By Tony Attwood
Yesterday Emma and I went to Dover v Guernsey at Lancing for reasons which will only become clear in a later article. But I mention this here because the result of that curious decision was that we heard the Arsenal game on Talk Sport during the drive back to Northampton. I saw the extended highlights on Sky last night.
Now one of the main items that I recall from the Talk Sport commentary apart from the endless endless endless repetition of the fact that this is Talk Sport and that later on we have Call Collymore, was an event involving the Arsenal goalkeeper whose surname I can’t spell.
According to TS (I’ve got fed up writing the station name in full so TS it is) the Arsenal goalkeeper whose name I can’t spell (AGWNICS) had a complete moment or four of utter insanity. The ball came over, AGWNICS attempted to play it out, lost it AND THEN GAVE UP TOTALLY AND STOPPED PLAYING ALLOWING THE OPPOSITION A FREE SHOT AT GOAL.
I have to put this in capitals because that is the only way I have of describing the manic hysteria of the “commentary team” (I use the words lightly – “repetitive advertising co-operative” might be better).
TS went on about this over and over again, and as a listener I got the clear impression that AGWNICS had let his brain go absent without leave and that clearly Mr Wenger had to remove the player and replace him with a pillar of salt or some such Biblical replacement event.
Now as far as I have ever witnessed, radio commentators sit not only watching the match, but also sit with the TV monitors on in front of them. The whole point is that the commentator does indeed comment from watching the game but the co-pilot watches the replays and is able to give “expert” opinion – or (as it is known on the trade) “read out what the action replays show”.
And now that I have had the chance to see the incident on TV (showing pictures that the Collymore chap, as co-com, would have seen) it is utterly clear that the ball had gone out of play during this incident. AGWNICS played on until the ball rolled over the line and then stopped. The Swansea player did kick the ball across the goal, and the Arsenal defence, not able to see the replays (since they were playing football at the time) defended it.
What could have happened is that the Swansea defender could have been booked for kicking the ball away, since he was clearly in a position to know that the ball had gone out, but the ref let him get away with it.
Did the whistle blow? Sky made no mention, but Match of the Day commentators said quite clearly “the whistle had gone”.
So why didn’t the TS couple of advertising men actually correct the statement, but instead leave us with the impression that AGWNICS had gone completely berserk, going on and on and on and on and on and on and on about it?
I have to say it is possible that they did correct themselves later. I was after all driving around the M25 at the time with about 74 trillion other people, in a car I am still only just getting used to, so maybe I did miss their retraction – and if you heard the incident maybe you can tell me what was said to correct their initial silly statements.
But even if there was a later retraction the question still remains, why was it not made at the time when the action replay was in front of them? It couldn’t be, could it, that they were actually deliberately trying to make an Arsenal player look foolish?
Oh and while I am at it the Guardian reckons that this is 11 consecutive wins. So somehow that match against WBA in the league cup wasn’t a match. Hmmm.
See also…
29 September 2007: Top of the table Arsenal make it a perfect September
- The Anniversary Files: January to June
- The Anniversary Files: July to September
- The Anniversary Files: October to December
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
I just do not understand this website’s obsession with what others are saying about us. Who honestly cares?
Tony, I was watching on a stream so not sure who the commentators were (and had the sound turned down as the comments were pretty abysmal) and they were also going on about it for a long time. Szcz knew the ball was out of play, I thought he tournedos round and saw the linesman’s flag raised before he stopped. He could easily prevented the shot/cross if he had needed to. He didn’t!
I was watching a link and listening to the TS commentary but I had switched off the TS drivel before the ‘over the line moment’. The link commentary noted the flag was up and you could see the ball was over the line but I still had a moment of panic!
Tony, please note change of info.
I also had a moment of panic until i saw the ball was over the line. Still, the linesman’s flag may have stayed down and although they still did not score, it was a reminder to not get too relaxed and concentrate for the full match. I’m sure AW will tell Wojciech Szczęsny (Tony, please cut and paste the name for the future) about it.
All in all we need to stay focused at all times.
Good win.
At the time I thought it was a good goalscoring chance missed, and that Szczesny had made an error in not chasing the ball down quickly enough and clearing over the line for a corner. Michu won the ball & crossed, but was it before he heard the refs whistle? Who knows, but it was a bit like RvP’s automatic reaction to his shot on goal against Barca for which he got booked. It all happened so quickly and the ball was only out of play momentarily. Good decisions by that lino as he spotted the corner saved by Chez in the second half that others might have given the other way.Tony don’t get so paranoid, Talkshite are like this all the time, it’s not just us they pick on.
Play to the whistle.
@Jax ‘it’s not just us they pick on.’
So true Jax. The last time I heard ‘the Daily Arsenal spot’ Super Ego had a go at spuds and it was good!
Let’s forget about the bizarre items during the game (the Swan’s goal was another) and enjoy the good things about this side at the moment.
The sure handling of Szczesny. The calm confidence of the back division.
The frightening efficiency of the best midfield in the land.
And the attack who are nameless because anyone can score.
We still have half a side still to come off the sick list and when that happens everyone will pity Arsene over his selection problems and who to leave out.
Unless TS has changed dramatically, no it is’nt ‘just’ us. But it is ‘just us every day’ !!! Yes, others get it in the ear every now and then, some more than others, but win lose or draw they find something to have a pop at us for.
@Jammathon. Sorry you cannot dismiss this constant anti Arsenal agenda that is prevelent in the media as ‘nothing to worry about’ Whether you like it or not the media sets and agenda and this includes the tone set for how games are refereed.
Example today on ‘goals on Sunday’. Villa score a blatent off side goal. What do we get from Kamy and guests. CITY SHOULD OF PLAYED TO THE WHISTLE. Did we get the hysterical ‘This decision changed the course of the universe’ type over reaction WE would of got?
Refs and linesman are, believe it or not, only human, and if you don’t think the negative way in which we have been treated by them over the years has nothing to do with the fact that they know stitching us up will get them nothing but praise in the media, and giving us a dodgey call will get them nothing but abuse then you are deluded.
What is said about us accross all media platforms is incredibly important. In other realms it would be called ‘spin’ or ‘propaganda’ and nobody doubts for one second what effect that has on the mind set and indeed actions of people.
I know some think this is all conspiricy theory blah blah blah but I think it is incredibly relevent.
Ahh!! the good old Talksport wind up to create interest. Who cares? Take it with a pinch of salt and enjoy the football and results the team are getting
11 wins on the trot? Fair enough the WBA game. After all, we did win, albeit on penalties.
But, if they think that we’ve played 11 games since Aston Villa, they need to go back to school. We’ve only played 9 games since Villa. Not rocket science, is it?!
@andy bishop.
‘take it with a pinch of salt’ you say.
In my piece above I explained exactly why it should’nt just be taken with a pinch of salt.
Do you think a ref takes being slaughtered by the media for giving us a soft pen ‘with a pinch of salt’ or do you think it might influence how he refs us in future?
I’m sorry I think you are incredibly nieve if you don’t think our negative media coverage has had anything to do with how badly we have been refereed these last few years.
Oh, and if you doubt that as a fact I can suggest a great web site where you can find all the relevent statistics to back up that fact. It’s called ‘Untold Arsenal’.
Was nervous at that time cz the commentators were making alot out of it but surely sczesny knew the ball was out. Nway tony the UNTOLD READERS TABLE PLIZ.
jammathon,
Do wake up to the influence on millions of people that those “others” who you fluff off are not insignificant; and if they go unchallenged, then it stands as the truth about AFC, and it also has corroded our own fanbase. So have a think. You might be able to see through it all, but not everyone is as gifted.
jambug,
if, as you imply, the referees are looking at this sit and making decisions based on our criticism of them, please answer this simple question…why do they not answer these questions?
Also, with regards to Talk Shite, I have stopped listening to them for ages.
Why?
Because I would rather listen to the dribble of Adrian Kemp and that says something doesnt it?
Untold Arsenal has always been honest if sometimes naive, but its support for the club, manager and players has always been 100%.
Long may it continue…..
bob
I agree you any message that is endlessly repeated and repeated finds those who will believe it without questioning it. History is full of examples of this.
Did any one watch BBC Sunday match program today?
They managed to talk about all teams besides the leguae leaders.
And MOTD seem to talk about how good AR is (his a brilliant player but part of a team).Never any match analyis @ all.its like we only got one player and no manager @all.
Kenlo gooner forever.
I didn’t say refs are making decisions based on critisism from this site. I said exactly the opposite.
What I said was they referee a game based on an agenda set by the ‘Media’ as a whole. Nothing to do with wht this site or any Arsenal fan says.
In the media I believe there is a general mind set that should Arsenal get any bad decisions they should just get on with it and stop whingeing. So by definition the ref that made the bad call gets away with it. Re: Taylor in the Villa game. Loads of bad calls but not an ounce of sympathy.
Conversly should we get a ‘dubious’ decision much is made of it. ‘Big Clubs get all the decisions’ ‘That soft free kick changed the destiny of the universe’ etc. etc type over reactions. By definition the ref gets hauled over the coals for being such a mug. Re: The fuss made at Sunderland because the ref was a bit sharp on the whistle. one bad call changed the whole game apparantly.
My arguement is, though not an exact science, that referees will be influenced according to how they will be mauled or applauded in the media.
Conspiricy theory or not I firmly believe that to be the case.
@jnr gunzz — watched it, texted them a question, which of course disappeared into their per-planned schedule without a trace. 45 minutes without a word about Arsenal– one of the pundits was at the commentator at the game yesterday as well.
Essentially Arsenal seem to be being airbrushed out as much as possible right now.
That sounds paranoid I know, but with so much of interest to talk about us right now (Gnabry, top of the league*, Ramsey, Özil’s impact/not, the young British core, sudden (to them) change in our defensive capability, breaking club record), to simply say nothing is just strange. If Liverpool (or…) were in the same position, they’d be practically orgasmic.
Its the same on the BBC website right now. If you look at the features, there has been nothing new on Arsenal in nearly 3 weeks.
To bastardize a classic, as far as Arsenal is concerned — Good News is No News.
*Notice they don’t even go as far as bring it iup, and say Arsenal are on a run, played OK sides and won’t be able to sustain it (the usual crap)– just nithing.
Bugger-Bastard.
Obviously I mean preplanned, and the lack of any feature, editorial or the like is nearly 4 weeks. The last one was in the aftermath of the Özil signing.
For perspective, in that period:
Spurs – 2
Liverpool/Chelsea -3
City – 4
United – 6
They just don’t seem interested in writing about us.
Tony , you comments about this being the 11th consecutive win and not the 12th which was also earlier argued on an earlier post ,brought a smile to my face ( not that I don’t smile much !) as it reminded me of this link put up by Tasos in the earlier article which is from Arseblog titled –
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR: REWRITING HISTORY SINCE 1961
http://arseblog.com/category/columnists/
It also reminded me of an old riddle remembered from my childhood :-
Q : When is a door not a door ?
A : When it is ajar !
@ Rufusstan – Let them ignore the elephant in the room ! Well at least till the shit stinks to high heaven or when it hits the fan !
Talking of which ……
THE BODY PARTS MEETING TO DECIDE WHO IS IN CHARGE
The brain said “I do all the thinking so I’m the most important and I should be in charge.”
The eyes said “I see everything and let the rest of you know where we are, so I’m the most important and I should be in charge.”
The hands said: “Without me we wouldn’t be able to pick anything up or move anything. So I’m the most important and I should be in charge.”
The stomach said: “I turn the food we eat into energy for the rest of you. Without me, we’d starve. So I’m the most important and I should be in charge.”
The legs said: “Without me we wouldn’t be able to move anywhere. I’m the most important and I should be in charge.”
Then the arsehole said: “I think I should be in charge.”
All the rest of the parts said: YOU?!!
You don’t do anything! You’re not as important as we are, surely! You can’t be in charge!”
So the arsehole stopped working…
After a few days, the legs were all wobbly,
the stomach was all queasy,
the hands were all shaky,
the eyes were all watery,
and the brain was all cloudy.
MORAL OF THE STORY
It only takes one asshole to shut down a job and an arsehole is always in charge of everything !
@Rufusstan.
you can rest assured it would of been updated if things where not going quite so well.
Media !!!!! GGGgggrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!
At Brickfield
Me thinks you should be a little careful with your little jokes. Who is in charge at Arsenal? an ….. I am sure you don’t mean this! In fact I am sure you don’t!
From the Medical Division of the UA’s ongoing total wellness teaching program and also for those who would like to further research into weird behaviour , go to …..
http://www.cracked.com/article_15822_5-douchebag-behaviors-explained-by-science.html
@ Colario – Forgot to put a disclaimer before starting that arseholes joke ; and as it’s from circa 1976 , many of those in charge now may really have been nice persons in their earlier life !
That being said ….some do walk amongst us !
A customer walks into a pharmacy and asks assistant for an anal deodorant.
The assistant explains that they don’t stock them. The man insists that he bought his last one from this store.
The assistant passes man on to the pharmacist, who explains that store has never stocked such an item.
The man explains he bought his last one from this store only weeks ago and has done for several years.
The pharmacist asks man to bring in his last purchase and he will try to match the product.
The following day, the man returns to the pharmacy and shows the deodorant to the pharmacist.
The pharmacist asks why the customer thinks this is an anal deodorant, when it is obviously of the underarm stick variety.
The customer explains that instructions on reverse state, “Push up bottom to use.”
You Might Be Anal Retentive If…..
you fold your dirty clothes before putting them in the hamper.
…you organize your closet by color, season, and fabric.
…you require no less than 200 threads per inch on your sheets…
…and they are tucked so tightly that you really could bounce a quarter on them.
…you have to have all boxes in the kitchen facing the same way and in order by size.
…you have all your canned goods organized by type, flavor, and use…
…and they’re all facing the front.
…you alphabetize your spices.
…you’re on a “calorie-counting” diet and you count the calories in the hot sauce on your “Big Beef Burrito Supreme.”
…you collect the little postcards in magazine issues for recycling.
…all your books, CDs, and movies have to be in alphabetical order.
…you remove the tires to wash inside the wheel-wells of your vehicle.
…you flame every person who sent you email because the emails weren’t spelled correctly or grammatically correct.
…every e-mail reply that you send has been through a grammar checker…
…and you correct the original message.
…you actually bothered trying to convince someone that the 3rd millennium began on Jan 1, 2001.
Goodnight, guys !
Shouldn’t we all be grateful that the ball did not get into the net yesterday? We would be told it should have stood, like they did with Altidore’s even though he took the short after the referee has called the foul. Swansea would then be characterised as martyrs who only lost because the ref disallowed a good goal.
I am as wary as anyone about the media and referees’ attitude to Arsenal. I may not be very keen on calling them out but I will not try to shut down those who do.
Walter should carry on with his crusade against bias and terrible officiating while Tony, Jambug and others should continues to call out the media for their bias.
There is a simple solution for those who consider the topics too conspiratorial: STOP READING!
We can’t just brush off the negativity in the media, it influences people from refs to the fans turning against the club. I don’t read the Daily Mail but every now and then I just go there to see what propaganda they’re
feeding the masses. And after our win in Swansea yesterday I just ventured there to see how this was being taken in, and the match report was tucked in there somewhere towards the bottom. But had it’d been a negative story(even an injury to one of our players) you can be guaranteed it’d be the main headline. As this article shows, the commentators on this show were clearly misrepresenting facts, to someone not watching they would have got the impression our keeper had gone bonkers. We can’t & shouldn’t ignore such obvious bias.
Tony
Apparently WBA are playing Chelsea at home in the next round of the C1C, because they must have won that match.
The last time I looked, it’s called winning on a penalty shoot-out.
I.e. Winning.
Or did the chavs not win a CL cup? Shiver.
I have to wash myself even mentioning them.
Off topic, just seen sturridge score a goal with his arm, we DO need video refereeing. Nearly 30years after Maradona’s infamous handball it’s a shame that we still get matches decided by dubious handball goals.
Want to see if the media will make an issue of sturridge’s handball goal.
@AL. Unlikely as even the Sunderland players didn’t complain. Neither Webb nor his assistant could see an offence, (blocked by players) just what appeared to be a simple goal.
I watched the Spurs match yesterday and they had yet another player pulled up for diving, this time Townsend,(was he booked for it?) not a foreigner but one of our own. Has anyone seen any mention of it in the media because I haven’t. The commentators hardly passed comment on it either. Imagine the fuss if it had been one of our players.
Szczesny did nothing wrong at all… the ball was out and the whistle had blown. I have heard a lot of people using the incident to have a go at Szczesny. Our goal keeper seems to be in the media firing line – it seems they take some comfort from Arsenal having a goal keeper ‘crisis’ even if they have to make it up. You can’t win anything with a poor goalkeeper after all…
Similarly our slow CB who turns like an oil tanker and is utterly crap, that Mertesacker guy is also rubbish and means we can’t win anything and have a defensive crisis.
I guess the truth that Szczesny and Mertesacker have been brilliant all season doesn’t fit with the story, or at least the media hope that we will crumble and fail this year.
I don’t mind criticism of players at all, but when that criticism is driven by an inability to admit previous assessments of individuals were hopelessly wrong and turn into a process of taking every slight situation and making a meal out of it to support a completely invalid position then it does get rather pathetic.
jayramfootball,
Can’t agree with you more.
That is what Jambug and (to a less extent) myself have been saying. The officials are influenced by the media. If, heaven forbids, Szczesny gets wrongly punished by the officials someday or an opposition player gets an unfair goal against him, rather than call out the unfairness or the referee’s bad call, they would just harp on about how he is error prone and has been asking for it. They will blame Wenger for sticking with him and then call for the addition of £30 million goalkeeper, you know, the type that NEVER concedes.
The media are a sad lot but I can bear them. It is the Arsenal fans who try to silence those who call out the media for their bias that really really piss me off.
Re Spurs Chavs. MOTD reported that Torres clipped Vertonghen, and then the melee ensued.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odyBvydC7UQ
However it looks much as if Vertonghen tumbles theatrically; he then later feigned a head injury.
Mourinho called for such antics to be outlawed. Can’t say I disagree.
Who are the best players in the premiership outside Arsenal?
Sessegnon and Sturridge spring to mind
Chesney didn’t stop to play until that ball was well out. So i don’t know why make fuss out of it.
The thing that all commentators ignored is the fact that Swansea defender, as suggested by mr.Atwood, should have been booked for that. It’s a cheating.
as to why the obsession of the website with others people’s opinions about Arsenal, it is important to say that those other people are not, any rival fans, they’re supposed to be neutral experts, pundits, analysts, some of them got paid by our tax contribution, so they need to respect fans of all clubs.
their bias against Arsenal and constant attacks on Wenger and our players contributed to, encouraged, animosity and hostility towards Arsenal team and players. their biased analysis and covering up of all the punishable acts of violence perpetrated against Arsenal players, and the image they built of Arsenal as a soft team that can’t stand the manhood of our game, a team of psychologically and physically fragile babies played in the minds of referees void of talent and decency.
it’s unbelievable the amounts of career ending tackles against Arsenal players, and while we all remember the consequential ones, that went unpunished.
Why did that not happen against other teams? the usual justification of Arsenal having skillful quick fleet footed players doesn’t wash with intelligent critical people able to analyse the current discourse in our football. Simply because other teams had so many skillful players and weren’t targeted as our players were.
Manchester had many smaller players, g.nevill, evra and skillful technical players [scholes, nani, giggs etc.), Chelsea had them, but they were never being the target of such media, opposition managers and players’ stereotypes, they never suffered at the hands of butchers of the british modern football.
So it’s time that we, arsenal fans, stand up and be counted to defend our team and fight against prejudices and stereotypes that are repeatedly uncritically uttered by senseless tasteless writers, presenters, and pundits and parroted by all fans in the country. Yes, it’s important we fight for our image in the british football.
Seems spurs are the new united, getting all the decisions their way….
…and positive coverage in the media.
Marcus
You do get the irony of chavs favourite player – Drogba?
AL at 7:00pm
Two words:
Mike Dein.
Mike jump and twirl dean after spurs scored a penalty against us he disgusts me
Mick: I find that Townsend is trying real hard to be like Bale, he loves to cut in from right and shoot just like Gareth did. The difference is that 1/20 end up being saved/caught and the rest end up in row k. Clearly he cant do it at the same level but he cant dive like Gareth and that helps.
Jammathon: All the Arsenal fans that want Wenger/Gaz/Kronke out are getting their ideas and spewing the same old arguments at us, from the Media and the knobheads at TS. They listen and believe, next thing they are on our sites getting knickers in a twist!
COYG – 32 games to go…
The first goal an excellent team goal with 22 or 23 passes shown only from half way by MotD and hardly talked about after. It does not make sky’s 6 of the best and talk sport focused more on the 2 cases of was the ball out of play.
We should be used to this biased view point from the media by now but it still irks when they overlook something as great as our first goal on Saturday
Waaah the media hate us,boo hoo.God what a load of whinging whining pathetic children.You have obviously all led easy lives where nothing ever goes wrong and you always get what you want to get so worked up about what you perceive to be slurs against ovrerpaid footballers that you don’t even know.Grow up for gods sake.ITS A SPORT.
@marcus
“Who are the best players in the premiership outside Arsenal?”
Luis Suarez IS the best player in the PL.
Lucky Linz can correct us fools about us whining all the time.
But when you check his comments all he does is…whining all the time about what a useless club and manager we have.
Grow up for gods sake… yep…
Funny how people moan about people’s opinion when they come into a forum or blog to read an opinion about Arsenal, yes we do moan about the medias view point of Arsenal because in my opinion it is not a true reflection of Arsenal as a club. All we hear from those in the media is that Arsenal have not won a trophy in 8 years as if winning trophies is the be all and end all of supporting a football club. If it was why do so many fans up and down our country and those all over the world support other clubs. Look at Spain, Germany and Scotland how many clubs can win their respective leagues? Why do fans turn up to see Stenhousemur every week is it because they can win a trophy. If it’s all about winning trophies why has a friend given up going to Spurs every other week and got himself a Barnet season ticket.
Winning trophies is a bi product of playing well and that is what we want to see from whoever we support, we want out team to play well.
Too many fans are too easily swayed by the opinions of the so called experts in the media, they are quick to criticize bloggers etc but are happy to take the word of a jurno who supports other teams and can in some cases have a preconceived agenda against clubs, managers and or players.
@Tasos I find it hard to disagree with that.