By Nitram
This article continues from Why do two sets of fans see a match in such different ways? I wasn’t going to do the second half but having read Tony’s article (The Sins of Omission) about how the media, as well as fans, pick and chose what they see and don’t see, it made me think again.
The reason being, whilst reading through the Newcastle match day blog I had been following, I recalled clicking on a link to a website/blog called nufc.com that contained some very harsh criticisms of our behaviour, very much in a similar vein to those expressed by many of their fans.
These are the two harshest criticisms, so as before I thought I’d see if they had any basis in reality:
CLAIM ONE
“What’s also beyond question is that Aaron Ramsdale now rivals Jordan Pickford in the dickhead goalkeeper stakes, after his pantomime display here today in the second half. Were he ever to be landed with an FA charge, he’d probably get off by blaming voices in his head….”
So how much time did Ramsdale waste?
Again, there are only two ways Ramsdale can waste time, and that is with Goal Kicks (GK) and with Ball in Hand (IH).
- GK x 4 for 139 seconds or 34 seconds per event
- IH x 6 for 88 seconds or 14 seconds per event
Total time in possession of the ball 227 seconds or 22.7 seconds per event
And then I took this information from the Definitive Guide to Premier League Time Wasting: “On average, half a minute is lost on every free kick, corner and goal kick in the Premier League this season, while a throw-in takes about 16 seconds off the clock”
So Ramsdale took just four seconds over the average for each Goal Kick and actually, if you equate returning the ball into play from his hands to a throw in, he took two seconds under the average. Hardly a ‘pantomime display’ worthy of an FA charge, as suggested by nufc.com I would suggest?
CLAIM TWO
“You’ll have to go a long way to see elongated substitutions than the visitors made here late on – players have taken their leave from testimonial matches with less fanfare.”
Well, this is how both Newcastle’s and Arsenal’s substitutions played out.
NEWCASTLE
- On 66 minutes took 60 seconds and was made during a free kick.
- On 78 minutes took 63 seconds and was made during a free kick.
- On 81 minutes took 56 seconds and was made during a free kick.
Total 180 seconds or 3 minutes
ARSENAL
- On 71 minutes took 70 seconds over the during treatment to Jorginho.
- On 80 minutes took 64 seconds to take a free kick.
- On 87 minutes took 109 seconds made during treatment to Ramsdale.
Total 243 seconds or 4 minutes 3 seconds
So pulling this together there are two things here.
Firstly, that means in total, all our substitutions took just 1 minute 3 seconds longer than Newcastle’s, or 20 seconds more per event.
Secondly, we made 2 of our changes while we had players being attended to for injuries following fouls by Newcastle players.
Now if Arteta really wanted to waste time so drastically as has been suggested here, surely he would have made the substitutions at a different time to the injuries because the injuries were what dictated the time elapsed?
Thus on those two occasions, the substitutions in reality cost the match no time at all. ZERO. The injuries caused the delay. So where this guy gets the idea that “players have taken their leave from testimonial matches with less fanfare,” is anybody’s guess. (Although the next article on Untold will in fact explain exactly what is going on in this regard.)
We were the away team. Leading the match. Being kicked off the park. And as far as I’m concerned our behaviour was exemplary.
Anyway, this is where you can find more Geordie nonsense if you are like me and have nothing better to do on a rainy Thursday afternoon….
Coming up next on Untold, “Why do fans believe that the opposition cheats, without checking the facts?”
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There is a reason for ‘dumb geordies’ as there is a reason why the birds fly upside down over St James park. Face it, anyone with any intelligence would have moved South long ago
Inevitably fans of different teams see things from their own perspective and as much as we feel that things often go against us , the same old Arsenal always cheating chant is heard all over the M62 and further north.
It is impossible to have a reasoned debate on the subject of bias and unfairness because partisanship immediately takes over and it becomes a slanging match. When a team loses every set of fans looks for a reason and 9 times out of ten they feel aggrieved and will blame someone else .
It’s the way it is and is another reason why social media is best avoided.
The days of “”it’s a fair cop “” are long gone.