Every season there’s a game that you play where you are utterly f*cked by circumstances beyond your control. It hurts. It’s unfair. It stings. That game was last night against Wolves.
The game hinged on a very poor decision from a very poor referee.
David Luiz was adjudged to have fouled Willian José when his foot clipped the Brazilian’s knee. Craig Pawson, desperate to give the penalty, was backed up by VAR and he issued a red card, going against double jeopardy ruling. This is Mark Clattenburg on the incident.
David Luiz was incorrectly sent off after giving away a penalty at Wolves — it should have been a yellow card.
The Arsenal defender made accidental contact with Willian Jose as he ran clear on goal and that caused the forward to fall. No one can dispute it was a foul and the award of a penalty was the right decision.
However, a law exists that protects teams from conceding a penalty and losing a player to a red card if a genuine attempt to play the ball has been made.
It was a horrible decision and it completely ruined the progressive football we’d been playing for the previous 46 minutes.
The penalty was scored and shortly after kick-off in the second half, Moutinho let off a screamer that beat Bernd Leno from about 25 yards. Saka and Partey should have done more, but really, it’s quite harsh to apportion blame, the strike was lethal.
Things got worse for Arsenal, Bernd Leno, an absolute rock for us, misjudged a long ball and was sent off when he handled outside the area. Matters were made worse when we gave the ball boy keeper gloves and played out the game with an amateur between the sticks.
We lost. It was rough. The game shone an light on a harsh reality… Premier League referees are awful.
I don’t want to be a conspiracist, but simply put, if you cannot make good decisions when you have the luxury of technology to support you, there needs to be a change. Arsene Wenger had it right, he said that no one wants to have this conversation, but when it comes to the World Cup, FIFA don’t exactly line-up for our referees. How could they be good, the managing director for PGMOL is Mike Riley, a bad referee famed for incompetence is leading them.
PGMOL lacks accountability. The standard of officiating in the UK is terrible. This isn’t mere gripping, it’s fact. Technology is used poorly, bad refs keep ruining important games, and there seems to be no one competent in charge to drive improvement.
Back to Arsenal. David Luiz needs to take some accountability. If you know the refs are shit, don’t take risks. If he were a driver, he’d be the guy going 80mph on a country road, 3 inches behind the car in front… chances are, that sort of motoring is going to get punished at some point. It was, and it happens too often. Still, the simple fact is, history doesn’t matter here, we were totally fucked by a shit referee… again.
However, let’s put some things in perspective, especially for all the ghouls that showed up after the game to condemn the project.
Arsenal are going places under Arteta. We all had our doubts before Christmas, but the transformation on the pitch has been nothing short of electric. If you can’t see it, it’s because you don’t want to see it.
That first half was the best half of football we’ve see all season. The energy was outrageous, we looked powerful, we pressed with intent. The attacking football at times was sublime. We’ve gone from one power-play to a whole plethora of options when we move forward.
Thomas Partey made amends for his average performance at the weekend. He was world-class. He is the balance between attack and defence. His instincts for the game are unreal. He was everywhere. Can you believe that people said they wouldn’t take him on a free? Embarrassing carry-on.
Bukayo Saka, you absolute beauty. He’s so, so important to us. He dominated in attack. His finishing was off, but my oh my is it clear that we missed him for the United game.
Xhaka was very impressive. Cedric had another good game. Lacazette played that false 9 role like a demon.
Nicolas Pepe… OH MY… is it starting to look like I bet on the wrong opinion. He should live on the left. He was unplayable at times. He is working like his career depends on it. His body language was excellent, his desire to be involved felt different, and he showed up with a goal. He won the ball back with the press, he held of challenges, retained balance, and smashed home with a clinical finish. A thing of beauty.
We’re shaping up nicely. Every issue we’ve had with Arteta is being resolved one game at a time. We’re still defensively resolute, even with 9 men, just look at what happened to Southampton. We’re getting better and better in attack, some of the football was scintillating. We are starting to look elite even without our best starting 11. Our bench had Martinelli, Gabriel, Auba and Odegaard… true strength in depth. We’re also rattling the naysayers… which makes me happy. Too many Arsenal fans hate it when we’re doing well, a shame, but the reality of the modern-day superbore.
A bad day at the office, but plenty to be pleased about.
This season is done. That’s terrible. It wasn’t on the bingo card this year. So we have to move on, we have to look to next season, we have to start thinking about how we can best used the remaining months as a preseason to a normal year in 2022.
We were robbed. 3 points would have been ours had it not been for that pesky ref. Time to show we have the strength to come back from it at the weekend.
Onwards and upwards, ignore the melts, we’re progressing very nicely.
1st is the new 4th
1st?
3rd
4th
Missed out today
if a genuine attempt to play the ball has been made.
wasn’t the problem that he wasn’t trying too play the ball – he was just trying to do nothing?
The failure of VAR is more down to the fact the league didn’t employ an independent body to oversee it. They should have brought in a professional, highly trained group who have no connection with the PGMOL who would give decisions without fear of recrimination from the PGMOL. Instead we have a bunch of amateurs who are making it up as they go along.. None of them want to upset the status quo so they support their colleagues on the pitch even when it is obvious that a decision is wrong . The PGMOL have no one to answer to… Read more »
It is not the Ref. It is the rule that sucks!
I really thought you would also mention the kindness that Man.Utd received yesterday from their ref and VAR..
That was frustrating AF! Hate losing games like that.
Oh well. Now we have to take the scalp of one of the big boys to make up for it…
Pierre, as usual the issue is that referees have almost always zero experience of playing the game at a high level. We need people who actually understand the game from a player perspective in refereeing. Also as per my last entry on the yesterday’s post referees are not permitted to use ‘common sense’ or do anything but rigidly adhere to the laws of the game and the interpretation given to them.
“Onwards and upwards, ignore the melts, we’re progressing very nicely.”
Totally agree re the “melts”. Quick scan of Twitter you can see Arteta being blamed for the result. Really?!!!
Personally I think these “melts” are just saddos after the attention.
As you positive is the football for 44 mins was incredible and Pepe hopefully finally gets it.
How is the season over? That is not really the mentality to go by. Other teams lost too. Getting 6-7th place (if two top 6 sides win the domestic cups).
We need you be in Europe next year. All this talk of Europa league is a distraction and we are better off without it to concentrate on the league is nonsense.
We need every penny with that 120mn loan on our head.
What was Luiz doing upfront with just one minute to end of first half leading 1,0. Just like Mustafi he is always seconds away from disaster
Pierre
I seem to remember you being one of the biggest proponents of VAR prior to its introduction.
Curious to hear how you feel about it now?
It certainly doesn’t feel like it’s leveled the playing field from an Arsenal perspective. We’ve been hurt by it far more than we’ve benefited from it.
The standard of refereeing is terrible, and there is zero accountability for them or their organisation, but they also know that if they look after the right people and teams, as they conspicuously do, nothing will happen against them.
Someone somewhere in the game should be looking at how Utd are refereed in this league, if they do indeed get things handed on a plate to them, that is matchfixing , nothing less.
that, along with the general abysmal standard of these refs. Very poor
Let’s be clear it was a penalty but no sending off, but can anyone justify with 20 seconds left why the fuck was Luiz so far up field? Go in H/T we win the game easy the man is a liability and I pray this was his last game for my club.
When we play poorly for several matches in a row. It’s fair game to blame Arteta and to question his decisions and his tactics
But it’s really fucking stupid to do it when we are playing well and a referee decides to make a ridiculous intervention in a match where we’re playing well to affect the result.
“he issued a red card, going against double jeopardy ruling.”
But Luiz wasn’t trying to play the ball. Hence, by that stupid rule, double jeopardy didn’t apply. The Ref called the same thing in the Manure game.
Totally agree Le Professor. We looked a very good side until the Luiz incident. It may have been a refereeing mistake but Luiz shouldn’t have put himself in that position. Take the ref out of the equation.
Agree with you Pedro some cracking performances, nothing to get too upset about. Shit happens in football.
David Smith,
Bruno Fernandes should not have e been playing against Southampton last night. He should have been serving a 3 match ban for violent conduct against Xhaka.
I feel for saka was unfortunate to not get a goal yesterday.
I can see him scoring against Villa on Saturday. He looks more hungrier to score goals now.
Got to look out for Grealish in the penalty box on Saturday.
Fucking aberration of a post.
Now that we all know the stupid rule, always try to play the ball.
By the way, now that we have Partey, we don’t need Luiz’s long ball.
“However, a law exists that protects teams from conceding a penalty and losing a player to a red card if a genuine attempt to play the ball has been made.”
Did Luiz make any attempt to play the ball ?
If it was judged a foul, which the majority agree it was then it was a red. Clattenburg wants to play to the audience as always. Romberg this is the ref that allowed Spurs to break every law against Chelsea because he didn’t want to be accused of losing Spurs the league.
reminds me of when van purse got sent off against Barcelona.
I would have walked off the pitch. mankind fuckin irritates me.
@Pedro
“Too many Arsenal fans hate it when we’re doing well, a shame, but the reality of the modern-day superbore.”
If that’s the case I would not call them Arsenal fans at all.
Nothing wrong with not liking a manager or certain players, we all have our opinions. But if you cant be happy when we do well then I question that “fans” support.
What seems to have gone unnoticed in debate about last night’s outcome is that the person in charge of VAR was Jonathon Moss one of the worst referees in the business. Personally I think we should move on now. We had a bad result notwithstanding that we played very well in the game. We need to reset and get back to winning ways as quickly as possible starting with game against AV. My main concern is the absence of Leno and not Luiz. We are not short of replacements for Luiz. Both Gabriel and Mari are decent CBs to have… Read more »
“What seems to have gone unnoticed in debate about last night’s outcome is that the person
in charge of VAR was Jonathon Moss one of the worst referees in the business.”
Does it matter who was in charge when he made the right decision?
I am assuming that both Leno and Luiz will miss only one game since the red card will be
considered a “professional foul” rather than “violent conduct” which attracts a three game
ban.
Is that the correct analysis?
My main concern is the absence of Leno and not Luiz. We are not short of replacements for
Luiz. Both Gabriel and Mari are decent CBs to have as replacements.
ES
We are in trouble if Runasson goes in goal on Saturday. We are also in trouble if we rush Matty Ryan back from a muscular injury.
Samesong
That is my view also.
Only thing Arteta can be blamed for is how well we played from the off. We should have been 2-0 up within 10 minutes, and the game would have been buried. It was a freak game, and sadly, again, Luiz cost us. This season is about forging an identity, getting rid of bad apples, and streamlining the club from a-z. We’re finally seeing a proper team that’s progressing very nicely with the right age profile, and in my opinion we will only get better from here. It’s fun and exciting to watch Arsenal again, and for me this is a… Read more »
Norwegiangunner
My view as well.
Our priority this season from now onwards is to build a settled team and a winning mentality.
Hopefully we will learn from our mistakes.
Mystic
In one.
The introduction of VAR was done so to take away the likelihood that the ref didn’t have a good view or similar excuse now officials use those replays that previously we supporters were able to see
Unfortunately the laws so many supporters think are in place aren’t and when the officials make a correct call which they do in the vast vast majority of instances they do so using an upto date knowledge of the laws.
All the melts that come on after Alisa need to be ridiculed they will soon stop if they get exposed every time
That’s correct ES, both one match bans.
Nothing quite as boring as reading the ‘superfans’ chastising other fans who just happen to have a different viewpoint. I’m in the ‘shit happens’ camp on last night’s game, no point in blaming anyone individual. May change my mind if Luiz get’s another extension though.
ES Leno definitely misses one game. In respect of Luiz the fact that he was deemed not to have made an attempt to play the ball could , potentially be classed as violent conduct As an aside here is FIFA law and emphasis why Luiz was sent off “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 if the offence was an attempt to play the ball; in all other circumstances (e.g. holding, pulling, pushing,… Read more »
Andy some need chastising they talk shit and just come on here to gloat and push their agenda
If they were not doing that they would come on here when we win but they never do
True fans or super fans as you call us come on here win or lose
Not saying you are one of them btw Andy think your views are always balanced
The decision to send Luis off was pathetic and ridiculous. To then have to sit and listen to Peter Walton defend the decision at half time was really rubbing salt into the wounds. Yes, the laws state that if a player commits a ‘careless foul’, then it is a penalty and a sending off, but the law also says that an ‘accidental foul’ is a penalty and a caution only. The contact is clearly accidental, and anyone with half a brain cell can see it was accidental (if there actually was any contact???) Once again, the way the PGMOL interrupt… Read more »
Mr Serge, sorry but people are only ‘super fans’ in their heads. You need to differentiate between people who just happen to have a different opinion and trolls. I’m not going to tell anyone how they should support the team, that’s their business. Better to have a reasoned discussion where possible and just ignore the trolls.
Terraloon.
Presumably there is also a FIFA rule that stipulates that if Bruno Fernandes intentionally rakes his studs against the back of a player legs then a VAR review should not seem the action to be worthy of any card?
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 handball offence the player is sent off wherever the offence occurs. GARY Pease show me where in the laws it says that if the foul was accidental? 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 if the offence was an attempt to play the ball; in all other circumstances (e.g.… Read more »
“Not saying you are one of them btw Andy think your views are always balanced”
Thanks for that although I’m not sure Pedro would agree!
Most people on here are reasonable even if we sometimes get frustrated when things are going against us. Just life I guess.
Words
100% agree he should have been sanctioned but the debate here is why Luiz got sent off
BTW I’m pretty sure that Pedro knows that any mention of the PGMOL is sure to drive a frenzy of comments and bring in some of the conspiracy theorists from a certain other Arsenal site. He’s not daft.
How was David Luiz attempting to play the ball by running across the back of an attacker so close that his heels clip him?
Luiz didn’t even contest it. He knew what he had done.
Waiting for Sid & I’m telling you this for free wind-ups!
On another note, anyone blaming Arteta for yesterday has an agenda and that is that!
Terraloon
My point is about the consistency and the pattern of the application of the rules by the referees.
It does feel like Man United get the VIP treatment
Whereas refs are happy to throw the book at any Arsenal player at each and every available “opportunity.”
Words
And that’s valid point but was Pawson wrong last night ?
Well, as disappointed in the overall result, I refuse be downhearted about the performance, the changes are well under way and the future is looking bright.
Ignore the rantings of adolescents, they have a Monochrome mindset in a world of colour.
As Pawson would have said had the same thing happened with Harry Maguire- “not enough contact for me, guv.”
Terraloon
“In respect of Luiz the fact that he was deemed not to have made an attempt to play the ball could , potentially be classed as violent conduct”
Violent conduct ?
I’d remove the Terra from your name…loon is suffice with a comment like that.
Can’t argue with the post but I do ha e an issue with Luiz, this was coming in the post, maybe not a red yesterday but he got done and he was in and aroud the back of the guy desperate to take him down.
He played OK sat does not mean he’s ready for Tues, his eyes looked a bit shocked pre goal, if you bet on Luiz this might happen.
So disappointed for pepe, was storming it and all spoilt, team selection Saturday will be interesting, odegarrd needs some minutes for sure, but esr should probably still start
Morning all. Still seething at the injustice of it all. Makes it worse when you listen to every pundit and ex-player criticising yet another pathetic decision from the unaccountable and incompetent Riley mob at PGMOL. Thought I would share this link. It’s a great watch and explains the decision from someone involved in approving the rule change at IFAB, Shaka Hislop. He explains why Moss and Pawson got it wrong as they misinterpreted the rule. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsP_3EeJDCsThe intent Essentially the reason the law was changed was to avoid double jeopardy, being punished twice. The penalty was punishment enough. The rule, therefore,… Read more »
AFC Forever
Let it go.
Roll on Saturday.
The root cause of Luiz sending off lies with the team, and not just the ref or even David Luiz himself. The whole backline pushed up to the centre line for a goalkick with 30 seconds to go until halftime. That singular decision made us lose the match as it led to everything that followed. Annoying because it was completely avoidable and we would certainly have won that game. We were excellent until that point
“Too many Arsenal fans hate it when we’re doing well”
Look at the standings and then you concede that the season is over, Pedro.
Geez but you contradict yourself enough times. How exactly are we doing well f you have already conceded the season?
The law is not wrong, the interpretation of the law by PGMOL and English pundits that is wrong. It’s a red and a penalty if the player commits a foul. If there is no foul, then there is no red nor penalty. Not all contact are fouls. An accidental tangle of legs is just an accidental tangle of legs not a foul. People talk about changing or clarifying the law, by referee incompetence cannot be eradicated by law. Remember the ManCity offside goal that was not offside. PGMOL issue a clarification of the interpretation of the law that did not… Read more »
As I’ve said they should involve ex-professional players much more in refereeing and until they do refereeing bodies will continue to make poor laws and apply them in obscure ways. That said until that happens you can’t say a referee ‘got it wrong’ if they are following the guidelines that they have been given. What you mean is they followed their instructions correctly but the applicable law is a stupid one and should be changed. Different thing altogether.
sorry,
“they have actually gone against the reasoning behind the rule change”.
Said it yesterday and will say it again, you introduce David Luiz into a match and the chances of a calamitous episode increases exponentially. Why Arteta chose to introduce Luiz lies solely with him, the rest is history, like the outcome or not.
Val “An accidental tangle of legs is just an accidental tangle of legs not a foul” It is if the player is careless. Anyone who has ever played football at any level knows that if you run across the back of a player in motion there could easily be contact so you don’t do it unless you want to risk fouling them. What bugs me far more than this is how easily players win penalties from minimal contact. Getting clipped from behind you’re very likely to fall but some of those where a player gets brushed by an arm or… Read more »
I really enjoy watching Partey operating in the midfield. Some of our players are still not anticipating his passes. Bellerin passed the ball to Partey and then stood still even when there was lots of room in front of him. On the other hand, Xhaka has developed good chemistry with Partey. Our game should look even better once our players are familiar with Partey’s game.
Valentin
“The law is not wrong, the interpretation of the law by PGMOL and English pundits that is wrong”
CORRECT.
That is exactly what Shaka Hislop of IFAB is saying and he should know.
He says the rule is fine but PGMOL are not applying the ‘accidental’ element – they chose to misinterpret it as a professional foul, which it was not.
“…we gave the ball boy keeper gloves and played out the game with an amateur between the sticks…”
We’re Arsenal fans and we’re more classy than this.
Ernest, is anyone surprised that Luiz gave away another penalty or got a red? We should have never given him a second year, or at the very least labelled him as ‘for use in an emergency only’. That’s not hindsight, it was the opinion of the vast majority of gooners last summer.
AFC again show me where the word accidental appears in the rule. It doesn’t feature at all nor does the question of intent Look again at the rule 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 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 if the offence… Read more »
As I’ve said they should involve ex-professional players much more in refereeing and until they do refereeing bodies will continue to make poor laws I don’t agree with this. What the same ex-players that tried to cheat the ref’s in their career by diving in instances. Are we advocating for them to be refs? I don’t see a big difference in ex players making a big difference at all. They will also be prone to making the same mistakes as current refs. Even if they sat on a board for VAR they will make mistakes. Their will still be biases… Read more »
“This season is done. That’s terrible. It wasn’t on the bingo card this year. So we have to move on, we have to look to next season, we have to start thinking about how we can best used the remaining months as a preseason to a normal year in 2022.” “Onwards and upwards, ignore the melts, we’re progressing very nicely.” You do know the season is basically at the halfway point, right Pedro? Your own words can and will come back to haunt you. Lots to play for and plenty of games left to play. A lot of good things… Read more »
AFC
Is Hislop a FIFA rep on IFAB ? Not sure he is and he certainly isn’t a rep from any of the four home nations he is a pundit for ESPN
Agreed Andy.
kamalFebruary 3, 2021 10:31:43
Waiting for Sid & I’m telling you this for free wind-ups!
Any relation to Kamala?
Ben D, The reason why the team pushed up is because against a team like Wolves, they were instructed to not try to syatematically beat the press. So more restart were made by going long. But going long only make sense if the team is setup to receive the 2nd ball, because Lacazette is not going to dominate in the air. Against opposition with pacy powerful wingers, teams don’t tend to push that high, but also they tend to ask the extra midfielder to drop off the strikers to retrieve any knock down or clearance and the wide men to… Read more »
As I said earlier the additional time was up so why did the ref let play go on?
The incident was 39 secs beyond the finish of the game.
Man U get penalties after the final whistle has been blown.
Our refs are crap compared with European refs.
The schedule is getting tight. It is important to keep the players fresh. Saka has rested for a game and yesterday he had so much more energy than Laca. My preference is to put higher priority on the Europa Cup. No EPL game is easy. And there are too many teams in front of us in the standing. I think we have better chance to win something with the Europa Cup..
Jesus Christ, the ref conspiracy fanatics on here..
Rui Patricio made just 2 saves all game, including when we has 11 players on the pitch.
Our first half dominance against a shockingly poor Wolves wasn’t that dominant, which is why we lost over 90 minutes.
In the end, Wolves outshot us, outpassed us, had more touches, more dribbles, more interceptions.
I’m more annoyed at Laca being offside for Saka’s goal than I am at either sending-off.
The referees did not do any favours for us but Arteta should have chosen Gabriel or Mari over Luiz… when they were available.
I still don’t understand why he was chosen over other defenders.
when we had*
Andy, Not necessarily, I remember a game at a World Cup where the player deliberately crossed in front of a defender who was running back causing the tangle. The attacker was expected a penalty and a red, but did not get the expected penalty nor the red. The argument at the time that the defender had no possibility to avoid the contact. It is the same with a player suddenly stopping in the penalty box to trick the chasing player to run into him and shove him to the floor. Most of the time it is a penalty, but a… Read more »
Samesong, tat’s exactly why we need players involved. They know all the tricks, they know if a player is feigning or if he has ‘bought’ a foul. Referees are clueless when it comes to understanding what the players get up to. Ever heard the term ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’? The best people to thwart dishonest players are those who already know all the tricks of the trade.
Andy1886 Andy, you make some excellent points. I have been to a charity game where some of these referees have played; they have never pulled on football boots before, shocking. That is the problem. They don’t understand the game. What you have essentially, are a bunch of lawyers and accountants making decisions about things they don’t understand. One of the great misconceptions is the idea that contact is a foul. It isn’t, this is a contact sport. Just because a piece of fluff has brushed against somebody’s sock does not mean that player has the right to fall over. On… Read more »
Dave, as has already been pointed out it’s not 2 minutes, it’s a ‘minimum of 2 minutes’. How many times do stoppages add up to exactly a given number of minutes? Probably almost never. As I said previously the thing with the additional time being displayed is just another TV gimmick that’s unhelpful, let refs play the added time they believe is right and have done with it.
Jamie, behave.
Go and take it up with Shaka Hislop.
Val, that’s not the same as what Luiz did though, the attacker doesn’t have eyes in the back of his head and can’t initiate a tangle without changing his stride which he didn’t do. I agree with the comment that attackers can initiate contact though as I said in my previous post at 10.53.50.
When Leno took the goal kick there was 20 secs of the 2 mins injury time remaining our 3 defenders sat deep and Luiz was near the half way line- Gabriel is our future play him not the long haired clown!
andy
So let me ask you if an ex-player gave the penalty last night for example what difference would that of of made to you? at first glance to most people would of deemed that a penalty.
I’m just saying that ex-player’s don’t will not necessarily make better refs.
terraloon
Yes, he was when the rule was changed. Listen to him, don’t keep defending a bad decision. It’s a flat earth argument.
AFC –
If you can explain why we only hit the target 3 times over 90 minutes when we dominated the 1st half, I’ll behave.
Until then, the ref gets a pass because he wasn’t the reason we hit the post twice or why Laca strayed offside for a goal that would’ve probably put the game to bed.
No individual is to blame for the loss, least of all the ref. Luiz is very close to being responsible, though.
“What the same ex-players that tried to cheat the ref’s in their career by diving in instances. Are we advocating for them to be refs? I don’t see a big difference in ex-players making a big difference at all” This is a valid point. Andy1886 is correct about footballers understanding the game and also all the tricks that players get up to. That would be useful, especially in VAR. However, you do have to temper that with your point about them also being less than honest themselves. Listening to Redknapp, Keane, Sounnes, Neville etc, you know they are on the… Read more »
Some good ideas there Forever. As in so many cases in life refereeing is essentially a closed shop where to get anywhere you have to buy into the philosophy of the people running the show. You don’t make it to the top without sucking up or showing any initiative or common sense. The accountant analogy is apt, it’s like in business where the bean counters don’t understand what the salespeople do and the salespeople don’t understand what the engineers do, and the top brass don’t understand what anyone does. It’s all disfunctional.
Jamie “If you can explain why we only hit the target 3 times over 90 minutes when we dominated the 1st half, I’ll behave”. What did you expect with 9/10 men? Daft question mate. In that first half we were dominant, played well, hit the bar twice had a goal disallowed and there is no doubt as Wolves tired we would have scored more goals in the second half. Definite. Game ended at half time as you should know. So not sure how many ‘shots on target’ you expect with fewer men than the opposition. They made a few blocks… Read more »
Samesong, if you had an ex-player in the room with the VAR official they could certainly advise if a player initiated contact for example, or if an arm was in a natural position when jumping prior to a handball. Referees struggle with anything that isn’t black or white, ex-players understand the subtleties. Agreed that the Luiz foul was a pen either way, I’m advocating ex-players educating referees in the application and interpretation of the laws of the game.
AFC Here are some suggestions: 1. Sack Mike Riley Never going to happen. pGMOL is an independent organisation. Only way to get rid of it is to have premiership rescinding their agreement with them. 2. Close down the closed shop that is PGMOL and introduce an independent panel. See my answer to 1). Only possible if a majority of premier League clubs votes for it. I can’t see ManUtd, Liverpool, Leicester and a few others voting for it. 3. Every referee must declare who they support and must not referee local teams Officially already the case 4. Better still, introduce… Read more »
I’m advocating ex-players educating referees in the application and interpretation of the laws of the game.
That’s a good start.
Andy, yes I agree with that. The writing was on the wall when they promoted Riley because he is your typical been counter. He had an awful reputation which wasn’t helped when he refereed that 50th game, which is often cited as a fix. I want to believe it wasn’t dishonest, I like to believe he couldn’t deal with the pressure and intimidation. But he didn’t deserve to be promoted as we can all see. Accountability is the issue. They are buddies, almost enjoying a celebrity lifestyle. They are arrogant. I want them to wear Mics and explain decisions. I… Read more »
The rules need changing. But I also believe that ex players should be in control of VAR. Everyone could tell for example that Martial dived last night. Nobody falls like that if they are tripped/pulled back. Yet players get away with it over and over again.
Referees are also so quick to get the cards out. A foul doesn’t have to mean a booking.