Arsenal v Stoke; 1 April 2018 – the officials, and when Stoke should have had six men sent off.

by Andrew Crawshaw

Firstly some non-Arsenal referee news :-

• Bobby Madley this weekend becomes the 12th referee to be in charge of a Man United game.  Southampton have had 18 different referees so far, Brighton, Huddersfield and Stoke have each had 17.
• Andy Madley (Bobby’s older brother) has become the 20th referee to be given a PL match this season, he was in charge of the Watford v Bournemouth game.  There are still only 18 referees who have played a significant role as Simon Hooper has only had one game.
• Michael Oliver has been the busiest with 25 matches, closely followed by Martin Atkinson on 24, Jonathan Moss on 23, Andre Marriner and Anthony Taylor on 22.
• Apart from Andy Madley and Simon Hooper, there are a group of referees on 12 matches – Mike Jones, Stuart Attwell, Paul Tierney and Chris Kavanagh.  Lee Probert has done 13 and both Lee Mason and Roger East have done 14.
• No team has yet had a referee for 6 matches but there are a clutch of referees with 5 visits to individual teams.  Lee Probert at Bournemouth, Anthony Taylor at Chelsea, Craig Pawson at both Man United and Stoke, and Martin Atkinson at West Ham.

On to our match and the officials are :-

• Referee – Craig Pawson Age 38 from South Yorkshire and FIFA accredited
• Assistant Referee 1 – Stuart Burt  From Northamptonshire and FIFA accredited
• Assistant Referee 2 – Richard West  From East Yorkshire
• Fourth Official – Kevin Friend  age 46 from Leicestershire

This will be the third time this season we have had Mr Pawson but the first at home.  Our previous two matches were both on Mersyside, our 4 – 0 loss at Liverpool and our 5 – 2 win at Everton.

Against Liverpool we were pretty poor and I have no notes of Mr Pawson being in any way to blame for our loss.  We loaded both barrels of our shotgun and shot off both of our legs.

Against Everton Mr Pawson didn’t have a very good game with four wrong important decisions.  Calvert-Lewis should have had a red card for a push on Koscielney that was sufficient to propel him into the stand, a clear example of excessive force.  Pickford should have given away a penalty for a foul on Alexis when there was no attempt to play the ball, the Everton goal scored by Rooney shouldn’t have counted due to a foul by Gueye in the buildup and Koscielney should have had a red instead of a yellow card for a late and high challenge.

Last Season we had Mr Pawson twice both away from home

Burnley v Arsenal (0 – 1) 38% overall, bias against the two teams of 14/86 and three wrong important decisions,

• Min 72 not given penalty to Arsenal for Keane handball,
• Min 86 Vokes should have had a red card for an elbow on Mustafi and
• Min 90 a second not given Arsenal penalty again against Keane for handball

West Ham v Arsenal (1 – 5)  72% overall, bias against the two teams 44/66 and one wrong important decision when Alexis’s third goal should have been ruled out for offside.

In 2015/16 we had Mr Pawson on four occasions, all away from home.

Leicester v Arsenal (2 – 5) 84% overall, bias against the two teams of 20/80 and no wrong important decisions.  If only it was like that every week!

Stoke v Arsenal (0 – 0)  34% overall, bias against the two teams of 5/95 and no fewer than 8 wrong important decisions.

Arsenal were denied penalties in minutes 51 and 52 (fouls by Woolscheid on Giroud and Walcott), and there were 6 occasions when Stoke players should have had second yellow cards!

• Min 52 Woolscheid for the foul on Walcott,
• Min 58 Shawcross for a professional foul on Giroud,
• Min 62 Pieters who dived to win a free kick,
• Min 71 Pieters for a foul on Campbell,
• Min 80 Pieters for another foulon Campbell and
• Min 90+1 Pieters for another foul on Campbell.

Certainly Mr Pawson did what he had to do to keep Stoke in the game that day.  Mike Dean was fourth Official!

Man United v Arsenal (3 – 2)  64% overall, bias against the two teams of 3/97 and four wrong Important Decisions.

• Min 45+2 Rashford should have been sent off and Arsenal awarded a penalty when he deliberately handled the ball in the penalty area.
• Min 70 Hererra was correctly given a yellow card but he should have had his first in Min 43.
• Min 75 Hererra should have had another yellow card for a two footed lunge at Sanchez.  Another match where Mr Pawson was guided by Mike Dean in how to deliver a result against Arsenal.

West Ham v Arsenal (3 – 3)  42% overall, bias against the two teams of 23/77 and a massive 9 wrong Important Decisions.

• Min 4 Carroll should have had a straight red card for a foul on Koscielny (he was wrongly only given a yellow),
• Min 14 a goal by Lanzini was wrongly ruled out for offside he wasn’t and it should have counted,
• Min 22 Lanzini should have had a straight red card for a two footed stamp on Bellerin,
• Min 37 Carroll should have had a second yellow card for an elbow to the face of Gabriel, Min 54 Noble should have had a second yellow card for deliberately preventing an Arsenal free kick, Min 63 Carroll should have had another red card  for a foul on Ospina,
• Min 71 Carroll should have had a third red card for a foul on Gabriel and Gabriel should also have been dismissed for retaliation,
• Min 90+2 Reid should have had a second yellow card for a foul on Alexis.  An awful and cowardly display of refereeing.  Mr Pawson seemed to lose control of the game in the fourth minute and never got it back.

Summary

1. Until his education by Mr Dean in the Stoke match in 2015/16 Mr Pawson was a promising referee in Arsenal matches, we didn’t always win and he made mistakes but they seemed to be honest ones.  Since then he has learned what he has to do to get on in the PGMO pig trough and has earned his FIFA accreditation.
2. He is now a typical PGMO employee and someone who is quite prepared to turn a blind eye when necessary.
3. Expect Stoke to be allowed to commit their usual thuggery without facing the letter of the laws of football.  Red cards will not be issued unless Stoke players actually decapitate their victims.
4. I will be very surprised if Arsenal are awarded a penalty for any infringements in the Stoke area.
5. Aubameyang will probably be called for offside when level with the last defender

COYG

• Bizarre news for injury prone Arsenal. What will Steward Robson say?
• Arsenal and them. How its gone in the past
• Arsenal vs The Stone Age; this Sunday.

From the Arsenal History Society

• The Arsenal collapse of autumn 1921: Knighton’s curious positional strategy
• From Arsenal’s first FA Cup semi to Diaby, Arteta, Wilshere and Debuchy recovering from injury all at once