by Andrew Crawshaw
For our first post-interlul game our officials are :-
- Referee – Neil Swarbrick Age 50 from Lancashire
- Assistant Referee 1 – Scott Ledger from South Yorkshire
- Assistant Referee 2 – Adrian Holmes from West Yorkshire
- Fourth Official – Graham Scott Age 48 from Oxfordshire
So for the first time in a long while none of the officials have FIFA Accreditation, furthermore both Mr Swarbrick and Graham Scott are above the age limit for FIFA so they have no need to curry favour for promotion (not that any such thing ever happens).
Last season we had Mr Swarbrick on two occasions our home and away games against West Brom:-
26 Dec Arsenal – West Brom (1 – 0) 74% overall rating; bias against the two teams 83/17 and one wrong Important Decision when in Min 77 Dawson should have got a straight red card for a stamp on Koscielny
18 March West Brom v Arsenal (3 – 1) 62% overall, bias against the two teams 0/100 and three wrong Important Decisions.
- Min 12 Fletcher fouled Cech in the build up to the West Brom first goal which should not have stood,
- Min 75 foul by Fletcher on Ospina in the build up to West Brom’s third goal which should not have stood.
- Min 65 Robson-Kanu should have conceded a penalty for a foul on Mustafi. For those of you who want to see what a one sided referee looks like here is a link to the referee review – we were not impressed!
In 2015-16 although Mr Swarbrick was in charge of 18 PL games, none involved Arsenal, or Watford come to that.
In 2014-15 we only had Mr Swarbrick on one occasion – our 2 – 1 away win at West Ham on 28 December. His score on that occasion was an creditable 80% and bias was 11/89 he made no wrong Important Decisions.
In 2013/14 we had him twice – our away win (2 – 1) at Aston Villa and our home win (3 – 0) over Newcastle but we undertook no detailed referee reviews that year so there are no stats to bring forward.
Looking now at our analysis of all matches over the first 16 weeks of last season Mr Swarbrick was in charge of the 2 – 1 home win for Watford over Leicester. The only wrong Important Decision in that game was Drinkwater of Leicester not being given a straight red card for an elbow to the face of Behrami.
Summary
- Mr Swarbrick hasn’t always displayed an adequate knowledge of the rules of the game which is worrying for a referee at the highest level. I hope he has now learned them otherwise we could be in for a troubling afternoon.
- His bias figures against Arsenal are at the extreme end of the spectrum (83, 87 and 100% against in the last three games we analysed. I always hope for a good referee, but can cope with a bad one providing the mistakes are reasonably evenhanded. When every wrong decision by a referee in a game is against Arsenal I have a major issue with the officials – particularly when two result in wrongly awarded goals against Arsenal and the third is a non awarded penalty for Arsenal.
- It is extremely unlikely that Arsenal will be awarded a penalty – Mr Swarbrick doesn’t award many
- It is also quite likely that a Watford player who should be carded won’t be.
- As ever though the best approach for Arsenal will be to start quickly and get an early goal or two to remove the possibility of the Officials influencing the game.
COYG
- Watford v Arsenal. High alert, score predictions, who passes most, and the squad
- Continental Cup – The First Round report.
- Context is everything: Watford v Arsenal, the prognostications
I fear for Arsenal this evening should Mr Swarbrick read Untold. 😉
Wasn’t Watford – MC the match where City were allowed to score a few offside goals? So maybe Watford is due some good fortune with referee decisions in this match? What a coincidence if the PGMO would hand them something and what with Arsenal being on the wrong end… win win situation…
Irrespective if the PGMO have instructed referee Neil Swarbrick and his 2 assistants Scott Ledger and Adrain Holmes to subvert and undermine Arsenal in the Premier League match encounter between Watford and Arsenal at the Vicarage Road later today, Mr Swarbrick and his 2 match assistants should put themselves above board by adhering strictly to personal discipline by disregarding the instructions of their employer, the PGMO and not be dishonest to Arsenal nor Watford in their referring and flagging this evening in the game during the playing of it. But rather, they should keep strictly to the ethic of the profession which they’ve sworn to uphold at all times by being honest in their match referring and flagging job today..
Let me indulge referee Mr Swarbrick and his 2 linemen of Mr Ledger and Mr Holmes to take not that whatever act of dishonesty one perpetrated in his life will live with him for life and later be hunting him in his conscience which will lead to him becoming a hypertension patient as time goes on his as his blood pressure will rise and never become stable again to make him comfortable.
Irrespective if the PGMO have instructed referee Neil Swarbrick and his 2 assistants Scott Ledger and Adrain Holmes to subvert and undermine Arsenal in the Premier League match encounter between Watford and Arsenal at the Vicarage Road later today, Mr Swarbrick and his 2 match assistants should put themselves above board by adhering strictly to personal discipline by disregarding the instructions of their employers, the PGMO and not be dishonest to Arsenal nor Watford in their referring and flagging this evening in the game during the playing of it. But rather, they should keep strictly to the ethic of their profession which they’ve sworn to uphold at all times by being honest in their match referring and flagging job today..
Let me indulge referee Mr Swarbrick and his 2 linemen of Mr Ledger and Mr Holmes to take note that whatever act of dishonesty one perpetrated in his life will live with him for life and later be hunting him in his conscience which will lead to him becoming a hypertension patient as time goes on as his blood pressure will rise and never become stable again to make him comfortable.
Riley has reserved his “special circumstances” for the Arsenal for Away games in recent years. Quite a strong pattern.
Which is why it was possible to pre-emptively predict and outline Dean’s performance *gollum gollum* on the opening day of the season.
Cheaters are predictable.
The pgMOB: Riley’s crows the the squawking subtlety and discreet ability of a bunged up blunderbuss.
< crow's have the
–
Come on the Arsenal!
That was pretty blatant.
Wow, just, wow!!!
http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41534302
Just click on link above, and the pedophile BBC the world knows has purposely stuck the stats from the spuds game to the Arsenal report!
As you guys have a good grasp on statistics, i wonder if you can help me out at all to ease a nagging in my brain. people seem to, very unfairly in my opinion, be saying Jack Wilshere didnt do much at bournemouth, because he didn’t directly score or assist a load of goals, however, i’m pretty sure that he was substantially involved in the build up to a lot of what they did that was positive. for example i seem to recall that he was involved in the build up to allfour of their goals at home to liverpool. are there any statistics regarding this? Also whether their rezults were notably different when he was in/out of the side? Ref lived up to his billing today, awfulness!
“I’ll learn to work the saxophone. I play just what I feel. Drink Scotch whiskey all night long and die behind the wheel. They got a name for the winners in the world and I want a name when I lose. They call Alabama the ‘Crimson Tide’. Call me Deacon Blues.”
Those out there in the Untold world hopefully will figure out the above lyrical genius in relation to the defeat we suffered at the hands of Watford.