By Tony Attwood
Way back in August 2010 Untold published an article by Walter Broeckx, a referee in Belgium who over the years has been a good friend to this site.
The article was headed “Football reduced to the survival of the fittest” and it analysed the refereeing for the third game of that season.
Few other websites, and virtually no newspapers or TV shows were willing to take up the issues raised by Walter in his regular analyses, but in recent years Football Observatory (who can bring many more resources to measuring what happens in a game than we ever could) have started to look at the issue.
And now in Issue number 338 the Observatory asks the question “How frequently are teams fouling their opponents across Europe?” And they proclaim that “At the level of the five major European leagues, the lowest foul frequency was measured for Arsenal.”
We of course have been noting this all season, and indeed we advocated that Arsenal needed to stop tackling because they were being penalised for almost every tackle by over-excited referees.
I’m not saying Arsenal took our advice – they obviously have their own analysts, but while the media ignored the issue, Arsenal got on with it, cut back on tackling and stopped giving referees the chance to penalise them time and again throughout every match.
So Arsenal became the club that commits the least fouls in Europe – although curiously the Premier League’s website (which has loads of stats) doesn’t have this particular statistic.
But fortunately Footstats does give us that detail
| Table Position | League Position | Team | Played | Fouls committed by Team | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Per Game | ||||
| 1 | 9 | Arsenal | 36 | 328 | 9.11 |
| 2 | 1 | Manchester City | 36 | 342 | 9.50 |
| 3 | 7 | West Ham United | 36 | 358 | 9.94 |
| 4 | 8 | Everton | 36 | 365 | 10.14 |
| 5 | 15 | Burnley | 36 | 373 | 10.36 |
| 6 | 16 | Newcastle United | 36 | 375 | 10.42 |
| 7 | 5 | Liverpool | 36 | 379 | 10.53 |
| 8 | 19 | West Bromwich A | 36 | 384 | 10.67 |
| 9 | 3 | Leicester City | 36 | 391 | 10.86 |
| 10 | 13 | Crystal Palace | 36 | 394 | 10.94 |
| 11 | 12 | Wolverhampton | 36 | 400 | 11.11 |
| 12 | 10 | Leeds United | 36 | 403 | 11.19 |
| 13 | 4 | Chelsea | 36 | 406 | 11.28 |
| 14 | 17 | Brighton & Hove | 36 | 406 | 11.28 |
| 15 | 14 | Southampton | 36 | 407 | 11.31 |
| 16 | 11 | Aston Villa | 36 | 415 | 11.53 |
| 17 | 6 | Tottenham Hots | 36 | 417 | 11.58 |
| 18 | 2 | Manchester Utd | 36 | 439 | 12.19 |
| 19 | 20 | Sheffield United | 36 | 441 | 12.25 |
| 20 | 18 | Fulham | 36 | 457 | 12.69 |
Which confirmed our view that Arsenal had indeed responded to the way they were being treated by PGMO by cutting out the tackling, in order to cut out the fouling, in order to cut down the number of free kicks that were given against them and the number of yellow cards. And it has worked.
But we also had a worry about the way some clubs reacted to tackles, persuading referees one way or another to give them a free kick – even when the opposition player seemingly did very little at all. This process unfortunately has gone unchecked, so time to emphasise it again. Figures again from Footstats.
| List position | League Position | Team | Fouls committed by Opposition | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Per Game | |||
| 1 | 20 | Sheffield United | 296 | 8.22 |
| 2 | 5 | Liverpool | 337 | 9.36 |
| 3 | 7 | West Ham United | 350 | 9.72 |
| 4 | 4 | Chelsea | 350 | 9.72 |
| 5 | 17 | Brighton and Hove | 355 | 9.86 |
| 6 | 1 | Manchester City | 366 | 10.17 |
| 7 | 18 | Fulham | 371 | 10.31 |
| 8 | 2 | Manchester United | 382 | 10.61 |
| 9 | 15 | Burnley | 385 | 10.69 |
| 10 | 8 | Everton | 390 | 10.83 |
| 11 | 12 | Wolverhampton | 390 | 10.83 |
| 12 | 9 | Arsenal | 406 | 11.28 |
| 13 | 19 | West Bromwich | 407 | 11.31 |
| 14 | 10 | Leeds United | 410 | 11.39 |
| 15 | 16 | Newcastle United | 413 | 11.47 |
| 16 | 3 | Leicester City | 417 | 11.58 |
| 17 | 13 | Crystal Palace | 421 | 11.69 |
| 18 | 14 | Southampton | 421 | 11.69 |
| 19 | 6 | Tottenham Hots | 472 | 13.11 |
| 20 | 11 | Aston Villa | 541 | 15.03 |
Now my point is not that Tottenham and Aston Villa are at the foot of the table – but rather they are off the chart. Tottenham have 40% more fouls given in their favour than Liverpool and 35% more than West Ham!
But these figures are overshadowed by Aston Villa’ numbers which are even more extreme.
If you take a look at the final column above you will see that the difference between clubs in 2nd and 18th position in the table (Liverpool and Southampton) is just 84 fouls against, across the whole season, showing a modest difference between clubs in terms of the number of fouls committed against them, Tottenham and Aston Villa’s figures are flying off the chart.
What we are expected to believe is that on going out to face Tottenham and Aston Villa all the other 18 teams in the League are determined to foul them. All the time.
Now I can imagine one club doing it, but most of the league? All season??? Why?????????
The most likely explanation surely is that Tottenham and Villa players react more quickly to a foul, perhaps exaggerating the hurt they have received, perhaps egged on by their manager – it is a method of breaking up play.
Now you might recall that Villa had a pretty nifty start to the season, winning their first four league games and by late October being second in the league. That then changed and they are now 11th. One possible explanation is that they kept up the same policy, but the referees noticed.
Tottenham lost their opening game of the season, but went on a good run until quite extraordinarily losing to Royal Antwerp in the Europa. But it really went wrong in January when they lost six out of seven League and FA Cup matches, and they have never recovered since. Did the refs once more, notice the tactic?
The level of free kicks Tottenham and Villa get as a result of fouls against them is ludicrously high compared with every other team – unless we are seriously asked to believe that the remaining 18 clubs in the league conspire together to kick Tottenham and Villa. And if that is the argument, the question is, Why?????????
And one other thing…. why does the media never even mention this?
Arsenal against the Media
- The challenge facing Arsenal fans is to disregard the fairytale and follow the facts
- If this is an explosive rant from Arteta I’m a Martian
- Arsenal are once again a top four club, and the figures since Xmas prove it
- Arsenal are back to being a top four club – so why change the defence?
- How the media is trying to destroy Arsenal: the perfect example
- Proof that the media is inventing statistics to show there’s no ref bias.
- How one journalist decided to turn the truth about Arsenal upside down.
The table kind of undermines the referee bias against Arsenal argument.
Moving quickly on, I’m guessing that Grealish is the most fouled player in the prem. That might partly explain why Villa are where they re on the table.
@Dublin Gooner
This table could be interpreted like that. If taken in isolation. If seen out of context. And if that’s what someone was trying to argue. Nonetheless when looked at in context we can see that this isn’t the case.
Referee bias does not come into these tables unless one looks at who the fouled and fouler were. Some players are masters of the art of reacting to get the referee to whistle (unlike the builders reacting to an attractive lady)for a perceived foul. The fall to touch is an amazing addition to the simulation that was so much in the headlines.
In my opinion, the PGMOL are the biggest simulators in the history of football They simulate honesty and fairplay when turning a blind eye to the truth.
Arsenal have been keeping away from the PGMOL fouls by only intercepting to win the ball with careful timing to occassionally rob the ball when it is badly touched by the opponent.
Grealish has a natural instinct to protect the ball but falls easily to get noticed. He is not fouled as often as he falls, if he were, his maintenance would include two ambulances and a posse of nurses.