Chelsea v Arsenal review – Rubbish ref ruins our day again

Maybe Arsenal fans should have known that this was not going to be a good day for the Gunners, as the referee for our trip to face Chelsea was our old frioend Mike Dean. And let’s be honest, when do Arsenal ever get the proper rub of the green at Stamford Bridge.

And so it went as the game produced the same old story of Chelsea getting away with murder while every little thing we did was punished to the full extent of the law. When little Santi Cazorla gets sent off then you know it has ben a bad day at the office.

To be fair to Chelsea, they were a lot better than they had been up until now in the Premier League and although we started well, they came back into it well and it was a very close game. THen the controversy came just before the break, with Diego Costa shoving two hands into the face of Koscielny before swinging an arm and catching him and then shoving him to the ground.

As Howard Webb explained at halftime, every one of those could have earned him a red card but instead he was only booked and at the same time the ref decided to book Gabriel who did nothing wrong. Costa kept at our Brazilian defender and Gabriel stupidly reacted and Dean had no hesitation in giving him a straight red.

Chelsea took adavantage and took the lead with a header from Zouma who was not picked up by Koscielny from a Fabregas fee kick. Cazorla’s second yellow was hard to argue with but his first had been harsh and it just highlighted how little help the officials gave us throughout the game.

Costa even got away with another kickout on Bellerin later in the game before Mourinho replaced him and the misery was completed when Chambers deflected a Hazard shot past Cech for a second. Lucky, lucky Chelsea and Arsenal fans are left wondering why things always go against us.

Tags Cazorla Costa Gabriel

224 Comments

  1. No words, nothing went our way. Referee was the 12th man for Chelsea. We just need to bounce back from this awful defeat.
    Having said that i think Ramsey is bloody awful. He needs to be benched.

        1. The headline should read 12 MEN CHELSEA BEAT 9 MEN ARSENAL. These days it seems like Chelski can’t beat anyone without the referee’s help…

          Is Mike Dean bias..or is he simply WEAK…How can Costa push and chest butt deemed a yellow and Gabriel soft flick a red….!!!!!

          I don;t blame him, with so drama queen in the Chelski team led by the bitching media queen Maureen, it can be intimidating….and Mike Dean simply have no balls to take them on.

          1. gabriel he got a red for what? if ur gonna get a red it should have been earned

            gab should have headbutted costas dickhole, then poke his eyes an while he was blinded grabbed a golf cart an ran him over..then reversed slowly over his carcass

              1. I agree the ref was Chelsea’s 12th man. But did we really turn up for that match? Do we still justify our transfer window activity? What happens if Francis Coq is injured?
                When are we going to learn?

        2. We can blame the ref all we like but we were still shiiiiiiiiiit.
          No power through the middle , slow lethargic build ups .
          We played more entertaining football with brendther , sendoros and co .
          It all goes back to Wenger’s negligence and indulgence of the players , many of whom are simply lucky to play for Arsenal .
          Players should be disciplined in the face of provocation. The lack of street intelligence is so apparent. Kolcieny and Gabriel should have gone down .
          One red card and one flu resulted in us not having one recognisable CB.
          Wenger has completely lost control . He needs to go at the end of the season .

          1. Did your maker fail to remove the pre-loaded software? It appears all you know about is negativity about Arsenal and Wenger without end. Arsenal played well in the first 45 minutes. It was a matter of time before Walcot ran behind their defence. Twice he was called offside by small margin, while the other time the ref got it all wrong as replays show he was on. That was the game plan, defend well and try to drop the ball behind their high line for Walcot to chase.

            On the other hand Chelsea ended up resorting to long range shots because we were compact in defense. Their strategy appeared to attack our right side of defense, probably because Hector and Gab were the least experienced. That strategy did not work because the two defenders did a fantastic job, plus our midfielders continued tracking back without the ball.

            I had no doubt in my mind that in the second half Chelsea would try to force issues and push men forward something that would have played in our hands. Elements of such lack of patience were evident in the first half when at time Zouma and Cahill ventured too much forward. As long it remained 11 v 11 and nil all, the balance of power was shifting towards Arsenal. Then entered Dean with his comical refereeing.

            He had bad calls early in the half with Ivanovic getting away with two fouls on Lexis that could have warranted a yellow. Then Carzola tripping a Chelsea player. I thought he would get a talking but no it was yellow. One foul one yellow. Then came moments of Dean and Costa madness. Twice Costa was all over Kos’ face but nothing was given. Next Kos is chested to the ground, Gabriel though appearing to restrain the two, he was actually reacting angrily to Costa’s bullying. I thought Costa would get a red and Gabriel a yellow or taking to but nah it was yellow yellow.

            After the cards Costa followed Gabriel talking endlessly to which Gabriel also responded endlessly. At this point I thought the ref will call back the players and the captains to calm down things but no he did not. Gabriel then flicks his leg back. Though we could call that naive, in the context of things it was very very harmless. There are those who argue it was in front of the referee but judging by his reaction the ref appeared to see nothing wrong. He relied of the linesman .

            At that point it was game over. The ref had gifted Chelsea with points. Fortunately for me there was a power in my area five minutes into the second half, hence did not have to be exposed to 40 minutes of agonizing football.

            1. While on that I wish to point out that with that kind of display there is noway Chelsea can finish above Arsenal. The Dean scandal was down to his bias against Arsenal not that he like Chelsea. Costa will probably become a marked player by the referees and that will work against Chelsea. I foresee a situation where he will get card after card for mafia behavior resulting in him missing over a quarter of Chelsea’ games in the season.

              1. If you have to write this long story to defend Wenger and the team , then something is simply wrong .
                We were second best to every ball and always stretching like kids vs men to get it back.
                If you cannot see that we lack power and stamina in the middle of the pack , then my advise for you is to go and borrow videos from the invicible era .
                Ramsey , Cazorla and Ozil either do not score or do not score enough , yet Wenger persist on playing one mythical hold – up game from which , they are supposed to score . Especially with an average striker like giroud .
                No goals = no win or you lose

                1. If you are to make an argument at least support it with facts. My post is long because it tracked events of the first 45 minutes. If you are going to make a valid argument against Wenger you should learn to ground your argument in facts. Take away a bad officiating that game was going to turn on a moment of magic or lapse in concentration.

                  If you did not notice that Arsenal were compact in defense then I do not understand why you are a soccer fan. You always complain that Arsenal does not adapt their game to the opposition’s strength, Arsenal lack tactics, etc. The first half was a clear case of tactical football. Keep it tight at the back and try to put a ball behind their backline for Theo to run into. On the other side Chelsea wanted to attacked the right side of our defense probably for reasons I put forward in the first post. It did not work. They resorted to long range shots that had not threat what so ever.

                  You could not have seen all that because you were busy trying to find something to blame Wenger and the club. That is how pathetic you have become as an Arsenal fan

            2. This demonstrates how pathetic some people can become. Lacking in perspective, lost to bitterness and hatred towards the club you pretend to support. Go on no one cares what you think and feel, not here, let alone at the Emirates. The difference between you and Costa is that one earns 200k a week to be a disgrace to humanity, while you earn reduction in life expectancy for being a disgrace to soccer fan base

            3. The most pathetic comment I have ever had the misfortune to read ..seriously mr cool with a k, down right pathetic. What is Arsenal to people like you. If what you crave is to argue with a specific group against another group well then just join a debate team and talk about politics. Or if you only care about something when it is all rosy well then get out of football ..it will eventually let you down.

        1. Koscielny should have stayed down after what Costa did to him. Stay down and play dead until he sees red.

            1. erm yes!
              what a ridicolous question….

              when u play chelsea- u cheat- thats how u win. u dive u play dirty

              why havent we learned this yet?

            2. That is called intelligence straight from the street . You will never learn that from an academy but when you develop on the street , you are equipped with all the tools of the trade .
              This is why many of Arsenal players will never amount to champions.
              Have you ever wondered why Barcelona, in spite of all their world class players , dive , playact and surround the referees.
              Because they are street ballers , they want to win and are ready to do anything to win .
              I look at most of our recent players and I see people who are not winners . Most are simply satisfied with their paycheck .
              This is why I want a new manager. A manager who would come and get rid of most of the garbage Arsenal has collected .

              1. You literally contradicted yourself so hard you say you don’t learn that in the academies but the Barca players are “street ballers”? O my…..

        2. POSITIVE:

          Gabriel shows leadership qualities we’ve been missing since.. Vieira? Hope the learns the language soon because he got balls!

          Needs to keep little calm and cut the silly kicks out. Loved how he defended Koscielny and floored that silly ballerina Hazard inside the box.

          First player in the Premier League who actually stood against Costa. Decision? Referee sends him off. Tells everything about the referees doesn’t it.

          1. Yes. Gabs got big balls. Made sure he followed Costa out. Just that he failed to punch him.

      1. Forget about chelsea. Gabriel through the game the moment he kicked out. Very disappointed in him rising to Costas level.

    1. Mike dean deserves to be stripped-off of his officiating uniform and dragged on around the streets of London with a string tied around his d*ck!

    2. At the End of the day, Arsenal are still ahead of chelshits on the table!………. Loser Moanino, Loser Costa, Loser dean!

    3. You guys always criticizing the same players, this time it’s Ramsey and next time it will be probably Özil again. No one is realizing that Cazorla plays poorly for a couple of games. You can thumb me down but I think Cazorla is physically too weak and often he also slows down our game. It’s either Cazorla or Özil for me on the pitch in the number 10 spot and at the moment it’s Özil for me especially against teams parking the bus, because he has that killer pass in him!!!

      1. Lets play Ozil in CM position too then we see what his fan boys come up with, just playing him on the wing makes everyone cry..

        And I have not seen these killer passes you lot keep talking about, one pass to walcott last week? And that pass is like a bread and butter pass to someone like Cesc.

        Ozil keeps disappointing, did he play today??

        Tired of our weak players.. Excuse after excuse for our players..

        1. you are tired of of weak players, but defending Cazorla?
          I think we played our best football when Ramsey was in CM and Özil in number 10, because there understanding were awesome this time. You guys would appreciate Özil much more if he had players that can actually finish the chances he creates.

          1. At least Cazorla has shown he is up for the fight, he is played on the wing, CM and AM.. I keep saying the Ozil and Cazorla should never play in the same side against any top teams, we get over run. One has to start on the bench and the other in to play in the no10 position, be it Cazorla or Ozil.

            Simples.

          2. I do not know how long you guys are going to defend Ozil for. I mean you guys paint Ozil like a lame player (he is actually). What stops him from scoring goals himself? Any player on the pitch can create chances and any player should be able to score goals. I mean Ozil is number 10 FFS!

      2. gooner4ever, I realize that since last year and was hoping Mr Wenger cash in on him allowing him to move to Atletico Madrid, this would give Ramsey or Wilshere the opportunity to partner Ozil through the middle. I also prefer Giroud as my striker and Walcott on the right, because when Giroud plays as striker Arsenal tend to play better and more football in the opposition penalty box.

    4. “Gabo-Koss” axis for me is still the best CB pairing for Arsenal…….this unjust match officiating must not break that defensive organization!

      1. Absolutely. Could be the best CB pairing in years. Bit concerned about Koscielny’s defending set pieces recently, though.

    5. i’ve got nothing against ANYBODY at Arsenal today!…………. But for the reds, who’s to say we couldn’t have destroyed those blue mugs today???????

    6. Very bad today. Bellerin playing RB AND RW today. Ramsey camping out in midfield doing nothing. Santi, Sanchez, Ozil, and Ramsey were pub quality today.

      Ox benched for poor quality; Ramsey treated same or treated as favorite as plays next game?

      I got red card myself for ref dissent screaming at tv.

      Lot of games left to turn things around, time to get started.
      Expected more from Arsenal, got typical Chelsea v Arsenal match instead.

      The beautiful game got two black eyes today. Mike Dean deserved to be sent off, and Costa does his thing b/c refs let him get away with it. Gabriel, thank you my man. Don’t take crap, next time go Shawcross son.

    7. Siht like that is unacceptable.

      On Monday, Costa will be banned for the unseen crap that started this off. On Monday, will Gabs straight red be reduced for a trivial action? I’m not sure it can be.

      Meanwhile a game is ruined and in all probability 3 points taken off us, as it was Chelsea that should have been down to 10.

      Had the FA had some balls, were the worlds first and greatest football league run by a more progressive organisation, we’d have had video replays and the game would run its natural course and no injustice would have occurred.

      Today was is a day when cheats won. Justice cannot be achieved – we won’t get three points back, gab won’t have his card rescinded. It is a disgrace, to the Prem leagues apathy, refereeing standards, the culture that mourhinho encourages and Costas cheating!

      1. Well said
        but i won’t be surprised if costa goes unpunished,
        Because none of the officials reported it!

        1. Amazing that Costa did not see straight red. The FA should look into it.

    8. Well that makes a mockery of resting players as Bellerin was terrible Sanches ordinary,Ozil I can’t make him out 42mill for what, he is overrated. Walcott did everything he could,but no help from the 2 mentioned. As for Gabrell well he is to blame should have not got involved, stupid man hope now Chambers keeps him out. Well we can’t blame Wenger for this I feel for him this time he kept his cool did not let Morinio get to him,me I think I would have dropped hit Costa and took the 6 match ban and fine. CB

    9. of all the expanse of space on the field……. Why did costa choose to stand right behind Gabriel mimicking words at him…….. Cuz he’s a born cheat and a cry baby, who wanted to be stroked real hard!

  2. chelsea remain kings of london- thank u mike dean…u lightbulb looking douche…told u lot charity shield wasnt important…this loss really hurts

  3. Before the game I said in another post,

    If we don’t do something stupid like getting a red card, conceding a penalty or a freak early goal I think we should be okay. We have this annoying tendency of shooting ourselves in the foot in the big games (RVP red versus Barcelona, Wilshere red versus United, OX hand ball versus Chelsea etc).

    Ah well!

      1. Gabriel kicked at Costa, he shouldn’t have played into his games.
        Cazorla made a careless challenge, he shouldn’t have since he was already on a yellow.

        You think 3 red cards in a week is NORMAL??

          1. Mate, the referee should have sent Costa off – agreed – but you could argue Chelsea should have had a penalty as well. However, we should have done our own bit by NOT getting those red cards to start with. Just a little bit more maturity by the Arsenal players could have avoided that.

            1. What about wrestling Kos? What about Bullying Bellerin? And those are just highlits, Chelsea was not playing football just something that resembles it.
              NB: am dissapointed with results but am proud for this team. Our playes really fought despite the fact that nothing went our way. COYG

            2. So silently letting your players being kicked at and hit in the face is ok? What makes you think that Dean wouldn’t have sent some Arsenal player off on some other excuse? Ivanovic makes four similar tackles on Sanchez? He gets what? A yellow. Santi Cazorla- two similar challenges and he is off!

              I am convinced today referees are bought in the league. There has to be a review system and accountability for referees. Its just embarrassing for the FA at the moment.

            3. Then in this case you know you talk nonsense because if Costa would have been sent off none of this would have happened.

          1. Gabriel kicking would have never happened if Mike Dean would still have his balls attached. Costa straight red for his fouls but barely a yellow for chesting Koscielny.

            Mike Dean should never again grace the football pitches in England. Ship his azz to South America and see how long he manages to stay healthy with his vile decisions.

            1. great idea!!

              news just in:
              mike dean gets his leg snapped and jaw broke after yet another poor decision in brazilian b league

    1. The only stupid thing we did wrong was Gabriel not punching Costa in the face and getting a straight red for it.

  4. Am I the only one that thinks Aaron Ramsey is just so average? like its not even about finding a scapegoat or basing this opinion on the result of this match but rather something I’ve thought for months now. Apart from that 1 season, he hasn’t really done much and in my opinion Jack Wilshere is a far more superior player (once fit of course). just my opinion.

    P.S Diego Costa is the biggest V*gina is world football.

    1. Ramsey appears to have gone downhill a bit since that season, but he still plays well in most games. It’s the comparison to Wilshere that get’s me. I understand that he’s been injured a lot, but Ramsey has actually proven he can be a big player, if only for one season so far. Wilshere has only proven that he can dominate teams who aren’t up for the game. His 2 best performances by far for Arsenal (since he got into the 1st team at least) were against Sunderland after a cup game when they just weren’t up for it, and in the last game of last season when whoever it was (can’t remember) were clearly not that interested in playing. Ramsey’s got to sort his game out a bit and get back to something like the quality he’s already shown he has, Wilshere’s still got to prove he can be something more than average against decent sides!
      Not saying he doesn’t have the ability or that he never will as clearly he’s had massive injury problems but until he actually performs against decent PL opposition, let alone the bigger teams, he can’t be compared favourably to Ramsey.

      1. I have to disagree, granted Wilshere has a lot to prove and needs to get his head right, but its clear to me that Wilshere has a level of technical ability and football brain that Ramsey just doesn’t have. When Wilshere is on the ball he drives forward and tries to make things happen, whereas I don’t see that much from Ramsey. And my rant on Ramsey wasn’t really meant to be a comparison of the two, but rather indicating that Ramsey has not been good enough, and has done absolutely nothing to warrant a consistent starting place in the squad, and even to the extent that we have to play without an actual winger in order to incorporate him into the team. I’m sorry, but he’s not that good for this to happen and would much rather see Walcott/ Oxlade playing there.

        1. Yeah I think we’ll just have to respectfully disagree on Wilshere. Imo technique wise, he’s certainly no better than Ramsey and doesn’t know how to impose himself physically, and I don’t think we really know where best to play him (Santi’s position I presume?). I always thought he was going to be a great RM, a bit like Ljungberg with a bit more craft to his passing but the formation change doesn’t play to his strengths imo.
          I do agree that Ramsey no longer deserves to be in the category of guaranteed starter, but he still shows great ability and contributes a lot in most, even from his wide position. My problem with him is that he’s shown in the past he can be a beast of a box-to-box midfielder and I wish he’d just play a bit more simply at times. He’s become too focused on attacking and I think he’s lost a bit of his edge as a result. Should be rotating with Ox and others atm rather than playing every game, deserves and needs a bit of a knock from the manager to let him know he still has something to prove.

          1. I agree with you about Ramsey over Wilshere. Ramsey fom me is our best attacking mid and is a proper box to box. Wenger isn’t playing him there so I thinknthat is why he isn’t shining. Perhaps with Santi out he can grab it back again.
            My disappointment is that ourbplay is technically beautiful, but out tactics are witless. We no longer have width we no longer get behind defense, we no longer vary our play. It’s to sad to keep seeing the same lame mistakes being made year after year now.

    2. Cazorla also gone average. Do you know why? Its becase Ramsey was at his best at CMF, not at RW and not at AMF. He got into a great shooting position today in RW and takes too many chances doesn’t get the shot fired in the end.

      Cazorla because he is not CMF, he is AMF. His goals and assists have come down.

  5. Friggin need feisty Invincible type leaders…nobody tried to wind Costa up and get the thug sent off!
    Not a single player went up to him to curse him off the pitch….sad fact is that we are just too soft to compete with the big boys!

    1. Keown Adams and dixon would have made him piss his pants and call for mama!

      We are too nice..

      Naive Gab and Santiago. Can’t go lashing out with petulant kicks because you’ve been wound up and santi has to stay on his feet when he already has a card. Fabregas didn’t help h fellow team mate for sure though.

      Bad day!

  6. I blame Wenger for not signing a true man anywhere in our squad. Getting bullied by other teams. Martin Keown would have smashed Costa early doors and showed who is boss, but we are too nice

    Costa/Chelsea/Mourinho are the cheating scum of English football

    I hope Mike Dean gets attacked on way home

      1. Turn your laptop off then. This is a forum of public opinion. What were you expecting, only you allowed to speak?

    1. We were not bullied today. Legal strength and soft fouls are bullying. 6-8 counts of violent conduct is not. The fact Costa committed enough offences to warrant a 10 match ban is evidence that we wound him up enough that if the ref does 1 thing right the game goes our way.

      Wenger was not at fault today. Naivety from Gabriel, a disgusting refereeing display and a mare from cazorla and Alexis really cost us.

  7. Worst refereeing i’ve ever seen. Once again guys i’m sorry for the terrible comments i made it was not worth it.

  8. It is safe to assume that this game never happened. This game should have 0 relevance on any stats at the end of the season.
    I will assume that it didn’t happen, and so any further discussions are irrelevant.

  9. Mike Deans means sure shot defeat to Arsenal…..He has so much hatread toward Arsenal….I lost the count he gave red card to Arsenal players and not giving to another team player for sure shot case of red card……..or penalty to opposing team or not awarding one to Arsenal

  10. just spent 200M to buy Luck or ref… plsss….

    Costa=WC= his duty is to sent off enemy defender… its Mou scenario from the beginning

  11. Goodbye – until Wenger is no longer the manager in Arsenal, I will not watch Arsenal-matches. Enough is enough.

      1. I don’t mean to offend you, but don’t you feel that our play has become a little bit tame. The excuse of money has disappeared, we are a top 10 richest club in the world etc etc, yet year after year we fall to the same traps. Get beaten by the same simple tactic. Don’t you think that a great club like the one you profess to love should have the ambition to beat the very best in th world. I do, I want Arsnal to stuff Barcelona, Real Madrid, etc 6-0 not keep loosing week after week to the likes of Chelsea.

      1. There pretty much nothing Wenger could’ve done with the Gabriel-situation. Other than that, he did nothing right/optimal – just like so many times before.

  12. Wonder what the Smarmy One will say…he should hang his head in shame, but like all egomaniacs he will probably love the attention anything he spews out will have. Bad day for football, that snake Mourinho has brought the game low. At least Sir Alex Ferguson was a man, he won by playing football.
    Horrible

  13. If i was a chelsea fan i would be ashamed of this match and players,

    PS: We need a leader on the pitch as captain. After gabriel was given a yellow card, a patrick viera stare would have made him leave costa who was hell bent on sending him off

    Costa’s attitude is just like his face……#disgusting

    1. That’s exactly what i said to my mate during the horrible game,

      viera would dragged gabs away from costa in order to avoid red card.

      no real leader like viera now in arsenal.

      man…i have lost words after the game.

      1. That is the point here, Gab is a young player and Costa had been playing him and Kos. We needed a leader onthe field and we just don’t have one.

    2. You are talking nonsense there. Read the Dailymail it say the Gab behavior was reminiscent of Viera and Petit days when the guys would get red cards for fun. Based on the Dailymail reasoning Viera would also have been sent off if he was in the team today. It all started and ended with the ref period. Stop groping in the darkness for mud to throw at the team.

      1. Nonsense is when you take the opinion of a paid jourrnalist to that of a fan who has not missed a single arsenal game since when she was 9 years old.

        Read my words carefully, i said after the yellow card. Viera would NEVER have gotten that kind of red card, without the opponent rolling in pain.

  14. This is not he game I want to watch anymore. If ref decisions cost teams games then something is wrong with the sport. I have been a big proponent of instant replay. It can be done and I could give a damn about flow. Decisions must be right and DC should have been sent off.

  15. but at least gabriel is manly not pussy he fought against injustice he should be made captain
    🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁

    1. Gab’s no pussy is true.

      but he has to realize that he has responsibility to his team mates in the field and to the fans watching it live at bridge.

      by doing that he disrespect wenger too?

      even though i despised him.

      Lack of leader like VIERA is one factor that holding us back too.

      my ideal captain to me right now the least, i will pick Koscielny.

  16. Mike Deans back to his old self again. Where were the lineman’s in the Costa Koscielny’s incident. It was so evident as Koscielny fell down but the Gabby one was seen clearer as the 1st.

  17. We are fourth. Yayy. And please dont blame ref even for the first goal and two good chances missed to score. The worst downside to this defeat is that Wenger will sleep peacefully as he knows he has fan’s sympathy. Classic Arsenal soul. Always something to convince ourselves. Yeah ref fuxked us. But could we have won with 11 with core players like Sanchez, ozil and Caz sleeping from the first minute and Giroud being our plan B? Get real. Mark my words. We will fuxked again by Chelsea with or without luck. And why the hell Kos and Ox did not go to ground and fight for Cost’s punishment ? Beacuse we are Arsenal. Classy, gentleman and naive. Get over it!

      1. I am getting tired and bored to blame wenger all the time after this game.

        I have lost words.

        it is not helpful anymore for my state of mind.

        man, i already lost hope of anything will change at my beloved arsenal after seeing this poor form always repeated over and over again for ten years, you kinda lost hope.

        just have to wait till wenger himself to call it a day.

        yeah, i think he still have CL trophy to proof, and i can understand that.

        maybe

  18. The worst for me was those f+cken scum Chelsea fans cheering and calling that grub Costa’s name. Wonderful sportsmanship.

  19. Yeah Dean is a spuds.
    Yeah harsh.
    But this has been this way for a loooong time for arsen or he players not to know it was going to be like this.
    Yet apparently nothing was done.

    And for me this started with the pile of pressure Arsene put the team in when selecting half of the team from subs to face Zagreb in an important and psychological boosting or killing game. Of course then the team HAD to win at the bridge…ppppfff come on…he did to himself wenger.

    And the the good old same thing with refs line dean ….

    This could have Ben avoided ……he chose to out all the eggs in one basket and lost both baskets.

  20. Mike Dean, your mother should have had an abortion. Diego Costa, if there’s anyone who deserves to be gang raped, it’s you

  21. I know what I saw out there today other than bad refereeing, poor team management from Wenger. Even after the first red card Arsenal could have still saved the game. I cant see how Wenger would sacrifice Coqualin. Ramsey should’ve gave way for chambers. You are away to the champions, down to ten and you take off your star DM… Forgive me but I cannot see the sense in that.

    1. coqs knee was bothering him, cant risk him, its that simple, no one in thier right mind would have taken him off,

      1. Then to all people yelling at Arsene to buy a dm and that he didn’t be cuz he trusted Coq. ….as I said. ..I trust him too but injuries WILL happen….

        And they just did….

  22. moving on, cant be critical of a match that was unjustly handed over, we travelled mid week, played early, held our own nil- nil at the bridge, and not until dean pulled the red did we loose… i think this was going to be our match, but a ref decided to intervene and tilt the scale, shameful but not going to get down on the boys

  23. Frustration,your name is Arsenal.So naive,lack of dicipline-this is the manager fault.Wenger is simply clueless.He cannot drive the team foreard anymore.With the suspensions we have and the frustration acumulated I can see us loosing the next 2 games in the row-the freefall just begun.The inept manager must go ,he’s holding us prisoners of his own frustrations.Another ruined weekend…so tired of this.

  24. Stop playing Cazorla, Ozil in the same team against strong or Top teams.. Ozil always nowhere to be seem in tough games, Cazorla is not a CM and we get over run..

    Sanchez as I kept saying last season is terrible in possession, can’t pass, looks like a headless chicken with his predictable cut inside every time you get the ball..

    I have just had enough, we are so weak and predictable..

    1. if you are going to cut it at barca, you better be excellent in pocession, ball skills in tight space… he did not cut it, problem is we need the same skill set in our style of play, alexis would fit most systems, we rely on ball handling, crisp passing, small spaces, now he is struggling….

      1. Don’t start this Barcelona rubbish.. I am Sanchez biggest fan and I have not been so excited about a player since we signed, Rosicky and Hleb.. But I have been saying the same thing about Sanchez since last season, his first game in the Charity shield and then that game against Villa earlier last season when he played striker, I noticed that he was so poor in possession and can’t link up play with his team mates, he has the worst passing for a player of his calibre..

  25. 2 red cards, that means we’ll have 3 suspensions + Coquelin is injured. It’s going down hill from here.

    …. And we’ll be fighting for fourth again.

    Btw, Costa is a C@NT

    1. depending on le coq’s injury

      this game has possibly ruined our season.

      light a candle people- we pray an wait

      1. I think it was a hyper extended knee by the looks of it. Luckily it didn’t look so serious. I’ve had my knee hyper extended and it was a 3 month layoff. Fingers crossed..

    2. Heard England will now be stripped of their 4th champions league spot because of how poor English teams are in the tournament year after year. 4th won’t even be an option soon enough anymore.

      1. We haven’t lost it yet. But we will lose it this year if English teams don’t perform well this season, and obviously we’ve made a great start at that…

  26. The FA needs to put every referee through a polygraph test to know if they have deep roots for or against certain teams to completely avoid bias and corruption for starters.

    1. While they’re at it question them on past decisions as well because they won’t be able to lie about it. Then when they get caught either way they need to be punished as well accordingly. Even more so than the players. I’ve never complained about officials before but today’s refereing was totally unacceptable. Not because I’m an Arsenal fan but for the sake of the league as well.

  27. The ref ruined this game and til then it was a pretty even affair …. But anyone who thinks Ramsey Walcott as right wing striker combo can get us anywhere is really really stupid …hazard costas whatever I think of the latters thuggish game are a different level together …. Our two are average players and when our quality players like Sanchez and ozil are of the boil we really are not going to go anywhere …. A manger who wanted us to actually win stuff … And No goals in last 6 competitive games against Chelsea is most telling statistic of all…should have flogged Ramsey and Walcott arteta and flamini in summer and brought in griezman draxler and kondogbia …. Probably a net spend of 50m as Brit players r overpriced … But I will say it one more time we will never win anything with Wenger in charge… never ever… He has to go at end of this season

  28. i am actually proud of Gabriel…a team player he is.. it’s just 3 points. we have lost to west ham for that much… but i just don’t know why chelsea have fans and above all that why the watch football.

  29. I hope conquelin not seriously hurt, otherwise we’re screwed as predicted. Next game will have no santi no Gabriel no coq I fear. Trouble

  30. Costa isn’t scoring goals like last season so he makes up for it by getting players sent off

    I’m so bummed
    And I feel like I’ve been violently violated in my bum

  31. Positive: Wenger can’t play Ramsey on the RW next game because he needs to play CM to cover Cazorla.

    Negative: Everything else.

    1. Cazorla will be a BIG miss just wait and see. Size has always been his only issue in England but it’s not like you can tell him to grow to a Viera stature overnight.

    2. Ramsey still on RW and enter Arteta. Oh, and expect Giroud to start as well. Hopefully Gabriel won’t lose starting role and Mert will only cover for 1 game

  32. cazorla is not a captain type player, and our players did’nt support our own player in these situations and they are not aggressive, once we had viera, campbell, petit, keown now we have ramsey, walcott, cazorla, ozil type players they are too nice.

    1. Honestly I thought they did pretty well with 10 men. I wouldn’t have expected Wenger’s great early sides to play much better under those circumstances. The players were in the game until it went to 9 men and that’s realistically all you can expect of them against one of the top sides.
      Gabriel should have been smarter and so should Cazorla but you’ve got to blame the ref for the result because he let Costa get away with it. Imo we’ve been doing a lot better with refs over the past 2 or 3 years (they cost us a lot of matches in the previous 5 or so seasons, far more than our rivals) but seeing that Dean was going to ref this game was a concern still.

        1. No, but it didn’t matter too much today I didn’t think. It mattered against WHU as no one stood up to Koyate and he won them the game basically, but today they did well under the circumstances.
          We could definitely do with a Sol Campbell – Gabriel’s the closest thing we’ve had in a long time imo and clearly he’s nowhere near the size of Sol. The trouble is finding someone that big and imposing but still as quick and defensively rounded to fit with the Arsenal playing style. Kompany the only defender I can think of who compares to Sol at the moment.

          1. we need nasty tackling players (like gattuso, de jong) in these situations, if you hurt we will hurt you type players

  33. We would have got away with it,
    If it wasn’t for that pesky referee! ?

    Ooops. .. wrong cartoon. .. God dammiiiiit ?

    Oh well. .. Same old… Same old ???

  34. Not too dissapointed tho’
    When players like costa gets celebrated for bringing this beautiful game into disrepute and no proper sanctions has been meted out….we are bound to get bullied.
    MoTM- Mike Dean

  35. With Wenger still in charge we will only continue to moan.

    no significant progress will ever be made

    Wenger should go manage the under 13.

    useless old retarded damn bastard

  36. And you call him a World Class Manager?

    Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho : “Good victory, we need to win matches. We won twice in three days, we kept two clean sheets. We controlled the matches.

    “I don’t have a view on the sending off. Man of the match for sure was Diego Costa. He brought everything to the game.”

  37. Talk about the invincibles, remember Vieira gettings sent off for flicking his foot at Nistelroy after being provoked? Same thing. The Invincibles were obviously a better side and coped well against a great Utd side with 10 men, but to be fair, from what I saw, we coped pretty well with Chelsea with 10 men, and were still in it until Cazorla got sent off as well (which was stupid obviously).

    The warning sign came early on. There was a foul on a Chelsea player and Dean just gave the fk and wasn’t going to do anything more, but Fabregas said something and he jumped into action immediately to chastise the player. No yellow but watching it, you could see his face change straightaway when fabregas shouted to him. The clearest case of a ref being influenced by a player as I’ve ever seen and looked really shady.

  38. Enough of languishing, i wish to suggest that we swallow our pride act gentlemanly and protest the referees Decision to the English football governing body. Pure referees laxity. And don’t forget this is football where anything can happen.

  39. Stop playing Cazorla and Ozil in the same team against Top or half decent teams.. It’s not working..

    I wish Wilshere was not as injury prone… I know it’s only me and a few gooners that rate him.

  40. Another sad day to be an Arsenal fan, Yes the ref was a total and utter disgrace, but we are naive and we are short on quality, and we wont be going anywhere with this manager and this squad.

    We will all support Arsenal through thick and thin, but it is obvious to see that we need a new approach from top to bottom.

    I do hope Wenger himself calls it quits after the end of the season, we all thank him for his service, erect a statue and then we bring in a younger, hungrier, more ambitious and dare I say less gentlemanly less naive, more aggressive sort of manager that can reshape this team in his image.

  41. I said yesterday chelsea would be back to their best esp against Arsenal at the bridge after the tiny slump in form they had. To be fair until the 2nd sending off i felt we could nick an equalizer… Sanchez should of scored that volley he fluffed, would the real Alexis please stand up!!

    Referee was awful again… biased calls as per! Costa a beast, knows when to provoke and roughn up opposition, Gab fell for it! If he played for us we would be cheering him as the chelsea fans do, dont tell me you wouldnt. Ozil has flashes of brilliance for Arsenal and is great at times on the eye but god do the big boys need to step up. Lets see how we do now with no cover brought in, players off form, injured or suspended for our next game or 2!

    1. I don’t think Gabriel’s second yellow was fair at all – people could argue that Gabriel backed into Costa, but doesn’t Costa have a pair of legs to move out the way? There was nothing in it, it was just a nudge, not a yellow card, not even a free kick, completely different to Costa’s attack on Kos. If Gabriel was sent off, then Costa should’ve been as well at the same time.

      It was almost as if Dean saw we had a chance of coming back, and decided to send someone else off. Fair enough Kos could’ve sent off after we were down to 9, but Dean had done his work by then.

      We need video refereeing, or at least a second official to decide on major decisions like red cards / penalties / goals (offside). Dean got everything wrong this game – maybe it was bias, but I tend to think it was more stupidity, otherwise why did he let Kos get away with so much?

  42. So dirty tactics helped Chelsea to get a win over us today.
    That Diego Costa needs a claw hammer smashed over each of his knee caps.

    As for our team.
    We are still playing players out of position. Like someone said above Bellerin is playing as a RB/RW.
    goal kicks are just going straight to opposition, same goes for corners.

    1. @sam-afc

      It was me who said that about Bellerin. Every game Ramsey starts on RW he abandons his post and Bellerin has to play both RB and RW.

      IMO Bellerin better RW than Ramsey. Ramsey is good player, just not a starter. He should rotate with Santi at CM. He chokes out Ozil and leaves Mesut with no space to work. Ramsey has had several years uncontested to improve; and his improvement has been minimal. I’d take schniderlin

  43. I personally want Wenger out for a few simple reasons:
    1. He needs to realise as a team we are a bunch of pu$$ies. Far too cute and nice
    2. I would have drilled my centre halves to get Costa fired up and sent off, especially 2nd half
    3. RAMSAY IS NOT A RIGHT WINGER!!!!!
    4. WALCOTT, GIROUD, even Ramsay are NOT good/consistent enough
    5. Not dropping players when they are consistently poor i.e Ozil (the passenger)

    1. Ozil is not poor , he is simply not supplied with the needed tools .
      He needs ball winners ,tough tacklers behind him and a clinical top striker ahead of him so that he can wreck havoc in the final third.
      Even before the red card , Chelsea had us on the rack and Ramsey was guilty of many wayward passes as usual .
      Whenever Ozil had the ball , no one is usually available for the return pass to unlock the defence .
      Also Sanchez and Ramsey keep cutting inside ,which is something Wenger should have addressed after many games .
      This makes us very easy to thwart especially with Giroud upfront

  44. It honestly surprises me that everyone is so aggravated and surprised with Arsenals performance today and form thus far this year.

    I abhor Costa, Mo and the rest of the Chelshit cretans but they were the better team in the first half and regardless of current form always have the Gunners number. Mike Dean just happened to cement that advantage by being the walking abomination that he is.

    With that said, and if we momentarily remove our white/red tainted glasses isn’t this essentially the same average squad that shit themselves to third place last year?

    The same squad that places there trust in an $8M a year dinosaur that employs the same tactics and substitution patterns that sadly worked nearly a decade ago and consisteltly bellows about the antichrist of football that is the transfer window.

    The same squad that truly believes Theo and OG are the answers in the striking department, when Cavani/Martinez/Benteke/Manduciz were available this summer.

    The same squad that unnecessarily plays three, creative and central midfielders that sacrifice the width of the pitch and provide minimal defensive steel when possession is lost

    The same squad that STILL is unable to properly defend set pieces with a ridiculous zonal marking scheme that has NEVER worked.

    I could go on and on but honestly this Arsenal team is simply not talented enough, nor deep enough to win any meaningful trophys and the ultimate responsibility lies in one mans hands. Unfortunately for some of us there seems to be no end to his dictatorship of the club we hold so close to our heart.

    1. Agreed! If we all take a second to look beyond the horrible refereeing, its easy to see that we have endemic problems. Same problems, year after year and no solutions.
      Even Zagreb’s manager said, that we were easy to read and everybody knew what tactic to use against us to have a chance of winning.That in itself for me is an extremely damning statement, specially coming from the manger of a team that has never won a CL game.
      Yes- Dean, Maureen and Chelshit are all horrible, but that really is not the cause of Arsenal’s problems.
      I dont think our endemic problems can be solved by the same man who has created them and to be perfectly honest he has been given enough chances to remedy the issues.
      New blood from top to bottom.

      1. Beam,

        Couldn’t agree more with your opinions and sentiments about the landscape of Arsenal FC and sadly with Kroenke and company pulling the strings we as fans will be having this same discussion on a yearly basis.

        Arsenal nation can continue to debate the merits of financial viability, the international branding of the Arsenal name, the continued development and growth of English born players etc… however from a purely football perspective it is time for an Usamov or Dangote type to rescue the club and rightly return it to its proper European and British place. I appreciate Wengers tenure and everything he has done for the club but he is currently complicit in the corporate cancer that is slowly killing our beloved Arsenal.

        Enough is enough

        1. Big,

          Actually our financial performance compared to other teams has been a disaster. Not jus oil money teams either, all teams that have been successful in the last decade have surpassed us in a major way when it comes to valuation and revenue. We used to be the number 3 most valuable team behind Manu and Madrid in 2007 only 100M or so behind Madrid. Today we are number 7 and Madrid is worth $2Billion more than us.
          So anybody that tells you that Arsenal has been financially successful is lying to you.
          We have just been riding the wealth wave in World Football that’s all. Compared to other successful teams our revenues and value has not been very strong.

  45. Im not even mad @ the tm i give Gabriel much respect for standing up for his player only ting im mad @ he shouldn’t of kick him he should’ve turn around & choke the eff out of him costa iz so annoying he deserve what he gets & these refs are out for arsenal this season mark my words it have more to come from those ref gg gunners nOW lets move on i have nothin negative to say about this game & im a AOB supporter… COYG…

  46. I’m going to get thumbs down for this maybe. But ref ruined the game at around 40 minute mark. We didnt really do much to show we can win this game anyway before 40 minutes. It’s like it always is. Against big clubs we hardly create any clear chances, then against small clubs we create a ton of chances and are wasteful even though we convert some.

    For Paulista red card the ref is definitely to be blamed, Costa should’ve seen red. But I’m dissapointed in Cazorla. Firstly he doesn’t come over quickly enough to calm Paulista down, then after he is shown a yellow card, Cazorla being the Captain should tell him to move away from Costa.

  47. Look, Costa Is a major scumbag who riles people for the purpose of getting a advantage. Psychological warfare.

    Our players should know that and not take the bait.

    Too soft in the centre is Arsenal.
    Ref is a disgrace!

  48. Garth Crooks, you may not like him, but he said the truth about Mike Dean trying to always be the star in games. What is the differenece between Costa shove, chest push, elbow and Pualista small backheel if anything? BT sport said Paulista got straight red for that kick.

    1. There’s a foreign channel youtube clip – youtube.com/watch?v=1Ut28blucnk, of the harassment Costa was giving Gabriel, and Costa should’ve been sent off way before the 40th minute. For those of you saying Gabriel kicked him etc. he did nothing of the sort – Costa was harassing him, and he turned away, and Costa kept on harassing him. He walked backwards and Costa was in the way, did not extend any limb towards Costa, unlike Costa smacking him on the chest earlier on.

  49. Let’s just calm down and think objective here.Man city would have destroyed Chelski today as simple as that..tgis was the best chance we had for years to beat this awful side but again it is the manager accountable to the results.forget about the RED cards as this is a football game..I have seen big teams played with 10 men and they show the guts and qualities we lack for years now.IF WE HAD BOUGHT A REAL DM LIKE CARVALHO OR KONDGOBIA to mention few and WC ST on the mould of CAVANI..spending at lest 50-60 millions THIS ARSENAL TEAM WOULD HAVE BEEN FEARLESS and really be contenders for the EPL but as some of you mentioned.Our dear manager decided to stick to some over performers in the team as a sign of TRUST.well trust is taking us nowhere. RAMSEY IS NOT A RW no matter WHAT.THE BOY IS HAVING A BAD PERIOD SO N BENCHING AND HE WILL REALISE THAT HE’S TO WORK HARDER TO GET BACK IN THE FORM HE WAS..Le coq is the only decent DM we have but REALLY WE SHOULD HAVE BEATEN CHELASEA IF WE HAD RE INFORCED THIS TEAM.if some players can not be in top level then so be it..look at REAL or BARCA. big names on the bench and when they come to the pitch ,they performed..arsene BOTTLES..it is time for change.

  50. Callum Wilson of Bournmouth has more goals after 6 matches than the whole of Arsenal team in the league.

    Arsenal are the first team not to score against Chelsea in the league this season.

    Arsenal created their fewest chance in any league game this season.

  51. Would’ve started Ox off in Ramsey’s position, and subbed Ramsey on the Gabriel sending off, as he is better getting back and defending, but that is all in hindsight.

    Problem is that Ramsey needs to play where either Cazorla or Ozil play, but Cazorla is better, and he won’t sub Ozil. Ozil is capable, he shows it for 10% of the game – shame he couldn’t for the other 90%.

  52. Theres one incidence in the game which showed why we should play 4-4-2. That Sanchez chance. Both Walcott and Sanchez being present in the box from Ramsey pass casued them misnuderstanding We try to go through the middle to many times. Wouldn’t it makes sense to play 2 up fron and give AMF more options to attack? Only our wingers offer real width and wing play.

    We should play diamond formation. Cazorla and Ramsey in CMF either side of Coquelin with Ozil in AMF. Sanchez, Walcott/Giroud can benefit from a striker partner. Win win situation.

  53. Let’s be honest here.. It would have been the same outcome even if we’d had no players sent off. It would have been the same old Arsenal choking when it comes to big away games, same old Wenger’s medieval tactics, same old dissapointment every season…

    1. Yes the outcome would be the same, even 11 vs 11 Chelsea was dominating the game. When we played them in the FA Community shield match at Wembley they also dominated us but we took our chance and won the game. This year despite droping points Chelsea has been the most dominant team in terms of controlling game. So I personally, never agreed with the notion that they had lost form.

      Mr Wenger should have sold Cazorla in the last transfer window his football pace looks pedestrian. Play Ramsey or Wilshere in the middle with Ozl I prefer walcott on the right and Giroud as striker, because when Giroud plays as a striker Arsenal tend to play more and better football in the opposition penalty box. For example, tight intricate exchange of passes, probing and control high up the pitch.

      Costa gave Chelsea that today once they started to exchance passes in our penalty box we drop deep and tight and loss control of the game.

  54. Malcolm x said by any means necessary! But chelsea’s game plan is cheat by any means necessary to get victory!

    1. They got 3 points and we got 0.

      Nobody except us gives a sh*t how it happened trust me. So what if the FA reduces Gabriel’s punishment and punishes Costa for the head-butt.

      At the end of the day they got 3 points and we got 0

      We have to win matches like these to show what we are made of. We never looked like winning.

      1. @Jimbeam, granted this is is football, but when professional players and referee doing that with something at which they have expertise is a joke. If that is how you want to judge winning then I hope there are plenty to not agree with it.

  55. Big props we have two fighters in the team Cquelin and Paulista. Addidng one or two more would hsave been great.

    These days though as soon as Arsenal go 1 down the heads go down, and we are unable to come back. I hardly remember any match from this or last season where we won from a losing position. West Ham and Palace last season I think.

  56. I hope we appeal that Red card for Gabriel – from Wenger’s post match interview, it seemed like we wouldn’t

  57. AW upstairs and kloop in. Sick of that crap week in week out. Any top team rip us apart. Ok 0-1 down don’t take FQ of take SC or ozil off. AW has no idea what to do with a crap team. He is finished. Look at our bench is just full of crap. You no he should go and get Chris back from loan because he is far better then what we have but it lays with our out of date manager. No way are we top 4 this year

  58. I think we all agree that Chelsea are dirty cheating bastaarrrds.
    Mike Dean is incompetent.
    We are still above them.
    Oh, and Spurs are sh1t.

  59. While we weren’t looking like scoring with 11 men, Chelsea never look like scoring either. Mike Dean wrecked the game. Gab didn’t kick out and if he’s going to get a straight red for what he did then no game should end with 22 men on the field, pathetic officiating by Mike Dean and Wenger should (MUST) appeal, which he can because it was a straight red. Arsenal should also call for a review of Costa, he should (MUST) get banned. On a different note, Maureen says Costa was his man of the match, that says it all all Sh*t love Sh*t.

  60. And the most innocent man on the world is DIEGO COSTA ! See how innocent he was while complaining to referee…..

    First thing Costa slaps/grabs face of, (whatever you say) Bosscielny two times, nothing for him.
    When he goes down on his own, he chest pushes Bosscielny to the ground, still nothing for him.
    And then when he gets a little heel push, the world has ended for him. You can exactly see his baby crying face trying to explain Dean that how he got hurt by Gabriel. And our innocent Gabriel gets sacrificed for nothing.

    By the way, who are talking about nobody controlling Gabriel, watch the video again. Firstly when Costa and Gabriel involve themselves into a fight, Cech and Coquelin controls Gabriel by seperating him, and calming him down. Again, when they are called for yellow cards, Gabriel tries to being calm, while Costa is busy complaining to ref. And after the Gabriel “kicking situation”, first Costa complains with his sooooooo innocent face, then comes Oscar, then comes our beloved Fabregas(you must watch his reaction), then comes Pedro, then the Chelsea captain Ivanovic following Dean till the last moment asking WHEN ARE YOU TAKING OUT YOUR RED CARD?

    Rightly said Ibrahimovic, “I had 11 cry babies around me”.

    Ohh by the way, special moment for Chelsea fans here, when Costa chest pushed Koscielny, fans are chanting his name at full roar.

  61. AW says he loves this club well then leave and let a manager that has some ideas how to buy players and keep players because the likes of AS ozill SC will leave at the end of this season. We are such a poor team very poor with no class on the bench. I here you all slag JW of but he has guts FC has guts so that tells me captain. We don’t have one do we so this season PC should have the job. But AW plz go

  62. Taking this game in isolation and forgetting about the transfer window, and Wednesday’s debacle, I would say Wenger’s tactics were spot on, not much else he could do. Although I didn’t like Ramsey starting on the wing , I think it was right decision, as it gave us extra defensive cover over the Ox, and subbing Coq and Ozil for Ox and Giroud was also the correct decision, to protect Coq (although that wouldn’t have been necessary if we’d have got a backup DM like everyone was telling him), and give us more attacking power over Ozil. We did look llike we might score a goal at that point, with Giroud and Walcott up front, until the great Dean (yes he is a dog), applied the killer blow.

  63. West Ham playing so well away to big teams. Arsenal, Liverpool and now Manchester City. What a shame even a draw today would have been good today! Just awful refereeing!

  64. Ref logic

    Costa has committed violent conduct against 2 players and they’ve pushed him away. Best book both players.

    Gabriel has committed violent conduct. Best send him off.

    Costa chases chamberlain and elbows him off the ball. Best ignore it.

    Seriously there is no defence for this ref. He hasn’t got it wrong today, he’s been actively biased and deliberately brought the game into disrepute. Disgusting

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