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.
AFC –
We didn’t start the game with 9 men. I expect more than forcing the keeper into making just 2 saves in the first 45.
It’s ok to be objectively critical rather than look for conspiracies. No one ever talks seriously about bad refereeing decisions after a win.
We didn’t do enough to beat a shite Wolves side inside the opening half. That’s when the game was lost, imo.
Call my questions daft all you want, mate.
Was Luis genuinely try to play the ball ?
No, he was running behind the player and ran across his legs.
The refereeing decision was perhaps the correct one, upon further reflection.
The law of the game is cryptic but it appears the officials didn’t do anything wrong.
It’s sucks but can we stop all these conspiracy theory nonsense.?
Incompetence amongst referees is just a symptom of the entire footballing infrastructure that is sorely lacking in integrity.
If we want change, real change we need to start again and dismantle FIFA and UEFA altogether..
Valentin
You make some valid points but you have to start somewhere.
VAR doesn’t work, we all know that it is ruining the game. It’s too slow and we have no idea what they are doing because they keep us in silence. I agree the on-field referee should make the decision not someone hiding in Stockley.
1. Has VAR made football better?
2. Has it stopped bad decisions?
3. Has it stopped diving?
4. has it stopped controversy?
5. Is the game better with VAR or without it?
I would like to scrap it as currently used.
Dissenter
Surely the idea of “a genuine attempt to play the ball” vs “no attempt to play the ball” comes down to a cynical foul vs a tackle good or bad and not an accidental trip?
I mean if Luiz had been goal side of the attacker and clothe lined him then it’s no attempt to play the ball and you could understand the red, Luiz didn’t attempt to make a tackle cynical or otherwise.
VAR is not the problem – there were always going to be teething problems with new technology but the issue isn’t the tech.
To understand the problem you need to look at why there was a desire / demand to bring tech into the game. Quite simply because our ref’s are fucking useless and have been for years, the unwillingness to even admit they occasional get something wrong is a huge area for concern. To bring in a system that’s supposed to counter the uselessness of ref’s and then let the ref’s run it is beyond madness or stupidity.
Diss
“No, he was running behind the player and ran across his legs”.
He did not run across his legs. That is not true.
Nobody is making conspiracy theories just pointing out that a wrong decision was made. You can think what you like, just stop doing what you always do mate, trying to stir the pot.
You think you are the police or moderator on here, you’re not. Join the convo or start a new one but stop acting like you’re more important than you are by accusing people of being something. Conspiracy theories? You just can’t help yourself.
Marc Luiz should have known better. There was no certainty that the player would score so he was always going to simulate a contact. That’s why you never run a cross the back of the legs of anyone, all they have to do is slow down and get a foul. I’ve slept over it. Luiz didn’t try to tackle and miss the ball, he was just doing a stupid thing running across the path. By the letter of the law, he wasn’t.trying to play the ball Its was the correct decision, red card and penalty. HE WAS NOT TRYING TO… Read more »
Dissenter,
Like Marc (welcome back) said it was an accidental trip.
The thing is when such accidental trip occurs outside the penalty box, they don’t necessarily result in a foul.
So there is no reason why an accidental trip in the penalty box has to result in a foul.
It is the same with an handball. Accidental handball do not necessarily result in foul and penalties.
For those of you with a penchant for refereeing conspiracy theories I suggest Untold Arsenal. According to them Arsenal have never actually lost a game only been robbed by refereeing decisions.
Valentin
Thanks mate – you keeping well?
Dissenter
Some years ago (I can’t remember exactly when or who it was against) an opposition player get sent off for a second yellow after doing something similar to Henry although closer to the halfway line whilst Henry was making a break.
The uproar by the media about he couldn’t help it was deafening. There has to be a punishment or players will start to accidentally do it on purpose but the pen and the red was excessive.
It’s the type of choices we want
Arteta has a big decision to make about our forward line, we’ll need to rotate
But Pepe’s form, alongside Lacazette waking up at contract renewal time
With Saka nailing down the right wing spot
Really should see Aubameyang benched against Villa
Pepe deserves to play, dropping your captain is a big call
But I think it’s the right one
Aubameyang has been poor this season, Pepe suddenly looks up for the fight
Marc
“Quite simply because our ref’s are fucking useless and have been for years, the unwillingness to even admit they occasional get something wrong is a huge area for concern. To bring in a system that’s supposed to counter the uselessness of ref’s and then let the ref’s run it is beyond madness or stupidity”
Marc, I think you nailed it.
“HE WAS NOT TRYING TO PLAY THE BALL.”
No but he wasn’t attempting to cynically take the player down either – he was just tracking back. If he’d stopped running and just watched everyone would’ve gone mental at that.
yes there was slight accidental contact but in the slow motion the wolves player appears to regain balance and then dive with a forward tumble – so it could be argued no foul and a yellow card for diving.
Valentin.
Accidental contacts are still fouls and we all agree that the foul was a penalty.
That ‘accidental’ foul meant he was not intentionally trying to play the ball so he doesn’t get the benefit of the double jeopardy rule.
It was a red card, end of.
I hate these conspiracy theories. It’s another symptom that’s showing what a loser club we have become. It’s lower table clubs that get consumed by refereeing conspiracies.
“To bring in a system that’s supposed to counter the uselessness of ref’s and then let the ref’s run it is beyond madness or stupidity.”
That’s exactly right.
Repurposing the usual adage, if you give a word processing software to a monkey he is not more likely to come up with Shakespeare work than on a typewriter.
Better tools can hide some incompetence, but it can’t fully eradicate incompetence.
Marc
By the letter of the law, if he wasn’t trying to play the ball [for whatever reason] then he doesn’t benefit from the double jeopardy rule.
Luiz was clumsy at best< casually stupid at it”s worst.
People are presenting him as blameless when in fact he ran across the legs of a player ahead of him about to pop a shot in the box.
I guess refereeing conspiracies unify Le-grove.
AFC The solution is actually quite simple but won’t be popular. Once things are back to normal you do 2 things. 1) You take £2 or £3 million quid out of the TV money for each team and put it into a referring fund. This is then used to train refs up and pay them £150k per year – more if necessary. You have a program where people who want to apply are whittled down over time and professionally trained. As they qualify they start in the lower leagues and are then promoted. The most important thing is reviewed performance.… Read more »
Diss
“He was not trying to play the ball”
What? He was avoiding contact, there was no attempt on his part to attempt to either get the ball or commit a foul.
The rule was changed to prevent players from being punished twice when they had not committed a professional foul. Luiz knew that if he had made an attempt he was so far from the ball he would have been red-carded so he didn’t make a challenge. The fact the strikers heel made contact with Luiz knee puts to bed your theory that their locks crossed.
“yes there was slight accidental contact but in the slow motion the wolves player appears to regain balance and then dive with a forward tumble – so it could be argued no foul and a yellow card for diving.”
Yes but when someone runs across the back of your legs, the modern footballer will simulate contact.
You know what……im actually feeling good about arsenal this morning. We got robbed of the result, but the 1st half performance was incredible.
It shows we are capable.
Winning with dire football is not where we want to be as a team and it looks like we have shifted.
Can I say – Bellerin is dead as a premiership player. Hes getting worse and worse every game. Wolves bullied him last night and worryingly stood off him when he was on the ball – suggesting they know he is harmless. Time to upgrade there hard
Marc
“We attract the best players and managers from around the world – why aren’t we doing the same with ref’s?”
I have said this for years. I remember a referee called Pierluigi Collini, what a great referee.
A very simple but a manageable solution with respect to VAR is to look at Tennis and Cricket . Teams and player challenge a call which they think is atrocious . Each team in cricket get two reviews . Second is to make the audio available during VAR , introduce some accountability. We all know thats not gonna happen.
“People are presenting him as blameless when in fact he ran across the legs of a player ahead of him about to pop a shot in the box.”
Bollocks.
Look at the stills.
Marc
One big problem
You can’t teach common sense
What if the bureaucrats training the referees, are even more idiotic than the current referees?
It’ll be like the blind leading the blind….
Whatever problems your faced with, the answer is rarely more bureaucrats
Marc, Not really. My company has made some redundancies, so now I have some very strange hours because I have to supervise Zoom meeting with people in Bulgaria (@GMT+2), HK and Argentina. Plus the IL calling incessantly because they have seen that a new strain is killing everybody in London. Including my BIL who lives in South Africa!! Even side of my family getting affected. Two of my Sibling getting into full conspiracy mode on why I should not take the vaccine. I am a zombie. My only fun is seeing some of my former colleague telling me about finding… Read more »
Divine
“Second is to make the audio available during VAR , introduce some accountability. We all know thats not gonna happen.”
Absolutely bang on.
How difficult would be to let us hear the conversation between the on-field referee and his mate responsible for VAR. Also make it a bit more interesting than the silence.
AFC
We are not going to agree on this.
The wolves player was ahead and in a position to score
There was contact’, the player running behind is always held responsible
The penalty was 100% the right call
The controversy was the red card.
By the letter of the law, the pertinent question has to be ; was Luiz genuinely trying to play the ball ?
My answer is NO, he wasn’t making an attempt in the ball
This is a teachable moment, not one to start spewing angry conspiracy theories.
Strange VAR decisions.
I thought there was more contact on Saka by Boly when we had a claim for a penalty than the one Luis made for their pen.
Rich
“One big problem. You can’t teach common sense”
Lol, brilliant and on the button too.
The game needed Odegaard to hold on to possesion, amatuerish decisions continue
Wow!! It looks like many of you have never kicked a ball in your lives judging by your comments Luiz ran behind the player because he was completely outpaced. What was he meant to do? Stop running? He’d have been crucified either way I’m no great fan of his at all but for me he did nothing wrong and did not deserve a red card. The penalty itself was harsh but the red card was a disgrace. Yet again the officials in this country out their incompetence and corruption front and centre of an important premier league game They never… Read more »
Can someone be honest to say to me if this happened the other way around would we be complaining about the decision for the red and Wolves player being sent off?
I know I wouldn’t of.
The real villian yesterday wasn’t Craig Pawson but the ones sitting in the Var box. In real time, even I thought Luiz intended to foul Jose.
I dont know how good a ref Pawson is but he was having a nightmare yesterday. Some of his decisions even before the red card were baffling. For eg. The two very soft yellow cards for Wolves players in the first half and then the foul which Partey earned which was not a foul.
Wow!! It looks like many of you have never kicked a ball in your lives judging by your comments
Winthorpe load of nonsense not everyone has to have the same opinion in how they saw the incident.
Same song,
There is a difference between accepting a wrong decision in your favour and denying that the decision is wrong.
I would rejoice at any incorrect penalties given against Spurs, but that would not make them correct.
Diss
I haven’t read any conspiracy theories.
What I have seen is Arsenal fans angry with a very bad decision that changed the game.
You might not want to discuss it or even like the conversation, your prerogative, but it doesn’t give you the right to accuse people of conspiracy theories.
Yesterday should be chalked off as a bad day at the office and we move on.
Fair play to Arteta for coming back from the dead and learning the important lessons.
On to the next one.
DissenterFebruary 3, 2021 12:07:41 AFC We are not going to agree on this. The wolves player was ahead and in a position to score There was contact’, the player running behind is always held responsible The penalty was 100% the right call Dissenter The contact was promoted by the striker and not Luiz though. If a striker kicks the defender then how can the defender be adjudged to have commuted the offence? He wasn’t even that close to him. He was a good 1-2 foot behind, only the strikers huge back lift caused the contact, if there actually was any,… Read more »
There is a difference between accepting a wrong decision in your favour and denying that the decision is wrong.
Valentin I would like to call it honesty.
Let’s put the shoe in the other foot. Had that been an Arsenal player ‘accidentally’ touched from behind Would we be satisfied with just a penalty and a yellow card? If the answer is yes, I would be satisfied then by all means continue the referees vs Arsenal mantra. We can invite Q to join in at some point. You can’t claim it was accidental and then think he genuinely trying to play the ball at the same time. We lost. Arteta was blameless except for subbing in Auba who’s a peripheral player and a deadweight when you’re one man… Read more »
SamesongFebruary 3, 2021 12:10:37
Wow!! It looks like many of you have never kicked a ball in your lives judging by your commentsWinthorpe load of nonsense not everyone has to have the same opinion in how they saw the incident.
Anyone who’s ever played the game knows that wasn’t a foul let alone a red
Captain Tierney
Yes agree. In real-time, I thought David Luiz had deliberately tripped him. It was only when I froze it I saw otherwise.
The still Pedro posted was damning of Jon Moss and VAR.
DissenterFebruary 3, 2021 12:13:53
Let’s put the shoe in the other foot.Had that been an Arsenal player ‘accidentally’ touched from behind
Would we be satisfied with just a penalty and a yellow card?If the answer is yes, I would be satisfied then by all means continue the referees vs Arsenal mantra. We can invite Q to join in at some poin
😂
Accepting a penalty that comes your way and knowing it wasn’t a penalty aren’t mutually exclusive
The acute angles and little red lines are only used when ManU are involved.
Winthorpe
It doesn’t matter whether the offensive player simulated the contact.
Running across the back of a player is like sticking a leg across the path a running player in the box.
The modern player will simulate contact and go down.
Anyone who’s ever played the game knows that wasn’t a foul let alone a red
This is just your opinion and not a fact!
By the way, I think the referees are incompetent, it’s nit that they don’t like Arsenal.
One referee on the field is not enough to deal with the modern game.
VAR needs to be handled by a different authority, separate from the PGMOL or an agency behind a Chinese wall within the PGMOL. They can easily staff it with retired FIFA badged referees.
Wow!! It looks like many of you have never kicked a ball in your lives judging by your comments
You can easily tell which ones they are. These are the types that get into refereeing. And we wonder why the rules and refereeing is terrible.
Interesting comments. After all is said and done, the blame for yesterdays loss lies solely with David Luiz. All he had to do was attempt a decent tackle without taking the player out, hard but entirely possible and that red card would have never materialised. For a defender of hids experience, its bad enough to be caught square and out of position, but being unable to make a 50/50 recovery tackle is criminal. The man is a liability any way you look at it with the MOST red cards of any Arsenal player. This reeks of incompetence and a complete… Read more »
Diss
Have you seen this still posted by Pedro last night?
https://twitter.com/guhoyasfs96/status/1356700094402228226?s=20
AFC Forever, I’m not one for conspiracy theories but that 50th game was about as close as I’ve come to thinking a game was fixed. For what it’s worth I think it was unconscious bias on the part of Riley. I believe that referees go into games with preconceptions that influence their decisions such as certain players dive (Pires), others simulate being fouled (Reyes), certain players are clumsy (usually defenders like Luiz), and others are hot-heads (Xhaka). I’m not saying I agree with those assumptions, just that is what is beind some of the decisions that have gone against us… Read more »
DissenterFebruary 3, 2021 12:16:42
Winthorpe
It doesn’t matter whether the offensive player simulated the contact.
Running across the back of a player is like sticking a leg across the path a running player in the box.
The modern player will simulate contact and go down.
Dissenter
Yes
It’s called cheating. Also not a foul
Did anyone notice how tired Luiz was after chasing William Jose down.
DolomiteFebruary 3, 2021 12:22:51
Interesting comments.After all is said and done, the blame for yesterdays loss lies solely with David Luiz.
Dolomite
Every other time, yes. The man is a liability, no doubt
But yesterday’s loss was not his fault
It was down to disgraceful officiating.
Create a competitive market place for referees, based on a meritocratic system
Statistically if there’s more professional referees, you’re more like.to produce better referees
In the same way competition keeps players on their toes, and heavily incentivising staff, tends to motivate them, which produce better results
Do the same for referees, with a points system, where refs get relegated + promoted based on the seasons performance
Tier 1 Premier League
£200,000 p/a
Tier 2 Championship
£100,000 p/a
Tier 3 League 1
£65,000 p/a
Tier 4 League 2
£40,000 p/a
Tier 5 Conference
£25,000 p/a
Let’s be honest, in real time,we all thought Luiz tripped him and deserved a red and not one Arsenal fan would have complained of the decision.. The replays of the incident were clear to see that it was accidental contact initiated by the striker . The fault wasn’t with the referee, the fault was with VAR. VAR was brought in to right the wrong decisions as they got it right with Lacazette being adjudged offside.. VAR failed to come to the correct decision and there should be no excuse as it was an easy decision to get right.. Luiz WILL… Read more »
Andy1886 No most conspiracy theorists spend their lives in tin foil hats. That game was something though. Some of my mates think it was fixed, I don’t want to believe that. Sol Campbell says it left a bad smell with the players it was so bad. Lots of people keep showing the youtube highlights to demonstrate the incompetence of Riley. The Ferdinand last man foul on Freddie, Nistelrooys studs down Coles shin, Rooneys dive, the Reyes targeting; it was so many things. He is a very weak, wet man so I like to think he couldn’t handle the pressure and… Read more »
Winthorpe,
This is where his experience should have come into play.
He had a decision to make –
1 leave the player through on goal (50/50) as to whether he would score or not
2 attempt a clean tackle which could also go either way – penalty/no penalty red card /yellow card
3 attempt a professional foul which would definitely result in a penalty, but a decision for the referee to make yellow/red card
This is down to Luiz’ judgement making NOT the referee.
Pierre
“The fault wasn’t with the referee, the fault was with VAR”
Yes, agree with this. I thought the same as Pawson, that Luiz had deliberately tripped him which is a red. It was only freezing a side angle frame on TV it was clear that wasn’t the case.
The link from Pedro in my previous comments shows perfectly well that Jon Moss in the VAR room made a wrong call. What surprises me is the speed in which he made that decision, in the Southampton game it took almost 5 minutes.
The game against Villa is going to just remind us that down the other end of the pitch they have Emi bossing it in goal and we’ll have Runny egg between the sticks.
“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.” As much as I firmly believe that David Luiz should have no place at AFC and that it was madness to renew his contract (something which can partly be placed at the manager’s feet), he was somewhat unlucky yesterday. HOWEVER, LUIZ DID NOT MAKE A GENUINE ATTEMPT (or any attempt for that matter – hence why he’s unlucky in my opinion) TO PLAY THE BALL – this is why the… Read more »
“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.” Sorry, running commentary with this…. How were matters made worse? Runarsson kept the score-line respectable with two decent saves!! Did he make any errors?? No… So how were matters made worse?? Perhaps the decision to purchase Runarsson, coupled with the decision to sell a very good keeper in the first place,… Read more »
“Sticking one of our referees behind VAR is like asking Jimmy Saville & Rolf Harris to look after the kids.”
I get your point AFC Forever, but that comparison is brutal and uncalled for.
Officiating in Britain is an unmitigated failure with no foreseeable future of improvement – end of.
Dolomite werong. Had he committed a ‘professional foul’ it would have been a red card. It is only a yellow if an ‘honest’ attempt to play the ball is made, which wouldn’t have been possible because he was too far behind the ball. Luiz knew that. Luiz decided to do nothing, avoiding the red, which was the right decision & not one he always makes. Unfortunately for him, there was accidental contact initiated by the striker, as his heel came up and struck David Luiz knee. You cant attach any blame to him for that. If you look closely at… Read more »
Anyone who saw Fernandes tackle on Xhaka cannot with a straight face say that Luiz decision was the right one.
“If you look closely at this image, you can see this to be the case:”
Football is a fast paced game where things happen in an instant. Equally, perhaps the angles available to VAR were such that they were unable to overturn the decision. This was the referee’s decision and VAR saw nothing in the views they were provided that could overturn it.
Not saying it was ever the right call, but using a still photo tells a thousand potential stories.
Dolomite
Professional foul is a straight red. No questions asked.
People like you would have football a non contact sport
The only option according to your logic would be to just stand still and allow the forward to score
Mr J
Runarsson did make a couple of good saves, the one down by the foot of the post in particular. I think Matt Ryan is expected to be fit for the Villa game.
The referee was too quick to pull the red card. Even Mike Dean had to slow down and go watch the VAR. He didn’t see the incident, he react to the Wolves players.
Having said that, we have the most stupid footballers in our team. Against ManU, we’d the chance to reduce them to 10 in the first half. What did Xhaka do!?. Shook hand with rat face Bruno without any of our players react or question the ref.
WE DESERVE WHAT WE GET.
AFC
I simply stated the options available to Luiz, as a defender
The judgement call was still his to make and IMO by doing nothing he chose the wrong one.
The bad officiating only came into play AFTER his decision making.
“Anyone who saw Fernandes tackle on Xhaka cannot with a straight face say that Luiz decision was the right one.”
Apples to oranges, you cannot compare the two as they are unrelated.
Fernandes at the very least should received a yellow, but an astute and observant referee would have given a red because the foul was purely cynical in its intent because ot was a frustration based retaliation by a weasel footballer.
The problem with football is that referees and the games lawmakers are too focussed on creating rules, whereas it should be that the game is based on principles. If you create a rule then it is followed even if the outcome is ridiculous but it’s near impossible to define a rule to every possible scenario that can crop up in a game.. If you follow a principle then the common sense outcome can be arrived at. Was it a penalty? Probably so. Was there no attempt to play the ball? Agreed. Was this the scenario that the ‘was there an… Read more »
Look at Southampton they have asked The FA not to allow Lee Mason and Mike Dean not to officiate in their matches . We should do the same with Craig Pawson . He has officiated in 4 matches and we havent won any of them.
The referee was bad even earlier. Not balanced bad either. Yesterday match Arsenal was really playing beautiful, even factoring Xhakha “ statistic – padding “ back pass and usual stray crosses to no one from Bellerin. Then David Luis happened, and Arteta too lost his mojo. He substituted Pepe who could have given us something in attack and was good defensively due to his pace …with Auba chasing halfway and giving up. With a man down, we need an energy input. Have no doubt Arteta will learn when he loses 3 men which gives him a knee into his testicles… Read more »
Ernest
I’m not sure who took the still image but if VAR can measure millimetres in a crowded penalty area you would like to think they would see this with the technology they have.
Sherlock
Small problem with that – by the time we got through all the ref’s who are fucking useless when it comes to us there wouldn’t be any left.
Pierre
February 3, 2021 12:30:08
This!
Even an ex pro footballer wouldn’t have been able to tell in real time.
And what’s this BS about us dominating for 46 minutes?. We dominated for 31 minutes and after scoring Wolves had about 6/7 corners. We couldn’t get hold of the ball in midfield with 11 men against poor side just lost 3/2 to WBA.
I was pointing out during the game to get hold of the ball in midfield and slow the game down as I could see the Wolves goal was coming.
Winthorpe
That was actually an option – from a position of dominance an equaliser wouldnt have automatically guaranteed a loss, again a judgement call that was required to be made by a so called EXPERIENCED player….
However a sending off in todays Premier League is 90% guaranteed to end up in a loss for the team with 10 men.
As far as I can see, the contact was made by the backwards motion of the attackers leg, on to Luis knee. Does that mean it was a penalty? Haven’t got a clue.
Totally agree AFC, simply put they MUST do better. With each passing controversy and with technology and they still cant get it objectively right, thats a massive credibility problem.
SamesongFebruary 3, 2021 12:53:15
Pierre
February 3, 2021 12:30:08This! Even an ex pro footballer wouldn’t have been able to tell in real time.
Samesong
Yes but this ref had the benefit of var to correct his poor decision
An all round shit show from the premier league officials yet again
Ernest Reed
Its not Apples and Oranges . Its about whether the decison was right or wrong. In both cases the decisions were wrong. Cant have both. With VAR available to them , they fucked up both . My commonsense tells me its the Refs and person operating VAR that are constantly responsible for this fuck ups.
‘’ After all is said and done, the blame for yesterdays loss lies solely with David Luiz.All he had to do was attempt a decent tackle without taking the player out, hard but entirely possible and that red card would have never materialised.’
Are u having a laugh . .you actually think he took the player out. Lol
Divine
“Look at Southampton they have asked The FA not to allow Lee Mason and Mike Dean not to officiate in their matches. We should do the same with Craig Pawson. He has officiated in 4 matches and we haven’t won any of them”
Has Southampton really done that? Fergie had a number of referees removed from future games after he was unhappy with their performances.
Pawson sent of Nketiah I think?
It is a dangerous precedent though.
Although the Luiz incident divides opinion, we can not overlook the fact that Luiz is always going to be an accident waiting to happen. A sensible, level headed professional would have dealt with the situation differently. Running back at speed in such a cluster of bodies was suicidal. The chances of Leno saving the shot would have been, I feel, relatively high. Luiz though has this tendency to go walk about far too often. Even at Southampton last week, he had a 5 minute spell towards the end of the game that just beggars belief. It’s as if his posing… Read more »
he’s posing
G
If he attempted TO PLAY THE BALL as in tackle he wouldnt have been sent off.
No one is saying he took out the attacker
Basic comprehension.
“Although the Luiz incident divides opinion, we can not overlook the fact that Luiz is always going to be an accident waiting to happen.”
Exactly my belief as well, Graham. Its never a matter of IF with Luiz, but always a Matter of WHEN.
Marc
I know , but we cant just do nothing . I truly wish we dont have this type of conversation again after 6 months.
Who says, he could not see The Wolves goal was coming was actually watching a different game and not have been watching Arsenal for long.
The previous game was the same we scored first and lost with 11 men after them losing their best striker.
“I truly wish we dont have this type of conversation again after 6 months.”
As sure as a sunrise, count on it Sherlock!
What is so alarming is the fact that they introduced VAR to stop this.
In the Southampton game, the Bednarek sending off, was another monumental cock-up. It took them 5 minutes to make a wrong decision! It only took Jon Moss 20 seconds. (??!!)
In many ways, it has become worse with VAR, which makes it pointless..
Thank You Graham62
At least someone realises that the situation from the start was entirely one of Luiz making, not the referees.
“It only took Jon Moss 20 seconds. (??!!)”
Spite is a pretty strong motivator.
AFC
Yes Southampton has done that. Some kind of action is needed .
Luiz joined us for the money he doesn’t give a monkeys about the club.
Leno was slow coming out for the ball he just watched.
Man City liked progressive fouling it seems Arteta likes it too.