Untold Ref Review: Queens Park Rangers 2 – 1 Arsenal

Posted on by WalterBroeckx

Untold Arsenal

Arsenal History

Today’s referee is Mike Dean -Was he going for the blatant wrong important decisions like a dive for a penalty or did he hoped he could stay under the radar in this game? He certainly was picked up on the Untold radar….

MATCH REVIEW DETAILS – Mike Dean (2012-03-31)
Period 1
Min Type Foul from On C/NC Comment Weight
1 OTHER Taiwo Walcott C Took out Theo’s legs from behind, 1
1 YELLOW Taiwo NC Should have been booked. He did this in the Newcastle-Sunderland derby for a similar thing in the first minute 2
2 OTHER QPR Rosicky NC Trip/Went through player to get ball, not given 1
5 OTHER Barton Gibbs NC Holding, not given 1
6 OFFSIDE Mackie C Just off 1
7 OTHER Vermaelen Barton NC Both players met ball, wrong call 1
7 OFFSIDE Zamora C 1
7 OTHER Hill Walcott C Went through the back of Theo’s legs, missed ball 1
7 YELLOW Hill NC Reckless and Dangerous, not booked 2
9 OFFSIDE Mackie C 1
10 OTHER Song Diakite C Trip 1
11 OTHER Ramsey C Handball, assumed correct 1
13 PENALTY Song NC Handball prevents Onuoha from playing ball 3
13 OTHER Arteta Barton C Slightly high boot 1
14 OFFSIDE Zamora C Assumed correct, Arsenal goal kick anyway 0
15 OTHER Vermaelen Zamora C High boot caught Zamora in face, might have been booked 1
15 OFFSIDE Derry C 1
18 OFFSIDE Walcott C 1
20 OTHER Mackie Szczesny C Foul, advantage played 1
22 GOAL Taarabt C Goal okay 3
23 YELLOW Taarabt C Not shown, probably celebrated with fans 2
26 OTHER Zamora Song C Held off by shirt 1
27 OFFSIDE RVP C Assumed correct 1
27 OTHER Zamora Koscielny C Foul 1
30 OTHER Sagna Taiwo NC Shove, not given 1
30 OTHER Zamora Song NC Shove, not given 1
30 OTHER NC Throw wrongly given to QPR 1
31 OFFSIDE Mackie C 2
33 OFFSIDE Zamora C 2
35 OTHER NC QPR wrongly given goal kick, should have been an Arsenal corner 1
35 OTHER Zamora Vermaelen NC Held shirt, not given 1
36 OTHER Taarabt Sagna C Foul 1
37 OTHER Ferdinand RVP NC Pushed, no advantage signaled 1
37 GOAL Walcott C Goal okay 3
39 OTHER Taarabt Vermaelen NC Backed in under him 1
43 OTHER Arteta Taarabt C Trip 1
44 OTHER Ramsey Mackie C Trip 1
Period 2
Min Type Foul from On C/NC Comment Weight
46 OTHER Hill Rosicky NC Arm to head while disputing header, not given 1
46 OFFSIDE Mackie NC Offside when flicked onwards, not given 1
49 OTHER Derry Song NC Mistimed kick to back of ankle, no advantage signaled 1
50 OFFSIDE Zamora C 1
52 OTHER Hill Arteta C Trip/Foul from behind 1
54 OTHER Diakite Arteta NC Recklessly got ball and player, not given 1
54 OTHER Derry RVP NC Trip, ref played advantage but there wasn’t one 1
57 OTHER Taiwo C Handball, extended arms to block cross into area 1
57 YELLOW Taiwo NC Should have been booked for unsporting behaviour 2
61 OTHER Diakite Arteta C Fouled from behind after playing ball, about time he was booked 1
62 OTHER Zamora Song C Holding 1
62 YELLOW Vermaelen C Mackie challenged Vermaelen with an elbow to his ribs, Vermaelen got in his face 2
62 YELLOW Mackie C Ref booked both players to diffuse situation 2
64 OTHER Song Barton C Hooked arm a bit 1
64 YELLOW Song NC Seemed harsh considering Dean didn’t caution Hill, Derry, or Diakite for reckless fouls from behind. It was also Arsenal’s 1st foul of the 2nd half 2
66 OTHER Vermaelen Mackie C Attempted trip, advantage played 1
66 GOAL Diakite C Goal okay 3
68 OTHER Mackie Gibbs C Foul, advantage played 1
74 OTHER Mackie Gibbs NC Used arm/elbow into Gibbs while he was in air, not given 1
74 OTHER Barton Vermaelen NC Played ball dangerously, not given 1
76 OTHER Taiwo Walcott NC Shove, not given 1
80 OTHER Ferdinand Rosicky C Mugged Rosicky, 1
80 YELLOW Ferdinand NC Was out of position, fouled to stop attack, not given 2
82 OTHER Onuoha Chamakh C Trip 1
84 OTHER Zamora Song NC Stiff-armed Song, held shirt, not given 1
84 OTHER Song Zamora NC Called for a trip, but should have given first foul on Song 1
85 OTHER Zamora Rosicky NC Pulled back on arm, same as what Song was booked for, not given 1
88 OTHER Ferdinand Chamakh C Trip 1
89 PENALTY Derry Chamakh NC Pulled down in area, not given 3
90 OTHER Ferdinand Chamakh C Fouled from behind 1
90 YELLOW Ferdinand C Dean finally books a player for this 2
91 OTHER Koscielny Barton C Shove, not given 1
92 OTHER Mackie Vermaelen C Unfairly held off Vermaelen, given by linesman 1
93 PENALTY C Unintentional handball, correct no-call 3
94 OTHER Barton AOC C Trip 1
94 YELLOW Barton C Stopped attack 2
94 OTHER Diakite AOC C Slid in a bit reckless 1
96 OTHER NC Did not account for stoppages in injury time 1

Many of us were shocked to see Mike Dean return so quickly to ref an Arsenal match again.  Perhaps Arsenal’s win over Tottenham just over a month ago wasn’t in the cards and he had some unfinished business to attend to, but in any case Arsenal had him again, and again he would be up to his old tricks.

Not even 30 seconds into the match, Taiwo took out Theo with a rash challenge from behind, for which he might have been booked.  Dean gave the foul but didn’t caution the player, verbally or with a card, and that was a hint of what was going to be.  Diakite and Hill would make similar fouls, crashing into the back of a player’s legs after he had played the ball, but it wasn’t until the 90th minute that Dean actually punished this kind of tackle with a card, this time on Anton Ferdinand for a late tackle on Chamakh from behind.

Arsenal could perhaps consider themselves lucky in the first half when Alex Song handled in the area.  The replay showed Song’s arms extended and making contact with the ball for which QPR should have had a spot kick.  Mind you, Arsenal also should have had a spot kick near the end of the match, when Marouane Chamakh was dragged down in the area.  Dean ignored this foul too.

However the story of the match was the countless little fouls, tugs, shoves, trips, etc.  QPR seemed set out to foul early and foul often.  Sometimes they would be called for it, sometimes they wouldn’t.

QPR didn’t make any sending-off type tackles, but they did foul, and Dean was reluctant to pull out his cards, at least not in the first half during which the only player booked was Taarabt for celebrating his goal.

The second half started with more of the same.  As Rosicky went up for a header, Clint Hill came jumping in with his arm extended, catching Rosicky in the head before the QPR defender headed the ball down the pitch.  The ball was flicked onward to Jamie Mackie who was in an offside position.  Neither of these infractions were called by neither the ref nor the linesman, and Mackie nearly scored from it and appealed for a penalty in the process.

Nineteen minutes into the 2nd half, and Song committed Arsenal’s first foul of that period, hooking Joey Barton’s arm a bit.  Even though QPR had committed eight 2nd-half fouls up to that point, it would be an Arsenal player to receive the first booking related to a foul.  Note that Vermaelen and Hill had both just been booked two minutes earlier for squaring off against each other, but they were booked for showing hostility towards each other, not for a foul when the ball was in play, that honour would go to Song for a relatively harmless challenge.

COMPETENCY SUMMARY – Mike Dean (2012-03-31)
Period 1 Called Total Correct %
GOAL 2 2 100.00
OFFSIDE 9 9 100.00
OTHER 12 22 54.55
PENALTY 0 1 0.00
YELLOW 1 3 33.33
TOTAL 24 37 64.86
WEIGHTED 29 46 63.04
Period 2 Called Total Correct %
GOAL 1 1 100.00
OFFSIDE 1 2 50.00
OTHER 15 26 57.69
PENALTY 1 2 50.00
YELLOW 4 7 57.14
TOTAL 22 38 57.89
WEIGHTED 30 51 58.82
Totals Called Total Correct %
GOAL 3 3 100.00
OFFSIDE 10 11 90.91
OTHER 27 48 56.25
PENALTY 1 3 33.33
YELLOW 5 10 50.00
TOTAL 46 75 61.33
WEIGHTED 59 97 60.82

Well this was another Dean performance I would say. Missing most things in an attempt to… yeah what in fact was he up to?  Keeping the game fluid? He certainly didn’t succeed in it. I think the first tackle in the first minute set the tone for his game. He would not get the cards out to stop QPR at first. He later did get them out but this was at the end of the game. Maybe in a way to cover up his antics?

BIAS SUMMARY – Mike Dean (2012-03-31)
Period 1 Queens Park Rangers % Arsenal % Total
Correct For 9 40.91 13 59.09 22
Correct For Weighted 11 40.74 16 59.26 27
Incorrect Against 2 12.50 14 87.50 16
Incorrect Against Weighted 4 20.00 16 80.00 20
Fouls Commited 12 60.00 8 40.00 20
Fouls Penalised 6 50.00 6 75.00 12
Period 2 Queens Park Rangers % Arsenal % Total
Correct For 6 27.27 16 72.73 22
Correct For Weighted 11 36.67 19 63.33 30
Incorrect Against 0 0.00 16 100.00 16
Incorrect Against Weighted 0 0.00 21 100.00 21
Fouls Commited 22 88.00 3 12.00 25
Fouls Penalised 12 54.55 3 100.00 15
Totals Queens Park Rangers % Arsenal % Total
Correct For 15 34.09 29 65.91 44
Correct For Weighted 22 38.60 35 61.40 57
Incorrect Against 2 6.25 30 93.75 32
Incorrect Against Weighted 4 9.76 37 90.24 41
Fouls Commited 34 75.56 11 24.44 45
Fouls Penalised 18 52.94 9 81.82 27

 

Over the course of the match, I counted only two wrong calls against QPR but an astonishingly 30 wrong calls against Arsenal. Only half the fouls from QPR were punished.

So it was the Dean who went for not punishing the little fouls on the field, well at least for one team. A performance that goes unspotted by most, unless you have the ref reviewers of Untold.

—————————

Woolwich Arsenal, the club that changed football.  Have your name in the book as an official sponsor.  Updated information here

The day when Fulham tried to take over Arsenal – the full story in “Making the Arsenal”

We’re on Twitter @UntoldArsenal

—————————

Recent Posts

68 Replies to “Untold Ref Review: Queens Park Rangers 2 – 1 Arsenal”

  1. Before the game i knew it when i heard Dean will be the referee that we will loose because he SUCK he hates us like Howard webb. in addition this damn PITCH like Wigan pitch always sucks FA should do something about it

  2. Thta is why Arsenal will find it tough to win games and the epl with guys like MD around.It has happened before and will happen in the future.You only have to go back to 2008 when one fr gave an inexplicable penalty to Birmingham ciy after Eduardo was crully maimed.
    Btw most refs want the rf to dominate the epl but he can’t do it in the cl. You got it . No English ref.

  3. we simply played badly
    Zamora out muscled our 2 centre backs
    our wingers had no effect going foward
    fwd didn’t take his chances
    our midfield was slow and wasteful
    our full backs didnt track back

    can blame pitch and ref but end of the day we should have played better

    y start Ramsey when we had a good thing going – really effected the arsenal flow

  4. It was clear from watching the game that he wasn’t giving small fouls and the shit commentator said :” He is not giving fouls for any pushes or shoves. But he’s not giving it for any team. So, I think that no one can complain about it.”(The commentator was of Setanata Sports Ireland.)
    When will these commentators saying the shit that not giving a particular type of foul is going to be helpful for one team just because of different style of play.

  5. Arun,
    in fact this is a very interesting comment from that commentator. He clearly noticed the poor refereeing himself but then remembered his duty and the party line and the old mantra about such things even out at the end.

    But even the fact that he said it is a remarkable slip of the tongue.

    And you are right about the fact that such a way of not doing your job can be very influential to the outcome of a game.

  6. I like the way Dean evened up his stats at the end by dishing out a bunch of meaningless yellows… he then went on to be 4th official at the spuds game – what a fucking joke this league is!

  7. I think people like Mark Hughes and Joe Barton must know exactly what they will be allowed to get away with when they play against Arsenal by now, and word gets around the rest of team.

    How Clint Hill escaped a booking is a joke, two challenges FROM BEHIND in the opening seven minutes, with his second one he takes Walcott out with a poor tackle FROM BEHIND, the linesman franticly waves his flag to indicate to the referee the ferocity of the foul, a clear yellow card which the punk Mike Dean refuses, and thus makes Clint’s day.

    This scenario continued, QPR tackle FROM BEHIND no punishment for the offender, until the 89th minute when Dean finally decides to protect Arsenals players. Mike Dean knows exactly what he’s doing.

    And when QPR scored their opening goal with an excellent piece of skill and technique from Taarabt, Mike Dean could be seen soaring like Superman.

    Finally, I do not want to take away a good team performance by QPR, they worked tirelessly and took their chances well. Arsenal couldn’t find the necessary performance to overcome Mike Dean and QPR definitely deserved something from this match.

  8. once again Dean did what he did best without getting noticed..gotta hand it to him he really is Legendary when it comes to tilting the pitch

  9. Nice review Walter, but i feel something is brewing up with corrupt PGMO and higher echelons in the english football. I was highly skeptic when ‘arry constantly mentioned in the media after their lose against us and following defeats that Arsenal will not win all their remaining matches, will they ? My doubt is that how was he so sure about it, was it the fixed refereeing system in-place in EPL or his powers over the corrupt PGMO ?

  10. Looks like the unpunished fouls and the poor pitch affected Arsenal’s concentration. Probably brought back bad memories.
    As Robin Van Persie says, from today they will be putting it behind them and looking forward to the Man City match.
    Having just come off such a good run, there’s no reason why they can’t do just that.

  11. Tasos, about that call where the linesman was waving his flag I actually think Dean would not have given that foul if it wouldn’t have been for the linesman.

    For those who think we are blaming the ref I would like to say that I think our defeat was down to 3 things:
    1. Not really 100% up for the game (a bit to certain they would win maybe?)
    2. The pitch which isn’t up to the required standard to play a fluent passing game
    3. The ref doing the game like he did.

    If 1 would have been in order the chance of us winning would have been better. But we had to overcome 11 hard working QPR players, a terrible pitch and a terrible ref.
    To overcome those 3 you need to be at your best, which we weren’t at the day.

    But it isn’t because of Arsenal not being at their best that this can be an excuse for the ref to be bad.

    Against Tottenham, on a perfect pitch we could beat the other team and the ref as we didn’t have to deal with the pitch. So it all contributes for a part in the chances of winning a game.

    If we would have had a ref like let us say Clattenburg I’m sure he would have given a yellow in the first minutes for that tackles from behind and then QPR would know that they would not be allowed all the pushing and shoving they could now.

    After Dean his failed attempt to cheat us out of the game against Tottenham he didn’t went for the big decisions this time. But as I have said before: this way of tilting is so much more effective. You only do the big calls when you have not other options. (Webb at Chelsea e.g.) And people hardly notice it.

  12. Walter,
    I don’t disagree with your analysis on Dean and the three factors. But I must ask your view on this: why, then, does Arsene explicitly say several times in his press conference that the pitch condition was NOT the reason that the team lost? It may well come down to what a coach needs to do with seven games left: which, imo, is not to give players any reason to think that such a performance is acceptable no matter what the refshite and no matter what the condition of the pitch. It has to be all business all the time to achieve third place and Arsene has set the tone. It is not helpful for him, as coach, to give players the luxury of thinking that any conditions can excuse anything but total commitment. I’d like to hear your thought on this.

  13. Now The Dean comes to NYC and the MLS League where he will continue to administer and inflict his brand of refshite on Thierry Henry, my neighbor, who has just netted his first hat trick. (Would The Dean prevent that, for old times’ sake? I’ll keep the watch.) At least he leaves the Arsenal in Micky R’s “capable hands.”

  14. May I say to a few QPR fans who have written in, and then found that their comments have not been published, that being abusive or just writing in a couple of words, tends not to be published.

    The other point is that to appreciate what is going on here you do need to read some of the articles we have published on referees http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/referees

    Approaching a comment from the position that this is a one-off article really doesn’t add anything, and does make rather dull reading for our regular readers.

    We’ve been publishing these reviews for quite a while now, not only involving Arsenal games, and just saying that we are biased doesn’t take the argument on. At least have the courtesy of reading some of the detailed analyses of refs first.

  15. Hi QPR fan I hope you followed Tony his advice on taking a look at all the things we do about refs and not just the Arsenal games. In fact we cover more non arsenal games than Arsenal games. So far our ref reviewers (who are also refs) have done 112 games and 31 of them are Arsenal games. So the vast majority are not Arsenal games.

    Now you could say that we are Arsenal fans and this might be enough reason for you to not give us credit.

    But then could you explain to us the things that are on the http://www.debatabledecisions.com/ website? Those are not Arsenal supporters. Their panel is made up by people from different places (just like our ref reviewers are by the way.

    I could also point at the football is fixed blog and that is also not an Arsenal website but if you look on his website then you will see some strange things written down.

    So if you could explain me how two non Arsenal related websites come to the same conclusion as this one about Arsenal? If they come to the same conclusion then maybe, just maybe there might be some truth in it? Think about that.

  17. QPR fan,
    What gives me solace after wading through your swill is to remember that your actual Kapitan is Joey Barton. In return for reading yours, it’s time you read his rap sheet (and I’m not talking hip hop) on Wikipedia and ask yourself: what kind of club takes on a creature like this and spawns fans like thee who dare to lecture anyone about what’s proper?

  18. It’s also funny how supporters of teams who are in general on the good end of mistakes of the refs come out and want to stop any debate on the refs. QPR has gained some 6 points in total from the refs so they want to prevent it being talked about. (standings debatable decisions website)
    But if they would have been in our position (lost 4 – and this number is too low in fact 😉 ) they would change their tune.

  19. Love reading your blogs think your the best out there because of the way we play brilliant one week Have not got a clue the next refs will always lean towards underdogs I think that’s natural corrupt I am not sure and even if your right you should only complain when we win or it really does sound like sour grapes. AKB

  20. We always complain The font, win or lose, we always complain about the refs 😉

  21. Oh dear. Another person who accepts everything at face value and mocks those who like to point out that something isn’t right. Such endless waves of brainwashed sheeple – products of the elite rulers who even mock us straight to our faces with lines such as, “people accept the reality of the world with which they’re presented.” (Catch the reference anyone?)

    Indeed I know well what it’s like to be on that other side, making assumptions and jumping to conclusions without even daring to look at the facts.

    @QPR fan, I don’t blame you for thinking the way you do, but a bit of advice…..Try to look at the facts before drawing conclusions, it’s what separates your arguments from those who post these articles.

    No one suggests that QPR weren’t the better side, but that doesn’t mean that fair play (or lack of it) should be ignored. You see when MU win games even when they play like cr*p we are told that it’s the mark of champions to win when they’re playing bad………LMAOROFL…..but some (most) people actually buy it, shame 🙁

  22. Funny that, QPR Fan, “Arsenal are the better team” and, yes, we were beaten on the day BUT we also predicted this wouldn’t be straightforward before even a ball was kicked:

    Which is pretty curious wouldn’t you say?

    We have heard your declarations of ‘sour grapes’ a thousand times before from a multitude of fans… but tell me – what will you have to say when you play the likes of Tottenham under Mike Dean or Chelsea under Martin Atkinson? Will we hear the small team ‘poor me, poor me, pour me another’ shit about how ‘all the big teams get all of the decisions’ with absolutely no research or analysis or understanding of what’s really going on?

    BTW – I see nothing shameful in losing to QPR or any football team, sometimes it happens – it’s football, and if you do it fair and square then kudos to you, you deserve it. If, however, you get a bit of a leg-up and do the bookies/insiders/Harry Redknapp a massive favour then don’t expect us to shake your hands afterwards.

    Why don’t you pop back here next time your lot get mugged and beg one of our professional referee’s to analyse the game for you so you’ll at least have something more than that feeling of frustration in your gut to back it up?

  23. QPR Fan,

    Your ‘Fair Play League’ is obviously assuming that the calls the ref’s are making are correct and calls not given, are correctly not given. Are you sure that is correct?

  24. @ WalterBroeckx

    Hey there,

    I first want to say you guys are doing a great job here.

    But in your post at 10:06 AM you’re saying the defeat was down to three things. I think you should add a fourth. We lacked depth because Wenger played Ramsey on the left wing. So all of our attacks went trough the right side, that made us very predictable.

    Wenger also forgot to tell our midfield to close down Zamora immediatly when the ball drops in his area. It is well known that our centre backs are having problems with this type of striker, because they are bigger and more malicious. So they wont win a lot of 1 on 1’s, especially with the refs who penalise our defenders for breathing. Against Demba Ba we saw the same. In both matches (qpr and NU)Arsenal did the job a lot better in the second half, probably because Wenger made some changes. I wonder why we can’t make that changes while the game is played? I think it is because our team is lacking a tactical leader on the pitch. Arsene doesn’t have a lengthening-piece of himself on the pitch. And besides that, he is not coaching as actively as he did years ago.

    I remember Alex Song taking out Rooney single handedly when he actually got that task. Nowadays he is too busy as a playmaker. Wenger should’nt alow that in these type of games.

  25. Dutchie, that is why I left anything else out.
    I know a bit about refs 😉
    I know a bit about how a bad pitch can make a huge difference

    and I pretend to know a bit about players thinking it might be a bit easy

    so the other things I rarely speak about because I could be horribly wrong. But I can agree with what you are saying. When you are playing a Zamora type of striker you must make sure that you have him covered from the back and the front when he gets a ball. He now could turn without problem.

  26. @Dutchie – Zamora is a crafty player. He likes to put his back to a defender, then grab a piece of his jersey to hold him off. He then turns the defender or lays the ball off to a teammate and then runs towards goal.

    If the ref lets him get away with the use of his arms and his shirt grabbing, then he is very effective. However, if the ref is strict, then he obviously far less of a threat.

  27. @ WalterBroeckx

    Thank you for answering my post.

    Exactly, we have to anticipate on such unfairness. We know these type of players will (be allowed to) kick our players all over the field, but are going down with the slightest touch when they can’t win a proper duel. Especially Vermaelen gets really upset when things aren’t going his way and it affects his concentrationlevel. It should not bother him the way it does now. We have to shake it of as a team and figure out how to handle it. In this case, let Zamora win the ball but prevent him of doing anything usefull with it.

    By the way, i have made an article for a dutch website about a year ago, mostly based on your aticles on refereeing (not the ref index itself), just to reach the public in Holland and Belgium (no intended plagiarism). I was restricted to 1000 words (got away with 1200 though) and had to make a point so i wrote it from one perspective. Hope you like it: http://www.voetbalzone.nl/doc.asp?uid=141812

  28. Atkinson to ref vs man city…has Abrahmovic written all over it…im really starting to wonder why is Clattenburg is continued to be snubbed of big matches even when he is the most logical choice..has he angered someone?.

  30. This is a good and accurate review of a totally corrupt ref. As you point out he deliberately allowed QPR to foul us all over the field – just as Riley did in the infamous match some years ago against the Manures. It looked as if QPR were trying to nobble or intimidate Walcott – being concerned about his pace. Sparky, Dean and Barton are a nasty combination, but if QPR stay up it is one we have to learn to deal with.

  31. The more of these reviews I read, the more obvious it is becoming that there is definitely something wrong/corrupt in the epl. What isn’t so obvious is why do arsenal, the management, board, players seem to accept it? the only logical answer is that, they too are in on it. Or, there is no corruption or reason for suspicion, the refs are simply shit. Surely AW doesn’t give two shits what the media say about him anymore, once you’ve been accused of bring a pedophile, it can’t get much worse, so why didn’t he come out after this match and say the ref screwed us over? Even Patrick Vieira won’t just come out and say it, he uses innuendo and suggestions. What I suppose I’m asking is, who’s holding this jig ass gun to everyone’s head and what are they using as the bullets?

  33. @Walter and Tasos:

    Interesting comment about the linesman regarding that one particular foul. I’m still remembering an earlier comment you left about the linesmen, Tasos, and I’m still keeping an eye on it.

  34. Appalling performance by Dean. As usual. And the worst thing is, this is so much better than what we usually expect to see from Dean that I seem to recall plenty of people after the match saying that maybe he had a good game for once.

    Sigh… Well, I guess it’s all relative. Well done once again ref reviewers.

  35. @Stevie

    Wenger used to complain a lot more often about the refs, but then he would get ridiculed by the press. Now he rarely criticizes the ref in general except for maybe the odd bad call.

  36. @Stevie E:

    Without discounting your list of possible motives, I think the one thing you might be overlooking are the possible negative consequences that could come to Arsenal as a result of speaking up. This should be considered as well.

    I also think that we should not overlook the question of who it is that has it in for Arsenal in the first place. If it’s someone who has connections inside the club, for example, that would really complicate matters.

  37. ManU and Blackburn about to kick off… Do I really want to watch? Ok, I’ll give it a try…. 🙂

  39. @Anne – ManU and Blackburn

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17588747
    > 2040: This is WWF stuff by Steven Nzonzi, and I’m not talking about the World Wildlife Fund either. The Blackburn midfielder tangles with Phil Jones as they wait for a long punt forward to drop, grabs his United counterpart and shoves him to the ground. That was right in front of referee Howard Webb, but he is keeping his cards in his pocket for now.

    Webb working to a different plan today?

  40. @Gord:

    Could be. He did deny Blackburn a clear penalty, though. Could also be an attempt to rehab Webb’s reputation through the media.

  41. @Anne

    Something is definitely afoot.
    > 2119: YELLOW CARD – Paul Scholes (61 mins)

    > I’m not sure this is a foul, let alone a booking, but Paul Scholes has been shown a yellow card for what looked like a clean tackle on Yakubu about 30 yards from goal. Morten Gamst Pedersen is behind it…

    Maybe the powers that be, feel ManU can “afford” to lose this game, which is bringing out the silly stuff?

  42. @Gord:

    I actually thought that call was good. Could look at it again to see for sure. My take is that Webb is definitely not favoring ManU as much as usual, though, but my announcers are spinning that as if he’s actually favoring Blackburn.

    Of course, that’s a matter of opinion. And I’m very interested to see where the score on this one ends up. ManU is playing terrible.

  43. I never watched this game. I waited to read this report after seeing we lost. Nice to see mr Fernandez’s sponsorship money at work. not often you play a team who sponsors the ref as well. Tune in next time folks.

  45. Not only were blatant indecisions not given, and the psychological effect on the play of both teams, the fact that he would give 2-3 harmless free kicks (because of the amount of fouling in the box) in an attempt to appear fairminded. I just watched the second half of Blackburn v Man U. The premier league is officially a soap opera.

  46. ^^ all of the comments before mentioning blackburn v man u are about Mike dean in the QPR match.

  47. And as for player selection, Ramsey was preferred to Gervinho and Ox because ramsey would know what was coming and be the most prepared for it mentally. Ramsey strikes me as a fairminded individual, and that might be more important to Wenger than we can appreciate.

  48. i dont know why i speak as though this hasnt been news since the dawn of civilization.

  50. @ Anne – Im guessing that he actually put more than a few quid on Man U winning. He just couldnt outright say it.

  54. This from the (Manchester) Guardian’s latest sycophant-stenographer Daniel Taylor, a chronicler of the Rednose XX, on their victory tonight over Blackburn: “It was another night when Manchester United demonstrated they are not in the mood to relinquish their grip on their Premier League championship trophy and reminded us of the resolve and competitive spirit that authentic champions tend to display when the pressure is close to intolerable.” Time to pass the airbags, mates. Another brick in the wall. Had enough yet?

  55. p.s. Anyone know if there’s any relation between this Daniel Taylor and the namesake ManUre-enabler on the pitch wots nime is Anthony Taylor?

  56. @none:

    Who knows? Of course, these latest comments by Mancini fit right in with the latest media line regarding ManC “losing it” and the “aura of unpredictability.” So who knows what’s going on with him?

    Really, I’m much more concerned about the upcoming ref appointments… Webb on Newcastle… Hm….

  57. Anne,
    Beating down the same doors takes more than one, fortunately, and such good company.

  59. @none:

    And apparently the actual Spurs match will be officiated once again by Chris Foy.

    Is this Foy’s opportunity to make amends for the abuse suffered by Olympic cycling champion Chris Hoy at the hands of Tottenham fans, based on Foy’s previous performance officiating a Tottenham match? 🙂 For anyone who doesn’t remember….

    “Sir Chris Hoy tells Tottenham fans: stop abusing me, I’m not a referee

    • ‘For the record: I don’t need glasses … that’s Chris Foy’
    • ‘On the plus side I’ve learned some new four-letter words'”

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/dec/12/chris-hoy-not-chris-foy-spurs

  60. Off topic. FIFA has been declared full of baloney (I suppose more people spell it bologna).

    Fifa’s previous corruption probes branded ‘ridiculous’
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17591941
    > Mark Pieth, chairman of Fifa’s independent governance committee, claims the body’s previous investigations into alleged misconduct were either “lenient or ridiculous”.

    Is real change going to happen at FIFA? Supposedly the recommendations have been accepted by the executive. They need to be accepted by the FIFA Congress to have any effect. The easy thing is that the Congress get bribed to reject the findings.

  61. @Gord:

    I would love to be proven wrong, but at this point, I would say that very little faith should be placed in any “internal oversight” by FIFA.

  62. Did Aguero really have an allergic reaction to a foot spray? Has anyone in history?

  65. @Dutchie,

    sorry dutchie for my late reaction but I hadn’t been able to read your article before.

    That was a Dutch Untold article! Great article. If you don’t mind I would translate it in English for our readers and publish it on Untold. Unless you want to do it yourself? I think Tony will love it and would love to publish it as a guest writer and article on Untold.

    For those who understand Dutch a must read http://www.voetbalzone.nl/doc.asp?uid=141812

    For the others you will have to wait the approval of the author to translate it

  66. @ Walter

    No problem:d, i’m honoured you actually took time to read my comments and article.

    Ofcourse you can translate it for Untold, the article is almost entirely based on the great work you guys do here. I’m glad you appreciate it.

    You know what would be even more effective? Video evidence. Maybe it is worth to ask followers of Untold if they are known with video-editing. I even think it takes less time then de ref bias index, because with the help of the ref-index the video-editor can exactly see which minutes (or moments) of the game are worth to put in the video. But then again i’m not very well known with it. I think if someone can manage to make a compilation of all the clear penalties we didn’t get this season, combined with the penalties we got against us (3 of them where obvious dives), would make our claims a lot more credible for the bigger crowd (non-Arsenalfans).

  67. Dutchie, Walter, Dogface,
    Couldn’t agree more about having the videos to back up the major claims in each of the ref watches. Is there no relatively time-efficient way of video editing and creating a file of video clips per match to be included with the articles? Perhaps a reader with the editing skills could help? What a leap forward this would be.

  68. yeah Walter you did say we would see more videos in that Probert review but didnt follow up

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *