- Arsenal v Man U: The mysterious yellows that only seem to come Arsenal’s way
- Arsenal v Manu. Why aren’t the northern team doing very well?
By Bulldog Drummond
These are difficult days for the footballing media given that they desperately want to knock Arsenal, for the top of the league table suggests that this is hardly a valid approach.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 19 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 47 | 19 | 28 | 46 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 20 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 39 | 18 | 21 | 40 |
| 12 | Tottenham Hotspur | 20 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 42 | 30 | 12 | 24 |
| 13 | Manchester United | 20 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 23 | 28 | -5 | 23 |
Mind you they were doing much the same for the last two seasons in which Arsenal again came second. So now new approach are tried such as the Athletic’s: “Arsenal have mustered just two shots on target combined during their past two trips to St James’ Park; one in each match — both 1-0 defeats.” Amd to make the point they then went into italics: “The Gunners had 23 shots in the match yesterday.”
Then we are on to the unanswerable questions such as, “How important is it to win the FA Cup this season?” What answer do you give? 85%? 6.5 on the Richter Scale? The question in fact remains unanswered although there has been discussion about the ball in the League Cup matches.
Arteta did try to explain how different competitions have different balls but was mocked. Indeed it is a wonder that Arteta has the patience to go on answering the questions in the post-match press conference so clearly are they set up to allow yet another anti-Arsenal article to be written.
But if we do take the point that Martinelli, Havertz and Timber missed a lot of chances in the last game, then the chance is that they won’t in the next game, for the simple reason that they are, all three of them, very good footballers.
Arteta’s comments about the ball were of course interpreted as excuses in some quarters and an “outburst” in the Atheltic, which sadly is increasingly drifting into the use of journalese of the Mirror and Sun type as opposed to English, presumably on the basis that this is how everyone else writes. The issue is also raised that the Champions League uses a different ball – with the implication that if Arsenal make no comment about that, why are they complaining about the League Cup ball?
The answer is obvious and simple: the Champions League ball is indeed different, but doesn’t have the level of differences in performance that the League Cup ball has – but this is ignored.
Of course it is not the first time the issue of the ball has been raised, but now it is Arsenal making the point, it is time for the media to dismiss the notion (which they didn’t when there were complaints about the ball during the South Africa World Cup.)
As for the referee, at least Arsenal are picking up on the fact that we are getting the Andrew Madley again, having had him in the league cup against Crystal Palace. That was one of three wins we’ve had under his watch from five appointments.
And of course which referee we get makes a difference… .
| Referee | Games | Fouls pg | Yel pg |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.Anthony Taylor | 18 | 22.56 | 3.67 |
| 6.Peter Bankes | 12 | 18.08 | 3.83 |
| 9.Stuart Attwell | 11 | 19.45 | 3.55 |
| 11.John Brooks | 9 | 24.33 | 5.78 |
| 13.Andy Madley | 8 | 24.63 | 4.75 |
As we can see from this table Referee Taylor gives 35% more fouls than Referee Bankes in a game. Referee Brooks gives an astonishing 63% more yellow cards than Mr Attwell in a game.
These are extraordinary variations across half a season, and even more extraordinary when you come to remember that such differences are never mentioned.
As for Mr Madley, he is ver much at the high end of perceiving fouls and fairly close to the high end for yellow cards as well, so the Arsenal approach has to be to let Manchester United tackle away, and thus give fouls and get bookings.
As I have noted before tactics should not be developed in accordance to which referee is handling the match, but that is where we have got to these days.
But when we compare Madley’s record against home teams with that against away sides we see a very curious trend. Away teams commit more fouls according to Madley, but home teams get eight times as many yellow cards as away teams!
Of course that is pretty hard to explain, so maybe its a good job the media don’t mention it!
| Referee | Apps | Fouls pg | Yel pg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Madley home teams | 8 | 10.88 | 2.00 |
| Madley away teams | 8 | 13.75 | 0.25 |
It is almost as if he is trying to prove he is not biased in favour of the home teams! Arsenal need to be careful.
