- Wolverhampton v Arsenal. The team that can tackle and foul without fear
- Wolverhampton v Arsenal – home, away and discipline
By Bulldog Drummond
As you will know if you have ever considered referees in the Premier League, they live in a world of absolute secrecy. While top-level referees in Germany are interviewed on TV before and after games, in England there are no interviews, and very limited reporting on referees anywhere in the media at all. It is as if the media colludes with PGMO not to mention the referees!
But media collusion with a highly secretive monopoly? That does seem strange given the way that the media spends so much time seeking out details of transfer talks that the clubs are trying to keep secret. Almost as strange as some of the figures we see from referees this season. Consider this tiny selection with figures from Whoscored.
| Referee | Games | HomeWin% | AwayWin% | Draw% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony Taylor | 22 | 36.4% | 27.3% | 36.4% |
| Paul Tierney | 21 | 33.3% | 42.9% | 23.8% |
| .Jarred Gillett | 17 | 41.2% | 47.1% | 11.8% |
| Darren England | 10 | 60.0% | 10.0% | 30.0% |
These are four referees who have each overseen ten or more Premier League games this season. The home win percentage ranges from 36% to 60%. The away win percentage ranges from 10% to 47%. The draw percentage from 12% to 30%. These are enormous variations from one referee to another with some referees seeing almost twice as many of their games as home wins as others. And some referees seeing over four times as many as their games as away wins as others!
Today we have Paul Tierney who does seem to like away teams, but of course with these men there is no telling what influences they might come under beside their normal habit. And by that I don’t mean that there is evidence that they can be bribed, but rather that when there is an organisation as secretive as PGMO and a media who have no interest in investigating the secret body, then we, the paying public, are left in the dark.
Tierney’s most recent match involving today’s hosts was their 2-0 defeat away at Aston Villa in the Premier League at the end of March when he showed 7 yellow cards, including bookings for Max Kilman, Toti Gomes, Tawanda Chirewa and Pablo Sarabia.
So let us now compare today’s referee with a few others in terms of fouls and tackles.
In terms of fouls per game he sees fewer than most of his colleagues. He blows for 21.95 fouls a game compared for example with David Coote who sees 24.21 – that is 10% more fouls per game than our referee tonight. That offers Wolverhampton a chance to get in there with the fouling which is so central to their game plan.
But having a referee who simply doesn’t see as many fouls as some other referees is going to be really helpful for Wolverhampton since they are the second-highest fouling team in the league at 12.4 fouls a game. Arsenal commit only 7.2 fouls per game.
In other words, Wolverhampton commit on average across the season 72% more fouls than Arsenal, but today are overseen by a referee who sees 10% fewer fouls than some other referees. It looks very much like Wolverhampton are going to hack Arsenal to pieces.
Arsenal (as we know but you will never find it mentioned in the media) have the best discipline record in the league with 49 yellow cards and two red cards while Wolverhampton are on 82 yellow cards and 3 red.
But Paul Tierney is very much at the low end of handing out yellow cards (3.43 a game) compared for example with David Coote at 5.29 a game.which will undoubtedly help Wolverhampton keep their players on the pitch while proceeding with their normal fouling approach.
Indeed it is difficult to see any attribute of this referee that is going to be of any benefit to Arsenal at all, save the fact that overall he tends to oversee a more away wins than home wins.
The rest of the refereeing line up is…
Assistant Referee: Scott Ledger (no refereeing experience)
Assistant Referee: Matthew Wilkes (no refereeing experience)
Fourth Official: Darren Bon (has refereed four PL games this season)
Video Assistant Referee: John Brooks.(has refereed 20 PL games this season)
Additional Video Assistant Referee: Wade Smith (no refereeing experience)
Meanwhile, elsewhere in football the Arsenal knocking goes on. Consider P”hil Foden names player Arsenal sold for £16m among his all-time Premier League favourites.” That sounds like another Arsenal disaster, but the player in question was Thierry Henry at the very end of his career. Of all the factoids that there are about Thierry, that surely is the least interesting and important in relation to his career – and yet it makes the headline.
Or what about Arsenal news: William Saliba branded a “disaster” from the Mirror. That branding apparently came from William Gallas, of whom…, well, perhaps we had better leave it there.
More anon.
