Ref Review: Arsenal – Tottenham: 25 fouls and one yellow card

29 Replies to “Ref Review: Arsenal – Tottenham: 25 fouls and one yellow card”

1. Anyone whose wondering why everything is red from the 2nd half and onwards… its probably a glitch within Word Press.

2. Thanks for the report guys.

   I think the colouring in the second half is a little haywire, some things that are described as correct, are coloured red.

3. Sorry for non refreshing my screen, before I report colouring. 🙂

4. You guys have been lenient with Clattenburg. I’m not a professional ref, so I’m just applying the principle of cause and effect, but if it were me, re the Dembele penalty, he (Dembele) would have never gotten into that position had the ref correctly penalized him for the shirt pull on Coquelin. But that’s just my interpretation.

5. Florian,

   I agree with you, but even if we consider it correct (to keep away bias accusations) it does not changes the fact that 2 points were robbed of us thanks to the ref allowing the “Elbow Maniac” Wanyama to foul freely.

   One more thing, its from Burnley-Palace Week 11 game. Ref Taylor gives the foul for similar incident as Dembele-Coq.

   https://gfycat.com/HealthyJaggedLacewing

6. I was at the game, Spurs tactics were clear, and the antics of the ref gave them added confidence to deploy them.
   Not sure if it was shown on tv, but one of their defenders….Verthongen?? also stuck out an arm and stopped a ball in his own area.
   Constant rotational fouling breaking up our play, our boys were getting clearly frustrated at times. Glad to see them backing theo up when Wanyama caught him, think we need more of that.
   The ref was in a real hurry to give them that pen…maybe he wrongly believed we had scored an offside goal or something? in his haste, he would have paid little attention to any Spurs players shirt pulling. How many more soft pens are Spurs going to be given before even the slowest of refs realise they are persistantly wrapping their feet around defenders?
   What do Dier, Wanyama, Alli, Dembele, Sissoko, Verthongen actually have to do to see red ….at least during the game?

   Does anyone have any theories as to why Spurs get away with so much? The media darling effect? (although a clear second to Liverpool this year) Does Poch coach them at subtle fouling? Just poor refereeing…or a wider agenda?

   Three dodgy ref performances in our last 3 league games, and dont even get me started on the ref in Bulgaria. Old Trafford next, and it is November….lovely….

7. Mandy Dodd,

   If Vertonghen did that so then I am afraid, that the media and broadcasters can easily brush under the carpet even during live casting and us TV viewers are on the mercy of that.

8. Mandy Dodd,

   You mentioned of the ref in Bulgaria against us. It was Bas Nijhuis (Netherlands) and yes he was very poor.

   One more thing I would like to talk is that there is not a single referee from Belgium in the UEFA CL. Not one. Belgium not only is a big international team, they also have a big and highly competitive football structure and certainly much better than the likes of Hungary, Romania, Norway, Scotland, and Serbia. Of these 5 nations there are a total of 6 refs in UEFA Elite List currently in the CL and that includes that absolute mess of a ref Viktor Kassai.

   The last ref from Belgium that I have seen in the CL was Frank de Bleeckere (the prince charles lookalike… sort of) and I think he is currently the head of refs in Belgium.

9. That bastion of “great reporting” (Daily Star) has an article out 15 minutes ago, that says that Santi Cazorla will not be fit for ManU. The Google snippet then goes on to mention that he was hurt against Razgrad. I thought he was hurt in the EPL, because of one of those wonderful PGMO worms.

10. Think it was Verthongen Usama, believe it was Bellerin who put it into the box, said Spurs defender , while crouched on the ground in his own area stuck out an arm stopping it going any further….right in front of us in the North bank, that section of the crowd went mad, but not surprised the media let it go.the ref may not have seen it, but the linesman certainly should have.
    Wonder which game they are saving up Anthony Taylor for?

11. Speaking of evidence, here is an article that shows the origins of English football’s malaise: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-one-mans-bad-math-helped-ruin-decades-of-english-soccer/

12. I recall an incident where Koscielny had his shirt pulled in the penalty area at a set piece which looked a clear cut penalty – but you haven’t mentioned?

13. A story about an Arsenal groundsman

    http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/14909622.Real_Madrid_and_Arsenal_groundsmen_praise_Cappielow_pitch/

14. in UCL I get nervous when we get kassai, Rizzoli and cakir. Do they have issues with us? I don’t know. 25 spurs fouls shows an average of 2.5 per outfield player; only one yellow card!!!!! looks funny because a big % belong to a few in the midfielders and defenders. it makes it clear that there were habitual offenders unpunished. if a player gets a yellow card he plays more cautiously. My feeling is that cards not given be it yellow or red equals missed points.

15. I think Pete is right, Kos did have his shirt pulled, in fact (from memory) that pillar of sporting unrighteousness, Vertongen, did his best to remove it.

    Otherwise – an excellent report.

    Spurs have been a vicious team for some time & seem to be getting worse under Poch – as if he knows the PGMO will let him get away with cheating and that the media will cover the whole thing up.

16. Interesting bjt, agree Spurs get away with rather a lot. this game reminded me of the infamous Costa Gabriel game at Stamford Bridge…almost as if the Spurs players knew they would get away with pretty much whatever they attempted. Yet we were at home this time, unlike the Costa fiasco.
    Wanyama is a card avoiding phenomenon , like some of his colleagues….almost as if the media have influence on the pgmol….heaven forbid.
    The FA no longer need to try to attract Wenger as England manager…..not that it would ever happen, normal PGMOL service resumed……as we have seen in recent games and will doubtless see this weekend

17. Rose is also a consistently dirty player, who gets away with repeated deliberate fouling.

18. Why do PiGMOb favour spurs? Simples they are all from the same pot. Just that spuds are not as far north as the rest of the swine. We must be thankful that we got a point & minimal contact injuries.

    I never really understood the dislike Arsenal fans have for the spuds but I am beginning to get the drift. HD & high res TV has begun to show clarity.

    I am sure channel 4 could do with an Untold view of corrupt interpretation of Laws of the Game by PGMO. It would draw huge revenue from SpecSavers among others. Titled ‘How not to play the Ball’ – a blind insight of refereeing decisions in the EPL.

19. Both of their full backs have the full set of dark arts qualifications. Both like a snide foul and a dive.

20. JohnL

    Rose is also like some of his teammates Alli in particular as a habitual and consistent diver.

    To be fair and reasonable: Tottenham are a bunch of diving cloggers. and people wonder how England lost to Iceland…

21. Rosicky appreciated Rose’s skill as a footballer 😉

22. Mandy Dodd

    Really not sure why Spurs are doing so well with refs of late. We’ve seen with Liverpool, Leicester and Spurs in last few years that when an unexpected challenger makes a strong run they seem to become popular with refs and media alike.

    Also think Poch has studied the British game and English refs well, and understood very physical play, fair and foul, is generally well received. Think Utd and Chelsea.

    Some English darlings have no doubt helped as well. Didn’t work for us as, with possible exception of Wilshere, our English contingent are all squeaky clean players, and, crucially, play for us.

    Finally, maybe a bit of the dislike for us equates to some goodwill for our neighbors.

    I can’t really remember how they fared in times gone by, other than that they were poorly treated in Utd games.

    As for Wanyama, I’d guess he’s put in 15-20 * fouls on us in his last three games, with 5-8 bookable offences.

    Think he picked up one booking in that time. Koeman knew, Poch knows, Wanyama knows : playing against us a midfielder has special licence to commit more fouls than usual.

    * Hard to even keep track of how many fouls he actually made as, in that match at St Mary’s last year, he was pushing players or having a little kick at them from behind every time they released the ball- not enough to send a player to the floor, but enough to be extremely annoying, especially when stronger fouls are thrown in, and something a ref should deal with.

    It’s one of the asymmetries we have to deal with: Lamela’s of this world would tend to throw themselves over at that contact, and a ref might issue a card if you did it a couple of times (think Palace players jumping over with light contact from Coquelin). Whereas Wanyama could do it to us 10 times without a single free kick being awarded.

    We just have to overcome all that crap as it won’t change.

23. The way forward would be to get some evidence of “foul play” by the officials in front of an MP who understands the game. Perhaps not Jeremy Corbin as he would immediately be labelled as “biased” by the Zionist loving English media out there.

    Lobbying government is a very long and often disappointing process, and I think supporters of ONE club might not achieve much. However, the enquiry into “Corruption in Sport” is ongoing, and the committee that questioned the FA Chairman, “Governance in Football”, would be the one vehicle upon which we could probably climb.

    As mentioned, putting a submission together would be extremely time consuming and I wouldn’t expect anybody in full time employment/business to be able to tackle it.

24. Eurosprot is running an article about the Arsenal/ManU derby. It salts the discussion by stating that there have been 14 red cards (dismissals) in the Wenger era.

    Going through Wikipedia, I count 7 dismissals. Six of them are second yellow cards, only Fletcher was a straight red. And that is looking at EPL, FA, LC and UEFACL. Where are these other 7?

    1997/98
    _Yellow:
    __Platt, Wright vs PNeville, Scholes
    __GNeville, Sheringham vs Adams, Anelka, Dixon

    1998/99 FA
    _Red:
    __Vivas Ars)
    __Keane(ManU)

    2003/04
    _Yellow:
    __Keane, van Nistelrooy, Ronaldo, Fortune vs Toure, Keown, Viera(2)
    __Clichy vs Scholes

    2003/04 FA
    _Yellow
    __Pires, Lehman, Toure, Lauren vs Scholes

    2008/09
    _Yellow
    __Gallas, Sagna, Clichy vs Evra, Carrick
    __van Persie, Arshavin, Fabregas, Song

    2008/09 UEFACL
    _Yellow
    __Tevez
    __Nasri, Adebayor, Eboue (Red Fletcher)

    2009/10
    _Yellow
    __Evra, Rooney, Brown vs Song, Gallas, van Persie, Almunia, Eboue, Sagna
    __Song

    2010/11
    _Yellow
    __Chamakh, Ashavin, Clichy, Song
    __Song vs Rooney, Park, Fabio

    2010/11 FA
    _Yellow
    __Scholes

    2011/12
    _Yellow
    __Young, Evans vs Arshavin, Jenkinson(2), Djourou
    __Ramsey, van Persie, Koscielny, Rosicky, Song vs Rafael, Evra

    2012/13
    _Yellow
    __van Persie, Young, Cleverley, Rooney, Anderson vs Wilshere(2), Arshavin, Arteta
    __Walcott, Sagna, Chamberlain vs Jones, Rafael, van Persie, Evans, Valencia

    2013/14
    _Yellow
    __Jones, Rooney vs Sagna, Flamini, Wilshere
    __Sagna vs Valencia, Young

    2014/15
    _Yellow
    __Cazorla, Giroud vs Wilson

    2014/15 FA
    _Yellow
    __Herrera, Fellaini, Young, Rojo, DiMaria(2), Januzaj vs Bellerin, Ramsey

    2015/16
    _Yellow
    __Young, Darmian, Rooney
    __Varela, Carrick, Herrera, Januzaj vs Ozil, Ramsey, Elneny

25. Pete
    Re Kos having his shirt pulled, in the first half I think.
    You are correct and it was Vertonghen who was pulling it so blatantly I am surprised his shirt didn’t rip, even the BT commentators remarked on it and joked the shirt pulling ‘clampdown’ seems to have died a death. Absolute stonewall penalty, why no mention?

26. Here is the Vertonghen shirt pull.
    http://cache2.asset-cache.net/gc/179195131-jan-vertonghen-of-spurs-pulls-on-the-shirt-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QQXrMvMH5tS6m1w0WkBWoL6eNtM%2BkI%2F6bB%2FM1iKfd6UCfSYayq2v13FRHedOBrAaiQ%3D%3D

27. Sadly, think you are probably right on all counts Rich.
    The crap probably will still keep coming, at least while Mr Wenger remains, seems he upsets the English football establishment, despite they want him to manage England

28. Gord, I looked into the stats a while back for our Utd games. Concentrated on league only and it seems a lot of our dismissals against them were in cup games. Bit of a laborious task for me putting these stats together as i was clicking on season by season then our games vs Utd. Think they are fairly accurate, although 1 or 2 (unconverted) pens may have been missed (prob for Utd!)

    The surprise for me is that there weren’t more pens and reds in Utd’s favour. Reds and especially pens are, however, ridiculously and appallingly low in our favour. This defies sense/chance/probability/whatever when you consider the ultra competitive nature of 40 or so games, and that’s even if you deny Utd were a team who pushed rules to the edge/ dirty bastards.

    2015-16

    No pens, no reds

    2014-15

    No pen, no reds

    2013-14

    No pen, no reds

    2012-13

    1 red (2 yellows) Arsenal

    1 pen Utd

    2011-12

    1 red Arsenal (2 yellows)

    1 pen Utd
    1 pen Arsenal (8-2 game. missed?) *

    2010-11

    No pens, no reds

    2009-10

    1 pen utd

    2008-9

    no pens, no reds

    2007-8

    1 pen Utd

    no reds

    2006-7

    no pens, no reds

    2005-6

    no pens, no reds

    2004-5

    1 pen Utd

    1 red Utd (Silvestre)

    2003-4

    1 pen Utd

    1 red Arsenal (+ retrospective bans) Viera

    2002-3

    1 red arsenal (Campbell)

    2001-2

    No pens, no reds

    2000-2001

    No pens, no reds

    1999-2000

    No pens, no reds

    —————————
    1998-9

    1 red Utd (Nicky Butt 51)

    97-98

    No pens, no reds

    ————————————————-

    96-97

    No pens, no reds

    ———————————————

    Pre-Wenger

    95-96

    No pens, no reds

    ———————

    No good records for earlier

    94-95

    6 pens utd
    1 pen arsenal
    2 reds utd
    4 reds arsenal.

    DO NOT EXPECT A PEN, folks. The stats say they are almost an impossibility for us in this fixture.

29. Gord, here’s an article from Mail showing our reds against them. Many in cups as i thought and the 4 reds in league tallies with what I found.

    14 might be the total between the two clubs. 9 for us, 5 them?

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2557514/99-Red-Buffoons-As-Arsenal-prepare-visit-bitter-rivals-United-feisty-fixture-100th-sending-Wenger.html