By Walter Broeckx
We normally publish the match report within an hour of the conclusion of the game. However last Sunday, Walter and a number of other utterly dedicated fans from Belgium left their homes at 2am local time to be at the match – the match you’ll recall, which courtesy of Sky was suddenly moved from Saturday at 3pm to Sunday at noon.
No compensation of course, just a change made and a situation left to the most dedicated of fans to work out what to do.
Despite that the fans from Belgium Arsenal made the trip, and Walter has now managed to make it back to Antwerp, grabbed some sleep and written his report. Here it is…
A very strong start from Arsenal.
Alexis gives the ball to the Ox who doubted for a split second between a shot on goal but as the angle went narrow he decided for a low cross that was put in corner by Simpson. The Ox with the corner and Alexis with a looping header that just went wide. Not even two minutes on the clock.
Drinkwater (he’s not that type of player, you know) with a nasty kick on the ankles of Alexis… no yellow ref? Alexis sure looked bemused… Simpson then with a kick on Alexis again nothing given. Kante with an arm away from his body stops the pass from the Ox in the penalty area… nothing given… Okazaki with a chance but he shoots over and was given offside.
Alexis with a handball in midfield in the same way as Kante a few minutes before and now the ref gives a foul for handball against Arsenal… two teams…two sets of rules Mr. Atkinson?
Ramsey is sent away but Smeichel is first on the ball way outside his penalty area, Leicester counter a cross to Vardy a low header and Cech with a super save. Still 0-0 after 15 minutes.
A few minutes with no real chances for either team till The Ox sends a low cross in from the flank and Alexis sees his shot blocked by two defenders. Giroud heads over off the head of Huth from the corner. Goal kick given. Simpson fouls Alexis without the ball and ref ignores it… Both defences dominating now. Simpson fouls Özil… Atkinson ignores it. 0-0 after half an hour.
Özil with a cross to Giroud who scores but the flag goes up for offside. A correct decision from the assistant. Coquelin makes his first foul and gets a yellow card of course. No talking to for Arsenal players…
Giroud being pulled by Huth after a corner but Atkinson sees nothing. Kante with a curling shot to the top corner but Cech with a fine save. Özil is clearly fouled by Morgan just outside the Leicester penalty area, but blind man Atkinson ignores the most obvious foul in favour of Arsenal.
Leicester starts a counter and Vardy manages to wrap his left leg around the leg of Monreal and goes down…. And of course this time Atkinson has seen a foul and gives a penalty. If the attacker sticks out his leg to make contact with the defender it is him who makes the foul.
Vardy accepts the gift from Atkinson. 0-1 in favour of Atkinson after 45 minutes. Koscielny got a card also, and so did Ramsey; not much wrong with the cards. Atkinson goes in the dressing room being booed by the Arsenal supporters for messing up once again.
Chambers came on at half time in the place of Koscielny. Within the first minute a blocked shot from Özil and a shot from Ramsey that went wide. Simpson with a foul on Alexis that is given by Atkinson… loud sarcastic cheering from the crowd. Simpson with another foul and again given and a yellow card on top.
Mahrez then dives for a penalty but I think Atkinson then has enough of it and ignores it. Should have given a card ref. Fuchs then gets a card for a late tackle on Giroud. This is now almost looking like a referee…a real one.
Cross from Monreal but Giroud heads over… Simpson then pulls Giroud back when he was beaten and to my surprise Atkinson gets out the second yellow card. Leicester has to continue with 10 for more than half an hour.
Kante stops Özil on a counter and also goes in the book. Leicester now in full time wasting mode and bringing on Wazilewski for diver Mahrez.
Coquelin not impressed by the speed of the latter going off the field. A low cross from The Ox but Alexis can’t get his shot on target. No use of a defensive midfielder any more now and Theo comes on for Coquelin. Chambers being impressive in the centre of the defence in the first 15 minutes. Still 0-1 behind after 60 minutes.
Cech with a dribble past Vardy and Arsenal now really pressing Leicester back around their own penalty area. A cross from Bellerin, Giroud heads it on to Theo who puts it past Smeichel. GOAL! 1-1 after 70 minutes.
Drinkwater then tries to break the legs of Ramsey with a fierce tackle that could have resulted in a broken leg but Atkinson back to his usual himself and no red card. Ramsey was furious, and every sensible man knows why. Cross from Alexis, Giroud’s shot is blocked by Huth’s arm and the follow up from Ramsey goes wide. Still 1-1 after 75 minutes.
Alexis with a bit of room in front of goal but his shot goes wide. Schmeichel wasting time, Atkinson waving around a bit but no card. Pointing at his clock… we will be here until the kick off for the Hull game if Atkinson adds all the time necessary to compensate for the time wasting.
Vardy goes on a counter and enters the penalty area… look out for a penalty says my match reporter… he is right…Chambers is wise and doesn’t get himself in trouble and just holds off Vardy. The shot from Kante in the end goes wide.
Alexis who hasn’t had his shooting boots on misses another chance for a good shot at goal. Ramsey with a shot but it curls wide. With 8 minutes to go Welbeck enters the field in the place of The Ox. A first match in 10 months after being kicked off the field against Liverpool. Özil and Ramsey now in midfield and the rest are all in attack. Özil with a cross and the guided header of Mertesacker goes just wide… 5 minutes to go in normal time.
Giroud with a header to Welbeck who just can’t get his foot around the ball enough and the shot ends up harmlessly in the arms of Schmeichel.
Giroud then with a shot and a super save from Schmeichel and not a minute later a header but again Schmeichel can stop it. Ramsey then with a shot but wide… time ticking away now… Giroud with a cross but now Theo cannot connect properly followed by more time wasting…
Four minutes extra time… you got to be joking… the Huth heads in corner but Atkinson gives a goal kick… Giroud tries to play in Theo but a Leicester leg first to the ball. Alexis with a curling shot but Schmeichel just like Cech with a fine save.
Corner to Arsenal headed away and then Wasilewski with an arm in the face of Monreal on the right hand side of the field. Free kick to Arsenal.
Özil behind the ball with an inviting cross and….. Welbeck with the glancing header…. GOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL to Arsenal!!!!!! 2-1 to the Arsenal in the final seconds of the match.
Danny Welbeck after having been out for 10 months with a winner in the last seconds of the match… fairy tale stuff… The eruption of noise inside the Emirates is something I have never witnessed before. Simply amazing…
Arsenal win 2-1 against Leicester and go within two points of the league leaders.
————-
Highs and lows from the anniversary files
- 16 February 2011: Arsenal 2 Barcelona 1 – a match which raised the hopes of a return to form for Arshavin who scored. Van Persie got the other.
- 16 February 2013: Arsenal 0 Blackburn 1. FA Cup Round 5. Blackburn had one shot; the referee was Mike Dean and his performance was considered somewhat “unbalanced” by some commentators.
- The media, the dinosaurs and the English antidote to skilful football. (Contains adult content that may be distressing to lovers of football)
- Arsenal v Leicester – Sunday 14 February – The Match Officials: this could be a problem.
The Untold Books
The latest Untold book is Arsenal: The Long Sleep 1953-1970 with a Foreword by Bob Wilson, available both as a paperback and as a Kindle book from Amazon. Details of this and our previously published titles can be found at Arsenal Books on this site.
Coming soon on Untold: John Radford on his early years in football.
The same ref offciated the return fixture between Spurs and MC. In the first game,Pellgrini complained two of the Spurs goals were os. He had a point.Now a dodgy penalty sealed City’s fate.
Similarly Arsenal had grounds against Atkinson after the penalty. The win made all complaints irrelevant.
My take is these mo shd be held accountable with such high stakes.
The FA shd look into why managers complained against mo.
Of course the winner aint have any cause.So instead of fining or muzzling the managers,the FA shd take a proactive approach.In this way the mo will be on their toes.
But you never know. Some may not want Arsenal to win the epl and that’s why you will always have controversial decisions.
The only way to stop it for the FA to take action against errant officials.Demoting them aint good enough.
To be really effective some shd be suspended for alonger period where it hurts: in the pockets.
That is assuming the FA is neutral.
The reff was awful, was he not the same reff that celebrated a goal against Arsenal in a game he was officiating. Premier League best league in the world indeed.
As per the ref preview of this game I thought we would not get anything from this ref. The first half was absolutely disgraceful and as being a season ticket holder at the Emirates I made sure that the referee knew he was being watched. From the first few minutes I was calling out cheat bent etc etc.A lot of people of people around me as per usual looking around and thinking he’s started that early but by the time the phantom penalty was given most were on my side. It’s strange but with some people most blogs included they are very happy to get on the team’s back while not looking at the bigger picture. it can be no coincidence that in 90 pct of fixtures you know how the referee will perform. When we win I think it would make a bigger statement to officially complain about the referees. Surely with all technology Arsenal have access to it wouldn’t take long to show how we are constantly cheated against in every game.
At the moment I am still contemplating on giving up my season ticket next season after 30 years as I see the contest cheating by pgmo ruining my enjoyment of the game totally. At the moment the premiership seems so bent that I can’t really be bothered anymore
Moments like the end of this game are amazing when you are at the stadium. So even though Walter had to put up with the game being moved and a horrific performance from the PIGMOB, I know it was all worth it, he is probably still smiling!
By the way, I have been reading this site religiously for about 18 months. Thanks for making me realize I wasn’t the only one who was seeing odd refereeing decisions. I enjoy reading the comments as much as the articles.
Monday night on BBC Radio Arsenal were accused of ‘over celebrating’!
Nothing about what a great noise Arsenal supporters made at the Elms.
Nothing about the one sided refereeing.
Just derision, after derision. Sometimes the ‘unbiased BBC’ is no different from that other rubbish station.
It reminds me of the scene in animal
Sorry the mother in law interrupted me!
I had to leave my comment and some one pressed the post comment.
Near the end of animal Farm the animals go to the farm house and they cannot tell the difference between the pigs and the humans.
My point is that the the ‘unbiased’ BBC is no different from the rubbish station with its agenda of only broadcasting what its thinks will promote its cause.
Comments from the ‘experts’ about the penalty –
” He ( Vardy )had every right to ..( attempt contact)’
” Monreal was naive , leaving his foot there ..”
” The ref was right in awarding the penalty . “
@ colario February 16, 2016 at 7:57 am – ‘ some one ?’ , Charles ?
People in power do come to resemble their past masters . Just like that old mis -quip about politicians – ” He has a private face and a pubic face !”
Get ready it is Dean for the weekend . I am sure he will get the reception he deserves.
Should follow his example in showing his displeasure !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5HaLo95ufw
The problem for me isn’t the penalty given but rather Monreal stuck his foot out. You’re giving the ref a decision to make, and in a splite second, he could get it right or he could get it wrong. It all depends on his interpretation and his angle of view. This is where video replay can really benfit the game.
The most annoying thing for me is when we do get fouled, more often then not, the ref calls it back and not playing advantage. This is what gets me the most. On more then a few occasions for the pass few games, we were denied the opportunity and the game stoped even when we had the ball and moving up field. By the time we take the free kick, all of their players are already back and waiting.
Andy,
I was looking for the appointments yesterday and couldn’t find them. I had a horrible feeling last week that we would get him. Makes my ref preview very easy!
Andy L,
I still ant find the appointments listed, could you please post a link to where you saw the announcements. I said Dean in a post on the Bournemouth ref review on the 12th.
motd 2.get this .from sherwood.he had every right to basically con the referee.nothing as to whether it was or wasn’t a penalty.vardy was doing his job!to cheat.no mention of mares like wise down the other end.another dive.theymotd 2 ignore Kate’s handball in box & drinkwater is a nice lad( just like shawcross)for the attempted leg break.instead they single out Sanchez who was being repeatedly fouled by Simpson etc as the wrongdoer for finally getting so pissed off about Atkinson doing nothing.they then berate Ramsey for his anger.unbelevable.but then you could tell they were absolutely gutted we nicked it.
On a side note.glad to hear the ems crowd finally putting pressure on one of “the dodgy refs” we get.you know the hardcore 6/7 headed by dean.this should be done from the off,every game.letting the pgmo know that we know what they’re up to.
Dean for Hull, is it?
Think the right way to look at that is as a rehab sort of game.
He probably won’t be good for us and won’t be able to resist letting Hull kick us a fair bit, but the main aim will be to test the waters, get that first game back out of the way, and avoid huge controversy.
If they were being really devious and clever, the right move would be unusual generosity for us, maybe even a big wrong decision in our favour. That would stir things nicely in the media and leave things set up for them to say we’ve no right to complain if we subsequently get some bad ones against us in key upcoming games.
The key thing is that it must have been hard and infuriating for Riley to be without a key weapon since that Chelsea game- there’s only so many times you can use Atkinson and Taylor and none of the others can be trusted to that level (Moss is doing good work this year, Mason was impressive the other day but can he really be relied upon?)- he needs his Dean back and, enjoyable as our cup exit would be, the league is king and it would be counter productive to have huge controversy again which could rule him out of the run in.
Utd, Spurs, Everton, West Ham and City away, these games are where the battle will surely be lost and won. Riley will want Atkinson, Dean, Taylor for at least three of them. Perhaps Moss and Mason for the others.
I’m not ruling out a penalty in this one- for us!
Thanks Walter.
I’m hoping you’ll report about the travel, the ArsBelg meeting & members (some couldn’t come due to changed KO time?), the catering, and especially – very definitely – your comprehensive assessment of the supporters – during the whole game, and at the end.
C’mon. Get your finger out.
Please.
Andrew this is the link http://s8.zetaboards.com/ratetheref/topic/8562381/1/ good luck with the preview
Great day, shit ref, got to love the collective media sulk…..including, sadly, some of our ex players afterwards.
Mention Judas, we think of Cesc, Nasri, Stapleton, RVP. And others. Starting to put some of our exes in the media into this category, perhaps worse than the players in some cases, not for speaking honestly, but for clearly and shamelessly towing a media line against a club and manager who has done so much for them.
No harm in free speech, but those who would damage the club, and manager use them to add validity to some pretty extreme points of view….sorry, hatred. Those with influence have the same free speech as us all in this country, but need to be careful what they say, and who is listening, and if need be, keep your mouth shut, as the Royal family found out to their benefit.
Andrew,
Here it is from their official site.
http://www.thefa.com/news/the-fa-cup/2016/feb/fifth-round-proper-officials-150216
Dean it is.
I notice that the Oliver boy has been awarded the League Cup Final and as a consequence will not be available for our away game at Man Utd. I thought Cup Finals were a reward for the senior referees so a convenient appointment to avoid another sensible refereeing display at Old Trafford.
Well the good news is that there will be no Dean or Atkinson at Old Trafford available then as they can’t send them twice in a week/14 days for the same team.
I hope the crowd will let Dean know what they think about him from the first decision he has to make….
Taylor will still be available though. And clatteenburg hasn’t been that great for us either. Anyway, its not like any of this bunch would do us any favours, just a case of hoping for one that’s least likely to be blatantly biased.
Meanwhile the Tinys get a penalty out of absolutely nothing (Rose was a disgrace to con the ref) while the constantly fouled Giroud cannot buy a penalty.
The Tinys also won away courtesy of an offside goal (can’t remember which game)while the wrongly disallowed goal by Rambo against Liverpool robbed us of two valuable points.
Lost respect for the cheating Vardy and Mahrez. Leicester got what they deserved. Nothing.
Can’t stand this bias against us whether intentional or not.
Andy L
Good spot with Oliver. We’re already in the territory where it’s weird we haven’t had one of the best refs, from a small pool of available officials, since August, but I wouldn’t bet on seeing him any time soon.
I imagine he kills Riley. The favourite son spot is there for him if he will just make a few important adjustments, but he can’t afford to punish him as he’d like to because of the chronic shortage of good refs and, besides, it would be too conspicuous.
40 : 60 he does one of our games this year while the title is alive for us, and if Riley does reluctantly relent it’ll surely be for Norwich or Swansea at home. Actually, nah, 20: 80. Just don’t think he can bear to give us a better ref with the title situation being as it is.
Expect to see lots more refereeing performances with weighted scores below 50%. Will anyone be able to beat the lowest score so far this year of 34% though?
Listening on TalkSport Alan Brasil with Dan Murphy show yesterday it was unbelievable how Dan were so biased against Arsenal, I understand the love for Leicester to win and all that but you got to give fair comments. He was saying Kante handball incident wasn’t handball because it was at point blank so no chance to react but if you watched the replay it was clear Kante moved his arms towards the ball to block, then the penalty he said definitely penalty, this on reflection it’s a 50/50 if was live so can’t blame referee but on replay it was no penalty, then the red card he said it’s wrong, the two fouls shouldn’t even been yellow cards, ok maybe it was harsh but I think referee got fed up with Simpson keep doing minor fouling hence why he gave red. Then he think Leicester was the better team until the red card incident and if the match was 11 vs 11 Leicester would probably have won. Now having watch the match on TV with replays I am sure Arsenal was the dominant team from start to finish, granted the team couldn’t find the net but if you keep knocking the probability of scoring is high, so not sure how Leicester probably would have won the match without red card, best scenerio would probably be a draw. It’s a good show but sometimes it’s so frustrating to listen to biased commentary, this include towards other clubs not just Arsenal. They love talking about LVG, can they just leave the man alone.
The agenda is clear,
Assist the opposition in getting a result against Arsenal, when that is done, even out the game when it will be impossible for Arsenal to get a win.
I still maintain: had Atkinson had any clairvoyance to know Arsenal would win, he wouldn’t have awarded the red card.
I reckon we’ll get a pretty even handed performance from Dean as he’ll be under the spotlight and then he’ll be revert to form after that when we have a tough game.
I have to admit, like SeaGoon, I’ve lost some respect for Vardy and Mahrez. I thought it was perfect Karma that we scored the winner as a direct result of yet another thuggish challenge by Leicester.
@ Polo
I personally thought the handball was a penalty but as the saying goes, “you’ve seen them not given”. What pissed me off so much was that, as Walter pointed out, the exact same offence (and possibly from slightly closer) saw Alexis penalised a few minutes later……….not to mention the Spuds getting a pen when the player wasn’t even looking at the ball
I don’t really have a problem with the penalty other than it should have been a free kick to us in the lead up to it.
However I have a real problem with the twats…. sorry, the pundits celebrating Vardy buying the penalty.
They should all be rather embarrassed that he bought it instead of making an effort to score. The guy has been picked for the England squad but doesn’t have the class to stay on his feet and make an attempt on goal…. Really embarrassing.
In my earlier post I want to say that the media make it sound like Arsenal was lucky to win the match when Arsenal was the unlucky recipient of bad decisions that would have cost us the game. Had Arsenal had the handball penalty it would have made Leicester to be more open and the match could have been like the first match.
This petition against Dean never to ref a Arsenal game again with 106 thousand signatures, did it ever get sent anywhere or was it a just a waste of time?
One last thing from me.
I see the media have all stopped talking about how important it is for the top clubs to do well against each other. I’m sure that used to be a constant topic of conversation when our record wasn’t that good.
Could that possibly be because Arsenal are streets ahead in the table among the top five clubs P7 W4 D1 L0 Pts 13 with the second placed club way behind on P7 W2 D3 L2 Pts 9 and an City languishing in last on a meagre two points from six games?
We’re averaging 2.6 points per game in that league with the next best only 1.3 and the poor old Oilers on a magnificent 0.3 points per game
We are talking about men with no honour at all. How do they sleep? It has become so farcical that even the neutrals can’t deny it any more. Then Danny Mills decides to blame Pires for starting diving in the UK. I mean talk about ridiculous. Our ex players need to shout out how the referees are bent as nine bob notes. How they are told to have an anti-Arsenal slant on everything. We are basically not going to put up with the most pathetic and childish shite that football in this country has ever seen. These aren’t men, they are mice. They cannot hold their heads up. Arsenal have been a joy to watch since Wenger took over and they should really be ashamed of themselves. If there is cooked money involved and they are threatened, then I sympathise. But better to retire, giving a statement about how corrupt the game has become than have to live with themselves spouting rubbish to an agenda and bringing the game into disrepute. Like many on here, I have faith that the truth will out and I just hope it is quick and we should do everything we can to hasten that. The sooner corruption is stamped out of this game, the better for all. Send the bloodhounds from the FBI in, they’ll teach them a lesson, like they are doing with FIFA. It is just as criminal, when hundreds of millions of people tune in each week to watch a pantomime of corrupt refereeing, followed by a pantomime of post-match commentary. I salute the few who still have honour and hope that they prevail. Yes, we won the last game but all the more reason to point out how the ref was biased. Most on here wouldn’t want to win because of bent refs..
Sally Pally, Franny Lee was diving a long time before Klinsman, who was also quite a few years before Pires, but as Danny Mills is a bit limited in the intelligence dept (even by footballer standards), so he probably can’t remember anything before Pires…
I was not happy with the reckless tackle that Schmichael made on Ramsey. He only got the ball because Ramsey pulled clear to avoid collision.
Danny Mills is an absolute biased idiot. He makes like he is Gods gift to football commentary (another northern bully boy). As for our ex players who have lost their balls & sing some strange verses, there is no word to describe them.
@Sally Pally
When I saw that Danny Mills comment I looked up his red card record and came across this report in The Telegraph, December 2007. Tells you all you need to know about him as a footballer and his lack of self-awareness. It was Charlton 1 Hull 1 and the piece was headlined: “Danny Mills up to old tricks for Charlton”. His own manager and the oppo sum him up well, as does the reporter. Not fit to lace Bobby’s boots:
“Anyone hoping for a repeat of the 20-man fracas that scarred the previous meeting between these two sides was ultimately disappointed. But for fans of the rough stuff, there is always Danny Mills.
The Charlton right-back could start a brawl in a Buddhist monastery and on Saturday he displayed the full repertoire of football’s dark arts. His rampage of dirty tackles, play-acting and foul language was finally brought to an end by a 72nd-minute red card.
“Eccentric” was the euphemism Charlton manager Alan Pardew chose to describe Mills. The Hull manager, Phil Brown, was less polite. “The referee has a hard enough job, and for players to try to con him into showing cards is poor form,” he said.
Mills, who had just returned from suspension, will now be banned from the last two games of his loan period from Manchester City. Pardew had been hoping to extend the loan, but that now looks unlikely. “I’ve got to absorb the events of the day because, in all honestly, I don’t want my team to act in that manner,” he said.”
Percy, what a great quote.
Sally Pally – I agree.
I’ll be at the match on Saturday, everybody, primed to shout at the first sign of Dean’s tricks.
menace don’t call them bully boys call them lack of skill or ignoanus footballer
Sally Pally/Percy
Nice piece about the Mills article on Arseblog today…..
http://arseblog.com/2016/02/from-the-good-danny-welbeck-to-a-bad-danny-mills/?