By Tony Attwood
It is a funny ol’ game. Or maybe something a little more sinister than that.
We’ve been doing referee reviews for five years now, including that one season where we had a whole group of referees who supported different teams, analysing matches across the league, and as a result we have been able to draw a number of conclusions – the most obvious of which is that “it doesn’t even up in the end”.
And if ever we were wanting an example of that it is with Liverpool this season. They beat Bournemouth with a goal that was so clearly offside that the Premier League was obliged to put pressure on the secretive PGMO to allow it to acknowledge the fact. As a result of that game Liverpool gained three points, where in terms of legitimate goals the match should have been a draw.
Plus two points to Liverpool.
And now at Arsenal Liverpool did it again. A perfectly legitimate Arsenal goal was ruled off side. So Liverpool got a draw when otherwise it would have been a defeat
Plus one point to Liverpool.
Three games played, three phantom points gained. At this rate Liverpool will end up with 38 phantom points which means they only need to pick up another 52 legitimate points to win the league. And by chance 52 points was what Liverpool got in 2012.
All home crowds will seize on errors by officials and downright cheating by players, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crowd so incensed by what they saw last night from the officials. Some of the “offside” decisions were so bizarre that it looked as if this wasn’t an attempt at type III match fixing, but rather a downright attempt to take the piss.
And the time wasting by the Liverpool keeper was more akin to that which we are used to from clubs from near the bottom of the league desperately trying to hold onto a point. The fact that Liverpool were doing it from early on suggests a certain knowledge about how it was all going to pan out.
Of course it would be nice if the Premier League and their Secret Police (PGMO) once again at least acknowledged that it has all gone wrong, just as they did with Benteke’s fake “winner” for Liverpool against Bournemouth. But that phantom goal still stands, and all the business of writing to PL clubs explaining the new law won’t change anything.
Indeed it was utterly pointless given that we all knew the rule, and I am 99.99% certain the officials in the Bournemouth match knew the rule. They just chose not to apply it. Indeed the only good thing that came out of that was the wholly inadequate response.
What I wonder could it be that made the League and PGMO respond to such a cock-up? Could it be the level of publicity now given to referee decisions? Could it be that five years ago virtually no one knew that PGMO existed, let alone what the initials stood for, and how they manipulate the game.
The announcement made after Liverpool gained their first two phantom points said…
“Professional Game Match Officials Limited issued this guidance in order to clear up any misunderstandings that arose following the goal awarded to Liverpool in their Monday night match against AFC Bournemouth.
“The Premier League does not generally comment on decisions made by match officials. However, given the recent change to the interpretation of the offside law and the fact that it was made close to the start of the season, the league felt it was appropriate, in this instance, to publish in order to inform fans and other stakeholders.”
And being the lapdogs of PGMO that they are, the media all dutifully reprinted it, even though it makes no sense. “To inform fans”???? But the fans knew. They were screaming for justice. And yet justice was their none. Now desperate to hide their collusion they are trying to force us to look the wrong way, as with the Telegraph this morning screaming Arsenal’s title bid already looks doomed – and fans are losing patience with Arsene Wenger.
A proper response would have been to acknowledge then that
a) The referee and assistants had made a dreadful error which was inexcusable. They would be stood down for serious retraining.
b) The match result was clearly not right and the clubs should play the game again.
To turn this upside down and suggest that they needed to say something to the fans and others is a bit like a school, on finding one of is teachers rolling around drunk in the school hall trying to molest a sixth former, should issue a reminder to the students that they are not allowed in the hall at lunchtime. Or on finding a town council has done nothing about child exploitation by gangs for 15 years should then give the same council that failed for 15 years 18 months more to sort the situation out.
But then that is exactly the sort of thing that happens in England today. The scale of importance is different, but the underlying theme of the eternal cover up is always there.
Be happy Cech stopped a first half massacre………fact.
Both Ramsey’s head and chest are clearly ahead of the last defender. It appears clear on the replays, Ramsey is leaning forward, like a sprinter reaching the tape. If any part of the attacker that can legally be used to score is ahead of the last defender then the attacker is offside.
Small margins, yes. If the linesman had given the goal then I doubt there were would have been few complaints.
But in this instance the linesman appears to have made the correct decision. If there was doubt in the linesman’s mind then the advantage should have gone to Ramsey; but, perhaps, as the linesman looked across he did see Ramsey’s duck towards an invisible tape and made the correct call.
I think Benzema said it best: “For all those clowns who want to make believe things at my fans. Here this is my home !”
Which the self same “clowns” are repeating in order to tell us all that “Arsenal have been dealt a blow”
And that was before I read the Metro’s coverage of the match. If you didn’t see or hear the match, you might have come away thinking it was a one sided affair. Not to mentioned the AAA’s rallying call being used…. “Spend some fucking money!”
@esxste
August 25, 2015 at 9:10 am
“it was a one sided affair”…that it was!!! and Arsenal ran the show aside for much PGMOB influence against us and a few blips in the first half where we NEARLY gifted them OPPORTUNITY to score…aside of that Liverpoo should thank their lucky stars or should I say PGMOB! 😉
PGMO – Protect Greater Manchester Overlords.
ohhhh and as for that self proclaimed expert/analyzer – Mr.Neville; I can’t wait to live the time when/IF he manages a TOP flight team in the EPL – that will be a LAUGH!!!!
The irony; him calling AW “arrogant or naive”.
He should take a long hard look at himself in the mirror…but I guess that even he can’t bare the sight of himself!!
I watch games with the commentary muted and I don’t watch the pundits.
To sell Sky the pundits have to become more important than the game. In the next Chapter of selling Sky TV, Thierry Henry has to be turned from a brilliant goalscorer and servant of Arsenal into Wenger’s critic, foe, enemy, traitor. Ultimately a new statue of Henry has to be created, made out of shit, every good memory turned over.
If that goal had stood, Liverpool would not have been able to park the bus in the second half when, as everyone agrees, we played a blinder. Shows the power of the match officials, as we keep saying.
It is upsetting as usual to hear the best manager in England being insulted by Neville. The great thing is our team and manager are so used to it that it will be like water off a duck’s back.
If we want analysis of the match we can go to arsenal.com and the press conferences given by Arsene Wenger and Petr Cech.
Hopefully Sanchez will soon be firing on all cylinders and we’ll have Welbeck back.
I must say that having seen the replay of the Ramsey “offside” a number of times, I have some sympathy with the much maligned linesman. It was so close.
What the incident DOES demonstrate is the need for additional technology to assist match officials. And perhaps an appeal system which works so well in other sports. 😉
Strange isn’t it? As Arsene Wenger says on arsenal.com, everybody is always telling him to buy. But when we do buy, and get wonderful players, it is immediately forgotten. In this instance it’s Gabriel, who played a great match last night and who he says will be a great player for us.
Nicky
If anything Ramsey’s movement was too perfect and left Skirtel completely flat footed and all he could do was try to move backwards towards goal and stuck his arse out which played Aaron on, but difficult to see in real time I’d say.
Whisper it quietly, but an honest mistake
Can we just say we were horrendous in the first half. Chamers and Santi gave the bball away so much it was unreal. If it hadn’t been for Coquelin and his recovery or pace and Cech’s brilliance it would have been all over by half time
Second half we were better but still looked way to congested in and around the area. We needed Ox on earlier. Having said that both Alexis and Giroud missed really good chances from 6 yards that they should have scored
Wenger needs to get more pace in the side so either has to bench Ramsey or Santi.
For me I would bring our CBs back in if fit, would bench Giroud and Santi and bring in Theo and Ox putting Ramsey next to Coquelin. We need Jack back asap
Yes it was an awful decision for the Ramsey goal but we shouldn’t let us hide the fact that too many of our players had mediocre games.
As Apo has already highlighted:
In the second half Liverpool parked their bus. Time wasted. Etc. they were Away, in the end they were happy with a point. It’s not that rare or uncommon a spectacle in football.
What is consistent is that the Meedjah coverage of this game can be observed to be not commentating upon the actual Football that was played. Lots of talk about transfers, on strikers, but little commentary on how poor Bentake looked for value. Lots of talk about Liverpool. Little talk about Coquelin Monreal or Gabriel’s performances.
Don’t be kidding yourselves. They don’t like the Arsenal.
As for the pgMOB, it is what it is. With the increase in tv revenues the continuation of this transparent facade really is so stretch thin no screed by any troll could cover the embarrassing mess that is visible to any and all. You’d think if you spent a billion pounds on a product you’d want to ensure it’s quality? Or, maybe not? All very strange.
When will the hack dwarves find the footballs required to ask IFAB the question? Not soon.
@TailGunner
An honest mistake? Maybe.
Another honest mistake assisting the Dippers? Definitely.
Are the PGMO culpable? Definitely.
Why? Because of their refusal to introduce technology.
Apo
I think we could describe England’s performances with G.Neville as a coach at the last WC as arrogant and naive? Or would that be too kind?
The less said about P.Nevilles stint as a coach the better for all concernened. 7th in the league? Thanks be to the football gods that the good old Bleeb came in and gave the hopeless clogger a plunditry job after he got sacked for being a poor coach 😉
Finsbury
We see things so similarly 🙂
I also see that unless there is dramatic change in the way the game is officiated and covered by the bias in general and in particular against Arsenal…sooner or later the PL will not have the popularity it so much thrives on right now!
There is a distinct imbalance in these two areas!!
5live led with a distasteful and poorly disguised in nature attack on Özil last night. It’s transparent, a nasty business and no can can pretend otherwise.
Very little relation to what happened on the pitch (the Football) but it fits their narrative and the propagation of their simulacrum.
They don’t like the Arsenal, don’t be kidding yourselves.
Anyone still wondering where Steve Coogan found the inspiration to create Alan Partdrige?
So glad Benzema told the CLOWNS exactly what they are and thereby dismissing their fictitious scenarios…guess now its Cavanis turn!
Very interesting that when we do posts which say anything to do with Liverpool there is always a collection of abusive comments back. Quite why anyone would actually believe that writing in to a web site run by fans of a different club, and calling other people names, would lead to publication is a matter for some debate, but anyway, we do have guidelines for publication and quite a few comments received this morning don’t fit into that profile.
I must say that for myself, if I read a Liverpool site, or indeed any other site written by fans of a particular club, that criticises Arsenal, or anything to do with Arsenal, I read it, and then, if I can’t make either a positive comment or a comment that contains serious evidence to counter their view, I leave it.
As noted the other day, we seem to be able to hold reasoned discussions with Tottenham supporters far more readily than with Liverpool supporters. And indeed I think following the last piece about Man City, I’d say we’re able to with them as well. It gets a bit tiring reading so much abuse, but as far as I could tell working through the emails, none of them actually dealt with the Bournemouth incident, which is quite a significant part of the article.
Tony,
I happened to have many Liverpool friends…who when we thrashed them last season 4-1 – was a-bit of a laugh at their expense!
This morning I spoke to several who said they were LUCKY to escape loss!
Btj
Perhaps the Lino was just an honest fool :), a fool in love with the game, who can’t do the job he is paid to do? Unlike his colleague at the other end who made similar calls correctly last night, or as a random example a cricket umpire when calling lbw calls against fast bowlers for five days in a row in the baking heat of the Caribbean, for example, say.
Or perhaps the lino’s was reading the following extract:
“Advantage to the attacker” save for when AFC are playing
-taken from the 2005 pgMOB amendment to The Rules.
finsbury
“Advantage to the” Arsenal “attacker”; that would be the day hell freezes over 🙂 🙂 🙂
Off topic…
How many of us here on Untold remember the media and the aaa – fuming/blabbing that we hadn’t signed Balloteli for the bargain price of 16odd mill – and Liverpoo had got one over us!!!
Where are they now?? and more importantly where is he (Ballo) off to AGAIN? 🙂 😉
@tunnygriff – See you responded to my post on my previous thread before I wrote it! Good. I look forward to a debate with you after the game – and anyone else who has the balls to pick their preferred XI beforehand rather than being a Hindsight Hero.
I think the differences are that you would have (compared to me) Walcott ahead of Giroud; Santi ahead of Ramsey and Mertesacker ahead of Gabriel.
Sick and tired of all the moaners.
Huge positives from yesterdays game that are being conveniently ignored because it simply does not suit the narrative.
Firstly, Arsenal were dealt a massive blow before kick off having to change both CB’s. As anyone who understands football knows, that is one position where you need stability because they operate as a pair.They were thrown in without having had time to prepare for the game together, so naturally there was a lack of understanding. This affected the entire team, as is normal. Holding a line and dealing with runners requires an understanding and that developes over time. This is why you rarely see centre backs rotated. This gave Liverpool the initiative in the first half.
Having said that, the early goal would have changed this, it would have settled them down and make no mistakes, that poor decision changed the game. In fact, the Linesman was right in line and it seems strange he could flag that offside. The goal would have bought a calmness, there would have been less need to force the ball and Liverpool would have had to open up. This was a game changer. Those who cannot see that baffle me. They either do not understand the game or want to ignore it as it doesnt suit their opinions.
The much criticised Coquelin was immense in protecting our back four and proved what an asset he is to the team. Cech too proved what a difference a top class goalkeeper makes and that he isn’t ‘past it’ as some idiots were suggesting.
After having 45 minutes behind them, I thought Chambers and Gabriel did well. Gabriel in fact looks a great player, aggressive with real pace. On the occassions when Liverpool broke on us, he made some well timed interceptions and tackles. In fact, Wenger sorted the team out at half time and there was only one team dictating the play in the second half.
We were told how difficult Benteke would be (ironically it is the moaners that do this) but he hardly had a sniff apart from the scuffed effort Cech saved. We were told Liverpool were going to give us nightmares at set pieces, well that didn’t transpire either. For all the criticism levelled at Chambers and less so Gabriel, they handled the threat well.
As for Gary Nevilles comments, he is entitled to an opinion but it is becoimng tiresome the way Wenger gets so much abuse. Wenger is a class act, never dodges a question and has created records and delivered football the likes of which we had never seen in this Jurassic Park of football, England. Yet dinosaurs like Carragher and Neville who were bought up in an era where English football is all about ‘kicking’ players, want to claim some kind of superior knowledge by harping on about big powerful players.
As for Carragher, an average player who spends more time slating Arsenal than he did on his back side whenever Henry was rnning at him. Perhaps he should look closer to home and talk about Liverpool underperforming comparing to the huge amounts they have spent. No PL Title ever, 23 years, is appalling, especially for a club that hangs onto it’s past history like a baby hangs on to a dummy.
However much the media and the pundits grate, nothing winds me up more than this plethora of armchair fans who seem to want to spend their entire time moaning through a season, instead of supporting their team. They moan win, lose or draw and have decided that nobody understands football like them. The modern football fan is an embarrassment. He boos and abuses at will and has a total inability to understand football. Go on twitter or the blogs and see the abuse and language these idiots routinely display. They cannot hide what they are.
If they cannot acknowledge what happened yesterday and just want to bash the club endlessly, then I don’t know what they are. They clearly do not understand football or the concept of being a supporter. Sick and tired of these moaners who seem unable to enjoy football as much as most of us do.
Well done Arsenal; for coping with the loss of both Centre Backs and having a geat 8th minute goal incorrectly disallowed. Should have three points in the bag, no doubt in my mind. Just ignore the moaners, you have to feel for them. They don’t get any pleasure from following football, in fact they go out of their way to find the negatives.
LT – your explanation is hypothetical bollocks! Ramsey was on side. Nothing of his was past the last defender. The assistant put his flag up after the ball had reached Ramsey who was by then past the defenders. The Goal was good & nothing can be done about it now as it was then ruled off side wrongly.
Absolutely spot on Proudkev!
Tailgunner – If you want to call an honest mistake just remember the strangle hold on Alexis by Charlie Adams. Did the media make anything of it? Did the FA do anything about it? There is no mistake. The bastards cheat. PGMO are corrupt & their officials are past their sell by date.
@proudkev,
Why Neville is ever allowed to express an opinion on football defeats me. He and his thuggish brother did monstrous GBH on Arsenal players, especially Reyes, on that night of infamy at OT, well protected by the corrupt Riley.
The Nevilles should have been prosecuted under the law of our land.
Now, through the weakness of our judicial system we have to put up with his pontificating. Not me, I have a mute button…
ptoudkev
ovation for your post mate!!!
Proudkev – spot on mate.
Walter, thanks.
I have no idea why our club is constantly being attacked. One day someone will produce a document on this because not only is it endless, it doesnt make any sense.
proudkev*** sorry typo
Bjtgooner
Are PGMO allowed to introduce technology unilaterally?
I would have thought this had to be approved by the FA & Premier League, but I could understand their (PGMOL) resistance to it
Menace
Yeah, yeah , yeah!
Whatever!
Cech saved Arsenal in this game. Pulled off 2 saves that no keeper we have had in the past 10 years could have made. Poor finishing cost us and we should have scored and won the game. We were not robbed by the ref. Revvin’ Kev has no idea why we are being attacked-If we had zero expectation- no one would complain. In order to sell tickets we do generate expectations. Perhaps the club shouldn’t- should come clean and state that if we come from behind as well as we did last season, we should make 4th place barring major injuries.
TailGunner – good silent rendition of Liverpool sound. 😉
goonergerry – whatever!
PGMOL
It is time all the clubs get together and fight this insane
PGMOL. Time to create a proper officiating body, and take away
the ability for it to manipulate games.
proudkev
For one to only see positives creates an unbalanced person.
For one to only see negatives creates an unbalanced person.
It is better to have balance and see each for what they are.
Arsenal
I had thought since Untold’s uncovering and publishing of the anti- Arsenal brigade(this includes refs, pundits, media etc) that last season we made a breakthrough and seemed, yes seemed to be getting some positive decisions.
Now it sure looks like the “agenda” has shifted it’s tactics and are operating a little more subtly.
I have had a thought that they would probably want to remove Arsenal from the PL completely. Arsenal seems to be a pain for the money orientated/big spending views of most of the football world by trying to be a self sufficient and prosperous business model.
I hope Untold keeps on highlighting these practices.
Proudkev
When you consider that AFC have been paying half the Special Agents since BEFORE AW came to the club (please note that the AAAA trolls or experts and handlers do their best to try an airbrush that understanding from the record however we all remember what happened to GG and he was just trying to copy his mates…) it makes perfect sense.
Hundreds and hundreds of millions of reasons why that is a logical consideration.
< paying approximately half the Special Agents going rates*
*is Bentake really worth the same or even close to a Sanchez? He's not fit to lace a half fit alexis' boots.
That's the real stand out observation from the game. This experienced PL forward could not take advantage of a rookie who hasn't played this year and would've been predictably nervous and rusty.
Is Bentake any better then Carroll?
Rodgers got rid of AC for a loss of £15M and then bought Benteke who's marginally better then AC for £30M+
That's hilarious!
On Balloteli:
I cannot decipher if this man is clever or stupid.
On the one hand, he does just enough that clubs would consider him and cashes the big wages for doing mostly nothing by skipping from club to club.
On the other hand he seems to be inept at playing football anymore and is deliberately ruining his career(?).
It’s a reasonabl conclusion and this is why this topic is discussed:
The meedjah coverage of the Arsenal is not OTT negative coverage, it’s not even passive aggressive, it’s simply aggressive.
They most certainly do not like the Arsenal.
On Neville, he said after the game that
(1) Ramsey’s goal should have stood
(2) Foul on Giroud was a penalty
(3) Benteke didn’t deserve a penalty
His analysis of the incidents were basically sound. Where he falls down is that he has a different view to Wenger of how the game should be played. This influences his interpretation of the facts. So while a different analyst would have pointed to Arsenal playing badly but still deserving a 2-0 win on the facts, the 0-0 draw allowed him to put forward a different point of view.
So while I disagree with him on his analysis of the game, his ability to call the incidents correctly is much better than many others on the screen.
goonergerry
“Revvin’ Kev has no idea why we are being attacked-If we had zero expectation”.
Revvin’ Kev? Great nickname that, Revvin Kev!! Cheers. The revvin bit only works though with my full name and to be honest the only people on planet earth who call me that are my parents!
I acknowledge your point regarding expectation levels. Wenger really did raise the bar for our club, didn’t he. The fact he still maintained Champions League status every season, despite the odds and predictions, hasn’t helped. Before he arrived we were happy to accept mid table finishes and boring football. He tore that all to pieces, like a hungry Lion devours a steak, and now finishing third or fourth brings some fans out in rashes. The unbeaten season is a one off, measuring up to that is impossible. Wenger is therefore beaten up based on the expectation level he created.
About the game, Gerry.
If you expect Arsenal to lose two centre backs without it having any impact on the team you are mistaken and not looking at this in a balanced way Gerry. If you also believe the Ramsey ‘goal’ being disallowed did not affect the result, you are yet again being blinkered. The whole dynamics changes after the 8th minute. You seem happy however to isolate the two Cech saves and ignore the more important instances mentioned.
If you truly beleive only Cech saved us from defeat you are yet again falling into the trap you have set for yourself. Great signing by Wenger! I would actually say that the reason we did not lose was because we were the better team and the only team to actually ‘score’ a goal. On the performance over 90 minutes, we really should have won that comfortably. Some of the finishing was poor, certainly would expect Alexis and Giroud to have buried those two chances.
What did you think of Gabriel? He looked strong in the second half and Wenger clearly sorted a few things at half time, agree?
You need to apply balance and logic. Yesterdays first half performance was fine until 15 minutes in, by which time we should have been one nil to the good. Chambers was not expecting to play, he had not had any opportunity to work with Gabriel and you could see that. As I said previously, that is the one pair you dont mess with, so that put us on the back foot. that’s a fact by the way npot an opinion. You cant blame Wenger for that, as hard as some of you may try. Cech played an important role, so too did Coquelin, two players who have had stick recently.
On the balance of play, Arsenal deserved to win. Yes we had wobbly moments in the first half and Cech did what Wenger signed him to do. I guess that if two FA Cups on the spin cannot make some people happy, then you are right the expectation level Wenger has created is the problem.
Meanwhile Liverpool, for all the money they have spent over the years, have yet to win the Premier League in 23 attempts.
ProudKev, I think that some people think you are RevinKevin from Lg some time ago,hence why you are being called that…
proudkev says:
Chambers was not expecting to play, he had not had any opportunity to work with Gabriel and you could see that.
I always thought the reserve team is meant to keep the reserves match fit and ready for 1st team action. There is no excuse for not being ready when called, so if this is the case, there is something drastically wrong.
On being told 1 hour before the game that Per and Kos being out for this game, well, :-C 😉 8-|
there was a moment in second half that I think shows Cech’s brilliant understanding of the game. The ball was with Cech and in play. Chambers was having some problems with his passing as the pitch was a little slower. Chambers looked at Cech for the ball all the time being a little circumspect. Cech understood the whole stuff and quietly turned his head away and cleared the ball.
People who write above that they expected Chambers to play like he did at the start of last season (at CB) or in the super up game against City are either not thinking clearly or are being “drastically” or perhaps melodramatically disingenious considering that the rookie player hasn’t had any minutes since the pre-season tournament.
Unless, perhaps, they expect these humans to perform like robots or alogorhitims upon their Furious Playstations?
“Liverpool team is most pure, uncut essence of Brendan Rodgers so far
Post-Gerrard, post-Balotelli, post-Sterling the manager can evolve his squad without ‘haircut players’ or leftovers from someone else’s grand plan”
This kind of fragrant tripe from the Manchester Grunt would appear to indicate that Mandy was onto something! 🙂
It appears that after having sold the Carroll for an easy £15M loss and replaced him when the equally hopeless Benteke (considering he couldn’t take advantage of Chambers’ first half trial) for the same amount you could buy an Alexis Sanchez that the writer from the Grunt could be onto something here? Or, maybe not?
Yes. Indeed. I must confess that such predictable gibberish is a complete surprise following on from yesterday.
As for why has the 4th choice CB has had the least minutes (Gabriel has played!) after two games at the start of the season of anyone in the squad, it’s not a great mystery.
Some of the comments by ‘them’ , reminds me of those bad videos of obese men twerking , and thinking that they are in tune and look cool and sexy.
I think that their mirrors are trick ones from the freak shows, and like their brains , need a reality check.
Brickfields 🙂 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psa8XvE-s5A
@ apo – That’s what I’m saying ! I quite sure many watching that would have lost their lunch ! The best part was that none encouraged him , unlike on here ,where some fools are encouraged to ‘dance’ on !
@Brickfields Gunners
August 26, 2015 at 5:00 am
😉 hahahaha