By Tony Attwood
You have to hand it to Norwich supporters – they took up the maximum alocation, made a lot of noise, and (although it is hard for me to tell being diagonally opposite their position) even indulged in an ironic version of one of our chants (how extremely post-modern! How Bayern!)
We were there to win, and oh my, we nearly screwed it up. But just as history shows them winning the opening game of the season in August 1992, all those years ago, so it will show 3-1 to us, and we can move on to Tuesday.
But how awful it all felt. Tottenham had graciously opened the door to us through their own slippage and yet here we were throwing it all away. We had all that control, but then…
But I suppose what I will remember as well as the nerves and the intensity of the feeling around me was the vehemence of the Norwich manager Hughton who suggested the ref had behaved in an “almost criminal” manner. Can you imagine what would have happened if Mr Wenger had behaved in this manner after a Champs League game? An eternity in the stands I imagine. Worse the Norwich manager said he had had a conversation with Jones after the game – what’s the betting nothing happens.
But without fear, after the game as he denounced the officials en masse. Once upon a time there used to be a crime of bringing the game into disrepute, and he certainly did that with his rant which we heard on the way home on Five Live.
Kei Kamara did foul Olivier Giroud as the screen shots from Sky showed us. To insult the ref as the Norwich manager did surely deserves some sort of reprimand. If it doesn’t come then one more nail in the coffin of football’s organisation.
Yet if we look at what the manager said, it gets rather interesting. According to press reports he pronounced thus:
“I accept there is some contact by [Kei] Kamara on Giroud] but he swivels and plays the ball. On most occasions they are not given – or if they are, they are given by the ref. My grievance is the linesman makes the decision from 45-50 yards away and the ref, eight to 10yards away, has an absolutely perfect view.” The same linesman, noted Hughton, then failed to see an offside under his nose.
So what he is saying with his “on most occasions” line is that “mostly refs get it wrong, and it is unfair that this ref got it right. Then the assistant makes another mistake.” I am not sure if he is alleging total bias – if so that is an extremely serious accusation for a manager. (Not for Untold of course as we do it all the time). Or maybe just incompetence. Neither complaint sits easily with his position as a manager and the rules laid down about what may be said. But then Arry the Red has got away with this sort of stuff for years, so maybe it is all ok now.
But the trouble with penalties late in the game is, we remember Mikel Arteta having one saved in almost the last kick of the match and the nerves were hold to hold in check. (Fulham wasn’t it – sorry my head isn’t working this morning). Was it a corner that led to that penalty award? I don’t know and I’ve watched it a couple of times, but games are full or wrongly awarded penalties from such positions. If we argue over that we’ll never reach a conclusion.
Which then brings us to Mark Bunn. Time wasting is always annoying and he became the absolute panto villain, mocking us in the North Bank, getting ever slower, taunting the crowd, getting slower, doing silly hand gestures… It is not a clever thing to do, and of course made him look so pathetic when he rushed around in the last few moments, trying to get the game going again as they headed for defeat.
Incidentally speaking of keepers, why did Fabianksi run off so quickly at the end? And why was Mannone a sub this time? The answer is probably in the papers, but I haven’t got to them yet.
Did we benefit from some dodgy decisions? Maybe, but then we have sat through so many awful decisions, (just take a look at Referee Decisions each week, or the reviews of Arsenal refs on Untold and you’ll see what I mean).
Jack Wilshere was not 100% but lets hope that he’s ok for Everton. But Theo looked pure Theo when he came on, and I’d give a particular mention to Aaron Ramsey who is way beyond the player of last year, and even earlier this season.
There is one other thing. I thought that having a number of players surround a ref was now an offence and should be punished. No punishment this time however, so maybe the posse approach to protest is back in fashion and Norwich can use it with impunity.
Now I just have to get my nerves back together. And have some breakfast.
Recent posts…
- Arsenal v Norwich. Billy the Dog ventures forth.
- Hodgson: nice man, wrong plan
- How people are making money by betting on Arsenal
- So what is wrong with the PL Refs: Case study Atkinson
The referee analysis
The full index of articles in order of publication is now available here.
——————————–
The books…
- Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football – Arsenal’s early years
- Making the Arsenal – how the modern Arsenal was born in 1910
- The Crowd at Woolwich Arsenal FC: crowd behaviour at the early matches
There was no foul in the run up to their goal but the Norwich manager fails to mention this.
Nor does he mention the deliberate elbow in the face of Ramsey by Turner or the chronic time wasting from around 20 minutes into the game,
They got what they deserved.
Both sides clearly benefitted from ref mistakes, their first goal was not a free kick for starters. Giroud was clearly pulled down in the area, that should result in one outcome, full marks to a brave linesman. Whatever the rights and wrongs, as you say, we have been on the wrong end too often. The team deserve praise for their spirited fight back against a stubbornly set up team. Expect more of the same in the week, Everton have players who can kick as well.
Ramsey watch……surely motm or at least close? He is getting better and better and will give wenger food for thought when contemplating transfer targets
The only lucky (as in unfair) decision we got in our favour was Theo not given offside in the build up to the 3rd goal. Apart from that, I don’t see how Arsenal got lucky at all. Norwich were constantly allowed to foul without a punishment of a yellow card. Though we weren’t at our best, our play also could not develop because of this. They were allowed to elbow, and push and nudge our players all the time, their goal came from a free kick that should not have been (oh we perhaps did get lucky with our corner too), and we should have had a penalty earlier for Theo being brought down, and I’d want a closer look at Giroud being tugged down in the first half (when Sagna on the overlap crossed to him at the near post)
But the narrative has already been set. Even when the match was on the commentators decided the narrative. Arsenal only won because of the ‘dubious’ penalty. There are those among our fans who will accept this narrative and say that this debunks the ‘conspiracy theory’. It all evens out they’ll say.
Keep an eye on the linesman for the next few weeks. I’m almost sure he’ll be demoted for daring to uphold the laws of the game from 40 yards away when the referee didn’t want to do so from 10 yards away.
I am not sure why Fabianski ran off at the end, but he did get a knock from Holt shortly before.
Norwich were fortunate to finish the game with 11 players still on the field.
@Mandy
Fully agree with your comments.
There was a moment in the game when I thought “Ramsey – Tough tackling midfielder” 😀
That,s how its supposed to be gun dem down, no retreat no surrender. How many times have manure got away with it? Reading Westbrom,Fulham,Swansea and many more. But what do you expect!The whore-lists will make anything against us but we no-longer care because we are used to sewer rats. Next target Moyes, shot dem down lets go GUNNERS.
I can’t quite see any of the arguments here, I can see you are all Arsenal fans seeing the game slightly blinkered. the Norwich goal came from a free kick for the trip from a defender who found himself on the wrong side of a forward, that is so clear but non of you seem to hae seen it. Lucky the defender didn’t get a yellow for the foul. A well taken goal by a defender who was allowed a free header, I think you should be more interested in how he was given so much time and space in the penalty area.
The corner was clearly a goal kick, and both players involved in the penalty incident had a handfull of each others shirt,so why was it not a freekick to Norwich as it could have been.
Walcott was obviously offside, but evan before that, there was a clear foul on the Norwich player which the assistant failed to notice along with the offside which he also failed to notice, which makes you wonder how come he didn’t see the 3 incidents right in front of him but did manage to see a aledge incident 40 yards away.
That’s how I see it and if you don’t like that version tough, because everyone in the land who isn’t an Arsenal fan will agree. Norwich were cheated out of at least 2 maybe 3 really important points.
@Graham
LMFAO!
@ Graham. sorry you are wrong on the pen
1) not a deliberate trip by Gibbs so rightly no yellow. These cross overs by players always seems to be a free kick, some doubtless are intentional some not. This i dont think was, but as is the norm a free kick given and i dont argue with that
2) the corner is impossible to tell from television so unless you were sat behind the incident which you were not you cannot say it was clearly a goal kick. it is safe to assume the linesman could tell if the defenders leg touched the ball before all of it crossed the line.
3) girouds shirt was clearly shown in stills, being half way up his back from the first tugging whilst teh ball was in the air. then when the ball is in front of the players the defender has hold of the front of girouds shirt and falls back pulling giroud to the ground denying an attempt to shoot. clear pen. more should be given in every game. not being given does not make it right.
4)agreed walcott was offside and we should have won 2-1
@ Graham
I think u are blind and need an eyeglass. Learn to shut up your mouth wen u have nothing reasonable to say rather than being foolish.
Graham
You sound very bitter and upset…. Which only adds to the enjoyment of yesterday’s result!
Thanks for the laughs.
Ha Ha Ha.
Mr Norwich fan.
Your goal was scored not only from a wrongly given free kick but the kick was taken nowhere near where Kamara dived.
We had Sagna booked for a foul when he got fouled first. You had a player who fouled one of ours a minute or so after who never even got spoken too. The crowd would have told you this as they were really annoyed at the time.
Giroud was pulled down from behind in the first half when he had a tap in and the challenge that saw your number four take ages to get up from was a sending off. I remember it being a bounce ball which we sportingly gave the ball back to your keeeper who then took 3 minutes to hoof it up field where your fat ape of a forward then smashed into out CBs to win the duel which results in a throw that the fat ape then kicks away without being booked.
Theo gets shoved to the floor, no penalty. The Ref was so in your favour that we had to have the lino decide the blatant penalty for us. Yes they both had each others shirt but your giant piece of shit did a judo throw on Giroud and hauled him down when he was ready to shoot. If you cant see that as a penalty then no wonder you pay way so much to watch that rugby style Of play every week.
Yes we got lucky with the corner and Theo was off side but you constantly fouled and wasted time and bitched your way into an undeserved lead. Please take your beating in a sporting manner instead of whining that you couldnt get away with your bully boy tactics.
I bet you dont go to Old Toilet and play like that and I also bet you dont bitch when they get their usual cheating Referee giving them a leg up either.
Now be good boys and get back to milking the odd cow or two as this is something you might know something about.. Why you are at it teach the fat ape Holt how to do it too as it seems he has too much cream with his tea and let Snottgrass the rugby player join in too.
As for the Prem all I have to say to you is ciao and good riddance.
Does anyone agree with me that the co-commentator on Sky, Tony Gale I think, was an absolute disgrace with his anti Arsenal bitching the whole game through. I suppose I should be used to it by now but in yesterday’s match new depths were plumbed. On a national channel such as Sky Sports should we not be entitled to an unbiased commentary and neutral remarks from the co-commentator, why should we have to put up with constant criticism of team and manager from the first minute to the last. I have emailed Sky to complain but do not expect any change in their policy any time soon.
Didn’t watch the game on Sky, Mick… What was the meat headed twat saying?
Yes @Mick I do agree.
I watched the game live on Fox and replay on Sky, with Tony Gale on both!
As a referee I said penalty even before the lineman flagged!
I agree that Tony Gale was outstandingly bad. From the very start, he was criticising Arsenal players’ technique. Remembering how good Gale was when he played, this was a bit rich. (not quite as gifted as Messi).
Also, no mention of the non-foul leading to Norwich goal, the constant fouling and aggressive behaviour by Holt and Snodgrass. He did mention Bunn wasting time, but only to express approval for it!
Proof that talking shite must be a job requirement for Sky
It was the usual general negative comment only more so than usual, incessant from start to finish. Every misplaced pass (only the Arsenal one’s) was followed by a remark about how poor our play was. Of course he thought it wasn’t a penalty and went on and on about it. He seemed to find the time wasting amusing and was almost congratulating Holt for his professionalism in that regard. He, and the commentator found it almost impossible to find anything good to say about Arsenal.
Just like your manager all you arsenal fans are arrogant and blinkered. Ever wonder why all other fans hate wenger a like to see arsenal fail. Adrian durham has got the right idea. You were clearly given all the debatable decisions because you are a london team playing at home from a weak ref. And as for the comments from el tel maybe you should come and visit norfolk it would make a pleasant change from the filthy scum riddencrime infested city you call home.
To any Norwich fan on here.
I do feel for you, the irony of a very soft penalty decision or the third goal is not lost on me. I think the decisions go a little deeper than just this game.
For professional staff within football to moan about decisions correctly given when most of the time they are omitted is irony of the highest order, and on this occasion Norwich are the injured party and Arsenal the beneficiaries.
I do feel Norwich are being lined up for relegation and today’s result at St James’s park only reinforces my beliefs.
The reason’s behind this are, the teams that look like they are going to be promoted into the premiership are mostly southern clubs barring Hull and Bolton.
So for any Norwich fans on here; do you feel decisions are going against you in most matches recently?
http://blog.emiratesstadium.info/archives/27812
For Norwich fans. The referee Mike Jones doesn’t seem to like you guys (check the stats). So this is the kind of referee that can ensure you lose a game.
I do think you are being lined up for relegation.
On Talks**t after the game they had a MIRROR Journalist on to slaughter us, ooops sorry, report on our game, and they could’nt beleive how Arsenal struggled so much to break Norwich down. Apparantly they mused, we struggle like this every time a team comes to the Emirates and parks the bus. I would like to phone in and point out a few tiny flaws in there theory but unless you have the standard anti-Arsenal agenda you have no chance of any air time so I’m just left to venting my fury on here. I’m sure they’ll read it anyway!!!!! Anyway this is what I would point out given the chance. “Considering how crap we are at breaking teams down don’t you find it amazeing how we’ve managed to break them down at home more than anyone else in the PL seeing as we are TOP GOAL SCORERS!!! and yes that is includeing Man Utd, even with Judas, and Man City, even with all there Millions spent on strikers, and Liverpool with there hyped up ‘Player of the season’ up front, and Spurs, who are of course, the best and most atractive ‘attacking’ side in the PL. It’s like our shocking deffence which has actually the best away record in the PL. Better than Chelsea with…….” You get the picture. What is it with these prats. They know these stats as much as I do and yet they seem to just blatently ignore whats in front of there nose. It seems there hatred of all things Arsenal is just too much to let a few facts get in the way of there vitrial.
Arsenal were slow of deed and thought yesterday; Arteta was especially guilty of slowing the play down and not being incisive, so was the Arsenal back four and Wilshere was very rusty. Arsenal’s passing was poor. The substitutions were excellent in that respect. Ramsey was excellent for the whole game.
Norwich were well organised and dogged and created one or two opportunities of their own but more so after Arsenal had equalised.
It was a somewhat fortuitious free kick for Norwich’s goal. That said Arsenal didn’t defend it properly and when you don’t do that you get what you deserve. Norwich could have easily have had a player sent off, I’m glad he wasn’t but I’ve seen sending’s off for less.
Was it a corner before the penalty incident? Well from where I sit, down by the away support (it looked like an away day outing of council workers in their high visibility vests yesterday :-)) I couldn’t see but on MOTD it was inconclusive. Nonetheless it was given and Norwich didn’t defend the free-kick very well. Was it a penalty? Well, at the game I had no clue but replays show a clear shirt pull. It was a penalty. They are not often given for that but perhaps they should be. The fact the linesman gave it rather than the referee is neither here nor there…they are allowed to do this…it’s in the rules. More should be asked of the referee as to why he didn’t give it if he saw it and if he didn’t see it why not? Still Arsenal could have easily had a penalty for the push on Walcott but didn’t so go figure. Nothing wrong with the second goal. Third goal? Yes Walcott was off-side, but it was marginal and Norwich didn’t defend very well after that and Poldolski had a lot to do. Perhaps the linesman was more short sighted than long sighted?
If Arsenal play like that on Tuesday, against Everton, who will be as equally well organised, dogged and far more adventurous we will drop points or worse. But then again I think one of, if not both of, Poldolski and Walcott will start.
Hate these middle class Arsenal fans, the Emirates is littered with them. I’m not sure what’s worse, them or the tourist fans so prevalent at the stadium. Hughton’s mild-mannered response surprised most people, and there aint no North Bank at the Emirates mate!
Firstly it was a definite penalty, no matter how much bleating there was after the game and on the MOTD. Giroud had a chance to get the cross and was AHEAD of the defender who pulled his shirt and impeded him. Clearest of penalties, and just because they are not always given does not mean it was any less of a pen. I find the argument that we were lucky to get the penalty because they are not always give very very strange.
As for lucky Arsenal – radio commentary was the funniest anti Arsenal BS I have heard in a while – well I think we were very UNLUCKY on the day. At LEAST one other incident should have resulted in a penalty, countless missed chances and Norwich scoring with their only attack up to that point. The gods were very much against us.
Two incidents in the game could be called lucky, firstly it was really hard to tell if it was a corner leading up to the first goal and could have been given as a goal kick, and our third in the dying stages was offside. Add up the bad luck we had and it more than off sets.
I would also like to mention the attitude of the Norwich players – they were really on the wind up with timewasting, whining, niggling fouls, and mouthy players. I am very glad they got what they deserved. Along with Stoke they are one of the teams I would be delighted to see relegated.
Sorry, off topic but even though I dislike Stoke as much as the next Arsenal supporter they have just had the most blatant of penalties denied them against Man U only a few minutes after RVP scored from the spot. This act of extreme generosity by the referee Moss has helped Man U maintain their status as the only team to have not conceded a penalty all season!!
That was a penalty, clear as day. Their defender used Giroud’s body (the shirt pull) as leverage to clear the ball. I don’t see why the linesman should be viewed as anything else but competent for making the right call, whether it was 50 or 100 yards away. He should be getting credit for that. Walcott’s offside was marginal, and I can think of a few games where the same player has been incorrectly flagged offside this year alone. Sometimes because of his quick pace stuff like that could happen. I think we could’ve had other penalties apart from the one given; at least there was one in which a norwich defender used his arm to block Wilshere’s shot.
Mick, the officials have certainly helped manure a bit this season. Remember them getting a penalty in almost each of their first 5 or 6 games this season. Not bothered to watch todays game though as the outcome was obvious.
Check out the bitter inbred Deliverence extras on ere! Funny as fuck! I imagine listening to talkshite radio helps to pass the lonely evenings when the sheep are asleep.
Whether the Norwich goal came from a legitimate foul or not, one cannot ignore the disgraceful defending at set-pieces AGAIN.
Arsenal have been repeating the same mistakes ad nauseam. More evidence that Arsenal won’t improve under Wenger.
@Sperez, don’t let those silly little facts get in the way eh?
Yes sid. Better a county full of sheep than a city full of foreigners.
And racist too… How udderly pre-dick-table.
I have to say that I thought the ref had a fairly poor game overall. There were a number of decisions against both teams that were simply missed or even given incorrectly, and that’s never an encouraging factor in a game.
In regards to the pen decision, there is some shirt pulling going on (I’d agree more from Kamara than Giroud) and I can see why the decision was given even though I don’t think Giroud was actually placed well enough or pulled back enough to clearly stop the chance, but the rules of the game are clear on this hence why the pen was given. Why the hell the ref couldn’t make this call from a much nearer and clearer position is baffling however, and it’s a VERY brave call from the linesman from that distance and position.
That being said, I don’t agree that with the corner decision that led to this anyway, as it’s totally unclear if there’s contact by either player in the tussle before the ball goes out of play, so logically you take the last clear touch which was from an Arsenal player and therefore award the goal kick.
Did we get a soft free kick given for our goal at the other end? Maybe, but there was contact enough to justify the call IMHO, and then it was down to poor defending that we took the lead.
Walcott was clearly offside for the third goal although I’d also agree that a pen could have been given for the earlier coming together with Whittaker in the box (even if I think the call was correct myself, I’ve seen them easily given).
The truth is that neither side looked particularly good for most of the game, we capitalised on poor defending to take the lead, but Wenger’s response of bringing Walcott and Podolski on was a great move which changed the whole flow of the game and it’s fair to say that for the last 20 minutes that Arsenal were by far the better team and probably did deserve the equaliser (just maybe not in the manner that it arrived). Once that went in we fell to pieces and you guys managed to capitalise on that – fair play to you.
As a Norwich fan I do feel slightly aggrieved at some of the decisions made (as I’m sure some Arsenal fans do), but being fair I’ve got so used to seeing us given the bad end of the stick for the last 2 seasons bad the officials and FA, that it doesn’t come as a surprise in the slightest, I think if some of our players threw a tenner into the air it would come down as a summons (at least if the FA has anything to do with it)…
The main thing that I think should be taken out of the game was the massive impact that Walcott had after his entrance, along with the poor to average defending against a strike force that has struggled badly for goals this season.
See – not all Norwich fans are in-bred yokels who hold an oddly biased view through their canary yellow specs 🙂
Re the third goal
Having only run a line once in a football match many moons ago on a cold damp Sunday. Is it harder for a linesman/refs assistant to see offside close to him if he is watching the ball and the last attacking player does that make it harder to look along the line( does that make sense?)
If the player is running down the far touch line the lino is looking right across the pitch and can clearly see a line of the last defender and last attacking player.
Just wondering if any linesman can answer that?
Nice one indy_bones!
Ironic isn’t it that this is only the second time this season we are able to say that it’s about time we benefited from the refs mistakes and even then I don’t think we were given any advantage by the ref once his mistakes for both teams are considered.
Edd,i guess you haven’t heard what Durham says about Norwich then! Norwich,shit side,shit football,even Stoke play better than you.And your player tripped over his own feet for the free kick.It happened RIGHT IN FRONT OF WHERE I SIT,so do one.Hope you go down AGAIN.
@Indy_Bones
Much respect to you sir.
Who Cares.My paper today said, Arsenal 3 Norwich 1..Perhaps because of all the anti Arsenal from the media, we should be making a list of the tossers we can email etc and have a pop at at the end of the season.I can think of a few.
To all the Norwich fans or Racist’s out there? Be carefully what you wish for your capital city, it’s brings more into this country than you think? You lost, get over it?
I really can see why everyone hates arsenal and their fans. Loud mouth arrogant idiots who come out with annoying phrases like “do one”. You really are brainless idiots living on past glories. No wonder you haven’t won anything for years and you are the third best team in london. With your middle class fans and new comers who think you are a” trendy”. You lot are self obsessed knobs.
as an arsenal supporter watching the games from the stands I thought the referee was absolutely abysmal towards Arsenal.
in fact i would say he was so bad he was cheating.Seeing walter was there i would love to see his opinion but everything he normally mentions about refs influencing the game was being done by this incompetent ref.
Holt the whole game was fouling after the ball was played and the referee didn’t do anything . every 50/50 was being given to Norwich.he had no interest in booking any Norwich players for the first 3/4 s of the game.he gave them countless warning but for Arsenals first foul which was questionable he gave a yellow card.How Snodgrass didn’t get booked for blatantly body checking Wilshere I will never know.After completely blanking the foul on Walcott in the area I was shouting at the top of my voice ‘you are a cheat ref and a disgrace’ , maybe the lineman heard this and couldn’t believe himself that the referee missed that one . so when another blatant foul was made on giroud the linesman actually took the law into his own hands knowing that the referee would yet again copmpletely ignore the foul.
Match of the day last night was very strange, they seemed to argue taht because the referee didn’t give the penalty then it shouldn’t be awarded !!!!!!!!! Oh so why don’t we just have a referee and no linesmen then .they never mentioned anything about the dodgy freekick leading up to the Norwich freekick .Also in their game highlights they dedcided to completely blank out the definite foul on Walcott which should have resulted in a penalty.Then in their analysis they showed it(didn’t mention when it occured but it was at 0/1) , said it should be a penalty and then promptly forgot about that and then said Norwich were unlucky . What a load of bollox.the presenters seemed so far up David moyes arse i thought they may die of suffocation.
as a footnote , re Talksport i will ring them up at least twice a week especially after they have their usual boring AAAs on say i support wenger 100 pct yet they never let me on.Even last week when spurs drew 2 2 at home to basle i rang to speak to alan Brazil to ask him how comes the day before he was saying Spurs would so easily beat basle they only had to turn up but the next day when they had come back from 2-0 down he was saying it was a great performance.Funnily enough they never let me on again !!!!!!!
@EDD
Judging by your comments the only self obsessed knob is you.
Third best team in london ???? really
suppose because Spurs have won the crap cup once 5 years ago thats better than us.Its funny how noone ever mentions that they haven’t won the league in over 50 years and the FA cup for over 20 years but they did win the Carling Cup in 1999 and 2008.Great i wish i could aspire to such heights
Who do you support ??
and why are you even on this blog ?
@indy_bones: It’s unfortunate not many on here have praised your comment bar a few. That is a fair (I did not watch the game) assessment of the game from an opposing fan.
Obviously I do not know if your facts are correct as I could only watch a few highlights, but your post was respectful to all, hid none of the facts and you did not sit on the fence and gave an opinion none the less. I wish, truly, there were more posts like this one.
From everyone here at Untold (no I’m not some great moderator here but have been around) … I know a large number here will appreciate your post and would have enjoyed it. Please keep coming back and posting. Thank You.
Ahhhhh Spermez….usual anti-Wenger agenda from you, regardless of the actual topic of conversation on this blog. You are a broken record, and a bad one at that! Please try LeGrove’s website…they are your class of people (3rd class)…
I’ve a major problem insofar as I really dislike both Man City and Chel$ki so perfection for me yesterday would have been a 5-5 draw with both sides finishing with 8 men.
But bearing in mind our penalty on Saturday, do you think that the linos got a warning “not to interfere.”? I’ve never seen such a blatant ignoring of the rules as when Torres was almost stripped of his shirt in the second half. We know Foy is a poor ref, but just possibly he was badly positioned. What excuse for the “asistant”?
Indy_Bones
Much respect to you indeed.
@ Gf60 – I was hoping that Chelski be draged on to extratime (and penalities if be )and lose so that they would to too tired for the rest of their EPL games.
My son who supports them claimed that it was a penalty ,but quitened down when I reminded him of the abuse he gave the ref and linesman when ‘Lucky ‘ Arsenal were awarded one the previous day !
And I do hope that their further exertions in the Europa cup
drag on to the final , where they lose in extratime !
Amazing how a linesman gets vilified for making a decision when most weeks they are criticised for being too passive. Although Jones didn’t blow for the penalty initially, he could equally have overruled the linesman if in doubt having discussed it with him. Ultimately it’s the ref who has the final say.
I hav’nt listened to that prat Durham on TalkSport for years. (How, what is supposed to be an impartial broadcaster, is allowed to have an official ‘anti Arsenal’ item every day is beyond me, but I suppose as the SUN has been doing it for as long as I can remember I should’nt really be surprised)But I often listen to, and enjoy Hawksby and Jacobs. Enjoyably amuseing and despite being Spurs and Chelsea fans, by and large impartial. Not any more. Even they have fallen into the daily Anti-Arsenal ranting. Apparently we were ‘spawny’ and ‘Very lucky’ the weekend. Not only that but apparently we are lucky to get CL football EVERY YEAR. Not only that but all Arsenal fans should be ‘Really annoyed’ because as usual we are out of everything by March and as usual we are just fighting for 4th(Unlike Spurs of course who have been to dozens of finals and rakeing in the Trophies) and will remain like that unless we start splashing the cash and change our wage structure so we can compete. And there speaks the supporter of a Club thats been bankrolled to the tune of over a BILLION pounds by a dodgy Russian Oligart. I did text in explaining that despite rumours to the contrary many many Arsenal fans are not only HAPPY with what our magnificent manager is doing but frankly amazed considering the financial doping going on at certain Clubs. I also pointed out that the £70 Million he was banging on about has been accumalated over years as a security and anyway is only equivalent to there outlay on one player (Torres fee/wages)in one close season. (I mean surely they don’t expect a crap manager like Wenger to become competitive on a poultry £70 Mil do they? Or perhaps they agree he is a genius after all!) I also pointed out that we HAVE spent fortunes….on a £400 Million pound Stadium. Surprise surprise up until this moment no response. It’s sad really as I enjoyed there show. No more.
Genuine referee questions here Walter…
If two players have hold of each other’s jerseys, is there are rule that penalizes one player more based on a higher proportion/effect of tugging? And/or is it a ref judgment call? Because both Kamara and Giroud had hold of each other, I think that’s pretty clear from the replay…Is it a foul on Kamara due to his action bringing Grioud to the floor, and thus negating Giroud’s holding of his shirt? Or by rule, (regardless of this instance) doesn’t/Should two players having each other’s jersey’s held cancel out? a foul called on both? and then if so and a foul is called on both, would it occurring in the penalty area be disproportionately harsh on the defender?
Really genuinely curious about all of this, not trying to be facetious at all.
I have no problem with the Linesman calling a foul there..however, whether the ref was right or wrong in his judgment, if a ref sees an incident and at a closer angle/distance which seems apparent in this case, should he defer to a call of a linesman? If he (the ref) genuinely didn’t think it was a foul (whether right or wrong) I’m not sure it’s a good thing to defer to the linesman on a judgment call like that, and effectively overrule himself. I think that may be a slippery slope, the linesman, well sorry referees assistant, should in the case of a calling a foul, I think assist only if he is better placed and closer, and/or sees something that the referee likely didn’t see. Which again doesn’t seem to be case here, regardless of the beneficial outcome to us.
@Jambug
I also was disgusted by Hawksby and Jacobs on Talksport. To be fair Hawksby is nearly always impartial and usually is an example of how a broadcaster on national radio should behave despite his obvious love of Spurs. Jacobs on the other hand is a different kettle of fish, never missing an opportunity to have a go at Arsenal and Wenger, both of whom he has openly admitted on air he hates. I also emailed the show to complain, (not the first time I have done so though usually it’s about the idiot A Durham) but have had no response. As you say the Durham daily Arsenal is an example of the lowest form of broadcasting you could imagine and an absolute disgrace. Durham is the lowest form of radio bully boy.
@A. Stewart
It appeared that they did indeed both have a handful of shirt but the Norwich player was the first offender and the first offence always takes precedence. It will be interesting to get Walter’s take on it. I would think the linesman probably didn’t see Giroud holding the Norwich player anyway hence his decision was made easier. Who knows (and who cares) it’s about time we got a couple of 50/50’s go our way.
I agree with the Guys complaining about Hawksbee and the other pratt.He is such a low life.He only keeps his job because of Hawksbee is by far the proffessional.Today Jacobs was complaining about us.This from someone who supports a Club who has had 10 Mangers in 10 in 10 years.For the past 10 years up until last year have lost fortunes.Whos Captain got done for a racist comment, then they allow a player to accuse a top referee of making racist comments.NO CLASS.Just finally Hawksbee did say that he did listen to the match commentry and then could not understand that on M.O.T.D that We made many chances.
@ Paul “the gooner”
Yep to be fair you could tell that Hawksby was’nt really totally in accord with Jacobs because as you say despite Jacobs bitter rantings Hawksby did say he could’nt beleive what he was watching on MOTD considering the radio commentry/reports gave the distinct impression we hardly had a shot all match and was extremely lucky to win. The evedence before his, and our eyes, told a rather different story. Why do the media hate us so much ?? Of course we have luck, so does everyone. Of course we have arrogant fans as does every one else. I don’t get it.
Hi guys, appreciate all the questions. I was at the match, spend 24 hours on different transport types, came home exhausted, I couldn’t log in to the site for a few days because of some strange internet connection troubles. I had to work today, then had a phone call about one of my children having a car accident which ended up fine but could have ended in a terrible disaster for him and my family.
So I’m not really in the mood to answer your questions for the moment.
But I will try to write about it in the next days when my life has gone back to a more calm rhythm. I owe you an answer but be patient.
Walter
Sorry to hear of your troubles, I am sure I speak for us all in hoping things get back to normal for you quickly.
Wishing you and your family all the best Walter.
Walter,
I’m sorry to hear about the accident, but relieved it turned out ok. Wish you, and your family, all the best Walter.
Sorry to hear that,& all the best Walter.
Really sorryto hear about that Walter, hope you and yours are ok
Sorry to hear that Walter..Hope you and your family are doing ok
Sorry to hear about your kid’s accident ,do hope all are well ,Walter.
Take good care, Walter. We so value you.
A. Stewart,
How do you actually know that the guy didn’t see what the ref supposedly saw and passed on? You can surmise that, or say from where he was it’s doubtful in your estimation that he couldn’t have seen what transpired; but you’d have to be in his position with his eyesight to know this. It’s not like it was sheer projection, as, facetious or not, something dodgy did happen.