By Ref Reviewer 04
The first game in Europe and we got ref Kevin Blom at the Emirates. How was he? Only one way to find out and that is to read further.
Oh and my personal highlight of the game was in minute 11.
| Min | Type | Foul from | On | C/NC | Comment | points | weight | on |
| 1 | OTHER | Ekstrand | Chamakh | C | Flying tackle from behind | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | YELLOW | Ekstrand | C | It doesn’t matter if he got a the ball flying tackles like that are dangerous | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| 2 | OTHER | Koscielny | Pinzi | C | Block | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | OTHER | Chamakh | ? | NC | Just fell to the floor | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | GOAL | Walcott | C | Ramsey was onside and great finish from Theo | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 5 | OTHER | ? | Rosicky | C | Trip | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | OTHER | Ramsey | Armero | C | Push in the back | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 7 | OTHER | Sagna | Armero | NC | It was Armero who bent down while Sagna was hanging in the air | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | OTHER | Chamakh | Benatia | C | Little trip while crossing | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | OTHER | Gibs | Di Natale | C | No contact with the ball made | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | OTHER | Walcott | Neuton | C | Walcott chasing the defender and tackling from behind | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | YELLOW | Walcott | C | Deliberate foul and several attempts to bring the player down | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| 11 | YELLOW | Neuton | C | My favourite moment. Neuton was asking a yellow card for Walcott and the ref gave him also a card. I would love to give double marks for this | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| 17 | OTHER | Vermaelen | C | Vermaelen sticks out a toe and Szczesny takes the ball in his hands. No back pass correct decisions | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 18 | OFFSIDE | Walcott | C | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 24 | OTHER | Neuton | Sagna | NC | Going through the player is always foul | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 24 | OTHER | Ramsey | ? | NC | Little push in the back | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 29 | OFFSIDE | Gervinho | C | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 30 | OTHER | Chamakh | ? | C | Push in the back | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 31 | OTHER | Gervinho | C | Handball | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 32 | OTHER | Benatia | Chamakh | C | Push in the back | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 33 | OTHER | Song | ? | C | Push in the back | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 34 | OTHER | Chamakh | Benatia | C | Chamakh was holding the longest in this duel | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 35 | OTHER | Pinzi | Song | C | Holding | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 36 | OTHER | Chamakh | C | Handball | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| 38 | OTHER | Vermaelen | Di Natale | NC | Didn’t see anything wrong with this | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 43 | OTHER | Benatia | Chamakh | C | Bringing him down | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 45 | OTHER | Gibbs | Isla | C | Wild tackle on the ankle | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 45 | YELLOW | Gibbs | C | Came late and on the ankle | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| Half time | 24 | 28 | 33 | |||||
| CORRECT | 82,76% | 84,85% | ||||||
| YELLOW | 4 | 4 | 100,00 | |||||
| RED | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| PENALTY | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| GOAL | 1 | 1 | 100,00 | |||||
| OTHER | 3 | 3 | 100,00 | |||||
| 8 | 8 | 100,00 | ||||||
| OFFSIDE | 1 | 1 | 100,00 | |||||
| Second half | ||||||||
| 45 | OTHER | ? | Gervinho | C | Advantage given | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 48 | OTHER | Badu | Djourou | C | Trip | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 49 | OTHER | ? | Ramsey | C | No contact with Ramsey but because of the way the threw himself Ramsey had to jump high up and out of the way to not get caught. This is also a foul | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 50 | OFFSIDE | Udinese | C | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 52 | OFFSIDE | Di Natale | C | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 52 | OTHER | Neuton | Walcott | NC | Clear push in the back not given | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 57 | OTHER | Isla | Song | C | Push in the back | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 59 | OTHER | Koscielny | ? | C | Coming in from behind | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 60 | OTHER | Goal kick given | NC | Szczesny touched the ball and it went in a corner | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 67 | OTHER | Song | Di Natale | NC | The smile on Di Natale his face said it all. He got cought out in a dangerous situation and the ref fell for it. No contact and Song nicked the ball away from his feet | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 68 | OFFSIDE | Chamakh | C | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 70 | OTHER | Pinzi | Gervinho | C | No chance of playing the ball there | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 70 | YELLOW | Pinzi | C | Deliberate foul | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| 73 | OTHER | Frimpong | Badu | C | Pushing | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 74 | OTHER | Frimpong | Di Natale | C | Pushing in the back | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 78 | OTHER | Armero | Sagna | C | Trip | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 78 | YELLOW | Armero | C | Refusing to take the distance after the free kick | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
| 79 | PENALTY | Udinese 7 | Song | C | The usual pushing and shoving and Song was held for a moment but I could not see if this was still the case when going down. I can agree with the non call as it was not clear to see | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 83 | OTHER | ? | Walcott | NC | Walcott at full speed gets a push in the back but nothing give | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 85 | OTHER | Tackle on Gervinho but the defender played the ball so no penalty but the ref doesn’t give a corner | NC | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 86 | OTHER | Danilo | Gervinho | C | Pushing in the back | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 86 | OTHER | Chamakh | ? | C | Tackle foot forward on the ball but still a foul correct from the ref | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 88 | OTHER | Frimpong | ? | C | Push | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 93 | OTHER | Koscielny | Armero | C | Little kick against the foot | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2nd half score | ||||||||
| TOTAL | 19 | 23 | 28 | |||||
| % | CORRECT | 79,17% | 82,14% | |||||
| YELLOW | 2 | 2 | 100,00 | |||||
| RED | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| PENALTY | 1 | 1 | 100,00 | |||||
| GOAL | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| OTHER | 1 | 1 | 100,00 | |||||
| 4 | 4 | 100,00 | ||||||
| OFFSIDE | 3 | 3 | 100,00 | |||||
| TOTAL SCORE | ||||||||
| TOTAL | 43 | 51 | 61 | |||||
| % | CORRECT | 81,13% | 83,61% | |||||
| YELLOW | 6 | 6 | 100,00 | |||||
| RED | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| PENALTY | 1 | 1 | 100,00 | |||||
| GOAL | 1 | 1 | 100,00 | |||||
| OTHER | 4 | 4 | 100,00 | |||||
| 12 | 12 | 100,00 | ||||||
| OFFSIDE | 4 | 4 | 100,00 | |||||
| Correct calls | For Arsenal | 19 | 44,19% | |||||
| For Udinese | 24 | 55,81% | ||||||
| Total correct calls | 43 | |||||||
| Wrong calls | Against Arsenal | 7 | 70,00% | |||||
| Against Udinese | 3 | 30,00% | ||||||
| Total | 10 | |||||||
First of all this was not a home referee. He didn’t give in to the pressure of the home crowd. He gave more fouls to Udinese than to Arsenal. In the wrong calls he favoured Udinese.
But what impressed me most is the fact that this ref has been given a 100% score for the important decisions. This is not saying he made no mistakes because he clearly made mistakes. But when it came down to the most important decisions he made not mistakes. And I think this is for the first time in our ref reviewing history that I have a ref who has made no mistakes on the important decisions in a game.
I read that some supporters where not happy with the ref. But I must say that I as a ref was rather satisfied with his overall performance. I think because he didn’t give us 2 or 3 decisions near the end of the game that made some Gooners annoyed with him. The last impression stays the most as we say over here and I think this was the case.
I also liked the way he immediately gave a yellow card in the first minute. In the EPL many refs would even not have given the foul “he played the ball”-rubbish excuse. But he knew that at that moment in the game it was important to show to all the players that he would not accept such dangerous tackles. My second favourite moment of the refs game.
The favourite was when Neuton was fouled by Walcott and he waved with the imaginary card and got one himself. I wonder… if we would have had Blom in the games last season against Barcelona…how many Barcelona players would have stayed on the pitch those nights?
Arsenal’s view of its own history is starting to change
The showers have hardly been cleaned but our ref reviewers have done their job already.
good job….btw anybody seen the agenda in today`s papers? almost all of the arsenal hating media are on our backs and make it as if we lost…just look at this article by the sun…looks like they have got a new arsenal hating writer could they have done this to fergie or daglish?
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3756775/UEFA-silence-banned-Wenger.html
wenger dealt brilliantly with them this time around by fooling them into publishing the supposed nasri quotes from a fake facebook account and made them look stupid by having nasri denying them..well played arsene…now the are spending their time on twitter trying to justify what they post..well atleast matt law is 🙂
Whilst I’m annoyed with him for the nature of the tackle that got him carded, I thought this was an excellent piece of footballing intelligence from Theo. If Blom was card happy, you want your forwards being carded for rash tackling instead of your defenders. Far better for players who will not normally have to make last ditch tackles to get back and get stuck in.
Is anyone else also seeing this as a massive win for us? Udinese have to attack us to retain any hope of staying in the CL, we didn’t give them a cheap away goal despite our injury/suspension crisis, Theo is finding his form (shame about the last minute miss), what’s not to like?
I saw Theo actually go past a few players last night in a way that I’ve never seen before (so hope he can keep that up) – Chamakh looked seriously rusty and needs to sharpen up and get some form. Djourou was excellent for the few minutes he was on (frustrating) and Jenkinson despite clearly bricking himslef for the first 10 minutes settled down into an unfamiliar position quite well. Frimpong looked to have a lot of power and to be a bit of a handfull.
@Woolwich Peripatetic is right Udinese gave it everything last night and came back empty handed. This is the CL ffs and teams are going to be giving 100% commitment – none of them will be pushovers. I don’t know what some fans expect?!
My view is Arsenals hunger is missing. The game was played well but Chamakh in particular was soft. The difference was that Udinese always made contact with the player they tackled where as Arsenal did not.
The AA(sun) press are sick as usual and stuck to photos because their phone hacking is still being investigated. It is time for them to come clean and shut down like NoW.
Ooops – excellent report. Well done.
The Dutch ref obviously had a brand new UEFA whistle issuued hi
m for the game as he couldn,t stop blowing it ,most of it for
pedantic diving by Udinese ,in typical Serie A Italian fashion
Walcott was his usual rubbish squandering a hattrick on poor first touches ,in typical England style ,the goal was given to him on a plate ,so to speak by Ramsey,s magic pass ,Gervinho would have scored anyway if Theo had missed ,Gibbs has no clue
Sagna still getting caught out by the pass behind him or over
the top Chamakh tried his best to hold the ball up and provide
shots on target for others,Rosicky played rather well consider
ing he didn,t have much support in midfield but why do Arsenal players insist on those long raking backpasses to the goalie
when the ball should be going forwards for more goals ?
nice one rr04-its a shame the poo reffin started in our first match.
picked up the mirror this morn at my girls house dunno what date but the gevinho blatant dive line was enough for me to put it str8 back down.
i thought the lads while a bit uncertain at times without the rvp quality in the final third fought hard. if they show that level of commitment throughout the season add rvp, jack and a quality signing(hazard and mata hopefully) and a defender and were in shape to take the title imo.
oh gosh sameul you sound like the pundit on the game yday. he did my nut when tryin to claim theo couldnt miss, it was on a plate etc… utter balony.
for him 1-to be in that position 2-ajust his run to use his unnatural left peg 3-at speed 4-and at a dodgy height was top class. he could have easily missed like the other2 chances where i thought he should have gone near post.
if anyone should be disappointed it should be udinese. they havent got an away goal and we’ll be alot stronger next time and we do quite well away so ive heard.
@walter
The ref reviewers are doing a great job. Let’s keep this going. It is very much appreciated.
It’s strange about the conclusion the article draws about the referee not being a home referee. That was exactly the conclusion I drew, and thought that we got a good referee. Which just TERRIFIED me even more. Because the Barcelona tie is still fresh in my mind, and wasn’t that the exact conclusion that the ref review gave for the referee in the first leg? Add to that UEFA’s vindictiveness in making noises about charging Wenger with violating the touchline ban, I am very very scared that we’ll be screwed out of the Champions League at this stage itself.
@Shard,
Unless UEFA are now tapping people’s phones it would be EXTREMELY difficult for them to do anything other than protest that Boro Primorac MIGHT have been on the phone to Pat Rice. Also, there is no way that UEFA could ban Primorac from having contact with the bench without banning him from the bench first. We’ve obviously looked into how we could violate the spirit of Arsene’s ban without violating the letter of the law.
For anyone to publish that because two people are seen on their mobile phones at the same time, they are communicating and therefore breaching some agreement; without proof, constitutes unfounded damage to their reputations and therefore libel.
Shard,
you are right. I made the same conclusion after our win against Barcelona last year. Now I don’t know the reputation of Blom that well enough to know that he is not a home ref or known as such.
I knew from the Italian ref in that game that he was known as a ref who is not afraid of going against the home crowd. Then it should have been a first sign of the writing on the wall… but I didn’t see it that way. Only after (now our new head of referees at Uefa headquarters Busacca) the Barcelona away game I realized what I hadn’t seen. I was blinded because we won despite the away ref.
@Walter,
Aside from ManUre, all any club can ask is that the referees are even handed and try to treat both teams equally. It would seem that we always do better when the referee takes an even handed approach. Busacca either could not see Barcelona’s players violating the laws of the game (the throat grabbing incident) or chose not to do anything about it. If he and none of his assistants could not see what assorted photographers and TV cameras could, then questions have to be asked about the fitness of that team of referees to carry out their jobs.
I was hoping for some Dutch football supporters on here if they know if Blom is known as a home ref or not? It could clear things up a bit on what we can expect next week. Well it won’t be Busacca as he is now appointing the refs I think… scary thought isn’t it…
Woolwich peripatetic,
That is the nail on the head. It is what I always try to do at any game I do. And what any ref should be doing: making mistakes is part of it (not basic mistakes..) but treating the teams equally is one of the most important things a ref should do.
Woolwich Peripatetic,
On the last Barfa tie, the questions have been asked of that crew. It’s conclusions about them that need to be risked. Of course Basura’s elevation to chief of referees after that match , for which we’ve continued to pay a price this season, is a total coincidence. Some would say it’s time to ask about the fitness of that decision as well.
Speaking of Busacca-lona, shall we try and organise an image bombing campaign?
The wonder of the internet and search-engine-optimisation means that it would be fairly easy to google bomb Barcelona FC with the images of RvP and Nasri being grabbed by their throats.
@Walter,
Perhaps you can clear this one up. In the event that one of the teams feels that the referee is biased against them, is there any on-field action they could take to protest this that would not see them booked or preferably, see the match abandoned?
@Woolwich
It’s not that WE found a way to violate the spirit of that ban. It has always been so. Plus apparently we asked if Primorac could go to and from the bench, and UEFA accepted we could, and it was only after half time that they changed tack, and I see no reason why we have to accept that from them. The conditions were asked to be explained and if they were wrong before the match well that’s on them, not us. Besides, this was clearly a Sky agenda, who had a camera constantly pointed at Wenger, and had ‘pitch-side reports’ of that French manager violating the sacred laws of UEFA. You’re right in that I don’t think UEFA can ban Wenger again without being threatened with legal consequences like in Eduardo’s case. But then, they did that too.. All in all, it’s just a huge pile of horse dung.
@bob
Hehe.. Basura.
Interesting that Sky stir things at every opportunity against AW re the Boro Primoric conversations and phone, and that there is noise of an UEFA inquiry – yet this was exactly what Mourinho was doing when he was recently banned.
Sky were making light hearted banter/admiration about Mourinho’s behaviour. Not so for AW.
Not really Woolwich.
Maybe they could organise some players wearing a t shirt with one letter on it like C H E A T and then turn to the camera stand on one line lift their shirt (but not above the head as then they must book you) and then show the letters. Must stand in correct order of course.
Now that would be fun I think. I really wonder how the FA would react.
I think they would ban the 5 players involved for live…
LOL
@Walter,
I was trying to imagine something that would get the game stopped, would infuriate the sponsors or just make such a mockery of the entire event that there would be an outcry.
The alternative would be the Stade Olympique l’Emryne method.
any predictions for saturday people?
rejay:yeah i predict we will beat liverpool by a goal or two.Despite the media trying to crucify us i noticed there was a clear unity and togetherness about us.We will have van persie and nasri(if he stays…i think he will)back hopefully wilshere too?.Lets not forget that liverpool have a crap record at the emirates and when they came last season they were shit scared playing with 11 behind their goal line(this despite them having 55 million worth of strikers on the pitch that day).And this time no eboue to mess things up…although the left back situation worries me.Is it just me or does gibbs get injured in every game he plays?(im serious by the way.
Alex
Gibbs looks good but too many injuries and so soon in his career could hamper his development, liverpool will try the old snatch&grab on us.
Not unhappy with the result. 1-0 is a solid result. It could have been 3-0 or 1-2 IMO. Udinese was strong and with the exception of two glaring breakdowns (defender break up the middle and di Natale in close) our defence held up well, especially given the two injuries. We had a poor spell in the middle of the match where we seem to have lost our way but given the Nasregas business, the suspensions and the time of year it was to be expected that we couldn’t keep up the pace of the early going.
GoingGoingGooner
WE were lucky, no two ways about it!
Late in the match, if we were going to get another goal, it was a given that Walcott was going to be involved in it, and so I didn’t care for the ref at the end of the match for not giving us the corner or for not calling the shoves on Walcott.
jayvj
Neither of the two teams were so dominating that they absolutely deserved to win. Both teams had chances but couldn’t convert save for Theo. Where we were lucky is that our absent players (through suspension, injury or transfer) and players injured during the game didn’t cost us more. They were lucky that their absent players and lack of match fitness didn’t cost them more.
I get irritated with people (not necessarily you) that think the sky is falling if we don’t win every match with a dominating 4-0 scoreline. 1-0 is OK.
Has anyone got news of the Jadson transfer?
OR
More tabloid bollox which is boring me to death?
please please HELP.
Woolwich Peripatetic,
Your counter Image-campaigns are a great idea – loopings of the Barfa chokings that preceded Basura’s then elevation to chief referee. Further on that front, while its my favorite NEWS paper, it’s football coverage of Arsenal has become an upscale Sun. Just the Guardian’s images of Arsene this past week – a very gray man on very gray background suggested a dying man – and yesterday’s twisted mouth – were vicious. The media is on him, like hyper-paparazzi – white on rice (flies on shite, really), 24×7, and, having leaked blood in the water themselves have now picked up the scent. This is an attempted takedown. Now that the Cesc-Leaving story – a massive cash cow is over – I believe that the necessary profit-center for them (meaning ongoing fan attention and so, circulation based advertising revenue, as well as more insidious background stuff) has now shifted fully to Arsene Out.
There are several streams converging to feed this torrent and we need to be eyes-open about this. It’s everywhere because it is everywhere. And when Untold Media comes out next week, I’ll offer more on this subject. The Guardian which is great and independent on news coverage imho (note its leading role on phone hacking) has three massively biased AA sports writers (Paul Wilson, Richard Williams, and Barney Ronay) and two moderate to fairer ones (Jacob Steinberg and David Hytner) on the heightened Arsenal beatdown. But that said, the Guardian sports page photo editor is especially hell-bent to savage Arsene visually; just as the headline writer does quite well to twist the knife. I do not exaggerate, even for me. The cherry on their Sunday (our Saturday draw) is yesterday’s Reader’s Poll: “Are Arsenal heading for the Europa League? Their captain has left, their manager is unpopular and their best striker is always injured – are the days when Arsenal could confidently expect to finish in the top four over? Yes ___ or No ___ (check one)”
Piling on? Gratuitous cruelty? Premature announcement of the Rednose XX? Choose your poison. Sadly, this crew is that toxic. It’s time we all circle the wagons and use Woolwich Peripatetic’s counter-imagery (and whatever else readers come up with) to no longer just take their shit. Alas, little did I think that “my Guardian” would be such a cesspool (or, for me, sorry, Cesc-pool). But vigilance is of the essence, as the new feeding frenzy is definitely on, full bore, and it’s called: Arsene Out. In my view, their cynicism has crossed into character-assassination (which I’ll show in next week’s report) and it’s become literally boundless.
p.s. on the massively biased-side, I forgot to include Alan Gardner. My hope is that by turning a spotlight on their spin, they will use their undoubted cleverness as wordsmiths in ways that are both entertaining and fair. However, when it’s become the football editor’s line and one’s own meal ticket, it is harder to buck the trend (assuming any conscience about it). For being somewhat and measurably fairer, I thank their Messrs. Steinberg and Hytner, and hope you keep your jobs.
The media frenzy is going to get alot worse.Next headline “Another star player leaves”.This is when the shit Nasri leaves.They knew Cesc was going,and likewise Nasri.
On Saturday the Sky football news said”Liverpool draw,Arsenal loose points.I hope AW continues to say F..All to the press in future.
The worst one is Durham on talkshit.He does go to our matches,perhaps a campaign agaianst him and the station.Can we All email talkshit.
Tasos, all:
From Tasos, a bit earlier on another UA page today:
“Anyone listen to Bob Wilson on BBC radio 5 last night?
When questioned about the fans unrest, Wilson responded;
“I think the press are baying for blood, you cant just put it down to the fans, the campaign to get Arsene Wenger out of this club and out of this country….don’t you underestimate what is happing on a daily basis in our media”
The media has really upped the Anti Arsene, Talkshit and scum tabloids everywhere have the same agenda. Talkshit host an online forum which we could take advantage of as well as the sun.
A better way to counter these cunts is to show our support for the manager come match days. Doesn’t matter how big or small but we could all do the right thing.
Notice most of Arsene out calls are sung loudest from pundits/ex players affiliated to other clubs.
T-shirt, flaggs, banners even posters:)
Tony, Walter,
Is it not time for UA/UM to identify the Arsene Out media frenzy for what Bob Wilson says it is? This is no joke. And, further, to ask readers to propose counter-measures? Did you notice that Arsene did not appear at UEFA’s post-game media circus; and that he may have been misled by UEFA to think it was Ok to have Primorac as a go-between with Pat Rice(at which point he was photographed), but then UEFA called it off for the second half and Arsene may or may not have continued the contact. In any case, we shall see if there was a set-up or not. But in either case, sections of the rabid media are raising the issue like he’s a criminal. This has crossed the line into something beyond libelous, and I think the Bob Wilson quote via Tasos just above has it exactly right.
A big ass banner reading “THE UNTOLD ARSENAL”, believe me many will google it, or “Durham Fuck off”, even “Fuck the media”, sounds good to me.
Fred West gets more support
WE could start our own Arsenegate, the story of our racist homophobic media attempts to drive a wise manager out, Adrian Durham could be the face of it.
I just noticed that Arsenal were the only team to keep a clean sheet yesterday in the CL matches.
Johhny I noticed the same and then to think we played by far one of the strongest teams!
A second consecutive clean sheet. Its strange how the media’s critical perception of Arsenals performance has changed after each game/result.
Against Newcastle the the “expert” consensus was one of plenty of possession but very little penetration, “same old same old” they cried. And yet yesterday Arsenal played in an ugly fashion but managed to win the game. Arsenal now “struggle” “scrape” and “fail to convince”.
Had a similar result been achieved by another more media friendly team, then their ability to play in an ugly fashion and still win would undoubtedly have been praised.
On a side note….good luck to Cesc tonight.
Tasos,
Cesc is for the first time sitting on the comfortable bench of Barcelona. Well I guess he is sitting there because he certainly is not on the pitch….
I guess Hleb will have told him on which seat you have the best view.
Walter
Cesc may yet wish he stayed.
A players strike means no league games will be played in spain for at least 2 weeks unless the ridiculous financial situation can reach an agreable conclusion. Many players have not been payed, in fact some 58M euros are reputedly owed in wages?
Tasos,
Any word on whether Cesc’s private partial owners will ask him to help break the strike?
Just a quick suggestion, is it possible to have a forum on here? I’m sure a lot of people would like to discuss with people of like minds rather than the simple commenting system.
I remember meeting Sir Stanley Rous at a FIFA sponsored event in Montreal back in 1982 and I will never forget what he told me was his basic officiating philosophy, ¨be firm but fair!¨
This man was a giant in the game, an Fa and FIFA president and introduced the diagonal movement system for officials as well as being responsible for simplifying the Laws back in 1930.
On another note, I saw Fabregas for Barca and the moment he stepped on the pitch, he impacted the game very positively. He assisted in Messi’s 3rd goal and almost started a riot when he was scissored down by Marcello, who was subsequently ejected. the entire Barca team took umbrage and that smarmy cunt Mourinho snuck up behind a Barca assistant coach and shoved him in the neck then tried to sneak away. He got caught on camera doing this and we’ll see if EUFA or FIFa react.
The ref did a very good job of handling the game, considering the temperature and sheer rancour Real displayed. Barca are no angels but this was another disgracefuldisplay by the Real Cunts!
i thought the ref got decisions right, but i probably prefer a fre who will let the game flow more.
I am sure if this ref was in the premiership for our games, it would help us against the perenial rugby style teams. at least they would not be able to get away with breaking the rules.
@Tasos
i agree that the media bias is disappointing but thats being fed with some arsenal fans who just feel the world is caving end (same as when Vieira left, and henry left i suppose). As i mentioned, we have some very good players left, we are unbeaten this season, clean sheets… and still we’re in a crisis according to some journalists?? lets wait until the end of the season and see if we’re relegated? thats a real crisis…
All,
Would anyone have the names of any/all of the 3 other officials at Arsenal/Newcastle? Especially the names of who Walton consult with over the Gervinho/Barton (mis)calls?
I believe the assistant ref Walton consulted with was Andy Garratt. I don’t know about the other two.
@bob – The match officials for Newcastle v. Arsenal were:
Referee: Peter Walton
Assistants: Andy Garrat and Ron Ganfield
4th Official: Nigel Miller