You have to feel sorry for Burnley who just can’t get a point of Arsenal in the Premier League. The Gunners have won every single game against them since they came into the top flight and for the third time in a row it has come down to the dying minutes for things to go in Arsenal’s favour.
But the Gunners have not had much luck with penalty decisions this season at all, and we lost to yet another one on Thursday in Cologne, but just for a change, Arsene Wenger is absolutely certain that this was a nailed-on spot kick. “From outside, it looked like a clear penalty,” he said. “I felt there was one on Bellerin as well. I can understand that [Burnley] are disappointed with that, but from outside it looked like a penalty.
“When you speak to him [Ramsey], he didn’t throw himself on the ground. He said he wanted to go back and flick on the ball. He was pushed in the back and he has a problem in his neck from the push. He said it was a very strong push.”
But other than the spot kick, Wenger was willing to admit that Burnley made it very hard for us and made us fight every inch of the way, althought he felt his team was slow to get going.
“I felt we played a bit slowly in the first half but in the second half our pace was much better, even if we missed the final ball,” he said.
“Is that down to us not being able to find the right ball or because of them defending very well? What is for sure is that they defend very well, they are very well organised and they are very clever, very clever, very direct as well. You understand when you play against them, why they have 22 points.
“In the first half it was a very even game with them looking a bit sharper than us,” he added. “It took us a while to get into the pace of the game.
“We were more decisive on 50:50s in the second half. In the second half I felt it was all us and they had many more problems coming out. We made some changes but we also pushed ourselves a bit higher up.
“For us, after the win against Tottenham, it was very important to go away from home and play a very difficult game and win it. That’s what we did. For the belief of the team, it’s a very important win.”
‘Important’ is probably the understatement of the year! We should have no trouble turning over Huddersfield with a little bit of rotation on Wednesday, and then we can turn our minds to the massive game against Jose Mourinho’s Man United next Saturday. A win against Wenger’s greatest rival will put us right up there where we belong again….
Admin
Can you guys just stop with the “we lost to yet another one on Thursday in Cologne, ” crappy talk?
That was clear penalty…Stop the meaning.
I’m an Arsenal fan doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be honest with assessments of d club.
Besides we are over that game.
Nice shift against Burnley, now its also gone and in 2 days time We’ll play Huddersfield.
So can we all just move on and prepare for that match?
It is heart warming to find another fan saying that we Arsenal fans should be honest with assessments of our club. I heartily agree EDDY.
We won the top 4 six pointer. Dyche needs to get over it
In my sixty years of actively watching football, it is clear that many more penalties are not given, when they should be, than given when they should not be. If refs were honest AND CRUCIALLY, BACKED UP BY THE AUTHORITIES, the several penalties that should be given EVERY GAME from fouls on corners and wide free kicks into the area, would then be given. After a very short time of this honest consistency being applied, the cheating and shirt pulling, wrestling etc would be “magically” stopped. In life if you wish to deter bad behaviour you have to make the punishment a proper deterrent and apply it, consistently. Proven diving, using slow motion replays and a panel of ex-players and refs, should be punished retrospectively with a six league match ban and a huge reduction in wages for tyhat period , written into the rules/ laws of football and thus in all players contracts. It is vital to introduce draconian diving punishments if you are to cure this cancer of cheating in the game. This needs though, to be coupled with refs actually giving penalties for fouls in the area when the forward does NOT go down, but it is still, a foul. The absence of this is a major reason( though not the only one) why players choose to dive. I would go much , much further and make all scornful and bad behaviour towards refs, punished by a ban , dependent on the degree of bad behaviour, again laid down in rules/laws . The reason many decent people shun football and look down on those who support and play it , is precisely because there is so much bad behaviour, defiance of refs, deliberate breaking and bending of the rules and sheer hypocrisy by football people who pay only lip service to this change but actually have not the guts, honesty or decency to change it for the better. The appause when a team kicks the ball back , after an injury stoppage, shows there is a public appetite for honesty (this case being one consistent and welcome example but only ONE, sadly) All change is possible. All you need is the will to apply it and that takes courage and honesty, something which has long time been in short supply in football authorities and admins. We must demand better.
I must expand on my own phrase”if refs were honest”. I do not accuse them of deliberate dishonesty but many areb afraid to act by giving pens which actually are pens, because they know they will not be properly backed by football authorities. The Mike Dean awarding penalties, for shirt pulling etc, solo campaign last season which petered out , because he was about the only honest ref applying the rules and the authorities were once again feebly cowardly, is a perfect illustration of an honest ref not backed by his masters. Mind I say honest, NOT necessarily wonderfully competant. All refs will make mistakes and though we can and will minimize these by slo-mo replays in the near future, I feel sure, this will never prevent all ref mistakes and WE ALL SHOULD BE HONEST OURSELVES AND ADMIT THIS, though , as I say, do our best to lessen them. With total honesty the game could be so much better, even though it is still great anyway.
Well said, jon
I don’t feel sorry for Burnley/Dyche one bit. The penalty call was correct. So as far that’s concerned, we beat them fair and square. Time to move on and prepare for the next game, both for us and Burnley.
Just glad we won.
The beginning says you need to feel sorry for burnley…. Why in the hell ???? No one felt sorry for us against watford and even against city who knows maybe we could have got al least two or even four points from both of those games…. Now when one finally goes in our favour then people are moaning all over the place and there are even rubbish talks about a ban on ramsey???? Haters go to hell as I just care about my beloved ARSENAL WINNING ONE WAY OR THE OTHER and all of my other ARSENAL FAN FRIENDS having a happy and good time….
Welbz has to play against United