By Andrew Crawshaw
Firstly the ‘Table of Shame’ following Walter’s Review of the QPR game – a 2-1 win so there couldn’t be much to complain about from the referee – WRONG.
Mr Atkinson again showed his complete inability to referee an Arsenal game in an honest fashion. His overall score (weighted for importance of decisions) was 60% nowhere near the PGMO wish-a-tistics of 98%. He had four penalty decisions to make and got all of them wrong. Min23 Onuoha for dragging Giroud to the ground, Min75 Fer on Mertesacker, Min77 he wrongly awarded QPR a penalty after Debuchy cleared the ball and Hoilett went down. and Min 90 Gibbs on Zamora. The “goal” that QPR scored from their wrongly awarded penalty shouldn’t have counted either and Ferdinand should have been sent off (second yellow) for grabbing Giroud’s neck.
| Wrong Important Decisions | Favouring Arsenal | Favouring Opponents |
| 2nd Yellow Cards | 0 | 11 |
| Red Cards | 3 | 11 |
| Penalties | 3 | 14 |
| Goals | 0 | 6 |
| Total | 6 | 42 |
| Possible Cost in Points | 2 | 23 |
The Wrong Important decisions count is now 7 to 1 against Arsenal so certainly no signs of it evening out yet (in fact the gap is getting larger).
Now on to Sunday.
- Referee – Mike Dean
- Assistants – J Collin and J Brooks
- Fourth Official – R East
You really don’t need me to go over the History of Mr Dean and Arsenal again. There are dozens of historic articles within the Untold database that you can easily reference (just enter Mike Dean in the search here box at the right hand side of the site header). Sufficient to say that he consistently, year on year, referees our matches in a less than balanced manner – and I am being extremely polite with my choice of words here.
Mr Collin showed that he was willing to stand up to Mr Taylor in the diabolically refereed game v Stoke, I just hope he shows the same spine on Sunday. I have not noted anything particular regarding Mr Brooks. Mr Collin has been with Mr Dean three times this year including the United game, Mr Brooks seven times including both of the draws referenced below.
We had him for our home game against United which we lost 2-1. In brief Dean decided the game in favour of United. Four wrong Important Decisions all favouring United, a wrongly given goal, a not given penalty to Arsenal and two United players not sent off. His overall score was 53% and four out of every five wrong decisions were in favour of United. It was the second worst refereeing performance involving Arsenal in the first half of the season.
| Imagine a ref who only gets half his decisions right: Arsenal – MU ref review |
For Manchester City he has done two games so far this year:-
- Man City v Chelsea – 21 Sept, score 1 – 1
- QPR v City- 8 Nov, score 2 – 2.
After two draws so far I’m sure that the City supporters will be hoping for three points this game and (in my heart) I’m sure that is what they will get. If Arsenal come away with any points it will be little short of a miracle.
I said in a comment earlier in the week that with Mr Dean in charge we all know that we will be screwed and that the art was in trying to predict how he will do it. Here are my top seven predictions – I’m sure that you will be able to add others yourself.
- Look out for how he deals with the first few minutes – I expect there to be overly excessive tackles from City players not called as fouls, and Arsenal players penalised for coming close to their opponents.
- We are currently short of experienced defenders after Debuchy was fouled out of the game against Stoke last week. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Koscielny (or Mertesacker) targeted this week or for Mr Dean to send him off following a dive from a City player.
- Our other key player is Alexis and our old friend (and convicted thug) Barton gave an expose of how to kick him out of a game on Match of the Day last week. Expect that tactic to be adopted on Sunday with no protection from Mr Dean and his team Should Alexis retaliate in any way or wave an imaginary card he will immediately be carded.
- Offside decisions – expect there to be a different rule for City and United, probably differing by 2 to 3 meters.
- Phantom fouls being called to enable City to regroup in any threatening position.
- Advantage not being awarded properly following a foul, if there is a genuine Arsenal advantage, the foul will be called. If there isn’t one then advantage will be indicated. Needless to say a correct advantage to City will always be allowed.
- Penalties – there is absolutely no way I can envisage an Arsenal penalty in this game – the last one he awarded to Arsenal was on 13/09/08 when RVP scored in Minute81 of a 4-0 win against Blackburn. The City players all know this and therefore have free licence to manhandle our attackers with impunity. At the other end our defenders have to be far more careful.Needless to say an honest and balanced referee would do none of these things and would be horrified at even being thought capable of acting in such a way.
COYG
Here are the rules if you want to comment
Classic Untold
How pundits and journalists treat fans with contempt
Fifa see North Korea not as a warning but a blue print
Just so depressing.
I keep watching games hoping for a balanced refereeing display – and keep being disappointed.
My hopes are raised because:
– Big game, lots of attention, on TV – surely Dean will want to look good?
– Pressure on Riley and referees after recent events. Can’t afford another bad show.
– The law of averages must apply eventually, mustn’t it?
But, I know deep down it will be the same old, same old.
My heart fell when I found out who was in charge on Sunday. We will lose at least 3-0 maybe more. I expect at least one Arsenal player to be sent off, suspect Alexis and would not be surprised to see two players sent off; both arsenal players. Expect two penalties to the citizens and it goes without saying none for us. Will not bother watching we have no chance. Is there no way someone can bring this Idiot to task; a really rotten little cheat.
The last time Dean was in charge we lost to City at home 2:0. He gave an early red card to Koscielny and awarded a penalty – to be honest, it was more to Koscielny’s positioning that allowed Dzeko to reach the ball first so I’d probably do the same. He gave a red card to Kompany that was later cancelled but he did it at 2:0 for the visitors with 15 minutes to go. My fear is that Coquelin will get a red card for a rather ordinary tackle on Silva or Milner while the latter will injure someone (say, Chamberlain) without a punishment. I don’t know what sort of performance Dean can pull out of Riley’s bottom – that’s where he keeps his nose anyway – but I don’t believe it can be worse from Atkinson’s 12th-City-player-performance in December 2013.
I have a dream that one day, a courageous manager will be so sickened by the blatant omissions and outright biased decisions by a dishonest match official, he will order his team from the field.
There will be a price to pay of course, but at long last, via the publicity, something may be done to root out a major part of corruption in our national game.
You just ruined my weekend man. Dean is bad news for Arsenal any day. Wow! The boys should just go out there and give their best in spite of this evil man and his diabolical refereeing. How the PGMOL can justify these things is beyond me. Let our players chin up and play their hearts out anyway.
Mike Dean is d most useless referee in d EPL, he is an Arsenal hater. His officiating is very poor especially when it is Arsenal. FIFA shld pls withdraw his FIFA badge
Let referee Dean do his best or his worse in referring tomorrow’s Barclays Premier League Man City home game with Arsenal at their Etihad stadium. Arsenal will win this game comes any Jupiter referee to referee the proceeding of the game. The outcome of the game will be in total favour of the Gunners. I am confident of an Arsenal away win in this game. And the boss, the Gunners and every Gooner must not panic, instead the should all be confident as me. The key to Arsenal coming back to the Emirates stadium with all the 3pts at stake at the Etihad rest on the boss making an Asundering Gunners starts that will cut the Citizens asunder right there at their Etihad stadium before the eyes of their die hard fans. Infact, the Asundering Gunners starts who the boss should base his selections on the Gunners who have the requisite experience, pace, agility, skills, audacity and stamina to execute this game. I am putting forward a starts for the boss to consider for his adoption. I know he will amend my starts, but let his amendments be minimal please. My Asundering Gunners starts: Szczesny.Bellerin;Rhinosacker;Koscielny;Gibbs.Flamini;Cazorla;Coquelin.Walcott;Giroud;Sanchez. I brought in Walcott to replace Welbeck at right wing. Giroud is the main striker while Sanchez is ofcourse the left attacking winger. My playing formation is 4-3-3. My bench: Martinez; Monreal;Chambers;Ozil;Rosicky;Ramsey;Oxchambo. They will all start our away FA Cup to Brighton.
At pretty much every match now, there is a universal Untold groan at whoever is our next referee. All of the pgmol superstars seem to have been converted. There were some average-ish ones, who now seem to be falling prone behind Riley – Moss, Marriner, Swarbrick. We all know who the original disciples are. Clattenburg, who I don’t mind, now has to decide whether to further his career in this way, or risk the Championship.
Andrew, your 7 Arsenal screw-overs from Dean feels very real. Last years’ Atkinson show was not the ‘thrashing’ we will be hearing about on Sky. I dread what Dean will fix tomorrow, but we can win if we believe. COYG!!
Mike Dean.
1/ he is an ambitious establishment ref, the establishment is now not those with history, but those with money
2/ he clearly has some issue with Arsenal
3/ he is a Liverpool supporter so would quite happily see Arsenal lose this one
4/ if he is all these things, why would he not be acting for some sort of personal gain
But all that aside, I believe we can get something from this game, but maybe at a cost.
There will come a time when someone at the club is going to have to speak out over this
We know the enemy now, but quality will always win, that is if we come out with the determination to win, do not get disheartened by wrong decisions, ESPECIALLY immediately after the wrong decision, where the opposition reacts quicker, and boom, we are a goal down. PLAY to the whistle, think about the decisions later.
There should be one thought, we want to win and will play to win.
After all that, i wish us much luck, but luck of our own making on the field today.
@alwaysgunner
Do not lose your pride in Arsenal. Things are sometimes not always what they seem, that is, things can change in an instant.
Seem’s like we have had this probem with most refs for ever. Did it get significantly worse since Riley took over as their “supremo”? What is most frustrating is that they don’t care if they are on tellie or not – they don’t get called to explain anything.
Dean is a prime example of someone who thinks he is above reproach. He struts around, making the object of the game himself. I remember a game on TV either earlier this season or last, where he was heard swearing when commenting that he was “tired” though that wasn’t what he actually said. He obviously has NO regard for supporters who pay a lot of money, expecting to see something other than inadequade officials, spoiling top level football matches, between teams of professional sportsmen.
As genorm said, Clattenburg is about the best of a bad lot, but he is obviously on the PGMOL Hit List as they apparently disagree with his taste in music!
We gonna win this one. It’s time !
I’m clutching at straws here, but I just wonder whether the presence of TH14 in the Sky commentary box might have any bearing on the official’s performance. I’m also willing to be proved wrong here, but I don’t get too much of a sense of City being massively favoured. I think we will do well tomorrow: the time is right to do so and I feel the tide is turning.
It’s been 14 straight games that we have failed to beat a team in the PL that also qualified for the CL. Mike Dean being referee is not going to help us one bit, but there are other issues to overcome clearly. That record is appalling.
TH14 will have no effect at all.
He loves Arsenal, I have no doubt about that, but he will be like a fish swimming against the tide and the thing about swimming against the tide is that it’s very very tiring and more often than not, and despite your best efforts, you get nowhere, and eventually you just give up.
I hope against hope that no matter what the intimidation, overtly or covertly administered, he can stay true to his heart.
Alas the pessimist in me has to concede that like everyone else before him, he will end up towing the company line, and sadly I think it will be sooner rather than later.
The alternative of course is he does rock the boat and ends up getting thrown overboard for his troubles.
“There will come a time when someone at the club is going to have to speak out over this.”
Perhaps the fans will do likewise at The Dean’s next infestation of the Ems. A sea of red cards should await his slither on to the pitch. What he does in this game should be the last straw, IF the likely comes to pass. The only thing I can see as perhaps a mitigating factor is the recent outcropping of actual complaints on the woeful state of the refshite, including from the former practitioners of those black arts. Perhaps they can’t afford an egregious theft in the light of day. Then again, it hasn’t stopped it in the past, what with so much of the stenographic medja providing the camouflage. Perhaps a mass write-in to an offending medja outlet could be considered if/when the Dean does the nasty and there’s the golden medja silence about it. In any case, there is an alternative to the constant call – that is, unheeded call – for someone at AFC (oh Irving, anybody home?) to actually say something. Then again, with 4th place as possible as it is commercially necessary, no one should hold one’s breath. That dog won’t hunt.
“The alternative of course is he does rock the boat and ends up getting thrown overboard for his troubles.”
At which point TH14 should become the designated coach in waiting for his service to truth, justice and the unusual act of someone major at AFC actually speaking out.
Has it really been fourteen fixtures against other top four teams from last season since AFC beat Liverpool 2-0 at home (could’ve/should’ve been a bigger margin of victory on the day) last season?
😉
These negative nellies can be observed to jump from one bleating meme to another. It’s a beautiful winter’s day here in N.London, hope you all don’t have to work like little old me.
Abu Dhabi City certainly have not been shown the PGMO’s favour this season unlike the other petro-club, they too suffered from what the Arsenal manager again referred to as Special Circumstances* in a game against the team owned by a betting company, Stoke, though last year there appeared to be a bespoke application of the offside rule in Many City games, I guess this is the PGMO’s “game management” in action: One petro club happy to ply the trade with Mendes mules or another, what’s the difference?
The disingenious carping coming from the bus stop in Fulham is intriguing, given the favours all have seen them given this term. PR “genius'” at work again?
* this time in the recent presser AW was referring to the strange officals during the last visit to City: Special Circumstances 😉
Anyway, you can’t accuse him or AFC of not referring to the special circumstances we witness, the manager and the club are just being very subtle. Perhaps too subtle for most, but it’s interesting to me to see the consistency here of the comments made that refer to the officals, towards their responsibilities. Just because the hacks are ignoring these comments to the best of their abilities does not mean that no comment has been made! My advice to all is to watch the press conferences for yourselves. They can be intriguing.
finsbury,
The subtlety is noted by those who watch, but, alas, it can have no traction unless it gets amplified into something unsubtle. And that requires finger-removal. Absent that, it’s business as usual and chit-chat for the unsubtle to note. Imo, the very act of having to be subtle is picked up on and translates directly into a mass “don’t go there.” So you can pick up on the subtlety, feel so in the know, have tea, and FA happens.
@finsbury – Liverpool were not in the CL last year 😉
It’s been 14 straight games where we get robbed playing against a top four side, why don’t we focus on that? Can you name one match against a top side where we got a fair chance in the last three or four years, and you can’t even find one match. That’s the evil we have to deal with.
Matches against top sides are always going to be quite challenging without any tilting from referees. Any bias will make it twice as hard to get anything out of such a match. Expect a penalty for city, a red card against us, a terrible foul against one of our players which will go unpunished, tomorrow.
Not a single result has gone our way today. That will spur Dean on, there are people who would love to see us out of the top four come seasons end
Mandy Dodd
Although every one of them would of expected to win today it would of helped had 1 or 2 of them slipped up, but alas as much as none of them where particularly impressive they all did enough.
As you say, tomorrow now looks a particular good day to stitch us up and with Dean we have the ideal man to do it.
But they qualified for the CL this season got to love how we can get a tirade based on facts that ain’t true.
@gunnerjoe
The stat is simple – its 14 games with no wins in the PL against our fellow CL qualifiers going into each season. Liverpool were not a CL team going into last season.
Its really not that hard to understand – but I do understand the need to hang on to the 2-0 vs Liverpool last year. Whichever way you cut it our record vs top opposition is appalling – not even a debate. It needs to be remedied because confidence going into these games has to be low. Its actually getting worse too. How much the refs have to do with it is open to debate. I personally think they do play a big part in it but they are not solely to blame. When you look back at the games we have either just not performed well enough or we’ve gone into the games decimated by injury. It’s a combination of factors but the record is what it is.
I wonder what rose-tinted world people live in when they think the club can talk about the atrocious refereeing and get away without severe retaliation. The most Wenger can do is what he has been doing, make subtle comments about the refereeing.
As for pulling a team off the field, good lord, imagine if Arsenal did that. We would probably be docked points, at the very least, for bringing the game into disrepute, or some such rubbish as that. If simply calling one decision into question can see you punished, imagine what pulling a team off the field will do. Think of all the lovely money the Premier League would lose from lost television revenue.
I’m still of the opinion that it is the supporters’ responsibility to make a noise about the bad refereeing performances. That is after all what supporters are supposed to do, support the team when injustice is done to them. But no, half the Arsenal ‘supporters’ are too busy trying to find every excuse to get rid of Wenger. To them bad refereeing is just another excuse.
Just take Jayram. We can debate about the performances on the field, fine, but how the referees perform has nothing to do with how good a manager Wenger is or is not. So why bring up how bad you think Wenger is when we are discussing refs? If you support the team, rather than Wenger, as people such as Jayram claim, then why don’t you support the team when they are getting abused by the refs? That’s nothing to do with Wenger, that’s the team.
We as supporters need to show the FA and the PGMO that we won’t stand for it any more.
This post contained several breaches of our guidelines on comments. The writer ended by predicting it would be deleted. One wonders why in that case it was written.
Bootoomee – your friend is back…
Very true Jambug. Sounds like varying degrees in fortune with all of them.
Just been on the official site showing the players training, not sure if you can read anything into the pics, but thro seems to figure prominently. Nice pic of Szcz as well.
And another result goes against us, Southampton survive a strong penalty appeal right at the end. Lose tomorrow and Soton are six points ahead. The team need to focus on this one, and this ref tomorrow.
That’s not what you wrote by the way the teams your talking about are the highest spending teams in the EPL.
Also like you said the refs had a big influence agaist these teams in our last four home games against them.
But what you wrote the second time may be true and I’d be much more up set with those facts but I look beyond the results I look at the reasons.
That number 14 sounds ridiculous but considering the ref decisions in many of the games I wouldn’t be surprised if it was try. Would be interesting to compare the PL records of Arsenal vs the Top Teams in the 6 years Before Riley (2003/04 – 2009) and After Riley took over the PGMOB (2009/10 – 2015)
Arsenal vs. Chelsea
BR: 4 Wins – 4 Lossess – 4 Draws
AR: 2 Wins – 7 Losses – 2 Draws
Arsenal vs. United
BR: 3 Wins – 4 Losses – 5 Draws
AR: 1 Win – 8 Losses – 2 Draws
Arsenal vs. City
BR: 9 Wins – 2 Losses – 1 Draw
AR: 2 Wins – 4 Losses – 5 Draws
Arsenal vs. Liverpool
BR: 5 Wins – 3 Losses – 4 Draws
AR: 5 Wins – 2 Losses- 4 Draws
Total Records:
BR: 21 Wins – 13 Losses – 14 Draws = 77 / 144 points
AR: 10 Wins – 21 Losses – 13 Draws = 43 / 132 points
Before Riley, we were getting about half the points, which is expected when you consider the top teams should be around equal.
Since Riley took over PGMOB, we are able to get about only 1/3 of the points. So in the end, it is not surprising that our record has been horrible against the top teams, because there are only slight differences that separate the top teams at the top, and a tilting of the pitch in favor of a team by the officials will be much harder to overcome against better opponents.
meant to say, wouldn’t be surprised if it was true
Quincy
True. You’d think they’d be riled by the unfair treatment/abuse our players get from the officials, but no. It actually seems they’re happy to defend the refs. It just doesn’t make sense.
Mandy
You say Southampton survived a strong penalty appeal, doesn’t strike me as odd that. The script is written, we won’t win tomorrow. Might as well not bother turning up, as not only are we guaranteed to lose three points but we run the risk of getting weakened for future matches through injuries and/or suspensions.
I saw the incident. I am no ref, but it was not a penalty as far as I am concerned. The defender was two or three yards away from the Newcastle player, who smashed the shot into the Southampton player. It would have been a harsh penalty in my opinion.
Very odd piece in The Guardian.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jan/17/sky-football-pundit-thierry-henry
They make it look like an interview with Henry, but instead it’s an odd article bashing everything about him. It’s not even a Q&A as it purports to be. And supposedly The Guardian is one of the better papers.
Former Arsenal player Jay Emmanuel Thomas played in a game today against Scunthorpe, where both Scunthorpe goaltenders suffered broken arms in the first half.
Mannone still riding the bench for Sunderland.
Sanogo played 79 minutes and was active. He did have a shot on target, and was carded at some point.
Afobe came in on the 57 minute for Wolves, and scored in the 90th minute.
The knives are out for Thierry before he even starts. And that piece calls caragher and neville the A list, pathetic. I’m giving Thierry two years maximum before he dumps Sky.
Think destiny may take Thierry in another direction eventually
Not a good weekend for us so far.
Shite weekend so far, but have a funny feeling about tomorrow, not sure,if it is blind optimism or a gut feeling.
But this league run of defeats in Manchester has to end sometime, even though our injuries, their relative lack of injuries, their money and the pgmol appointment suggests we have an uphill task.
I am not sure, we have the players but do they have the confidence?
@quincy
I would like to point out I have not mentioned Wenger so I have no idea why you are accusing me of bringing Wenger into a discussion about refs. I have my views on Wenger but all my comments have been in the context of refs. As I have said I believe the refs play a part but it’s not the whole story. Poor performances and injuries have also played their part.
There will be a sending off or a penalty against us….
This ref won’t be happy unless we are humiliated …
We should request that he don’t officiate in our games …
Fa will say no , but….
Fergie did it and it worked …
If we produce enough evidence we may un officially get our way.
Man City 5/4 on with most bookmakers to win (odds are shortening, 5/6 was available yesterday) so a bet on Mike Dean doing his usual will almost double your money.
http://www.oddschecker.com/football/english/premier-league/man-city-v-arsenal/winner
We all know we’re going to get screwed so let’s at least make some money out of it.
@Quincy
You are right about why Arsenal cannot openly criticize the referees or take the team off the pitch. There was clear dissatisfaction from fans at recent Arsenal matches about biased refereeing so I’m hoping the same thing will happen tomorrow. With it being an away match, though, it might not be so easy to hear.
The Guardian journalist is one of those hacks who like to sound clever by making snide remarks about someone who has achieved a standard of success in his field that the hack him or herself will never achieve. Still, they seem to be able to land jobs by doing exactly that. A poor comment on the state of our mass media.
Why are managers not allowed to comment on the ref’s performance, in a non discriminating way? This would surely make the refs try to perform better. At the moment the refs can live in the knowledge that they can get away with anything and it will not be highlighted by anyone. Sad is that the media who usually jumps on such topics are unusually quiet about them.
//
A lot of people here today are feeling we are going to lose but our team has a new found steel, that showed through a little(a little only because of the fear of harder punishments) in some recent games, but it is there now and used in the right way and at the right time will help us much more in games.
//
I am convinced that if we are concentrated on the game and to win it, we will. I have seen us take city apart before, and know we can do it. All i want is a great performance and determination from the lads. We cannot allow decisions on the pitch to affect us in a negative way, it’s done, don’t dwell on it, play on.
Para
I know what you mean, and would like to be positive too, but there’s two scenarios. The first is the team getting dejected coz they see the ref letting the other team getting away with murder while they get penalised for even the smallest mistake. I think the team are learning to cope with that now, as seen against stoke.
The second scenario is where a team simply can’t do anything about it, where a ref will award a penalty against you for nothing, where he will send one of your players off for nothing, disallow your goals, etc. There’s absolutely nothing any team in this world can do to rise above that. And the second scenario is what we will get from dean today. Of course there’ll be a bit of the first scenario in there too and that’s what makes it even more difficult to expect anything out of today’s match; expect to see milner and fernandinho kick our players without getting punished.
What irks me is England is supposed to be a democracy and yet we get this kind of nonsense, where people like Riley rob us on a daily basis with no accountability whatsoever. If this was some third world dictatorship you could understand these things happening.
AL
The fundamental problem we have is the enormous latitude Referees have when applying the ‘Laws of the game’.
Take the Stoke match.
Chambers committed 2 very innocuous fouls involving the slightest of ‘tugs’ on the opposing player. Both, according to a very strict interpretation of the ‘Laws’ deserving of a Yellow card.
Fine, if that same level of interpretation is applied throughout the game, to every player, on both sides, but we all know it wasn’t
We all saw certain Stoke players fouling Arsenal players on a regular basis. Not only that many of those fouls should of been Yellow Cards, had the Referee applied the same ‘strict’ criteria as he did to Chambers.
The problem we have is, because technically the Referee was within his rights to book Chambers twice and not book the Stoke players (given his enormous latitude for interpretation) it’s hard to argue the Referee was ‘wrong’ or ‘biased’
But when you put the decisions into ‘context’ and compare the disproportionate degrees of leniency applied by the Referee, we all know he was biased. His performance was littered with inconsistences.
The problem is, when we highlight these ‘inconsistences’ or ‘bias’ as it should be called, we are shouted down as paranoid. As obvious as it is for us to see, for others who do not want to see it, it is as easily ignored.
I predict an early booking for Le Coq to limit his involvement followed by a second booking if required, no penalty or freekick in and around the attacking D as per playing Utd.
Jayram @ at 3:07 pm
As expected from such a disingenious and dishonest commentatot such as yourself, the failed sidestep above on Liverpool did not even consider the defeat of City in the Supercup at the start of this season.
Would you like a spade to help with the hole you’ve been diggeing upon here? Some flowers to decorate the surface?
bob @ 2.32
I am certainly no more in the know then anyone else who watches the football involving AFC. 🙂
And most fans I know could spot the blatent bungling involved with, say for example the “game management” with the application of the “advantage” rule following the foul on Chambo (in his own half) in the recent Liverpool game. It’s transparent, everyone can see it, and I certainly don’t need to tell others to tell me that a trained proffessional official does not simply forget the rules in such an instance, that it is simple and straightforward cheating.
It is, what it is! 🙂
Maybe this is the game where everything finally starts to even out in our favour ,as we are continuously reminded ad infernum !
In the meantime , am hoping we keep a clean sheet and nick the points !
Up the Gunners !
finsbury
As much as allowing a player that is perfectly capable of leaving the field of play, to remain on the field of play for over 5 minutes treatment, is also cheating.
That simple bit of cheating prevented Liverpool having to play for 5 minutes a player down and was responsible for the added time in which Liverpool equalised.
I’m not suggesting for a second that that is an excuse for not defending the set piece well or in fact our overall sub standard performance on the day BUT it is yet again a clear an obvious instance of a ref not apply the Laws of the Game correctly in favour of our opponents.
And I will add that not once was that particular flagrant disregard of the ‘Laws’ by the Referee mentioned by the commentators at the time or after the match.
I am optimistic that Arsenal will win this match. I am also praying that Dean crashes to the floor with a couple of broken bones. A slight nudge will help so that the crows realise what Debuchy went through.
Please God show us Gooners that you exist.
No card for Kompany!!!!
Well Untold was wrong for once in number 7. But I am sure none of us will complain. Miracles do happen.