The Untold ref Review : Newcastle – Arsenal

Posted on by WalterBroeckx

By Ref reviewer 04

Dear fans and also those who are not such fans here it is the First ref review of the season 2011-2012. As you will see the review itself is now done by more than one ref. The words before and after are written by the old and original ref reviewer most of the time. Yes, this is me Walter.   The working together of now 3 refs and maybe even more in the future will help us to do more reviews and get an even bigger view on how things stand with the refs in the EPL.

So let us start with the ref review of Newcastle – Arsenal. How did ref Walton do? Well let’s find out and have a detailed look at the events that happened in Newcastle today.

Min Type Foul from On C/NC Comment points weight on
5 OTHER Song Ameobi C Trip 1 1 1
6 OTHER S. Taylor Sagna NC Taylor comes in from behind leading with this elbow and smashes it agains the back of the head of Sagna 0 0 1
6 RED S. Taylor Coming in leading with the elbow in the direction of the head of an opponent is worthy of a red card 0 0 3
11 offside Ameobi C 1 1 1
12 offside Ameobi C 1 1 1
19 OTHER Song R. Taylor NC Foul on a defender should always be penalised 0 1 1
21 OTHER Song Ba NC Song is being penalised for a foul but it was Ba who leaned in the back of Song and this brought Song down. My match commentator also said when he heard the whistle: foul from Ba on Song.  Bizar 0 0 1
23 OTHER ?? Arshavin NC Newcastle player comes in with an outstrechted leg at chest hight on Arshavin and kicks the ball away 0 0 1
25 OTHER Song Barton C Trip 1 1 1
26 offside Newcastle C 1 1 1
27 OTHER Rosicky Ameobi C Tackle missed 1 1 1
29 OTHER Song Ba C Trip 1 1 1
29 YELLOW Song C Song is booked and the ref indicates it that it was for consistent fouling. 1 2 2
31 OTHER Koscielny Krul NC Koscielny attacks the keeper in the air and touches him 0 0 1
32 OTHER Taylor Gervinho C Trip 1 1 1
36 OTHER Tiote Sagna C Trip 1 1 1
37 REF CURIOSITY Ref overules his assistant. I would have been very unhappy if I was that assistant but it is the right of the ref and he can do this. I could not see who was right and if the ball hit Gervinho in or outside the line.
42 OTHER S. Taylor Song C Holding but the ref signals advantage 1 1 1
44 OTHER Gibbs Barton C Trip 1 1 1
45+ OTHER Cudicini Gervinho C Holding and breaking up a promising attack 1 1 1
45+ YELLOW Cudicini C Breaking up a promising attack is a yellow card 1 2 2
Half time 14 17 24
CORRECT 70,00% 70,83%
YELLOW 2 2 100,00
RED 0 1 0,00
PENALTY 0 0
GOAL 0 0
OTHER 2 2 100,00
TOTAL SCORE FIRST HALF 4 5 80,00
OFFSIDE 3 3 100,00
Second half
47 OTHER Gibbs Barton C late tackle 1 1 1
47 YELLOW Gibbs C Came in a bit late 2 2 2
49 OTHER Cudicini Arshavin NC Late trip 0 0 1
49 OTHER Ramsey Gutieres C Push from behind 1 1 1
50 OTHER Ameobi Sagna NC Push in the back not given 0 0 1
50 OTHER Ameobi Sagna C Trip 1 1 1
52 OTHER Rosicky Gutieres C Tackle from behind breaking up promising attack 1 1 1
52 YELLOW Rosicky C Breacking up promising atack is yellow 1 2 2
53 OTHER Gutierez Sagna C Trip 1 1 1
53 YELLOW NC A kick on the knee should be a yellow card 0 0 2
54 OTHER Ameobi Gibbs C Jumping in the back of Gibbs. With thanks to the assitance for signaling the foul as the ref didn’t see it 1 1 1
57 OTHER Vermaelen ? C Jumping in the back of the attacker. This time the ref sees it himself 1 1 1
58 OTHER Ameobi Koscielny NC Ameobi clearly is holding and pushing Koscielny who has beaten him to the ball. Always give the foul on the defender 0 1 1
59 OTHER Barton Song C Barton holds Song 1 1 1
59 RED SONG NC Song steps on the leg of Barton. Totally unacceptable even when it is Barton. Song is lucky the ref didn’t see it. He couldn’t as the body of Barton was between him and the action 0 0 3
61 OTHER Taylor Arshavin C Tackle from behin 1 1 1
63 OTHER ? Ramsey NC Holding Ramsey back nothing given 0 0 1
64 OTHER ? Rosicky NC Late challenge after the ball is gone. Nothing given 0 0 1
66 OTHER Tiote Ramsey C Brings Ramsey down with a push 1 1 1
66 YELLOW Tiote C Gets a yellow card for breaking up a promising attack 1 2 2
67 OTHER Ameobi SAGNA NC Foul on defender should always be given 0 0 1
75 PENALTY Tiote Gervinho C Was there contact well no replay gave 100% conclusive evidence. Maybe there was a slight contact but I don’t think it was enough to bring Gervinho down. So the ruling on the field stands as correct. No penalty 1 3 3
75 RED Barton NC While the ball is in play Barton grabs Gervinho by his short and starts pushing and shoving him around. If you attack a player like that there is no other option but to give him a red card 0 0 3
75 RED Gervinho C Gervinho then slaps Barton in the face. No other option but a red card. It doesn’t matter that Barton is making it look worse. 1 3 3
75 RED Newcastle nr. 4 Vermaelen NC The Newcastle nr. 4 pushes Vermaelen in the back. A bit like Diaby did last year against Barton. I agreed with the red card and now also this should have been a red card for the Newcastle nr. 4 0 0 3
75 RED S. Taylor Gervinho NC Steven Taylor strikes Gervinho in the face with a flailing arm, and he hit Gervinho a lot harder than Gervinho hit Barton, the difference being that Barton dropped to the ground like a sack of spuds. 0 0 3
75 YELLOW Szczesny C The Arsenal keeper gets a yellow card because he came to the incident. At first he came to drag the players away but then he got involved in the discussions an he should have stayed away, 0 2 2
75 PENALTY Barton Gervinho NC What a mistake to make.  Remember the ball was in play when Barton attacked Gervinho. Gervinho was in the Newcastle penalty area when he was attacked in a violent way. So the ref should punish the first foul and should have given a penalty to Arsenal.  In my book this is clairly an arbitration error. He doesn’t seem to know the laws of the game well enough. 0 0 3
81 OTHER Ramsey Tiote NC Advantage given but there was no advantage 0 1
88 OTHER Obertan Frimpong C Trip 1 1 1
89 Offside Van Persie C 1 1 1
90 OTHER Vermaelen Best C Trip 1 1 1
90 YELLOW Vermaelen C Breacking up promising atack is yellow 1 2 2
2nd half score
TOTAL 19 31 52
% CORRECT 57,58% 59,62%
YELLOW 5 6 83,33
RED 1 4 25,00
PENALTY 1 2 50,00
GOAL 0 0
OTHER 0 5 0,00
7 17 41,18
OFFSIDE 1 1 100,00
TOTAL SCORE
TOTAL 36 48 76
% CORRECT 55,00% 63,16%
YELLOW 7 8 87,50
RED 1 5 20,00
PENALTY 1 2 50,00
GOAL 0 0
OTHER 2 7 28,57
11 22 50,00
OFFSIDE 4 4 100,00
Correct calls For Arsenal 15 44,12%
For Newcastle 19 55,88%
Total correct calls 34
Wrong calls Against Arsenal 16 84,21%
Against Newcastle 3 15,79%
Total 19

So this is it and well once again not a really great performance by the ref. A final score of around 50% is not enough for a ref.

And I think the reason is two things. First of all the big difference between the first half who was very good for the ref was because a ref of 51 years old can do a game in the EPL but after one half his performance level can drop because of his age. The more tired you get the more mistakes you make.

And he did make some mistakes. And the worst one was the total mess he made of the penalty decision.  When the ball is in play and a player grabs an opponent and attacks him in a violent way you must punish that player with a direct free kick or a penalty. The sending off from Gervinho was okay for me but he had to restart the game with a penalty for Arsenal. It was Barton who attacked Gervinho first and this should have been punished.

In fact that a ref gets tired is down to the fact that the PGMOL for some reason can’t find younger refs to do the job properly. But the fact that the ref clearly did not know the rules and didn’t think of the fact that he should have given a penalty for Barton attacking Gervinho off the ball is something that is beyond me.  If he still doesn’t know this rule by now I really wonder how on earth he has managed to get in to the EPL. I hope he feels ashamed of himself now.  I would feel ashamed if it had happened to me.

PS:  a final excuse for the fact that maybe the layout is not 100% clear for the whole article. But it is 3 in the morning, I’m tired and I just put it on the site like it is. See you in the comment section.

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99 Replies to “The Untold ref Review : Newcastle – Arsenal”

  1. But I am off to bed now so don’t expect any answers on possible questions too early on Sunday 😉

  2. the ref was poor

    should of sent of song and both barton and gervinho
    and it would of been a penalty for us the game never stopped.

    but least we saw that are deffence is solid

  3. great call on the penalty. I didn’t even think of it like that but you are 100% correct. I Dont think either red for taylor was deserved, maybe a yellow for the header, cause it was forceful but unintentional. And the red for the mysterious #4 probably going a bit far.

    But red for Barton no doubt. That is a disgrace, then he comes out and calls gervinho a cheat. I think there was contact but not enough no pen (it was a 30-70% call and the ref got that part right at least). Barton flopped around like a barbie doll all game, it took him 2secs for it to register in his tiny brain that he had been slapped before he went down. Clearly the ref saw none of it and was reacting to barton’s theatrics, but gervinho still deserved red and hopefully he learns quick!

    That tackle from gibbs was ligit, go the ball. Going from the consistency of last season if a player slides in and gets the ball then a bit of the player it was ok…but barton makes the most of it again and gibbs gets a yellow for nothing, it wasn’t dangerous.

  4. Law and order will not make sense to Barton, we need a bad guy to deal wit a bad person. However, we could win an appeal for Gervinho as the whole incident clearly shown that Barton attacking our player with no mercy at all. He is a sicked maniac who always look for the right victim where his mental disorder was the main reason for such behaviour.

  5. The FA will review this game and ban Song for 3 games. Barton will not be punished now because the ref saw it and dealt with it.
    So now we’re missing two more key players for the next three games. Very stupid of Song and also Gervinho. Although the latter can be excused because he was basically being assaulted on the pitch in broad daylight.

  6. Again why cant gerv have acted in self defence? In fact i thought he was tryingto extricate himself and it was an accident!!

  8. one things Peter Walton is useless & idiot decision, he did ! because he hasn’t high profile and he just assistant ref; in the international level..he just Premier League ref; and than all his partner refs; too…when he want to punish should be same colour cards for both player..

  9. Great review as usual Walter.

    I find it interesting that the PGMOL can stil use a 51 year old ref in a League as physically and pacy as the EPL, worse still is that those ref are so not fit and not alert and definately affect the game in a negative way.

    It cannot be true that they cannot find younger refs, rather they cannot find refs that can play ‘their’ game. I’m sure if they looked hard enough, they’d find the better refs.

    Two games yesterday and we’re already talking of controversies from the refs. Two Red card incidents in the Liverpool V Sunderland match yesterday, both not given by our ‘friend’ Mr Dowd, (who was looking so fat for a ref) for whatever reason. Then in our match yesterday, at least two incidents and only one given.

    Mr Walton was obviously not alert, he was backing that particular incident for a very long time and i’m sure he could not have seen a lot of it, so how he came about his decison i do not know. If his assistants briefed him, then they must have manipulated the truth or he must have his own set of rules, i do not see how Barton could have lasted that game(again!) if the ref understood the rules. These are the little things, along with the Media, that ultimately are not helping the English game to develop, selective justice and overhype!

    That said, the team impressed me a lot yesterday, something is still missing though, and i’m sure it’s not Nasri or Fabregas. Hoppe they improve further.

  10. The name is Coloccini not Cudicini. No matter, I think the analysis is right, I had the feeling that the ref was not doing enough. New Castle was really physical, which prompted Arsenal to be physical too, only that we got most of the cards. We missed a creative player like Wilshire yesterday, but I think the team played very well. I would like to see Frimpong come on every time we are leading, with say 15 minutes left, in order to beef up the midfield. That way we might give away few goals late on.

  11. The replay of the Song/Barton stamp incident from behind clearly showed Barton getting the ball through Song’s legs and then, through momentum, hitting Song’s calf with his knee. Isn’t this a foul? It is certainly painful, and explains Song’s reaction.

    If the foul had been given, there would have been no stamp. (imo).

  12. Great stuff Walter and a really nice explanation of the “not given” penalty. To be fair though, it would take a lot of clarity of mind to put the incident out of one’s mind and think about a penalty when such a big fight was happening. His first priority would be to break things up – although it is questionable whether he did that well.

    So should the penalty have been given? Yes – absolutely. Was it a tough call? – Probably. I’m just saying; maybe its easy if you go by the rules. To remember the right rule at the right time .. under pressure is tough…doable…but tough. What do you think?

    Lastly I have no problems with a Song red later on. I’d welcome it and hope he learns from that stupidity. I’d also like to see retrospective red cards for Barton as well.

  13. By the way Walter, I watched the Barton-Gervinho incident again today and realised that Barton grabbed Gervinho in the box, when play was still on, because remember the ref had waved play-on. Now isn’t that a penalty? I’m just wondering because i remember a few years ago, Lehmann pushed a player (could have been a Spurs player) with the ball a good distance away from the box. Lehmann was given a card and a penalty was awarded. Please clarify.

  14. Barton should definitely get a red card because Walton was walking away and did not see the incident. Wenger should appeal.

  15. I and many others could blatantly see this incompetent ref was not up to the job.I couldnt believe the amount of wrong desicions he made.After all, it is the referee’s duty to issue adequete punishment(i also agree that song should have gone too) this ref was far too old anyway…seriously he looked like grandfather time!

  16. We forget that we lost the league not because we are bad but because we have dicisons against us that are not suppose to be. Instead of crying out for Wenger to leave the fans ifn they are really sensible to cry out for the great injustice we see in the EPL. Enough is enough for this injustice none has taken on board. Are the ref paid to make this kind of terrible decision that goes unpunished in a multimillion game. I think they should introduce replays when things goes wrong and them maybe the ref will sit up

  17. There are so many grey areas in the decisions made, not even rules of football can be as clear as white or black….

  18. I hate when referees are inconsistent. In the 4-4 game against Newcastle Barton tackled Diaby violently and Diaby grabbed Barton by his neck and pushed him. Diaby then got sent off. In this game Gervinho stumbles (I think it’s quite obvious from the replay) on Tiotes foot. I don’t necessarily think he should have had a penalty, but anyway…he stumbles and falls. Then Barton grabs Gervinho by his shirt and pulls him and shoves him. I am sorry, but I can’t see the difference.

  19. thanks walter
    a great review
    plzzz some body tell wenger to launch a report against that ref and his assistants
    he is doing good defending his players in media bu arsenal need to step up and grab the matter from its neck so that it should not happen again
    fa should review it and red to song barten and no 4 of newcastle along with the demtion of ref to lower league

  20. video technology now. also, why not use foreign referees in EPL? you have more and better referees on the continent, and they are less likely to be biased.

  21. The refs are at it again this season and I hope the FA will do something fast. Before a ref is shot or hurt.This game is very emotive and you don’t toy with peoples emotions,they may react negatively.

  22. @ Mr Broeckx, I’m only asking for your opinion with the following question, Do you believe Walton was protecting Barton from any further action from the F.A. with his booking. As I believe its up to people such as yourself to point out to us where refs have subtly(or not) influenced proceedings. As Barton is now free to face Sunderland, Fulham & Qpr. Where as Gervinho and maybe Song will miss Liverpool, Man Utd & Swansea. And as you point out one of the Taylor’s or both escaped punishment and i can guarantee those incidents will not be revised. Selective bias for the week ahead.

  23. Hey DP

    You are really a wonderful fan.. when things here are as clear that Barton should be red carded you say that the rules are not yet clear.. I really admire your pretending skills..

    But when Wenger or anyone in team makes a small mistake you are there to shout from the roof… With supporters like you who needs a hater…

  24. The following description from the Guardian report, to quote…
    ‘Gervinho was lying on the floor attempting to make a meal of minimal contact in a fair challenge by Cheik Tioté when Joey Barton came across to tell him to get on with the game.’ This total misrepresentation of the true nature of events illustrates what we are up against regarding media bias. I saw what happened, but if I hadn’t and read that report I would have a completely wrong impression of what had happened. You expect better from the Guardian I would have thought. The full Guardian report is here…http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/aug/13/newcastle-united-arsenal-premier-league

  26. @ahmed awaan,
    You are right about grabbing the issue by the neck, the worst that can happen is that we will only get a yellow card.
    @cape gooner,
    you deserve a prize, i can count two occasions when barton’s improvised tackle produced the desired result, nick the ball and also kick the player- from behind! it has to be a foul but we cannot rely on refs in the high paced high pressure environment of a game to unravel that one. it is high time the issue of provocation be written into the rules of the game!

  27. A few of my thoughts on the ref and the review apart from the things I have said before and after the review.

    First MOTD. I have seen this morning MOTD and they showed that there was contact between Gervinho and Tiote. So Gervinho did not dive. I admit he felt easily but when you get a kick and you go down there is no diving. THE QUESTION I HAVE IS : WHY WASN’T THIS SHOWN ON TV DURING THE GAME????? The people who decide what to show must have had these images also so they could show immediately and live that Gervinho was touched. So credit for MOTD for showing this.

    And then the credit has been used by MOTD as nobody of these people who pretend to know the rules at multiple occasions came to the conclusion that it should have been a penalty for the attack of Barton on Gervinho.

  28. The question of the ref was protecting Barton is an interesting one. I cannot look inside the head of people but what I cannot understand is that seemingly no of the 4 officials have seen Barton attacking Gervinho.
    Ref Walton made a crucial mistake by turning his back to the incident. And this was a stupid mistake you can expect from a ref in his first seasons but not anymore at his age. The Newcastle players had the ball with no Arsenal player in sight so he should have kept an eye on it. You must have a bit of feeling, which he obviously lacks or lacked.

    But the assistant on the far side (the blind one who didn’t see the Vidic handball) should have been looking in that direction and should have seen Barton attacking Gervinho. But maybe his vision was blocked by other players.

    And then the assistant who was on the other side around the halfway line should have seen it. Because he should have been looking at the Newcastle players playing the ball near the line and by just looking in that direction he should have seen the start of the fight.

    Now if they see it they should have informed the ref on how it started. And if they didn’t see anything then why give Barton a yellow card? Because if Barton was the victim of a “punch” from Gervinho then why give him a yellow card?

    So or they haven’t seen it and then they thought of some kind of protection to make sure Barton would not be punished. Or they have seen it and were afraid to take the needed action. And this last option would be the complete mess. Were they afraid of getting in to trouble with an ex jail man? Just a thought?

  29. @Walter,
    I have been scratching my head wondering at the ref’s motives and i have come to the conclusion that the Newcastle kit men have got to be credited with coming out with a kit which has the same camouflage qualities as a herd of zebra or for people of a certain age a group of prisoners, i am sure that they only rejected the black arrows on a white background because market research revealed that it was like an invitation to kick them in all sorts of unseemly places on their person.

  30. I also want to apologize to Mr. Barton for the comments i made about his politics, i am sorry sir, i ought to know better.
    In this age of the big society and hugging a hoodie and second chances- when someone is clearly troubled it is customary to get a cognitive therapist to get them to come to terms with trauma they invariably suffered in their childhood, or perhaps when they were in jail, i wish mr barton would use his twits account to enlighten us on why he feel so much rage. why the insecurity? might it have something to do with not measuring up in the locker room? why the need to overcompensate? why so macho? just let it all out buddy, you might feel better.

  31. Good report. I have watched the Gervinho send off incident again in the cold light of day.
    The sequence of events seemed to be:-

    1. Gervinho went down, the camera angle made it difficult to see what contact took place, he was turning and may have slipped or caught the defender’s foot. The ref was close and saw the incident and did not stop play or give Gervinho a card for diving.

    2. Barton cleared the ball towards the wing, another Newcastle player moved the ball upfield, the ref then had his back to Gervinho as he followed play so he did not see Barton assault Gervinho.

    3.Taylor tried to separate Barton from Gervinho, but had an elbow in Gervinho’s face as he did so.

    4. Ramsey helped separate 3 Newcastle players from Gervinho. As they separated, Gervinho slapped Barton on the top of the head. Barton went down as if felled by a Tyson haymaker. Taylor slapped a backhand to Gervinho’s neck/chest.

    5. As the ref approached the melee, Taylor gesticulated to him indicating that Barton had been felled with a back elbow.

    6. Vermalen arrived, had a word with Barton and was pushed in the back by 2 Newcastle players (Tiote being one?), Taylor at this stage was making representations to the linesman (the one who did not see Vidic’s handball at the Emirates). Taylor again indicated a back elbow.

    7. Ref gave Gervinho a red card (Barton still down) before any noticeable discussion with the linesmen.

    8. Ref gave Barton a yellow, again not much discussion with the linesmen before this decision. Not clear what was involved in the decision making process.

    9. The three officials had a confab.

    10. Ref went the length of the field to give Szczesny a yellow.

    So it looks as if the ref made his decision to red card Gervinho based on Barton’s efforts for an academy award and Taylor’s erroneous account. I wonder did Tatlor confess his own little slap at Gervinho?

  32. @ Walter:

    ESPN in India showed the same in replay and also many a times continuously but the pundits namely Shebby Singh and the bald guy whose name I don’t remember right now said that Gervinho got redded for slapping Barton and as per the rules you get redded for slapping or putting the hand in the face of the opponent player(Frankly they did not talk much about Barton’s actions that led to Gervinho slapping him).

    As far as I can understand the referee and linesmen are kind of successful in intimidating a new Arsenal player and now he is out of the next couple of games of which one most probably is against Manchester United.

    The same happened with Laurent Koscielny last season and this now.

  33. Interesting comments from AW after the match indicating ref incompetence. Blatant pen on Gervinho, if the correct decision was given at the start, none of the other nonsense would have happened. It’s gonna be a long season…
    DP I sometimes wonder if you actually watch the games or just wait for all the comments to come in then just disagree. Very poor.

  34. @Prasanna, The bald guy I think is Steve McMahon. I am thinking of cancelling my ESPN subscription just as way of protesting the continued biased programming from ESPN.

  35. pls my Walter, i’ll like to know if there is an amount of contact that could be judge sufficient. I am referring to the point you said Govh went down easily. Dont he have the right to go down if there is a contact? Remember one of the thugs forms Wigan defense queried Ash for not falling from his challenge to be given a penalty, then somebody falls and is judged for going down easily. Again Cesc and Nasri are great player that want and deserve to win trophies. This type of officiating is what is sending them out of arsenal and every body know it. Clinche said he want to win trophies because arsenal will not be allowed to win one. I know he cant say that direct but remember Arsh said everything was against Arsenal once. Maybe someday when Wenger leave somebody will say its enough afterall they are still ours.

  36. I remember an incidence in one of the Chelsea Vs Liverpool dramas when a ref gave some wrong decisions and was punish immediately by a suspension that i knew about therefore will conclude that was made public. Not sure but I think it was Mic Cartenberg. Will such a thing ever happy if arsenal are the victims? Do this people know that the whole world watch them. let me pass some judgments
    1. the epl favours Manu and permit desperate winning. Ref can always be human and not see vidic handball or over see Clinche tackle and give a panalty
    2. teams are aware that ref can allow them go away with some tackles against arsenal (they are a weak side)
    3. talking points will always be what arsenal have done. No team in the world will humble themselves to hug opponents after such a match
    4. arsenal players understand this and know that the best they do is to leave as one can only win trophies by winning matches. Why didn’t arsenal win yesterday? Ask Walton
    5. a country that behave this way suffers because nemesis have a way of catching up with people
    6. this is the reason while england with the epl went to the world cup and played three matches without scoring a goal
    7. there under 20 played 4 match without scoring a goal. Its more than coincedence
    8. Jose expose uefa and they allowed fair play in the final last season. Everybody watch manu
    9. Wenger must leave because he and his ideology is hated by the powers that owns the epl

  37. @ bjtgooner – I was saying the same thing yesterday. It looked like the referee consulted only with Stephen Taylor the Newcastle captain, who didn’t actually see everything himself as he told the ref that Gevinho elbowed Barton instead of a mild slap. Either that or the captain did everything to help get Gevinho sent off.
    .
    The ref gives Gevinho an instant red in the heat of the moment and did not calmly assess the situation at all. The premiership needs ref’s that are able to make correct decisions under pressure and can diffuse flashpoints. These kind of incidents errode the intergrity of the league.

  38. @ Walter

    I am pleased that MOTD have shown that there was contact between Gervinho and Tiote. We don’t want the media branding him a diver – the way they tried to do to Eduardo.

  39. Arvind,
    “To remember the right rule at the right time .. under pressure is tough…doable…but tough. What do you think?”
    What I think is that you ought to be paying Walton’s paycheck and then see what you think about a ref you can so forgivingly and understandingly excuse.

  40. anatra,
    you’re right. no difference. same barton, same pattern. different ref, same pattern. the pattern needs to be given a name or two names. do you have any ideas for any of these names?

  41. Sorry, but I also find that several Arsenal players who responded to return Barton’s offer of handshake and hugs after the game should be called out for aiding and abetting his kind of behavior. I think by tolerating him, players are inviting Barton’s continual predations – do red, see yellow (or nothing) while he puts two of their (our) own teammates on the bench for 3 games each in a critical early stretch of the season. Where are these (our) players heads? is there a season starting or is this just another friendly. And, please, don’t give me a band of brothers response.

  42. Abhishek,
    People like the gray minded have gray hearts and minds and if things were really as gray as they pretend they would call for video replay. but, you say, the like gray, and like to insist on gray, because they never have to nor can they commit to anything and undermine any who have commitment and belief. best thing, i’d say, is not to respond further to the gray minded and, in other words, to gray them away. cheers.

  43. Ugandan Goon,
    Say what? You apologize to Barton for your remarks of yesterday?
    Sorry, but your taking “the high road” now does not take back the truth or accuracy of your reflections about him yesterday. Perhaps you should examine why you are doing this.

  44. mick,
    Cheers for the Guardian link. For a preview of my Guardian coverage on Untold Media, I write this to Paul Wilson,their match day “reporter”:
    “Paul Wilson, you have left out so much of the dynamics of the Gervinho-Barton-Taylor incident and the ineptitude at best of so-called Referee Walton and his Three Blind Mice enablers that your account makes readers with eyes to see what happened wonder whether you’ve already received your invitation and punched your ticket to Ferguson’s coronation to be at season’s end. This report is seriously one-sided and all I can say is thank god the Guardian has better sense than to put you on to its brilliant phone hacking coverage. I will use this in my writing as exhibit A in writing an opinion piece (read hatchet job) that masquerades as proper reportage.”

  45. @ Bob

    Good piece about the Guardian, they are one of the supposed sensible papers – as compared to the sensationalist tabloids. Something must have happened behind the scene to encourage them to write such drivel.

    I share your disquiet about the players hugging Barton after the game. Although I don’t think Vermalin did. I think the Viera response to Barton would have been interesting, in such circumstances I doubt that Barton would have re-offended.

  46. @ Gooner Gal

    Your are right, the ref and the linesmen were far too slow to react and were useless in diffusing the incident which could have developed into a real brawl.

    It could also be postulated that because the ref did not react to contact between Gervinho and Tiote (he was close) it gave Barton the excuse to accuse Gervinho of diving – to justify the almost out of control assault.

  47. bjtgooner,
    Cheers. But please note, that The Guardian Football team aren’t one writer. They’re more complicated with about 4-5 writers doing Arsenal coverage this summer so far. The best and indeed fair has been David Hytner. Paul Wilson, this week’s reporter, has done two articles, an hour and a half apart, with hatchet jobs on Arsene/Arsenal. He’s clever, knows the Arsenal beat, and knows how and where to stick the cleat in. What makes him seem plausible is that he’s a good wordsmith and gives some of the game summary; but the bottom line in both stories is not missing a beat down against Arsene/Arsenal where he can slide it in. I tried to give him my red card in the quote above which I posted on the comments to Wilson’s first article. We’ll have to say if Paul Wilson remains their lead reporter like this on match day.

  49. Sound familiar, anyone? From today’s ManUre/WBA match:
    “69 min: The referee is enraging West Brom’s fans. He’s just penalised Long for leaning into Evans, who went to ground very easily. It’s soft, but the sort of decision that always goes the way of defenders.”

  50. The whistle was blown to stop play during the incident when Barton attacked Gervinho in the box, this being so, why were Newcastle given the kick following the melay? Should it not have been a free kick for Arsenal, better yet, a penalty shot as Barton’s initial foul was in the box? Overall, just stupidity from the ref.

  51. I remember a couple of seasons ago, Steven Taylor savagely elbowed Arshavin in the head and got away with it.

  52. Great review Walter & Co. I agree with your conclusions. Is there no concept of ‘fruit from the rotten tree’? in other words, if barton hadnt assaulted our player in the first place, our player wouldnt have been in a position to give him a slap.
    But the thing that most bugs me about the whole thing is the enourmous hypocrisy of Barton. Seemingly outraged at one of our players diving / play acting, he got a brush against the side of his head from a player that was being wrestled by members of both teams and then fell to the floor in an outrageous show of play acting. Then motioning to the players and officials with his fist an imlying that Gervinho had punched him.
    I find it hard to put into words how much this enrages me because bartons fake outrage at diving is so patently obvious, and so the only conclusion is that the whole thing was a deliberate attempt to get a player sent off. In which case we have to assume that the Diaby incident last year was the same. Barton believes that they can only score against us if we are down to ten, and does his level best to make sure it happens.
    Is there something in this or am I way off base?

  53. @bob: No one is excusing anyone. I just acknowledged that being a ref is a tough job and that the decision was a tough one. The obvious – you might say but that is all I am saying.

    So we need better refs and more transparency ..for sure but saying that yesterday’s decision was a piece of cake..no don’t agree.

  54. Sorry, Arvind,
    You personally don’t deserve my frustration here, but I do find that your tough job(ber) Peter Walton on the pitch is just like your Ayn Rand cardless society. In both of them, the wrong people get hurt by those who take advantage of others’ abiding by the rules and turn it into a free-fire zone. Peter Walton is being well rewarded as one of the Chosen XVI for his work…

  55. As Barton has publicly admitted his wind-up thievery (and his coach too), will the EPL/PGMOL take punitive action? Yes. Our side will lose two key players, 3 games each, and Joey may see a retroactive red card. That will be the “quid pro quo” that restores “law’n order” to the land of the tilted pitch.

  57. @ Ugandan Goon – Top draw mate, I loved that!!!! Should get played the Emirates.

  65. @adam,
    I wonder if you have read their profiles on the PGMOL website, i can imagine they are pitched at that “typical footie fan” (batshit crazy or just desperate)- the one that keeps coming back year after year expecting things to be different. The totally insane thing about all this is the justification of bad refereeing as providing tittle tattle for the water cooler in offices, well i thought it was the papers overselling their importance it happens that the refs have been briefed too

  66. @ Ugandan Goon & Dogface, thanks for this vid. True Gooners are coming out swinging. That guy should do a radio friendly version for the Emirates.

    I would probably download it for my phone rintone too.

  68. @dogface’
    sure thing.
    Although, i am thinking of a particularly scurrilous one which is a cross between “hedwig and the angry inch” and “turned out in jail”!

  69. My message for Cesc is – it was good while it lasted but you’ve burned your bridges with the way did us in and and Arsenal legend you are not.

    I genuinely believe Arsenal FC will be better off without him. I cannot stand Barca FC. When we cross paths with them this year, the battle will be epic.

    That’s one down…..next up Nasri…

  70. Cesc gone. …Thanks for memories and Good luck.

    Arsenal bloody Arsenal!
    Quality vid. Cheers Chaps

  72. Cesc is after all a loser. Last year he said : “if I leave and we won nothing with Arsenal I will consider myself a loser”.

    So Cesc, a loser you are it seems.

    I think Real Madrid has just won a supporter this evening and to think I cannot stand them and dislike Mourinho. Okay, I admit this hurts…

    I will wish him all the best in his personal live but for the rest…sorry just cant wish you well. May you follow the footsteps of your pal Hleb. And may the curse that was upon Arsenal by not winning things with you as the frontman follow you to Barcelona.

    Cesc, you will never ever be named as an Arsenal legend in my book. Never can you come close to players like DB10, TA, ….

    Okay, lets move on.

  73. Oh and please Arsenal.com : DONT GIVE HIM THE HONOUR TO A GOODBUY MESSAGE ON OUR WEBSITE LIKE YOU DID (deservedly) with TH.

    Let us not waste any more time on him.

  75. LOL ugandan Goon.
    Well the dagger is slowly coming back out by now. 😉
    You too, Cesc?

    As we say when we are training with the refs and we are dying (not literally of course) and suffering and having a hard time: dying is easy, but the pain before is killing us.

    It helps you know….

    Still wasting my time on him… 😉 Ah well one to unfollow…

  76. Quslity report. The Penalty for Barton on Gervinho was not mentioned by all the super intelligent sports pundits on Sky and the BBC; the likes of Dixon, Dublin, Gary Lineker, Alan Hansen and Alan Shearer all ex footballers who have never read the Laws of The Game!!!!

    The referee sent Gervinho off on the say so of a Newcastle player. It is very clear that he did not see the initial incident nor did he see the slap. The FA have to get involved with this very poor officiating and rescind the red card or red card all the players that were involved with their hands on opponents. In my view this will not happen as SAF is the only ‘FA official’ that has the power of post match correction.

  77. Quality report. The Penalty for Barton on Gervinho was not mentioned by all the super intelligent sports pundits on Sky and the BBC; the likes of Dixon, Dublin, Gary Lineker, Alan Hansen and Alan Shearer all ex footballers who have never read the Laws of The Game!!!!

    The referee sent Gervinho off on the say so of a Newcastle player. It is very clear that he did not see the initial incident nor did he see the slap. The FA have to get involved with this very poor officiating and rescind the red card or red card all the players that were involved with their hands on opponents. In my view this will not happen as SAF is the only ‘FA official’ that has the power of post match correction.

  78. @Walter,
    there was a clamour for transfers at the end of last season, sad to see that the club have granted the AAA their wish!

  79. @ Ugandan goon, Yes i have read that web site back to front. As for the penalty incident, I even thought it was the right call in giving Nufc possession after the incident, It was Walter that pointed out the mistake, Upon reflection its quite scary to think non of the Arsenal players brought this up with the Ref or the experienced on the side-line, No one seemed to question the decision. Yet these are the professionals.

  81. I am sure very few professionals understand the Laws of the Game. Sadly even fewer have spent the time to read them. Most footballers think that commentators know the game.
    I have heard them say so often ‘he got a piece of the ball’ as though that were sufficient to satisfy the Laws. The reality is that most tackles are initiated with the hand making contact with the protagonist and should immediately be a foul. Contact after playing the ball is allowed but not before. In todays games the trailing legs making contact are screamed at, but are not really a foul if the initial contact was with the ball.

  83. The term ‘robust’ has been used a lot to describe action. To me it has the aroma of cow dung. Cameron and ‘football commentators’ all have the same bad breath.

  84. Regarding Cesc..

    I really think that its in the best interest to have a captain like Van persie.. Although Cesc might get some playing time but let us see how much he gets to play…

    There is this nice joke.. Cesc tweeted.. got a blackberry 9900 its amazing.. some one replied.. yes you need to entertain yourself while sitting on the bench..

    I thought he would stay this year after the match against Barcelona coz he could see the progress.. but unfortunately he did not and now its a big hole in our team.. who can take his place is really challenging to see..

  85. UGANDAN GOON FAB GREAT GET ARSENAL BLOODY ARSENAL PASS IT ON WELL DONE THE LADS!!!!!!!

    Cesc goodbye & Good luck sad to see you go but Ive lost a lot of resepect for your New club. Slan go foil (Irish for safe home)

  86. @RedGooner: Thanks for the link to that article. I especially liked the following sentence: “Barton then threw himself to the ground, clutching his face, after a half-hearted slap from Gervinho that didn’t even disturb his mascara.” Barton is a disgrace for the game.
    The highlight of the game, but I felt disgusted to see yet more incompetence of the referees. It is mindbogling that Barton can escape yet again with just a yellow card. And lets not speak about the penalty we should have had.
    At least the ref review is back in full force to scrutinise every decision of the referee. Well done, ref no. 4.

    By the way, the ref review doesn’t show up on the main page, nor does the index on the right at the top. Is this just me or a the website?

  87. I never liked cesc as a captain, he is a great player but he is not the type of captian i like. What i have seen is he isn’t noisy on the pitch and always made in known he didn’t want to stay.

  88. @bob: The AynRand thing is a separate discussion. Linking that to this is not needed IMO; and I will not comment on that anymore over here. Your call though if you want to talk about that.

    Lets stick to the football though – do you not think it was a tough decision? If no then I’ll be glad to hear your thoughts on why not and maybe concede a point if I am wrong.

    I am not saying that Peter Walton be excused for all the crappy decisions he makes. Far from it. I am just saying that the refs also have a tough job and in this particular case – it was kind of tough. Wrong decision – Yes : Easy – No. That is all. What do you think?

  89. OTT: Cesc’s gone..yeah. He’s pushed a move through ..yeah. Like a lot of other footballers. At least he did not talk trash about the club..at any time, which is more than a lot of others.

    I do believe he did love the club though and gave a lot for AFC. He doesn’t deserve legend status in my eyes for sure – but I do think he should be welcomed any time he visits Arsenal.

  90. Arvind,
    The fact is that laissez-faire (tough jobber) Peter Walton red-carded first – on Taylor’s say-so and Barton’s admittedly lying dramatics; then Peter consulted with the Three Blind Mice, and then yellow-carded diver Joey after that consultation. (I’d still like to know the name of the other officials, anyone know?) Arvind, I’d call all of that how NOT to respond to what he of the Select XVI then saw on the pitch. (I’d also call it a reason for video replay, as the TV broadcast shows are instantly available if there were a review ref to consult with in the booth.) Walton should not have missed the call. He should have consulted first before the red-carding, not after. And the consultation should have been two yellows. To me, this call is at best high-order ineptitude that should result in Walton’s banning; and at worst and not improbable, a way fix Arsenal’s arse with serious CL implications and a knackered start to our EPL campaign. Do you grasp the enormity of that red card given what’s fast coming up. Btw, would you appeal the red card or be understanding about the tough call? Probably both, fair-play. But refs of the Select XVI are supposed to do much better in the final result, even if they somehow missed the sequence of offenses, even from Song onwards. This man was extremely laissez-faire to our injurious detriment last year at the Birmingham crime scene. And his only tough job that day was to make a ____ing call. His well-paid job is to embody and apply rules; not to turn a blind eye or be out of position for the defining moments of this past match. Tough call is the point of paid ref. This man does not qualify.

  91. It’s more to do with the fact that the referee so fundamentally broke the rules. The actual process of events, from Gervinho being fouled by Tiote, to Barton fouling Gervinho when he was on the ground, to Taylor hitting Gervinho, and Gervinho hitting Barton… to then come out with a situation where we didn’t get a penalty, and we were the only team to lose a player, is fundamentally perverse and literally nonsensical. The referee broke the rules of the game, and he should be reprimanded for it.

    I’d love to talk it through with the referee – how it went the way it did, because at the absolute purest level, one of these three things should have happened dependent on the referee’s subjectivity:

    Either it was a penalty because Tiote fouled Gervinho
    OR it was a freekick because Gervinho dived
    OR it was a penalty because Barton fouled Gervinho

    Yet, what actually happened, is it was a freekick because Gervinho fouled Barton, and Barton also got reprimanded for something, which therefore must have happened after Gervinho’s foul. These are the rules.

    This is not a case where the referee has been extremely biased (well, it’s that too). It’s a case where the referee has fundamentally ignored CRUCIAL rules of football in a way which has utterly screwed us over.

  92. One game in and already all the whining about how unfair everything is.

    Song should have been sent off, he is a worry. When we need leaders he behaves like a tosspot and then to go and hug up what’s his name afterwards. Pathetic!!! For me Song is not a strong enough character to hold central midfield.

  93. @bob: I believe the linesman on Newcastle’s half was Andy Garratt, the same linesman who did not see Vidic’ handball a few months ago, but did see Arshavin (I think it was) offside against Sunderland when he was not.

  94. Walter- good detailed analysis. However,
    I am staggered by the number of people defending the sending off of Gervinho whilst only issuing the instigator with a yellow. There has clearly been a loss of perspective by people concerned about the social problems in Britain. Barton play acted by falling after receiving a minor arms length slap- after provoking Gervinho by grabbing him by the shirt off the ground in an act of aggressive violence.
    In my view there has been a tendency of Football authorities in Britain to disproportionately punish the victim of aggressive behaviour for reacting to aggression for far too long in English football- without doing anything about the instigators. This is a classic example. It is blatantly unfair and is contrary to the rules of natural justice which underpin common law in Britain. Arsenal need to take this blatant act of injustice to the European Court of Human Rights.

  95. Someone said that in the heat of things the ref made a mistake which can happen.

    Well I can tell you this that those things are being thought in my country until we are sick of it. Each year again we get the same table over and over again on how to handle such situations.
    Because it can all depend on whether the ball is in play or not, place of the foul, etc etc etc…

    So the least one can expect from a EPL ref is that he knows how to handle such a situation. And when you cannot handle it you are not worthy of being a ref in the EPL

    Because the way he made a mistake this time has maybe nothing to do with bias but this is what I would call a case of not capable enough to know the rules when doing the game.

    The Fa or the PGMOL should punish ref Walton for his incompetent behavior

  96. Re Barton
    This is the new( secret) “zero Tolerance” policy of the FA to diving foreigners using the modified waterboarding technique.
    If a foreign player is tackled and fall over in the penelty area he is grabbed by the most upstanding English players on the opposing side , one applies corrective education by restricting his breathing whilst shouting f…… cheat in his face.(in this case Barton )
    Should the foreign player resist in any way the referee is on hand to wave a red card

  97. Tone,
    Say what? “Already” the “whining”?
    You’re right about Song, but you apply no memory or context for calling him a worry when it comes to Joey Barton and our African players. (Can I say “our” to you?) Are you tone deaf to the rest of the event? Is the possibility of balance in your DNA, while you snarl about other people’s whining?

  98. goonergerry,
    Spot on! There’s a serious context at work here and you’ve surfaced it. Cheers.

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