Fulham v Arsenal, tackles, fouls yellows

 

 

• Fulham v Arsenal. What on earth willl this referee do this time?
• Fulham v Arsenal: the metaphors might be failing, but Arsenal are on the up

By Sir Hardly Anyone

It is possible to get an idea both of how a team plays and how referees react to a specific team, by looking at the number of tackles the team puts in, the number of fouls referees give against them, and then how many of those fouls turn into yellow cards.

And these days we particularly note that it is yellow cards from fouls that are measured, since yellow cards are given for so many other reasons, that the cards from fouls are just part of the overall scenario.

The first table here looks at the basic tackles, fouls and yellow cards (divided into yellows from fouls and yellows for other reasons).

 

Team	Tackles pg	Fouls pg	Yellows from fouls PG	All yellows PG
9. Fulham	17.9	10.1	3.57	5.57
17. Arsenal	16.1	10.3	3.07	4.43
Fulham % above AFC	11%	-2%	16%	26%

What this table shows is that Fulham have overall put in 11% more tackles than Arsenal this season, but get marginally fewer fouls given despite all those extra tackles.   

However, despite giving away fewer fouls, they get 16% more yellow cards as a result of these tackles.   The only explanation of this  which comes to mind is the fact that with all these extra yellow cards that they get for non-fouling reasons, the referee inevitably becomes more prejudiced against the club.  As a result they get 26% more yellow cards than Arsenal.

A summary of such findings would best be written as, “It’s a funny ol’ game”. because there really is no fair and reasonable explanation for this   But leaving that for a moment we now move on to the relationship between tackling, fouling and yellow cards dished out by referees…

 

We can see here that Arsenal put in fewer tackles than Fulhm before a foul is given against them, but on the other hand Arsenal can put in slightly more tackles before getting a yellow card.  However, when we look the number of fouls that each club can put in before a yellow card is waved, we find that Arsenal can get away with 28% more fouls than Fulham before receiving a yellow card.  So Arsenal are most certainly getting their defensive tactics right.

Besides, Arsenal have got their fouling pretty much under control and this season have only had 19 cards from fouls.  Only Everton and Brentford have fewer.

But Arsenal do have a problem and that is with yellow cards from sources other than tackles for in this category, Arsenal are right up there in second place, with only the notorious Chelsea (notorious in the sense of their yellow card numbers) matching Arsenal.  Below is the current table of yellow cards which is supplied by WhoScored, but is rarely reported anywhere else.

The cards as you can see are divided into three origins: for fouls (the bulk), for unprofessional conduct, and then the “other” column.   This last column is particularly annoying because it seems impossible to find out what the reason is – although we know one reason of course, which is kicking the ball away a couple of feet back to the position it ought to be in, when the opposition is given a free kick.

The question therefore remains, apart from this kicking the ball away incident, what 14 other incidents have Arsenal been involved in that have merited yellows?  I can’t tell you and PGMO won’t tell me.

 

Pos	Team	Fouls	Unprofessional	Other
1	Chelsea	25	4	18
2	Arsenal	19	2	15
6	Manchester United	27	1	11
8	Fulham	21	3	11
16	Manchester City	22	3	7
19	Liverpool	25	1	5
20	Tottenham Hp	22	4	4

 

The fact that the media in general are not reporting on this “other” column suggests that there is something fishy going on, and I’d love to know what.   And indeed why Tottenham are so rarely penalised under its properties, while Arsenal are getting done all the time.  It can’t all be about putting the ball back a couple of feet.

We might also note that Arsenal have picked up 14 cards at home this season while Fulham have picked up 21.   Away from home Arsenal have gathered 21 cards (10 of them for unspecified other reasons) and Fulham 14 cards (four for the mysterious “other” reasons.

So to compare Fulham at home and Arsenal away we can expect three yellow cards for Arsenal with one or possibly two of these for non-fouling reasons, while Fulham will get two yellows, with possibly one of those being for an unspecified reason.

And there is a point here about this business of cards for hidden “other” reasons.  Football is a spectator sport, and we are supposed to be able to work out what is going on, in order to enjoy the game.  Having cards for weird reasons we know nothing about has nothing to do with entertainment.  In fact it is the opposite.

But then that’s PGMO for you.  They’d probably prefer it if the game were played out on a computer, rather like the Sun does before each match.