RefWatch – Newcastle United v Arsenal (13/08/2011 17:30)

86 Replies to “RefWatch – Newcastle United v Arsenal (13/08/2011 17:30)”

1. This is most strange, this delay with the ref, it really is as if they were worried about the sort of things we do on this site! Surely not!!!

   Anyway, Peter Walton is one of the few EPL chaps I have met – he lives in the same county as me – and he came across as a jolly nice fellow. Which is helpful I suppose. We had a good chat about Bergkamp as I recall.

   Meanwhile we have now made our fifth signing: Campbell has finally come on board. I’ll do a separate article on him, unless Walter gets there first.

2. Not only have the refs been reading Untold, I reckon AW drops in now an again. The following is a paragraph from an interview in the Telegraph –
   Wenger even felt there was a media conspiracy against Arsenal. “If our fans go the way the media want them to go we have no chance. The people behind me and around the press box do not necessarily represent the majority of the fans. They are the ones you [journalists] hear the most but aren’t necessarily the majority. They make your opinion maybe but they aren’t necessarily the opinion.” (full article here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/8698833/Arsene-Wenger-fights-an-illogical-battle-against-his-Arsenal-critics-as-Cesc-Fabregas-and-Samir-Nasri-prepare-to-leave.html)

3. Weird, I have been trying to find out(for the last five days) who the match officials are for this weekends fixtures. No joy anywhere. However slightly off topic but Russia today have stated that Cesc has signed for barca for $50 million late on friday?

4. Jux to giv big kudos to yu guyz,, i’m simply blown off in awe of d good job you two do here. Hope you wouldn’t mind me becoming a guest writer on this blog, with some grand article for our dear great club and happenings around her. Thanks Fellas.

5. Don’t worry Dogface – I’ve packed my red and yellow cards for this game in case Walton forgets his!

6. Asian market : Arsenal giving 0, 0.25 and 0.5 maximum to Newcastle.

   Something’s fishy. I wouldn’t place a bet on any of these teams.

7. Candid – we always welcome guest writers. I can’t guarantee to publish everything, but we do try to live up to the name of “Untold” and ensure that we publish articles or the type that other people don’t.

   You can either send me details of what you have in mind, so I can let you know if we are likely to run it, or you can send me the article as a word file (not in an email please) with your name at the top as you want it to appear.

   All we ask is that the article has not appeared anywhere else before, and is not being offered to someone else at the same time as it is offered to us.

   Send it to Tony.Attwood@aisa.org

8. 51 year old Peter Walton…I thought he’d retired?

   Alarm bells are ringing already.

   Mr Walton allows play to continue far too much for My liking.

   Our 3-0 victory at Birmingham last was marred by some very poor challenges that went unpunished by Mr Walton on the day, Cesc and Sagna being the recipients. Mr Walton also officiated our 1-0 victory at home against Stoke the night Theo Walcott left the field on a stretcher and thus missed the Carling Cup final thanks to another poor challenge which again went unpunished by the official.

   With more pace now added to our team, I hope Mr Walton is able to keep up with play and whilst I believe we can and will win the game, I have to say that I genuinely fear for our boys safety with this man in charge today.

9. Do we need to pray that Barca not be allowed a long stretched out payment schedule (like the 5 years Udinese allowed Barca on their 35+M Sanchez deal) because, I fear, we may not see it in a timely fashion if there’s an unfortunate delay that comes into Barca’s ability to repay. Btw, does anyone know if they fully repaid their former outstanding debt to us?

10. Dog Face,
    Sorry, but imho, Walton “officiated” at a crime scene at Birmingham last year. I don’t feel that these stats are enough to express or to displace THAT reality in my mind. Given our current injuries and departures to come, we can hardly afford another such 3-0 victory under his stewardship. (Pyrrhic victory is the term for it.) I’d welcome your further non-quantified thoughts…

11. Tasos,
    yes, about Walton, and your “marred” is a polite way to say “mugged,” wouldn’t you say?

12. Ah, the first ref review of the season, not my fav section, but still the best place to criticise 😛 😛

13. Time to do something about these tired old refs lads and lassies. and the only way to do it s by putting some pressure on the premier league to put pressure on the referees. the premier league has the most to lose (clubs notwithstanding) if the game is seen to be run by disreputable characters. so it’s time to point the spotlight of publicity on the running men. it’s ridiculous to think that the toughest, fastest, “best” league in the world is being officiated by a mere 16 men and under a veil of secrecy.

    untold won’t be able to do it by itself so if you guys don’t have an arsenal bloggers association, it’s time to start one now. get the blogs together and let them start talking about the 16 mostly straw men. their readers will soon enough start calling the radio shows or their favourite journalists. the lamestream media will eventually pick up the story particularly if it starts coming at them from different sources. once the media begins to notice the straw men perform so dismally and that there are only sixteen of them in the premier league (with no hope of relegation or promotion) it’s a short hop to the premier league putting pressure of the ref association.

    but you can’t do it by yourself tony. if the arsenal bloggers association doesn’t exist, it’s time to get one together. approach the issue from the point of view of sixteen refs for so many matches. then see if you can get other clubs who have former refs in their blogger community to take up walter’s mantra. sometimes you have to play dirty.

14. mike in atlanta, all
    online petitions that fans can sign demanding fair play and some specific reforms like 20? more refs and video replay now will also capture attention and exert pressure if it’s league-wide and not arsenal only. someone or group needs to craft the language for it and some website, here, there or anywhere needs to play host to it, and then watch it collect however many signatures. if the fans don’t finally care, it won’t work. but if it’s introduced when yet another of the inevitable on the pitch thefts takes place, then that’s a time to launch it. any thoughts?

15. Tony, there is one thing i don’t understand if a Newcastle guy kicks the ball out we get a replay when Gervinho does his stuff there is none brief me how replays work.

16. Walton’s on form.

17. What a complete farce! A yellow card for dragging a player from the ground by the collar of his shirt. I’m getting sick of this crap. Get me some proper Refs….

18. what d fuck does that mean Barton pulls some one by the collar and a yellow card!!!!!!!!!! The as….. are BACK AT IT danm

19. i feel guilty about contributing to global warming by expending electricity on this bit of foolishness. the cro-magnons running world football and the dinosaurs at the f.a. and ref.a make me want to puke or switch to watching a proper game: pigskin football, where they use replays and modern technology.

20. Walton on form – predictable, not by overall stats, but by the qualitative method of remembering his actual negligence at BC last year.

21. Ref review will be interesting – unfortunately !
    I guess Gervinho (who did look v good) will miss Liverpool, MU and Swansea matches.

    Also looks like Barca missed Arsenal’s yesterday deadline – but still played their usual antics to put pressure on Arsenal to accept their 2nd rate offer. Will be interesting to see what the club do next in response.

22. Also many fouls given against Arsenal in their own third (as usual) for pretty innocuous challenges. No wonder they suffer many goals from set pieces – the refs give them a lot – so force of numbers over the season will kill you.

23. lots of talking points for our ref reviewer today I think. But we will come back to this when the article is ready.

    I think defensively we had a great game. Newcastle could hardly trouble Szczesny today. Was there a moment where they actually threatened to score? I really cant remember one. Vermaelen and Koscielny looked very solid and both had a good game.

    I think Ryo and AOC will get a chance in the next weeks. Who knows maybe even Campbell as I think we will be without Gervinho for a few weeks.

    We could do with a player like Wilshere and maybe one more in midfield because Cesc and Nasri are not that easy to replace for the moment.

24. Arsenal lose a key player for 3 games for having the temerity to objecting to being dragged off the ground by his shirt by the thug that is Joey Barton. The decision to sent Gervinho off for an arms length tap and to give Barton only a yellow for initiating violent conduct is an absolute disgrace. Talk about punishing the victim. This man Walton is not even pretending to apply the laws of the game fairly. Walton should never be allowed to officiate an Arsenal game again.
    Arsenal played very well everywhere except up front.

25. Hey …

    What can you say about the card.. although song was stupid but Barton started all of that and none of the 3 refrees could see it.. and there was this stupid commentator who actually even justified thr ref.. one of them was shebby singh and the other i dont know..

    the best thing is i don’t find it unusual any more.. just wanted us to create more chances..

26. All, any
    Even the biased Barclay TV presenters said that what Barton did to Gervinho surely WAS SEEN by Walton and the other officials and they don’t know how Barton escaped a RED card!!!!!!! Now Walton has screwed out of Gervinho for x games, and nothing for Barton who was the fucking instigator by every and any measure. And Gervinho landed a faint open-hand slap to a man twice his size. There’ll be a x-mas gift under Walton’s tree for this one.
    Are you ready for instant replay yet! Day one and the same shite is on. Petition anyone, or do we need another few such calls like this to maybe get in the mood for next season?!

    p.s. And let us note what that the on/off switch known as Jekyll/Hyde (aka Joe-eeeeee Barton) feels entitled to manhandle yet another Arsenal African player – count them now in but two seasons. And I don’t begin to go back over the rap sheet. This man has skills, but do they endlessly permit this.

27. First off.. Let me say Arsenal were fairly poor today. No real creativity. Very few chances created.. And perhaps a draw is a fair result.

    But let’s see the consequences of this draw. Gervinho’s ‘dive’, without any proof with the replays to show that it was. And because they didn’t show a proper replay, I am willing to bet that it was actually a foul on Gervinho. Apparently, in England though, you can pull a player by his collar, grab him around the throat, and nearly wrestle the shirt off of him and that is worthy of a yellow card. The player who is thus assaulted can tap the offender on the back of his head and get sent off. Brilliant. Maybe we should hire the current WWF champion. I’m sure he could lift people up by their necks and scare the likes of Barton and Shawcross, cowards that they are, off at the cost of only a yellow.

    So now Gervinho gets a three game ban. Barton’s yellow prevents him from any further punishment,and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see Alex Song given a 3 game ban as well.

    I have no idea how any of our fans cannot see this monstrosity talking place. Are we supposed to just accept the standard of refereeing in this league? Really? This is the best league in the world? What we are seeing is not sport my dear chaps. It is ‘entertainment’ pure and simple. And it is ever so entertaining to show Arsenal as either too weak, or too ‘dirty’. Ever was it thus, and ever may it last. Long live the behemoth, on the road to Kastle Fergus with Lord Rednose XX.

    (with due credit to bob)

28. Welcome to PL 2011-12! If this is any sign of what is to come, we are in for a tough ride. Much tougher than anyone might have expected (me included). The work done on this site, doesn’t seem to have gone down well with PL ref community. If Walton can be so blatant, I shudder at the thought of what Dowd is going to do. The more I see it, the more the bias seems plausible, and the more I edge towards abandoning football. Basketball and tennis might be good options. At least they have technology!

29. I am hoping that although tasteless in the extreme, i would like to know more about Mr. Barton’s politics. My curiosity is piqued by the hitleresque moustache and the propensity for attacks on foreign players.
    No doubt this particular aspect of our favourite twit will be overlooked, especially as our brave lad was easily led away from song with him he had a genuine grievance but only fell away from gervinho to muddy the water, i suspect had all this happened in a town centre on a Saturday night near a McDonald’s, blood would have spilt.
    Peter Walton is a ref, i don’t really expect much from refs (except the one with the ref review, and it is a cracker!). Why was he conferring with his officials only after gervinho had been sent off? surely if he wanted a comprehensive review of the incident then he should have consulted before flashing the cards?

30. Mahesh, Shard,
    Sorry but the only protection against blatant thuggery and further ref-shite is video technology. The road to hell (aka Rednose XX) is pave with good intestines (er, sorry intentions – and the first good intention of this season of Lord Fergus’s Ascension has been Peter – F – Walton’s gift. You will have witnessed brick one set in that road, brought to you by your proud sponsors, Messrs. Barton and Walton.) “No replay, no fairplay” – that’s the stark truth.

31. I don’t think anyone should be surprised at Walton’s inept display; it looks as if some refs are still working under the same orders/policy as they did last season. I don’t know his name, but the twit of a linesman who didn’t see Barton grab Gervinho by the shirt was the same blind twit who didn’t see Vidic’s handball at the Emirates last season. Like other readers I look forward to the ref report.

    I thought the team played reasonably well – considering the pre season disruption. It could have been a lot worse. With some reinforcements and players returning from injury we will be stronger than today. It is important that everyone backs the team 100% as they start this new and difficult campaign.

32. Ugandan Goon,
    Well said. imo, both Walton and Barton are programmed by a number of factors, not identical but overlapping, that unfortunately converge. To sidestep that discussion just for the moment, why not have a wee look at Joey Barton’s Wikipedia entry if you’d like to see a bit more of this _____ man’s documented track record on and off the pitch and you can learn a bit more. To my eyes, when Barton sees challenges from Arsenal Africans, he’s an on/off switch who does Red but sees only Yellow. And Walton, today, is his enabler. That’s what’s going on here, before the spinmeisters tell you otherwise.

33. bjtgooner, Walter, Dogface,
    well spotted! What is the name of said twit who sees no evil. Perhaps that’s why PGMOL blatantly did not list the officials for this match going in. Is that not unusual as all hell? How unusual? Did you ever see that? Walter? Dogface?

34. So whats the reality last season Diabi sent of for placing his hands on Barton.
    If your black and foreign you just cant do that.
    This season
    Barton does the same to Gervinhio and its ok
    Hes english and white its all good.

    What sort of f***ing crap can we expect this season ? where is it going to end.
    Thats not even mentioning them throwing our keeper to the ground last season unpunished.

35. Last one, mates, sorry: this is also a time for post-game ref press conferences and for PGMOL to make its so-called post-game referee evaluations (by that private firm) PUBLIC. Walton and Twit’s call/non-call is another poster child for referee accountability. With no accountability and 16 refs, they circle the wagons with their bullshit Respektability Kampaign and the documentary film in praise of the Webbmeister. It’s there for all to see.

36. RedGooner,
    Exactly!

37. Abhishek, the other one is Steve McMahon. These two seem to be unable to understand what man-handling is. How Steve could just brush aside what Barton did (for those who don’t know, Steve said that Barton was ‘merely’ trying to lift the player up. And ‘just that he did it with his collar/T-shirt instead of shoulder/hands’, and believe you me that it was not said sarcastically). Steve/Shebby seemed to realize that Barton staying on field was highly unusual, but, given that they are working for ESPN-STAR, they ‘had to tow the official line’, and couldn’t say anything.
    Walter, the reason that they gave why Gervinho was sent but not Barton was because Gervinho retaliated, whereas Barton was merely trying to ‘get the Arsenal player on his feet’. I hope you can clarify if football laws allow for such ‘lifting’ of players 🙂

38. Shard,
    p.s. I love your XX touch: yes, The Rednose XX (how sooo NFL of you, like Super Bowl XX – the Roman Coliseum and all that! Cheers!)

39. The ref is not as bad as some others in those terms, the only charge i lay at his employers’ desk is that he is a bit past it, he aint down wiv da yoof and his belief that the game should go on greatly belies the fact that cheating has been written into modern coaching manuals, to wit, there was a fantastic shot in espn’s coverage which was meant to stick it into wenger as being resigned and fed up by contrasting him to a dynamic pardew- cut to pardew miming ” he is on a yellow, you can dribble past him”
    I don’t know if refs are coached to spot these signs, i know even with the aid of video replay mostTv pundits are coached to skirt around the evidence.

40. @ Red Gooner & Bob

    What odds Barton and Walton are racists?

    @ Mahesh

    What you are saying regarding Barton – “merely” trying to lift the player up – is probably the spin that will be used to excuse a Yellow. Having seen the incident, the manner in which Barton “assisted” was an assault. If he did that to me I would beat the shit out of him.

41. Wow, as if asking for a beating the official website has a match report for a 1-1 draw, are the cuts biting at the emirates as well?- the AAA are going to have a field day here

42. RedGooner,
    Can’t say what’s in a man’s heart and I don’t like a label that makes things about a person seem permanent and he can’t be reformed (people do really can change, imo). But, I will say that Barton’s behaviors (in several Arsenal ties that I’ve seen the last couple of season) specifically toward Arsenal Africans has me concluding that his behavior is extreme, and has crossed the line from a coincidence in the heat of the moment into a racist pattern of several such confrontations. In fairness, I see Barton also show warmth and comraderie amongst other teammates and opponents (he was quick to hug Arsenal players after the match – damage control, perhaps), so I think he is capable of behaving better, whatever is in his heart of hearts. But the evidence of these rage-outs against Arsenal Africans is plainly there to see, whatever the labeling, and they should be punished by a red card at minimum and more than the EPL has shown the courage to muster.

43. Ugandan Goon,
    Who knows about the “not as bad” ref? What about Barton?

44. Good prediction!

45. Was the ball still live when Barton did his thing? Should we have had a penalty for that?

46. bjtgooner,
    I think most of us would agree the refereeing was poor today…that’s no excuse to start suggesting that he or Joey Barton are racists. That’s a red card offense itself

47. Did anyone else notice that S. Taylor hit Gervinho in the face with a flailing arm right after Gervinho had hit Barton?

48. And how many black francophone footballers has Joey Barton agressed? Diaby, Gervinho, Ousmane Dabo… I’m sure there are more.

49. SchmidtXC,
    Hold on, mate. Do you know what Joey Barton did in the last couple of Arsenal matches? Did you ever hear of Ousmane Dabo whose career Barton ended? Before you start red-carding people who are shocked by this behavior and won’t stand for it, why don’t you take a moment to look up Joey Barton on Wikipedia so that you can bring a little history and context into your analysis and then see whether you are being thoughtful or not in red-carding RedGooner.

50. Bob,
    How does this make accusing a referee of being racist acceptable?
    Answer:It doesn’t. Criticize his performance all you want, accusing the man of being racist without any sort of basis for it should get a comment removed.

51. @Malaysian Gooner – yeah this market was well over-exposed. This game was always going to be dodgy – another case of the fixture list going against us.

    I must do some further analysis on games with exposed markets to see if there is a correlation for unexpected results rather than my hunch… hmm.

52. SchmidtXC,
    Neither Red Gooner nor I accused Walton the so-called ref of being racist. RG asked whether or not I considered Walton and Barton racists? You’ve read my answers and no such accusation was made by either of us against Walton; and an analysis was given regarding whether Barton’s behavior was racist. You are as quick to call for Censorship based on something you haven’t analyzed as Walton was quick to red-card Gervinho (before then consulting with his see-no-evil assistants) based on something that he didn’t analyze. Your calling for censorship of a comment that’s a question and a reasoned comment because you don’t agree is on this basis what’s out of line. It’s your right, but you might put back the card when it comes to free speech.

53. Can someone please exlain to me why Arsenal didn’t get a penalty for Barton’s assault on Gervinho today?
    The ball was still in play when he grabbed him by the shirt inside the penalty area and dragged him to his feet. He received a yellow card for this (presumably not for his woeful acting). Surely this is a penalty offence? Whatever happens after should not change the original offence (Barton’s). Gervinho was naive to wave his hand in an opponent’s direction, hopefully he’ll wise up before long. The obvious outcome should have been 2 red cards and a penalty to Arsenal. That cowardly piece of scum Taylor deserves all the bad luck in the world for his efforts to get Gervinho sent off and then his ‘I saw nothing’ interview with ESPN after the match.

54. Bob,
    I din’t mention either you or RedGooner as having done such a thing. I mentioned btjgooner alone, as he asked what the odds were that the ref and Barton were racists. I mentioned his comment specifically, I don’t understand where you think I involved you in this.

55. @ Bob

    Well said.

56. @ Mr Broeckx, A question for you. Do you think bartons yellow card was more “protection” than punishment, As i believe that song will pick up a ban for his “unseen” stamp on Barton. But the Barton card cannot be looked at again as it was dealt with by the official. So today Barton has cost us two players for up to the next 3 games.
    Apologies to Dogface for posting this comment on this article.

57. @ SchmidtXC

    There is a difference between accusing and requesting the odds – the latter might deserve a yellow at worst!

58. @ Dec, Refs punish the worst offence so the red card for Gervinho gave Newcastle possession of the ball.

59. Good solid defensive display by arsenal.
    But fans just won’t be satisfied. Hopefully there won’t be any riots at EMS.

60. SchmidtXC,
    Ok, my mistake. But bjtgooner asked: “What odds Barton and Walton are racists?” What he means by it is for you to ferret out; but it’s not the direct accusation that you’ve cited him for. And in any case, argue the merits, the substance of the matter – instead of calling for the Daddy to come in and take away the errant child’s right to his comment.

61. Thanks Adam, but surely if a player grabs an opponent by the throat while nowhere near the ball it’s a red card offence and a penalty? Why should this be worse than Gervinho’s slap?
    PS
    a mental note for all Arsenal players – if you need somebody beside you in a brawl, hope it’s TV5 and not Gervinho (he hit’s like a schoolgirl) 🙂

62. Funny Dec. I agree with you but we have to remember the selective vision of match officials.

63. Anybody have an idea why szczeczny was yellow carded?

64. Adam,
    refs should punish the first foul if fouls are made by players from both teams.
    Punishing the “worst” foul is only when one player makes 2 consecutive fouls. Then you can choose as a ref. For instance player X makes a foul outside the area but before you can blow your whistle in within a fraction of a second the same player X makes another foul in the penalty area. Then you can give “advantage” on the first foul and give the penalty and thus punish the worst offence. But when players of two teams each go out of order you should punish the first foul.

65. Cheers Walter, Point taken, what does confuse me though, We saw Walton turn his back to the incident as if to carry on with no advantage signal(so nothing wrong) but what brought his attention back too Barton & Gervinho if it was his assistants then surely they would have seen the assault on Gervinho.

66. @ShmditXC,
    I also raised the issue of Mr. Burton’s politics, you may not know this but after breaking a certain team-mates jaw he compounded his misdemeanour with a few choice non pc justifications, that the prick goes on to emulate hitler in haircut and moustache. fine, it is a mixed bag.
    I remember kevin nolan grabbing sczeczny by the neck and shoving him to the ground in the same match that diaby had been sent off in for the same offence.
    Ps.What is really infuriating about these things is that like the Zidane headbutt in the world cup, we are much more willing to go after the headline grabbing stuff, what goes under the radar is just what provoked such a reaction? it will doubtless be replayed so many times this evening, i for one are taking a crash course in lip reading.

67. U.S. fan here. In hockey, it’s quite common for an NHL team to add a player or two with questionable skating/stick skills but with a known reputation for remarkable toughness and fighting skills. No pun intended, but these players are referred to by fans as “goons”. At some point Arsenal would be wise to employ a hit man to sit on the bench and when the boys need some help, substitute in a brawler to pick a fight, beat someone’s ass, and send a strong message that if you dare to mess with Arsene’s boys, you run a serious and real risk of a trip to the hospital. Sounds brutish, but as Pres. Obama once remarked, “don’t bring a knife to a gun fight”

68. got to apologise for putting the wrong name in the last graph… not Dowd but Walton – I will fix.

69. Well the papers are more interested in the slap than in bartons behavior.

70. @dogface
    Don’t bother, equally useless!

71. @Ugandan Goon – well… they are both useless but in their own unique ways!

    🙂

72. bbc article on the incident quotes Barton from twitter as saying, “I went down easy, no doubt.”

    Isn’t that an admission of guilt of simulating injury to get another player sent off?

73. There’s a lot to suggest Joey Barton is racist, the ref not really.

74. Like Arsene said it should have been either two reds or two yellows, one yellow and one red is ridiculous, especially since Joey Barton started it, Taylor and Barton should be subsequently punished for their actions, and as much as have no problem from a personal perspective someone stamping on Barton, if Alex Song did intentially do it he should be banned to, Gervinho’s ban should be revoked.

75. P.S: Two reds or two yellows for that incident I mean, Joey Barton should have got another yellow for simulation, really a red straight off in my opinion as he put his hands on Gervinho and grabbed him violently, what is Gervinho expected to do just allow him do that? His only error in judgment was slightly reaching his arm, that could have been a booking offensive, Taylor should have also been given a yellow for what he did, or a red if you include the lying and cheating in regards to saying it was an elbow, surely there is a law against that?

76. And that is certainly an admission of guilt from that coward Joey Barton, is there anything we can do or contact to say he should get banned? Cause he’s admitted simulation, that is a ban surely? He didn’t go down easy either, he dived like he’d been elbowed, and then his idiot friend Taylor said it was an elbow too, he’s lucky Gervinho didn’t punch him out. To think some people wanted Joey Barton at Arsenal, he is a complete scumbag and I couldn’t support any team with him involved.

77. If you apply common sense? IMO… its a yellow for Barton – its a yellow for Gervinho.. let the game go on. Its a red for Song though, I’m sorry – a stamp is just not on.

78. Browsing the indignation of we amateur pundits on here I have a feeling that many are simply not viewing yesterdays game with an unbiased clarity.
    Now the dust has settled, I slept well on a bottle of white and a nice risotto shared with my lovely woman, have read the broadsheet reports, I have calmed down a bit, and had my morning tea, I offer the following thoughts.
    Joey Barton is a professional sportsman who takes the laws to their limit, his includes winding up the opposition and working the officials, before kick-off he was arms around 4th official, a getting to know you familiarisation that just softens officials enough. We all know that is what he is; he has no regard for football, or sport, just winning at all costs.
    Our players should have been warned that Barton will try anything to get you sent off, if they were, he succeeded and we fell for it regardless. If they were not warned, then we learnt nothing from last season, and someone has not done their job properly.
    Forget the refs reaction, he did not see the initial grab by Barton, he had turned his back to it, and would only have been alerted by the reaction of the crowd, the linesman at that end was on the other side of the pitch and would only have seen mayhem.
    Refs are inconsistent, and at noisy fanatical stadiums like St James Park are influenced, it is up to us to do the same at the Ems.
    Schezzzzzzzzzzzney was cautioned for running 100 yards to get involved, just like mad Jens, I love this guy, and long may he remain a Gooner. (Gazidis extend his contract and increase his salary now, before Barca realise he is going to be a world great)
    Taylor has exposed himself once again as a liar and a cheat, (I thought he fouled RVP in the air for a pen, look forward to Walters review on that one)
    Positives for me were
    Gael Who? Gibbs was strong and played well
    Verm and Kos were outstanding as a partnership
    Our keeper is better than De Gea (I reckon)
    Rosicky played well, he worked hard, put his foot in, and was the main reason we kept the ball so well
    Song controlled the tempo and was really strong. (please cut out the silly bookings Alex)
    Wiggy (my mate has decided that is his nickname) will cause lots of problems
    No Squllaci on the bench (joy of joys)
    We came away from a difficult fixture with a point, no doubt about that, a good day at the office I reckon.

79. came back from sri lanka yesterday, sickening feeling about my arsenal I didn’t want look @ my phone anywhere in heathrow. My friend picked me up I turned on the radio hearing all this Joey (mofo) Barton (me’s thinking Fuk not again), but wait “Asenal come away with a point with only 10 men”, hey? Watched MOTD this morning looked like a good performance but noticed the usual pundit bollox and the ref waiving his red card @ Gervinho changes his colour for the prick Barton and I’m thinking this has got to be some English national pride.

    I could be wrong however everyone see’s the wrong doing of Arsenal but never our opponents, is Arsenal considered none English by the press/FA/Refs? Yes Song was wrong but Barton fouled him 1st, Gervinho slapped him but Barton man handled him 1st and the delayed reaction not oscar worthy!

80. Barton makes me sick. It was clear from the starty what his intentions were; win a penalty or get another player sent off. Song ended up stamping on him not intentionally, but because of barton’s kick at Song which resulted in him losing his boot.
    If Gervinho is guilty of raising his hand to another player barton should be walking as he is guilty of same offence. Gervinho was grabbed off the floor by the throat and barton shook him up like a rag doll five or six times; and to think the officials missed that is an absolute joke. That barton got Diaby sent off after being provoked by barton last season isn’t coincidence. That he has same haircut and moustache as Hitler tells u all u need to know.

    The ref’s actions are questionable though; he flashes the straight red in a matter of seconds at Gervinho, but then consults with his assistants at length before the yellow for this loser. Seems to me the ref had already made his mind up before he got to the scene. Disgusting.

81. EPL refs have eyes in the back of their heads, no need for goal line technology or the extra officials.

82. Barton represents everything that is wrong with EPL and English tabloids and also the national team. Losers will always defend losers could we expect anything else.

83. walter where is the ref review?

84. @Mahdain

    Are you taking the piss???

85. Like most fans, I may be biased in my assessment and or interpretation of the way my club is treated by the the media, football authorities and referees. It looks to me as if Arsenal is not just competing against an opposing team on a match day, but that there is a different attitude about Arsenal from the media (press, TV and radio). It is like Arsene is paying for daring to challenge the power structure in English football and doing so by building teams mainly comprising foreign players. We hear and read a lot about how all forms of cheating have come into our game since the influx of foreign players. It is not long ago when the press kept a red card count of Arsenal “under Wenger”, and now the statistic that appears to be applied only to Arsenal is the number of years without winning a trophy. You would think every other team has a cabinet full of trophies! Two or three years ago, Arsene and Arsenal were sabotaging the England team by not having English players in the Arsenal team. And what about Arsene the whinger as portrayed by the media and some managers even when Arsenal players were on the receiving end of career-threatening injuries from teams that had decided that the only way to compete with Arsenal is to kick them off the park. Currently, it is fashionable to portray Arsenal as talented but mentally fragile and leaderless, lacking the tough English spine required to win the EPL. It would appear to me that the general bias against Arsene and Arsenal might have something to do with this image of a non-English team playing in the EPL.

86. I agree with the referee for the red card to Gervinhio. No doubt
    However, he made a stupid mistake allowing Joey Barton to continue.
    As to me,Joey`s mistake is three times worst than Gervinho.
    What so ever Gervinho tried to get a penalty, it is up to the referee, to decide. After the facts that referee refused the penalty the dram was completed.
    Thereafter, Joey at a criminal manner picked up Gervinho from the ground. Why? He was not even suppose to be by tached by the opposite player, this would have been a street red card if there was jests,
    Would the referee’s decision be the same had Joey made such a stupid act on Roonny?
    I think it is a racial behavior of the referee and Joey. The officials of premier league
    must seriously consider such a savagery incidences , not to be repeated in the civilized world.