- Havertz signing is genius but how could Arsenal be so utterly stupid?
- Who is going to get done by the Profit and Sustainabilty Rules? Here’s our first nomination
By Tony Attwood
I am not sure that there has been much talk about the activities of Yerson Mosquera in Arsenal’s opening match of the season, although Sky did pick up on his antics and quite rightly since the player did after all grab Kai Havertz by the throat and the held him that way on the ground. After that he waved his hand in the time honoured fashion of a footballer saying “it wasn’t me guv, I’m innocent, it was the other guy what done it”. There are quite a few photos of this around. The NY Times also has a few and you can find them elsewhere.
It was by any measure an offence that should have resulted in a red card, and even if the referee didn’t see it because he was doing something else, surely VAR must have seen it and told the referee.
But then the Wolverhampton team clearly realised that either their club or someone supporting their club had bought the referee, or else the referee was just having an incredibly weird 100 minutes in the game when, with Gabriel Jesus bending down to tie up his shoelace or something along those lines, Mosquera walked over to the Arsenal man and basically (putting it mildly for a family audience) fondled his buttocks.. Again there are pictures.
The explanation of the latter event was that the Wolverhampton player wanted Gabriel Jesus to move, but generally speaking if one wants another to move and one’s voice is not to be used for some weird reason, then there are different parts of the anatomy to be touched.
Two questions leap out: why did these events happen in the same match with players of the same team guilty, and why did neither the referee nor VAR deal with them? Indeed one could ask a third question, why are the authorities not investigating both incidents now?
What Wolverhampton seem to have realised is that players do not get booked, or at least warned, for doing really strange things to the opposition – things which in normal life would either start a fight or lead to a court case. It seems in fact that the League has decided that it is ok to do weird stuff on a pitch. Perhaps on the basis that pretty much everything else in football is pretty weird, so why not?
After all, we now hear from CNN that after Kylan Mbappe rejected three-quarters of a million dollars to go to Saudi Arabia and play football in front of what we might call “modest” crowds playing, Vinicius Junior has been offered over $1m.
Meanwhile elsewhere, but staying with stories picked up by the NY Times there is the report that 80% of the clubs that have won the league in the last 15 years have done so with a player scoring 20-plus goals. From which they draw the very strange statistical conclusion that either “Arsenal not win the league” or else “Saka gets 20.”
This might not have been written seriously, but it seems to read seriously, and if so one has to start worrying about the writers of the NY Times, (which appears to own the Athletic). What the report actually discovers is that most clubs that win the league do have a 20+ striker but it is still quite possible to do so without one. Which is quite different from implying Arsenal need 20+ from Saka to win the league.
In other news as they say, the Guardian reports that “Arsenal have rejected a bid of £25m from Nottingham Forest for Eddie Nketiah” after two bids from Marseille were also rejected. Either Arsenal are holding out for more or Eddie is part of the plans – maybe to be used just when everyone has got used to the idea that Arsenal are going to keep Havertz as a centre forward.
Finally, to round things up, the Cyprus FA have agreed to allow away fans into matches again despite the government saying they don’t want this – the clubs arguing the ban that had been in place was an overreaction and that football needs both home and away fans.
The police have informed the Cypriot Football Association that under a law in 2008 “non-compliance with the provisions of the law would mean no policing as the safe staging (of the match) would not have been ensured.”
Thus we may conclude that on the island there may, or may not be, professional football this season. That seems to cover most possibilities.
Potential GBH assault and indecent assault must be regarded as acceptable by PGMOL. Clearly the victims are to blame.
Any chance our player being indecently assaulted booking will be rescinded ?
Still we have the usual nonsense that pushing blocking or shoving in the penalty box when corners are taken will be severely dealt with.
Good to know that at least we know the dear old UAE paid PGMO are consistently bent with more angles than a Toby jug.
VAR as the eagle’s eye? Hope it’s not the same eagle on the logo of Nigeria’s anti corruption graph agency
The game was shown live where I live so I saw both incidents. I wasn’t surprised that the ” body corrupt” that ruins our football had a ‘no comment’ on them.
1. Jesus was deliberately holding the game up by stopping Wolves free kick. Mosquera simply moved him out of the way Jesus reacted violently and was lucky to only get a yellow.
2. Haven’t grabbed Mosquera and pulled him
‘down Mosquera wasn’t having any of it. Again Haven’t lucky not to get booked.
3. Saka’s blatant dive earlier also went unpunished. This habit of diving by Arsenal has n9t gone unnoticed by neutral pundits either.
Arsenal were the better side and deserved to win but appear to be intent on winning the title by fair means or foul
Where are the days that Xhaka was sent off for grabbing an opponent by the throath while standing up face to face…. the whole media couldn’t agree more with the ref to send him off…. oh well times have changed I guess… or the colour of the shirt the perpetrator was not the same….
To add to my previous post just google: xhaka red card grabbing throat. December 2020 it was….
Tony
“Two questions leap out: why did these events happen in the same match with players of the same team guilty, and why did neither the referee nor VAR deal with them? Indeed one could ask a third question, why are the authorities not investigating both incidents now?”
Because neither the referee or VAR think they did anything wrong. They are not guilty, despite clear evidence to the contrary. At least not according to SKY refereeing analyst Dermot Gallagher, who said of those 2 incidents:
THE ATTEMPTED STRANGULATION OF AN OPPONENT
DERMOT SAYS: I didn’t think it would be a red – only he knows how much force he applies. He’s got to put his hand somewhere but does he have to put it there? I’m not convinced. I think it’s aggressive but not violent. The referee sees it different to them being stood up. It was probably the right decision.
–So, lets get this right. Attempting to choke an opponent is not violent conduct? Try doing that to Dermot’s wife outside the ground and see what he and the courts make of it.
SEXUAL ASSAULT OF AN OPPONENT
DERMOT SAYS: They (Wolves) want to take the free kick and he’s trying to move him out of the way. Right call.
–So, lets get this right. Grabbing a blokes backside on a football pitch is not an assault? Trying doing that to Dermot’s wife in a lift and see what he and the courts make of it.
But not only that. During their ‘assessment’ of all the incidents in the match they also looked at the Saka’s penalty appeal, and of course this is what we get:
DERMOT SAYS: No penalty for Saka – he stands on the ball himself. There was minimal contact but not enough to give a penalty.
Surprise surprise. But not only that it gets worse as SKY use the incident to have a go at Saka via the inane ramblings of Neil Warnock:
WARNOCK SAYS: I’m a big fan of Saka, I really like him but there’s a real feeling on social media that he’s getting a reputation for himself. He’s got to be careful because he does go down very easily in situations in the box and refs will be aware of that.
So at least 3 major decisions go unpunished, or at least not to the full extent, yet SKY still manage to find a way to have a pop at an Arsenal player. Not a word against a single Wolves player.
And they didn’t even look at the shirt pull on Saka by Ait-Nouri on 14 minutes. Yes, Saka got his shot away but there was a clear pull on his shirt that affected his shot, and even if it didn’t, a pull on the shirt is a free-kick, or penalty. And just as an aside, Saka didn’t even appeal.
To be honest I think he’s given up bothering.
“Mosquera simply moved him out of the way”
It may have been simple but it is sstill not allowed under the rules
“this hasn’t gone unnoticed by neutral pundits”
That’s like saying
“I’m from the better side of Deptford”.
And the answer is the same to either assertion:
I didn’t realise there was one Mr. Pearson
I saw both incidents on TV live.
First, Mosquera held onto Havertz’s throat while he was on the pitch on his back. Held him there. There is no way for the ref or VAR or anyone to determine the amount of force he used. Or intent. It is irrelevant. Putting your hands around an opponent’s throat or face area is a penalty. It can be argued yellow or red but it has to be called.
On the second incident…..I just can’t get my head around it…..he stuck his finger up Jesus’s bumhole!
Aside from public sodomy, there must be a rule against that. Rude conduct?
As for Saka diving!!
Absolute crap. The lad gets fouled endlessly, and more often than not DOESN’T even get a foul, yet the slightest hint of a ‘reaction’ on his part and he’s in the book.
As I said earlier, he’s pretty much given up even appealing.
The ‘neutral’ pundits. Really?
Go look at the videos of Gerrard’s and Rooneys dives if you want to know what a real serial diver looks like, yet they never got a ‘reputation’.
Same with Kane, and Vardy. They are ‘clever’ or ‘win’ penalties.
Even the two penalty claims on Saturday, there is no suggestion of either being a ‘dive’.
One they say he trod on the ball, and one was just ignored. It was such a clear shirt pull it was undeniable so they didn’t even look at it.
Isn’t it funny how all those other ‘English’ divers never had a word said against them, yet Saka, who is nothing like them, gets pelters.
Nothing to do with the fact he plays for Arsenal at all???