Arsenal – Bayern and a helping hand from the Greek refs 1-5

By Walter Broeckx

Back in action after spending the weekend in Brittany at the end of the world but now sitting comfortable with a good working (I hope) channel to watch this match.

A few changes with last weekend match. Alexis back in the starting line up and also Walcott made the starting line up. Ramsey also starting and Welbeck kept his starting place. His second start in half a week.

On the beach we had Özil back who had recovered from illness but Iwobi now being sick was at home.

Ospina as usual in the starting line up for the Champions League.

The Arsenal : Ospina, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Xhaka, Ramsey, Ox, Walcott, Welbeck, Alexis.

On the beach: Cech, Gibbs, Gabriel, Lucas, Ozil, Giroud, Coquelin.

A first stop of the match to remove a few hundred rolls of toiletpaper… okay I know I got the shit from my trip but not that much toilet paper needed. I now notice that even arsenal.com can get things wrong as Giroud has started and not Welbeck. Robben wins a corner after a first run and cut in but Monreal can block the effort. Walcott caught offside by the assistant and that was a correct decision. Walcott then onside but Neuer comes out his penalty area and clears the ball. Arsenal win a corner and Giroud and the defender fight a duel and the ball goes out from the post. But as this is Europe the ref has seen a foul from the striker and gives a free kick against Giroud. Pundits in England will have just said; he wanted it more. 0-0 after 15 minutes with no real goal chances for either side.

First Theo just can’t get through the Bayern defence and then The Ox faces the same problem. Arsenal now pressing more and winning another corner as a Bayern defender has to clear before Giroud. Again the referee penalises an attacking foul from an Arsenal player. This is not the PL laws as we know them.

Pardon my French but f*ck my stream goes down and Theo scores. GOAL!!! Let’s hope for a replay somewhere. A cross from Bayern but again the blows the whistle for an attacking foul from a Bayern player. Ospina then quick off his line to deny Lewanowski who seemed offside . The ref being strict about attackers pushing their defenders, this time against Ramsey. Arsenal keeps on pushing forward to score another goal. Ramsey with an attempted volley but that was nowhere near the target. Meanwhile a replay of the amazing run from Theo who finished with a powerful shot that was unstoppable for Neuer and went in right under the crossbar. What a goal that was. Still 1-0 after 30 minutes.

Alexis didn’t track back and is found offside but Giroud hard working wins the ball back but Bayern can clear the cross for a corner. Walcott goes down in the penalty area under a challenge but the ref gives a corner. Theo again with a shot but this time the angle is against him and he only hits the side net. Well the “foul” on Walcott looked a foul as it didn’t look as if the Bayern layer touched the ball but he did clip the ankle of Theo. But a difficult call to make. Monreal with a headed pass to Giroud but he shoots over. Robbben then lifts the ball to Lewandowski who was onside but he also misses his shot. The first real Bayern goal chance after my stream was back online. Theo giving the ball a bit too hard to Alaba and he is being booked. Alaba also in the book for his trouble. Arsenal counter after a Bayern counter but the cross from Bellerin is cleared, Bayern counter but Ospina can stop the shot from Robben. Vidal goes in hard against Alexis and I hope he got a yellow card for that challenge. Bayern now trying to score an equaliser before half time but Ospina picks up the cross before  a Bayern player become dangerous. Martinez goes in the book for bringing down Ramsey. Alexis with the free kick but too much in the middle and Neuer can save comfortably. Arsenal go in after 45 minutes leading 1-0.

Some good early pressing from Arsenal ends with a cross from Ramsey to Giroud but he heads over the cross bar from 6 meters out. Bayern think they scored but the player was offside when the free kick was taken. Bayern then get the penalty for what looked a shoulder charge from Koscielny but Lewandowski went down. And then the ref first give a yellow and then changes it to a red card????? Come on the triple punishment has been banned for such fouls… Lewandowski scores and with the red card the ref has ended the match completely. This is ridiculous. 1-1 after 55 minutes.

And with the ref messing up like he did I suddenly remember why I never watch CL football apart from when Aresenla is playing. I also found out that Vidal didn’t get a yellow card for his wild challenge on Alexis in the first half. Oh well…. But refs don’t influence matches don’t they…. And I’m not even talking about getting qualified but is it that difficult to do an Arsenal CL match without sending a player off when we play Bayern or Barcelona?

Bayern now sitting in the driving seat of course and Ospina has to make a good stop on a shot from Lewandowski. The assistant then lets a Bayern player who was clearly interfering off the hook and doesn’t flag for offfside. Luckily Ospina who had already stopped running because it was so clear can stop the attack.

Bayern then score. Robben. 1-2. Alexis lost the ball close to his penalty area under pressureHow easy things get when the ref gives you a big helping hand. My Dutch match commentator also couldn’t understand the red card by the way.

After 71 minutes Arsenal make a triple substitution Ramsey, Giroud and Alexis go off and Lucas, Özil and Coquelin come on. Lewandowski hits the post. Bayern counter some more and make it 1-3.

Vidal scores 1-4 when Arsenal lose the ball close to their own penalty area. How easy things get when the refs sends a player off against the instructions.

Bayern score again 1-5. How easy it gets when you send off a player against the instructions.

Bellerin with a shot that shaves the post in the final minute of extra time.

Arsenal was the better team for 55 minutes and didn’t deserve this. The ref put Bayern in the driving seat after first not give a penalty for Arsenal in the first half and then give one against Arsenal and most of all send Koscielny off. That killed us and Bayern took complete advantage of a team that knew it was robbed as in the past in the CL.

How easy things can get when the ref doesn’t know the laws of the game. Or worse… if he knows them and then goes against them. This was about getting qualified but about getting a fair chance of making things up. The ref in a cruel way took that chance away from the team.

Wenger thought about having a go at the ref at the end but he wisely went in to the dressing room. You can’t win that fight against UEFA. As we have found out in the past.

98 Replies to “Arsenal – Bayern and a helping hand from the Greek refs 1-5”

  1. Ancelotti: “This result doesn’t really respect what happened on the pitch today because Arsenal played a really good game.”
    Hummels @ Sky Germany TV ” the result didnt really reflect what happened on the field ”

    They know they have been given a big big helping hand

  2. Walter posts

    ” Come on the triple punishment has been banned for such fouls… Lewandowski scores and with the red card the ref has ended the match completely.”

    In a nutshell.

    ”The ref in a cruel way took that chance away from the team.”

    A global game decided by referees.

    Thanks Walter.

  3. Blame left right enter …Greek ..Germans Southern referees ….anyone you want
    Fact remain Le prof has dismantled and builded not one but three different teams and he cannot cut it.

    Is time to raise up your hands and say thank you Le Prof but you just past it.

  4. How easy things can get when the ref doesn’t know the laws of the game. Or worse… if he knows them and then goes against them.

    The explanation of this particular ruling given on Fox US was that Koscielny’s action was deemed to be none football related( push , shirt pull etc) and the ref made the correct decision by showing red instead of the original yellow.

    What part of that is incorrect then?

  5. The Greeks almost wholly owned by Germany. Thank God we voted for Brexit & the sooner we are out the better. We would have been owned by Germany also – just watch the Italians, Spanish & Portuguese.

  6. Like the Liverpool game, Arsenal’s goal awakened confidence and the whole team thrived as a result.
    But the loss of Koscielny as well as conceding a penalty was too much to bear and another 5-1 drubbing was not unexpected. 😉

  7. Denying a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity
    Where a player denies the opposing team a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by a deliberate handball offence the player is sent off wherever the offence occurs.
    Where a player commits an offence against an opponent within their own penalty area which denies an opponent an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and the referee awards a penalty kick, the offending player is cautioned unless:
    • The offence is holding, pulling or pushing or
    •  The offending player does not attempt to play the ball or there is no possibility for the player making the challenge to play the ball or
    •  The offence is one which is punishable by a red card wherever it occurs on the field of play (e.g. serious foul play, violent conduct etc.) In all the above circumstances the player is sent off.
    The following must be considered:
    • distance between the offence and the goal
    • general direction of the play
    • likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball

    I didn’t see a push to be honest. Did Kos use his arms? No, he used his body. Pushing is with the arms. It wasn’t holding, or pulling.

    And why did the ref first give the correct yellow card then?

  8. Boy this is going to be a field day for the aaa and the media…..Wenger is weak, Arsenal are finished, etc. Wlater and Tony….please don’t allow these vermin to infest UA with the same old shite of Wenger out, etc.
    Now we only have to worry about the FA Cup and the EPL.

  9. I think the opponents can realize that Arsenal turned off at 1-1 Walter, but let’s not pretend that it was a huge gift or something. It was a legit penalty, and it’s hard to argue that Kos mace any play on the ball, so the ref was within his rights to give a red there. I hate that rule, and wish they’d get rid of the red in those situations entirely, but it’s defendable.

    Even at 2-1, the tie was over at that point. It was a good enough effort until the tie was effectively ended by Koscielny’s mistake, but it wasn’t the referee that decided to make that challenge.

  10. Good question.
    I don’t know, but don’t we always complain the fifth official on the goal line doesn’t do anything?
    Well in this case he did, unfortunately it was against us.

  11. And strange that in most European countries they were completely stunned by the red card…. Not in the English speaking parts. LOL they have different laws one could think…

  12. Wenger having his say about the referee & the one behind the line. Really laid into them so is risking some Eufa action against himself. Looks like he’s already made his mind up about where he’ll be next seasn

  13. Btw, nowhere in the laws of the game does it define a push. Kosput his arm across the opponents chest and then barged into him. Call it what you will, but he didn’t try to play the ball, and it was at least worthy of the discussion between the officials to determine if the situation warranted red.

    For myself, I think it’s probably a justifiable red based on the laws, even though I hate that particular rule. Just wish the ref had been calling things as tightly when Alonso decided to trip Walcott in the box.

  14. One can give a red card for a pushing offence but then it should a clear push with the arms with no chance of playing the ball. Kos used his upper body when making contact with Lewandowski so not a push.

  15. Have to say the Brexit subject came up in our house too.Certainly the Greeks are in hock to the Germans.

  16. Well I guess “they” will all come here and ask for Wenger’s head. No doubt it will be hard for him to resist now and I just don’t want to talk about that.

    I’m not a too keen on blaming the refs, even if it obvious that those officiating in PL never really help Arsenal.

    But of course, this one broke the match down. Maybe the boys wouldn’t have score 3 more more goals to qualify. But the penalty was really harsh, the dive quite blatant, and the red card was very… strange.
    In the first half, the players showed us that they can play well, and more, that they could fight. And that they wanted it! On every ball, they fought. Qualified or not, that was a state of mind that could have stay in the memories and would have do so well in their head for the next weeks.
    The ref broke down the minds. He broke the party down.

  17. According to Arsene Wenger Lewandowski was offside when he made the run which resulted in the penalty.
    Can anyone confirm this?

  18. And also… about the WOB… Just a question to every one, but more particularly to them. At the end of the match Mustaphi was in tears. Theo and (Bellerin I think) make the effort (not easy at all for them at the moment) to go towards the stands to applause the fans. And a dozen of real ASSHOLES showed them up the “Wenger Out” poster right in front of them. What kind of brainless persons are these guys? Really, no brain at all! As if the players hadn’t been humiliated enough!
    Here is the question : Who -even among the WOB- can think that these guys are really sane ?

  19. Walter
    I don’t think your feed was very clear then. The multiple replaces show he gets his arm across Lewandowski.
    Still, a soft red card to be sure.

  20. The examples they gave in the courses when explaining this change showed clear cases of pushing and pulling.
    One could even argue as Lewandowski was running away from the goal and not running in the direction of the goal as in the laws it says also :

    The following must be considered:
    • distance between the offence and the goal
    • general direction of the play
    • likelihood of keeping or gaining control of the ball

  21. Is putting your arm in front of a player a push?????? Or holding? Or pullling?

  22. He gets iphus arms across and lemon dies a harry Kane dive tripping over himself. My mate a manure supported said wasn’t gonna qualify anyway that’s not the point we were the better team and it will build confidence in the next game refs took the piss worse than last game at Munich with the it’s not a corner it’s a throw in swore so much tonight team looked good before sending off

  23. It’s leverage Walter not a push if it was against Girond he would have got a red card

  24. Walter
    I think you are confusing the issue for in the description there is a a clear “or ” after the wording around pushing.
    Once the penalty was given the question the ref then has to ask did Kos make an attempt to play the ball? If you can answer yes to that then it’s a yellow but if the view is that Kos didn’t make any attempt to play the ball the red is correct.

  25. Please Please why are we clutching at straws it was 10-2 , 10-2. I say

    Not 2-1 that’s a fucking landslide victory in anyone’s language .

    Put it to bed it’s over , Lincoln Saturday thank God surely we can’t fuck that one up .

  26. Look we lost 10-2 – the excuses on here are beyond embarrassing.

    This is the worst result by any English team in Champions League history – another record to add to Wengers collection.

  27. The histrionics seen on here tonight is embarrassing.

    Firstly, Alonso clearly plays the ball, so how is that a penalty? Even Finsbury has has kindly provided evidence and even Walter has avoided this one it’s so clear!

    Koscielny then gives a clear penalty away. Referee gives a yellow, but his assistant reminds him of the rules, so he changes his mind to a red.

    As the rules state, it’s red if the offence is pushing. No mention that pushing has to be by hands. You’ve made that up Walter. For the benefit of those twisting the rules, here is the definition of ‘push’.

    Push (verb) – To exert force on someone or something, in order to move then away from oneself.

    I think Koscielny fulfils that definition.

    Anyway, if you’re not happy with that, maybe the ref deemed the offending player did not attempt to play the ball or there was no possibility to play the ball. That holds up true too.

    The ref corrected his decision.

    I guarantee if that had been Giroud being bundled over, you’d all be praising the ref for having the bottle to correct himself.

    Anyway, I’m sure the Ref Review will provide a fair and unbiased view.

  28. On behalf of the referee instructors from big parts around the world I would like to offer a sincere apology as we have explained the laws of the game completely wrong it seems as most of the non-referees on here know much better.

  29. Our last few games …refs have let Alonso score against us when leading with an elbow knocking our defender out in process, a Sutton player try to break Iwobis leg….no card….the Can debacle last weekend….now this game!
    And it is only Wenger from the club who says a word. Can you imagine Chelsea Utd Barca Bayern or Real owners and execs being so passive over such attempts at tilting games? Maybe the WOB are right and Stan and Ivan don’t give a shit
    Wenger will have to explain that. The ref is unaccountable, has to explain nothing, just pick up his envelope left discreetly for him somewhere.
    That said, there is no excuse for the collapses seen recently, not what i wish for by any means, but I am starting to doubt Wenger will survive all this , bent refs of not, there is only so much shit a sentient human being can take

  30. And following this we would like of offer our apology for using all kinds of wrong videos to show how the laws should be applied to our referees.

    What on earth were we thinking….

    NO don’t mention the video clips were given by FIFA. Don’t mention it!!!!

  31. And Greek refs have never…..ever…been involved in match fixing of any kind.
    Still, on an upbeat note, Taylor for Lincoln

  32. Jai posts

    ”I agree the ref had a shocker but why capitulated like this”

    You agree that ”the ref had a shocker.”

    Next question – what effect does that ”shocker” have on the game in the EPL? In League 1? In the Conference League? In the Sunday League? In the Champions League?

    Teams do not ”capitulate.” ”Capitulation”is the language of warfare. Sport is not warfare by another name. Sport is a contest between competing teams, competing individuals. It is played to rules. The rules are administered in the contest by nominated officials. That team administrating the contest tonight had, in your words, a ‘shocker.’

    Therefore, again, in a sporting contest, played to the rules, what was the consequence for that sporting contest – as a sporting contest – of that ‘shocker?’

  33. It might have been that Lewandowski was offside with the penalty decision…. but looking for more accurate videos from better angles

  34. Mandy to repeat your favourite saying. . Be careful what you wish for .

    Every Spud and Chelsea fan is praying Wenger keeps his job !

  35. Guys.We lost regardless of the ref.Why did we not shut up shop at 1-1 or even 2-1 down.we did play better, but I am sorry and very sad that things have to change.The guy we love, cannot continue to put himself through this.He does not deserve this and we as supporters do not.
    I do believe we will win the Cop though.

  36. The WOBs are the biggest cowards you would ever care to meet.None of them are proper fans just a bunch of talk sport retards with no knowledge of the game just result reactors.Most of them jumped on the bandwagon in the early noughties and only attend games in sunny climes and open top bus parades,they come out with the same crap every year most of them are more suited to Jeremy Kyle.Some shocking decisions by the officials yet only to be expected.

  37. Tonight after the game I went into the Arsenal supporters club in Gillespie rd for a final beer . Now I don’t need to tell anyone who follows the Arsenal this is the meeting place for some of the most dedicated die hard Gooners that ever drew breathe .
    Let me also tell you I didn’t hear anything like what I’m reading on here tonight . Draw your own conclusions .

  38. Ref was crap.
    Ref was very crap.

    But …
    Why is it that whenever we lose one player the team collapses on too many occasions?
    Is our team formation so fragile that the loss of one player creates a collapse?
    I think most of the big defeats we suffer include us having a red card?
    Surely (after all these years) Wenger has noticed that losing 8-2 and 6-0 and 5-1 and 5-1 is rather embarrassing for a big club like Arsenal. It is better to lose in a “respectable” way than to be humiliated?

    I think the tide has really turned against Arsene Wenger which is a pity.

    I still believe we have a good manager. The players, however, are not good enough to take Arsenal to the next level. They are good players but we need very, very good players (and not just the cheapies like Elneny). Normally these days you get what you pay for. The top, top players cost more money than the average players.

    It’s sad that our miserly model is gonna cost us Wenger as manager because many more are now turning on our great manager.

    It’s a pity that many of my fellow Gooners here believe that Wenger shouldn’t strengthen our squad with better players. They are inadvertently accelerating Wenger’s departure because the storms of protests are getting louder and louder.
    It will now probably be more difficult for Wenger to attract the top players because Arsenal is being portrayed as a joke club by these embarrassingly huge defeats.

  39. The WOB are right and have been all along. Oh well, it’s way past ten. Night night little Gooners.

  40. So,says a fan of a club who didn’t even qualify for the knockout stages, or get past Ghent…or Genk or whoever

  41. Shoot……going back twenty years or so,,why would a spud want Wenger to remain in his job…….he has cast a pretty big shadow over them, let’s face it

  42. Koscielny’s red card was justified because he deliberately impeded the player from having a clear goal scoring opportunity

  43. Arsene Wenger is very angry too. And for those who say the team collapsed, he says they were in an impossible position. 4 goals down and down to ten men. If they don’t try and score, people will say they made no effort. If they do try and score, they can be caught on the counter.

    The referee killed the game. The man behind the goal deprived us of a penalty in the first half. And he deprived us of our player in the second half, really early. He is the one who said it was red. But the referee had already shown a yellow. So who was in charge of that match?

    It stinks.

  44. Very moved by the interview with young Bellerin on Arsenal.com. Have a look if you haven’t already.

  45. It seems to me to be clearcut – if Arsenal get screwed by the PGMOB in the EPL because of Mr Wenger, and Arsenal get screwed in the CL by the refs because of Mr Wenger, removing Mr Wenger is not going to help anyone. The power that fucks Arsenal over is still going to be there, whoever comes in and takes over.

    If Arsenal do not get fucked over in the EPL, or in the Champions League, but fail because of footballing reasons, whoever comes in, has to climb a mountain in the EPL, and an even bigger mountain in the Champions League.

    What is clear from both legs – with Kos gone in the first-leg, did Bayern play to their capability, reputation, history, as a top European club team supplying the nucleus of the German national team? Yes. In the second-leg with Kos gone and Arsenal down to 10 men? Yes.

    Humiliation does not come into it, neither does capitulation.

  46. The shadow is fading are results are worrying our fans are split and our team is in decline , no one knows who will be in charge next year or who still wants to play for us .
    Yes it’s a good time to be a spud and to wish Wenger remains whilst everything in spud world is seemingly on the up

  47. I am not sure if Lewandowski was offside or not, I would need to watch it again & just now I can’t really watch it. But, I though one or two other offside calls were a bit suspect.

    Still on Lewandowski – he sure went down easily when it suited him – cheating git!

    Walter – I hope you are pleased to note that we suddenly have so many newly self qualified referees on here that Untold should now have enough refs to do a ref report on each and every EPL match!

    There is only one snag, the newly self qualified refs, like the greeks – are garbage!!

  48. So Pat just so I can understand you . After losing 10-2 you think it was all down to the ref and not the fact they were far better than us . Really and that all the press is just negative because they all hate Arsenal / Wenger ( not sure why ) and that the overwhelming majority of people who believed we were embarrased are delusional . Ok
    I

  49. media reports ….of they are to be believed suggest that if Wengers goes, Stans preference is for Martinez….his son favours Thierry Henry……and the WOB, as we know have expressed preferences for Coyle, Moyes , Martinez and Pardew in the past.

    Be careful what you wish for

  50. In the 1986 World Cup were Uruguay embarrassed after losing 6-1 to Denmark? Uruguay were down to 10 men, the Danes were very professional and played to their capability.

    Bayern were very professional tonight and played to their capability against a team reduced to 10 men by a contentious decision. Mr Wenger explained the dilemma with clarity – if you don’t go for it, you get done for not trying, if you go for it, you will be done on the counter.

    It seems to me this language we throw at football – humiliation, capitulation, embarrassed – does obscure what happens on the pitch.

  51. Keep up – you’re four years behind the rest of us. Basically – Untold want Wenger to say and so do the Spuds. Conclusion – Untold is a covert spud site.

  52. Zedsaunt , the biggest crime tonight is that we were unable to save face and batten down the hatches and come out with a draw following the sending off. As soon Kos went off , especially following the events in Munich we should have switched our formation accepted our fate and played out the remaining time in an attempt to minimise the possibility of the same thing happening again. However no , we still go forward leaving gaps for Robben, Costa , Ribery et al to go through .Some credit must go to The Ox and to some extent Bellerin for their desire to take the game to Bayern but it was foolish and what could have been a honourable result with ten men turned into a major embarrasment.

  53. Shoot – you are the worst kind of worm that ever graced Arsenal. If you think that Chelsea & Spurs would want Wenger to stay then they must want to play us every day. They have both had some very favourable officiating.

    You do not know the difference between a robbery & a defeat. We were robbed by a corrupt bunch of officials. The same cheats that robbed us of a penalty gifted our opponents one for a dive. Lewandowski is a cheat & he knows it. The BM management have been involved in corrupt practice getting the 2006 World Cup . The Greek officials were nobbled ( not unknown). It doesn’t take a lot to figure what went down. It was in front of those who chose to see.

    Now Shoot why don’t you go play in the traffic & take ossasa the common grass snake with you.

  54. I am surprised that Stan and his son have any real preferences as to who they would want to replace Wenger. The elder will only want what’s best for himself and the son is probably blinded a little by the stardom of our ex super star.
    Now if we had some real football people on our board , the list might be entirely different but then again were those footballing people in situe perhaps the free reign that appears to have been handed to Wenger might have been curtailed somewhat and we might not be in the position that we are now.

  55. Shoot
    07/03/2017 at 11:07 pm
    Bent refs my arse !

    So now you have admitted it in type! Bent Refs shoot you up the arse !!! 😉 😉 😉

  56. Incidentally – Vidal should not have been on the pitch after his lunge at Alexis. It was a red card offence that didn’t even get a card.

  57. Mr Wenger’s interviews remind me of Dylan in 1965, 66, an intelligent man having to answer idiots. The hate he gets is disgusting. Those kids holding up their posters looked like they’d been promised an ice-cream. If this is the best they can muster, God help the rest of us if we ever need them to defend us.

    Germany 7 Brazil 1. That was 11 against 11. 5-1 is a team playing to its pedigree against 10 men. Humiliation doesn’t come into it. So, in the next days, a level-headed assessment. After tonight, should Mr Wenger decide to move on, I think he’ll try and leave something in place to nurture the positives.

    The Ox exploded out of his casing tonight. He could bellow like a man, he had pain. When Mr Wenger goes, what goes with him is the forbearance and tolerance which allows a young man to mature in front of your eyes.

  58. Menace give it a rest you clueless baffoon.
    Change is needed at the end of the season and who Kronke brings in will show the world wether we are serious about winning things or just a money making business ,but we as a club have to make a start with the person responsible for everthing that happens on the playing side of things and more.We have to put an end to stats like these as we are too big of a club!!!

    No escaping the facts
    The Gunners are the first side to lose five consecutive home knockout ties in Champions League history.
    Arsene Wenger’s side suffered the joint second heaviest aggregate defeat in Champions League history (2-10), and the highest for an English team.
    This is the first time Arsenal have conceded five goals at home since November 1998 (against Chelsea in League Cup – a 5-0 loss).

  59. I think all this referee smokescreen is detracting away from the real issue. Once again TV shots of Sanchez laughing on the bench, but this time Petr Czech remains stony faced.

    I’m no body language expert or FIFA accredited referee like the writers on here, but I am an expert in lip reading.

    It looks like the only friends he has are his two dogs. Can we not get another banner for him? One with Gabriel and Cech and Sanchez in the middle.

    We need to make him feel loved again!

  60. Nice review , Walter . And very nice swatting of ‘them’ types guys . They were never Arsenal fans. Not MY ARSENAL anyway !
    And I do tend to raise my eyebrows when someone speaks for an entire section of people or gives the opinion of all .When and where was the consensus taken ? Was there a vote ? Not even one dissenting voice ?

    He who defends the guilty , accuses the just .

  61. Actually, looking back at the Sanchez incident, I may have got it wrong.

    At first I thought he was telling Petr Cech one of Brickfield’s jokes, which is why Cech is deadpan.

    But if you look closely, you can see Sanchez lift his right thigh slightly, and it looks like he’s let one off. That’s why Sanchez is giggling. Cech then asks what’s so funny?

    We’ve all been there. You know the smell is coming, and the unsuspecting Cech will get the full force any second. Hilarious!

    Good to see dressing room banter alive, even when 5-1 down.

    No doubt the media will misconstrue it again. I just hope this site doesn’t fall in to line with the media over it… again.

  62. Lewandowski wass offside when the ball was played. he came back from an offside position. I got a clear picture but can’t publish it in the comments. YOu will have to wait till later when I get the time to write an article about it.

  63. If Stan Kroenke doesn’t make a strong reaction regarding constant referees’ craps, I shall refer to him as “Neville Chamberlain” in the future.

  64. Shoot: just a tw*t troll, never with anything constructive to say, always negative. No one knows why he remains here, he doesn’t seem to like the writing, hates all of the positive commenters. That is the nature of a troll.

  65. Montreal clearly plays Lewandowski on for the penalty (check out the BT multicam view)

  66. Please enlighten me . What is positive about the Arsenal position . Oh that’s right we’ve got a lot of money in the bank , silly me .

  67. Wen d field commander is taken off wat happens to d soldiers? Disarry of course; d question is why Kos as target for d 2 legs? Shalom!!!

  68. Yes Kos is a very important / influential player in the team . And yes penalty / offside / sending of are all highly contentious .

    But that does not explain away 2-10 over two legs now does it .

  69. Thank fuck for bent refs. Can you imagine the suicidal thoughts of aaa members, if we had actually fucking won?
    In terms of progressing in the CL, there are 89 other clubs in England who would happily change places with us.

    That includes Manure, Scousers and Tiny Totts.

    FFS

  70. @Menace, yes you are the sort of clown who voted for Brexit which will mean hardship for this country for some years, loads of jobs at risk and the value of our currency in a parlous state. What a nutter.

    Bent refs, it was ever thus. The same old excuse.

    Apparently Arsenal is in great shape according to Wenger. He must be referring to our finances which probably causes Kronke to salivate every morning.

    @Norman14, good point but I doubt any of those teams would have been thrashed 10-2 over two legs.

  71. Nice one, Josif. I’m just reading Maisky’s diaries (Soviet ambassador to Britain in the run up to World War Two). Neville Chamberlain, yes …

  72. Menace the little big man in cyberspace. You are just another of Wenger’s bitches! The report by Kevin over on online gooner should be required reading for you lot. You don’t get football and you are embarrasing the good name of Arsenal with your pathetic whining. Bet even Wenger thinks you lot have lost it.

  73. If you dislike “our lot” that much, then why come here?
    I sometimes come to places, read with eyes wide open and make sure I get away as quickly as my internet connection can bring me to any other websites. I certainly will not go and tell “them lot” how pathetic they are.

  74. ossasa – my bitch! when will you learn to stick to your own tyre to piss on. Your mama never taught you to pee in the pot not in the kitchen! Go find Kevin & get some pups & take shoot with you. This is Untold Arsenal not some yellow bellied anti Wenger blog with no loyalty to anything Arsenal.

  75. Why do so many of you lot come on to this blog (which is so clearly pro-Arsenal and pro-Wenger), literally just to spout your insufferable negative (and usually severely uninformed) opinions, about all things Arsenal?

    Why is it, that you come on here just to argue with people, whos opinions you know you will never be able to change? You know that you’ll never change them, as the writers and members of this blog, are die-hard Arsenal supporters and will continue supporting them through the good times and the bad, so what do you hope to possibly achieve by spewing all of your negativity and contempt towards our beloved club and manager?

    Is it just an argument that you are looking for? With the very same people that love and support the same club that you supposedly do, no less? I mean, honestly, it’s just pathetic, it really is.

    There are so many other blogs that you could be on, where you can all share the same cesspit and be united in your hatred towards Wenger, the players and the board and you won’t have to get into anymore arguments and plus, it will stop filling up this website with your inane, interminable, antagonistic rhetoric.

  76. Jammy J

    Because le Groan is such a hotbed of winners?
    The kind of aspiring journalists still aspiring in middle age whilst writing for a loss making sh*trag in the process exposing that:

    A) you can’t read the simple rules of ass. Football

    B) you don’t actually know very much about football

    C) you think as you are told/instructed

    When was that blog set up? Approx. ten years of failure!
    Yup. They sure sound and read like “winners” which is why they have to come here I presume:

    LOL

  77. The first 50 mins were fantastic, and we bossed Bayern. The Ox was the best – a real contender for a new Cazorla – attacking well, defending well, plus speed. Mustafi was good too, and Theo’s goal was a cracker.

    The ref’s decisions were disgraceful and I knew that the red card would kill the game and enjoyment (I’m a chicken like that), and as such I switched off the TV after the red card.

    I therefore saw a match where the Arsenal played at a level which would take them places, and ended on a somewhat happy note – I had seen beautiful football by my beloved Arsenal, though robbed by a bad ref.

    Had I watched the full 90 mins, I would have been like most fans and remembered the last 40 mins rather than the first 50 and been miserable.

    On a different note, I find it funny that in every country, when you have a country team playing in the UCL, the commentators tend to be partial towards the country team and look for the silver lining. But the Brits. They are so wedded to their narrative (Wenger must go, he’s finished, he won’t qualify for the UCL, what’s the point) that they could not find positives at the end of the game and hardly mentioning the match-robbing incident.

  78. @ Finsbury – Sorry mate, but you have completely and utterly misunderstood my comment. When I said “you lot” I mean that group of regulars who only pop up on here after an Arsenal defeat; that come on here and tell all of us to stop “whinging” about the referees and how we’re deluded and how Wenger, the Arsenal board and players are all the worst things in the world.

    Honestly, if you had actually read my comment, I don’t understand how you could have possibly misconstrued that as being anti-Untold-Arsenal. I love this website, but I hate the fact that this is meant to be a nice place, with rational-minded people, who all share our love for the club and manager, but it constantly gets overrun by these dickheads, with their copy and pasted opinions from all of the anti-Arsenal blogs.

  79. Unless I’m the one that has completely and utterly misunderstood your comment (which I think is a very distinct possibility haha), in which case; I humbly apologise!

  80. Alright, I’m 90% sure I got the wrong end of the stick there. Sorry about man haha.

  81. I come on here because it’s hilarious watching this little religious cult worshipping some old tosser. Walter – you have not a clue what the word Arsenal means. Bye bye lol!

  82. Seriously, what is wrong with you? Hopefully when you grow up, you’ll be able to develop a bit of sense and respect. Perhaps you could focus on that, instead of just sitting in front of a computer and pathetically trying to antagonise people for your own amusement. It just reeks of someone, that, because of their own short-comings and miserable existence, they have to project that on to other people.

  83. Loving the so called Arsenal fans who witnessed the “clear touch” on the ball in the Walcott penalty claim after 20 slow motion replays couldn’t even clear it up convincingly, then the “blatant penalty” for Bayern from an “obvious foul” when clearly Mid tried to get in front of The player who then clearly pushes Kos to enable him to dive away from him for the penalty, same old story from the same old faces.

  84. I thought we couldn’t see a more blatant proof of corruption than yesterday. Then I watched Barca/PSG tonight…

    – Pique made two yellow-bordeline red fouls on Cavani (a very late tackle from behind, and a deliberate foul when Cavani could have been 1vs1 against the keeper) in the first half and stayed on the field
    – Neymar deliberately kicked Marquinos and stayed on the field
    – Suarez made dives and dives all match long, and never got a yellow
    – And obviously the referee gave a penalty very late for the most obvious and pathetic dive

    But everything is fine in the UEFA perfect world…

  85. Oh and I forgot a really dubious action on Di Maria at 3/1. For some reason UEFA never showed a replay…

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