By Walter Broeckx
Selhurst Park. I must say a name that still brings back some good memories to me. In the year 1979 I was there once for a FA cup game. It was a few days after I had witnessed my first game at Highbury. A game Arsenal lost 0-1 to Wolverhampton Wanderers. The game that made me a Gooner for as l0ng as I can breathe.
We found out that after that Saturday on Monday evening there would be played a few FA cup games. Arsenal had to travel to Notthingham Forrest and that was a bit far for us. But well we found out that Crystal Palace was playing Wolverhampton on Monday in the FA cup. After a long bus ride (using a variety of different buses) we came at the ground. Just at kick off time. A big roar came out of the stadium as the teams came on the field. A few of us wanted to buy something outside the ground and we heard the ref blow his whistle.
And seconds later a smaller roar from a part of the crowd. Wolverhampton scored what turned out to be the only goal of the game. Again a 0-1 for Wolverhampton when I was there. We travelled hours and hours to see that match and we missed the only goal. Oh well..
So when Arsenal go there I always think back at that evening in London. Great memories.
On to the game at lunchtime today. It was clear to see that Crystal Palace only had one thing in their mind: sit back and defend. And so they did. And it was up to Arsenal to find a solution. We weren’t helped at all by Flamini who had to leave the field with an injury after only a few minutes. To my surprise Gnabry came on. But I think by then Wenger knew that an extra attacking option would be better than a midfielder.
But it wasn’t really our day. Too slow. Way too slow. We didn’t really get out of our first gear. I think someone had pulled up the handbrake and everyone had forgotten how to release it. A few chances but we never really got in the flow.
So it was a rather bleak affair in the first half and the 0-0 was what can be expected when the attacking team plays too slow and the defending team is still fresh and running around.
The second half started a bit better. Gnabry was brought down in the Crystal Palace penalty area and the foul was so blatant that not even Foy could miss it. Arteta stepped up and scored from the spot. 0-1 for Arsenal; a familiar score line in this article.
Crystal Palace was still hanging on to their defensive formation after that so it was just playing the ball around a bit, creating a few chances but Giroud and Gnabry couldn’t put the ball in the net for a second that would put the game out of reach for Palace.
Then we got a corner and suddenly Chamakh was away on the right for Palace with only Arteta chasing him down and bringing him down. As there was no other defender in sight (and that was the thing that upset me most in this situation), Foy had no choice but to send Arteta off.
So with extra time still half an hour we had to play with 10 men. Crystal Palace then got forward a bit more and the crossbar stopped a long distance shot from Ward. The ref gave a corner (which was wrong) and then Szczesny had to make the only important stop when another dipping shot came in towards goal. A fine save from the Polish keeper.
The longer the game went on the more we got back in control. Özil with his intelligent running and positioning was vital in that. And bringing on Wilshere and Monreal also. The way they came in was really great.
Wilshere mastered midfield and made us keep the ball much better. And Monreal caused a lot of trouble for Palace with his forward running. You could feel after a while that this team didn’t have the intention to let Palace score a goal. And the longer we played the more dangerous we became on the break.
And a few minutes from time Ramsey broke forward and waited for Giroud to run in to space and chipped a perfect cross in to the path of Giroud who didn’t miss this time. 0-2 for Arsenal and game over.
We had to work too hard for our points and made life difficult on ourselves by not getting in to a higher gear. But if winning titles is about winning ugly and difficult games when you don’t play very well…then I think we have done a good job today. And this might have been a game that a few seasons ago we might have lost. Losing a player early in the game, a stubborn team defending in numbers. Losing a man with a red card. But this team and the quality that cold be brought on from the bench in Jack and Monreal turned the game in our favour.
Not the best game from Arsenal but winning those games is the difference between staying top or losing ground.
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
The sites from the same team…
- The Arsenal History Blog from the AISA Arsenal History Society
- Arsenal Managers
Walter some stills of the Arteta ‘foul’ suggest that Chamakh might have been the perpetrator. mark Halsey also felt it wasn’t a sending off as MC was so far from goal. So it seemed a harsh red overall. If we add to that Foy not giving a pen when Gnabry was pulled down on the edge of the box and no yellow for that or the pen you have to wonder how fair Foy was.
That said he is an amazing cyclist
Good write up Walter. Although I am not sure about the sending off, I have watched it again several times & Chamakh seemed to use his arm and then lean on Arteta before they both fell in a heap. Perhaps you could look at it again & comment.
However, the team did well to overcome this setback, they fought hard against an increasingly physical Palace and secured the win. Well done guys.
Walter,
Can you please explain more about that red card, according to rules?
In another game and another time. with a player wearing a shirt wearing red shirt with white sleeves being the victim, this wouldn`t be a red, that is if it was given a foul in the beginning.
Walter, I don’t agree that Foy’s decisio. To send Arteta off was correct
I don’t have any refereeing experience so you’re probably correct. However these are my reasons;
1. Arteta was running in a straight line, but you can see Chamakh leave the direction the ball was going to barge into Arteta. So it was Chamakh who initiated contact, and the tangling on legs was clearly accidental. I think Chamakh knew Arteta was going to beat him to the ball so he decided to block him off. Even one of the BT sport pundits said it wasn’t a sending off for the reason Chamakh sought Arteta and not the other way round.
2. The offence, if may call it that, was just over the halfway line and only a few yards from the touchline,meaning had Chamakh couldn’t be said to be in a clear goal scoring position. We had another man around the center circle, and he would’ve definitely got into our box quicker than Chamakh as the distance from the centre circle to our box is shorter(straight line) unlike Chamakh’s position as he would’ve been diagonal to our box. Besides, a foul happening so far from goal can’t be deemed clear goal scoring opportunity?
I could be wrong, but I think at worst it should have just been a foul. But if you ask me I’d say it should have been a foul for us. But then again I’m an Arsenal fan so I couldn’t possibly call it any other way 🙂
Apologies for the fullstops in the wrong places, this phone does that by itself.
must admit, thought the red was harsh ashe was so far from goal….if that actually has anything to do with the rules. will have to see it later on the Liverpool love in….sorry I mean MOTD
‘He was far from goal, it was an accidental foul, he was not the last man.’
That is what Arsene Wenger said in his post-match press conference about Arteta’s sending off.
Walter
To go from anywhere to Thornton Heath (Palace’s Ground) by bus, is an effing nightmare, except maybe for visitors. In 1979 you’d have had a choice of Routemasters or “RT’s. I’ll presume you didn’t have double decker buses at home (you flash Europeans always have electric trams, innit?) and maybe not conductors – “fares please – next stop, Crinkley Bottom/Only 5 standing, sorry, there’ll be another one along in a minute”).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygNxflrkkA0
And if you went to Crystal Palace Parade (some distance from the football ground) you’d have thought said buses would not get up the hills!
You’ll see on replays that Chamach clearly fouls Arteta, but if Arsenal (rightly) appeal, don’t hold your breath expecting the red card to be (correctly) rescinded. After all, look at Giroud’s appeal re: red card against Fulham last season, where the chairman of the committee was ManU’s )ex?) secretary?
There was almost a gale blowing, and the pitch was awful, according to friends of mine who watched on better TV’s, so that wouldn’t have helped. The refshite was in full evidence, believe me.
Game after CL is never easy. All 3 points are welcome, in all shapes and sizes.
Arsene Wenger was also asked about the long grass. He said they expect that away from home and joked that he was planning to set up a long grass pitch for the team to practise on.
He also said Arsenal will not appeal the red card if it is only a one match ban as he would not have played Arteta at the next match anyway.
Mandy
That’s if they show the view from behind, where you can clearly see Chamakh change direction to make contact with Arteta. But I suspect we will be shown one angle only, which won’t be conclusive. I remember in the post-match analysis mcmanaman challenging david james if he thought Chamakh hadn’t committed a foul, and james’s response was it was a goal scoring opportunity so Arteta had to go, clearly failing to answer a simple question. What a numpty.
As I always say: You ain’t gettin’ a plundit job unless you’re anti-Arsenal. Having seen some of David James’s articles in the Guardian (Manchester, as bob would point out), I’d have expected much better from him, but then again – he also played for Liver89pool. Prat.
Lovely result, and great to see the side digging deep when they needed to. Two shocking decisions but even the ref couldn’t argue against Gnabry’s skil that led to the penalty. Best moment was Giroud out on his legs but somehow finding the will power to sprint 30 years to score the second goal. What a hero he is becoming and I hope he is given a few days holiday now.
Think you may well be right Al, that’s assuming of course we even get a mention amongst the scouse wankfest. Think Hansen could get a bit carried away this eve!
You nailed it in 4 words, Walter.
Pat 7:12pm
!!!! Well spotted.
I said it during the game,. (Not here), the long grass was an obvious ploy to stop our game.
Maybe the long grass was the reason our passing game never came to full flow? Next time when England play they will not cut the grass for 3 weeks maybe? 🙂
For those not agreeing with my view on the sending off: just imagine if it would have been Giroud on his own against a defender and going down? We would ask for his head (red) too.
The assistant saw the foul also as a foul from Arteta and he signalled it first. And once that was given the only card could have been a red one.
And I know the chance of the player of the other team being send off if it was the reverse situation is rather small but then we would ask a red card.
Al.
I think you got the red card incident spot on.
Arteta has as much right to be in that space as Chamakh does. At the moment of contact they are running shoulder to shoulder and it’s Chamakh who initiates contact .
I don’t blame the referee for getting it wrong as he doesn’t have a clear view of the incident .
Other people having looked at it from all angles and in slow motion should’ve come to the same conclusion you did.
It’s just another proof for how vague and open for interpretation most refereeing decisions are.
It brings to mind the infamous “pizza gate ” game in which Ferdinand and Ljungberg come together , except it was Ferdinand initiating contact on Ljungberg from behind bringing him down some 30 yards away from Man U goal. Referee Mike Riley waved the play on.
Not convinced it was a foul let alone a red.. Al Jazeera replayed it on a number of times and from different angles and there was no foul whatsoever from Arteta and if anything it was he who got fouled… Chamakh was the one who started putting hands on him trying to get a foul.. Watch it agaib Walter maybe you’ll change your mind
Did not look a foul to me but right to cite defensive indiscipline. But amusing to see Hansen so bitter Alan it was a long time ago arsenal did you get over it.
Walter.
Asking for calls in the heat of the moment that might benefit your club is what being a fan is often times all about.
Looking at calls made during a game and analyzing them after when emotions subside is another thing entirely , isn’t it?
Walter @ 10:36. That was a wise response. A kind ref could have overlooked it or punished it without the red card. If it happened against us,we would have judged as a foul and wished for a red. No doubt, the coach and the team know that we should expect no favors from the ref.
Also, Walter, in view of your other role in the ref decions blog, may I plead that you allow at least 24hrs and the benefit of video review before you air your opinion on any controversial ref decision in our games
Too many rushes to judgment will detract from the credibility of your team’s later reports on ref performance.
Goodness me.. Motd just cant see to hold back their Arsenal hate anymore. what the hell was that?? Taking a clip from 3 years ago to get a stick to beat us with?? Just wow
Agree mahdain motd are pathetic resorting to 2010 to get at arsenal! I feel another complaint going in their pundits are pathetic. Maybe he might like to remember Liverpool as they were in 2010.
Tom,
Just one thing. If you can’t blame the ref because he doesn’t have a clear view of the incident then why the hell is he making the call?Surely you can blame him for making a call without knowing if it happened or not.
Chamakh had the ball and he then can run where he wants.
It is up to Arteta then to choose to run beside him or to look for contact. Making contact is not a foul itself but when you make contact you have to make sure you don’t commit a foul.
Arteta didn’t play the ball. Arteta also stuck out an arm in front of Chamakh.
The nearest Arsenal was on the moment of the contact some 12 meters behind the two players. He was just on the half way line (I have freezed the incident and see it in front of my eyes). And that moment is the moment the ref has to keep in mind t
So without the intervention from Arteta Chamakh was on his way to goal (I still am sure he wouldn’t have scored but that is irrelevant).
Arteta should have just tried to stay with him, Chamakh usually loses speed after a long run and then act.
Arteta made the wrong decision by trying to stop Chamakh where he did.
So he will miss the milk cup game and he wasn’t going to play anyhow so no big deal for me.
Foy did made a mistake by not giving a penalty in the first half. The line of the penalty area is part of the penalty area and Gnabry was fouled on the line and even might have been one foot inside. I thought the assistant even signalled the penalty. Because I saw him putting a few steps to the goal line (indicating the ref the foul was inside) but then when Foy went over to put the ball outside he stepped one step back. So a bit weak from the assistant.
Thought the Arteta foul was six of one and half a dozen of another. If it was a foul by Arteta he definitely had to go as he was the last man, nobody would catch Chamakh but as he’s so bloody awful anyway I doubt he would have scored.
Thought it was a good point by Hansen about our defence. What the hell are we doing with nobody back near the halfway line? I have to agree with Hansen that if we don’t sort out these basic defending problems we won’t be winning anything. Also the midfield is just too slow, there’s a lack of dynamism at times. Much as I think Giroud is a reasonable striker we really need a better striker in the Suarez mould, not that there’s many around that good but it’s worrying when you consider that Manu have Rooney and RVP and Liverpool have Suarez and Sturridge and City have Aguero and Negredo. You don’t win titles with a lightweight strike force.
I was at the Oxford game at AFC Wimbledon today and the refereeing was appalling. Oxford’s first goal looked offside and even if it wasn’t the player with the assist shoved the opposing defender in the back. Oxford won 2-0 anyway and top their league.
When i read this article i thought what is Walter talking about? Based on talk sport audio commentart we were so bad and crystal palace should have at least got a draw.
Now after watching the game, wow how much they do hate us, but why is something i dont get.
Anyway, i believe we played one of the best matches this year, yes not offensive attacking best match, but look after Arteta red card, how ozil, ramsey, wilshere, monreal ran to compensate for the Arteta loss. And I would love to see passionate hard working Giroud on any other striker, he is brilliant, and was our way out when under pressure, he and ozil, and in the end sitting with tiredness, he made a proud gunner, they made me so proud today.
if Crystal Palace did reach our goal few times, through shots (which shows they cant get mear it), so we domt deserve the win, let them tell me how do United and Chelsea deserve their wins this ans tje previous seasons. Look at Arsenal norwich, and Chelsea norwich game just before it to see how we were superior to lucky Chelsea. But the pundits always praise them after their lucky win, while we should be lucky cause Norwich could have equalized from a shot near the goal, really?
And to be honest I can agree with what Hansen was saying about us being completely out of position.
I even said it this afternoon that it was completely wrong to have nobody at the half way line when we have a corner.
Walter, kindly check the below link to the red card of mikel, maybe u didnt see this view of the incidence which every one here is refering to.
http://m.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/shocking-mikel-arteta-fouled-by-marouane-chamakh-arteta-sent-off-with-straigh-red-card-gif/
@Walter, yes the lack of defensive cover is worrying. I can see why we might have this gung ho attitude against Palace but we can’t be so slack against the top teams, they’ll rip us to shreds.
Next month is going to be very fascinating. Some really tough fixtures, hope we can improve on today’s performance when we play the likes of Pool and Manu.
We suffer in our game when flamini is out cause there is no one to take the ball from the back to the front, its always passes between Arteta-Kosienly-Merte.
And then u see all our midfielders up front.so when a team pressurize us we cant get the ball upfront, and our mids dont come back to help grt the ball to the front
But when flamini playse, he always stay near the back,which helps as he is an extra man. So all we need is for Ramsey,or wilshere to go back and drive the ball to.front with Arteta
Stuart.
It’s been my experience that most referees make calls thinking they have sufficient view to get them right.
Unfortunately they only get one angle to view it from and have a split of a second to decide.
Factor in the fans yelling for them to make that call, players falling down intentionally or not and waving their arms in protest and what you get is a very difficult job.
What chance does a referee have when pundits look at the same play from four different angles in slow motion and still can’t arrive at the same consensus .
@Yassin, one could argue that Chamakh made a shoulder challenge which put Arteta off balance and as he falls he trips Chamkah. Now I thought shoulder challenges are allowed if they’re not very strong so Arteta may have fouled Chamakh. I’m sure Walter knows the rules and can enlighten us.
I think the link from Yassin says it all. I thought at the time watching on BTsport that it was six of one and half a dozen of the other but now I am more convinced that Chamakh not only instigated the contact but went down very very easily to win a foul.
@Rupert Cook you don’t shoulder charge with your elbow!
Yassin,
from the other side you see Arteta putting his arm in front of Chamakh to stop his run. In the link you give you can even see this also.
And like I said: Chamakh was the player who was in control of the ball.
Well nobody can say you are not fair Walter must admit my untrained eye had that as six of one half a dozen of the other. Still not at our best but a valuable win and the rise of giroud to global domination continues. Some tough games coming up but hopefully a fully fit santi and theo and Poldi coming back will help. Think this week has shown how important the flamster really is
Mandy Dodd,
Look at me ‘the oh so biased and pro Arsenal referee reviewer’ defending a sending off from an Arsenal player 😉 Oh well… a pity those who otherwise cannot say enough that I am pro Arsenal biased in our reviews are missing it 😉
Mind you I’m not saying Foy had a great game or so. Far from it in fact.
so “putting his arm in front” is a red?
chamakh push arteta with elbow. thats why arteta fall. and arteta wasnt even looking at chamakh after that. and thats when their legs was hooked.
Tough call on the red, but I’m in agreement on one thing – if it was the other way around, I’d be screaming for a foul and a card of one color or another. Red doesn’t have the benefit of slow-motion replay, though, and in the end we won so no harm no foul (literally ‘no foul’ – :-)).
Also, if you’re one of those blaming the length of the grass – just…wow. Champions don’t blame grass. Grass? Really?!?! Should see some of the fields non-professionals have to play on. If long grass is enough to throw us off our game, then we probably don’t deserve to win anything. “The grass was too long” lol next we’ll be saying that the grounds without a roof are unfair to Scez (oops there I go being racist) b/c the sun is in his eyes.
I agree with everyone, thinking that it should not have been a red card for Arteta, but understand where Walter is coming from, because it is a quick decision the ref has to make with only view whereas we get the benefit of viewing multiple replays after. The best view of the incident I found was here, where the last replay on it shows Chamakh really going out of his view to draw the foul.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x16gk7w_arteta-red-card-vs-crystal-palace_sport
With that said though, it was a good play by Chamakh.
@Rupert 11:52 pm, I get what you’re saying about the striker, but we actually have plenty of options to pair with Giroud when healthy, such as Theo and Podolski (who Wenger has said is the best finisher on the team in the past).
@Sam, 3:28 AM, i have to respectfully disagree on your point about the grass, because Arsenal’s game is based on precision and timing (i.e. Jack’s goal and our one touch passing). Longer length grass slows down the ball and will mess up Arsenal’s timing on the attack.
But overall good result, against an unfit ref being 1 man down! Good job grinding out the win!
@Walter
Applying the rules, and with the way you said, i ll agree with you, but why is it tht hard for some refs on the TV to explain a foul just like you did? Anyway, now the question raised is, where is the consistency? Why is it Arsenal are always penalised when they do the slightest foul, and on the other hand another can destroy us (literally) without taking a yellow? Agree witg the red card, but it should always be given, not only against us. Imagine if it was the other way around, do u think Foy would have took his red card out. I dont
Can’t believe I’m about to enter into a debate (friendly debate, mind you) about grass length, but w/e here we go…
@Jerry (and others) – I understand what you are saying, and I agree to an extent! Arsenal plays a certain type of game that fits better to a certain set of circumstances i.e. the surface. I’m not sure there has been a real attempt to hear what I am suggesting, though, which is that a championship team (which I think we are) at the highest level of the game surely cannot let the surface prevent them from dominating such a lesser opponent To our credit, whatever the reason for the sub-par first half, the team turned it around, fought hard, and came away with 3 points in the second. But…
You cannot seriously be blaming a few cm of grass for preventing PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYERS from passing the ball with speed and accuracy? I’ve played on fields of dirt with holes everywhere – and found a way to pass the ball to my preference. If we’re going to make excuses, say that Flamini getting injured caused us to take some time to adjust (which is possible)…say that Palace sat back deep and really stifled our attack (which they did for a while)…say that we are just exhausted from a compact run of games and needed a fresh set of legs and mind like Gnabry for a spark (which is what I believe)…but blaming the grass length jeez we sound like a whiny bunch, no?
@Sam, I agree that it should not affect a championship team like I also think we are and I wasn’t blaming our poor performance in the first half on the state of the pitch. I’m just not going to be oblivious to it and say it won’t affect the way the team plays. A championship team needs to have an ability to adapt, and I think the team adapted very well considerin.g all the circumstances, including ref bias and opposition playing mentality. A win is a win and in the end that’s all that matters
I my view it not a red because when chamakh shoulder charges arteta, the ball is not in front of him. Its in fact a good 3-5 feet away and on to his right. What chamakh was doing was trying to obstruct arteta’s run and that should have been a foul. Now MOTD were not taking the piss at us but mearly pointing that we do not seem to have learnt from our past mistakes. How come you dont have player at the half line to block a possible counter is beyond me. We did that religiously in my playing days. Since I am now a coach of under 7’s and when they have practice matches, I always make sure there is 1 at the half way line.
We should thank Chamakh to take the wrong decision. There was an CP player sprinting on his own down the middle. Chamakh choose to send Arteta off, but it killed a glorious CP counter attack opportunity.
I did think it was a foul by Arteta and who cares if it was Red? We won anyway.
A great team effort . 3 deserved points . A penalty for the Arsenal ! A lapse in concentration . A harsh sending off !
A grand 2nd goal . Well done !
I don’t want to beat the sending off incident to death, because it is probably time to move on, however just before he fell Chamakh seemed to move his left leg into Arteta’s line of advance – just after Chamakh had pushed Arteta away – an afterthought by Chamakh?
The sending off could have been a game changing incident, and it could be postulated that that was the intention, however, the team stuck to their task and in the end our 10 men finished the stronger, scored the second and match clinching goal and nearly scored more.
Lets give credit to Giroud, who kept going superbly to the end of the match, having put in a massive shift and having been fouled almost continuously every time he received the ball and still found the energy and composure to score the vital second goal.
Al, putting an arm in front of another player to stop his run is “a foul”.
That was a foul from Arteta.
The red card is just a result of there being no other Arsenal defender behind the incident.
To enter the discussion about the grass. In the leagues I do my games as an assistant now we usually have good pitches. The grass is cut short and very soft. As if you walk on soft air.
And even the lines where the assistants have to run are in the same shape.
But every now and then we come to a field where the grass is longer. And the first thing we say when our trio does the field inspection is: ok, today will be a game of long balls and no short passing. Or when a team is trying to their short passing game it will be very much interrupted.
You also must consider and that could sound strange but when I get to such a field and notice long grass I know I will be much more exhausted than on a perfect field. Because you have to run differently when the grass is higher. You have to lift your feet that centimetre higher when running otherwise you might not run so fast.
so the ball is running slower and the passing game gets disrupted. but also the running itself takes energy away.
I hate long grass as at the end of the game my (I admit older) muscles are more tired than on those perfect pitches.
And not doing the grass one week is enough to make a difference.
Sagna was brilliant & doesn’t get anywhere near enough credit. Sending Arteta off was a major over-reaction. But, otherwise, not the kind of definitive bounce-back I was hoping for … Fair play to Palace who – after an initial paralysis (which Arsenal did nothing to capitalize on) took it to them as the game progressed. Wasn’t a comfortable win until Giroud’s late goal.
Well all of us are so engrossed in debating Foy’s decision…we have just overlooked the fact on how well our team played in the last 30 mins with a man down! And with our counterattacks we could have scored a couple more in the dying stages…I think that Gnabry is the best option to replace TW…well done boys!!!
@AL – your phone is placing those full stops because you may be placing the space bar twice… 🙂
And while we talk about the manager has already stated yesterday that he is planning to get a training patch ready with longer grass as this a ploy being used by quiet a few teams against us!!! So that is to what level teams can stoop to stop us from playing – parking the bus in grass
Walter
I think Arteta’s previous record of having no qualms taking down an attacking opponent if and when needed, may have played on the ref and linesman’s decision.
I don’t think the arms , elbows or shoulders caused the tumble, but both players sets of legs tangled together. if anything Chamakh ran across Arteta.
I agree that the long grass was part of our problems, so too was the strong and swirling wind.
We must give a lot of credit to Palace’s supporters – they got behind their team no matter what their problems are.
Sorry Walter, good write up as usual but I don’t agree regarding the sending off. I, like you, have watched it dozens of times and Chamakh commits the first foul. Thats it. I just cannot see how anyone can refute that.
Everything else from that point is irrelivent because that initial foul puts Arteta off ballance causing both him and Chamakh to fall in a tangle of legs.
I think Foy had a stinker but I have a modicum of sympathy for him on that because on first viewing I thought “Oh No !!” so can’t really have a go.
But I simply cant understand how anyone who has had the chance to see all angles cannot see the initial Chamakh foul.
BT Sport: I thought all the guys in the studio more or less agreed Chamakh instigated the ‘tumble’ but where as Macmanaman and the anchor saw the initial ‘wrong’ decision to give the foul against Arteta as important the other 2 simply wanted to skip over that as irrelivant. (as it would of been had it been the other way round. Yeah right !)
MOTD: Didn’t see it but wife said she was screaming at the telly listening to Hanson and co’s usual bulls shit. Glad I was at work !!
One last thing. No, I wouldn’t of been screeming for a foul and red if it was the other way round. Because it wasn’t !!
Asif
Thanks for the tip, it is so annoying.
I thought we played well too after the sending off, we had more chances then. Ozil and Monreal were very good at keeping the ball. To win 2 nil away from home having played for more than half an hour with 10 men is a very good result.
@Jerry and Walter – good points, and I did come across an interview with the Palace grounds keeper where he acknowledged they keep it longer towards the winter – either way happy we won!