Arsenal v Liverpool. The team and this ref gets Liverpool for 7th time!

Posted on by Tony Attwood

 

By Bulldog Drummond

One of the big things that is missed by the media is one of the most obvious: things change over time.

For example, on 9 November 2020, after eight games Southampton were top.  On 1 Novmeber 2020, Everton were top.  On 19 October 2021, Chelsea were top.  On 12 October 2022 Tottenham were top (which when you think about it was really bonkers).  And in 2003 in the early days of the Unbeaten Season, Arsenal had a record that was identical to that of 2023/24 after eight games.  All that has gone wrong is one game against West Ham, and the reason is obvious: a lot of players injured.

And do you think the journalists don’t know this?  Of course they do.  They know that until the ManC juggernaut with its unlimited spending came along, the league tables in the early parts of the season didn’t mean too much.  But that doesn’t stop them bashing Arsenal morning noon and night, and quite a bit of that is because they are afraid of knocking ManC since ManC owners have absolute power.   What we get is a mire of negativity.

So what no one says is that Mr Taylor keeps refereeing Liverpool matches over and over and over again.  Not once or twice (as we suggest should be the limit) but constantly. 

Here is a list of Liverpool matches that Mr Taylor has overseen – and this is the mimum.  Details are not that easy to find (these came courtesy of Sports Mole) and the difficulty of finding this sort of data makes me suspicious there may be even more things to find.

But we have details of seven (yes seven) games in which Mr Liverpool, sorry Mr Taylor, has referees a Liverpool match in this calendar year alone.

And guess what?  Liverpool only lost one of those games overseen by Taylor.

So what about Arsenal?  Well, in fact this is our third game with him, the previous two were

  • March 31, 2024: a goalless draw away to ManC. 
  • Feb 4, 2024: a 3-1 defeat of Lverpool.
As for Liverpool
  • Sep 28, 2024: Wolverhampton  1 Liverpool 2
  • Sept 1, 2024: Man Utd 0 Liverpool 3
  • April 27, 2024, West Ham Utd 2 Liverpool 2
  • Apr 7, 2024: Man Utd 2 Liverpool 2
  • Feb 4, 2024: Arsenal 3 Liverpool 1
  • Jan 1, 2024: Liverpool Newcastle 2

Now this is not just crazy to the point of being insane, it is stupid because it is utterly unnecessary, and leaves the league open to the suggestion of match-fixing.   Yet it happens because PGMO not only can’t manage refereeing, it can’t manage its finances and has gone bust and is being bailed out by the league.

So we are not suggesting Mr Taylor is a cheat, or an unworthy referee, but questioning his appointment because it is vital that in what proclaims itself to be the most popular league in the Western Spiral Arm of the Galaxy,  so the Premier League needs to show itself to be even, fair, open and balanced.

Already they lose out on these claims because the PGMO is an ultra-secretive organisation with no website, whose employees will do no TV interviews, and which has recently been on the edge of bankruptcy – which is an insane situation for a monopoly supplier.

But also they lose out because they keep employing the same referee over and over again to oversee matches of the same team, leaving themselves open to accusations of referee match-fixing or bias.  That the media don’t see the need for referees to be restricted to two matches per club per season, tells us a lot about the media.

The Standard has a page headlined “predicted lineup” which only gives a Liverpool XI, so we quickly move on…

Sports Mole however inhabits a universe closer to our own and gives us 

Raya;

Timber, White, Gabriel, Zinchenko;

Merino, Partey, Rice;

Saka, Havertz, Martinelli

Pain in the Arsenal goes for exactly the same XI.

The Standard however goes for a 4-2-2-2 lineup which at least has some novelty value.

Raya;

Partey, White, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly;

Rice, Merino;

Saka; Martinelli;

Havertz, Trossard

Sports Illustrated goes with 

David Raya

Jakub Kiwior, Gabriel,  White, Partey

Rice, Jorginho,  Merino

Martinelli, Havertz, Trossard

I have been avidly searching the blogs and media to find some apologies for the gibberish written when Havertz was signed, so I could bring them to you, but sadly I can’t find any.

That’s it from us as we bundle into the car for the long drive from the midlands south.  Hope springs eternal that the motorway is open.

Now on the Arsenal History Society Website:

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26 Replies to “Arsenal v Liverpool. The team and this ref gets Liverpool for 7th time!”

  1. What’s your point here? Liverpool have won only 2 out of 6 that he has reffed which is less then their normal win rate. You’re taking absolute bullshit as Arsenal fans always do. How the fuck does that render Taylor Mr Liverpool you thick idiot?

  2. Liam, I guess you have quite rightly put your main issue at the beginning: “What is your point here?” Although I do think that most people are rather moree cautious when writing a commentary when they themselves admit they don’t understand the point of the original.

    But I will try to explain – although it is on this site multiple times already. The argument here is that there is no benefit in allowing referees to oversee matches of one team multiple times, but there is a danger that the ref might be biased. I will spell this out as you seem not to have got the point – it is not that they are biased but that they might be. So we have suggested for a number of years that referees should only see each team twice a season – once at home eand once away.

    The argument does not mean that all refs are bent, but that reasonable precautions should be taken to stop any bent ref having too much of an effect. We have proven on this site that some refs are very biased toward home teams for example, and others to away teams and again this effect would then be stopped.

    I think mosts people would look back to see what point is being made, or if they could not work it out, would write in a more restrained and perhaps more polite manner, and I am most sorry you are unable to do tha, but if you would care to read any other articles on referees on this site I think it might help you get the picture. If you want to understand it, that is.

  4. Just read an interesting article in the Athletic (they do exist) about the effect of player height on football results. One theory was that referees were more likely to dish out cards to players that were taller than the referee. This they called I think a Napoleon Complex.
    Interesting if slightly off topic.

  6. @Liam,

    I don’t know if you have kids and if they play football in a local league.
    Would you as a parent appreciate to see their team having the same referee regularly, coming from another suburb, one with which your kid’s team have a big rivalry…. you would NOT.

    This is the richest football league in the world and they are incapable of making sure a team does not get the same referee twice in the course of a season. This is just inacceptable.

    I ain’t saying referees are bent. But, when you see that some referees definitely favour the home team, or the away team, it has an impact on results. And this is not an Arsenal issue. Liverpool keep having Taylor. Imagine the shitstorm if he were to start being the ref of a bad series…

    This season Taylor out of 7 games refereed 5 away wins…. statistically this does not make any sense – 2 of them with Liverpool. And Liverpool get him the 3rd time ?

    So your criticism is out of context. Untold is just pointing ut the obvious. PGMOL are incapable of keeping the refereeing in balance and are opening the door to many ways to interpret their incompetence, one of them being that there is an agenda.

    Then again you can try to find out on PGMOL website if you can find it any explanation about how they decide which referee gets which team.

  7. So Diaz kicks the ball away to prevent an Arsenal freekick…guess what : NO YELLOW.
    Not surprised….

  9. Anthony Taylor lived up to his name “Mr Liverpool”. What more proof is needed that the game is fixed against Arsenal?

  10. Walter

    It’s what happens when the referee has become mates with a team.

    I hope Taylor enjoys going to their Christmas party.

  11. The refereeing was so expcted and caricatural. I think it was Nunez who kicks I believe Havertz ‘backwards’ twice in a second in his own box… nothing….no VAR, nada. Then in added time some other player did the same midfield and got a yellow…. referees and VAR are just fracking incompetents.

  12. The way Taylor waved away every foul on Arsenal players for most of the time was unbelievable. Allowing a lot of physical contact. Until minute 92. Havertz breathing strongely against a Liverpool defender (there was nothing wrong with the challenge at all) and then he gave a foul so to make sure we wouldn’t score the winner… Guess what…. the best possible result for the Manchester $ity club brought to you by a ref from Manchester….

  14. Van Dijck twice hacks at Havertz in the opening minutes with the ball not even in sight, ref sees it and gives the foul but no card???????? And a bit later Diaz kicks the ball away aftter a foul was called….no yellow…. incompetent at best, well you can fill it what I really think….

  15. John L and Walter,

    I’m enraged by both but not surprised. That was two top sides out there. The ref had too much influence. It seemed to me that most calls went Liverpool’s way. They should have been playing with 10.

    Without their best play maker and defender (and others) Arsenal were the better team. In game injuries decimated the back line. It was a reach to expect a kid to contain Mo Salah and he didn’t. But, in the end, Liverpool’s 1st team couldn’t beat Arsenal’s 2nd or 3rd. This will show after a long season. COYG!

  16. Keep deleting you shit, deluded pricks ha. All refs are against arsenal hahahhahahahajja. Imagine being that fucking stupid.

  17. 4 points above you and we’ve already been to your shit hole ground.

    We were terrible today and you still couldn’t beat us.

    And if you think the officials are to blame, we’re just laughing at you. Sat here pissing ourselves. It’s all the refs fault hahahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahaha

    You lot are a comedy club. Once proud, now “it’s all the refs fault, innnnit bruv” hahahahahahha

  18. Why did Taylor deny Arsenal an obvious corner right at the end of the game? I really hope it wasn’t related to the fact that Arsenal are more likely to score from corners than any other PL team.

    Shocking refereeing, especially in the second half.

  19. This was a game that we could have , and should have won. With so many injuries before the game , I truly would have taken a draw . But we did play with some class and were attacking them . That there were some strange decisions did not really come as a surprise , but I was hoping that we could hold on , but we lost two crucial defenders finally sealed our fate .
    Overall I was happy with the way we played . We always look good going forward .
    Up the Gunners !

  20. Liam aain showing us what the intellectual capacity of a Liverpool suppporter can be. What’s intersting to me is not just that Liam thinks this way – we know there are supporters in all clubs who have this mental approach – but rather that he thinks it is worth writing to this blog to express these views. I think maybe it is worth contemplating an article on not just how such views are developed but how they are maintained.

  21. What is interesting about this comment is that although it appears to be from a person who has never written to us before, it is in fact from the same computer as Liam’s and again I think this gives us quite an insight into who this person is and how he behaves. What is interesting here is that he appears to think that by inventing a clearly ludicrous email address he will appear as a new person. There are in fact multiple more emails from this same computer, and presumably same person, but I won’t bore you with the rest. I think we have got the general flavour of this.

  23. What I think the most ridiculous in these comments is that a couple of contributors in this thread fail to realise how much Liverpool were robbed by referees a few seasons back. Anyone who fails to see an agenda which follows the money, is not paying attention or is being brainwashed by parts of the media. Liam, be so good as to review the season when you lost the title by one point. Try to remember how annoyed you were and how you couldn’t believe some of the obviously incorrect decisions made against your club.
    At any rate, if you stop having a go at us and calling us deluded, then look back at all the inconsistencies which have handed City 115 the title for several seasons and robbed you or us of it, you might see that we are better off finding common ground and joining all true fans of whatever club, who want to see an honest premiership, not a twisted farce where so many games are decided by a referee and by that referee or VAR making incorrect decisions. If you investigate a little, there is very strong evidence that the clandestine organisation called the PGMOL is corrupt to the core. Would it surprise you so much, when you look at other football organisations who have been proven to be utterly corrupt? PGMOL is an organisation, as was pointed out here, who don’t even have a website and are answerable to no one. Anyone who questions them gets into trouble and risks being punished by this dictatorship. Look at the recent history of FIFA and you will see that corruption following the money is not the exception in football but the rule. The more money, the more corrupt, as in so many areas of life.
    Remember all those years where United under Ferrguson had weekly decisions in their favour. 3 of their titles would have gone to another club had we had an honest PGMOL. They certainly deserved to win some of their titles but not all of them. Do you remember when Moyes took over from Ferguson and suddenly United conceded a number of penalties in a couple of games at The Theatre of Prawn sandwiches for the first time in 5 years?

    As has been pointed out so many times on here, we as fans need to stop looking at things from a partisan perspective and look at how many decisions are made every week where everyone knows that the combined decisions of referees and now VAR officials between them have been clearly incorrect. Decisions which have turned matches. How is it possible that with the all this technology, a combination of referees and VAR can get major decisions wrong almost every game, that our grandmothers wouldn’t even get wrong. Wake up and smell the stench that is the PGMOL. Watch City 115 narrowly win another title where one of our two great teams would have won it had referees not made blatant decisions in favour of City and against our teams.

    We probably share a mutual dislike of Chelsea and yet I remember watching them play Barcelona in the Champions League. That game was the most corrupt officiating I ever saw in a football match. Of course, Barcelona won it and yet there were more than 8 totally incorrect decision made and several clear penalties not given. I wasn’t biased. I prefer Barcelona to Chelsea but if I was a Chelsea supporter I would have probably stopped watching football ever again. The organisation in charge of that game was UEFA. Do you remember Liverpool and Araenal Games against Barcelona where the referee fixed the match? There you go, the 3 most powerful organisations in world football have been proven to be corrupt to the core. These aren’t the feelings of deluded people, these are known facts. Have a read about Sepp Blatter and Issa Hayatoo. Have a read about Platini. Watch the money. Have a read about the individuals who ran the PGMOL over the years. Look where their loyalties lay?
    What is a surprise is that despite weekly evidence to the contrary, some people believe that the PGMOL and English Football is not corrupt. Between them and some media organisations, they have brainwashed the majority of fans.

    Sooner or later, especially now that there is increasing American influence and ownership in the Premier League, some of us believe that we will see the whole corrupt edifice come crumbling down. In the US, there may be a lot of corruption but they worked out rules a long time ago to take most of the corruption out of sport.
    We know that all this will be forgotten about soon enough but Liam, when you read about the indictments of referees and bosses of the PGMOL, please remember what you wrote on here today. Join the growing group of fans who see that something is very wrong and who want to see honest refereeing in the Premier League

  25. Sally Pally

    Great assessment.

    I wouldn’t expect a response from ‘Our Liam’ as I doubt very much he has the attention span to read all that. Although of course he is on Half Term so he’s got a week if he could only apply himself.

  26. Liam,
    Laughing & making fun of others is considered the lowest form of wit, so please don’t show your inability of having a meaningful conversation with the people on this blog. We expect a level of decency from people airing their views, but I would guess you don’t believe in such niceties, so please remember that for future airing of any views here. Besides I haven’ seen our readers go on about your team who took 30 years before a season was won by them (Pool)….
    Makes one wonder about your mentality does it not??

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