Untold Ref review: Arsenal – Shrewsbury 3-1

12 Replies to “Untold Ref review: Arsenal – Shrewsbury 3-1”

1. at ’82, shouldnt there also be a NC? since it shouldve been a freekick? Or did I not understand whats written?

2. “I cannot lose my time organising my defensive set plays for the referee to make a mistake like that – I’m sorry.”
   “You organise a team to defend a set play, to be coherent, to hold the line, and then there is a person who does not do his job.
   “We had an incident like this against Sunderland the other day – offside not given. So it’s not a question of organisation, it’s not a question of defensive fragilities. It’s a question of a mistake that you pay the penalty for.”

   — Ring a bell? Only this time, it came from the None other than AVB. Just imagine something along that line coming from Arsene. They would be having a ball over his “excuses”.

   This came from none other than the ESPNStar site. [http://www.espnstar.com/football/premier-league/news/detail/item677448/AVB-denies-attempt-to-influence-ref/]. Please tell me that I’m paranoid cause something tells me he is being prepped for grilling. This plot seems all too familiar. And to think, he actually had the audacity to go and see the Dark Lord Riley himself to complain about none other than his Prince Dowd of Darkness. Run while can AVB. Run for your life.

3. Eric,
   in a perfect world yes. You are right. A problem which we had before and then we had given it a different weight score.

   In this case the score should have been a 3/3 for the penalty call and a 0/1 for the not given foul and so a total score for this incident of 3/4 should have been correct.

4. Thank you for the Review. Good to see someone officiating a game in the right way. Letting the game flow with honest intention. Cause we’ve had our fair share of the Ref “not getting in the way” or “not stepping in” the game only when we are in a disadvantageous position. Regular readers of Walter’s already know what that translates to when done in an intelligent way at at a key time. Or to think of it, how about every time we are stopped only to make sure the other team gets the time to organize.

5. @Chowdhury
   I think this just shows how soft Wenger is with the referees. AVB has a few decisions go against him in a couple of matches and is already complaining to Mike Riley (for all the good it will do him, he may as well complain to Fergie!) whereas the decisions – and this includes the major ones and all the other minor free-kicks etc. – mount up against us every match now and apart from the odd moan (to the press) we get nothing from Wenger.
   I have been going to Arsenal for the last 37 years in which time I have seen a lot of bias towards Man Utd and a fair bit against us but these last 3-4 years, and especially now the last six months, it has reached a totally different level. We are virtually being cheated out of winning games every single match. If it carries on at this rate we will be lucky to survive relegation let alone win a place in the top four.
   The players now actually seem resigned to everything going against them as soon as they go out onto the pitch. I have no doubt that it is the real reason we lost Cesc and Nasri earlier than we would have done normally, but while nothing is said or done about it then it will continue and indeed get worse.
   Unfortunately 95% of the country has been brainwashed by Murdoch’s media and can’t see the noses in front of their faces. Even the majority of Arsenal fans who see it week after week think that it is nothing but co-incidence !

6. @ Chowdhury, I thought it very smart, That AVB let all Chelsea and other supporters know who is in charge of the refs. I cannot recall other managers name dropping like that?

7. Adam,
   smart or maybe he just wrote his own death sentence?

   Refs have big ego’s (you must be a somewhat brave person to be a ref).
   The head of the refs will have an even bigger ego (you must be a ….. to become this)

   So when you step on the ego of such a person it can come back at you like a boomerang…

8. @Adam –> I don’t know. Last time someone paid a visit to the Dark Lord was Kenny Dalglish. Look at what happened to Liverpool the very next game. So I really don’t know if that was a smart move or not. Unless ofcourse AVB & the Russian Mafia has a game plan of their own. We’ll find out soon.

9. Yeah well, Just looking at it from a different angle.
   @Walter Slightly off-topic, But I recently had contact with the FA regarding a match decision and was promptly redirected to Mike Riley and the PGMOL, Although what interested me more was the fact that they(the FA) parted with that information so readily and seemed to want you to contact PGMOL.
   Below is Probably a standard reply.

   Thank you for contacting The Football Association.

   Whilst understanding your frustration as a football fan, every supporter will have an opinion on the game’s major talking points and we’re always interested to hear them. The Football Association receives frequent correspondence on individual refereeing decisions across all levels of football as well as on the performance of referees in general. It is important to understand that without a referee there is no game and as a result the long-term health of football relies on recruiting, retaining and developing referees. Whilst 100% consistency is impossible when human judgment is introduced into a situation, referees get the overwhelmingly majority of decisions right. In fact they are arguably the most consistent people in the game making split-second decisions that will be analysed repeatedly by slow motion cameras and panels of football experts.

   There is a system in place for monitoring the performance of referees and referee’s assistants. This involves referees assessors and reports from club managers. All assessors come from a footballing background and the majority are fully qualified referees themselves. The performances of referees over a season are then taken into consideration when the leagues appoint their referees for the following season.

   The Select Group officiates in the Premier League and is the responsibility of Mike Riley, General Manager of the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL). Premier League refereeing enquiries should be addressed to Mike Riley, The Premier League, 30 Gloucester Place, London W1U 8PL or via info@premierleague.com.

10. Better a poor ref who is equally bad to both teams than a ‘good’ ref that favors one side over the other.

    (Not saying he is a bad ref, just the general principle).

11. The majority of the non-calls seem to be for pushes. As I didn’t see the match, I can’t tell, but if they were mainly little pushes, then the ref might not have deemed them excessive enough to blow his whistle. The benefit is that play is not stopped frequently for minor fouls. And as long as both teams are treated in the same way – which this ref apparently did – then I have not much problems with that. Although it has to be noted that both Arsenal and Shrewsbury did some pushing; if one team is making much more small fouls than the other, though, the ref cannot let them go unpunished.

12. We have to remember that the championship is a League where the competitiveness, pace, hardness, tackling, ball skills and qualities of the average player,team and manager do not compare to the EPL for the most part. anyone who says the Championship is at par with the EPL needs to go back to Football kindergarten.
    Therefore, the official used to doing CD games is more likely to officiate in a different manner and expect different degrees of fouls, etc. AFC fielded a youth team bolstered by a few senior players and reserves. This was basically a championship side like Shrewsbury and it showed that AFC have the talent to beat the best at that level. The official didn’t have to face Stoke Rugby club or United’s SAF intimidation. He refereed well because he was allowed to and he understood that by letting the game flow, he was contributing positively to the quality of Football. I didn’t see the match but based on some videos and what Walter and ref reviewer4 have said, it looks like he was basically invisible and intervened only when needed. That is the sign of a good referee.