Having won 7-1 on Tuesday night, it is easy to overlook what happened in the 26th minute.
That was when Myles Lewis-Skelly, already on a yellow card, clearly fouled Richard Ledezma. PSV fans are likely too humiliated to use this as an excuse for what unfolded, but with the score at 2-0 at the time, a red card might have kept the tie alive.
Not surprisingly, some Gooners feel that Jesús Gil Manzano’s decision should be respected—after all, he understands the rules better than us common folk. Yet, the same people who argue this have not maintained the same principles when a Gunner has been sent off this season. On such occasions, some of my peers have suggested conspiracies and bias and drawn comparisons to similar incidents where the decision differed.
Make no mistake—our left-back’s tackle (already cautioned) on Ledezma could have been interpreted by another official as warranting another booking. We cannot demand consistency from referees only when it suits us. I assume the same fans on this occasion do not mind that VAR cannot intervene in yellow card decisions? Whisper it quietly, but based on the laws of the game, Arsenal avoiding a red card was more controversial than Declan Rice and Leandro Trossard being punished for delaying a restart.
Everyone, of course, is entitled to their opinion. If you believe that referees like Michael Oliver wake up motivated to cost the Gunners points, that is your right. Maybe his employers have ordered him and his colleagues to prevent Arsenal from ever becoming champions. Why you would continue watching the sport under that belief is another question, but you are entitled to your view.
I have always said, however, that the moment a decision goes in Mikel Arteta’s favour, that argument falls apart. Consider when Gabriel Martinelli avoided a red card earlier in the competition, when Kai Havertz dived to win a penalty in the FA Cup, or when Arsenal scored in the North London Derby from a corner that should have been a goal kick.
The irony is that had the letter of the law been followed in the Netherlands, Arsenal would have been forced to play over an hour with a man disadvantage. Fan channels would have been scrambling to justify why our defender was unlucky. I even heard the theory that tripping the striker was acceptable because he was not getting to the ball.
Firstly, that is not how I view the incident, but more importantly, there is no rule permitting players to slide into each other simply because they are not near the ball or goal—imagine the chaos that would be created. Yet, despite this clear mistake, how many Arsenal supporters are now questioning the Spanish referee’s performance? Will his integrity be scrutinised for weeks?
Were Arsenal favoured this week? Is there an agenda against the Dutch champions? Where is our manager’s outrage now?
Arsène Wenger once said he feared that a section of the fanbase was at risk of betraying the proud values our club stands for. I have previously shared the story of how, when decorating Highbury, Herbert Chapman personally paid for the paint to be Marble Red. He wanted every visitor to know that this was a club that did things differently—the right way, the classy way, the Arsenal way.
So, let us be more mature than only highlighting poor officiating when it suits us. Let us have stronger morals than only demanding change when it benefits us. Let us have higher principles than turning a blind eye when we benefit from errors while playing the victim when we do not. Let us not become a laughingstock by so blatantly contradicting what we preach.
Because, let’s be honest—if your heart truly tells you corruption exists in football, would you not want to gather as much evidence as possible? If referees are acting with premeditated bias, that could be unlawful, particularly if money is involved. Surely, establishing the facts is more important than short-term results? Would you not be relieved to find instances where Arsenal also benefit from poor officiating?
For our teenager’s development, it is crucial not to overlook his poor decision-making. It should still be a talking point, even if his reckless defending did not prove costly. I trust Mikel Arteta will have a one-on-one discussion with the 18-year-old about the importance of only going to ground when absolutely necessary—especially when already on a booking.
There were three more experienced options available in that position, and it is no disgrace to consider bringing in someone with greater knowledge of the role. I have observed goals being conceded because opponents target his side. That is not a criticism of the player—he was a midfielder in the academy, and while his manager believes he has the attributes to develop as a full-back, he will also be aware that both Thomas Partey and Jorginho will be free agents in June, meaning a defensive midfield spot could soon be available.
Many will feel uncomfortable with me pointing out that Arsenal benefited from a poor decision. They would rather it not be highlighted because it does not fit the narrative they want to push.
Which is ironic, is it not?
Because if you only want to discuss bad refereeing decisions when they go against Arsenal but ignore them when they go in our favour, then who really has the agenda?
ADMIN COMMENT
So here are some simple rules which I must insist commenters follow….
You agree not to give any personal abuse to other Arsenal fans. Everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions even if you disagree with them. It COSTS NOTHING TO BE POLITE TO OTHER ARSENAL FANS.
I thought he was very unlucky with the first card, but very very lucky to escape the second. I have to be honest, I think MLS has been unfortunate with a few decisions, and this is the first bit of luck he’s had. I don’t think he’s a bad defender (LB) at all, but he’s obviously just starting out. I really like his attitude and confidence – at times that has worked against him, but it will be the making of him in the long run, and he’ll be able to look back at these controversies as learning experiences. I’m sure arteta will help him to make the necessary adjustments, and not simply write it all off as refs and pundits being unfair.
More to the point (as this was in Europe, so people will think differently), I thought calafiori was very lucky not to give away a penalty against forest – a biased ref certainly would have, and it wouldn’t have been overturned. Of course that has already been forgotten
Saved me writing, the same.
Well done for pointing out the Calafiori incident
For me, there should be room for error. I think it’s a bit silly to card every late challenge. The game has gone too soft
Way to soft .
There is no law that says every infringement has to be cautioned. The laws of the game are meant to be interpreted by the referee in the spirit of the game.
Debates about whether a card could or should have been are all very well but the author is not being balanced and has introduced his own particular bias regarding the decision in this case.
All this is also tangential to the views that certain Arsenal fans have about referees’ biases or conspiracy theories. It is important to note that there are many Arsenal fans who do not believe there is a conspiracy against us but the author rather disingenuously does not make this clear.
Point is though mate let’s say we lost and the exact same thing happened but it was a PSV defender would fans truthfully be respecting officials decision?
The simple ooint your missing Dan and it really is a simple point, is that Mr Oliver decided NOT to follow the rules in his decision not to send off Kolasinac against Rice.
He decided that he didn’t want to spoil the spectacle of the game… nowhere in the rule book is that stated…. of course, he the decided he WOULD follow the rule book when he sent Trossard off, while not bothering to worry about the spectacle of that game.
Now, who benefited from those decisions and who didn’t?
City115 benefited in both games while The Arsenal didn’t.
Let’s remember he didn’t follow the rules in the first instance, but didn’t in the second and hold on to that inexplicable decision while we discuss the referee and Skelly.
The explanation was given out by an ex professional PL referee, Clattenburg, as to why the referee didn’t issue the second card.
To date, I haven’t seen any official back up the decision from Mr Oliver and I never expected to, simply because he didn’t follow the rules of the game, just as he didn’t when sending Skelly of against Wolves, or only issuing a yellow card against the Millwall keeper.
The man referees a match with no regards to the actual rules, which means he’s corrupting the game from the inside.
In your haste to score points against those who see him as corrupt, you fail to understand that the referee in the PSV game followed the rule book, while Mr Oliver doesn’t.
Not Kolasinac but Kovacic!! 😂
I’m simply pointing out it was an example of a big decision going our way
There are fans ( not saying you ) who believe there is an agenda against Arsenal
I could translate Tuesday as the official not following the rules ?
I’m a bit lost here, please help.
We are as Gunners supposed to be outraged that the ref didn’t send our player for an early shower??
We leave that to the PSV supporters while we celebrate a rare case of good fortune for our team! Simple
Not outraged mate
You would just struggle the next week to say there is an agenda against Arsenal and points to decisions that go against us
You did It in your comment by saying it’s a rare piece of good fortune
Hence why the likes of me will correct that narrative
Arsenal have had good fortune this season as well as bad
But you couldn’t Dan, as the referee saw the incident and followed the rule book by deciding it wasn’t a yellow card, his view on the incident.
Now tell me where in the rule book it states that a referee should ignore issuing a yellow (or straight red as I believe it should have been) in order not to spoil the match as a spectacle… that was the reason given by the head of the PGMOL no less, after discussing it with Mr Oliver – now can you see the difference?
Ken, spot on about Mark Clattenburg, and I told DS this the other day.
I really do have to laugh when people on here can’t see the difference between how Michael Oliver refs us and other teams.
How about when he gives decisions our way that our subjective ?
Please remind me of those occasional decisions.
Last game of last season
Arsenal have to better Man City result to be Champions
In last moments there is a handball in build up to our winner . Goal given .
VAR tell M Oliver to look at monitor which normally means official reverses decision.
Yet guess what ?
The man with the conspiracy, the agenda…….sticks to his decision and gives Arsenal goal
Really weird thing for a man who is against the Gunners to go ?
Literally that decision could have won us the league
Dan, are you saying that Mr Oliver didn’t know the score of the city game at half time and city115 had already won the title no matter what we did?
Every Arsenal supporter knew they had won the PL, as did every other football fan… except Mr Oliver it seems.
Methinks that is a little nieve thinking on your part, but we all have our own opinions.
I was asked
‘Please remind me of those occasional decisions.’
That’s what I did . We can’t because the answer doesn’t suit our narrative now change the question
If he had an agenda/ conspiracy ( not saying you have said that but others have ) he sticks with VAR
While Man City were winning 3-1, hmmm
That wasn’t your question
Your question was
‘Please remind me of those occasional decisions.’
Are you asking now for decisions that have gone against City ?
No, as we all know, decisions go for Man City when playing against us.
Ahhh so now we are getting too it
We have proven that M Oliver does in fact give Arsenal decisions in their favour
You don’t want to hear decisions that go against Man City
So how your point has gone from
‘Please remind me of those occasional decisions.’
To now only when Man City play Arsenal ?
Do you want me to name decisions that go Arsenal way against Man City?
Well I do notice the difference in the standard of refereeing when Micheal Oliver is in charge of our games 🙄, especially against Man City.
In England he’d be off. But also, he probably wouldn’t have gotten a yellow for his first offense. End of the day it’s pretty obvious the ref decided to show some mercy. I get what this article is going for, but the main criticisms we have of English refs is they try to make the games about them and every week are a point of discussion. UCL matches refs hardly ever get brought up because they aren’t inept. Though when it came down to Real Madrid matches when VAR wasn’t a thing they magically become blind.
But would we say that if we lost 1-0 and a PSV defender did the same ?
Say what exactly? Ref made a wrong call but we didn’t do enough to win the game. This is basically what Arteta always says now when the referee messes up in EPL. I’m confused what you are trying to say because surely you also see the bad calls made every week throughout the league. We get one call that goes our way in a continental competition, and suddenly all these English refs are somehow vindicated for their consistently horrendous officiating? Not following that logic.
So if we lost 1-0 fans would say
In England he’d be off. But also, he probably wouldn’t have gotten a yellow for his first offense. End of the day it’s pretty obvious the ref decided to show some mercy
There would be no talk about agendas or a conspiracy?
That’s the point , we don’t get just one call .
We only highlight the calls that go against us.
Hence your reaction
If we had lost 1-0 and Gooners were saying conspiracy over the same thing against us you would get the logic lol
You’re overthinking this because you want to hone in on one incident that finally allows you to side with the referees. We dont like bad refs. Nobody on any team likes bad refs. Some are worse than others. The English refs especially are worse than other European refs. And when there is a small pool of refs in England that we see over and over people start to notice patterns about their behaviors and biases towards certain clubs and players. Is there some dark corner EPL conspiracy to make sure Arsenal dont win a title, no. Are there bad refs in England that have it out for clubs/managers. Yes, we know this and we have even have video proof of an English ref admitting it.
It’s not one incident mate
There are lots of decisions that go our way
It’s simply for those who think there is an conspiracy/.agenda ?
Sorry Dan, but your losing the argument and I’m losing the will to live!!
Mr Oliver has become a figure of ridicule from most fans across the PL, not just The Arsenal.
Have PSV asked for eufa to step in and explain the referee not showing a card and has eufa had to come out with a grovelling statement trying to defend the referee?
Of course not, as there is nothing to defend, but you want to make an issue of something that’s chalk and cheese, in order to defend your viewpoint.
Would you be happy to see Mr Oliver referee our game on Sunday and would you expect impartiality?
Yeah I wouldn’t mind as I can name games where he’s given us decisions in our favour
The law of average dictates a few of these decisions at times will goes in our favor,
First card was not a clear yellow, so ref restrained from giving a second. 2 wrongs do not make a right, agreed. But we would have still won 3-1 or 4-1 with a red though
Perhaps Dan is in the payroll of pgmol, he spends so much time and articles trying to defend their failings.
How is this defending their failings
It’s pointing out that a big decision went in our favour
Fact your happy to talk about decisions that go against us but want to surpress the narrative when it goes for us is telling
Now that’s an interesting thought 😬😬😬Untrue of course, but funny nevertheless.
Let’s see if Mr Oliver does referee anymore of our games, something tells me that the PGMOL will probably put two fingers up at our club before this season is finished.
Lets all agree to differ re a conspiracy BUT can agree that 90% of epl refs and 99%of epl VAR are sh…..ite
In that game with an english, Skelley would have gone
There was no way on gods earth that second foul was ever worthy of a second yellow. MLS barely touched him and he made heavy weather of it because MLS was already on a yellow. That was a mild foul, or do they no longer exist if you’re an Arsenal player on a yellow?
Yeah when you tackle someone it’s not okay to barely touch someone it’s did you get the ball ?
This kind of article can only be written by only one fellow on this platform. You’re trying to defend Oliver who needed VAR to issue a card for incident that needed 25 stitches on the face.
This kind of article can only be written by only one fellow on this platform.
Made me laugh lol
Isn’t that factually true of any article ?
Your reputation preceeds you😂
Not really Dan, you, I and many others could write an article about Arsene Wenger that would list his achievements, what he brought to the club, his legacy so much more.
Others, of course, could do the opposite.
What is so predictable and ongoing, is that only you try to defend the indefensible when it comes to refereeing standards, especially in the PL.
It seems that you don’t underdrabd that supporters of every club wants consistency, applying the rules of the game and not having to wait for the PGMOL to explain decisions and for the Independant panel to overturn decisions.
The tackle that resulted in twenty five stitches to a head wound mentioned above was the most obvious red card ever, yet it wasn’t given, while Skelly was red carded for a foul that happens in every game…. by the same referee who wants to be the centre of attention – that’s what the fans around the country are up in arms about mate, the inconsistency and ignoring the rule book.
You don’t understand!!
I’ve just noticed that the keeper has been banned for six games Dan, yet Mr Oliver didn’t even issue a yellow card and it was a head wound!!
How can anyone defend that kind of refereeing in the PL, supposedly the best league in the world?!
To be fair Ken, I’ve yet to see any defense of Oliver’s none actions for that incident. He’s been justifiably pilloried universally.
The keeper was lucky to get only six matches.
Jax, what punishment has he received?
A three match ban?
A fine?
A demotion?
A condemnation from the PGMOL?
No, life goes on, Mr Oliver will be refereeing again this weekend and will probably be the centre of attraction once again…. and Dan will write another article telling me that he’s made decisions that benefit our club, so he’s not corrupting the PGMOL by ignoring the rule book and we should all shrug our shoulders as he carries on getting paid £120,000 a year (reportedly) plus those lucrative weekends away refereeing in the Arab States!!
I see Anthony Taylor, the referee from the Manchester area, is to referee our match against Manchester United this weekend.
Any words repeated in the above sentence are purely for information only and will have no influence on the game itself.
Oliver’s dropped this weekend Ken.
I wouldn’t know what Dan intends writing on the subject, but it’s sure to be controversial, which is what makes him so great.
Oh I agree Jax, Dan is a superb tonic for JA – it’s up to the rest of us to try and keep questioning him, otherwise he might become the next Charles Dickens – or Ray Bradbury who’s well known for his fictional writing 😂😂
Thanks guys……I think lol
Controversial!
How come ?
Too you and your fan club ?
I’ve got a fan club😂.
All of wengers achievements was undone by him overstaying after the Hull win
If we had lost the game and it was their player not sent off for two instances, We would not blame it on the ref. Sure, it’s 11 v 11, so there would be no excuses
I don’t believe that mate