card against Walcott for committing a reckless tackle, but was not given.
CORRECT FOUL FOR CHELSEA. NO YELLOW CARD AGAINST WALCOTT. |
1 (FOUL)
–2 (YELLOW CARD)
|
|
| 46:37 | Nemanja Matic (Chelsea) | Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) | Ozil was tripped by Matic.
CORRECT FOUL FOR ARSENAL. |
1 (FOUL) | |
| Number of Correct Fouls for Arsenal – 8
Number of Correct Fouls for Chelsea – 5 Total Number of Correct Fouls – 13 [13 points]
|
Number of Incorrect Fouls against Arsenal – 2
Number of Incorrect Fouls against Chelsea – 0 Total Number of Incorrect Fouls – 2 [2 points]
|
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| Number of Correct Advantages for Arsenal – 3
Number of Correct Advantages for Chelsea – 0 Total Number of Correct Advantages – 3 [3 points]
|
Number of Incorrect Advantages against Arsenal – 0
Number of Incorrect Advantages against Chelsea – 0 Total Number of Incorrect Advantages – 0 |
||||
| Number of Correct Yellow Cards for Arsenal – 1
Number of Correct Yellow Cards for Chelsea – 0 Total Number of Correct Yellow Cards – 1 [2 points] |
Number of Incorrect Yellow Cards against Arsenal – 2
Number of Incorrect Yellow Cards against Chelsea – 1 Total Number of Incorrect Yellow Cards – 3 [6 points]
|
||||
Offsides
| Time | Player Offside | Defending Player | Description & Decision | Points | |
| 23:01 | Alex Iwobi (Arsenal) | Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea) | No replay or correct angle shown. Assumed correct. Assistant Referee Gary Beswick made the correct call.
CORRECT OFFSIDE FOR CHELSEA. |
1 (OFFSIDE) | |
| Number of Correct Offsides for Arsenal – 0
Number of Correct Offsides for Chelsea – 1 Total Number of Correct Offsides – 1 [1 points] |
Number of Incorrect Offsides against Arsenal – 0
Number of Incorrect Offsides against Chelsea – 0 Total Number of Incorrect Offsides – 0 |
||||
Goals
| Time | Goal Scorer | Description & Decision | Points | |
| 10:55 | Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal) | Clean goal.
CORRECT GOAL FOR ARSENAL. |
3 (GOAL) | |
| 13:15 | Theo Walcott (Arsenal) | Clean goal.
CORRECT GOAL FOR ARSENAL. |
3 (GOAL) | |
| 39:36 | Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) | Clean goal.
CORRECT GOAL FOR ARSENAL. |
3 (GOAL) | |
| Number of Correct Goals for Arsenal – 3
Number of Correct Goals for Chelsea – 0 Total Number of Correct Goals – 3 [9 points] |
Number of Incorrect Goals against Arsenal – 0
Number of Incorrect Goals against Chelsea – 0 Total Number of Incorrect Goals – 0 |
|||
Goal Kicks, Corners, and Throw-ins
| Time | Type | Last Touch OFF | Description & Decision |
Other
| Time | Type | Description & Decision | Points |
| 30.:21 | Injury | Coquelin was down with a knee injury in the Chelsea’s half. He was unable to carry on, just as Arsenal gained possession in a scrappy midfield play, referee stopped play for injury.
CORRECT DECISION TO STOP PLAY. |
1 (INJURY) |
| Number of Other Incorrect Decisions against Arsenal – 1
Number of Other Incorrect Decisions against Chelsea – 0 Total Number of Other Incorrect Decisions – 1 [1 points] |
|||
First Half Referee Report
| Total Number of Correct Decisions for Arsenal – 8+3+1+3+1 = 16
Total Number of Correct Decisions for Chelsea – 5+1 = 6 Total Number of Correct Decisions = 16 + 6 = 22
AFTER POINTS HAVE BEEN WEIGHTED
Total Number of Correct Decisions (Weighted) for Arsenal – 8+3+2+9+1 = 23 Total Number of Correct Decisions (Weighted) for Chelsea – 5+1 = 6 Total Number of Correct Decisions (Weighted) = 23 + 6 = 29
|
| Total Number of Incorrect Decisions against Arsenal – 2+2 = 4
Total Number of Incorrect Decisions against Chelsea – 1 Total Number of Incorrect Decisions = 4 + 1 = 5
AFTER POINTS HAVE BEEN WEIGHTED
Total Number of Incorrect Decisions (Weighted) against Arsenal – 2+4 = 6 Total Number of Incorrect Decisions (Weighted) against Chelsea – 2 Total Number of Incorrect Decisions (Weighted) = 6 + 2 = 8
|
|
First Half Correct Decision Percentage = Total Correct Decisions / Total Decisions (Correct + Incorrect) = 22/(22+5) = 81.4%
|
|
First Half Correct Decision Percentage (WEIGHTED) = Total Correct Decisions / Total Decisions (Correct + Incorrect) = 29/(29+8) = 78.3%
|
Second Half
Fouls, Advantages, Cards, and Penalties
| Time | Foul by | Foul For | Description & Decision | Points | |
| 49:19 | Diego Costa (Chelsea) | Shkodran Mustafi (Arsenal) | A trailing arm by Costa caught Mustafi when heading the ball.
CORRECT FOUL FOR ARSENAL. |
1 (FOUL) | |
| 56:07 | Marcos Alonso (Chelsea) | Hector Bellerin (Arsenal) | Alonso tripped down Bellerin but Arsenal kept attacking forward.
CORRECT ADVANTAGE PLAYED FOR ARSENAL. |
1 (ADVANTAGE) | |
| 57:16 | Shkodran Mustafi (Arsenal) | Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea) | A slight trailing arm by Mustafi caught Ivanovic.
CORRECT FOUL FOR CHELSEA. |
1 (FOUL) | |
| 61:29 | Granit Xhaka (Arsenal) | Willian (Chelsea) | Xhaka was trying to pull Willian from the shoulders.
CORRECT FOUL FOR CHELSEA. |
1 (FOUL) | |
| 74:01 | Diego Costa (Chelsea) | Laurent Koscienly (Arsenal) | Costa jumped in the back of Koscienly but kept possession.
CORRECT ADVANTAGE PLAYED FOR ARSENAL. |
1 (ADVANTAGE) | |
| 80:36 | Granit Xhaka (Arsenal) | N’Golo Kante (Chelsea) | Xhaka tripped Kante from the side.
CORRECT FOUL FOR CHELSEA. |
1 (FOUL) | |
| 82:22 | Laurent Koscienly (Arsenal) | Diego Costa (Chelsea) | Koscienly pushed down Costa while challenging for the ball. Chelsea maintained possession.
CORRECT ADVANTAGE PLAYED FOR CHELSEA. |
1 (ADVANTAGE) | |
| 82:26 | Diego Costa (Chelsea) | After being fouled Costas stood and rushed towards the referee and Koscienly, shouting and verbally showing dissent.
CORRECT YELLOW CARD AGAINST COSTA. |
2 (YELLOW CARD) | ||
| 84:59 | N’Golo Kante (Chelsea) | Santi Cazorla (Arsenal) | Kante made a slightly late kick at Cazorla. This should have been a foul for Arsenal but was not given.
This also should have been a yellow card against Kante for committing his 5th foul. This was a clear act of persistent fouling.
NO FOUL FOR ARSENAL. NO YELLOW CARD AGAINST KANTE. |
-1 (FOUL)
-2 (YELLOW CARD)
|
|
| 89:41 | Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea) | Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) | Azpilicueta tripped Ozil from behind.
CORRECT FOUL FOR ARSENAL. |
1 (FOUL) | |
| Number of Correct Fouls for Arsenal – 2
Number of Correct Fouls for Chelsea – 3 Total Number of Correct Fouls – [ points]
|
Number of Incorrect Fouls against Arsenal – 1
Number of Incorrect Fouls against Chelsea – 0 Total Number of Incorrect Fouls – 1 [1 points]
|
||||
| Number of Correct Advantages for Arsenal – 2
Number of Correct Advantages for Chelsea – 1 Total Number of Correct Advantages – 3 [3 points]
|
Number of Incorrect Advantages against Arsenal – 0
Number of Incorrect Advantages against Chelsea – 0 Total Number of Incorrect Advantages – 0 [ points] |
||||
| Number of Correct Yellow Cards for Arsenal – 1
Number of Correct Yellow Cards for Chelsea – 0 Total Number of Correct Yellow Cards – 1 [2 points] |
Number of Incorrect Yellow Cards against Arsenal – 1
Number of Incorrect Yellow Cards against Chelsea – 0 Total Number of Incorrect Yellow Cards – 1 [2 points]
|
||||
Offsides
| Time | Player Offside | Defending Player | Description & Decision | Points | |
| 45:47 | Alex Iwobi (Arsenal) | Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea) | Iwobi was in an offside position. Assistant Referee Stuart Burt made the correct call.
CORRECT OFFSIDE FOR CHELSEA. |
1 (OFFSIDE) | |
| 51:29 | Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) | Gary Cahill (Chelsea) | Ozil was in an offside position. Assistant Referee Stuart Burt made the correct call.
CORRECT OFFSIDE FOR CHELSEA. |
1 (OFFSIDE) | |
| 53:50 | Eden Hazard (Chelsea) | Laurent Koscienly (Arsenal) | Hazard was in an offside position. Assistant Referee Gary Beswick made the correct call.
CORRECT OFFSIDE FOR ARSENAL. |
1 (OFFSIDE) | |
| 73:43 | Santi Cazorla (Arsenal) | Gary Cahill (Chelsea) | Cazorla was in an offside position. Assistant Referee Stuart Burt made the correct call.
CORRECT OFFSIDE FOR CHELSEA. |
1 (OFFSIDE) | |
| 75:08 | Mesut Ozil (Arsenal) | Gary Cahill (Chelsea) | Ozil was in an offside position. Assistant Referee Stuart Burt made the correct call.
CORRECT OFFSIDE FOR CHELSEA. |
1 (OFFSIDE) | |
| Number of Correct Offsides for Arsenal – 1
Number of Correct Offsides for Chelsea – 4 Total Number of Correct Offsides – 5 [5 points] |
Number of Incorrect Offsides against Arsenal – 0
Number of Incorrect Offsides against Chelsea – 0 Total Number of Incorrect Offsides – 0 |
||||
Goals
| Time | Goal Scorer | Description & Decision | Points |
Goal Kicks, Corners, and Throw-ins
| Time | Type | Last Touch OFF | Description & Decision |
Other
| Time | Type | Description & Decision | Points |
Second Half Referee Report
| Total Number of Correct Decisions for Arsenal – 2+2+1+1 = 6
Total Number of Correct Decisions for Chelsea – 3+1+4 = 8 Total Number of Correct Decisions = 6 + 8 = 14
AFTER POINTS HAVE BEEN WEIGHTED
Total Number of Correct Decisions (Weighted) for Arsenal – 2+2+2+1 = 7 Total Number of Correct Decisions (Weighted) for Chelsea – 3+1+4 = 8 Total Number of Correct Decisions (Weighted) = 7 + 8 = 15
|
| Total Number of Incorrect Decisions against Arsenal – 1+1 = 2
Total Number of Incorrect Decisions against Chelsea – 0 Total Number of Incorrect Decisions = 2 + 0 = 2
AFTER POINTS HAVE BEEN WEIGHTED
Total Number of Incorrect Decisions (Weighted) against Arsenal – 1+2 = 3 Total Number of Incorrect Decisions (Weighted) against Chelsea – 0 Total Number of Incorrect Decisions (Weighted) = 3 + 0 = 3
|
|
Second Half Correct Decision Percentage = Total Correct Decisions / Total Decisions (Correct + Incorrect) = 14/(14+2) = 87.5%
|
|
Second Half Correct Decision Percentage (WEIGHTED) = Total Correct Decisions / Total Decisions (Correct + Incorrect) = 15/(15+3) = 83.3%
|
Full Time (1st Half + 2nd Half) Referee Report
| Total Number of Correct Decisions for Arsenal – 16+6 = 22
Total Number of Correct Decisions for Chelsea – 6+8 = 14 Total Number of Correct Decisions = 22 + 14 = 36
AFTER POINTS HAVE BEEN WEIGHTED
Total Number of Correct Decisions (Weighted) for Arsenal – 23+7 = 30 Total Number of Correct Decisions (Weighted) for Chelsea – 6+8 = 14 Total Number of Correct Decisions (Weighted) = 30 + 14 = 44
|
| Total Number of Incorrect Decisions against Arsenal – 4+2 = 6
Total Number of Incorrect Decisions against Chelsea – 1+0 =1 Total Number of Incorrect Decisions = 6 + 1 = 7
AFTER POINTS HAVE BEEN WEIGHTED
Total Number of Incorrect Decisions (Weighted) against Arsenal – 6+3 = 9 Total Number of Incorrect Decisions (Weighted) against Chelsea – 1+0 = 1 Total Number of Incorrect Decisions (Weighted) = 9 + 1 = 10
|
|
Full Match Correct Decision Percentage = Total Correct Decisions / Total Decisions (Correct + Incorrect) = 36/(36+7) = 83.7%
|
|
Full Match Correct Decision Percentage (WEIGHTED) = Total Correct Decisions / Total Decisions (Correct + Incorrect) = 44/(44+10) = 81.4%
|
APPENDIX
| Key Decisions in the Match | Points |
| Advantage | 1 |
| Foul | 1 |
| Incorrect Corner | 1 |
| Incorrect Goal Kick | 1 |
| Incorrect Throw-in | 1 |
| Other (Ref Positioning, Injuries, Time Wasting, etc.) | 1 |
| Offside | 1 |
| Yellow Card | 2 |
| Red Card | 3 |
| Goal | 3 |
| Penalty | 3 |
NOTE: FOR ANY WRONG DECISION MADE THERE WILL BE NEGATIVE POINTS AWARDED FOR THAT SPECIFIC KIND OF EVENT.
NOTE: ANY INCORRECT OR WRONG DECISION/NON-DECISION WILL BE HIGHLIGHTED WITH A RED COLOUR.
NOTE: ANY DECISION THAT INVOLVES DOUBT IS HIGHLIGHTED AS BLUE IN COLOR.
NOTE: The word ‘FOR’ is used to show IN FAVOR OF.
NOTE: All the Laws Of The Game used are referenced directly from the following link. “LAWS OF THE GAME 2016-2017”
http://static-3eb8.kxcdn.com/documents/60/Laws%20of%20the%20Game_16-17_Digital_Eng.pdf
As we had a good referee performance in the previous review we were looking out to see how referee Oliver would do in this important match. Well he certainly did a good job all in all.
After calling the first foul correctly the referee (and one assistant) then made mistake when Koscielny and Costa were chasing the ball. Koscielny won the sprinting duel and was in control of the situation when Costa pushed Koscielny in the back. Koscielny lost his balance and Costa could win the ball back and then Koscielny still trying to regain his balance tripped Costa. As always: the first fouls should be called and this was the clear push from Costa. Now Chelsea had a dangerous free kick just outside the Arsenal penalty area. I think the assistant referee should have assisted referee Oliver more in this instance and should have signalled the first foul on the defender when it happened. As we have said before: you don’t give “advantage” or wait for the outcome when a defender is fouled. Now there was no consequence to the error but just imagine if Chelsea would have scored from that free kick?
The next decision Oliver had to make was good and bad. Fabregas came in late and made full contact with the foot of Coquelin. The good thing was he gave an advantage as Arsenal was in a good attacking position that was lost in the end. The bad thing is that he should have booked Fabregas at the next stoppage in the game. His studs made full contact on top of the foot from Coquelin and that is a dangerous tackle. These tackles should result in a yellow card.
Then Arsenal ran away with the match and the ref was without errors till right at the end of the first half. First Kante was penalised for his 4th foul in a space of 24 minutes. That should have earned him a yellow card. No real dangerous fouls but making a foul every 6 minutes should ring alarmbells in the head of the ref.
And then Walcott came in and tackled Hazard and stepped on the foot of Hazard. Just as with the Fabregas not given booking the ref also kept his card in his pocket. But planting a foot on the foot of another player can cause an injury and should be penalised with a yellow card. You could call this consistency but we would rather like to see consistency in handing out the cards than consistency in not giving them.
This all resulted in a final first half non weighted score of 81.4% and when we put weight on them we get a score of 78.3%. A score we could call very good.
The second half was even better. Of course Chelsea played like a team that knew they had lost the match and Arsenal just contented themselves with playing out the remaning time without taking much risks. So a bit of a non event one could say. The ref only had to make 10 decisions in total. Two of them involved a good advantage so only eight fouls. And one yellow card when Costa showed some dissent.
A fine piece of refereeing that I really enjoyed as a referee. Koscielny was chasing Costa in the Chelsea half. Costa played the ball under pressure from Koscielny to a teammate and Koscielny (rather needlessly unless you want to wind a player up) gave a little nudge in the back after the ball had been played. As Chelsea kept the ball and with a defender out of position the ref signalled an advantage for Chelsea. But Costa cried, waved his arms around in protest, thought about running after Koscielny to retaliate, in short a very frustrated player that needed cooling down. And so when he ran past the ref shouting and swearing and armwaving the ref taught him a lesson and blew his whistle and gave a foul against Costa for dissent. Stamping your authority on the game that could be called. The ref showing who is the boss and who is the one who will decide when a foul is called and not a player. More of that.
For the rest our only remark is that Kante made another foul and still wasn’t booked for persistent fouling. And that is it for a second half that wasn’t really a difficult one for the ref. Still lots of offside decisions and as far as we could check them all were made in a correct way.
The second half score was non weighted: 87.5% and weighted 83.3%. An excellent score!
Over the whole 90 minutes the score was non weighted: 83.7% and 81.4% weighted. Our final conclusion : consistent and very good performance from the ref and his assitants.
The only negative thing I can say is that the bias numbers are still very much against Arsenal. But it surely didn’t cost us in this match. More little errors and no big mistakes on important decisions.
Is the PGMO really trying to get us out of your job? Let us wait and see when we get the usual suspects who in the past have been masters in the dark arts of tilting the pitch against Arsenal. We haven’t seen them around for the moment….
- Biggish Sam, who was caught out in 2006, has been a naughty boy again and the truth is starting to come out.
- Excusing the ignorance of the past
- Is Alexis Sanchez the new Thierry Henry? Here are the figures.
- The most comprehensive review of referee performance: Match Day #04 with video evidence
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I was sat near the assistant ref during the Costa/Koscielny 1st half incident and he did not signal for a foul either way. Which I thought was poor as he was closer to the action than Oliver.
How long can we go on getting fair performances from the officials? Surely this is an early season plan by PGMOL to shut Arsenal’s moaning fans up after years of proof that the officials are NOT playing by the rules.
Now a new development – Mike Riley is on the Sky panel that nominates players for Player of the Month award – and guess what? Not an Arsenal player anywhere in sight.
However, I do agree that Oliver had a very good game against Chelsea – wasn’t fooled by Costa at all.
It’s pretty sad really. We’re so happy that a few refs have raised their standards by getting around 80% of their decisions correct, when that should really still be considered as a poor standard. I would have been sacked from my work if I got less than 95% (maybe more) right 😀
The foul on Coquelin where his knee was jarred (probably by Kante following a Fabregas stamp) was a card but was played on as an advantage. The official has a duty to card the player when it is a physical foul with no attempt to get the ball. Kante & Fabregas were both playing to injure Coquelin.
Andy Mack…….you are comparing apples and oranges. Officiating in front of 50,000+critics and trying to be fair and firm with 22 highly trained professional athletes is one thing, sending out reports and managing a handful of willing staff is another.
Again , great work, guys . Thanks.
omg, it’s not about trying to be fair. It’s about getting decisions correct.
I do appreciate the difference between their job and mine (as was), but mine was much more about being fair and managing people in addition to the business deals themselves which in many cases earned millions for the company.
The refs one over-riding job is to try to be correct with their decisions and managing people is a secondary issue which I’d certainly like them to be good at but it’s not their reason to exist.
Because of the speed of the game and the positions they need to be, I don’t expect them to be correct all the time, but between the ref, 2 linesmen and the 4th official, they have 8 supposedly ‘trained’ eyes on the game, all in communication with each other, and still do well to get 80% correct. That’s not very good in my book.
Re Oliver
I hate to say I told you so……..but I told you so.
On the run up to the game I said I fully expected Oliver to put in a good display, and to not fall for Costas antics. He didn’t.
I also said that if that happened, as I expected it to, we would win comfortably. We did.
I honestly believe if we’d had Dean or Atkinson, either one would not of allowed us to win the physical battle with Costa, and we would of likely ended with 10 men again, and a defeat.
That is how big a difference there can be between being refereed fairly or otherwise.
I’m sure most of we armchair followers of ArsenalFC would agree that ref Oliver’s duties were fair and unbiased,
Unfortunately, the limitations of TV (even with HD) usually means that the failings of match officials are invariably not that apparent. 😉
I guess I am not most. I would never trust a gut feeling to measurements as far as bias goes. And Walter’s report shows the bias is still present. There are fewer mistakes, the bias is still present.
Gord
Slight bias, no bias ?
Frankly I don’t care. If we where refereed like that every week I would be a happy man.
Maybe my expectations have been dulled by years and years of being stitched up, but for the first time in many many years I just feel there is something fundamentally different in how we are being treated.
Please please may it continue.
Thanks Usama and Walter, and well done Mr Oliver, and a few other refs this season. Seems to be an improvement…….for now.
Heard on the radio it was Mike Dean who has been a huge voice on the crackdown of grappling, holding, and blocking in the area, which has hit teams like Stoke and Leicester so badly. Never thought I would say this, and I know things can still go wrong, but good on you Mr Dean if that radio report was true.
Something has happened, there’s no doubt about it. We may never know what it is. We have waited years for referee performances like this. It is such a pleasure to watch a match and not be tense the whole while waiting for the next blatant refereeing offence against Arsenal. Oh, I hope SO MUCH it lasts all season.