Xhaka sending off proves Untold is right about anti-Arsenal bias

Posted on by WalterBroeckx

By Walter Broeckx

As I sat in the stadium for this match I had to form my first opinion on the sending off based on the view from the upper corner above the Burnley fans. As the foul was made on Dufour, whom I know from Belgium, I thought he was overdoing his reaction. I think he did. Because that is what he does.

I found that the tackle at first sight had to be filed under the comment: “don’t commit such a tackle over there on the field. No need for this. No need for this at all. Just stay on your feet and run behind the ball and try to recover it or make a little foul on the player that would get in possession after Dufour passed the ball.” But Xhaka dived in and made contact. So a red card CAN be given.

Based on what happened thereafter …it looks harsh. If the ref had applied the same hard line for every other foul worthy of a red card there would have been a few more sending offs. Mustafa was caught in the face a few times with an arm and elbow flying around. But not even a yellow card was given. But no problem. It just proves that Untold is right and has been right for a few years.

We had the boot in the face of Koscielny that won us the penalty. Again no red card given. But a high foot against the face of an opponent…. if that is not a red card…. then when is it a red card? I think Moss didn’t even give a yellow card. But no problem. It just proves that Untold is right and has been right for a few years. (I leave the offside decision for the ref review 😉 – don’t want to give it all away yet).

But back to Xhaka. Xhaka didn’t dive in from a long distance so the force he applied was rather small. And that is the difference between using excessive force.  Or just being reckless. So a  bit of a borderline tackle. But the red card can be given. No problem.

It just proves that Untold is right and has been right for a few years.

Now how does this prove that Untold is right and has been? Well it shows that refs know the laws and know how to apply them. Moss is even an expert in this. Alas… the big problem is…. that he only seems to know it when an Arsenal player is making the foul. The other way round is no problem of course as he showed in this match even.

But it seems that as Untold has been proving for a few years now that there are two different kind of measuring sticks being used in the PL. Is the foul done by an Arsenal player: no lenience and red cards are given. If the fouls happen in other matches and by other players: no problem.

Just look at these images below.

Rojo diving in from a distance throwing himself towards the Cyrstal Palace player with both feet and going high in the air. Result? A yellow card. Tell me what was the worst foul? Rojo or Xhaka? Xhaka diving close to the ground or Rojo flying in from a distance ? Well according to the referees from the PGMO the Xhaka foul was far worse as he deserved a red card. Rojo got away with it. No problem. It just proves that Untold is right and has been right for a few years.

Look at this

Oh look the same player. Diving in again from a distance with both feet off the ground. The Everton player came in over the ground by the way. And again according to the PGMO referees no red card had to be given. No problem. It just proves that Untold is right and has been right for a few years.

And here another one.

Look at Barkley going in with his studs just above the ankle from the Liverpool player. No red card given. And Dean was praised by all and everyone for not giving a red card. Bizarre ain’t it? Yes it is in fact.  Look at the distance between the ball and where the tackle is made. But no red card is saying the PGMO referee. No problem. It just proves that Untold is right and has been right for a few years.

The Xhaka sending off and these quickly gathered situations prove that Untold is right. For years we have been saying that Arsenal players are treated differently from other teams. We have gathered evidence for years that there is an (almost open) anti-Arsenal bias. Based on years of gathering evidence. People like to brush this away. Saying we are biased. Well we might be biased but we surely aren’t the only ones.

That Untold is biased is no problem. We openly admit that we are Arsenal supporters. But the PGMO referees should be neutral. And yet we can find evidence after evidence after evidence after evidence…. that support our finding for years. And I want to remind you that the anti-Arsenal bias was the biggest when we did the reviews with referees who didn’t support Arsenal.

We have been saying that Arsenal players are treated differently by most referees for years. And this incident once again confirms it.

I can understand the furious reactions from some fans when they see the Xhaka sending off and feel hard done by. But I do admit that from the referee review point of view I don’t have a big problem with this sending off…. if it weren’t for the fact that other players as shown in this article can do what they want without being send off.

It just proves what we have been saying for years and what we find again this season: there is something strange going on when referees do Arsenal matches. And that explains the reactions from people that don’t agree with this sending off. And they even do have a point. A big point in fact. Because if referees would apply the same non-leniency towards other teams as they do when Xhaka commits such a foul, we would accept it easily. But now people see and feel the difference and that is what makes people angry.

I just say: No problem. It just proves that Untold is right and has been right for a few years. And feeling right makes you feel good.

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62 Replies to “Xhaka sending off proves Untold is right about anti-Arsenal bias”

  3. A little footnote….

    There have been tons more straight red card challenges that have been seen/unseen by the refs and went unpunished by the refs this season. The ones shown above are some of them.

    The only notable straight red card challenges have been punished this season are

    1. Xhaka (Arsenal) vs. Swansea (Was debatable, discussed long ago here in the ref review)
    2. Xhaka (Arsenal) vs. Burnley
    3. Vardy (Leicester) vs. Stoke
    4. Aguero (Man City) vs. Chelsea
    5. Simon Francis (Bounremouth) vs. Arsenal (Was debatable, wait for ref review to be published)
    6. Arnautovic (Stoke) vs. Southampton
    7. Fernandinho (Man City) vs. Burnley

    Those are 7 straight reds awarded this season up to Week 22 for possible straight red challenges.

    Now in our ref reports (with video proof) up to Week 15… There has been nearly 109 straight red challenges that have gone unpunished during the games and that is excluding 7 Weeks of football.

    P.S Not a single player from Man U or Spuds given a straight red card this season when in reality they have been most serial unpunished offenders.

  4. ***By saying that “excluding 7 Weeks of football” I meant that the current match week completed is Week 22 and the ref reports we have published are up to Week 15… so the difference is 7 weeks of football not reviewed yet.

  5. Absolutely bang on the money and as you say not a knee jerk reaction – you’ve been pointing this stuff out for years and years.

  6. I’m in no doubt, anyway.

    The eternal frustration, however, is that it is impossible to prove it with something like mathematical or scientific certainty- purely because of (a) the human element (refs see it once, at full speed, from whatever viewpoint they happen to have), and (b) no two incidents are precisely the same.

    In short, you cannot prove that an Arsenal player would have got reds for the challenges above which received yellows, nor can you prove another player would have escaped red for Xhaka’s challenges. It cannot be proved with certainty, ever (unless one of the bastards gets bugged/hacked, etc by Murdoch or something*)

    But, nonetheless, the tantalisations of definitive proof are extreme. We have all built up a massive portfolio of games and actions over the years, we have certain cast iron facts- penalties given, cards, bookings per card, etc- in the shape of statistics which offer serious support to our beliefs something is wrong.

    We watch challenges like Cahill’s or Carroll’s and see they have to be reds, though perhaps we’re sure they won’t be, and sure enough they aren’t; meanwhile if our players give them an opportunity, as with Xhaka’s most recent one , we know what is almost certain to follow, as with nearly any half credible penalty claim for the opposition.

    We know it. We’ve seen it. We can predict it. No matter how much rivals deny it, we know for absolute certain there are clubs who are far dirtier than us in the league, yet who do far better with referees.

    Being right brings me little comfort, unfortunately. It’s a dirty old business and, for reasons we can only speculate about or intelligently (hopefully) investigate, we are not well treated by it.

    Fuck em. Even after all this, the next game keeps me going. The next game may see us be absolutely screwed over, but we may still succeed. Then there’s the next game after that.

    * I expect he probably has bugged/hacked one or two in the past (players, managers, head of PFA, royalty, so why not them?), there’s no reason he wouldn’t have. I also expect if he found anything usable he would, as with the rest, weigh up how best to use it. In this hypothetical case he would hurt his own business by revealing it, so it would be used in other ways, hypothetically.

  8. In the early part of the first half, there was a blatant kick to Xhakas legs (no attempt to play the ball) from behind that annoyed him enough for him to square up to Defour who then pushed Xhaka. This was within 10 yards of Moss who didn’t see a thing (corrupt cheat that he is) & proceeded to talk to both the kicker & the kicked while offering shaving foam to measure 10 yards. It was a red card offence doubled but not one of the media pundits mentions it. This occurred before our first goal.
    You are spot on Walter years of evidence & shameless officiating goes on.

  9. The way forward, the club needs to put its lawyers on standby incase the FA judge Wenger as to the wishes of the media rather than in terms of the alleged offence, or precedents. The manager, players and the supporters who actually want the team to do well need to use this to create a siege mentality. In the coming weeks, emboldened by 100% certain media complicity, the PGMOL will send familiar refs to do their worst by Arsenal, a siege mentality might see them through. We know who and what our team will get at Chelsea , White Hart Lane, Stoke and Southampton, they must be ready
    The players have to be careful,in the middle of the pitch, if need be, pull a player down as opposed to going to ground, the former cannot really result in more than a yellow. If they are genuinely fouled in the area or hit by an elbow, hit the deck asap. It has come to this, it really has.
    The one good thing to come out of this, more and more are questioning referee standards it seems.About time. The media at the moment want to protect the refs, that will change when some clogger seriously injures an Alli, Kane or other darling. You cannot hide forever Mike, something will come home to roost if you choose to bury your head in the sand…or worse

  10. Usama
    I think I am right in saying that both the red cards against Xhaka have been issued by Moss.
    It would be interesting to see how many of the not given 109 red card offences were down to Moss and compare them to the ones he gave Xhaka.
    I would put money on him having let similar challenges go for other teams with yellows or even nothing at all.

  11. Spot on article Walter, it really bewilders me how most people dont see that.

    Take my dad for example, hes been an arsenal fan for almost 50 years but hates the french (well except their food, their whine, their …)
    And so whenever Arsenal get the rub of the green or get away with something he calls for murder, allways gets Mr. Wanker in the middle of it aswell (as he likes to call him.. sigh), and then whenever I show evidence of what we get against us, like game 50 for example, he grins and says this is a mans game, not a womans game like that frenchie likes it, or something do that effect. And while saying all that #$@! he manages to say that very serieusly, as if he means it.

    We used to have big fights, now i just laugh it off and tell him to stop being silly.

  12. MickHazel,

    Jon Moss has failed to send off players 7 times for straight red card challenges up to Week 15 (He officiated 11 games up to Week 15)

    Anymore questions from anyone are welcomed.

  14. Walter/Usama:

    You’re preaching to the converted. The reason it keeps happening is because PGMOB is not responsible to anyone except themselves. They do what they like, against whoever they like, and for the benefit of who they like. If they were a a political party, Riley’s christian name would probably be Adolf, Benito or Kim Jong.

  16. I can understand it’s a ‘By the book’ red and IIRC a ref sent off a $iteh player (one of the Ferdys) a few weeks back for something pretty similar. But this was pretty much a standing start (so little momentum) and I’ve seen an awful lot more of those tackles made with a bit more movement, result in a Yellow or no card.
    Marneys tackle on Ozil was far worse as it was two feet off the ground, out of control AND at speed (therefore ‘with momentum’), but Ozil didn’t roll around on the ground and the ref only deemed that worthy of a yellow…
    Jon Moss is a 3rd rate official…

  17. Yes! Keep it up good sirs! Scream it from rooftops and eaves across Britain. This is DISGRACEFUL. EVERY SINGE GAME it is blatant uneven officiating as it pertains to Arsenal.

    The question I ask is why. Dear god, why?!?! What is it Arsenal have done to turn the media and pgmo against them.? Was it that they raised the standard of football, of fitness and of training across the country? Is it that they try to do things the right way, spend money the right way? Is it because they strive to treat all employees like family? Or is it just that they are run by an erudite Frenchman which the British seemed hard wired to mistrust. Please, Walter, Sir Hardly, anyone… please write of the HISTORY OF THE AAB ! I must know why these bald round frumps of men seem incapable of impartiality when the team in Red and White is involved?!?!

  19. Eric

    I thought I had it a bit tough, with a dad who has different religious beliefs to me (he has strong belief, I have none) but I reckon you got me beat there.

    I’d find that hard to deal with. Glad to hear you’ve learned to accept it though. Family is even more important than Arsenal!

  21. I like your comment Norman.One thing I did notice about Sunday, was the pure joy and togetherness when we won.I hope we continue this and have a siege mentality
    One big and even bigger problem now, will be all the tossers in black will be even more anti us.Please do not underestimate this.
    ALL the media are calling for AW to be banned for 8 matches.

  22. Andy

    Marney’s had potential to be most dangerous challenge of the game, certainly most reckless, but in the end, by fortune rather than design, I don’t think it was.

    That honour for me was when Mee used near full force swiping at the ball at speed and smashing hard into Giroud’s leg. Had big potential to hurt Giroud, that one.

    Xhaka’s held almost no potential to cause injury as far as I could see.

    Even if the player had just stood there, which no player or even person is ever likely to do when they have a front on view of someone sliding into them, the danger of injury looks minute to me.

    Generally speaking, nearly all bad injuries occur when a player, either by being committed to a movement or because of limited viewpoint, cannot adjust or get out of the way of an object (body, arm, leg, head) coming towards them with force.

    Think every one of our serious injuries- Diaby, Eduardo, Wilshere, Ramsey, Cazorla, Welbeck, Theo- fits that description.

    In short, there was no danger of injury from Xhaka’s challenge, but there certainly was from Mee and Marney, and the two elbows, and even, though to a far lesser extent, the achilles scrape early on or the kick Xhaka received from Defour.

  23. Tell Wenger to talk explicitly and eloquently to the media and after a couple of suspension and some fines things will go straight.
    Learn from Moaninho….it does nit help to apologise and be silent.

  24. The pgmo may be corrupt, useless, you name it. But what is the motive for organised anti-arsenal bias by officials? Who benefits?
    Do you not think that after years of organised anti arsenal bias we would have a whistleblower, and evidence of corruption?

  25. GoingGoingGooner
    Have a look here …… https://companycheck.co.uk/company/04195554/PROFESSIONAL-GAME-MATCH-OFFICIALS-LIMITED/contact#company-addresses
    According to them the registered address is Wembley Stadium.
    Best of luck if you want to contact them by phone or email as no info available on either, as well as no web site or name of a contact person within the organisation.
    All highly secretive.
    Maybe a good old fashioned letter sent PGMOL, Wembley Stadium may reach them but you would almost certainly never know as I doubt an acknowledgement or reply would be forthcoming.

  26. My View
    One leg round the back of dufour and a bit of a clumsy challenge that connects with Dufours foot
    So why then does he roll around holding his shin where there was no contact
    Linesman who was 5 yards from not spotting a clear penalty to us now gets involved to send our player off
    An absolute disgrace of a day for the oficials

  27. I concur with Walter on the expulsion, it could have gone either way but the linesman influenced Mosses’ decision and that is fine by me, as he was better placed than Moss to see the incident. The late penalty call is without doubt a fair decision as there was no offside whatsoever and the foul was dangerous and reckless….always a penalty in the area! I think it was the same linesman that advised Moss to award a penalty for us at the death so it raises two questions:

    1) Why is the linesman better placed to see serious misconduct or fouls than Moss?

    2) why is Moss relying on the same linesman to do his job?

    Curioser and curioser!

  28. Luscious Lisa…..fundamental questions and UA have been trying to decipher the mystery behind why all this is happening, for over 7 years!

    a)Why don’t you do some research on sites likes Football is fixed, or the Interpol website, or the FIFA website where incidents like Calpolecelli and other rampant referee corruption is discussed.

    b) Why don’t you write to or call the PIGMOB, or the EPL or the FA and ask these questions?

  29. Rich the strangest thing about that uncarded hack on Giroud if it’s the one from be first half is that the pgMOB racketeer didn’t allow the player to receive any physio: just to, you know, reinforce the lack of a card. Totally bizzare!

    The kind of official that you’d expect to see spray himself in the face when using his white line marker…

  31. Moss was also the pgMOB representative who somehow missed a two handed push in the back of Alexis at Norwich last season, deliberately pushing the player into a pitch side pit and badly injuring the player.

    Wasn’t even called as a foul.

    There it is boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen:

    pgMOB Rules (OK?) football
    It’s a variable football code, just not association football as you know it!

  32. with this kind of crappy officiating it’s no wonder viewership is on the decline. i can’t imagine the people who run the premier league are so daft they can’t see a connection between crooked refereeing and the decline of their product. does that mean you have to be stupid to be successful? works for some i guess.

  33. Xhaka’s not exactly having the best week of his life is he. Latest is that he’s been questioned at Heathrow over some “racist abuse”. Probably nothing much at all, but they love to build these things up when someones down.

  34. The problem Arsenal has with Xhaka is that he is now firmly in the notebooks of all referees, as a candidate for regular red-carding.
    Rather like Vieira was at the start of his career in England.
    Patric sorted himself out eventually and it will be up to Xhaka to do the same.
    Otherwise I fear for his future in the English game. 😉

  35. Reports suggesting Xhaka called someone a white bitch……loses its effect and likelihood a bit with Xhakas racial group…if it ever even happened?

    Seems they are out to get him, but Wenger will look after him, he is a very decent player

  36. Just seen a few stills of Moss after this weekends game….know stills can be taken out of context, but the guy looks traumatised, especially with Barnes yelling into his face….unpunished of course.
    We actually have a decent record under Moss, perhaps despite recent performances, but the question , is Moss mentally strong enough to referee an Arsenal game in the future.? Genuinely believed he has tried to do us against Swansea and Burnley, but, isn’t even any good at doing us either.. not sure what function he plays in football any more

  37. The only arbiter in this corrupt mess is the Fraud Squad. They have the power to find the money & its source. They can also examine each officials underpants to check for wires & tazers in case somebody is working them remotely. Dean must have had some tazer to make him jump for joy when we lost to Birmingham a few years ago.

    This cheating will not stop until Trump or Sugar says ‘your fired’ to the FA.

  38. Great article Walter – fully agree with your comments.

    But, what more can be done to assist AW right now and further to help preserve our season from the obvious intentions of the PGMO to wreck us for once and for all?

  39. Finsbury

    It’s all pretty damn messed up, to say the least.

    One way officials certainly aren’t helped, and our cause is undoubtedly hurt, is that if there is ever a challenge from us with the vaguest hint of a red to it, then it’s almost certain the opposition will react strongly, crowding the ref,etc; conversely, our reaction to bad fouls is normally subdued (understandably- we’re not coached to do it, and the knowledge must permeate into our players that it wouldn’t work for us).

    Anyway, it’s not very likely one of ours would make a challenge like the one on Giroud (Gabriel has it in him, I suppose), but if they did, opposition players would be on the scene quickly, perhaps to an extent the ref was forced to stop play. Then the physio, complaints still raging, player still on the ground…even for a clean competent ref, the chance of a card would increase dramatically.

    And that’s with a clean, competent ref!

    Where it all becomes inexplicable to me, by normal means, is that these referees endlessly review their games and performances.

    Their actions could be excused if somehow they went through their training without actually encountering players and games, and then had their minds wiped after each game. In other words, if they were not fully armed with the knowledge of how players try to pressure them constantly into incorrect decisions, or any of the other means of cheating.

    Their performances could make a kind of sense, though still be poor, if they were not familiar with the teams in question here, and hadn’t previously had the chance to look back and think, ‘damn, got that wrong. Alli tricked me.’ Or, for our games ‘jeez, i was poor today; misjudged the severity of a lot of the fouls on Arsenal; and, hmm, was I swayed by the reaction of the players? Disappointing, but you live and learn!’

    Obviously, though, that is not the case. They have all the experience they have but continue to act as they do.

  40. Rich -‘ Where it all becomes inexplicable to me, by normal means, is that these referees endlessly review their games and performances.’

    Now that is absolute bollocks as far as I’m concerned. These swine don’t review anything unless there is a media outcry. The FA & the media allowed a choke hold on Alexis to go unaccounted. What a damned stupid statement you make!

    They are corrupt cheats & do not deserve to be allowed anywhere near sport. Get real.

  41. Agree with you assessment of the game and allits attendant incidents, Walter. As was watching the game , I felt sure that there was going to be a twist in the tale . Especially as the other contenders’ results were most favourable for us .

    So sure enough , when the red card and the penalty resulted , I was not surprised. What shocked me was that we got a penalty at the very last grasp.

    While the win was well received , there was a lingering bad aftertaste too, knowing fully well that will be repercussions.

  42. Brickfields,

    I feel we will pay for this win in the next weeks. Watch out for the refs in the next weeks… Dean at Chelsea anyone?

  43. Menace, maybe I should have stated it more explicitly but i thought it was plenty obvious : they review everything, lots, all the better to screw us over.

    Think about it: how would it make sense for them not to be doing extensive reviews, through assessments, dvd’s and whatever else? Those reviews and assessments are one of the primary means of control, of guiding referees to do what they want. You think all that is left to chance and a sort of chaos? Surely not. There’s little chaotic to my eyes in how they screw us. It’s organised.

    I cut my post yesterday in half, as it was too long, but here’s the rest. I did some reading, I read every book I can find on the subject. Pgmol try make it impossible but I want to be as informed as I can.

    The autobiographies of Poll, Halsey and Webb have helped in this regard.

    Now, yesterday’s post

    —————————————
    To pick out just a few details from Howard Webb’s book:

    ——————————————-
    he once spent 5 hours with referee coach Keren Barret reviewing the dvd of a single game in which he performed poorly- ‘it took us five long hours …going through it incident by incident and isolating all my frailties and failures’

    the pgmol get-togethers included trial-by-video sessions where one ref would choose clips of recent decisions and analyse them in front of the others

    refs constantly discuss and share information about players and teams, including, for recreation, top 5 lists of the players they liked or disliked the most

    each week, shortly after hearing which game they have been selected for, they receive a ‘pgmol data pack comprising stats and spreadsheets relating to both teams, previous formations, player disciplinary records, number of penalties awarded, that sort of thing’

    Refs also encouraged to do as much online research as possible- match footage, media reports, club websites- ‘and if we happened to be at a pgmol get-together, we’d sit down to analyse our respective fixtures. We’d often compare notes about various sides and players
    ——————————————————-
    The picture then is of an extremely thorough organisation, who take performance review and feedback seriously, and encourage, perhaps in some inadvisable ways (though it’d be fine if their judgement was), personal research and a great deal of information sharing among members.

    The main conclusion is that the are making substantial efforts to get the referees to perform as they, pgmol, desire.

    Which, of course, is their job, but which makes it all the more damning when they perform as they do.

    The refs are given every opportunity to get to know these players and teams, they are given very clear feedback- feedback which is directly linked to their career prospects.

    Separately, their mistakes are reviewed in great detail, potentially multiple times, to try and help them improve performance in the future.

    All this points to the dreadful conclusion that, well, it’s as we say it is. Something is wrong. Moss’s ineptitude and poor performance is what they desire of him (if only that fucking linesman hadn’t screwed up at the death). Letting those clear yellows go unpunished is what he meant to do, not a mistake. The elbows, the foul on Giroud, etc, etc.

    All mistakes which the assessments and reviews should treat as such, and penalise and educate against are, it seems quite clear, almost certainly not marked as mistakes. They keep being repeated. The career’s of the mistake makers flourish. A few egregious errors, which bring the type of criticism they hate, aside…things are as they want them to be.
    ——————————————–

    (maybe give a bit more benefit of the doubt to long term poster’s mate)

  44. @ WalterBroeckx – 25/01/2017 at 7:12 am – Am ready for the worse , but am optimistic that our players are good and smart enough to plough through that minefield ! This bunch seem to be more resilient than the teams before .

    Having said that , Rich’s posting above show that this group of PIGMOB , are also doing their homework ! Drat !

    But then again , as they say , ” The best laid plans of men and mice .. , maybe undone by straight and honest linesman ? “. You never know .

  45. The Burnley player cheated to get Xhaka sent off. Yes the tackle could warrant a red, but contact was minimal and was on the foot. But he rolled around clutching his shin, a la rivaldo.

    We will be made to pay for this win, definitely. Anyone knows what’s going to be done to AW for his handling the muppet called Taylor? Sorry but I don’t watch the news anymore (severely depressing), and don’t think I’ve seen it mentioned here.

  46. I posted this on an alternative thread yesterday, but it seems much more appropriate to this thread, so here it is again:

    “According to Radio 5′ football pundits club Referee – Jonathan Moss had an excellent game. ”He made all the right calls.” It was his assistant who let him down with the Arsenal Off side penalty’. So now you know folks.”

    Did he now. Just take a look at this little montage from Arsenal.com under the headline TRICKS, TACKLES AND A PANENKA PENALTY. Hopefully the link works.

    http://player.arsenal.com/matches/g855383/video/8945/tricks-tackles-and-a-panenka-penalty

    In particular take a look at the incidents at the following times:

    1.03 – Foul on Giroud: How was that not a Red card ?

    1.46 – Foul on Mustafi: How was that not a penalty ?

    2.21 – Foul on Ozil: How was that not a Red card ?

    3.27 – So screaming in the face of the Referee is okay ? Well of course it is, we know that from Rooney.

    And that’s not to mention how the kick in the face of Kos wasn’t even worthy of a yellow.

    Plus of course the two blatant elbows in to Mustafis face that where both totally ignored.

    I make that at least SIX serious offences totally ignored, or at least not dealt with to the appropriate degree, and yet it is deemed by the media and there apologists that Moss had a ‘good’ game.

    Even if you consider all those decisions to be 50/50 calls, the law of averages suggests at least a couple of them should of been given in our favour.

    So there’s at least 6 big calls that don’t go our way, and only one that does, the offside call, and guess what one has the naysayers up in arms !

    But of course Moss got everything right bar the offside didn’t he?

    Talk about an alternative reality

  47. In this one match we have the epitome of everything that is wrong with the way we are refereed, and more, the way the events are interpreted, or rather, misinterpreted, in the media.

    This is not a bunch of paranoid myopic fans just gnashing there teeth following a defeat.

    WE WON THE DAMN MATCH FOR PITTIES SAKE.

    The evidence of bias against Arsenal is there for all to see, in video and in stills, and yet the media simply ignore it and somehow even manage to turn the whole thing on it’s head.

    Sad, it really is very sad.

  49. Walter, the bias is clear. You only have to look at the look of disappointment on Jon Moss’s face at having to give the penalty and afterwards- He looked dejected. Why?
    Anyway my real point is there is absolutely NO mention of STUDS UP or SCISSOR tackle in the rule book. The PGMO have long pedalled these phrases to the media who have since made it quasi law. The rules say a ‘dangerous challenge’ is deserving of a red. In the Italy-France friendly from September where video refereeing was being trialled, the video ref actually agreed with the ref on the pitch that a studs up tackle was only deserving of a yellow- and that was a FIFA game! Please look it up. Xhaka’s tackle was not on a player in motion and Defour easily got out of the way- it was NOT dangerous. Defour’s stomp on Xhaka was actually worse. Compare that to the tackle on Ozil in motion- it was so bad, he the offender got injured. That is the definition of a dangerous tackle- one or more players could be seriously hurt.

  50. There are so many things that are happening right now that simply have to worry anyone with his own brain.

    1.Orchestrated campaign for long-term suspension for Mr Wenger

    Hackett has been the loudest of hypocrites. Now, I am always for a suspension for players/managers who make a hostile physical contact with the ref. The problem is, I can’t recall Hackett was asking for Hart’s long-term suspension for headbutting Oliver or for Sterling’s grab of Webb’s chest in 2014. The difference? Sterling and Hart are English, Mr Wenger is French.

    2.Subliminal xenophobic messages

    You know that stat about Arsenal fielding more non-English XI than anyone else in England combined? Quite a few media have published it.

    You now that stat about very English Tottenham who haven’t had a red card in the league for 62 games? Well, if you do, then you read Untold Arsenal because nobody else seem to be impressed by that streak.

    These two things – very English Tottenham and non-English Arsenal – are irrelevant? You live in a Brexit era.

    3.”Arsenal win points thanks to the referees’ mistakes so every complaint in the future is pointless”

    We have had at least three late goals disputed by the media, pundits and other one-cell organisms: Southampton and both winners against Burnley.

    Nobody mentions penalties Burnley should have been given against in both fixtures or the travesty of refereeing that was the Everton game.

    No.

    It’s preparing the ground for the rightful punishment or, to be as cynical as ever, evening things out.

    Last season, we won against Leicester 2:1 after they had been given a red card. Nobody mentioned Kante’s handball in the box or how Vardy won the penalty for Leicester.

    Afterwards, I wrote a sarcastic piece on the meeting of The Incompetents under Brother Michael. It turned out I got everything right.

    My guess is, we’ll get Dean for either Soton in Cup to stop us from gaining momentum – just like he was assigned for our 0:0 draw against Hull right after we had beaten Leicester – or Watford at home so that we get massacred before our trip to Chelsea.

  51. Josif

    Thanks for the reminder. On the back of what you said I thought I’d do a little digging.

    I only really looked into the Mirror, because I see that odious creature John Cross has seen fit to stick the knife into the manager of the Club he claims to support.

    I’ve no doubt the rest of the media that are calling for Wengers head, where equally as forgiving when it came to Hart and Stirling.

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/row-zed/joe-hart-just-try-bully-4553559

    So all the daily Mirror asks is:

    “Is Joe Hart lucky to get away with this”

    Measured against this, there reaction to Wengers incident:

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/fas-message-referees-absolutely-clear-9681735

    In this case what The Mirror says is:

    “The FA have to send a reminder that you just cannot lay hands on an official. We cannot get into a debate about the degrees or force of physical contact. Once you let one offence go, you deem it acceptable.”

    So it seems The Mirror gets very upset by a Frenchman laying a hand on an official but rather less so by an Englishmen laying a head on an official.

    And where was there outrage at this:

    http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/liverpool/184980/football-gif-raheem-sterling-puts-hand-on-howard-webb-almost-gets-himself-arrested.html

    because as they say “……you just cannot lay hands on an official. We cannot get into a debate about the degrees or force of physical contact.”

    The Daily Mirror, along with the rest of the media, are almost all, to a man, a bunch of Xenophobic, hypocritical morons.

  52. I do think that the whole Brexit mindset of the Rags that are pushing the anti Arsenal(French Club) thing is indeed highly relevant.

  53. Just to add, at the time of the Hart incident The Mirror ran a poll asking, “should Joe Hart of been sent off”

    Note, not should the book be thrown at him. Not, should he get an 8 match plus ban. No, nothing that extreme, just should he of been sent off?

    And guess what? Over 50% thought he shouldn’t even of been sent off !!

    Now what kind of result would a similar poll throw up regarding that nasty Frenchmen do you think?

    Hmmmmm, I wonder ?

  54. 13 is the magi number, Granit now at the airport, lol! We have won already, but on the rest, say nothing, change is coming.

    Insha Allah on behalf of 7bn and in light of the plight of Muslims, 46:10, united we stand.

  55. Josif
    Xenophobia has been at play for a very long time with regards to how Arsenal are treated. Unfortunately foreigners aren’t wanted anymore. Not sure whether it’s a feeling of nationalism or what, but if one looks at what’s going on in the US (where trump could murder someone and still get away with it) one can’t help but reach the conclusion that being a foreigner living in a different country is not a healthy thing at the moment.

    The anti-Wenger feeling in England has reached toxic proportions, I feel sad for the man. He’s probably the only one trying to do it the right way but you wouldn’t know it if you read or listened to what is said about him in the media.

    Why did Taylor follow Wenger into the tunnel?? The media will never ask this question. I have a feeling Wenger has come to the conclusion that he will never be allowed to taste success here again, and is slowly’coming out of his shell’s to fight back. His comments about refs being treated like a protected species, and his shoving contest with Taylor demonstrates this. I think he’s told himself he won’t stay quit any longer, and I expect to see more of the Wenger going forward. Pity the board don’t seem to be backing him up.

  56. ….won’t stay **quiet any longer, and I expect to see more of **this Wenger going forward..

  58. Rich – apologies for wearing my heart on my sleeve.

    I accept that there is a lot of preparation to ensure a set goal. AFC must have rights to data & information held by PGMOL under data protection. Each player has the right to ensure anything detrimental to his career is removed unless there is very good reason not to. Further there are legal directives to ensure individuals data be used for fair play, not for targeting bias.

    However honest unbiased officiating seems to have evaded the English Premier League.

  59. It is obvious that Moss acted on the preconceived impression that Xhaka is a dirty player to have sent him off on both occasions. It was the week after our match with Swansea that he officiated United match where he failed to send Rojo off for a two-footed lunge.
    While I agree with the idea of wanting to teach Xhaka certain lessons, I feel Wenger should have appealed Xhaka’s sending off against Swansea as a way of protecting him from the mobs in black.
    Looking at the fouls awarded against Arsenal and those not awarded for Arsenal over the past few seasons, one would clearly see that the referees are nothing more than charlatans at best.

  60. By the way, did anybody notice that none of the headlines has been over the board as Liverpool lost to Southampton in the EFL Cuo yesterday despite been the second consecutive losses to lower table club sides. Imagine if it were to be Arsenal, we would be seeing headlines like:

    Arsenal’s season falling apart
    Arsenal doing Arsenal again
    Time for Wenger to leave
    Claude Puel showing Wenger how to do it

    Amazing why nobody is talking about Liverpool’s mid season’s capitulation.

    Funny that Tiny Totts and Liverpool are still been touted as the teams that will be.challenging Chelsea for the title.

  61. Shocking but then we never did gain any favors from the ref’s. Still remember how Reyes was kicked off the park in that Utd game and the ref just blatantly allowed it. Wish Lauren would have floored them both.

  62. Yommex

    You don’t think that they know exactly what’s coming our way via the men in black by any chance?

    Of course they do because they are the very people who are letting them know exactly what they expect of them, and to be assured that no matter how much they screw us they will be behind them every step of the way.

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