Arsenal v Liverpool. The team and this ref gets Liverpool for 7th time!

 

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By Bulldog Drummond

One of the big things that is missed by the media is one of the most obvious: things change over time.

For example, on 9 November 2020, after eight games Southampton were top.  On 1 Novmeber 2020, Everton were top.  On 19 October 2021, Chelsea were top.  On 12 October 2022 Tottenham were top (which when you think about it was really bonkers).  And in 2003 in the early days of the Unbeaten Season, Arsenal had a record that was identical to that of 2023/24 after eight games.  All that has gone wrong is one game against West Ham, and the reason is obvious: a lot of players injured.

And do you think the journalists don’t know this?  Of course they do.  They know that until the ManC juggernaut with its unlimited spending came along, the league tables in the early parts of the season didn’t mean too much.  But that doesn’t stop them bashing Arsenal morning noon and night, and quite a bit of that is because they are afraid of knocking ManC since ManC owners have absolute power.   What we get is a mire of negativity.

So what no one says is that Mr Taylor keeps refereeing Liverpool matches over and over and over again.  Not once or twice (as we suggest should be the limit) but constantly. 

Here is a list of Liverpool matches that Mr Taylor has overseen – and this is the mimum.  Details are not that easy to find (these came courtesy of Sports Mole) and the difficulty of finding this sort of data makes me suspicious there may be even more things to find.

But we have details of seven (yes seven) games in which Mr Liverpool, sorry Mr Taylor, has referees a Liverpool match in this calendar year alone.

And guess what?  Liverpool only lost one of those games overseen by Taylor.

So what about Arsenal?  Well, in fact this is our third game with him, the previous two were

Now this is not just crazy to the point of being insane, it is stupid because it is utterly unnecessary, and leaves the league open to the suggestion of match-fixing.   Yet it happens because PGMO not only can’t manage refereeing, it can’t manage its finances and has gone bust and is being bailed out by the league.

So we are not suggesting Mr Taylor is a cheat, or an unworthy referee, but questioning his appointment because it is vital that in what proclaims itself to be the most popular league in the Western Spiral Arm of the Galaxy,  so the Premier League needs to show itself to be even, fair, open and balanced.

Already they lose out on these claims because the PGMO is an ultra-secretive organisation with no website, whose employees will do no TV interviews, and which has recently been on the edge of bankruptcy – which is an insane situation for a monopoly supplier.

But also they lose out because they keep employing the same referee over and over again to oversee matches of the same team, leaving themselves open to accusations of referee match-fixing or bias.  That the media don’t see the need for referees to be restricted to two matches per club per season, tells us a lot about the media.

The Standard has a page headlined “predicted lineup” which only gives a Liverpool XI, so we quickly move on…

Sports Mole however inhabits a universe closer to our own and gives us 

Raya;

Timber, White, Gabriel, Zinchenko;

Merino, Partey, Rice;

Saka, Havertz, Martinelli

Pain in the Arsenal goes for exactly the same XI.

The Standard however goes for a 4-2-2-2 lineup which at least has some novelty value.

Raya;

Partey, White, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly;

Rice, Merino;

Saka; Martinelli;

Havertz, Trossard

Sports Illustrated goes with 

David Raya

Jakub Kiwior, Gabriel,  White, Partey

Rice, Jorginho,  Merino

Martinelli, Havertz, Trossard

I have been avidly searching the blogs and media to find some apologies for the gibberish written when Havertz was signed, so I could bring them to you, but sadly I can’t find any.

That’s it from us as we bundle into the car for the long drive from the midlands south.  Hope springs eternal that the motorway is open.

Now on the Arsenal History Society Website:

• 100 years since Herbert Chapman joined Arsenal. Part 5 – a new manager