Morning all.
When the team news was announced, I was surprised to see Tomiyasu Takehiro’s name included in the starting eleven. Thrilled too I hasten to add. Other than the inclusion of ESR, I think Arsenal’s strongest team lined up to take on Pep Guardiola’s team and boy did we take them on. We bettered them for the majority of the game, even when we played with ten. I thought Arsenal were superb.
Gabriel was naive, Xhaka too but Stuart Attwell and VAR let the world of football, especially Arsenal, down in a massive way. Why weren’t the same rules applied for both penalties?
Foot not ball? Pen? Clear and obvious? I don’t know anymore… pic.twitter.com/o4pYTxA1Y4
— Jake Humphrey (@mrjakehumphrey) January 1, 2022
I still can’t decide whether Odegaard caught Ederson before he himself was caught but regardless of what my thoughts were, why the heck was Attwell’s decision not looked at again? By Attwell I mean, not the buffoons sat in their warm and cosy room somewhere.
Yet VAR couldn’t have acted quicker to direct Attwell to the pitch side monitor after he’d waved away City’s appeal for a penalty. Bernado Silva dived, I’m sure of it. Yes, Xhaka grabbed his shirt but I saw no sign of him tugging it, certainly not enough to take him over in the fashion he did. To Attwell’s credit, he wasn’t fooled by the dive but VAR fell for it and Attwell wasn’t strong enough to stand by his original decision. In fact he wasn’t strong enough with his decision making all game really, certainly not when it came to dealing with Pep’s little darlings! Especially Rodri who totally wiped out Martinelli on the edge of the box but didn’t even get penalised for it. Shocking.
There’s a reason VAR was introduced and that was to ensure fairness for all. That didn’t happen yesterday. BT Sport’s football panel were on the same page and tied ex referee Peter Walton in knots as he tried to explain the rules.
Away from officials, I thought Arsenal were excellent and really didn’t deserve to lose that game. Even after the City penalty, we had a really good chance to regain the lead. Laporte headed back towards his keeper but the ball went over his head and towards an open goal. A fraction more pace and it would have crossed the line but Ake got back just in time to clear it. Annoyingly, it sat up nicely but on Martinelli’s left and he could only slice his shot wide. I doubt Attwell’s positioning helped his cause either.
Ederson booted his goal kick up the pitch to Jesus and the rest as they say, is history.
Even with ten men, we nearly, so very nearly, held on for the point.
Yet we should have had all three. 11 v 11, we outplayed City. Yes, we outplayed the team which many football writers and pundits believe is the best in the world right now. Arsenal’s spirit, attitude and discipline was fantastic. Xhaka will lambasted for giving away the penalty because it’s not the first time he’s cocked up. If he hadn’t have pulled Silva’s shirt, neither Attwell or VAR have a decision to make. Trouble is, shirt tugging in the box goes on, a lot and if every incident was deemed a foul, there’d be ten penalties in a game each week. Having just been booked, Gabriel should have shown more maturity on the halfway line. Someone should have thrown Jesus a knife and fork because he sure made a meal out of the incident.
Arsenal players need to wise up. The officials don’t like us, they never have and they’ll do all they can to help us drop points, especially when we’re facing a club they do like. City is one of them.
Even so, if watching that Arsenal performance doesn’t give you hope and belief that Arsenal under Mikel Arteta are heading in the right direction then I doubt anything will. But The Emirates faithful knew what they were seeing was good. No, better than good. They also knew we’d been cheated out of a better result. Not just because of the two penalty incidents but the way the game was officiated from start to finish.
Those players should feel proud but everyone barring a City fan will know that Arsenal were robbed. Deep down though, even City fans will know they were lucky, very lucky.
See you in the comments.
Did Gabriel get the first yellow for damaging the penalty spot or petulance?
I cannot agree with that.
Xhaka’s continued selection despite the fact that he proves time after time that he is a liability.
Gabriel’s sending off because the penalty decision did not go our way.
No.
Arsenal played well but their lack of discipline cost them.
The result and the corresponding disappointment lies entirely with Xhaka – had he not grabbed Bernado’s shirt things would have been very different..
His remark to Attwell Brad, not that it was rude according to Albert.
Morning all
That’s fine M2. Silva was already off balance and going over though. I can understand why their penalty was given but at least review our own properly and not just dismiss it. Double standards imo.
Deserved a point. Aside from Gabriel and xhaka, who both completely let the team down, I think Martinelli needs to look up and find his team mates a bit more. He’s full of energy, wants to score every time he’s in the final 3rd (and you don’t want to lose that) but just taking the time for a pass and we’d have won the game for sure.
On another note, who replaces partey when he’s off to AFCON? AMN, Sambi?
Morning Rico and All.
I recon that was one of our best matches in a long time.
As I said before Xhaka has to get this holding of players jumpers out of his game, as the Commentator said last week if in dealt give Xhaka a yellow card.
The one thing that has been going through my mind, would the out come have been different if Arteta was there and why I wonder this is would Arteta have had a go at the 4th official over the fact that the ref used the monitor against Xhaka but not against cities Keeper.
Our assistant coach seemed to relaxed, which could be the reason the players got upset and a bit rattled as there seemed to me no support from the assistant coach.
Ian, someone who we sign in the Jan transfer window I hope.
Morning Geoff.
I can kind of sympathise with Xhaka because what he did goes unpunished in so many other games. I know that doesn’t make it right but it’s same old imo, consistency. Referee’s and VAR are making it up as they go along.
Same with Gabriel, how is his challenge, for the want of a better word, a foul yet Martinelli can be totally wiped out and it’s deemed ok?
Rico there were a lot of decision this ref made that make not sense other than he helped City win in a big way.
With ref’s like this The talks about a super league will never go away.
Morning Rico and a happy new year to all housers.
Infuriating and yet reassuring day at the Emirates yesterday. I think more people threw in their lot with Mikel after the team responded in a way that few imagined they could. Attwell is an appalling ref and the bloke at VAR is, I believe, the same clown who denied us a winner a while ago after chalking off a Sokratis goal for reasons that only he understood. I don’t think he has ever refereed a game in the PL. That of course, is why Riley sent him and the twat along to our game.
The penalty decision with Odergaard was shown to be a farce when Peter Walton flipp-flopped all over the place when trying to explain it. He changed his mind several times during a bumbling show of incompetence as did Dion Dublin later on MOTD when his limitations in the sight department told him that it was inconclusive. To a man of his calibre this is probably true.
Yet the subtleties of Attwell’s display extended way beyond the major incidents. Rodri’s incessant fouling and bizarre ‘slip’ while out of control surely mandated a yellow for excessive force. The forearm smash to Martinelli by Laporte was another, yet Attwell temporarily halted the game to issue a “don’t do that”-type warning. This courtesy was not so curiously absent when Rob Holding entered the field of play. Sterling and Jesus found the pull of gravity an issue for the whole game.
Silva has always been a cheating little sod. The most talented players often are and if they are small in stature this is often even more obvious. He mugged Xhaka but Granit is daft enough to have missed it. I’m afraid this is what you get with our wild midfielder as he’s always going to do these things which is presumably why we’re apparently looking for a replacement. Poor old Granit starts each game with a half-yellow it seems and that the refs have a little ‘thing’ going with each other where he is concerned seems beyond dispute. He doesn’t need to do a lot to receive punishment.
It was odd to see a bloke with a full two teams capable of winning the PL in the guise of the sportsman Pep bemoaning the fact that his players were tired. Having crushed all before him with the weight of his chequebook the sense of entitlement he represents these days bring a little bit of vomit to the back of the throat. The You f…..g c…s proclamation that the charming Rodri dished out to the Arsenal fans after a fortuitous winner merely amplified the sporting credentials of this charming club even more than their threats of unlimited legal action if their suspension from Europe was upheld.
Surely they could employ the Lord Beckham to whitewash the institution?
They have become a monster and Pep’s truculent interviews are a snapshot of where the PL is right now. They even make Klopp’s Liverpool team seem attractive. Sort of.
Can some one help with this question.
The Watford v Tottenham match had to be stopped so first aid people could run across the ground to give first aid to a fan.
is there no first aid people in each stand.
I worked as a crowd controller at the Melbourne Cricket ground were every crowed controller was trained in level 2 first aid plus we had St Johns first aid people with all types of medical equipment in every stand just incase some one needed medical treatment asap.
Good morning all.
Amid all the controversy over referee standards, VAR failings and just plain incompetent officials in general, let’s not forget that the youngest Premiership side in the league took the, supposedly, best team in Europe to the cleaners in the first half. The pace, energy and quick-thinking of all our players showed just what can be done when we play as a team rather than as a group of individuals.
Yes there was a blemish or two in our game, Gabriel’s two bookings the first for dissent, not for scuffing the penalty spot, but for an innocuous comment to the ref, the second for a petulant foul arising from the injustice of the first caution. Xhaka was being Xhaka when he tugged at the diving cheat and gave away the penalty.
The prize of the day left the pitch safely tucked away in Takehiro Tomiyasu’s back pocket, the media’s little darling Raheem Sterling.
Of course I was desperately disappointed by the final score, but was, and remain, immensely proud of our team.
I’m not, in general, a great fan of BT Sport but I thought they pretty much sliced up the atrocious Peter Walton as he continually contradicted himself, what a fraud that man is.
BT Sport were brave enough to go against the party line and call it as it was.
Not so the woke Soviets on BBC who’ll never offend the Premier League, as soon as I got a whiff of their post match cover up I turned off, Ian Wright sitting there like a grinning idiot didn’t help. So I don’t know what Dion Dublin said but maybe he should stick to his property programmes where he can stiffly walk around like the talentless tailors dummy that he is.
Good post Rico…
Now we need to move on because the next four games will frame our season.
The Daily Mirror say Newcastle are in talks with Arsenal over an initial loan deal, with a view to a £20m deal at the end of the season.
So long as Newcastle are paying his wages in full I’d be happy with that. It gets him out of the club and may encourage Nketiah to think again about signing a new contract. Of course when Newcastle are relegated at the end of the season he may well not want to play in the Championship and we could possibly get a few quid for him somewhere else.
That’s for Aubameyang of course. 😉
Mark Halsey’s comments speak volumes . When I get home I will copy and paste
Afternoon Adam, all.
Thanks Kev.
Well said Adam.
I hate City for their antics and Guardiola for orchestrating the cheating and dirty tactics.
Attwell was the one operating VAR when Tomi was stamped on in the face.
Keith Hackett is another ex referee who’s slated Attwell.
Dermott Gallagher backed the ref and the VAR all the way another ref showing his true colours
He’s another ex useless referee.
Auba to Newcastle Cicero? I’ll believe that when I see it. 😆
Yea, we were robbed, but the overall progress of the team is clear
Yes Kyalo that’s very true and as frustrating as it is to see us stitched up again we are moving in the right direction and that’s reflected in the supporters at the stadium, it’s been a long time, possibly never in the Emirates era where the fans and the team are as one.
It’ll also be noticed by players who we’re interested in, they’ll watch a game like yesterday’s and think that ‘I’d like to be a part of that’…
I guess we’ll find out by January 31st and most certainly August 31st?
I think that’s the best and only way to reflect on yesterday. The difference in this team and the one last season is big imo. A few more ins and outs and we should be even better.
Bruno Guimarães seems to be making a few Arsenal headlines.
Agree re The Emirates Kev, it’s noisy, the fans are right behind Arteta and the players.
Another bloody ref has bottled it, Mane with a deliberate elbow into Azplicueta’s face and he only gets a yellow card.
…and to rub salt into Chelsea’s wounds Mane gets the opening goal. Shouldn’t have been on the pitch.
Just having a similar conversation in my house Cicero
This is some game at the Bridge. Liverpool two nil up Chelsea back with two goals of their own. There has been some great goals some wild tackles VAR getting involved in everything and all at about 100 mph.
There’s no time for conversation Rico, it’s all happening too quickly. 😉
😂 Cicero. I’m only interested in the red cards and injuries 😂
Happy anew Year Rico and all you fellow gooners.
Our performance yesterday was great and we deserved more. I saw the Pep interview after the game and to his credit he said Arsenal were the better team, and Partey deservedly got MOTM!!
I pretty much agree with most of what’s been said and don’t wish to repeat those comments so I will throw in a few which might provoke some responses.
Agree with the really poor officiating not just yesterday but across the PL in general, and those refs and ex-refs who just find ways to explain the refs decisions, rather than provide a true honest view of what’s happened. If I didn’t know I would suspect all refs have signed some kind of refs secret society for life with the number one rule is to never disagree with a decision a ref has made. Second rule is to provide an explanation of the refs decision and why it was a good one. I thought one of all our life-lessons was to learn by your mistakes because that’s the only way to improve, so if you don’t admit to a mistake how can you learn from it.
Agree the BT sports panel were spot on, and did tie up the ex-ref in knots and applying the familiar trumping out the ‘get out of jail’ card ‘clear & obvious’ which is basically incredibly subjective and hence can be used and waved around by Refs whenever they can’t explain something. This has to go and be replaced by rules that when applied correctly make the outcome of a decision ‘clear & bloody obvious’.
I have also noticed certain players getting away with incidents, bad-tackles, elbows, aggression shown towards players like Tomi getting a boot in the face, Laporte taking out Martinelli and today Mane should
Have been shown a red for an elbow ro the face in todays match. I hear the commentators and pundits say they’re not that type of player. I’ve lost count the times I’ve seen Mane subtlety dishing out dirty tactics to players. It’s doesn’t matter who the player is, if it’s bad they should be shown a card or sent-off, regardless.
Also the BT panel did raise an important question, why was the officiating so exemplary during the Euros and still so poor and inconsistent in the PL? I did see some statistics a couple of years ago which showed that Arsenal were consistently on the receiving end of poor decisions. And that Mikey Riley was the most inconsistent towards Arsenal. We’ve seen this going on for years and you have to ask yourself why is it allowed to continue? There should be stats showing the quality of officiating for each ref and stats on PL teams to demonstrate which teams seem to be consistently impacted by poor decisions. These stats must be generated by an independent body not the FA.
Transfers we do need another one or two midfielders and certainly a decent striker based on the current situation with Auba, Laca, and Nketiah. Balogun should go to a Championship team to get playing time. Charlie Pinto needs to be given the chance to play as cover through the ACON period.
Agree the fans are right behind the team and Arteta, and we have to give Arteta credit for weeding out the poor performers and the ill-disciplined and moaners like Torreria.
Just reflecting on the Lakaku situation at Chelsea different to the Auba one but he’s been dropped for todays game. This is the right way to deal with player decent, players over the past 10 years have gone on strike to push-though moves, and player power has increased. I like what Pep said about the Torres situation at City, which is if your not happy at our club you should leave, in fact he obviously wants him to leave, having that sort of character around the dressing room and players is not good and can turn heads specifically the your her ones.
Also the Lakaku situation could help Arsenal
sign Martinez if he happens to return to Inter Milan. Just a thought especially if we can organise a swap deal with Auba for Martinez.
I like what Arteta and Edu are doing they made
Some great purchases which have all increased in value, but we do need to get rid of the deadwood.
Last thought is that Mike Riley needs to be removed as the head of the PL officiating, he has had long enough in this role to demonstrate he’s not able to operate a fair and consistent officiating service for the PL. MR is a
central part of the problem probably the main cause and he should be replaced by a controlling body not a single person, preferably someone not connected to the UK FA structure.
Happy New Year to you too Mig.
It seems that after the initial disappointments in the transfer window, Arteta and Edu are bringing in a much better standard of player. Admittedly, Sambi and Nuno are more for the future but both e shown great promise already. Tomi and Ramsdale have been outstanding imo.
Totally agree, nothing will change with the refs until Riley has gone. And that needs to happen sooner rather than later. These officials need to be accountable for their actions and decision making and Riley too.
Your picture at the top of the page shows beautifully why the Emerson Odegaard incident was not a penalty. Emerson is about to kick the ball as he is quite entitled to. (Please note he is not tackling Odegaard.) Just before he makes contact with the ball Odegaard treads on his foot. We know it’s that way round because Emerson’s foot is under Odegaard’s. Emerson was “first to the ball” and Odegaard was “late”. That means Odegaard has fouled Emerson and the referees decision should be a free kick for Man City.
My thoughts on the game are Arsenal were the better side and deserved three points. City were lucky to go in at half-time only one goal down. The only reason they didn’t get the points was because of their own silly mistakes.
Blue Moon you can believe what you want and that’s fine, if you don’t think it was a penalty then good for you but I think you’re wrong and nothing you or anyone else says will change my mind.
Bruno sounds an interesting prospect Rico and just the right kind of business a proper football club engages in, imaginative recruitment and inventive coaching, bring it on…
Bluemoon48 you can say what you like but remember one thing, the so called best side in the premier league and any other place you want to dream about were well and truly out played by the youngest side in the premier league even when we were down to ten men and the refs were on man city side.
He does Kev. I watched a YouTube clip and as much as it shows only the good bits, he doesn’t seem to have any real weaknesses. Lyon aren’t easy to deal with though are they?
Mane remains a little grub that gets away with things constantly.
If Xhaka did it…..well, you know the rest.
Now on the officiating.
Is it really that incompetent, or simply biased???
These clowns know the rules-damn, most fans know the rules.
They simply choose when and when not to enforce them and that’s the problem-as a few have mentioned, the little prick running the show is allowed to do as he pleases and isn’t held accountable by the authorities nor media.
Mikel has now assembled an almost ideal squad.
The finishing touches will be the big factor in whether or not we truly compete in a year or two, imo.
I said when we signed him judge him at Xmas time just gone.
It was always going to take that time imo and if he was not producing, I’d have happily called him out because 3/4 windows is required-he now has his own players, except for a handful but we can now see the impact of the work he and Edu have done.
We will still have a bad spell before the season end imo, but we will finish strongly and build again towards next season, and then the time is right for European football.
Onwards and upwards.
New post up now.
Morning all
I wonder if Mr Bluemoon is totally happy with the standard of refereeing in the Premier .
Every week we see contentious incidents in virtually every game and when they go for you anyone with sense knows it’s only a matter of time before the next one goes against .
This doesn’t make it right but whilst the furore about our potential penalty rages as you read across the various sites supporters of City state that everything was correct . Then of course Mane gets away with another elbow and it’s a Chelsea v Liverpool spat and then there’s the Harry Kane debate , red card or nothing pantomime . “” OH yes he did , Oh no he didn’t ” and the PGMOL creep away whilst the argument rages.
When I was a kid we had a dog that got caught with her head in the railings , she had four pups . One of them when they were in the basket used to bite another ones tail and once the scrap started used to get up and walk away .
That’s the PGMOL whilst the argument goes on between the fans they survive and walk away . If fans of different clubs began to realise that except for possibly three clubs with influence , the rest are being screwed and turn on the authorities a change at the top is never going to happen.