West Ham v Arsenal: Wed 12 Dec. The Match Officials including the ref of catastrophic blunders

by Andrew Crawshaw

After yet another underwhelming performance from a FIFA accredited referee on Sunday afternoon who do we have in charge on Wednesday Night at the Taxpayers Stadium…

• Referee – Jonathan Moss from West Yorkshire
• Assistant Referee 1  – Eddie Smart  From West Midlands
• Assistant Referee 2 – Harry Lennard from East Sussex
• Fourth Official – Craig Pawson  Age 37 from South Yorkshire

So for this match only the Fourth Official has that damming accreditation.

Somewhat surprisingly this is the first time this season that Mr Moss has been given the whistle for an Arsenal match.  He has been in charge for 12 matches in the 17 weeks of the league season so far so is clearly earning his retainer.

Last Season 2016-17 we had him in two league matches only one of which was fully reviewed

Arsenal v Burnley 22 Jan 2017 (2 – 1)  Mr Moss scored an unacceptable 50% weighted, his bias against the two teams was 71/29 and he made a staggering 10 wrong Important Decisions.

• Min 24 Defour should have had a red card for a foul on Xhaka,
• Min 34 Lawton should have had a red card for a foul on Alexis, Min 53 Barnes should have had a red card for an elbow on Mustafi,
• Min 73 Marney should have had a red card for a foul on Özil,
• Min 89 Barton should have had a red card for a two handed push to Alexis’s head and
• Min 90+6 Mee should have had a red card for a high foot on Koscielny.

So that’s six Burnley players who should have been sent off.  Min 62 Grey should have conceded a penalty for a push on Mustafi.  Mr Moss didn’t only confine his mistakes to those to the benefit of Burnley.

• Min 83 Giroud should have had a red card for a high foot on Tarkowski and in
• Min 90+6 he made a complete hash of the incident concerning Mee and Kos, in addition to the redcard for Mee which he didn’t award, the penalty which he did award to Arsenal was incorrect as Koscielny was in an offside position hence the consequent goal from the penalty shouldn’t have counted either.  All in all a catastrophic series of blunders throughout the whole game.

The second game was our away visit to Southampton on 10 May which we won by two goals to nil.  I have these quotes relating to Mr Moss from Walter’s post match report.  The comments all look depressingly familiar, Arsenal treated in a different way from our opponents, clear sending off offence missed for a foul on an Arsenal player – same old, same old.

“Mustafi with a tackle on the ball judged as a foul by Moss in a dangerous position in front of the Arsenal goal but the fee kick goes wide.  A similar tackle earlier on at the other end going unnoticed…..Ward Prowse using his arm against the face of Monreal but no second yellow card from Moss…..The assistant then gives a completely ridiculous offside against Mustafi who was not even close to offside…..A Southampton player then slips and a foul is given against Arsenal?…..Moss gives a yellow card against Bellerin who was kicked a few times but no foul given and he then kicked the ball away in anger”.

2015 – 16 we had Mr Moss on three occasions :-

1. Arsenal v Stoke 12 September (2 – 0)  71% weighted performance score, bias against the two teams of 100/0 and (surprisingly) only two wrong Important Decisions both relating to an incident in Min 90+2 where Eric Pieters should have had a red card and conceded a penalty for a deliberate foul on Giroud in the six yard box.
2. Southampton v Arsenal 26 December (4 – 0)  49% overall weighting, bias against the two teams of 22/78 and six wrong Important Decisions.  Min 19 Southampton’s first goal should have been ruled out for offside against Davis, Min 49 Koscielny should have had a second yellow card for a foul on Mane,  Min 54 Southampton’s second goal should have been ruled out for a foul by Long on Koscielny, Min 69 Southampton’s third goal should have been ruled out as the corner which led to the goal was incorrectly awarded (it should have been a goal kick).  Min 73 Wanyama should have had a red card for an attempted assault on Ramsey.
3. Arsenal v West Brom 21 April (2 – 0)  65% overall rating, bias against the two teams of 82/18 and one wrong Important Decision when in Min 84 Yacob should have had a second yellow card.

2014 – 15  Going back another year and we had Mr Moss on two occasions :-

1. Arsenal v Crystal Palace 16 August (2 – 1)  81% overall score but all of the (admittedly few) wrong decisions were in favour of Palace so bias 100/0 and three wrong Important Decisions  Min8 Ramsey was pushed in the penalty area no penalty given, Min 64 Mr Moss has a word with Chamach over persistent fouling (it really should have been a second yellow card), Min 72 Hangerland pulled Giroud down by the neck (again no penalty awarded)
2. Arsenal v Stoke 11 Jan (3 – 0)  72% overall weighted score, bias against the two teams of 90/10  He made two wrong Important Decisions  Min 10 Arnautovic for a push on Debuchy who was propelled into the advertising hoardings and ended up as a three month injury.  If memory serves me correctly this wasn’t even called a foul. Min 42 Crouch should have had a second yellow card for a  studs up challenge on Mertesacker (his first yellow card should have come in Min35 for an elbow on Monreal.

Summary

1. Mr Moss is a terrible referee who at times doesn’t seem to know if it is Christmas or Breakfast.
2. His bias figures are bad, even by the skewed figures that are normal within the PGMO – 100% against Arsenal twice in six matches is pretty damming.
3. His lack of perception as to what constitutes a red card challenge alone should preclude him from being a referee at any level let alone the ‘best league in the world’
4. We can expect
   1. No penalty being given to Arsenal
   2. At least one and probably several West Ham players making red cad challenges without being sent off
   3. Phantom fouls being awarded to West Ham in dangerous areas of the pitch
   4. Andy Carroll (if he plays) will be allowed to foul our defenders without fear of any kind of sanction – this will be excused by the commentators and pundits as him ‘just wanting it more’.
5. For once lets have a bright start with a couple of early goals and take the match officials out of the equation.

COYG

• State Aid United v Arsenal at the Tax Payers Stadium. The sacrifice of many for the few.
• Suddenly the transfer scene has woken up with an explosion of stories. We have names!
• November 1918: war ends, FA / League quarrel, Henry Norris is called on (again).