RefWatch – Chris Foy, Arsenal Vs Sunderland (18/08/2012 – 15:00)

26 Replies to “RefWatch – Chris Foy, Arsenal Vs Sunderland (18/08/2012 – 15:00)”

1. I have never trusted these guys in black Now with RVP gone,the red faced may get his henchmen to rub more salt into Arsenal’s wound.How?Very easy really.If a gunner defender tackles a Sunderland ina 50/50 incident in the prephery of the box,just blow for a penalty .
   It’s the ref’s word against Arsenal. Invariably the ref chief will side with the ref. And that is why the gunners have been suffering the last four years especially in 2008.In the Birmingham game that season the gunners were leading 2-0 when the c..t ref gave the Blues a penalty out of the blue and a free kick to damage the gunners title hopes.
   To rub salt /vinegar into the wound,the ref at a game involving the official did not send off the gk who had brought down the striker 99.999% certain to score. Being
   the last defender the gk shd have been red carded.To frustrate the gunners even more,red faced managed to draw.
   That is why the rfc has been using refs to continue winning.
   I hope MC will give him more frustation by winning the epl and the lot.
   That will really be a happy day for all gooner fans.

2. So red faced is bragging about Cantona 2. Well he better not be so cocky. The most hated manager in the epl thinks he can win everyting.When he was dominant,only the fm was foot to foot/toe to toe with him. Then he could cream off the best players in the market.
   Now with Chelsea and MC ,he will have more reason to be nervous.And that is why he wants to dominate in the cl. However it aint easy as the refs there are their own men. He is not satisfied with being king in England. He wants to be the Emperor of Europe. He is due a all . What better time this season.
   I hope Moyes will employ a twoo/three men to shackle the dm and the ugly bull dog .No need to beat them. Drawing with them is good enough.

3. So red faced is bragging about Cantona 2. Well he better not be so cocky. The most hated manager in the epl thinks he can win everyting.When he was dominant,only the fm was foot to foot/toe to toe with him. Then he could cream off the best players in the market.
   Now with Chelsea and MC ,he will have more reason to be nervous.And that is why he wants to dominate in the cl. However it aint easy as the refs there are their own men. He is not satisfied with being king in England. He wants to be the Emperor of Europe. He is due a all . What better time this season.
   I hope Moyes will employ a twoo/three men to shackle the dm and the ugly bull dog .No need to beat them. Drawing with them is good enough.

4. Sorry to be ignorant, what is fm and dm.

5. The ref should protect our players cos teams are always hard on us that is why our injury list is always high. Above all we need the 3points

6. Well Dogface, it sort of gives us some optimism ahead of today’s game, but as a purist, it is sad to ‘hope the trend continues’, don’t you think?
   However, speaking as someone who dabbles in betting, +10 home bias is not to be dismissed lightly, tee hee. I will check the the Villa/W.Brom games when he’s in charge and they are away, on the back of that 50% incorrect decisions from the 2010/2011 season against Wolves??
   Oh, it is good to be back with real games to look forwards to. Mind, I am not surprised you(and the rest of the team doing these reviews) think the summer ‘break’ has passed by so quickly – You never seem to have stopped working on them. Much respect for your dedication.
   Note Gunner4evr, I did comment on the subject of the blog?

7. Ref. Born in St. Helens, lives on Merseyside? Hmm! Let`s hope his wife is from north London. Mine`s from Liverpool so I know what I`m talking about. As the saying goes, “all refs. are guilty until proven innocent”.(Wives too! lol)

8. I seem to always come to this site to make my true feelings about arsenal known. This site is serious and doesn’t play around.This particular series, ref watch is excellent though I fear that people who don’t have an economics background they will not follow it all completely. Nonetheless it would stand up to scrutiny in an appeal against a red card and so on and so forth.

   I feel changing the title slightly: instead of saying Lord Wenger it should say Sang Zu or Shogun of football managers. Fergie though a genius needs money nowadays to make his team, remember he was essential in growing Man U to be able to spend lavishly, so you can’t blame him, he earned the right but when he brought through Scholes, Giggs and Beckham, they were a one off freak midfield, and with Cole { who he splashed 7 mill from Newcastle, Yorke Who he poached from Villa [and allowed to bang every single glamour model in site], Sheringham who he brought out one particularly magical season from, even though Sheringham was unpopular in the squad, and of course the greatest substitute the Premiership has ever had Solskaer [who I would definately say will one day make an extremely successful manager at United because he feels everything about the flow of the game something all truly great manger who are based solely on defending to break forward but from flowing out of defense with wing backs like Cafu and Roberto Carlos {remeber Steve Bruce used t9o score about 12 to 15 goals aseason ans was instrumental in them breaking thier title jinx which opened the floodgates to their current cycle which has yet truly to abate, despite the severely disruptive and destructive behaviour to a true British institution of the Glazers] that were at their greatest, he has always had a special bond with Fergie, actually he was a genius at reading the game hence the reason why he was able to score so many goals off the bench, he absolutely smashed it.

   What makes Wenger so great is that in Fergie’s prime Wenger absolutely smashed him too and that was because he was allowed to get who he wanted. Wenger is doing that now. I loved Van Persie, but he has that particular Dutch temperament, flawed genius. His statement was particularly hurtful to wenger.{ Just saw his press conference and he even kniws he has betrayed himself. He actually wanted to stay at the end and then Wenger told him he was no longer part of his plans, again becuase he has seen a new path through the mindfield this is a Premier season. Wenger is master General, see later. With the invincibles they could play brilliant breathtakinf football but if as team wanted a fight they could mix and actually also scare the shit of out of the oppstion. Viera, Petit, Keown, seriously savage brothers, I mean who else cou.d beat up Roy Keane in the tunnel at Old Trafford infront of the ref and still come not have leg broken. Don’t get me wrong Keane was/is a serious lunatic, but Viera was a West african bad boy to core, who actually just knew how to be very diplomatic when he spoke, but underneath he was from a very different culoture and Keane just didn’t scare him. And Wenger encouraged this within the squad. So this thing about wneger soft etc is simply a fallacy, becuase has a real nasty streak, but at his core he wants the play the beautiful game and he tried to that with the youth, but unfortunately the world is not yet that evolved,so the rest 9f the league took revenge f9or the unbeaten season and broke at four legs from the arsenal young players. But who do we have now Vermaelen, Santos[ he may seem like he like mto have a good time but make no mistake he comes from a serious a Braqz.serious part where he grew they are nit playing at all. It makes Toxteth look like a Sunday afternoon stroll in the park], Podolski [he is a Polish guy that made in the German team, that in itself is a fucking great achievment, his quality and pedigree is not in doubt, but neither is the fact he is a hard bastrad. Giroud not exact sure about his personality or how he plays but he is 6/3 and desnt look like a guy that is going t9o pushed around. with the addition of Arteta last year, he played under Moyes so he is soft fucking touch. He will do his best to shuield Cazorla. If Diaby can come back strongly we have a fuckng squad who won’t get pushed arond. Credit tio so ng he started up for himslef and teammates, but I cant help feeling he was acting to stereotype rather than being his trues self. Although you can’t blame as these just young guys finding themselves. If Wenger a found a replacment for song you can bet he is going tobe a fuckng true beast to work alongside Diagy and Arteta. And don’t forget young Jackie boy, THE BEST ENGLAND PLAYER SINCE DCHOLES and in my opionion will go on tio eclipse Scholes in people’s estimations, because Scholes was nowhere as good as Jackie boy at his age. If you want evidenice of this check the arsenal Barca game at the Emerates where we soaked up their pressure and ended up couterpunching with our own brand of free flowing football. And in fact thereby threatened the hegeny which Barca were being allowed by Uefa to create allbeit wiht the help of the refs, see the sending off Van Persie in the second leg that2010.He is simply not 250,000 a week [although I am very happy for him that that is what he getting because when you add on his shirts sales and marketing value which is paid offshore his true income will actually be a lot higher than that, I would speculate even up to double in the first year especially if he scores at least 20 goals which he will if he plays 28 games. And this season though if he staysd fit for longer than 28 games United will absolutely make Man city look pedestrian. i dont care what anyone says Mancini’s teams are robotic, yes they have scored goals last season but not becuase he a great manger because the players he has bought like a spoilt child [see his flagrant disloayaty to club with his constant barbs towards Marwood, its unprofessioanl is obviously an attempt to garner public support as part of as power to control transfers completely without the need for an oversee] are simply brilliant and even though they are they only scraped the title on goal difference, who knows maybe they even bought it at the end, everything in life is possible. Fergie is the boss along with wenger, they speak their minds and its mostly all chess tha tthey play with the press and the other managers minds and if something is wrong they say so.How many times have Wenger and Fergie been fined by the FA and Uefa. They are not in the least bothered by them. They are in fact above them in many ways. See Fergie’s support of both Cantona and Ferdinard for their both completely mad indiscressions. Cantona behaved like he was part of the Wu Tang Clan and Rio had clearly been smoking some of his musicians herbal vibes. So waht does Fergie do he defends them and brings themback as soon as possible and allows themk the footballing and press platform to underline just howe good they are. In fact both Wenger and fergie allow their players to sleep with as women as they want without so much as even a small repremand. That just does not bother him so the press can write wha they want but at the end of the day they just desparate hacks who after another 30 years have to find a different medium to try to keep brainwashing the already majority of the masses.[Of course they will but the point it won’t be newspapers an obselete method of truth delivery]If you are already asleep then anything can be fed to you, but if you are nit then rejection of nonsense is not logical but the only true path to take.

   24 mill for a crock, in his late 29es on his last year is quite simply a masterstroke. Yes he may strenthen Untied, if only becuase he has a point to prove this year, but it will not last becuase in his spirit the love for the game will fade, as in what happened to Henry, he slowed and he lost his verve, maybe I am mistaken and Fergie can extract more from him than Riejkard for Henry with his La Liga winning and Chapions league winning side. For a true determination of loyalty you only have have to look at Giggs and scholes for that matter {although he fucked up with England, though ultimately that was not his fault as the rest of midfieold and the coaches were simply far beneath him]. also I beleive Henry now has arsenal’s best possible future in his heart, he is close to Wenger as wenger made him what he is, like he has with so so many players.

   and this is the crux of it, there is NO better manager at spotting talent and then turning them into worldclass players, however he has something more than that it is a kind of zen-like power that I just dont think alot people really understand. Underestimate your enemy and the battle is already lost. This is one of Wenger’s greatest powers, the ability to look like everything istotally fucked up yet, play the oppostion off the park. The youth did not fail because of Wenger but because of the modern culture of young footballers, he gave them everything and they just wanted their mansions and play stations. Theo Walcott s an example of player who only turned up sporadically. But as he matured last season it was claro to anyone with aneye for seeing something different that the boy started crossing , he could always ghost players. People should listen if Messi says the boy is dangerous and Guardiola wanted to buy….agaij though if he leaves for the money he will never reach the heights. If you look any players who have stayed in their main years with wenger they have reached heitghts they never touched anywhere else. I bet Fabregas comes back after 3 years becuase he is now part of somethuing that cannot fully determine or neither be fully apprecaited, inside somewhere he will grow up and that will hurt him. He is still very very young and we have buy back clause. Fabregas a player who is a victum of the stingy board, wasted the best attcking midfielder and assit creaer of his genration. He is the only real player that has left usd where an immediate replacement was obvious becuase he was creation and there is no way that did the most through balls/assissts for 5 years IN A ROW IN THE WHOLE OF EUROPE] DID HE DO THAT AT BARCA OR WAS SIMPLY JUST BIT PART PLAYER. hE MILES, YES MILES BETTER THAN, BUT A PART OF HIS SPIRIT IS MISSING. hE WILL FIND IT BUT HE ONLY DO IT WHEN HE HAS TRUE PROTECTION. People get angry with Cesc, I don’ though he had to leave becuae arsenal were stale and were noit going forward, and its only becuase there has been a tacit understanding that if Wenger is nit allowed more to complete a fourth team he would have walked at the end of this year. He is classy but loves arsenal, if he opened his mouth agaisnt the board it would bring such a strong sense of resentkent against as people would seriously understand just how tyied his hands have been and yet still he continues to trade , sell and buy at the most compelling and skilful anwyhere in the Pl, msybe only Newcastle are learning the art of it now and the fact they are an exact clone what arsenal were doing years , becuase they secretly have wenger in detail and have deceided to do the exact same thing. The have excellent scouts and more the abilty to find details of players contracts, Papiss cisse at 10 million is I beleive the signing of ther last season and he will end up at one ofr ther very biggest clubs just andy cole, although he might more technically ability although he has devastating eye for eye. If Carroll went back there not sure what the point would be Newcastle have moved on Pardew showed he has matured as a manger by shreeding the old fashioned English midfied hatchmen and in favour of Cabaye, another steal as well for less than 4 mill.

   Now for this Alex Song thing. Ok Lets be clear I Love Alex Song’s larger than life personality, style and his abilty to constantly improve year on year very very much and I think he is just below world class now in what he does and make no mistake he will get better, but Wenger has seen into the future and knows how far he will go. He would keep him but has worked out something better, he sees into the future, he is many many steps ahead of basically almost everyone. He made simple mistakes with subs, maybe overtrusting certain young players, overpaying average players in the quest for zen like harmony in the overall squad, but if a master doesn’t trust his students then he not a true Zen teacher,the Chi or energy must flow.

   Wenger has always been profoundly influenced by his time in Jspan, indeed he still speaks the language fairly fluently, which considering he doesn’t live there anymore and maybe has two conversations a month with his various business partners is extremely impressive. As I said Sung Zu, or rather to use a Japanese rather than Chinese analogy an early shogun, but a true warrior spirit not someone who has to rule by fear [only].

   Wenger is not soft at all. After the all conquering title winning season when they were undefeated [let me say that again undefeated!…….how dare anyone question this man’s credentials this is totally beyond me]. The “news”papers are all basically zenophobic anyway so thats trash, anyway most sensible poeple get the news from the net nowadays that’s why all the papers have declining sales, they are dying out and it suits them in their desperation to stir all kinds of bs up. Th fact is Wenger makes 7 mil a year [officially] and when he retired he will be on the board of THE BEST run club in the world. There will always be instances where some rich guy comes along and does some kind of irregular spending [I am always amazed at the navievity that people do not understand why someone comes and suddenly speands a shit load of momey on a football. It is very very obvious what they are doing and if people are stupid enough to think they simply in love with that club is beyond stupidty. Here is a hin t seriously individuals don’t give their money away there is always a background reason and a way to get it back or make healthier for them], but in reality arsenal has done EXTREMELY well from Man city. They have only won two trophies despite spending over a billion. That just makes no sense, they are just desperate to show they care but in reality thier agenda is much much bigger than Man city. In my opinion Mancini a good definsive manager, but with a manager with no reading or feel for the game. In this way Wenger is miles ahead of basically all managers in the world. Guardiloa has it also, but he was very fortunate to have Iniesta and Messi at the same time[I feel Xavi is overated and wouldnt overly stand out in Premier league, just a personal opinion, I know its unpopular but he is noit player that excites in the way a young Ronaldinho would, not even close to that skill set or repertoire: maybe unfair comparison. Also their constant need ti cheat to win is at the end of the day the real reason why deep down they never win over the hearts of all the world universally like Brazil 1970 or even Brazil 1982 who although they lost were simp,ly breath taking. It was somethjng more than Barca do, even though they are techically brilliant at retaining possesssion and then eventually carving out o goal, Brazil just raw sex appeal.

   Which bring me back to What Arsenal. We dont dive around all over the place, we never get any breaks from refs, indeed its an uphill struggle, but we are despite an extremely stingy board the 6 th richest club in the world. and you can take all those figures with a pinch of salt becuase the heart of it Kronke *IS taking money out of the club, thats the cold reality. Yes the share price is going, BUT he taking money out of the club, and I know fullwell this is where I differ in my view from those that passionately defend the way the way is run.

   If you want me to explain this it must be done in a private conversation because I will not any longer discuss the reasons why in this publuic forum. These are serious people and they are not fucking around. Let us show some for the both owner and understand exactly who and what they are.

   There is no ideal situation, except only to say they allow to spend the money he has made the club, which if you count everything he should have well over 120 mill in the bank but as well know Billionaires dont play by the same rules, so lets stop pretending they do.

   I am sorry f9r the length of this comment. I am just very very busy but I ready about the arsenal and I am and have always been a Gunners fan. From as long as I can remember myself I was a Gunners fan. I admit I d9ont every last detailo about the early years as In 1920ss and before but after that I know more oor less everything.

   Let us stick together as true fans and get behind Wenger becuase he seriously onto something, the fact he is willing to sell song shows me he has sdomething that has been missing has already found a way better solution, he is not fighting the sale to Barca, maybe he knows song will rot on the benchy and never truly realise his potential and maybe he just said fuck it any disloayal cunts i will get the best deal make my team even better, and he DOES THIS DESPITE THE BOARD NOT BECAUSE OF THEM. LONG LIVE THE FOOTBALLING MANAGERIAL SHOGUN, THE FIRST IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE, WHO EVERYONE ELSE HAD TO COPY, OR RISK BEING CONFINED TO THE DUSTBINS OF FOOTBALLING OBSCURITY. The man changed British culture and they just cant forgive him for his genius. He and his methods will always be relevant. One day he will talk the real truth and he destroy the myth of his contentment with the board. Also one thing heis also a capitalist, but can you really blame…..I for one do not, to the most highly skilled goes the best rewards that is quite life in this world.

   If anyone has made it to this point respect and bless, walk live and be free but understand what needs to be overstood.

9. The defence of referee mistakes with comments like: ‘It all evens out in the end’, or ‘What comes around goes around’ Are lame excuses for the fact that these Premier League referees are supposed to be the top professional referees of the professional game.

   It therefore follows we have the right to expect at least 99% accuracy from them not somewhere between 50% – 60% accuracy and a shrug of the shoulders and an off hand ‘It all evens out in the end’ Comments like that only make the situation worse then it is. For they imply that a 50% – 60% level of accuracy is acceptable when it is not.

10. It’s gone be another tough season, but let’s get the season started and put all our support behind our boys.

11. I’m optomistic about the reffing for this season – we have an insider in the FA again.

12. Have just read elsewhere the following projected team for this afternoon:
    Sxczesny
    Jenkinson,Kosielny,Vermaelen& Gibbs
    Arteta&Diaby
    Walcott,Cazorla,Gervinho
    Podolski
    I couldn’t help being reminded of my Greatx5 Uncle Eli who fought at the Battle of Waterloo. He wrote to his Mother reporting that the Duke of Wellington, when reviewing his men before the Battle, said “I don’t know what effect you will have on the enemy but by God you frighten me”.
    Reading again the team list above I can imagine Arsene’s thoughts as he casts an eye around the dressingroom today!

13. Kos is out for this game, Per will most likely be in.

    Sunderland are known for having aerial trouble, we might see Giroud along the way. I will always remember Henry’s goal from last year (and forgotten man Arshavin’s cross).

14. Thanks@DodFace,we have a saying in our local laguage that (Eyeyambundde tatya nene)If you are naked and you are on the bed you will be ready to take anything small or big that comes your way.So as always The Arsenal is ever ready like it or not we will never get pampered’ so guys that is a reality lets play, win some and draw others.
    We do not have to lose hope but to keep the fire burning. The Prof knows,LETS GO ARSENALLLLLLL.

15. The appointment of a referee who Arsenal have a good record under seems a strange one by the PGMOL for the first game of the season.

16. Arsenal starting XI: Szczesny; Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs; Diaby, Arteta; Cazorla, Walcott, Gervinho; Podolski.
    Subs: Mannone, Djourou, Coquelin, Santos, Ramsey, Arshavin, Giroud.

17. Some pointless trivia for you.

    When someone shouts “Man On!”, does it confuse Mannone?

18. What a research! Any way, Arsenal couldn’t score at home against resistant Sunderland and they would surely miss Robin Van Persie. Today, they have annoounced letting Alex Song go and it would not be good for the team spirit as Song is one of the core players next year.

19. Well the lack of comments on here probably tells us that no one feels that miffed with Foy’s performance. He was a little too lenient with his lack of bookings and that favoured the more defensive team. He also allowed some amount of time wasting by the Sunderland players, but all in all, that was probably a decent performance.

    There was ONE incident on about 11 and a half minutes when Gervinho went down in the penalty area and sort of asked for a penalty. I’m not sure it was one, but there was no replay there, and that makes me very suspicious indeed.

20. Tony K,
    It will take a while to digest as there’s so much on the plate you serve up. But it’s surely a different, unique posting and ever so passionate. Imo, it’s one that deserves a few readings; and not the silence so far. But I’d say the Ref Review is probably not the best place on UA to post this massive comment under; but I hope that readers will revisit it and take their own measure of and lessons from some of your analyses, hints and allegations. Unique is good and your comment is that.

21. p.s. sorry, meant to say Ref Watch (above).

22. Phil Dowd just gifted defeat to 10-man Liverpool and, via the red card, removed a major player from their next week’s match against Citeh. I hope our ref reviewers pay this one special attention. Their manager, Brendan Rogers, came thisclose to accusing Dowd of throwing the game:
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/aug/18/brendan-rodgers-liverpool-west-brom

23. Can’t say that I saw no major mistakes from Foy today. A couple of times he gave soft free kicks to Sunderland players when they went down rather easily, but none in dangerous areas. My only gripe was the megre 4 minutes of added time. Several times I saw him pointing at his watch when their keeper was dallying around with goal kicks yet along with the full quota of substitutions by both sides I would expected a bit more.

24. Sorry – first sentence above should say ‘any major mistakes’.

25. I agree with Bob – TonyK’s comment is massive, looks like he just started typing and unloaded.

    I will read all the way through – although unrelated, thanks for the effort TK!

26. Tony K – one of the most extraordinary posts I’ve ever read!

    Would be worth tidying up and offering to an established blog as a guest post in my humble opinion.