Arsene Wenger did not go the whole hog and blame the fact that Arsenal were held to a draw by Hull City today on the referee Mike Dean, probably because he was worried about being punished by the football authorities for criticism of their seemingly untouchable officials.
But as the live FA cup feed on the BBC has reported, the Frenchman did make a reference to the decisions of our old friend Mister Dean. He had good reason to as well because even though the referee was not as blatantly biased against the Gunners as he was in the match against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and in other previous games, he did deny us two good claims for a penalty.
Replays clearly showed that Alex Bruce had moved his hand towards the ball when he blocked a shot early in the game. And after waving away a not so clear call for a foul on Welbeck in the box he failed to award another spot kick which we should have got for a trip on Chambers. Both of the BT sport pundits after the game agreed that Arsenal should have had the two penalties and they are not usually on our side.
But Wenger did not dwell too long on this aspect of the game and gave credit to Hull for their dogged defending while also suggesting that the Gunners should have done better in the creating and finishing of chances. And he admitted that having to fit in an FA cup replay is not at all what we wanted.
He said, “No not especially good news [having replay] but Hull defended very well. We were not incisive or accurate enough in our passing in the final third. As long as they did not concede, they maintained with how they played. We had 20 shots, 70% possession but no goals.
“I cannot influence the referee’s decisions, only the technical quality of my team. If we have no injuries, we can cope with the fixtures.
“I think FA Cup replays is a particularity of the English rules and you have to respect that.
“The Hull goalkeeper was outstanding and kept them in the game. It would have been decided with them or us scoring a goal.”
It took the Frenchman some time after the game to give his post match interview, so do you think he had much harder words for his players in the dressing room or was he trying to build them up for Barcelona after this disappointment?
why do we enjoy making life too hard for ourselves?????
Oh! pls wenger STFU!
gonna blame him for sanchez looking off the boil? for campbell losing the ball.
the lack of scoring prowess?
your being harsh on wenger
I reckon Wenger has Akon’s ‘Blame it on me’ track on repeat in his car stereo.
mike dean : still undefeated versus arsenal.
there was a time in the dying minutes of the game and i thought i saw El-neny in a perfect position to do the whip…….. Instead he passed the ball
then i realized he plays for Arsenal now (the arsenal way)
The starters were pretty good today. The subs were disappointing. Especially Sanchez and Ox.
i liked what i saw from welbeck
if he had the bullying mentality of drogba he would be quality cf
sanchez has had two very poor games in a row- by his standard atrocious- worrying for tuesday
Everytime I see Welbeck I always like what I see.
He is incredibly gifted with pace, height and power -all three of them!!
That means that he can do those things he does very well every once in a while.
But he needs to add much more than that to his talent box. Like a little bit more CONSISTENCY, and composure in front of goal. Then he becomes a player like Drogba.
Not really much mistakes by the Ref. Although I hate to say this but Mike Dean did pretty well. The starters simply don’t know what to do at the end of attack. The build up was good but no end product. The only good thing is Barca are playing 3 away games in 5 days and Ozil, Bellerin and Monreal had their rest. They will be the key for our victory. COYG!!!
Cech again mate, and then there’s Le coq.
dean didnt do well. he shouldve given penalty twice.
i question whether those players get a bollocking after games like this.
past players said he doesnt do that sorta thing tends to give it day or two then speaks to em one on one during training
the hairdryer treatment?
f that the brick in yo’ face treatment…foam one of course…real one might cause issues
Apply your thinking to your own life. How would you react to the so-called “hairdryer treatment”? If I got given a bollocking, I’d just hate the person who did it and lose motivation to do anything that would help them. Just because you’ve heard some managers flip their lid, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s an effective approach. People react differently to things.
we had quite a few shots. their GK unfortunately had a blinder. dean shouldve awarded at least 1 penalty.
But SAF did several times and it worked for him. Maureen does it and only time it has ever backfired badly was in his last season with Chelsea.
Talking about applying to own life… If was I receiving $60,000 after tax take home per week, I’ll happily take a hairdryer bend-over-bum-fisting treatment. Don’t know about @MuffD though.
Sometimes I wish AFC’s owner was Kim Jong-Un and members of the board are the Chinese government… I tell you these players will play like superstars every other game.
hahaha
u funny
bend over bum fisting? 60,000 . suppose that would pay for the surgery to replace what used to be ur ass….not to mention the mental scars.
lol funny bro
i hear liam but is naive to just think u can just apply to own life. these are pro athletes that have made this there life
the context is so different to our lives its noj applicable
Disagree. Their wages and choice of employment don’t change who they are as people. As for the person above you, I’d be interested to know why both the North Korean and Chinese football teams are awful, given those views on their leadership styles.
Mourinho is actually an excellent example of the problems with such an approach. He can’t stay at a club for more than two years because every employee ends up hating him. He creates disharmony and every club he’s been sacked from has been left in a worse state than it was before he even got there.
The manager made some particularly interesting observations which I will like to consider:
1. “We had 20 shots, 70% possession but no goals.”
In other words we were sterile as F (you know, as in F9). Our 70% possession was spectacularly ineffective and this has been happening more frequently as of late.
How do you remedy that?
Well, I don’t know. Maybe the players needs to maintain more intensity and aggression in their passing and movement throughout the duration of the game. Pass quickly and with purpose. Whatever being the case, I’ll leave that to the manager to solve.
2. “I cannot influence the referee’s decisions, only the technical quality of my team. If we have no injuries, we can cope with the fixtures…”
You’re damn right Arsene!
There really is no point in moaning over referee decisions every time you don’t win a game. If you are a really good team, 95% of the time you’ll win games you deserve to win.
Our squad is so good (quantity-wise).. we will be able to play Hull in 5 replays. #FACT.
I, like Wenger, don’t understand why folks are losing their minds over this replay.
Barcelona game is going to be embarassing!!
3.“The Hull goalkeeper was outstanding and kept them in the game. It would have been decided with them or us scoring a goal.”
It isn’t just the Hull goalkeeper, Arsene.
It is the Hull goalkeeper, the Leicester goalkeeper, the S’hampton goalkeeper and the Stoke goalkeeper.
If we’re gonna win Jack Shxt this year, then we’ve got to find a way around these SUPERHUMAN GOALKEEPERS.
My suggestion will be to properly analyze the chances were creating to see why were not scoring them. Can we try to create more of them one on one chances?.. so that we don’t give these goalkeepers the pleasure of stopping a remarkable number of our shots on target. Maybe when Santi comes back he can add a little spice to our creative play so that at atleast we can have those type of chances that doesn’t give any goalkeeper a chance at stopping the ball.
these teams park the bus against us. we need to invite them to come out a bit so our attackers have more room. when their attack breaks down, thats our best (maybe only) chance. we need a very fast counterattack. the problem is that i dont think walcott one-versus-one can get it done. thats where you need a aguero or RVP or someone like that.
walcott isnt composed enuf. maybe a welbeck .
@almostawinner
Hull were not going to take the bait. They were set up to defend and try to pip one in the dying minutes…
Hard to break down 10 guys sitting deep.
Here’s a suggestion, buy a world class FORWARD
Theo is wasting valuable space.
Could be a lot worse given our penchant a few years back to crash out of every competition around this time of year (think Blackburn…)
Besides, it gives Ospina, Gibbs, Chambers, Flamini, Elneny, Iwobi, Campbell and maybe even Wilshire and Reine-Adelaide a chance to start.
Even though I though Iwobi looked okay, I couldn’t help wondering what Rocisky could have done today…
Yes you can work on the technical aspect and you probably should do so before Tuesday.
Buy some frigging class also.
#SanchezIsAShadow
sanchez hasnt gone bad permanently; just temporary.
Don’t doubt it. Whether it is confidence or the aftermath of injury/fitness he isn’t himself.
I love the player but do wish he would mix it up a little as he can be a bit predictable.
Just finished watching the Arsenal game…wow…as an Arsenal fan, I feel ripped off when a player like Flamini plays the entire game with more dynamic options on the bench!!!
No excuses, we should have buried them.
Arsenal: The Little Engine That Could Not
Arsenal: Chitty Chitty Crack Crack.
Pick your choice of title for this rerun.
It’s just a game, one could say. Sometimes the ball just doesn’t end up in the back of the net.
The point still remains – an Arsenal team could not break down the reserves of a Championship side to score a single goal.
But ponder this – every single one of Arsenal’s forwards – Walcott, Giroud, Welbeck, Sanchez (not to mention Campbell and Mislaid-Chambermaid) – featured in these 90 minutes. And could not score against the reserves of a Championship side.
Can there be any doubt left about the impotency of our strike force?
Before the close of the summer transfer window – players, pundits, fans and foes said “Buy a striker, buy a DM.” Coquelin’s absence to injury cost us at least 9 points. A DM of better quality than Flamini would likely have salvaged 6 of those points. Which would have us 4 points clear. And that’s being conservative.
A striker with the quality of Costa (yes I said it) or Vardy or Kane, would have gotten us at least an additional 6 points and we’d be through to the next round of the FA cup without an energy-sapping replay.
There is NO point trying for Champion’s League. This Championship draw shows CL is a bridge too far.
Who to blame? Wenger, that’s who. Two players costing $30-60m would have the Premiership sown up and out of sight by now. But stubbornness and delusion won the day.
We can talk about the players not showing up. But I’ll ask this – who are Arsene’s on-field deputies? Captain – Arteta: A shadow of his past self unable to kick the ball for 180 consecutive minutes. Vice-Captain – Mertesacker: A shrinking giant whose sloth like pace puts fear into the heart of every Arsenal stalwart. Could either of these men make it into the starting 11 of any other team in the top 6? Answer honestly. Terry, Kompany, even Rooney – how do Arteta or Mertesacker compare against them? Against Patrick Viera, our old gold standard?
However this season ends, it’s clear that Wenger cannot lead Arsenal forward to victory. Not in a league with Pep, Klopp & perhaps Simeone. Arsene’s been an excellent steward, no doubt. But a great shot using a musket is highly unlikely to persevere against machine gun equipped infantries.
The game has changed, for better or worse. Arlene may well be the last of the Titans, but without question he’s past his sell-by date.