Some Gooners were concerned that Anthony Taylor was born in Manchester, doubting his ability to remain impartial at the Etihad on Sunday.
Others have suggested in the past that officials have an agenda against Arsenal, highlighting occasions when decisions go against the Gunners.
So it is only right that the same energy is applied when a referee makes a call that goes in our favour.
The Gabriel and Haaland Incident
At the weekend, Gabriel and Haaland were both booked when they pressed heads against each other, but it was our defender who clearly moved his head forward. That has seen players sent off in the past.
VAR chose not to intervene. If you believe there was a bias against Mikel Arteta’s squad, then surely they would have acted in that moment.
It was the latest example of our players losing their composure in the title race.
Not only could the Brazilian have forced his team to play with ten men, but he would also have been suspended for three of our final Premier League fixtures.
Any clean sheet or set-piece goal from the centre back in our next three domestic games will leave Pep Guardiola questioning this moment.
He might even ask his striker in training why he did not go to ground, or at least exaggerate that he had been hurt.
Honesty Should Not Be Punished
Others in that situation would have pretended to be in serious pain. For all of the Norwegian’s goading in the past, he deserves credit for staying on his feet.
Clearly, he and Gabriel have a mutual respect where they enjoy their battles, with neither intimidated by the other.
The sad reality, though, is that a sending off would have been more likely if there had been a dive, a hand to the face and plenty of rolling on the floor.
If the sport wants to discourage cheating, surely a red card can still be given even if the player stays on his feet.
By not doing so, you are only further encouraging play-acting.
Let us be honest, if it were the other way around and it was Haaland pushing his head towards Gabriel, a section of our fanbase would be suggesting a conspiracy.
We have to be balanced.
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I rarely ever comment on refereeing but some of our fans’ bias whenever it comes to decisions that go our way is borderline disgraceful…like insisting Madueke’s obvious no-contact dive at Leverkusen was a penalty because the decision favoured us.
That said, Haaland actually started that very altercation with Gabriel by pushing him first. But if he had done what many other footballers would have done, Gabriel would have been sent off
Agreed
And agree that Haaland showed great sportsmanship not even flinching,handbags 25 years ago ,shame how the sport as gone .
👍
There wasn’t much in the alleged headbutt, but once a player does that, he puts his fate in the hands of the ref and VAR, as we have all seen players getting sent off for similar acts.
Haaland certainly did us a favour by not going down
Haaland did noone any favours. He pushed Maghaeles to the ground. Provocation does not make one innocent.
Of course one should look at incidents that both favour and discriminate against, not only our club, but every other club.
There is a very simple remedy to this article and that is, officiate by the laws of the game, don’t implement one’s personal views, be consistent in one’s decisions and ensure that the PGMOL consists of adequately trained referees from across the country.
Are we to believe that there are no proficient refererees in Kent, Devon, Wales, NI or East Anglia?
The tirade against refereeing standards is NOT attributed to just our club, it’s throughout the PL and the reason is that fans see so much inconsistency by not adhering to the rule book.
Once that is sorted out and the PGMOL does it job, fans will be able to appreciate said establishment…. as they do in rugby of course.
Singling out Arsenal fans is just a red herring and that’s why the subject will never be properly discussed.
Perhaps the title “All fans must be balanced over referring decisions and all referees must be balanced in their decisions” would be more appropriate and closer to the truth of the matter?
I have to say I’ve never been happy with red cards being given for that action – even though it’s bad behaviour, I don’t see it as crossing the line into violence – it’s almost the same as pushing to me. Bit worse, and I’m sure that would be a minority opinion.
Regardless, Gabriel was incredibly lucky because those almost always *are* punished with a red card. I agree haaland did him a favour, and agree with Dan that not sending him off does encourage others to dive as it’s easy to perceive that he’d have been off if haaland made the most of it.
Can’t disagree with Dan’s sentiment. What’s so challenging for all supporters is the piecemeal actions of the referees. The season before we had 2 red cards for kicking the ball away, on occasions in the early stages of the season. It was argued that those reds were within the letter of the law but as is so typical with subjective interpretations, other players across other matches weren’t penalised or very few were. It’s possible that everyone complied with the rules after that but Arsenal were the guinea pigs
All anybody wants is for rules to be acted upon across the board. Wanting to keep all 22 players on the pitch so as to maintain the spectacle is not objective. It was mentioned by pundits again this Sunday that the official wanted to do the same in favour of Arsenal this time. However, 2 wrongs don’t make a right
As for honesty, there’s a fat chance of that when the stakes are so high. In the long and distant past it seemed to me that in European ties, diving was par for the course whereas I don’t recall it featuring often in domestic matches. With the advent of free movement within Europe diving became more prevalent at home, followed the embarrassing play acting. Pires was a past master of the art of diving.
Have to say that this whole thing of players putting their heads looks pathetic and silly. Gabriel should concentrate on his defending. It should have been a red card and I too applaud Haaland for not going down.
Agree with the article.
I hope Gabriel got a right going over from Arteta about sticking his head on Haaland and basically ripping his shirt off his back. A three match ban for a straight red would have completely buggered up our run in.
I believe the rule book states that a head butt is the result of a player moving his head backwards and then moving it forward in order to strike an opponent.. or words to that effect.
I didn’t see either player do that and I didn’t see either player go down when their heads went together.
This incident was played out with the referee in clear view of what happened.
He went by the rule book and I applaud him for so doing.
Both players deserved the yellow card issued and, if there was a lucky player not to have received a red, it was Gabriel – but the rule book prevailed.
so the officials were not biased or corrupt this week ?
Not in this game, as the referee went by the rule book, rather than his own interpretation of the rules Dan – glad your starting to see the difference.. if you are of course.
I’m not sure you would say that if roles were reversed but I accept I can’t prove that
If Haaland had gone down then Gabriel would have been sent off though. Your head does not need to go back before going forward for a head butt, any fighter will tell you that as it telegraphs it, but most times when a player just puts his head on another he gets sent off. Fair play to Haaland though for not acting!
The rules of fighting ie boxing, are different to the rules of football.
Law 12 of the rule book with bullet points below :
DELIBERATE ACT – applies to both players.
TARGETING – applies to both players face to face.
EXCESSIVE FORCE – doesn’t apply to either player.
ATTEMPTED HEAD BUTT – doesn’t apply to either player. If it did, one of the two would have been seriously injured at such close quarters.
That’s why I’m praising the referee, who applied the rules exactly by the book.
Agree, violent conduct, is violent conduct. There isn’t a hard and fast rule. That could have been deemed violent conduct.
But it wasn’t, not only by the on field officials, but by those using VAR, who had the ability to slow down the incident, check the contact and decide if it was a clear and obvious error by the referee… it wasn’t that either.
Could easily been a red to Big Gabo! But so was khusanov with his clipping Harvetz when through on goal! Cool heads needed at this business end.
It was never gonna lead to a sending off even if he faked or exaggerated a fall because Gabriel didn’t headbutt him. They squared up together and Gab only used his head to tell him off. Their heads were already together so he merely brushed him aside and there was no excessive force involved. The referee was indeed biased otherwise man city player would’ve been sent off for fouling Kai who is already through on goal. Watch Barca and Atheletico champions leave first leg and you’ll understand better
I KNOW for sure that if Haaland had done the same to Gabriel he would have been rolling on the floor for 5 minutes
He’s well known putting up antics.. Luckily for y’all Haaland & City are not crybabies
But fairplay for recognizing Haaland’s fair play. Balanced take tbh but Gabriel is a disgraceful player
Great defender tho
I thought this platform is only for Arsenal fans. Why did we allow some fans from rival teams here. Admin please remove Keshy.
what has he said that is wrong ?
it’s his opinion
I’m flattered if fans of other teams care enough to read our articles and engage
How do you know for sure?
Are you a clairvoyant?
If so, when do you think the 115 plus charges against city will be delivered?
I suppose 115 lawyers are on the case Ken, and we’ll eventually get the outcome in 115 months.
What are the chances they’ll be deducted 115 points Jax?!
That sounds about right.
Ken1945.
City will probably be fined £115.00 plus court costs.
Or even awarded £115 and get the rest of the PL to pay the court costs mate.
The incredibly successful Man Utd teams in the 90s & 00s had Fergie time. Chelsea were very proficient cheats. John Terry must hold the world record for getting away with fouling players in his own the penalty area. I watched a Man City game a few months ago and saw an absolute masterclass in cheating, getting free kicks for falling into opposition players and so on. The invincibles were very “Street smart” in that respect as well.
I’ve been saying it for ages – Arsenal need to learn how to cheat better. This team is an improvement but they’re still not quite on the level of the teams that won everything in the past. Sad but true.
Fair play to Halaand though. Got to respect the way he handled that.
Fouling keepers ain’t enough eh? Your coach keeping the ball to slow down the opposite
Lol you’re on a slippery slope mate.. next you’ll want to hide illegal payments
“You joined them but you still couldn’t beat them” 😂
The Arsenal have never joined a crooked outfit, their fans have never seen their owner sell the soul of their club to cheat their way to trophies and they’ve never been charged with breaking the laws of the game over 115 times.
Since 2008, every single trophy you’ve “won” is covered in crap, just like Chelsea, who at least has the decency to admit they cheated.
I do have a feeling City fans have gone too soon with their gloating and it might come back to bite them
Yes indeed Dan. The fat lady might be tuning her vocal chords but she ain’t singing yet
Here, take your “Honesty” trophy 🏆
Not yours to give mate, unless you’ve bought it… Ah!! That makes sense, city115 buying another trophy!! 🏆
Keshy, what illegal payments are you on about ?
Do you understand English? I said “next”
Oh I can read it, shame you can’t write it.
Let’s face it, this isn’t the first time in your history that your owner and directors have been dodgy…
Hahahaha… Yeah I get what you’re saying. Like I said, sad, but it’s true.
Is that an admission of guilt?
Maybe Gabriel is lucky.
But it would have been better if the writer also writes about Khusanov’s challenge on Havertz which wasn’t even deemed to be a foul at all which should have been a red card. We saw the exact foul in the champions league games between Atletico Madrid and Barca (both home and away games) and we saw the verdict.
Also, If the officiating was that fair as the writer has written, then Haaland goal should have been ruled out as a foul on Gabriel.
PGMOL should not have put a referee from Manchester to officiate this particular kind of game in my opinion.
More reasons why I don’t take English referees seriously.
Foul on Gabriel! The same Gabriel who tore Haaland’s shirt? Don’t be a bad loser mate
I didn’t see any headbutt in the game i watched,Gabriel only feighned the headbutt,there was no contact.Haland’s goal should however been disallowed for a shirt pull on Gabriel.The ref was mildly biased against Arsenal but Dan only ever writes when it seems a decision favours us but turns blind eye when its the other way round.
same could be said for you though ?
and if there was bias wouldn’t they have shown a red to Gabriel ?
Tailor could not have given a red to Gabriel because he want to balance the error he made by allowing the goal to stand after Hall and fouled Gabriel before scoring the goal. Any card against the Arsenal player would have been so obvious especially, knowing that Halland first pushed him. Arsenal fans should not be blamed because, over the years, the team has been on the receiving end of bad officiating.
Dan, can you explain this. Three and two seasons ago, Arsenal and City were fighting for the title, City had a game in hand. Two seasons ago, the same thing happened. Last season, they were not in the picture and they did not have any game in hand. This season, they are having a game in hand. This is no coincidence. This is a pattern. A planned arrangement to always favor City during a run in to the title.
well no mate because if Arsenal had done their job you wouldn’t care about the schedule
After we play Newcastle City will have a game In hand because they couldn’t play Palace yet because the Eagles are in Europe and City got to Carabo Cup Final. A conspiracy didn’t make those two things happen.
Plus let’s say we beat Newcastle and Fulham , does. that really give City any kind of advantage ?
As for favouring City , the reff and VAR had a golden opportunity to red card our player yet don’t take it ?
wouldn’t that be the worst conspiracy lol
like if I’m in charge of this agenda I be like why did you not send him off ?
Simple Dan – because both players went head to head, both players held on to the other’s shirt and both players were yellow carded.
To issue just one red card in those circumstances, would have been too obvious, even for the PGMOL.
I don’t think so dude
I think Gabriel pushed his head forward .
I seen a red given for that and heard many pundits and even Gooners agree our defender was lucky to get away with it .
It’s opinions of course but I think If a red was shown few would have said Gabriel was unlucky
You realise the schedule is drawn at the beginning of the season?? And most times in the past you mentioned, City would normally still be in all competitions necessitating rescheduling?
Henson, think about it logically! The games still have to be played, and when a team is involved in multiple competitions, they tend to pile up and require rescheduling. There’s no benefit to having “games in hand”, and City will have yet another because they’re in the cup semi-final.
There’s no conspiracy.
How did this Keshy fella get past the troll filters?
Are there even any troll filters?🤣.