No Coquelin complaints but Arsenal can’t keep facing 12 men

Arsene Wenger must be wondering what he has done to deserve this, or be wondering why the Premier League officials seem intent on doing anything they can to stop Arsenal from winning the title this season. It is getting beyond a joke now, as almost every match day seems to throw up another dodgy decision that either punishes us or helps our direct rivals.

So after losing to Swansea thanks to two goals that should not have stood, it was the turn of Michael Oliver yesterday in the north London derby and his decision to keep the yellow card in his pocket when the Tottenham midfielder Eric Dier blatantly hauled back Olivier Giroud by the shirt.

The ref was right on top of the incident and he definitely saw it because he gave a free kick but why no booking? The only reason I can see is that Dier was already on a booking and I personally do not mind the officials being lenient as long as they are consistent and Oliver had no hesitation earlier in the game when Francis Coquelin fouled Harry Kane. Coquelin’s was a bookable offence and nobody was complaining when he got a second yellow, including Arsene Wenger with his post match comments reported by Sky Sports.

The boss said, “I can complain that Eric Dier wasn’t sent off. I didn’t see a reason why he didn’t send him off. I couldn’t understand it.

“He [Oliver] looked ruthless with us and suddenly comprehensive with Tottenham. I think referees should come in the press conference after the game. We are questioned and they should be too. Maybe he could give you an answer.”

That was quite a reserved response in the circumstances and it is not as if Wenger is constantly sniping at the officials like Jose Mourinho did to get their collective backs up. But it seems painfully obvious that we are not on a level playing field here. I have a feeling that Dier would have been sent off if Alexis Sanchez had not just levelled for Arsenal.

Am I being paranoid here or do the Gunners keep coming up against 12 men in every EPL game we play?

Tags Alexis dier Oliver Wenger

45 Comments

    1. Wenger doesn’t like players who can win games with their talent, he forces them to either conform to mediocre teammates or remain on the bench.

      1. if you can’t play your back to goal then you belong on the bench, hold up play is much better than direct play. Wenger is killing everything, the team is toothless now coz of his st***d philosophies and favoritism

    1. wasn’t interested in the manure game (rashford, Lingard and all those kids)..

      how they tormented us front , back and corner is an insolence i found had to take
      and from comments i’ve been hearing all evening, they were s*** against pulis’ men

      How they seemed so experienced against us!….

      1. Lingard is 23. What other kids you talk about? Stop lying, Manure played full squad against us bar Rooney which is out of form anyway. If anything Rashford was a reinforcement not a liability.

        1. They played their optimal eleven, that is right – but it was on paper a very weak eleven nevertheless… Doesn’t matter if they were “kids” or full grown up academy players that havent broken through yet. In the end they were a very weak side compared to us.

          1. How can you call a weak team Mata, Herera, Blind, Rojo, De Gea, Carrick or even Lingard and Rashford which were on a form boost?

            1. because Blind and Carrick played as center backs, try playing Flamini and Coq as center backs and watch closely to the score board.

  1. West brom just defeated man u 1-0! How on earth did we lose to that “rubbish” man United team?

    1. kinda answered your question with your question greg.
      we were rubbish.we bottled it
      just like the title

      what can u do…except go cry on the bergkamp statue at the emirates, eat some edam and shout why…whyyyyyyyyyyy

      1. @muffdiver

        I’m sorry mate, but you’re way off the mark. Edam, really! In times of crises, surely a stronger cheese is needed. I would pluck for a Stilton myself, probably an Oxford blue to be more precise.

        1. The inner 12 y/o in me erupts “I would’ve gone with the choice of cheese made from your moms breast milk”

          didnt sound so retarded when i first thought of it haha

          for the record, i recently watched Borat, so there’s the explanation 😉

    2. We beat a much stronger team witj 3-0 at home. And a full squad too. WBA won against 10 men. Stop being a drama queen.

      1. So what ? That’s the past, we conceded 3 goals to an inexperienced team of academy players. That’s the reality, winning big games doesn’t mean anything if you can’t be consistent.

        1. There was one player from academy. Stop lying. The consolidated amount paid for the players on the field was 150 million pounds. All of them bought!

      2. Congratulations Mr Aw, you made some of Arsenal fans deluded with your mediocre team and your trophy (4th) every season.

  2. Hahahahaha………….. Let’s continue deLuding ourselves

    .
    Blame it on the 12th man if u like bu truth is we are not playing well enough under this stale management

    1. dean’s statistical record against arsenal is 100% bullet proof. a stats prof did an analysis of dean’s record. all the mathematical tools used to prove medical effects of drugs were used and showed dean’s record against us could not be explained by normal statistical variability. that should be game.set.match. if the FA were a proper professional org., they would have fired him for fraud.

  3. Forget it. Whatever the score maybe there has always been an air of leniency against the team. Personally Wenger should have kept Welbeck in the field and his pressure game allows breathing space for the defenders.

  4. Jeez.

    The Arsenal ‘they’ve got it in for us’ Complex resurfaces again.

    Full list of excuses:

    Tiredness
    Referees
    Opposition were too rough
    Not Ozils kind of game
    We were nervous
    Couldn’t get our passing game together
    We started slowly
    We have bad luck
    Jupiter was ascending in Uranus

    Stop whining.
    Leicester are doing ok aren’t they? I suppose that’s because all the refs love them for being the underdog?

    Referees hate us of course because we wear red, so they obviously see red!

    Stop looking for reasons for our failures outside of our players, their manager and board.

    1. its both: a good chunk of the refs have it in for us. but that doesnt excuse wenger’s inactions to make us as strong as possible by buying in summer; it doesnt excuse his inability to talk up the players before the game; to lead them; to calm them; to focus them. it doesnt excuse his inattention to defending; his favouritism; his playing players out of position; playing same players in too many competitions leading to injury and myriad other problems wenger has.

  5. wasn’t interested in the manure game (rashford, Lingard and all those kids) ..how they tormented us front , back and corner is an insolence i found had to take

    and from comments i’ve been hearing all evening, they were sh*t against pulis’ men

    How they seemed so experienced against us!….

  6. we’ ve had few games were ref has been a tosspot
    but if we turnt up for games we would win inspite of 12th man

    its not like the bolivian 5th division, where the ref is also the goalie.
    some bad calls but a team of our level shouldnt cop out with that excuse

    as the greek philosopher jamieus vardyus once said

    chat ish get banged

    1. Hahaha…….OmG!…. Hahaha

      Now admin’s gonna delete my comment for Laughing and i will have u to blame muff

      1. @sa
        You’re the “bot” for this sight. So getting deleted is never gonna happen to you…

  7. Oh dear that old “the refs against us again” line.
    Yes Dier should have gone and so should have Bellerin.

    1. hahaha…….now many won’t want that to have happened

      WTF!….Le coq an then Bellerin?

  8. Cry your hearts out you gentleman out there, excuses want make the poins come back. Okay the ref was not fair to us, but teams who rely on refs and luck dont deserve nothing special.

    We have lost the season the moment Santi got injuried. to many fans have ignored my warning that without him we will be nothing, and so it happened. The problem is wenger took it at the light shoulder. he was gambling again, and this gamble did not turn out well.

    he could have just spend the money and we would be champions weeks ago, that weak the epl has become.

    cong. to you all for the wenger trophy. cl qualification. next season will be ours for sure. #in wenger i trust

  9. And we can’t keep making excuses or inventing conspiracy theories about a ’12th man’.

    Seriously??

    We are poor and inconsistent, and no amount of poor refereeing will change that.

    There aren’t many good one around, but we need a new manager, it’s painfully obvious.

      1. simeone would be an upgrade. just having that change would light a fire up the arsenal players. knowing they wont get mollycoddled like they were with wenger. we’d play differently. it would be fresh for so many reasons.

  10. Don’t blame the referee for Arsenal loosing 5 games. There is only one man to blame and he seems to be oblivious to the fact. Arsenal should be able to blow away any team in the premiership but it’s down drop team selection and defending frailties. People say you can’t blame the manager if the players don’t preform in Arsenal’s case you can as he bought the players and he picks the team.

  11. Just on another note I was listening to Carragher talking about the Liverpool penalty today I have seen Arsenal players being chopped in the box and nothing given and Carragher saying it’s not a penalty but when it comes his beloved Liverpool it’s all change. His grasp of the English language is worse than Henry and he is French. Why am I paying my sky fees to listen to that codswallop?

  12. Why is it that anytime we get a red the players crumble? Does it mean we do not have what it takes to play with 10 men and win or hold on to a lead?

    1. at that time, defensive cohesion and parking the bus seems a very very hard thing for us to do, considering we ain’t a fan of such technique (plus we don’t seem to able to hold on Longer than 15mins after a red)

      but how did chelski go a long way in achieving results last season using such tactics?

  13. Honestly guys, those of of you who keep slating Wenger..who do you think is better than Wenger and at the same time available for taking over our manager seat? Let me help you. No one. It’s not always the manager’s fault when players don’t show up.

    1. Did wenger not buy these players, does wenger not train these players, does wenger not motivate these players, does wenger not pick these players so who’s fault is it @phenomenon 9?

      1. @bur
        These are professional footballers. Once they’re out on the pitch, they know what they must do. AW can train, pick and motivate, but he cannot “play” for them…Get real and think up something better to come with next time…

        1. The manager is critical to the team performance. Look at manu after fergie left, chelsea this season before and after maureen left.
          I have a lot of respect for Wenger, his early success and the way he has kept Arsenal competetive whilst paying for the stadium and having to sell our best players.

          My concern is that this season there have been many opportunities to get clear ahead. We should now be way ahead and well on our way to the title. Seems to me that if we cannot win this season then major change is required if we are to win the title in coming years when we have to beat resurgent chelsea, manu and manc. That major change I think needs to start with the manager, but perhaps there are things behind the scenes which we do not know about.

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