by Andrew Crawshaw
- Referee – Mark Clattenburg. Age 41 from Durham and FIFA Accredited
- Assistant 1 – Simon Bennett. From Staffordshire and FIFA Accredited
- Assistant 2 – Richard West. From East Yorkshire
- Fourth Official – Mike Dean. Age 48 from Mersyside
This will be our third time this year we have had the ‘pleasure’ of Mark Clattenburg and so far he has been pretty poor – with Mike Dean whispering in his ear on Tuesday night I can’t see that situation improving.
There is also no excuse for any team having a referee three times in 16 games, this can only be a clear attempt by the PGMO to fix the result. There are 5 referees who we haven’t had at all this season so to have one for the third time is rediculous. In the first 16 weeks of the season he will have done 12 games so one quarter of his games have been Arsenal!
Leicester v Arsenal 20 August 2016 (0 – 0)
| Ref Review : Leicester – Arsenal |
59% overall weighted score, bias against the two teams of 3/97 and 3 wrong Important Decisions (Second Yellow, Red Cards, penalties and Goals).
Min21 Vardy should have been dismissed for a scissor tackle on Monreal and two not given penalties – Min 31 Morgan was holding Koscielny and Min 42 Huth was holding Holding. With Leicester down to 10 men in Min 21 and Arsenal awarded two penalties this should have been a comfortable win instead of a draw.
Arsenal v Tottenham 6 November 2016 (1 – 1)
| Ref Review: Arsenal – Tottenham: 25 fouls and one yellow card |
60% overall, bias against the two teams of 82/18 and two wrong Important Decisions.
Min44 Wanyama should have had a second yellow card for a foul on Walcott and he should have had a third yellow card in Min90 for a foul on Alexis. Again with a man advantage for the whole of the second half this game would have been won rather than drawn.
How has Mr Clattenburg done in his other games this year – we have analysed the first 12 weeks :-
| Wrong Important Decisions to Date | |||||||
| Referee | Games | 2nd Yellow | Red | Penalties | Goal | Total | Avg |
| Roger East | 5 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 15 | 3 |
| Mike Dean | 10 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 25 | 2.5 |
| Robert Madley | 9 | 4 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 22 | 2.44 |
| Craig Pawson | 7 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 17 | 2.42 |
| Anthony Taylor | 10 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 20 | 2 |
| Graham Scott | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| Mark Clattenburg | 8 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 2 |
| Michael Oliver | 10 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 20 | 2 |
| Andre Marriner | 9 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 17 | 1.89 |
| Lee Mason | 6 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 1.83 |
| Martin Atkinson | 10 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 18 | 1.8 |
| Jon Moss | 9 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 15 | 1.67 |
| Kevin Friend | 6 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 1.67 |
| Paul Tierney | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1.5 |
| Stuart Attwell | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1.33 |
| Mike Jones | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 1.14 |
| Neil Swarbrick | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 1.14 |
And here are his numbers for correct decisions
| Referee | Matches | Second Yellow Cards | Red Cards | Penalties | Total |
| Mark Clattenburg | 8 | 1 | 0 | 19+1* | 21 |
| Mike Dean | 10 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 17 |
| Andre Marriner | 9 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 15 |
| Robert Madley | 9 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 12 |
| Michael Oliver | 10 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 11 |
| Neil Swarbrick | 7 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 11 |
| Craig Pawson | 7 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| Roger East | 5 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| Jon Moss | 9 | 0 | 2 | 5+1* | 8 |
| Lee Mason | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5+1* | 7 |
| Martin Atkinson | 10 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Mike Jones | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Anthony Taylor | 10 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Kevin Friend | 6 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Stuart Attwell | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4+1* | 5 |
| Graham Scott | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3+1* | 4 |
| Paul Tierney | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
The good thing overall this year is that he has made more correct than wrong decisions, the bad thing is that he is still averaging two wrong decisions per game which is pretty poor overall.
Here is his history in Arsenal games over the past two seasons :-
Last season 2015-16 we had the pleasure of Mr Clattenberg on four occasions
21 November WBA v Arsenal (2-1)
42% overall weighted performance, bias against the two teams 9/91 and 5 wrong Important Decisions.
Min 34 Arteta was penalised for a ‘Phantom Foul” from which West Brom scored (no foul so no free kick so no goal); Min 46 Olsson wrestled Giroud to the ground in the penalty area should have resulted in a penalty for Arsenal and a second yellow card for Olsson neither of which were given; Min 75 Morrison should have had a second yellow card for a foul on Campbell; Min 84 the penalty that Arsenal was correctly awarded should have been retaken due to encroachment by two West Brom players.
A minimum of two points and almost certainly three robbed by Mr Clattenberg
24 January Arsenal v Chelsea (0-1)
| Referee Review: Arsenal – Chelsea |
76% overall weighted score, bias against the two teams 35/65 and one wrong Important Decision when in Min 56 Kos fouled Fabregas in our penalty area and Mr Clattenberg didn’t award the penalty.
A game where Mr Clattenberg had a decent enough game, didn’t affect the result and even gave a balance of wrong decisions in favour of Arsenal
19 March Everton v Arsenal (0-2)
| Ref Review: Everton – Arsenal, more of the terrible the same…. |
43% overall weighted score, bias against the two teams 6/94 and two wrong Important Decisions.
Min 34 both Besic and Funes fouled Alexis in the penalty area, no penalty given, Min81 Funes should have been given a second yellow card for a foul on Giroud.
Awful refereeing despite which we won the game.
15 May Arsenal v Aston Villa (4 – 0)
| Ref Review : Arsenal – Aston Villa: did we see any change in referee approach in the last game of the season? |
64% overall, bias against the two teams 58/42 and 3 wrong Important Decisions.
Min 5 the goal from Giroud shouldn’t have counted as it had gone out of play before reaching him, Min 23 and 51 We should have had two penalties each one for a foul on Giroud by Toner. Below the 70% minimum acceptable level but the bias numbers were just within the 60/40 point so not too bad from that point of view.
Four appearances then from a FIFA Accredited referee and only one was above the 70% minimum acceptable level. No fewer than 11 wrong Important Decisions which is totally unacceptable. One game where his errors ensured that we lost.
Going back to the previous season 2014-15 and we had him for two games
| Ref Review : Arsenal – Man City |
71% Overall, bias against the two teams 73/27 and two wrong Important Decisions.
Min 45 Milner should have a second yellow card for a foul and Min 76 Wilshere should have conceded a penalty for handball. The game ended as a 2 – 2 draw, City should probably have won it 3 – 2 so two points gifted to Arsenal.
| Ref Review: Crystal Palace – Arsenal |
80% overall, bias against the two teams of 18/82 and 2 wrong Important Decisions.
Min2 Özil called back erroneously for offside (he was a meter onside and finished the ball into the net) Min 3 Coquelin should have been dismissed for a high foot on Campbell. I called this one as three points gained by Arsenal from the incorrect refereeing decisions.
Here is my Summary from the Tottenham game – I have added amended comments relating to this Game in Red as I really have seen nothing in the last month to make me change my mind about this referee.
Summary
- For a FIFA Accredited referee Mr Clattenburg is usually as much use as a chocolate fireguard when it comes to Arsenal games.
- His overall weighted performance scores in his last 8 Arsenal games have been 60, 58.9, 42, 76, 43, 64, 71 and 80. Four games well below the minimum acceptable level of 70 and only two significantly better.
1820 wrong Important Decisions in those78 games so roughly two and a half per game confirming that he is worse in Arsenal games than his league average for this year. - Of those
1820 decisions,68 should have resulted in players being sent off, nine should have resulted in penalties (or penalty retakes) and 3 were wrongly awarded goals. - His bias numbers are usually well up to the PGMO normal levels 82, 97, 91, 94, 73 and 82% against Arsenal in the last
78 games, one game was within the 60/40 acceptable level and the final one was actually 65/35 in our favour which, no doubt, earned him a severe dressing down from his masters (I don’t think we can expect that kind of score on Saturday). - He is far too lenient when it comes to poor challenges and despite him having a better than average eye for a penalty this year still misses far too many.
- He is also another referee partial to the old “phantom foul’ con trick. Blowing for a non-existent foul within striking distance of the Arsenal goal and giving our opposition a chance to score.
- We can expect to see at least three wrong Important Decisions, probably one penalty and two players not sent off.
- Of Course with Mike Dean as Fourth Official “whispering”, things could be a whole lot worse unless Mark Clattenburg tells him to ‘bu..er off and shut up’.
COYG
Tales from Untold
Wenger May Not Be Special But He’s Definitely Something More …
The live report of the CL draw
What are the actual benefits of topping the Champions League group this season?
Over half the important decisions made by Premier League referees are wrong.
The most grotesque appalling display by a referee; the most disgraceful awful fans.
Arsenal – Stoke 3-1: Theo, Özil and Iwobi cancel out Lee’s opener
How on earth can the ref who had an “expert eye” on the ‘little’ trip from Koscielny on Dembele have missed two blatant fouls in one incident on Alexis last season in the same fixture????
Some might say it is coincidence of course. Others might say it is bias.
The bets are open on in which minute Arsenal wil get a soft penalty given against them…
Delafeu likes a fall over. I bet they are doing manufactured collision practise already. Koeman knows the score with the Refs as he has shown while coaching Southampton. Need to be at our best.
is a torture for arsenal by leaded by mark clatten to much than others
With referee Mark Clattenburg at the center for the 3rd time this season for our PL games, and at our Everton away match being his 3rd into week 16 of the PL campaign this season, and referee Mike Dean also at the touch line as the match forth official. There is every cause for one to have the suspicion the Pgmol might have fixed the result of this match to be against Arsenal. Unacceptable!
Maybe is this suspicious match fixing by the Pgmol that led Mark Lawrenson – Lawro’s Weekly PL Predictions, has noticed that made him to predict a 1-1 score-line for our tonight’s game at Everton which had me surprised and to think that Lawro doesn’t like Arsenal.
Let’s not bother ourselves much about any negative orders ref’ Mark Clattenburg and Mike Dean are billed to carry out against Arsenal this night at Goodison Park. The Gunners will overcome any purported plot by the duo against Arsenal. Because the Gunners are overcomes of any conspiracy on the field of play against them by any group of match officials.
The Gunners will this night overcome whatever resistant in the game the Toffees and the agents of the Pgmol have on offer against Arsenal as the Gunners will undoubtedly neutralized any plot against them by negating the plot and render it into obsolete state as they will unfailingly beat Everton at their Goodison Park home by 3 goals to nil.
So clattenberg will have had 9 matches an 3 of them againsy us? The fact that he has refereed us 3 times already is bad, but a 3rd of his matches against us??? And then look at the opponents he is being saved for, agressive, pressing, and or dirty, Stoke away will be one of his…
The Gunners are overcomers of any plot or conspiracy against them by any group of match officials.
COYG
Some think Clatters is ok.
I think he’s the worst. Not only does he consistently tilt against Arsenal, he also oversees the most violence & injuries (Theo, Santi, Coq etc, etc).
For those who aren’t crunched out of the game in which they’re playing, they’ll fall during the following matches.
Boooooooo!
@ob1977
The PGMO haven’t yet seemed fit to send Michael Oliver, Neil Swarbrick, Stuart Attwell, Paul Tierney or Graham Scott to do an Arsenal game.
At least we aren’t Hull – they have had the ‘pleasure of Lee Mason four times out of 9 games!
Swansea have had Michael Oliver, Jonathan Moss and Neil Swarbrick each on three occasions
Stoke, Watford, West Brom and West Ham are the only teams to have had no referee more than twice but that’s what you get when Anthony Taylor has had 15 games this season in 17 weeks only one fewer than Roger East, Stuart Attwell, Paul Tierney and Graham Scott combined.
I’ll do some further analysis after the week 19 games on Boxing Day.
On Everton…
Koeman has made a short-term improvement, especially at home where they were awful last season. However, Everton don’t have any beauty in their game and the absence of Yannick Bolasie should be a big relief for our defence. Lukaku remains the biggest threat though and Ashley Williams is a danger at set-pieces.
Also, in a few days they have a game that’s bigger for them then the one against us – The Merseyside Derby. I suppose they will be more motivated for that game.
Neither Spuds nor United have won at Goodison Park this season, both times it ended 1:1. That is a warning for us against complacency.
We have won in the last three league matches against Everton (2:0, 2:1, 2:0) and haven’t lost at GP since 2013-14. The 2:2 draw after being two goals down was the beginning of the sequence.
Our away record in the league in 2016 currently stands at 8-8-1. We have managed to stay unbeaten at least once at every club in the league this year with a chance to pay two successful visits to both Everton and Man City respectively. The only stadium we visited in 2016 and didn’t return without defeat is Nou Camp.
@Andrew
Oliver did three of our games, I think – Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham.
How bent can the PGBMOB get? This same referee for the third time this season!!! And the amazing thing is that he officiated the same fixture just last season where Giroud and Alexis did not get anything from him. How on earth this can be said to be a fair choice baffles me as there are seventeen referees and one is officiating the same team for the third time in sixteen matches?
If anyone thinks that Russian doping is bad for sport then they should consider how bad the FA & their officiating choice PGMOL are for football. They are damaging the integrity of the national game. It doesn’t matter who is chosen to officiate games played by Arsenal, we are guaranteed selective vision & nasty tackles to go unseen.
The TV pundits are sadly on a par with the PGMO; thick dumb incompetent ex footballers who cannot hold down any job requiring intelligence. These idiots are glorified by the TV stations as though their knowledge will guide victory into the game. Sadly all that is achieved is a pathetic verbage that doesn’t become sport.